Thanks to everyone who had kind words about my inclusion on Western Living’s 2011 list of Top 40 Foodies Under 40. I think it’s a great honour, especially to be recognized alongside some of Edmonton’s other representatives on the list: Garner and Giselle Beggs, Nate Box and Daniel Costa. On to this week’s food notes:

• The City Market is back: the winter edition of the market starts this Saturday, March 12, and runs until May 14, 2011 at City Hall. After that, it’s back on 104 Street they go!
• Live Local Alberta will kick off a series of “farm to fork” dinners on March 27, 2011 at Blue Plate Diner. Tickets are $75. See the menu here, which features elk carpaccio and a chevre cheesecake.
• Mark your calendars! Indulgence 2011 will take place on June 13. Tickets will be available after May 2, 2011.
• This would make an interesting night out – Fort Edmonton Park/Hotel Selkirk has organized a Girlfriends’ Getaway, featuring a wine tasting, movie night and horse-drawn carriage ride.
• Another contest of sorts – Original Joe’s has committed to giving away $100,000 in free wings, and all you have to do is “like” them on Facebook.
• Marianne reviewed Niche last week.
• Chris reviewed Mini Mango, opened by the folks behind Sweet Mango.
• Book A Table announced a new restaurant, Soda Jerks (17520 – 100 Avenue). They also said that Twisted Fork has now closed.
• Gail Hall has a blog! Check out her site for tasty recipes.
• See Magazine had a feature on veganism – I have to say I didn’t know that vegans had to be careful about how they combined certain foods in order to get maximum nutrients from their meals.
• I admit I still don’t know enough about the raw milk issue, but raw milk cheese is in the news in the States as the feds look at repealing the 60 day aging period permitted for raw milk cheeses.
• Avenue Calgary also released their annual food issue. For a peek at Calgary’s best restaurants, check out Andree’s blog.
• Toronto will be getting a taste of David Chang! He will be opening two restaurants in 2012.
• This is a pretty neat idea, from the folks behind TED: Coffee Common, where numerous roasters/baristas will be able to share their passion and knowledge of coffee while having the opportunity to network with one another.
• Did you catch the premiere episode of America’s Next Great Restaurant? Mack’s favourite thus far is the grilled cheese sandwich guy.
• Mack did a great job at Pecha Kucha 9, speaking on the topic of digital preservation, but there were also a few food-related talks that night. Dr. Kim Rayne discussed food access relating to the health of populations in our city and Kevin Kossowan talked about his family’s food system – if you missed it, you can watch all PK9 presentations online here.



Kevin at Pecha Kucha

• Mack attended the City Market AGM tonight, where several new members were elected to the board, including Jennifer Berkenbosch of Sundog Organics, Owen Petersen of Prairie Mill and Pat Batten of Ocean Odyssey Inland. In addition to City Hall, the Market Board has been exploring Enterprise Square and the Mercer Warehouse as year-round possibilities.

City Market AGM

• I spotted a new restaurant at 8205105 Street, just north of When Pigs Fly.

Chai Pani

• Annie and I met up at Taipan Café for lunch on Friday (a rare treat for a weekday, but made possible by Teacher’s Convention). I’d never been to Taipan before, so their inexpensively priced meals were a welcome surprise. Annie managed to somehow finish both her duck congee and plate of noodles ($7.35), while I was utterly defeated by my bowl of noodles with shrimp wontons and beef brisket ($7.95).

Duck congee and milk tea

Noodles with shrimp wontons and beef brisket

• Saturday afternoon called for another visit to Queen of Tarts. Their bread case was bursting (this time, everything had labels), as was their lunch case. Look for a new menu item this week – a duck confit and lentil salad. But if that doesn’t strike your fancy, I know what I’ll be looking forward to trying is their chicken banh mi!

Bread case

Mack and I went to Calgary for the weekend for a short getaway. As much as I know that Edmonton is always competing with #yyc, Calgary is a very nice place to visit (even more so when you throw caution to the wind and stay in a fancy hotel). On to this week’s food notes:

• A reminder that Downtown Dining Week starts this week and runs March 4-13, 2011. The menus are now up.
• In addition to Seedy Sunday on March 20, 2011, Just Food Edmonton and Slow Food Edmonton will be hosting an event called Beyond the Supermarket, which will provide consumers with alternative ways to support local producers.
• Avenue Edmonton released their third annual list of the 25 Best Things to Eat. I’m happy to see that Battista’s Calzones made the list. Also in the issue, an interview with the spunky Daniel Costa.
• Pampa, with its all-you-can-eat meat menu, is now open. Has anyone been yet?
• Marianne reviewed the plush Somerville Wine & Cheese. Looks like a welcome addition to the neighbourhood.
• Twyla visited the Five Guys Burgers & Fries location (a U.S.-based chain) – sure to be a bang up success. Mack and I first tried the restaurant in DC.
• City and Dale wrote about a recent brunch experience at Culina Muttart.
• Niche got a great write-up in the Journal last week.
• Liane posted more details about the new Southwest Edmonton Farmers’ Market that is set to open May 19, 2011, to run on Wednesdays from 5-8pm.
• Valerie wrote a wonderful tribute to Michael Schmidt, an advocate for raw milk, recapping his visit to Edmonton last week. Schmidt will be back in Edmonton on March 23.
• For all you Roll up the Rim to Win junkies, Jon Lin has again started posting about his winning (and losing) streak in his annual results tally.
• Food Network announced the competitors for Top Chef Canada (to start airing April 11). It’s unfortunate that no Edmonton chefs made the list (Century Hospitality’s Paul Shufelt was in the running), but there are two Calgary representatives, Rebekah Pearse of Nectar Desserts (now closed) and Connie DeSousa of CharCut.
• Speaking of Calgary, Foodie McPoon wrote about her Calgary quest for macarons.
• Over in Vancouver, it’s the end of an era: db Bistro Moderne and Lumiere are closing its doors.
• Looks like doughnuts are the new cupcake in NY.
• Mack’s Dad enjoys scotch, so we thought there would be no better place to take him for dinner than The Bothy. Martin appreciated the extensive selection of scotch, and was able to introduce Mack to his first taste of scotch (I stuck with wine). The chicken and leek pie was also just as delicious as I remembered.

Mack’s first scotch glass!

Charcuterie and cheese selection, featuring O Sol’ Meatos cardamom salami and Jam Lady condiments

Chicken and leek pie with tomato and bacon soup

• I met up with my family at Urban China for lunch last week. I haven’t been back there for dim sum since my visit early last year, but from what I hear, they’ve really improved (it is now at the top of my parents’ list of dim sum favourites). The har gao and siu mai seemed particularly tasty.

Pork and shrimp dumplings

• Last time, the epic battle featured Mr. Bacon vs. Mr. Tofu, but in another death match with only one winner, who would survive: the corndog or broccoli?

Captain Corndog vs. Baron Von Broccoli (as seen in Livingstone & Cavell Toys in Calgary)

Have a good week!

Nothing like a long weekend to refresh the spirit! Hope you had a good Family Day as well. On to this week’s food notes:

• Twyla blogged about her epic Valentine’s Day dinner at Bistro La Persaud – it looked amazing.
• I love sneaking a peek into people’s kitchens, especially for the day-to-day stuff, so I love Marianne’s recent posts about her “meal planning sagas”. She and Charles are exemplars that you can eat well at home, even without a lot of time to cook!
• Are you intimidated by the prospect of making your own sausages? (I know I am.) Valerie’s photo essay helped somewhat – at the very least, it looks like a lot of fun!
• Culina’s TV Dinners are now available gluten-free.
• Chris Kourouniotis, a designer that brought us the interiors of Hundred and Press’d, among others, was interviewed for the Journal. It was interesting to read about his thoughts behind decor, such as “If you want to sell more liquor than food, say, 60 per cent versus 40 per cent, we tend to darken the colours, provide richer reds and earth tones, with red being the driving flavour, and we have way more millwork and wood in a bar or a heavy liquor space. We really try to warm up the space, because psychology shows that’s what sells the beverages.”
• The Journal also had an article about Cheemo Perogies – they’re an amazing success story (they produce half a billion perogies every year!), but I had no idea they used locally grown flour, canola oil and potatoes in their products.
• Vue Weekly’s issue this week focused on brunch in Edmonton. One standout article – a piece that finds out the brunch favourites of Jacqueline Jacek (of Jacek Chocolates), Michael Harvey (of Cafe Haven) and Nate Box (of Elm Cafe).
• Perhaps it will be Transcend Coffee that will raise tea to a new level in Edmonton?
• Speaking of coffee, Calgary’s John Manzo wrote about a recent experience in Good Earth Cafe that gets one thinking about the quality control in place at successful third wave coffee shops.
• Mack and I stopped by Crave Cupcakes (7929 104 Street) on Saturday. It’s a bright little store, with pretty display pedestals. We tried the Va Va Vanilla (vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream) and the Lemon Lime Twist (lemon cake with lime buttercream). The lemon cake was the standout – moist, light, and subtle.

Interior

Cupcakes

• My office celebrated Black History Month with a potluck last week. It’s hard not to love a place where we not only regularly gather around homemade meals, but the lunch also dissolves into a dance party!

The potluck spread