Blink: Urban Picnic

I would say the first event in our Blink series of pop-up dinners came together relatively quickly, from conception to reality (helped greatly, of course, by the staff of Century Hospitality Group). The notion of transforming a pedway into a restaurant felt inspired, almost spontaneous. This is especially true when contrasted with the location of our second Blink event.

For a few years now, Mack and I have been looking longingly at a site at Louise McKinney Park, wondering if it would be possible to program the space. It seemed like the ideal location – accessible, with riverfront views. Though in recent years there have been more efforts to animate the park as a whole (That’s Edmonton For You and Hip Hop in the Park come to mind, besides the long-standing Dragon Boat Festival), it’s still a drop in the bucket.

Louise McKinney Park

The addition of washrooms and a cafe at the base of the building haven’t seemed to help either – on most days passing through in the afternoon or evening, one would be hard pressed to find many people using the trails, let alone lingering. We often hear it said that the best feature of Edmonton is our extensive river valley – but if no one is actually out enjoying it, what use is it?

Trails

One argument that has been made is that there should be more reasons for people to visit Louise McKinney. The cafe in the River Valley Adventure Co. is a good start, so people taking a stroll can stop in for a coffee or ice cream along the way, but it’s clearly not enough. Opening up the riverfront to more commercial development doesn’t mean letting it go forward unchecked, but a few more amenities such as a local restaurant with patio seating, would help make our greatest attraction a more user-friendly one. For us, Blink provided us with the ideal medium to explore this idea further – what would a river valley restaurant look like?

What: Blink: Urban Picnic!
When: August 26, 2012
Time: Cocktails from 5-5:30pm, dinner from 5:30-7:30pm
Where: 9735 Grierson Hill

But like our previous event, Mack and I aren’t in this alone. We’re actually quite fortunate in that we’ve again found some wonderful partners to work with.

The biggest challenge was to find a way to prepare the food in the middle of the park. With the advent of food trucks in our city, this was easily solved. We knew that Kara and Nevin of Drift had been wanting to branch out with meals beyond sandwiches, and with their philosophy of promoting local producers, the fit was perfect. With Drift on as a partner, Blink: Urban Picnic was born. We can’t take credit for the name – it was all Kara’s idea, wanting to take advantage of the al fresco nature of the event, under a family-style casual dinner theme. Check out the menu they’ve developed here.

Kara and Nevin also introduced us to the owners of River Valley Adventure Co., who have also jumped on board. They have seen first hand how some development can help introduce folks to our natural assets, but acknowledge that more can be done. They will be offering coffee and tea to diners at the end of the night, as well as an opportunity to try out a Segway!

Inside River Valley Adventure Co.

Another of our obstacles was finding the resources to cover all of the materials we would need to set up a pop-up restaurant. We wanted to keep the ticket price as low as possible, and we were only able to do this when the Shaw Conference Centre stepped in. They have been not only a generous, but gracious sponsor, and in this case, the perfect fit. In many ways, the Shaw is the gateway to the river valley – either by folks traversing its outdoor staircase to reach the valley below (as we do on our walks), or by taking the escalator down for similar access. They’ve even come up with a way for diners to experience this latter path in a novel way – by enjoying a cocktail along the way! We are asking that diners enter the site through the main doors of the Shaw Conference Centre off Jasper Avenue. There, they will each receive a champagne flute to drink while riding down to reach Louise McKinney. They have dubbed this an “escalator cocktail” – no doubt this will be the first of its kind in Edmonton!

Shaw Conference Centre

Tickets for Blink: Urban Picnic are $50, and will go on sale at 9am on August 20, 2012. We hope you consider joining us for this pop-up dinner!

Hot in Hawrelak: Heritage Days 2012

Summers in Edmonton are ripe with tradition, and for us, the Heritage Days are a seasonal fixture. The throngs of people revelling in the whirlwind of diversity is intoxicating as much as the sights and sounds of the festival itself. And really, it is the best place in the city to sample foods of over eighty cultures all in one place – a huge al fresco food crawl, if you will.

