Edmonton Food Blogger Meet-up!

Thanks to everyone who came out (20 blogs were represented), and to The Common for hosting! You can check out tweets and photos from the evening using the hashtag #yegfoodblogs

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A couple years ago Maki and I decided it was time to start planning the next Edmonton food blogger meet up. Here we are in 2014, actually doing it.

Are you a food or drink blogger in this fair city? Do you read your fellow bloggers' blogs or pass by them at events, but haven't actually met them or been able to chat? Now's your chance!

The Common

{9910 109 Street}

Tuesday, March 4th

6-9PM

The Common has provided the use of their south room for the evening (thank you, thank you!) so we can easily mingle, and come and go as needed (**). Come for drinks, a snack, dinner - It's your choice - Just make sure you come! And please help us spread the word!

In order to firm up numbers for the restaurant reservation, please let us know if you are able to attend, and if you will be bringing a plus one. We would also like to keep a running list of attendees so that we can get to know you and your blog before we meet you. Here's what we need...

Your name, blog link and number of people attending

in email to

Marianne: loosenyourbeltblog {at} gmail {dot} com AND/OR Maki: oomelement {at} gmail {dot} com

**The Common will be taking orders from the regular food and drink menu, so there will be no shortage of options. You are responsible for paying for your own food and drink, peeps! They will be charging an automatic 18% gratuity on orders. Must be 18+ to attend.

YEG Food/Drink Bloggers in Attendance

{Updated March 4th}

Maki - In My Element

Marianne - Loosen Your Belt

Phil - Baconhound

Andrea - Little Miss Andrea

Diane - What Would Argenplath Pay?

Linda - Linda Hoang dot com
Brittney - Gastropost Edmonton
Liv - Dine and Write
Cindy - Let's Om Nom
Shannon - Whole, Fresh, Delicious
Cathy - Walsh Cooks
Jacquie - Parkallen Home Kitchen
Sharman - Passion For Pork
Jackie & Steph - Meat Vs Veg Edmonton
Caroline - CarolineYEG
Carla - YEG Food Club
Lindsay - Will Cook For Cocktails
Sharon - Only Here for the Food
Evonne - Undercover Gourmet
Lillian - Beyond Umami
Michelle - The Tiffin Box
Salma - Green Onion Cakes
Karlynn - The Kitchen Magpie
Lindsay - The Edible Woman
Eva - Mr. Moo's Adventures

 Catch them at the next one!
Isabelle - The Little Red Kitchen
Elyse - Life Without Lemons
Kevin - Kevin Kossowan
Chris - Eating is the Hard Part
Robyn - Life is Better Red
Courtenay - Messy Little Cook
Jason - On Beer.org

We'll update these lists regularly as emails come in. Looking forward to meeting you!

Corpse Reviver

{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.}

I picked up 'An Illustrated Guide to Cocktails' at the library last week and have been trying my best to make some cocktails I wouldn't ordinarily pull together at home (I continue to default to the bitter-sweet-spice and ease of the Negroni). First up, the Corpse Reviver, and my first opportunity to use a little bottle of absinthe I acquired over the holidays.

This one is easy enough to bring together, with non-neon-green absinthe the only sometimes hard to find item (I've seen plenty of these little St. George Spirit's bottles around town though). Place the ingredients, along with ice, into a shaker (or in my case, an old thermos, because I'm classy like that) and shake. Then strain into a coupe or whatever glass you want to use.

The 'guide' notes that this drink was created as a hangover cure... Yeah, this is a potent punch. Delicious, although I would dial back the lemon to just a 1/2 oz in the future, especially with this particular (heavily spiced) absinthe.

As for the book in general, I can't recommend it enough. It has fun illustrations all the way through (who doesn't love a book with many, many pictures!?), and tall tales about the beginnings of classic cocktails. Plus, it's available at the library.

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.

My New York list

Lists, lists, lists. I'm not generally a list person, but when I travel, it's on. Mostly, I don't like standing in the middle of the street saying, 'Let's just go there.' My friend Richard, who we travelled to NY with, teased me for my lengthy list of typed up spots by neighbourhood... But eventually he came around ('This is the best sandwich I've ever eaten!').

So here is my New York list, condensed from the original five pager, into just the spots we ended up visiting.

North 53

After work last Wednesday, I walked down 124th street to meet Charles for our 8PM reservation at North 53. Although first impressions weren't great (I must have waited at the entrance for about five minutes before being greeted by anyone), service was friendly and prompt throughout the remainder of our evening, and the incredible food and drinks went well beyond our expectations.

Sparkly bar

Smoke + Oak Old Fashioned ($15) - A piece of maple wood is torched until smoking, and is then left to accumulate in the glass. At the table, the server pulls the glass off the wood and pours the pre mixed Old Fashioned into the smoky glass from a separate vessel. Smells delicious, tastes delicious.

There are two food menus - A tasting made up of six courses for $100 and an à la carte menu. We skipped the tasting menu, opting to share five dishes to test the waters so to speak, before committing during a future visit. Still though, I can't figure out if the tasting menu is meant for one person, or as something to share; The six dishes seemed to be the same as those on the à la carte menu, but I'm unsure of portion sizes.

Our server divided our order so that we had a cold course followed by a hot course. First up, 'Lamb', 'Carrot' and 'Various Beets'.

