In a week, Mack and I will be in San Francisco! I’ve been counting down the days for quite some time – with the move and a busy summer season in Edmonton, I’m more ready than ever to get away. On to this week’s food notes:

• The City Market is “exploring extending operations to include an indoor market operated through the winter”, and needs input from patrons on whether or not they would support such an initiative. Take the survey here.
• Latitude 53’s annual performance art festival, VISUALEYEZ takes place September 15-21, 2010 with a theme of food this year.
• Early bird tickets to the Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival are on sale until September 15.
• Local actress Sheri Somerville is opening up a new wine bar across from the Roxy Theatre called Somerville Wine Cheese (10723 124th St), with a menu designed by Brad Smoliak. Look for it in December.
• A new restaurant called Pacific Buffet Co. is opening up on the southside (5420 Calgary Trail)on September 15.
• Oodle Noodle eyes expansion here in Edmonton, and will also be offering a line of packaged products at grocery stores, after opening up a new manufacturing plant.
• Want to do your grocery shopping at 3am? Sobeys now makes it possible, at six local stores.
• While I never thought I’d ever drink instant coffee, we do have VIA on hand for emergencies. Looks like Starbucks is continuing with the brand, and will start offering flavoured brews this fall.
• Not surprising, but still has shock value: a NY photographer has been taking a photo of a McDonald’s happy meal each day for 137 straight days. Besides some patty shrinkage, it looks identical to the photo taken on day one.
• A cookbook made up of recipes all 140 characters or less? Say it ain’t so.
• I am admittedly not as familiar with Anthony Bourdain as I probably should be, but found this interview to be interesting, particularly his comments on “foodies”.
• Mack and I stumbled across a two-week old market while on the southside on Saturday. Tucked away in the Alberta Research Park is the South Common Market. At the moment, there are only about 10 vendors, including Warburg Farms, Pine Haven Farm, a BC fruit vendor, and kettle corn, but they are open both Saturday and Sundays, 9am-3pm. It sounds like they plan on operating until late October though – another great option for those living nearby!

South Common Market

• Ellen and I went to the Chinatown Pagolac for lunch last week. I was hoping I wouldn’t be disappointed this time as I was on my last visit, but no dice. This time, while the broth was hot, the noodles were overcooked to the point of mush. I should stick with the southside location.

Beef noodle soup with medium beef and brisket

• We had some really ripe peaches from Steve & Dan’s, and craving a warm dessert, I caramelized them and served the slices with Inspired Market Gardens/Pinocchio raspberry tarragon sorbet. Simple and delicious.

Caramelized peaches with sorbet

The leaves are changing! It’s not even September and the leaves are changing! As much as I love fall, summer always seems to end too soon – I’m going to try to enjoy whatever warm days are left, and I hope you will as well (on a related note – this is a pretty cool way to explore your neighbourhood). On to this week’s food notes:

• Central McDougall and Queen Mary Park (aka the “North Edge”) will be hosting an Outdoor Night Market on August 27, 2010. I think it’s great that the BRZ is organizing more events to get the community together! More information here.
• Also this weekend is the second annual East Meets West Festival, which has expanded into a full three-day event, celebrating African, Chinese and Italian cultures August 27-29, 2010. Check out the full schedule of events here – I’m so looking forward to the pizza eating contest on Sunday!
• The penultimate cultural festival at the City Market is happening this Saturday, August 28, 2010, celebrating Italian culture. There will be chances to win tickets to the Edmonton Opera, a booth offering Pinocchio ice cream, and a roving accordion player. See you there!
• I’m really looking forward to the next Slow Food Edmonton event on September 26, 2010, put together by Valerie – an all-inclusive tour of Sylvan Star Cheese, Bles Wold Dairy, and dinner at Eco Cafe. All for $75, including transportation. There are only 50 tickets available – act fast!
• Though I haven’t yet purchased any certificates, I have to admit Groupon does have some pretty good deals. One of the best deals last week was a $30 Famoso gift certificate for just $15.
• V Sandwiches (10135 – 100 A Street) on Rice Howard Way is now open! It’s only been in business for a few days, and I’ve already had a few people rave about it – I’ll have to check it out soon.
• Crepeworks on Whyte (10352 82 Avenue, 780-484-7975) is also now open.
• Twyla visited a new restaurant called Dumplings (2431 Ellwood Drive) in southwest southeast Edmonton (they even have a blog and are on Twitter!). I’ve said it before, but the suburbs have a burgeoning food scene indeed.
• Will Bistro Praha ever return? It isn’t looking good.
• Sorrentino’s is celebrating their 16th annual mushroom harvest September 1-30, 2010.
• There’s a new local food blog in town – welcome, Leslie!
• Liane’s latest celebrity chef profile subjects were Ryan Jesperson and Kari Skelton – Kari’s brownies sound delicious!
• After seeing photos of Callingwood Farmers’ Market in the Journal, I’m even more determined to visit before season’s end.
• Valerie toured a chicken farm recently to learn more about the issue of raising backyard chickens. It was a trip initiated by River City Chickens.
• Mel Priestly wrote about en Sante’s first annual Saskatoon Stomp – great photos, Mel!
• We passed by The Treasury last Thursday, and, surprise, surprise – it’s now open! Has anyone checked it out yet? Does it live up to the swank they promised?

Treasury up and running

• We finally got to try out Zaika on Sunday at the Fringe. I had the mango chicken combo ($8) – while I could handle the heat in the subtly spicy, deliciously rich sauce, I was defeated by the samosa. Mack had the beef kabob wrap ($8), and though found it quite messy to eat, thoroughly enjoyed it. We both thought Zaika provided a much better value than Rustixx pizza – I hope they’re back at the grounds next year!

Mango chicken combo from Zaika

• The Dish is hosting Brews ‘n Views on Thursday, August 19: “Alberta Views magazine presents a public discussion on local food and urban farming with a panel and Show n’ Tell featuring some of Edmonton’s most interesting and innovative inner-city farmers>” Panellists include Patty Milligan (aka Lola Canola) and Ron Berezan.
• Groupon finally hit Edmonton last week, a site that offers a daily deal on everything from spa certificates to restaurant gift cards, which are available to purchase only if enough people buy in. The first deal released was actually a $50 Sabor Divino gift certificate, priced at only $20.
• Twyla blogged about Tomato Fare, an annual event put on by Country Greenhouses that celebrates all things tomato.
• Marianne put together a great behind-the-scenes post on how the volunteers at the Edmonton Folk Fest are fed.
• Liane wrote a piece about Sal Dimaio, the entrepreneur behind MRKT. I love that the decor was inspired by his parents’ 80s basement.
• Vue published a review of the fairly new Press Cafe on Whyte Avenue this week.
• Kevin’s putting together a series of on-the-farm videos, showcasing local producers in all their glory. He will begin posting them in September. I’m looking forward to it!
• Looks like Fantastia Noodle House (10518 Jasper Avenue) has closed.
• Downtown office workers rejoice – an Oodle Noodle is opening up at Jasper Avenue and 108 Street, next to the Subway on the main level of the Intact building. Look for it come October.
• V Sandwiches, the newest Vietnamese sub purveyor in the city, will open their Rice Howard Way location this week (their Twitter account reported a tentative opening date of August 10).

V Sandwiches

• Garage Burger has rebranded, and is now known as The Junction (10242 106 Street). It was supposed to have reopened last Friday, or so the staff working on the renovations told us.

The Junction

• The forthcoming Crepeworks on Whyte (10352 82 Avenue, 780-484-7975) has furniture set up inside – its opening might be just around the corner.

Crepeworks

• With our fridge still in a state of limbo, keeping leftovers for lunch the day has become a challenge. It did provide me with a good excuse to reacquaint myself with pho today, after a few weeks of too-hot weather. Both Pho Tau Bay and Hoa An were closed, so I ended up at King Noodle House (10613-97 Street), which I haven’t been to in a while. The beef brisket was especially delectable; perhaps I’ll find myself there again soon.

