September in Edmonton is for the Arts

  • Edmonton Fashion Week for Fall/Winter 2008 runs September 4-14. The airport hangar will make for an interesting runway setup, no doubt.
  • September 6 is Alberta Arts Day. It’s a nice idea, but doesn’t it seem like a necessary event to justify Culture Minister Lindsey Blackett’s job?
  • For those looking for more adult-catered screen material under the stars, ATB is sponsoring Movie in the Park featuring Superbad on September 6 in Hawrelak Park.
  • Pecha Kucha, an evening showcasing design in all its aspects in an innovative format (presenters are limited to 20 seconds for each of their maximum 20 slides) had a successful first event in May. Their second is scheduled on September 11 at the TransAlta Arts Barns; I’ll be there.
  • Die-Nasty’s annual Soap-a-Thon is back on September 12, with over two days worth of continuous improv madness. I’m planning on checking them out at an obscene hour.
  • Help Edmonton Transit System celebrate their centennial during the week of September 12-20. Events include free concerts in Churchill Square, tours, and garage open houses.
  • The short but hopefully sweet Edmonton Poetry Festival starts its third edition on September 11 until the 13th. The “Revenge of the Killer Blinks”, 30 second flashes of poetry from over 60 performers, seems intriguing.
  • Free films with a conscience: Welcome to the Reel World, documentaries screened at the University of Alberta exposing important global issues begins again on September 17.
  • World Vision’s One Life Experience, which I had the privilege of visiting last fall, is similar to an upcoming MSF exhibit. Instead of a focus on HIV/AIDS however, the intent of Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City is to have those that walk through imagine they are displaced and fleeing violence and persecution. It is taking place at McIntyre Park in Old Strathcona September 18-21. I encourage you to check it out.
  • The YMCA is offering free walking clinic for eight weeks. Meet at the Don Wheton YMCA (10030 102 A Ave) on Mondays beginning September 22, 12:10-12:55pm.
  • With the fall comes films – the first of the two biggest screen festivals in the city, the Edmonton International Film Festival, rolls in September 26-October 4.
  • Arts on the Ave, the spunky group doing their best to revitalize the Alberta Avenue community, is hosting their now annual Kaleido Family Arts Festival September 26-28.

Happy September everyone!

Food Notes

  • Kerstin’s Chocolates has reopened after their summer holiday and will be holding a special event for their “VIPs” on Thursday, September 4 from 5-9pm, with free drinking chocolate, an unveiling of their new products, and launching of a wedding cake service (with samples). Head to The Cocoa Room (10139 112 Street) if you’re interested.
  • For those in the downtown core, the 9th annual 4 Corners BBQ takes place this Friday, September 5th. Head to Abbey Glen Park (102 Street and Jasper Avenue) for a $5 barbecue lunch.
  • The Downtown Edmonton Community League is hosting their annual Corn Fest on September 6 at Beaver Hills Park (105 Street and Jasper Avenue). I’m not sure what’s involved, but I’m assuming corn will be served in some capacity.
  • At my local Panago yesterday, I picked up a copy of “Panago Cucina”, a beautifully put-together magazine featuring recipes using their house line of products including oils and seasoning salts. They’ve really done a great job marketing their brand as one offering “upscale” pizza.
  • Even for those on the waffle side of the fence, the idea of spraying pancake batter from an aerosol can must be an irresistible selling factor of Batter Blaster. I must admit, even from the review on Chow, I’d buy it for the novelty factor alone.
  • Mack and I stopped by the St. Albert Farmers’ Market just before heading off to Goose Lake on Saturday. As I was in the mood for produce and edibles, I was disappointed to see that the majority of the vendors were selling crafts or jewelry that day. After walking through, we went back and picked up some blackberries, tomatoes, basil and homemade cookies.

 

At the market

Weekend at Goose Lake

Mack had been talking about bringing me to “the lake” all summer, and over the September long weekend, we finally made it to Goose Lake.

Goose Lake

We drove out on Saturday afternoon, arriving a little while before supper was to start, and had some time to laze around the fire with an alcoholic beverage in hand.