Nicaraguan dancers

Last year, Mack and I made it a mission to only sample dishes we had never tried before. It worked reasonably well to open our palates up to new tastes, but this year, we were a bit more lax, indulging in old favourites alongside novel ones. Thom joined us at the festival this year, just as open to our explorations!

Mack’s favourite perogies from Ukraine

But boy, was it ever hot on that Monday – probably the warmest day we had ever been down at Hawrelak. It was probably too hot to really enjoy ourselves, as we seized whatever opportunity we had to duck into the shade. As a result, many of our food tickets were used in the vain attempt to try to cool our body temperature – cold drinks, watermelon slices, frozen bananas. Perhaps not the best use of our tickets taste-wise, but I can tell you – I don’t think a mango slush has ever tasted better.

Frozen bananas from Peru

Food-wise, my favourite item that we tasted that day was courtesy of the Taiwan pavilion. A few months ago, Sunny Yang, the Public Relations Director for the Edmonton Taiwanese Association, contacted me and asked if I wanted a complimentary tour of their food offerings at Heritage Days this year. I happily accepted, and we met up with him that day.

Taiwan pavilion

Sunny introduced us to Joanne Liu, the volunteer in charge of their most unique savoury offering, what they called a Taiwan hamburger.

Joanne presents a Taiwan hamburger

A flat steamed bun was lined with barbecue pork, lettuce, onion, radish, carrots and parsley. It was not only a healthy alternative to much of the deep fried fare available, but a tasty one at that. Joanne said it was a dish she would make her kids to snack on, filled with whatever she might have on hand. It’s the type of sandwich that New York’s BaoHaus and San Francisco’s Chairman Bao have helped make popular – maybe it’s time an Edmonton restaurant or truck take it on full time?

Taiwan hamburger

We also got to try the mashu rice ball dessert, made from rice flour. One encased red bean paste, rolled in coconut, while the other featured a centre of green bean paste with black sesame seeds on the outside. Mrs. Chen was the veteran volunteer in charge of making these fresh throughout the festival. Mack and Thom commented on how filling they were; the mashu are deceivingly small, but dense, and not too sweet.

Taiwan mashu

Even though these items have been on their menu for several years, I’m embarrassed to admit that without this invitation, I probably would have gone even longer without trying them myself. Thanks again to Sunny and the hospitality of the Taiwan pavilion volunteers! I will be back next year.

We continued our food tour in Nepal, trying their Kukhurako Masu chicken curry. It was far from being boneless (as advertised in the menu), but was served in the most delectable sauce. Unlike some curries, the heat was palatable, but more prominent was the flavour from long-simmered onions, garlic and other spices.

Kukhurako Masu chicken curry

Mack wasn’t able to indulge in Congo’s curious spinach and peanut butter dish, but Thom and I gave it a go. The peanut butter was too faint for it to be memorable, but we were glad to have finally sampled it.

Spinach and peanut butter

Having gone through the menu the day before, Mack singled out Venezuela’s Tequenos as a must try. Why? The ambiguous description: “deep-fried wheat cheese fingers served with pink sauce.” It turned out the translation probably needed some work, as they were essentially just battered cheese sticks. We found the cheese to be on the sour side; it really wasn’t for us.

Tequenos

Our day ended not with a plate, but with a game. Throughout the afternoon, my sister had been texting me updates of the Canada/US women’s soccer game. When she told me it was tied and going into extra time, I dragged Thom and Mack to the only TV on-site at the Telus booth to watch the rest of the game. Although the outcome wasn’t what we wanted, it was neat to be able to watch it alongside other patriotic fans.

Go Canada Go!

Kudos to the Heritage Days organizers for another great year!

Introducing Truck Stop: Throwdown Edition

Mack and I were looking at ways to enhance our Truck Stop events (our smaller What the Truck?! series featuring 3-4 trucks). Typically, we request that participating trucks send us their menus in advance so we are able to vet them for duplication. We know food festivals thrive on variety, so if trucks do have similar items, we have asked them to swap those items out in the past.

But recently, we were thinking – why couldn’t we use this duplication to our advantage? Why not throw a bit of friendly competition into the mix? And with that, Truck Stop: Throwdown Edition was born.