Pho with steak and brisket

Beer & Boar took a lot out of me, but I won’t have a lot of time to recover, with the Fringe right around the corner! We missed out on Frequent Fringer passes last year, so I made sure to order them on the day they were released – good thing too, as they were sold out in less than 24 hours. See you on the grounds this weekend! On to this week’s food notes:

• The Edmonton Latin Festival is on this weekend, August 14-15, 2010 at Churchill Square. Look forward to salsa and samba lessons, entertainment, and of course, food!
• The Alberta Mycological Society is hosting its City of Champignons wild mushroom exhibition at the Devonian Gardens on August 15, 2010. The sampling menu includes “Phungi Pho”, made with Asian masterstock, miatake, fairy ring, brown beech and shittake mushrooms, Bioway Gardens cilantro, and southern Alberta beansprouts, Alberta dried mushroom and Earl Grey cream risotto and wood oven tea smoked chantrelles, and mushroom truffles custom made by Kerstin’s Chocolates.
• I love neighbourhood festivals, so I’m really excited for the second annual East Meets West Festival on August 27-29, 2010, based in McCauley (we went last year). In addition to celebrating Chinese and Italian cultures, they’ve added an additional day for the Karibuni AfrikaFest.
• The Edmonton Corn Maze is now open, and its theme this year is the Edmonton Food Bank!
• Congrats to Josh Hockin of Transcend for placing second at the Prairie Regional Barista Championships this weekend! He will be the lone Edmonton-based barista to compete at Nationals September 26-27, 2010.
• Look for V Sandwiches, offering Vietnamese subs and coffee on Rice Howard Way (10135 100A Street), to open next week.
• Southwest Edmonton is looking to have a farmers’ market in their neck of the woods by spring 2011. More information here.
• Elm Cafe and Sarah Jackson (creator of A Jam Story) have collaborated this week the opportunity to read an all-local PB & J book while eating an all-local PB & J sandwich. Neat idea!
• Something else I want to try – Delux’s new celebrity creation, a poutine burger!
• Liane had a piece on interesting hot dogs in the Journal this week (I still have to get down to Bibo to try out the duck creation), as well as an article on Edmonton food carts. She also announced news of a new street food vendor called Hot Dog Heroes that offers beef, chicken and vegetarian hot dogs and bison, elk and Italian smokies. Find it at 107 Street and Jasper Avenue.
• Mack sent me this release from Delivery Town, a new food delivery company that has set up shop in Edmonton. It sounds similar to Dial and Dine, but online and with added incentives such as a rewards program. I don’t use delivery services myself, so I’m not the best person to ask, but is there really a high demand for such services?
• Bernard Callebaut may have gone into receivership, but its independent retailers in the city will continue to operate, and may bid for the company.
• The Royal Alberta Museum is looking for your memories of Chinese restaurants in Alberta.
• Lillian posted her notes from the Foodprint conference in Toronto – I, too, hope something like this comes to Alberta.
• From Jennifer Cockrall-King – a peek at SOLEFarms in Vancouver, a social enterprise project that transformed a vacant lot in the downtown east side to a productive piece of land. Something to consider for the Quarters, perhaps near the YMCA Welcome Village?
• First, it was the stadium, and now, it’s the airport in NY that is the recipient of celebrity chef outposts. I wonder if EIA will soon see local brands infiltrating its space? I would think a Cafe Sorrentino and a DeLux Burger Bar would be quite successful there.
• Good question: should food writers out the restaurants that made them sick?
• Sure, it’s gimmicky, but it’s fun: Pop Tarts World opened today on Times Square, and features everything from Pop Tart sushi (yes, you read that right) to a PB & banana sandwich made with Pop Tarts.
• Starbucks was handing out free samples of their new-ish Iced VIA product a few weeks ago, which we finally tried at home. Given that it’s in powdered form, it’s not bad.

