Café. Walk. Café. Walk.

{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.}

Just before I went to Berlin a couple summers ago, Isabelle introduced me to Sandra Juto's blog, and I still look at it daily. She walks and drinks coffee (and enjoys her city) like nobody's business. So when I found myself without work commitments a couple Saturdays ago, I decided to do the same.

Stop one - A short walk to a Kashmiri chai with almond milk at Remedy downtown.

Construction, construction, construction in our city right now. Not without its drawbacks (mostly blocked sidewalks and other pedestrian routes, on my end at least), but nevertheless exciting. It sounds like the promenade outside the old federal building on 108 Street, and some of the meeting spaces inside, will be lovely.

It was about -11 or so that day, with a little wind. At the start of every winter, I forget about the icy breeze that blows across the bridge, and right across your cheeks. Nothing a solid hood can't help. Time for stop two - A cappuccino at Transcend Garneau.

I saw this horse and buggy going down Whyte earlier in the day and was happy to see it again across from the market (I know the Old Strathcona Business Association was doing buggy rides leading up to Christmas, but I didn't know it was still happening Saturdays). Afterward I wandered over to Under the High Wheel for a croque monsieur, and then hopped the number 7 back downtown. And that was my über luxurious day off.

Hope your weekend (regular or long) was wonderful!

CFMF + Charcut

Every year some of the Edmonton Folk Festival staff head down to Calgary for one or two days. In the past 'Fence Day' has kept me from this joyful weekend, but my new position with the Festival this year meant I was one of those people that got to head south.

The Festival itself was excellent. We arrived in town Friday evening and I caught the last bit of Patrick Watson's set. On Saturday The Head and the Heart, The Once, David Wax Museum and Matt Anderson wooed crowds at Stage 6 and 4, and at the after party we danced all night to Socalled. On Sunday morning I fell in love with Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band and the lady rockin' the washboard.

Both Saturday and Sunday morning we stood in long lines for the excellent cappuccinos coming out of the Phil & Sebastian booth. There were also some excellent fish tacos from Dos Gringos and pitchers of Sangria in the beer garden.

In anticipation of k.d. lang at EFMF in a couple weeks, we (Brenna and I) skipped Saturday evening's mainstage, opting for late evening drinks and a charcuterie board at Charcut. All our dishes - beet salad with creamy, house made goat cheese, charcuterie board, warm Raclette and rhubarb cheesecake in a jar - were excellent and service certainly matched. Favourites from the board were the pistachio and truffle mortadella and a lovely lamb sausage. I walked out with a good amount of leftovers, and armed with a ciabatta bun from the Slow Food Calgary tent, I had an excellent sandwich for lunch on Sunday.

A little too short, but in the end a fantastic weekend with excellent music and food.

A Da Capo breakfast

On Sunday Charles and I made our way over to Da Capo for a comparatively quiet breakfast, whilst lineups around us at Sugarbowl, High Level Diner and Urban Diner twisted out the door.

This is the second time I've had their goat cheese and vegetable frittata ($12) and it hit the spot once again. The egg was incredibly light with pockets of lovely, tart goat cheese and roasted zucchini and red pepper throughout. Hash-browns are well spiced, though a little more crispness would be welcomed.

 Breakfast under the looming clouds.

Compared to other spots in the area, we greatly appreciate that Da Capo makes fresh juice to order. This orange juice was sweet and full of pulp - the perfect breakfast accompaniment. As for Charles latte, it was smooth and rich as per usual.

Da Capo Caffe
8738 109 Street
Breakfast until 11am on weekdays and 12pm on weekends.

*I'll stop posting on Da Capo... one day...

Beer + Coffee

During the past few weeks Charles and I have found ourselves at Sugarbowl, Transcend and Da Capo more often than we'd like to admit. While the latter two both provide great spaces for studying or writing, Sugarbowl is the answer when these aspects of my life need to be left behind for an evening. Either way, here are a few shots from our more recent stopovers.

Transcend

Da Capo

Sugarbowl

These shots come from two evenings at Sugarbowl a couple weeks ago. During one we were lucky enough to find Jason Foster present with samples from Half Pints Brewing Co. Of the IPA, stout and amber ale we tried, the latter was definitely the favourite. It was caramel-y, sort of nutty and for some reason I kept smelling buttermilk. I had a full glass a couple evenings ago and it really is a great one, especially alongside a plate of warm cookies...

The very next evening happened to be cask night. I made it to one cask night back in October and since then have been foiled by assignments due the next morning or by the large line that forms around 5pm just as the keg is about to be tapped. This time though, Brenna finished her last exam (congrats, lady!) and got there just in time to snag us a window seat. Thus a few pints of the Maibock were ours!

Maibock

Me and Rachel

Meal Planning Saga: Week Eleven

We are creatures of habit...

Sunday - We began the week with a brand new recipe - a Vegetable Tagine from Chow. This was certainly easy to prepare and the smell was incredible. That said it seemed to be missing something when we finally sat down to it, even with the addition of almonds, green olives and currants. I've bookmarked a few more veggie tagines that we can hopefully try later on.

Monday - More pizza. This time it was tomato sauce, leftover feta, Gruyère, cardamom salami, mushrooms and green pepper (the last on Charles' side only). We also munched on some very peppery arugula.

Earlier in the day I met Charles downtown at Transcend. He's been stopping there on his way to work for coffee and apparently needed more than one latte that day. Though I've been enjoying their cappuccinos lately, I'm excited for the increasing tea additions (I had 'mountain dragon' at the Garneau location today - alongside a waffle - and it was a great way to start the morning - can't wait for more).

Tuesday - Once again, Kindra's slow cooker butter chicken. I think we had a better handle on the spicing this time and this version was far better than the first alongside some whole wheat rice. Charles stopped for naan and must have had some extra time on his hands. He did coconut, garlic and plain naan from Daawat, then walked down the ave. and picked up plain from Origin India.

