Winefest Ticket Giveaway - CLOSED

{Are you a food or drink blogger in Edmonton? Come to The Common on March 4th and meet up with fellow food bloggers from our fair city! Details here.}

{Update: February 9} Thanks for entering the giveaway everyone! This was the first one on this blog. The winner of the two tickets to Winefest is Suzanne! Hope you enjoy!

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Winefest is celebrating its 6th year at the Shaw Conference Centre February 14-15th, and I've got two tickets to the Saturday afternoon tasting session (2-5pm) to give away. Here's the info -

"Wine novices and seasoned vino lovers will enjoy a decadent... afternoon of all-inclusive wine tasting alongside delicious hors d'oeuvres... Celebrate and sample from 247 wines from the world's most renowned wine regions!"

How to win - In the comments below, leave your name and email address (so I can contact you if you win). I'll select a random winner and contact them on Sunday, February 9th. Good luck!

*Please note that you need to be 18 to attend the festival. You will need to show valid photo ID to pick up your tickets.

Street Fest

Since I usually post after these sorts of events, I figured I'd do a quick Street Fest post since there's an entire week left to check things out.

We stopped by on both Friday and Saturday evening and had a great time. So far our favourite performers are Grant Goldie, who's show includes miming, juggling and other cool, classy things, and The Adventurers Explorers League Club, two guys who roam the show with either backpacks or the fantastic canoes below.

Grant Goldie

The Adventurers Explorers League Club

Pancho Libre

Street Fest is on in Churchill Square up to and including next Sunday, July 15th. Performers are on from 11:30am-11pm. Make sure you check it out!

Breaking in the kitchen

We talked a lot this past fall about which neighbourhood would become home. Garneau is perfect. It makes not owning a car easy, with grocery stores and other amenities easy to access via foot. And just as importantly, there are lots of late night spots... no, not the weird bars along Whyte, but comfy spots like Sugarbowl, DaCapo, Remedy and Next Act.

But when one of Charles' family members offered up there condo in Oliver for rental, we couldn't resist. Although we're missing those "comfy" spots on 109th, they are, thankfully, just a short-jaunt-across-the-High-Level-Bridge away, and there are plenty of grocery options around here, with the City Market close by on Saturdays. Furthermore, downtown is quickly gaining in the types of casual spots we love (Remedy is coming along on 102 Street, there's always Red Star, and yesterday there was word of a new whisky bar opening on 103 Street). A short 10 minute walk puts us in the middle of all of it.

No matter the neighbourhood, moving means a new kitchen. And in our case, a completely different kitchen that we've quickly been breaking in.

Our first real meal was on New Year's eve. Although I planned to attempt Daniel Costa's "Ziti with sugo alla Napoletana," published in the November/December issue of The Tomato, we ended up with something a little more simple. Italian sausage cooked in tomato sauce with linguine, along with one of my favourites, roasted, charred Brussel sprouts (coincidently, I first had them prepared this way at Corso 32.).

We opened this bottle fermented brew from Brooklyn Brewery. 

Used up the last couple Christmas napkins.

And not that I have many pictures of anything I've made, but I've been going through recipes in Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain at a good pace. So far we've been enjoyed batches of her whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, barley scones and carrot muffins with spelt flour and streusel topping. By far the favourite around here has been the cookies. I used up some 'old' bars from my eating chocolate box, so these were definitely decadent chocolate wise. But the dough itself is beautiful - the whole wheat flour gives the entire cookie a chewy texture and the most amazing nutty flavour.

On the list this weekend are her buckwheat scones with fig spread, and maple danishes made with rye flour. I'll try to take some pictures as they come together.

Hopefully you all had a wonderful new year. We did end up at Churchill Square for Metropolis and fireworks. I mentioned our disappointment in last year's festivities, and must say that we didn't find this latest effort much better. The structures were packed with so many people that it was difficult to move, and when we visited Metropolis last weekend, the square was empty. I'll save you from what could would be a lengthy rant, and just say that I think Paula Simons really hit the nail on the head with her review of the city's newest winter festival.