Iced VIA

I really needed this long weekend – as we are now into August, it feels like the summer is flying by at a maddening pace, and I can’t keep up! And with the Fringe right around the corner, I know it’ll be September before we know it. On to this week’s food notes:

• It’s your last chance to pick up Beer & Boar BBQ tickets – hope to see you at Alley Kat on Sunday, August 8!
• On Saturday, the Edmonton Food Bank wasn’t on target of meeting its target. Hopefully, they were able to do so on the last day of the Heritage Festival today, but in the event that they don’t, there’s an upcoming event that may help: “Kraft has partnered with Edmonton’s Food Bank for an event on August 14th at the West Edmonton Mall. The Kraft Peanut Butter Bears ‘Smoothie’ and ‘Crunchy’ will be on site sharing free hugs to everyone who visits between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. For every hug that ‘Smoothie’ and ‘Crunchy’ receive, Kraft will donate one 500g jar of peanut butter to Edmonton’s Food Bank in an effort to help relieve hunger within the city. Anyone who can’t make it out in person, can still support the cause by visiting this website to send a virtual hug.” to send a virtual hug. Kraft hopes to generate enough hugs to donate up to 7,500 500g jars of Kraft Peanut Butter to Edmonton’s Food Bank.”
• The ARTery is having a block party on August 21 – look forward to a pancake breakfast, BBQ and lots of art for sale.
• Expect three more Cora’s to land in Edmonton by October – I hope one of them is located downtown.
• Lillian is in Toronto and will be attending Foodprint, a conference discussing how food shapes the city – I hope she will be writing about the sessions!
• Want to escape? Check out Valerie’s blog to read about her adventures in Paris. I can almost taste the crepes…
• I made a lunch date with Ellen on Friday to finally try the sandwiches at Elm Cafe. From what I’ve been reading on Nate’s Twitter feed, I am amazed with the continuous creativity of the sandwiches, and was happy to be able to sample them!

Mexican pulled pork with nachos, avocado, sour cream and cheddar

Ellen’s sandwich with romano, ricotta, pinenuts, arugula, eggplant and roasted red peppers

• More alfresco dining, this time with one of our favourite summer recipes – braised tilapia (from Ocean Odyssey) with Sundog Organic leeks and Gull Valley tomatoes

Braised tilapia with leeks and tomatoes

I’m grateful summer days are full of daylight – I honestly don’t know where the time goes sometimes (okay, some of it was spent watching The Bachelorette tonight). With a busy week ahead (it is festival season after all), there’s nothing better than a quiet evening capped off with tea and cookies. On to this week’s food notes:

• The Edmonton Food Bank is having a party on July 27 to celebrate “compost, veggie-gardening and the community’s involvement”, with band Jane’s Party on hand for the festivities. More information here.
• Speaking of the Food Bank, remember to bring your non-perishable food donation with you when you head to Hawrelak Park for the Heritage Festival this weekend! I’ll see you there – Mack and I have been asked to be a part of the guest judging team this year.
• Fork Fest wraps up this Thursday. We probably won’t have a chance to take it in ourselves this week, so I was happy to see some of my fellow food bloggers file reports, including Marianne about Jack’s Grill and Chris about The Blue Pear.
• Liane had some juicy restaurant news this week: first, Daniel Costa is taking over the former Kabsa storefront at 10345 Jasper Avenue, and will be opening an Italian restaurant in the fall.
• Second, Liane broke that D’Lish will be transformed into a 70 seat wine bar to re-open in September that will serve both lunch and dinner.
• The new location of Co Co Di got some love in the press this week, with a profile in Vue and a positive review in the Journal.
• See Magazine had an article about the local brewing scene in Edmonton, featuring Alley Kat, Ambers, and the newest company on the scene, Yellowhead Brewery.
• Yelp is hiring a Community Manager for Edmonton to help grow the Yelp community in the city – it sounds like a really fun opportunity!
• The Quons (the venerable family behind The Lingnan and Chicken for Lunch) are returning for another season of reality television, this time in a series highlighting their lives outside of the restaurants as well. Titled The Quon Dynasty, it will begin airing in spring 2011.
• This is an interesting article from the NYT – with how sourcing from local farmers is now becoming a competitive process.
• Apparently McDonald’s restaurants in New York just began charging for condiment packets (I remember being charged for ketchup and dips in England). I wonder if this practice will spread to Canada too?
• We thought our fridge had crapped out on us this week (our fish came out of the fridge warm), but thankfully, it’s now fine. On the bright side, dinner that night meant ordering in from Blue Plate Diner – sweet potato fries FTW!