Our home for the weekend – Haights’ Haven (not quite the log cabin or insect sanctuary I had pictured)

Kim the Firemaster

Mack’s grandparents and Tom around the fire

After a dinner of Shirley’s chili and the massive sourdough sandwiches Mack and I had made the night before, we hung around the lake. Our canoe trip was cut short due to water seepage into the boat, but we did make it back on shore in time to see Tom catch a good-sized jackfish.

Tom with fish

We ended the night with some more time around the fire (with marshmallows!) and two card drinking games in Nightmare Nook – Sociables was particularly fun!

Mack playing Sociables

We woke up to the sound of people and pots on Sunday morning. That was one of the nicest things about staying at the lake – we were well taken care of, as both breakfast and dinner were prepared for us by Mack’s relatives, and we barely had to lift a finger all weekend.

The afternoon gave way to recreational pursuits including a leisurely bike ride through the neighbouring campsite, clowning around at a playground, and a lengthy canoe ride (in a fiberglass boat this time) across the lake. Though we weren’t able to get all the way to the weir due to a run-in with silt and weeds, we did see two blue herons.

Biking

Swinging

Tom looking like he’s having the time of his life

Canoeing

Mack, Tom, Mike and Stacey also started a fierce (and mouthy) battle of horseshoes, and we spent more time around the campfire to feed our hunger for flame-kissed hotdogs.

Mike and Mack playing horseshoes

Sitting around the fire

Quite possibly the best picture from the weekend

 

Roasting hot dogs

Peanut

Skippy (the two most adorable dogs I’ve seen in a long time)

Dinner was again a family affair. Stacey helped everyone barbecue the meat of choice they had brought along, and Shirley prepared a number of side dishes for everyone to share. Dessert on this night was a fabulous lemon meringue pie.

My steak and potatoes

Lemon meringue pie

Tom and Mike do “the pose”

We were a little less industrious this evening, and simply relaxed by the fire, entertained by a stream of politically incorrect jokes and pyro tendencies. The stars shone with force that night, and had it been a little warmer, I would have liked to lay down to fully appreciate their majesty.

Monday morning consisted of breakfast, group photos, clean-up, and of course, a rematch for the horseshoe gang. Kim also introduced me to “the book” – a loose-leaf record signed by all who have stayed at the lake.

The “kids”

Thanks again to Fred, Shirley, Stacey and Karen for all of your hospitality – I had a great time! It was nice to get away from the city for a while, be “off the grid” as Mack calls it, and to kick back and relax in the outdoors. Mack’s complete set of photos is here.

Kitsch Worth Exploring: Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe

Brunch is my favourite type of meal, and though the food served during this time can, in most instances, be duplicated fairly easily at home, there’s something about waking up on a weekend morning to have breakfast in a brightly lit, bustling, comfortable diner. I’ve sought out most of the restaurants that fit this bill in Edmonton, and have slowly started to branch out to Calgary, but all travel situations provide me with an additional opportunity to sample diners frequented by the locals.

I turned to the Georgia Straight Golden Plates awards to point me in the right direction, and found Sophie’s Cosmic Café. The website didn’t provide menu details, but the kitschy décor cinched it for us.

Located in the pedestrian and window-shopping-friendly Kitsilano neighbourhood, it was packed with just a few tables to spare at 11am. We were seated within minutes, giving us a brief moment to take in the incredible square footage of collected “junk” displayed on walls and every nook and cranny available – I was certain I could’ve spent hours up close with the garage sale all call.

Interior

Mack poses appropriately with a Mr. T jewelry collection

The menu options posed a challenge to us, with many tempting dishes. In the end, I opted for the thick-cut French toast to be served with sausages ($9.95), while Mack heeded my suggestion and ordered the scrambled eggs and pastrami, served with hashbrowns and toast ($10.95).

Mack used the word “efficient” to describe our experience at Sophie’s, and I can’t disagree with him. Our food arrived after no more than ten minutes after the waitress took our order, and unlike Nellie’s, our waitress continuously topped up our mugs with coffee without being asked. Moreover, a request for water was filled immediately. The food was great as well – the sausages, crackling and crispy on the outside, but juicy and soft on the inside – were the best I’ve had at a diner in recent memory. The French toast was indeed thick-cut, so much so that the very centre of the bread hadn’t had enough time to soak in the egg mixture before being thrown onto the pan, but that was a minor complaint. Mack thoroughly enjoyed his breakfast as well, with the scramble relieving his craving for eggs.