We just got back from the leg grounds, where the Alberta-Heilongjiang Winter Festival is taking place. The organizers really did a great job planning this one out. The entertainment schedule looks enjoyable (we managed to catch the last half hour of the excellent Michael Rault this evening) and best of all the High Level street car is running so patrons can travel between the leg and Ice on Whyte festival in Strathcona for free.

I've got lots of posts lined up, so please consider this the end of a very long break, and the beginning of many posts here in 2012. We hope you have an excellent weekend.

Symphony Under the Sky and Ochsner's Porter

*This post got stuck in my drafts back in early September, so please read it with cool-ish evenings and ever so slightly changing leaves in mind.*

Like most September long weekends during the past few years, Charles and I found ourselves at Symphony Under the Sky. This year a weekend pass picked up at the 104th Street 'Al Fresco' block party meant we attended five concerts throughout the four day event.

Charles suggested his favourite concert over the weekend was Sunday afternoon's Rhapsody in Blue, which featured George Gershwin's American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue, and of course Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture complete with live canon shots. I preferred the Saturday evening concert led by Ian Tyson, which could have definitely has something to do with a Folk Fest related love of Four Strong Winds...

Beyond the music there was the usual food to be enjoyed, namely Fat Franks covered in mustard, pickles and sauerkraut, and warm, cinnamon-y mini donuts. Always the last indulgence of either for the year, I particularly enjoy these treats at Symphony Under the Sky - they signal the end of the best of the summer.

To balance out the Fat Franks...

A much welcome addition to this year's ESO concession was Ochsner's 1905 Alberta Porter, another brew by the Alley Kat/Sherbrooke team. Here's a little bit on the brew from the program:

Ochsner's 1905 Alberta Porter is named after Robert Ochsner, one of the earliest known brewers in Alberta. It was first brewed in 2010 to mark the 105th anniversary of Alberta becoming a Province. It is also the third in a series of beers sponsored by Sherbrooke Liquor Store and Alley Kat Brewing Company to recognize the winning Homebrewer of the Year at the Edmonton Home Brewing Guilds' Aurora Brewing Challenge. In 2010, the winning team of Patrick Doyle and Ray Duperron won gold... in competitions across Canada.

This porter was a treat to sip throughout the weekend. A serious departure from the usual big name lagers and IPAs, it was smooth and rich with a nice bite and a beautiful coffee aroma. With all those rich flavours it was lovely on both the cool, rainy Friday evening and the warm, bright Sunday afternoon.

Can't wait for next year's line up.

EFMF Eats

All too quickly the Festival has come and gone. This year I had lots of time to enjoy the show, the food, the beer and the people - and it was amazing. Here are some of the highlights music and food wise.

The Music

Without a doubt Brandi Carlile and Matt Anderson were it for me this year. On Saturday evening Brandi Carlile closed the show with lots of Edmonton love and the audience gave it right back. So glad she made it back this year. I saw Matt Anderson in Calgary, but his session with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings on Sunday was fantastic. Some amazing blues along with Sunday dinner.

Friday at Stage 2

Brandi Carlile

Cheers to all the volunteers!

The Food

As per usual the Festival Kitchen provided thousands of excellent plates throughout the weekend. Friday was Thai curry with cod, Saturday Bulgogi Beef and Sunday was salmon or a squash pecan loaf with quinoa (I went for the latter and it was my favourite of the weekend). The salads also shined all weekend - my favourites were a lentil cucumber and a pear salad.

Green Tea ice cream with ginger snaps

Stephane (the kitchen manager) has slowly been trying to introduce more local product into the kitchen where possible. This year Mighty Trio's oil was used in many of the salads, as were Mona's mushrooms.

Concession wise there were a couple newbies including Elm Café, Eva Sweet and the Onigiri Co. I had a couple different options from the Onigiri Co., which made great mid-day or late evening snacks. My favourite was the 'Yam n' Salmon' - baked salmon, caramelized yam, ginger, soy sauce and white rice. Though they weren't wrapped in the exciting packaging shown on their website, they were certainly tasty.

I haven't made it to the market in nearly a month, so a waffle on Saturday morning was a nice treat on the way to stage 2. Saturday's lunch was skipped for a pulled pork sandwich from Elm's schmancy booth. I also tried to stop by for the 'roasted beet' sandwich on Sunday afternoon, but long lines throughout the weekend saw them sold out. However, we did manage to score some Duchess cookies that lasted us through the evening.