Pulled pork is one of the most common food truck items, so we asked if three of those purveyors, The Act, Nomad and Smokehouse BBQ, would be a part of this Truck Stop experiment. We were thrilled when they agreed. Pork might be a common element between their creations, but their preparations and techniques vary. Truck Stop: Throwdown Edition will seek to answer the question: which truck is the king of pulled pork?

What: Truck Stop: Throwdown Edition
When: Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Where: Edmonton Public Schools Archives (10425 99 Avenue)
Time: 5-8pm

All three trucks will be serving up slider-sized portions of their pulled pork, so you’ll have enough room to consider all three if you so choose.

For your consideration:

The Act

Nomad

Smokehouse BBQ

To vote, we ask that you donate at least $2 to the Edmonton Public Schools Foundation in exchange for a ballot. Given the location of this event, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to partner with a charity with a great cause – learn more about how the Foundation supports early learning and full-day kindergarten here.

Dick Mather Park

Dick Mather Park, adjacent to the Edmonton Public Schools Archives, also happens to be one of my favourite parks (I love gazebos), so I think this will be another great opportunity for folks to have an urban picnic in the heart of the city. Hope to see you there!

Recap: What the Truck?! at Victoria Promenade

Organizing outdoor events can be nerve-wracking, because they are so much at the mercy of the weather. So when we had our first cloudless, rain-free What the Truck?!, we made sure to count our blessings!

Before the storm

It seemed even more fitting last Friday, given it was our most scenic location to date, with ten trucks set up along the beautiful stretch of the Victoria Promenade. In our opinion, it is an underappreciated and underutilized gem in Edmonton, so we were even more thrilled at the amazing turnout!

Huge crowds

We also think it was the largest and more diverse crowd we’ve seen at any What the Truck?! event, and though it had to do somewhat with the location and perfect conditions, we also believe it had a lot to do with the dense neighbourhood of Oliver it was situated in. No doubt, the wafting of food aromas helped entice more than a few residents in the surrounding towers!

The Promenade, by Ian McKenzie

It was really neat to see people setting up picnics anywhere and everywhere along the Promenade. From benches to curbs to apartment stoops, it was casual al fresco dining at its best!

Phil was among the early birds

Fel and Jeff enjoy the mac melt from Molly’s

Joe and Vicky at their first What the Truck?!

Loved their buffet spread

Who says a stoop can’t be a perfectly suitable table?

For whatever reason, Mack and I don’t actually end up eating all that much at the events. But we did enjoy what we did sample!

Pork belly adobo from Filistix

Siu mai from The Lingnan

Of course, we do recognize the shortcomings of this location. Because we needed to maintain access to the residential garages situated along this road, we were only able to claim half of the street. This meant that unlike our previous two events, we weren’t able to situate trucks in a way that would have provided some line separation. As well, though our intentions were to have sidewalks as clear as possible, the length of many of the lines made this improbable. We appreciate the patience people had with navigating the Promenade, and your feedback will help us improve future events – for instance, we are looking at stanchions for our next go-around.

This event would not have been possible without the generosity of our partners and sponsors. The Oliver Community League was with us from the beginning, eager to help bring What the Truck?! to their neighbourhood. They also hosted a community social at their local hall afterwards, and it seemed to be a very well-attended opportunity for neighbours to meet one another.

The Urban Monks DJs, Thomas and Marc, also brought their creative spin to the table! They didn’t need to DJ in extreme conditions this time around, but they still brought down the street with their beats. Thanks, guys!

The Urban Monks

Last but not least, Tri-Line Disposal came through with their handy toters. Mack and I always like to return the event site to the community in the same condition we found it, and it really wouldn’t have been possible to do this without their mobile waste containers.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support the trucks! But if you missed the event, you’re in luck! Our next Truck Stop will be taking place on August 15, in the form of a Pulled Pork Throwdown! Hope to see you there!

You can take a look at the photoset here.

Greek Eats on the Street: Little Village Food Truck

The food truck scene in Edmonton just keeps on growing – and really, the more the merrier at this point, where the demand for great street food still seems to outpace the supply. The latest addition is Little Village Food Truck, owned and operated by Theo Psalios.