Thick-cut French Toast and Sausages

Pastrami and Eggs

Sophie’s Cosmic Café is a fun, friendly and fast diner that’s worth the visit, and even better, is situated in a neighbourhood worth sticking around for later.

Sophie’s Cosmic Café
2095 4th Avenue West
(604) 732-6810

An Exquisitely Choreographed Dance: Vij’s

Vij’s has a reputation that precedes itself. Between its consistent top-five Canadian ranking, celebrity sightings, and tales of its mythically long wait times, perhaps owner Vikram Vij was blessed with foresight in choosing the large tusked animal as its symbol – there is no doubt that great expectations are the elephant in the room.

Exterior lineup (you know you’re in Vancouver when you see at least two other people pull out their wireless devices to check for internet)

Even though we had eaten a full meal not three hours prior, we joined the line about 20 deep outside Vij’s at around 5:15. When their doors opened fifteen minutes later, some of the line stragglers behind us failed to be seated, and faced with a wait time of at least an hour and a half, chose to head elsewhere. Others however, through the course of our meal, either chose to lounge in the bar at the rear of the restaurant, or, when that was full, took their drinks out onto the outdoor patios to wait it out. We were glad not to be amongst that crowd.

My only minor complaint about the restaurant was their lack of more than one bathroom – for the number of people frequenting the restaurant, I would think regulations would stipulate at least two stalls per gender.

Interior

After the waitresses swept through the room, efficiently doling out menus, glasses and tin carafes of water to each table, we were also given a free cup of warm chai, and throughout the moments of menu perusal, three hot samples to try from a basket offered by a gregarious server (a pakora, a fry, and a spiced chip of some sort). It was the beginning of the Vij’s welcome: hospitable efforts that made us feel like guests instead of diners.

Chai (the cups were too cute)

I already knew I wanted to try the spicy paranta ($11.50) made with ground crickets that I had read about in the Globe a few months back, and I remembered the praise always heaped upon the wine-marinated lamb popsicles ($26.50). For our second entree, I thought a vegetable-based dish would round out our meal nicely, so opted for the cabbage, potato and bell pepper in coconut, blueberry and cilantro masala with homemade crispy noodles ($24).

Our wait was pleasant, and though I was disappointed that we didn’t see any celebrities (Shermie had waited alongside Eric McCormack on her last visit), our door-side table did provide many opportunities to gawk at the patrons that did pass through (a Buddhist monk and two Southern beauty queens walk into Vij’s…). The paranta arrived, complemented by a turnip salad. Had the menu not mentioned crickets, I would have assumed, from both the taste and the texture, that the thin bread was made from whole wheat flour. The turnip was nicely prepared as well, albeit too spicy for my palate.

Paranta made with roasted, ground cricket and chapati flour

Our entrees, served with a bowl of rice and a basket of naan bread, were the stars of the show. The lamb popsicles were our favourite, perfectly grilled and immersed in a creamy fenugreek curry sauce. I’ve been scarred in past experience with lamb, but if it were always cooked to such tender conditions, I’d opt for lamb over pork anytime. The masala received a more mixed review, as I found the potatoes a tad undercooked, but the unusual addition of blueberries were a nice sweet treat.

Naan bread

Lamb popsicles

Masala

The entire evening was a satisfying blur of attentive waitresses, a thorough attention to detail, and a surreal feeling that accompanied my first dining experience that felt wholly like an exquisitely choreographed dance. Unlike our meal at The Blue Pear, where being tended to by several people resulted in a scattered and haphazard impression of the service, the fact that multiple waitresses had a hand in our evening made us feel more at home and taken care of. Perhaps that had to do with the little things – immediately bringing us a cooling bowl of raita when I mentioned offhand that one of the dishes was a bit spicy; a mere forty-five seconds between an empty basket of naan being replaced by a fresh basket; and most impressive of all, the use of a plate warmer to ensure that the food to be consumed didn’t lose their heat upon transfer to an individual’s plate.