And finally, I can't say enough about the chai that comes out of Nomad's Kitchen. Made in a large pot each day, they make it just sweet enough and use whole spices that really shine. I've already been down to the Fringe to satisfy my addiction.

Lining up for chai

Though my weekend wasn't as stressful as years past, late nights prior to the Festival - and during - have left me with a nice post-Fest head cold. Here's hoping it clears up over the weekend. 

In the mean time, we're gearing up for Portland - and Seattle for a few days after that - in a month or so. There were some excellent articles on Portland in both the Journal and Avenue recently. Lots of people have been asking us, "Why Portland?" But I think the question should really be, "Why not Portland!?" The place sounds amazing!

The show begins

Clearly blogging has been put on the back burner the past few weeks after lots of (very) late evenings at work and complimentary site food. I'm going to do my best to document a few of the concessionaires at the Festival this year, along with the amazing food served in the Kitchen, so hopefully a couple detailed posts to come on that.

At any rate, Thursday evening was beautiful. At ~8pm my phone stopped ringing and I got to enjoy Edward Sharpe in peace. It was excellent.

Happy Festival to all those attending and happy weekend to everyone else!

A Maudite New Year's Eve

I saw an add in Vue or See Magazine, probably both, about a month ago for a New Year's Eve dinner at Sugarbowl that would include four Brooklyn Brewery inspired dishes and the accompanying beer for $50 per person. In true Marianne and Charles fashion, we procrastinated and didn't manage to get a reservation before spots filled up. So instead I decided to make our own beer inspired meal (although it would definitely not be four courses).

Unibroue always has great recipes on their site, and with a few bottles of Maudite in the fridge, and a pack of short ribs in the freezer, we were good to go for 'Maudite Spare Ribs with maple syrup'. As directed, I boiled the ribs with a bottle of Maudite and water the night before, throwing them in a container with the marinade over night. The big obstacle was the grilling. Our balcony door is generally frozen shut for most of the winter, so before I was able to get to the grill I ended up crouching next to the sliding door for a few minutes with my hair dryer melting the ice away (sadly no pictures of this glorious finish to 2010).

In the mean time the suggested side of sweet potatoes were seasoned with salt, paprika, curry powder, pepper and some olive oil, and popped in the oven, while Charles worked away at a salad.

We were pretty happy with the outcome of the meal. Next time a little more beer during the pre-marinade cooking stage is in order, but other than that, we'll definitely be making this again. I also wanted to make the 'Caramel Pudding Cake with Don de Dieu' for dessert, but with no bottle of the brew to be found, I decided to pick up a Paris-Brest from Duchess instead while there with my Dad during the day. A couple days later I did find a bottle of Don de Dieu, so the cake is planned for Friday.

After dinner we went to a New Years Eve concert at McDougall Church put on by the Food Bank and the church itself. I expected it to be packed when we arrived a little late, but there were seats throughout and eventually we made our way to the second floor where we bumped into more than a few 'Folkies'. The concert itself was great, with Bill Bourne finishing and causing dancers and singers to suddenly emerge. In the midst of everything I also got my face painted (done by a ten year old, it's supposed to be a firework... I loved the neon, though it was difficult to wash off). Finishing things with a 10:30 rendition of 'Auld Lang Syne', we wandered off to Churchill Square to check things out.

Admission to the concert was a Food Bank donation

I have to say we were disappointed with the state of things in the Square. With a lengthy changeover on stage, most of the activities shut down and no vendors selling hot drinks, we found most people in a lengthy snaking line at the Second Cup across the street or hanging around waiting for the possibility of more music. Unsure what to do with an hour before the fireworks, we simply decided to grab the bus home and miss the crowds. With people seemingly willing to head downtown for New Year's celebrations, it's unfortunate a bit more of a show can't take place, maybe combining some of the festivals utilizing the space during the summer would be a possible option. At any rate, we arrived home, rang in 2011 with a string of international fireworks via internet and put on a little 30 Rock.

So happy 2011 to you and yours. Here's to lots of great food (and drink).