Little Village Food Truck

You might recognize the Psalios name – the family opened the popular local chain of Koutouki restaurants, and starred in the first two seasons of the Food Network show The Family Restaurant. Now, the family has scaled back to just one Koutouki location on 124 Street, and Theo has branched out to bring Greek eats to a curb near you.

Theo Psalios

Little Village has been open for just a week, serving up lunch downtown at 105 Street just south of Jasper Avenue in front of the Atco Building. But we caught up with the truck last Thursday at the 124 Street Grand Market, where Little Village was feeding the dinner crowd alongside Drift and Nomad.

A fleet of food trucks!

Theo changes up the menu almost daily – make sure to keep abreast of his offerings on the Twitter account. On that night, he had two items available: a Greek lambwich ($8) and Little Village potatoes ($4.50).

The lambwich was everything it promised to be – a generous portion of delicately roasted lamb shoulder topped with feta and pickled cabbage. I especially loved the brioche bun – the sweetness complemented the meat well. The side of potatoes was also enjoyable, topped with tzatziki and scallions.

Greek lambwich

Little Village potatoes

Mack and I are hoping Little Village will be joining us for our 2012 What the Truck?! finale this September, but until then, make sure to keep up with their whereabouts on Twitter!

City Market Report: Week 12

If today was any indication, it seems like the weather will cooperate this long weekend. The aisles of the City Market were basking in glorious sunshine. Martin Kerr was back busking in the square, and I know we’re not the only ones who believe it feels more like a market day when one can hear his voice resonating above the trees.

Market square

It’s always great to see new vendors join the fray, but in this instance, it was a familiar face returning to the City Market! You may recognize Rhonda Headon from O Sol’ Meatos, one of the two companies she and her husband Brian runs, but this time around, she was at the market selling her wonderful products from The Cheesiry. We picked up some two month old pecorino. Look for them the next time you’re at the market!

The Cheesiry

It was the first Saturday for field tomatoes at Sundog Organic, but Mack and I were too late to buy the pound we needed for one of his favourite late summer recipes. Next week! We still picked up a ton of fresh produce for the week though, including raspberries which we couldn’t wait to dig into.

Leeks from Sundog Organic

Beets from Sundog Organic

Nectarines from Steve & Dan’s

Plums from Steve & Dan’s

Carrots from Kuhlmann’s

Kohlrabi from Kuhlmann’s

Cucumbers from Kuhlmann’s

I hope you all have a lovely long weekend!

Still Not Perfect, But Getting There: Taste of Edmonton 2012

The Taste of Edmonton just racked up its most successful year ever, as defined by ticket sales. There was such a high demand for food that organizers ended up having to utilize their 2011 ticket inventory.

So in the face of stagnant or declining attendance at Capital Ex/K-Days, what made the Taste of Edmonton such an attractive festival in this packed summer calendar? Was it truly the changes and additions to its 2012 incarnation that had such a huge impact? In part, I think the answer is yes.

First Annual Taste Festival Cook-off

Taste of Edmonton introduced several different initiatives in an effort to reach a new, younger demographic this year. One of these initiatives was the on-stage cook-off.

Over two days, bloggers and food enthusiasts put their skills on display in live cooking competitions. Although Taste has hosted cooking demonstrations in the past, the inclusion of amateur chefs was a new element.

On stage

Mack and I were present for one competition involving three food bloggers, who had an hour to put up their best food truck-inspired entrées. It was an absolute scorcher that afternoon, but Phil, Teresa and Michelle all toughed it out and made it look easy. Hosts Liane and Amanda also kept the crowd entertained, providing relevant commentary and opportunities to win prizes throughout.

The final dishes were judged by three local chefs – David Omar of Zinc, Lindsay Porter of 4th and Vine, and Shane Chartrand of Murietta’s. They tasted, tasted again, and agonized over the scores, as it turned out only a single point separated the winning dish from the other two.

Judges

In the end, Phil was crowned the victor. But in a surprise announcement, it turned out that all three were victorious in a way – each of the three chefs had agreed to adopt one dish to be featured on their restaurant’s menu.

The winning dish

Congrats, Phil!

Though the crowds could have been larger for the cook-off that we attended (and perhaps would have been if the competition had been kept to half an hour), it was a great first time event. It added a community dimension that has been lacking, and is something I hope organizers expand in the future.