Sweet potato fries (I can’t get enough of their dip)

• Wonder what television stars eat for breakfast? Film crews were setting up to shoot something in the Excelsior Lofts on Friday, and I couldn’t help but snap a photo of their catering truck breakfast menu.

Catering truck

• This week also saw another outdoor event for our staff, and again, the weather cooperated for our second annual watermelon social. I brought my own fruit (I despise watermelon), but it was a great day to sit out in the sun!

Watermelon

I still can’t believe The Hills pulled that kind of ending on us. Six seasons and four years later, they choose the series finale to tease the audience with the suggestion that everything was staged? Sure, I’ve acknowledged that it was a “scripted reality” from the start, but why not just continue the charade? Sigh. On to this week’s food notes:

• One more week to work on your entries for the Wild Boar & Beer Scavenger Hunt! If you’re not inclined to participate, you can purchase tickets for the event online here.
• Does the Taste of Edmonton menu excite everyone? Something needs to change about the event – it seems to be the same every year. Also – interesting to see Krua Wilai still participating (as The Marc is taking over their storefront) – did they move?
• Capital Ex released the details of their take on marathon food last week – the Monster Burger, made of 1kg of Spring Creek Ranch beef, plus bacon and other toppings, takes 20 minutes to cook, and costs $39.50…unless you can finish it all on your own (it is meant to feed six to eight people).
• Kelly wrote a great post about the limited edition chicken and Eva Sweet waffle sandwich Elm Café offered on Saturday. It sounds like it will be back, due to popular demand!
• A new Vietnamese sub shop is coming soon to the space next to Sweetie’s Cafe on Rice Howard Way.
• Looks like Press’d in Edmonton City Centre is targeting an August 2010 opening.
• The Dish is expanding into the Electrum Design Studio! They will have additional seating room, or if the doors are closed, private space for up to 30 people
• MRKT, the newest lunch spot in the core, gets more blog love, this week from Liane.
• The Journal wrote an article about the first location of a Tim Hortons in Edmonton that has been equipped with a Cold Stone Creamery.
• Also in the Journal, the newest foodie profile – on the Edmonton Community Foundation Executive Director, Martin Garber-Conrad.
• Did you know people are knocking down the doors of Dahlia’s Mediterranean Bistro for their meatballs? I didn’t, until I read the profile of owner/operator Fadi Smaidi in Vue.
• The Queen, a community garden in Queen Mary Park (111 Street and 109 Avenue, just north of the Edmonton Chinese Baptist Church) is having an open house on Sunday, July 25, from noon-3pm! Gardeners will be on hand to answer questions, and the CommuniTea Infusion Van will also be there for the festivities.
• Also on the subject of community gardens, Jennifer Cockrall-King continued her series on urban gardens in Edmonton, with posts about two gardens just west of downtown (I love the Oliver garden, for the record!).
• Marianne wrote about Country Cuisine’s Taste of Summer event (a great alternative to the Taste of Edmonton) that took place recently. Look for their other popular event, Tomato Fare on August 15 – I enjoyed it last year.
• Always great to see new local blogs pop up – welcome, GourmAndrea!
• Are cupcakes saving New York’s economy?
• How’s this for a foodie twist on the traditional matching sites – Salad Match strives to pair you up with someone based on your salad affinity. Would the Alberta equivalent be “Burger Match”?
• Eva told me about Teaopia that opened in Kingsway a few months back. We finally came across it while shopping at the mall on the weekend. We didn’t explore it (I will freely admit I don’t know much about tea), but on a different day, I’ll be back.