Suffice to say, our experience at Vij’s survived the hype. Bravo to the staff, and keep up the great work.

Vij’s
1480 11th Avenue West
(604) 736-6664

Rob’s Renaissance: Cactus Club Bentall 5

I will admit I had a good chuckle when I initially read about Rob Feenie’s appointment as a “Food Concept Architect” for the Cactus Club chain. His punt from grace seemed complete – the tale of his dispute with the co-investor in his highly-praised Feenie’s and Lumiere restaurants provided much fodder for gourmand gossip, and after being forced out, his acceptance of a job that at the time seemed beneath him was surprising if not downright sad. I had visited Feenie’s for brunch last year, and though I wasn’t too impressed, probably couldn’t judge him too harshly without feasting on his supposed masterpieces being served next door at his signature Lumiere eatery. Last month, a review in the Globe & Mail started to pique my interest in his Cactus Club creations, in what the writer deemed to be Feenie’s renaissance, Lumiere-lite, if you will, in having to work with a finicky clientele interested in trendy food for a reasonable price, it seemed he was hitting it out of the park.

Though I was certain they didn’t take reservations, I called to make sure, and indeed, the new Cactus Club Bentall 5 (the only location thus far that serves Feenie’s signature dishes) seated only on a first come, first served basis. I asked what time I would have to be present to beat the rush on a Friday evening, and she advised me to show up at 4:30pm.

Exterior

While Mack and I weren’t sure we could make such an early dinner time, we ended up there just before 5 after visiting the Vancouver Aquarium and Stanley Park. There was a wait for patio seating, but as we weren’t picky, we were led almost immediately to a cozy booth in an area situated between the kitchen and the bar, right in the thick of things.

Interior

The restaurant was grand, but not off-putting. Two levels of seating were graced with natural light that flowed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, accenting the sparkly newness of it all – the dark, leather-bound seats, a beautiful high-standing glass wine case, and a wide, spacious bar frequented by the label-adorned business class. The room was bustling, busy in a way that made diners feel self-congratulatory in their restaurant pick, and even more so when stumbling into the bathroom, which featured not only automatic taps and flush toilets, but a plastic-wrapped toilet seat that instantly revolved with “fresh” material at the touch of a button.

The menu, as expected, featured a mix of salads, burgers, and larger entrees very similar to what might be expected at Earls. Rob Feenie’s touches were not clearly marked, so we checked with the waitress, who pointed to the panko-breaded chicken breast salad and butternut squash ravioli ($16), as two examples. I couldn’t resist the ravioli, salivating at the mere idea of truffle oil, while Mack decided on a seafood pasta dish, the prawn and scallop spaghettini ($19). Having been on a slider kick the last few months, we also ordered the mini burgers ($11) to start.

Mack checking for wifi…and success!

While we waited for our first course, I sipped on a “better than sex” (their description, not mine) bellini, and Mack enjoyed a beer. When our burgers arrived, they looked so delectable that we were sad they didn’t serve them in fours. We quite liked them, though to be honest they were nothing special – simply scaled-down versions of a bar staple.

Mini Burgers

Our entrees, on the other hand, made the meal. The ravioli was exquisite (and Giada-esque) – aromatically infused with truffle oil, dotted with crumbled amaretti cookies and pine nuts, and filled with sweet pureed squash – it was like having a dessert course for dinner. Mack similarly liked his spaghettini, attractively presented with the noodles twirled and topped with a scallop and shrimp, he was pleased to find two more of each buried underneath. The food was also deceivingly filling, but not to the point where we were uncomfortably full.

Butternut Squash Ravioli

Prawn and Scallop Spaghettini

I can say without hesitation that our experience at Cactus Club Bentall 5 was a great one. And to Rob Feenie – I owe you an apology: if you ever decide to make a lateral move to Earls, I may be made a believer yet.

Cactus Club Bentall 5
588 Burrard Street
(604) 682-0933

Culinary Q & A with Adam Snider

Occupation: Marketing Writer

What did you eat today?

I suppose the easiest way to answer this question is with a meal-by-meal breakdown, so here it goes.

Breakfast: 3 Red River & Oats pancakes (I made these a couple of weekends ago and froze the leftovers; I just popped a few in the toaster this morning and had a good breakfast ready in just minutes), and a protein & fibre drink (made from hemp protein powder and water).