Curb Your Hunger

In a way, food trucks were an inevitable addition to Taste of Edmonton. With organizers looking for a way to punch up the food offerings, food trucks were an easy way to do it – they are self-sustaining (and thus would not need to draw on power or water sources), offer consistent and unique products, and are undoubtedly fashionable. So Curb Your Hunger, Taste’s food truck corral, was born.

Drift in the thick of things

Given our experience with the trucks at What the Truck?! and other events, Mack and I weren’t sure how well the trucks would fare. No doubt their food would be a hit, but could they keep up with the volume demanded by the large crowds and long hours? How would they store that amount of food in the truck? Could they compete price-wise, given some trucks use superior, locally-sourced ingredients? And with organizers taking a significant percentage of ticket sales, would it be worth their while?

Curry ‘N’ Hurry, one of the newest trucks

Organizers admit that this was a bit of a mixed bag. It probably didn’t help that the trucks weren’t consistently present (some through no fault of their own, having made other commitments prior to signing on to Taste). Their menus were also listed separately from the other restaurants, while some trucks like The Act were probably easily overlooked because they faced away from the rest of the vendors. In addition, some trucks did sell out early to the dismay of some patrons, without kitchen staff to lean on to replenish supplies.

The Act

Of course, it should be noted that Taste’s embrace of food trucks (and the recent announcement that Eat St. will be filming in our city) means that these darlings of the food scene may finally be considered mainstream. No doubt this provided some Edmontonians with their first exposure to gourmet mobile food, and that’s a good thing.

So – should trucks continue to be a part of Taste? Obviously, this is ultimately up to the trucks if they want to participate (and if the festival is open to having them), but I hope organizers tweak this aspect for next year if Curb Your Hunger returns.

New Menus Items

Food festivals like a Taste of Edmonton are extremely democratic. Patrons eat what they want, and vendors who can cater to that are rewarded with monster sales. For that reason, it’s easy to see why crowd-pleasing dishes like green onion cakes and mini burgers will forever remain on the menu at Taste, and restaurants are unwilling to risk serving something outside of the box. Understandably, organizers are also faced with a dilemma: sure, an exotic menu peppered with innovative dishes would be easier to promote, but would it appeal to the average festivalgoer? Edmontonians are known for their fairly conservative palates.

Still, to attract patrons who are tired of seeing the same dishes return year after year, or to pique the interest of those with more adventurous tastes, organizers heralded a menu boasting 65% new menu items. Some of the most anticipated items came from the food trucks, but some new restaurants like Guru and TZiN stepped up to the plate as well, bringing with them a reputation of quality and higher-end food.

As a whole, Mack and I were satisfied with the food we tried this year. We were very deliberate with our choices, but were much more impressed with the quality of the dishes we at this year when compared with 2011.

The grilled pork dumplings from Urban China were easily my favourite. The skin was nice and crispy, and the three ticket price didn’t hurt either. We also enjoyed the falafel and pork belly sandwich from Drift, but that was no surprise given we’ve had it many times before!

Pork dumplings from Urban China

Pork belly sandwich from Drift

Falafel from Drift

Guru’s samosa had been freshly fried and absolutely packed with tandoori chicken, while the accompanying tamarind sauce cut the heat in one sweet stroke. Moreover, TZiN’s vegetarian dish of panzanella salad was a nice change of pace, light and refreshing.

Samosa from Guru

Panzanella from TZiN

We are admittedly not immune to having old favourites, though – Mack couldn’t leave the grounds without a sample of his favourite crack chicken from The Lingnan!

Dry spicy chicken from the Lingnan

Given the record ticket sales, I would imagine most who attended Taste had positive food experiences. Hopefully the organizers can build on that momentum for next year.

Still Not Perfect, But Getting There

Although some seem to think this year’s event was near flawless, I disagree. I’ve written in the past about what changes could make the event better, and though organizers have made some great enhancements and improvements this year, I think there is more to be done.

The layout still needs to improve in places, where flow is obstructed due to lines or a lack of room to move.