Teaopia

• Mack and I are such suckers for novel potato chip flavours (not a new topic). This time, we were sucked into buying a bag of “Late Night” Doritos, which are supposed to taste like cheeseburgers. The verdict? There are hints of ketchup, cheese, mustard and pickles – and the combination does remind us of cheeseburgers!

Mack poses with our new favourite chip flavour

• We haven’t been eating out on the balcony as much as I would like, but we did take a moment outside with some treats I picked up from Whimsical Cupcakes the other day. Yum!

Hurrah for cupcakes!

Sometimes it feels like I’m going to be back-blogging for ages. I know one day I’ll catch up, but until then, thanks for being patient with me! On to this week’s food notes:

• Some of the Fork Fest menus have been released – hopefully the rest will follow fairly soon! The pre-fixe food festival runs July 18 – 22 and July 25 – 29, 2010.
• Advance tickets to the Taste of Edmonton, which runs July 23 – August 1, 2010, are now on sale (they will save you 10%, and time in line).
• I’m not sure how long these hours have been in effect, but Tree Stone Bakery has new hours (they’re open at 8am on weekdays now!).
• We spotted a new festival food vendor at the Works and at the Street Performers Festival called Twice as Nice. May said they have a new storefront location as well, offering Caribbean cuisine (10049 156 street, 780-757-7550).
• Marianne reviewed the new location of Padmanadi – it looks gorgeous inside! Also, a sign up in the window of the original location on 97 Street states that it should have re-opened today, July 12, 2010.
• Marianne also wrote about the revamped Parkallen Restaurant, as did Sarah (though I’m linking to it a little late) – I want to see that wine case in person!
• On the subject of closures, Kabsa on Jasper Avenue and 104 Street has now closed – no notices, but all signs of life has evaporated from the storefront. I had the chance to visit them for the first time earlier this year, and had enjoyed my meal.
• Jennifer Cockrall-King has a great post on community gardens in Edmonton, and an interesting piece on the rooftop hive on the Royal York in Toronto. She’s also taking registrations for the 2010 Okanagan Food and Wine Writers’ Workshop.
• This is pretty cool – the new Kingsland Farmers’ Market in Calgary offers free coffee to the mayor of FourSquare!
• I’ve never heard of Where to Eat in Canada, but Liane posted that the book just released their 2010 edition, which seems to feature a random smattering of restaurants in Edmonton. I’m glad she’s following up to see what the criteria is.
• Vancouver just announced the winners of their food cart lottery – insane to think they received 800 applications for a coveted 17 spots. The carts are to be operational on July 31, 2010.
• The Opener, David Adjey’s new show about first time restaurant owners, is looking for interested Edmonton restauranteurs who would like some assistance with their opening. Take a look at the trailer here.
• Ben & Jerry’s released the finalists in their contest to name their newest ice cream flavour. You can vote for your favourite here.
• Eater posted their round up of the 5 biggest bar and cocktail trends – Treasury, the vodka bar and eatery on Jasper Avenue, would fall into their trendwatch…if it were to ever open.
• A forthcoming restaurant called 4Food opening up in New York is right up Mack’s alley, featuring crowd-sourced burgers, a giant screen highlighting relevant Tweets, and iPads replacing traditional pen and paper systems. Wonder if it’ll survive the novelty, in spite of their claims of quality food.
• Mack snapped a photo of a Breyers ice cream truck that stopped on Jasper Avenue and 103 Street on Friday. They were handing out free ice cream samples – better than coffee for an afternoon break!

We all scream for ice cream!

• Our agency held its annual “Kick Off to Summer BBQ” on Tuesday, having been rescheduled from a blustery day in June. Nothing says summer like a parking lot cookoff, right?

Free lunch!