Snack: Unsalted, multi-grain rice cakes with peanut butter.

Lunch: It happens that you asked me this on a Thursday, and the company I work for buys lunch for the employees every Thursday. Today, a few of the guys here actually BBQed some steaks and hamburgers. I had a steak, Caesar salad, some raw veggies, and a Coke.

Snack: Organic braeburn apple…these are the best apples I’ve ever tasted.

Supper: I’ve been trying to eat healthier, lately, and to keep with that, I had a turkey burger. The patty was made from organic ground turkey mixed with some hot sauce, a bit of curry powder, and just a touch of garlic powder. I topped this with a bit of Dijon mustard and, instead of eating it on a bun, I wrapped it up in some organic lettuce.

I also had a salad, just some lettuce, mixed bean sprouts, and half of an apple (all organic). I tossed this with a reduction of Yukon birch syrup, red wine vinegar, and olive oil.

What do you never eat?

I try not to discriminate against food, as just about everything can taste good if it’s prepared well, but there are a few things I just can’t eat. The first is Brussels sprouts. I hated these as a kid, and just haven’t been able to bring myself to give them a second chance as an adult.

I also refuse to eat Twinkies. I mean, do Twinkies even count as food? I have never eaten one, and I’d like to keep it that way.

What is your personal specialty?

I like to think that I’m a pretty good cook, but I admit that most of my dishes are pretty simple. If I had to pick a specialty, it would probably be my beef stew. There isn’t really a recipe, so it’s a bit different every time I make it, but other than the odd comment about it being too spicy (I like hot food) I’ve never had a complaint when I’ve made it for other people. My old roommate once said it was the best stew she had ever tasted.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

Probably my slow cooker. That’s the real secret ingredient in my stew, as well as a lot of other hearty dishes that I like to make in the winter months. It’s even good for use in the summer, because it doesn’t heat up the apartment the way that the stove and oven do.

World ends tomorrow. Describe your last meal.

This is a tough one. I’m not sure I can pick just one meal. I’d probably end up eating as many of my favourite foods as possible. A few things that I’d definitely have to include would be: a thick, medium-rare steak; a bison burger; a “deluxe” pizza; a cold beer (maybe a Maudite or an Alley Kat Charlie Flint Lager); a glass of wine (a pinot noir of some kind)…

Then again, maybe I’d try something I’ve eaten before…some kind of endangered species, maybe. I mean, the world is going to end tomorrow, so what harm could it do to eat a bald eagle, right?

Where do you eat out most frequently?

I try to check out a lot of different restaurants, but I think I eat out at Cosmos most often. My girlfriend (Sara) and I both love Greek food, so we tend to visit Cosmos a lot. They have great food, and incredible service. We went to the Rice Howard Way location for Sara’s birthday and they actually comped her entire meal, all of her drinks, and bought her a glass of wine and a piece of cake. Needless to say, I left a good tip and we’ve been telling everyone about their great service.

What’s the best place to eat in Edmonton?

A lot of really great restaurants have opened up in the last few years, and Edmonton is really starting to become a great city for foodies, so choosing the best place is tough.

On top of that, it really depends what I’m in the mood for. Picking an overall best restaurant in Edmonton is not easy, but my personal favourite would probably be a place just off Stony Plain Rd. called Singapore Baba. It’s a small, Singaporean place, run by a husband and wife team, that serves enormous portions for very low cost, and the service is excellent. You feel almost as if you’re a part of their family while you’re there.

Unfortunately, the last I heard was that they had been forced to temporarily close because the wife was in the hospital recovering from a car accident. That was almost a year ago, and I haven’t had a chance to see if they’ve reopened. I have a feeling that, unfortunately, they were probably forced to close down permanently, but I hope not. Maybe I’ll drive down there sometime this week and see if they’re still in business.

If you weren’t limited by geography, where and what would you eat?

This is another tough one, but I think I’d go to Japan to eat genuine Kobe beef. About the only Kobe you’ll see in Edmonton is in burger form, but apparently a Kobe beef steak is the best steak that money can buy. Assuming I had the cash, that would probably be my pick.