No room to move

In addition to Centennial Square, couldn’t 99 Street between the Art Gallery and City Hall be better utilized? Telus had set up a booth there, but really, couldn’t the organizers have utilized the space better and placed food vendors there, instead of a promotional vehicle that was only present for a few days?

Waste of space

More non-beer tent seating would also be appreciated. It’s hard to get past the Churchill Square visual of Taste essentially being a giant beer garden when so much real estate is allocated to the 18+ zone.

Churchill Square

Though the reality is that the festival won’t ever be a “taste of the best of Edmonton”, when the draw isn’t just the food, but the atmosphere of it all, it would still be great if one of the summer’s premiere events did continue to attract the crowds that came out this year. It will be interesting to see how the event manifests itself in 2013, especially with Giuseppe Albi retiring. Former Northlands employee Paul Lucas will be taking over Events Edmonton (and Taste of Edmonton along with it), so we will see.

City Market Report: Week 11 (and Dirt City, Dream City)

By the time we got downstairs to the City Market, it was later in the day and the rain had started to come down.

Rainy market afternoon

In some ways, this was good for us, because the selection of fresh produce was still quite good, but I acknowledge that the weather wasn’t what vendors were hoping for.

Sweetheart plums from Steve & Dan’s

Pattypan squash from Kuhlmann’s

Zucchini and summer squash from Kuhlmann’s

Cauliflower from Riverbend Gardens

Thankfully, the rain cleared up that afternoon, and Mack and I took the opportunity to explore Dirt City, Dream City in The Quarters.

Examining Crow’s Advice by Holly Newman

Dirt City, Dream City encompasses 17 different art installations spread across the neighbourhood. We weren’t entirely sure how we would locate all of them without a paper guide, but the “scavenger hunt”-like experience turned out to be fun, and the map printed on the descriptive boxes beside each piece was really all we needed. The pedestrian nature of the exhibit was fitting given it is closely tied to how most residents of the neighbourhood get around, and encouraged us down streets we probably wouldn’t have travelled on our own accord.

Accompanying artists’ statements and biographies

Along the way, we encountered many different manifestations of art – from Adam Waldron-Blain’s live performance on a construction-ridden street to billboard canvases to an entire community garden.

In Performance by Adam Waldron-Blain

The underlying message behind the installations was an expression of the dichotomy between the current reality of The Quarters and the optimistic future plans propagated by the City. Without question, there is progress being made (the YMCA Welcome Village set to open later this year is the first in a series of planned improvements), but after walking past too many derelict buildings and gravel parking lots it’s easy to see why residents would be frustrated.

Simulacrum by Carly Greene

Unlike most gallery art we come across, I loved the open air nature of this exhibit, and how they interacted with the natural elements. One good example was Aaron Paquette’s Everyone is Welcome, which was so welcoming that we saw a rabbit settled comfortably in the centre of the piece.

Aaron Paquette’s Everyone is Welcome

The Quarters Community Garden by Tiffany Shaw-Collinge also appealed to me because it was a living example of a piece larger than life, engaging residents in tangible art.

Quarters Community Garden

The piece that resonated the most with me was The Placebo Effect by Emily van Driesum.

The Placebo Effect

I couldn’t agree with her accompanying art statement more:

“A tree encompasses the strength, growth and enduring qualities of The Quarters Downtown, while reflecting Edmonton’s goal of bringing people and greenery back into an urban setting. In The Placebo Effect, stitching implies an attempted healing. However, by removing the root system of the tree, the stitching may not be enough to sustain healing. The Placebo Effect illustrates a potential revitalization of the Quarters community. Without the root system, the attempted healing process may have a beneficial result or no result at all.”

Dirt City, Dream City closes on July 30, 2012. Check it out if you can!

What the Truck?! @ Victoria Promenade on August 3, 2012

One of the best things about food trucks is their mobility, and the fact that they can set up virtually anywhere. If What the Truck?! was well received, Mack and I planned to move the festival around, with the knowledge that there are numerous underutilized places and parks in Edmonton that we couldn’t wait to colonize with food trucks. Thanks to the Edmontonians who have embraced food trucks in droves, we have that flexibility!