• Not related to food at all, but timely – I helped organize a soccer game at the office, to help commemorate the World Cup final. We had an awesome turnout, and though the skies poured a half hour before our game was set to start, the sun appeared just in the nick of time. It was a wonderful way to spend a lunch hour, soaking up the rays as a spectator (to have played myself would have equalled death by cardio).

I love it when the weather cooperates

Though we still have numerous boxes scattered throughout the condo, I feel more settled now than I did on the weekend. We even cooked our first meal last night in the kitchen! And I have to say, nothing’s better than being able to walk to the office in less than fifteen minutes – beats waiting for the bus any day! On to this week’s food notes:

• Doors Open Edmonton takes place this weekend, with numerous events celebrating Edmonton’s “built history”. Of note is their Speakers’ Studio, a new series for this year’s festival, which features a talk titled “Incarnation of the Edmonton City Market” on July 10.
• Ever want to know what goes down at a barista competition? Transcend is opening up their internal barista competition, where the top two winners will earn the right to compete in the Prairie Regional Barista Competition. Check out the action July 11 at 2pm at the original Transcend.
• Look for Original Fare’s semi-annual Fork Fest July 18 – 22 and 25 – 29. I’d prefer it didn’t coincide with Taste of Edmonton/Capital Ex, but then again, it’s difficult to avoid double booking with a festival in the summer.
• Tickets to Slow Food Edmonton’s annual Wild Boar and Beer BBQ, taking place on August 8, are now on sale! I’m a little biased because I’m one of the co-organizers this year, but I think it’s going to be a great event – Hog Wild is supplying the boar; Tree Stone Bakery, Cafe Haven and Leva Cafe will be providing the sides; and of course, Alley Kat beers will be on tap. Look for a scavenger hunt to be released later this week on my blog for a chance to win two tickets!
• From the City Market: “The City Market is launching a recipe blog and is looking for local recipes that celebrate the City Market’s great vendors and delicious products. A blog will  launch  on July 31, 2010 as a part of their celebrations marking Food Day Canada.” E-mail your recipes here.
• Speaking of the City Market – Vue Weekly wrote a profile on Eva Sweet Waffles this week (I love that they are at the market every Saturday now).
• BruleeBlog (aka Sherene) reviewed mrkt, which should become a destination lunch spot for the core crowd.
• Chris posted about a second Crepeworks that will be occupying the space vacated by Le Papier on Whyte Avenue.
• The second location of DeLux (on Bourbon Street at West Edmonton Mall) opened its doors on June 30. It’s bigger and better, according to those who have been, and even has a take-out window.
• A second Twisted Yogurt location is set to open in Southpark (along Calgary Trail) soon.
• Eat and drink al fresco: Avenue Magazine published a spread about the city’s best patios this month.
• It was only a matter of time before urban beekeeping was given the same profile as urban chicken coops (which was covered in Vue this week) – some are hoping the City will allow for a small pilot to allow for urban beekeeping.
• I still can’t believe I missed Valerie’s epic taste tripping party last week, but reading the recaps from Chris, Sherene, LeQuan and Lea, among others, was a bit of a consolation prize. And, well, Valerie was nice enough to provide us with two miracle berry tablets for our own use…
• On the heels of Tea Desire closing, David’s Tea is opening up their second Edmonton location in Southgate.

 

David’s Tea

• I took a break from the moving madness on Monday to have dinner with Valerie at Wild Tangerine. Wilson took good care of us, though I probably should have mentioned to him how cold I was – I must have been sitting under an AC vent on full blast!

 

Crispy pork spring roll

Judy’s famous Thai Green Curry with Prawns & Tortiglioni (loved the use of pasta instead of a traditional rice starch)

Asian Chili with Tofu and Rice Cracker (Valerie loved it)

• We’ve were eating out a lot last week, between late nights and a lack of kitchen equipment. One day, we stopped for lunch at the Italian Centre for one of their hunger-busting paninis. The best thing about the sandwich? The bread.