I quite enjoyed the sweetness of the coconut version, but for both of us it was Origin India's version hands down (crispy exterior, with a far softer, less chewy texture overall). At any rate we have a nice bag of naan sitting in the freezer for next time.

Wednesday - Study Potluck Two. Once again a few of us met up with food at Rutherford South to simultaneously study and do some end of term de-stressing. There was Academy Pizza, Ho-Ho's, and I brought fruit salad and chicken salad sandwiches from Upper Crust.

We're planning on doing another one in the midst of exams and are attempting to make it a 'healthy' potluck (everyone's eating habits seem to tank during exams). If we organize things soon enough, I'll be sure to post the time and date (and rules like no laptops unless your notes are there or you're working on an essay) here for any of you students out there. Alternatively, feel free to e-mail me if you'd like details.

Thursday - Birthday dinner/Anthro 'field work' at Corso 32.

Birthday cake

Friday - What turned into a post-birthday beer at Sugarbowl with Brenna and Charles quickly became dinner. Charles simply went for some home-made spring rolls, while Brenna and I both did the lamb burger, recently made extra-famous in Avenue's Top 25 Things to Eat. Beer wise, I've been enjoying Nelson Brewing's After Dark recently - smooth, chocolate-y and a little hoppy (and only $5.50 per bottle).

Saturday - We spent some time at Charles' mom's Saturday afternoon and as we were about to leave we remembered we had left our second fillet of white fish in her freezer. It began to soften a bit on the bus ride home, so dinner was basically planned for us. Once again, the fish in parchment. Alongside this time was wild rice and the rest of the green beans picked up the Saturday prior at the market. The beans were sautéed with some chili flakes, salt, pepper and lemon juice, and were a nice crispy contrast aside the fish.

Charles and I tried to work a few new recipes into week twelve, though we admittedly kicked things off with a roast chicken and mushroom risotto, and Tuesday and Wednesday have been left open since Charles' sister is coming to town.

I'm quite excited for Thursday and Friday - noodle salad with peanut sauce and the lentil loaf from We Eat Together (Somehow I've never noticed the lentil loaf in We Eat Together before. It must be because it's tucked in just before the dessert section). On Saturday we're going to re-try the Frankies' meatballs, this time with some of the ground lamb tucked away in the freezer.

Enjoy the remainder of the week everyone!

Leva - Morning, Noon and Night

On Wednesday my Mum and I met up for lunch. With class until noon, we decided to convene at Leva for salad, pizza and chai lattes.

The place was packed with hungry students, university staff and others, but we managed to squeeze in at a table for two along the window. I meant to mention after our visit last Saturday, that Leva under went a small renovation recently; the 'ledge' that previously ran along the window has been replaced by square wooden tables that comfortably seat two, while the round tables that filled the rest of the space have been replaced by tables that more easily seat four (or a couple studying students). There are also some fancy new lights that run the length of the space.

After heading up to the front to order, we soon found a salad each in front of us and dug in. Like the roasted pear salad I had on Saturday, this one was beautiful, with roasted zucchini, yams, red peppers and onions providing an enjoyable sweetness amongst the spinach. Our pizza came out soon after our plates were cleared. Although this pizza featured mushrooms, I think it's also comparable to a version I love at Da Capo, with potatoes and blue cheese also making an appearance here, along with porcini cream and mozzarella. Both my Mum and I enjoyed the flavours, but I think next time I'm at Leva, it's just going to be a simple Margherita, which is where they really seem to shine pizza wise.

Beyond our dinner this past weekend and this recent lunch, Charles and I have been finding ourselves at Leva fairly frequently during evenings for several reasons. It's always a good place to study/read, with excellent music at a volume just loud enough to tune others out. They also make a latte that Charles finds enjoyable, they have an excellent selection of Kusmi teas for me, the almost-always-irresistible desserts, and best of all, they are open fairly late (until 11pm on weekdays) and are only three blocks or so from our apartment.

I should also mention that I have become addicted to their muffins. Last semester, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I had an English class in Humanities 'early' in the morning. With Leva on my way to class, there was no reason why I couldn't stop to grab a freshly baked muffin. There are new flavours daily, usually with two types per day.

The situation on Tuesdays and Thursdays is the same this semester (although 'Reading Class and Ideology' has been replaced with 'Canadian Literature: Writing and Colonial Contact to 1900'), and I stopped on Tuesday for a lovely blueberry version. There's much to love about these muffins, namely that they aren't cloyingly sweet, with just a little sugar sprinkled on top. But they are also slightly over-baked so that the edges get a little crisp and caramel-y - my favourite - and the flavours are always fresh and enjoyable (there was a fig and pistachio version awhile back that I loved).

This evening we did head to Leva for tea and coffee (and a rhubarb square and molasses-ginger cookie), and I picked up a muffin for tomorrow morning's 'early' class venture (sadly it happens on Fridays too, though the 112th street route is far more convenient). A carrot, apple and raisin muffin will surely make my History of Archaeological Thought lecture just a little better... or at least I like to think it will.

Leva Café and Bar
11053 86 Avenue
780.479.5382
Hours - M-F (7am - 11pm); S (9am - 12am); Su (9am - 6pm)


P.S. One day last semester I ordered a breakfast croissant. It was incredible - a fried egg, spicy salami, mozzarella, potato and pesto all sandwiched between a flaky croissant and grilled in the panini press. Needless to say this 'sandwich' was a little more indulgent than my usual morning muffin, and I only ordered it once so as not to become addicted. But if you're in the neighbourhood, I'd strongly recommend one of these beauties. Like the muffins, there are daily versions, usually one vegetarian and one meat.