When we started to plan out our 2012 season earlier this spring, we identified Oliver as a prime potential site. The densest neighbourhood in the city, with great access to public transportation made Oliver ideal. We connected with the Oliver Community League to see if this was something they were interested in supporting, and to our delight, they were right on board.

We jointly identified a number of suitable locations, which included Paul Kane Park and Oliver Pool. But without a doubt, Victoria Promenade was the street at the top of our wish list.

Victoria Promenade (picture from marceloilers)

It is often lamented that to animate the river valley, more amenities are needed. Although the Victoria Promenade doesn’t offer quite the same natural escape, we think it’s still one of the most meditative spots in the City, with expansive views and benches to relax on. Even better, there are numerous restaurants and cafes just one street over. In our opinion, the Victoria Promenade is one of the best kept secrets in Edmonton.

Whether or not you’re already familiar with the Promenade, we hope you’ll consider joining us for eats and beats on the street next week! It will be unlike any other What the Truck?! we’ve organized so far.

What: What the Truck?!, Edmonton’s food truck extravaganza
When: Friday, August 3, 2012
Where: Victoria Promenade (100 Avenue, south of Jasper and 121 Street – very limited parking, so walk, bike, or ride transit!)
Time: 5-9pm

We are also happy to now be able to share the menus with you. With ten trucks in total, there should be something for everyone.

See you there!

Park After Dark: Tweetup at Northlands Park

Something Mack and I have wanted to do for ages in Edmonton is watch a live horse race. Though my only exposure to horse racing in general is watching the Triple Crown on television, we knew Northlands Park had a reputation for putting on a good show (and those tongue-in-cheek commercials with aptly named horses like getoffthecouch probably didn’t hurt either). Fortuitously, the Park was hosting a tweetup on a Friday night two weeks ago. We signed up through EventBrite and hoped for the best.

We rode the train over to Northlands (though I know it’s obvious, it would have been nice if transit was mentioned on the EventBrite ticket, instead of only listing the availability of free parking), and walked through some of the preliminary Capital Ex set-up on our way to the Park. Once there, we found quite a happening space.

Park After Dark

In an effort to attract a younger demographic, and to de-mystify the aura around horse racing, Northlands transforms into what they bill as “Edmonton’s largest patio party” once a week in the summer. I was really amazed at what some cushy rattan furniture and a live DJ could do to transform the uninviting pavement into a sun-drenched lounge. The Park in the Dark series, which takes place every Friday through to September, also features a free shuttle to The Pint.

The DJ was nice enough to invite us to have a photo taken

The entire patio is licensed (and also serves up a casual barbecue menu), but patrons of all ages are permitted. This translated into quite a diverse range of parties – from families with young children to the bar crowd to older couples. In many ways, Northlands has done a great job to make it a destination for almost everyone.

Lounging al fresco

They even had a few hilarious bouncy ball races down the track between races, similar to the silly competitions hosted at other sporting events at half time.

In it to win it

Of course, part of the intention behind the tweetup was to teach those of us racing neophytes how to place bets. We had missed the initial group lesson (5:30pm was much too early to begin the formal program), but it actually worked out for the best. We were hooked up with a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide, who took some time to go through the rudimentary elements of a wager, as well as some of the statistics to look for (e.g., jockey’s record, horse’s lifetime record, horse’s record at Northlands Park). In the end though, he encouraged us to have fun with it – sometimes the best wagers are made on superficial elements like the names or colour of an animal (Cathy has a cheeky breakdown of more random betting schemes).

Justin was a good mentor!

All guests of the tweetup received a free $2 wager, but we were lucky enough to receive an additional $25. With that, we were able to play around quite a bit with the types of bets we made – from choosing a jockey with a winning streak that night and the horse with the best record to a horse with a memorable name (“Dream Nettie”, in our case, who reminded us of our Belua Designs creation). It was definitely hit or miss, but cheering for our horse to reach the post was made that much more exciting with money on the line!

Here they come…

Right in the action

At the end of the day, we made slightly more than what we wagered, which is all we could have hoped for our first time out – call it beginner’s luck!

Mack’s all smiles with his highest winning ticket

Thanks to Northlands for putting on a great tweetup, and for helping us get our feet wet in the world of horse racing!

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