 

Giant panini @ the Italian Centre

• While Mack’s dad was in town this weekend, he wanted to take us out for dinner. Satisfying his request for Indian food, we directed him to Origin India (we think their naan is the best in the city). Martin loved it.

 

Plate #1 at Origin India

• After the gluttony, we took a walk around downtown to help the digestion process along. It was a good opportunity to check out the progress of Shaw Conference Centre’s garden.

 

Great use of space!

• On Canada Day, we were invited to Mack’s friend Reg’s house. His penthouse suite overlooking the Legislature allowed for fantastic views of the fireworks, but even more notable were the appetizers he served hungry guests. He had concocted a Big Mac salad roll, which to our surprise, tasted exactly like a Big Mac encased in rice paper (complete with special sauce and sesame seeds). Bravo, Reg!

Beautiful view

I really thought I could do it all – the sorting, the packing, the moving, the cleaning – all while keeping up with my blogging. But nope, I was defeated by the moving process. We were up until the wee hours of the morning readying the apartment for our move-out inspection – I don’t think I’ve been that exhausted in a long time. On to the belated post:

• The Green & Gold Garden at the University of Alberta South Campus (I wrote about it last year), is now open for the season!
• Vinomania is offering free wine tastings every Saturday in July from 11am-5pm. Best of all, in honour of Canada’s birthday, all of the wines are Canadian.
• Liane posted last week that the former manager of Il Portico is set to open a new French bistro downtown, in the space that was formerly occupied by Krua Wilai (9940-106 Street).
• Cafe Haven was featured in several print publications last week – from a profile in Vue Weekly to a lukewarm review of their brunch in the Journal. I think they deserved better, as I found from our recent visit.
• Relatively new to Twitter, Bon Ton Bakery announced that they are now serving Transcend Coffee! I have yet to check out their revamped digs.
• Apparently Albertans are dining out less, though “they still spend a much larger proportion of their income out than the national average.”
• The Journal featured comments about Indulgence from Chris, Valerie and myself last week – it made for an interesting snapshot of the event.
• Speaking of Valerie – check out the breadth of her experiments with a sous vide machine on her blog (here’s just one example). Her energy and willingness to learn is amazing.
• CBC Radio just launched a weekly food show called The Main Ingredient with Khalil Akhtar. It’s “an inside look at the food we buy, grow and eat. The show will explore modern food marketing, the fast food industry and even the urban farm.”
• Gourmet Magazine is re-launching this fall as an online app.
• Though I wish Edmonton had a food scene more reminiscent of New York’s, I hope this Manhattan trend of haute salads doesn’t hit Edmonton, ever.
• Also from the NYT, a piece on the rising trend of bachelors and bachelorettes opting for tasting menus instead of clubs for their pre-wedding parties.
• I am so guilty of not washing my reusable grocery bags, but after reading this, I think I will start now…
• On our way to the Safe Streets Community Fair in Queen Mary Park last weekend, we stumbled upon Bohemia Cafe (10575 114 Street), a variety space that hosts concerts, displays art installations and also features coffee and sandwiches.

Bohemia Cafe & Variety Venue

• We also peeked inside mrkt on Saturday (the name makes me think of Jean-Georges every time, but then again, I almost always have NY on the brain), a new restaurant above Red Star (10542 Jasper Avenue, 780-757-6758). The space, with its communal table and blackboard menu reminded Mack and I of Farm in Calgary. Carla Alexander of Soul Soup is in the kitchen – so  hearty, solid fare is likely in order. It’s only currently open for lunch – I hope to check it out soon!

mrkt

• For my birthday last week, Mack took me to Chuck E. Cheese (it’s nearly become an annual tradition). We played our usual games, but this visit was notable because Mack won the skee ball jackpot (by breaking 450,000 points). Hurrah!

Winnings

• We stopped by Elm Cafe for a coffee and a freshly-baked muffin this morning – fuel for the move. I loved the paper wrapping on the muffin (it was a delicious triple chocolate, by the way) – an artful alternative to the usual liner.

No chairs? No problem.

Happy Canada Day!