Food Notes

  • There’s a new restaurant on the block: Twisted Fork (11162 82 Avenue, (780) 761-3675) was reviewed by See Magazine last week.
  • It seems the space that housed the historic Silk Hat is due to be revitalized again. There have been help wanted ads in Vue Weekly for The Hat Resto-Pub. I wonder why they chose the word “resto-pub” instead of the more trendy and current “gastropub”?
  • Sorrentino’s annual and very popular Mushroom Harvest is on September 1-30. Just don’t make the mistake I did last year and call to make sure the location you’re heading to is actually offering the special dishes that day.
  • My sister (a Sobeys employee) let me know that Sobeys is unleashing their own version of a membership card in September called ClubSobeys. Points accumulated can be redeemed as cash discounts towards future purchases or as Aeroplan Miles – score one for Sobeys!
  • I was disappointed to see that Aaron McCargo Jr. won this season of The Next Food Network Star. I was cheering for Lisa Garza, a master of entertaining, but given her panache for fashion and her cooking style, Giada de Laurentiis may have vetoed her win.
  • Mack and I tried a classic sausage and egg Starbucks breakfast sandwich while in Vancouver on the weekend. It was ready in no time and piping hot to boot, but I didn’t get a chance to see how they warmed it. I have to agree with Mack – it is a far cry from the similar sandwiches available at McDonald’s and Tim Horton’s, but as they are available all day, and are cheaper than the $5.95 sandwiches in the cooler, I can see why some people would opt for the eggy treat.

Starbucks Breakfast Sandwich

Vancouver 2008 Wrap-up

Though I don’t feel we did enough over our four days in Vancouver to make the trip wholly worthwhile, at least the reason for our trip – to watch Michelle and Steven get married – was a fun day out. As well, Mack and I now know the areas that we would like to explore in further detail in the future – Gastown and Kitsilano to name a few. Below, a day-to-day recap of our trip, minus the restaurants that I will cover in greater detail.

Friday

After finally getting something to eat at a not-worth-mentioning salad bar, Mack and I walked to Stanley Park to visit the Vancouver Aquarium. It’s been years since I was there last, so many, in fact, that my memory failed to recall how absolutely tiny the attraction is. We were done touring the underwater galleries in no time (granted, we didn’t have the little-kid awe or curiosity we used to have), but I was most looking forward to the open air displays. My little otter friend Milo “Jack” was there, and though we stayed to listen to the brief beluga presentation (while actually spying on the Stockwell Day-lookalike), watch the otter feeding, and attempted to get a glimpse of the dolphin show, I was overall disappointed with how small the aquarium was. It was definitely not worth the $24.95 admission we paid at the door.

Stanley Park

Trees

Mack with flowers

Swimming to the light!

Crocodile

Jellyfish

In a bubble

Milo the sea otter!

There he goes!

The beluga is wearing a sweater (and yes, we were too cheap to buy anything)

After dinner at the newest Cactus Club, we headed to the Chinatown Night Market, a daily summer event likely held to try to bring traffic in to a neighbourhood otherwise abandoned in the evening. Given that we passed through an area featuring interesting buildings (the $10 a night hostel with chicken wire on the windows was notable for the wrong reasons), I wasn’t surprised at the mostly deserted streets en route to Chinatown. At any rate, we were greeted by a modest collection of booths selling everything from cheap trinkets and toys to home décor items and undergarments (at the unbeatable price of 10 for $10!). Of course, we zoomed in on the food, despite having just eaten a satisfyingly filling dinner. The dumplings were too irresistible (and cheap) to resist, being pan-fried right before our eyes, and a serving of vegetarian noodles seemed the perfect to top off our post-meal snack. The noodles were unfortunately lukewarm, but the dumplings tasted as good as they looked.

Night Market

Trolling for trinkets

Pork and chive dumplings

 

Vegetarian noodles

On our way back to Triumf House, we stopped in Yoko Yaya (88 West Pender Street), a store very similar to Daiso in Aberdeen Centre – a mecca of $1-3 treasures (a word Mack would undoubtedly dispute to be used in this context). I was only able to wander the store for 20 minutes, as Mack’s threshold of pain was waning.

