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!

A post on Elm Café

I've been to Elm Café quite a few times since they opened last summer. Surprisingly enough I've never really posted on any of their creations. So when a co-worker and I grabbed a sandwich last week I made sure I had the camera ready.

As per most days I've been there was a choice between a cold sandwich and two hot sandwiches. Of the latter, one with bacon, chevre, roasted beets, arugula and pesto sounded amazing, but by the time we arrived (around 1pm) they had sold out. So both of us went for the falafel sandwich with cucumber salsa, tahini, yogurt and greens wrapped in pita.

We took our sandwiches back to the office to continue our computer bound afternoon and later convened to discuss the excellence of Elm's take on falafel. The falafels and tahini combined to make and incredibly creamy, well spiced filling, while radishes and cucumber salsa provided a fresh bite.

In addition to our sandwiches we each grabbed a blondie muffin. Really the fillings (nuts, caramel, white chocolate) led us each to refer to them as dessert (ie. cake), but the batter itself was all muffin - not too sweet, lovely and airy and crisp on the top. Whatever their classification, they were excellent and propelled us through a lengthy Friday afternoon.

I'm looking forward to many more sandwich creations this summer, hopefully followed by more cake-muffins.

Elm Café
#100, 10140 117 Street
780.756.3356
Daily sandwich creations (and muffin flavours) for both breakfast and lunch can be found on Twitter.

Folk Fest 2011 - And it begins...

On Wednesday we announced the performer lineup and I can't wait. I'm particularly looking forward to some good dancing Thursday whilst Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros take main stage.

You can find the entire lineup here on the new website. Tickets go on sale June 1st at 9am.

We've also got some great food happenings this year. Homefire Grill is back with tasty bison breakfast sandwiches and Numchok Wilai is back with their excellent Thai offerings. As per usual Fat Franks, 'Kettle Korn' and Mini Donuts will be present.

New this year is a pretty exciting little area where stage four was previously located. Filistix, Eva Sweet Waffles and Elm Café sandwiches will all be available here, and a possible vendor with fresh, local produce is also in the works.

Hope to see you there!

Bicycles + Breakfast

What could be better than bicycles and breakfast at Elm Café? As part of Bike Month, Elm Café will be hosting breakfast next Friday June 3rd from 7-9am for those cycling to work, play, etc.

Paris and I will be there...

 This is my amazing commute...