Saturday

Though we took a few wrong turns, we made it to the church on time. The ceremony was brief but nice, and we stayed a short while for group pictures. Because we had quite a lengthy period of time to kill before the reception, the lot of us Edmonton folk headed out early to the Metropolis at Metrotown, also home of the Fortune House Seafood Restaurant where we were due at 6pm (I am thankful to the organizers of the wedding who had the foresight to book a restaurant in a mall, providing an easy way to pass the time for out-of-town guests).

We decided to skip the mall offerings and walked to the nearby IHOP (5137 Kingsway). Mack is forever waxing poetic about the addictive nature of their eggs, but after my experience, I’m hard pressed to distinguish IHOP from my local Denny’s. While I was intrigued that my ham and three-cheese omelette contained a splash of their “famous” pancake batter, I couldn’t distinguish what flavour, if any, was added because of that. The pancakes themselves, not gussied up with anything except butter, were also pretty ordinary.

Mack taking a hit of syrup

Dickson with his…salad

Mack’s Ham & Egg Melt

My Supreme Ham & Cheese Omelette

Pancakes

The sad-looking waffle (“It’s not IHOW.”)

We had enough time to take in a screening of Tropic Thunder (I loved Robert Downey Jr. with his over-the-top method acting satire) before heading to the restaurant.

The dinner was comprised of the traditional 10 courses of mainly seafood dishes. Thankfully for me, there were enough vegetables mixed in so I didn’t go hungry.

Party favours

Mack & I

Jane & Yi-Li

Dickson and Violet demonstrate the perfect pout

Megan and Mack eat “air” (or so they thought of the deep-fried chips)

The crispy-fried pork dish was my favourite…talk about a diet-busting entrée

Stan & Felix demonstrate their “gangster” pose

The wedding party’s table toast

Group shot – congrats Michelle & Steven!

We then headed outside for a few more pictures…just like old times.

The girls

The guys

Everyone being random

Jump!

Sunday

Our only day of drizzly, grey, typical Vancouver weather was spent mostly eating and lazing around. We headed to Granville Island, the place where I spent my only free day in Vancouver over a year ago. Though Mack tried to dissuade me from doing so, I was keen to retry the Fresh Tomato and Cheese pizza from Bridges (1696 Duranleau Street), a dish I had confidently labelled in 2007 as the “best pizza I ever had”. The pizza was actually quite different than the one I remember – dusted with cornmeal, and (as it was summer) featuring a lot more tomatoes than the winter version, this pizza was less cheesy and chewier than the other. Mack’s halibut fish and chips were great – enrobed in a light and crisp batter, they made for a nice lunch.

Tomato and Cheese Pizza

Fish and Chips

We walked around the Granville Public Market, oohing and ahhing (at least, I was) at all of the wonderful produce available. The only downside of visiting such markets is having to restrain myself from buying everything, knowing that we wouldn’t be able to carry or eat our purchases before they would spoil.

Market

Champagne grapes

I heart hydrangeas

We also wandered into the Net Loft and Kids Market, two buildings that I hadn’t been to before. The loft specifically was great, with a kitchen wares store, a cookbook shop, stationary store, and even a hat boutique that was so packed it was difficult to move between the shelves.

Mack by the harbour

After dinner at Vij’s (which absolutely deserves its own post), we chilled out at Blenz with tea and wifi for Mack and a paper for me.

Always on his iPod

Us

Monday

Following a great breakfast at Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe, we headed to Gastown for a walking tour. Having been on walking tours in several cities now, I can say I quite enjoy them. I never remember the small details or facts, but I find it’s a great way to be introduced to a part of town by a local.

Gassy Jack statue

Hotel Europe (looks like the Gibson Block in Edmonton)

The famous steam-powered clock

As always, it was nice to get away, but the trip was too short. You can read Mack’s summary post here, and see all of the photos from our trip here.

Off to Vancouver!

I’m off to Vancouver tonight for a friend’s wedding (sadly, I won’t be bringing along the beautifully-constructed dress made for me by Jane and Megan at Michelle’s shower).

I won’t be “remote-blogging”, but you can bet Mack will be.

Enjoy one of summer’s last weekends (and the Fringe if you’re heading that way)!