The lamb tartare ($16) was incredibly tender and flavourful, and we loved the various textures provided by the sunchokes (this was a theme throughout the cold dishes - one ingredient prepared in various fashions). My favourite feature of the dish was the cured egg yolk shaved around the side of the plate, providing a perfect salty punch.

Carrot ($10) - Pickled, roasted and raw carrot, with black garlic. Shaved caraway bread, watercress and carrot tops provided a lovely bitterness. This was Charles' favourite dish during our 'first course'.

The presentation and flavours of the 'Various Beets' ($12) plate was definitely my favourite. Beets prepared in different ways (roasted, raw, pickled, etc.), with beet meringues (amazing texture!), silky, sour crème fraîche and walnuts (I do not know what they did to those nuts, but they were an incredible mix of sweet-salt-fat).

Various Beets

Our 'second course' consisted of the 'Pork Belly' and, of course, the 'Sockeye Salmon' they led with in the Journal article.

The salmon ($18) was certainly impressive on all counts - The dish comes out with a glass dome over top, and upon arrival, the server lifts the lid allowing the juniper smoke to take over the entire table (and all your senses). It's magical. The salmon was incredibly soft, with the beans providing a contrasting mealiness; I also loved the tang from the crème fraîche wrapped around them. A small pile of pickles on the side provided some colour and lovely acidity when eaten with the salmon.

The pork belly ($16) won Charles over immediately (our server commented that it was cooked sous vide for 72 hours; the resulting texture was buttery soft). The black barley was a perfect contrast to the fatty pork belly, particularly with the ramps and pickled maitake mushrooms.

At the beginning of the evening, our server mentioned that all the ingredients on the menu were sourced from Canada, and while that was certainly reflected throughout our meal, it really hit me with the desserts; This is probably the first dessert menu I've encountered without chocolate or citrus (it was comprised of only three items, but still, they were all imaginative and fresh). I'd heard from co-workers that the desserts were delicious, so we decided on two - the 'Soured Yogurt' and 'Apple'.

In the end the soured yogurt ($10) won it for me, particularly with the creamy, flavourful chamomile ice cream (the part I had heard raves about). I enjoyed the crisp meringue, providing almost all the sweetness, the sour yogurt throughout the plate and the very floral bee pollen and elderflower. An incredibly fresh and lovely dessert to encounter mid winter.

The 'apple' ($10) dish was comprised of comprises a warm doughnut, apple curd (made with apple cider vinegar), an apple ice cream and tapioca (freeze dried I think). While apple cider vinegar is still not my favourite flavour, it was delicious alongside the doughnut and ice cream, and once again, they win with the textural elements.

At the end of our meal, we were full. We feel the portion sizes were fair for the price (the dishes went from $10 for the 'Carrot' to $20 for the 'Heritage Turkey'), and same goes for the cocktails ($11-15, with Calvados flights, comprised of two drinks, for $14). Our bill came to $92 for food, and $54 for drinks (two cocktails, two beer and coffee afterward).

North 53 is certainly impressive. It's early days, and I think the front of house service could use a little polishing, but the kitchen and bar staff are solid with both timing and execution. We can't wait for an excuse to head back.

*Their website is supposed to be finalized in the next couple weeks, though the reservation form is still working. They seem to be posting their daily menus on both Twitter and Facebook. They are closed Mondays and Tuesdays, but are open Wednesdays through Sundays starting at 5pm.

Apologies for the Instagram photos. We planned to bring the camera, but it was left at home in a rush. And if you got this far, thanks for baring with me - This was my first restaurant post in a long while... I'm a little very rusty.

Chocolate Granola. The Mast Brothers Cookbook.

I am loving the Mast Brothers Cookbook. On our last day in New York - also the day of the book release - I walked back to the factory to pick up a copy, and found they had all been signed! It wouldn't fit in my already overstuffed luggage, but it was well worth lugging it across the subway system to the airport. Also, have you seen the cookbook trailer? Adorable.

I made the chocolate date cake soon after arriving home - delicious - and marked the chocolate granola for later, soon realizing it would be a perfect give to give coworkers. No last minute baking for me!

A couple weeks ago I made three batches, scooped the granola into six jars and still had some left to keep around the apartment for breakfast. Win.

The recipe is pretty simple - Mix 1 cup each of almonds, pecans and rolled oats with a 1/2 cup of honey and 2 Tbsp brown sugar and place in a 350 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes and let cool. In the meantime, melt 3 Tbsp of butter* with 2 Tbsp cocoa powder and set aside. Combine a 1/2 cup each of cocoa nibs and dried cranberries (or cherries or figs or other suitable dried fruit) with the roasted nuts/oats and stir in the butter mixture. Once everything is cool, mix in 5 ounces of chopped chocolate (I chopped up chocolate from one of the Mast Brothers tablets).

*I used the canola oil from Mighty Trio Organics since I wasn't sure when people would be eating the granola. It worked out well since it's so nutty and light.

So there it is. Christmas gifts (well, some of them) done.

Hawkers Market Edmonton.

On Saturday evening Charles and I stopped in at the first Hawkers Market in Edmonton. We arrived around 7pm to a pretty full room, although the place (and the beer line) swelled around 8pm - Definitely a well attended event!

The Hawkers Market people are from Vancouver, but their intentions work just as well here -

Drift was there with the best booth design ever! They served delicious curry chicken and noodles (khao swe) that you could top with cilantro, chili flakes, egg, green onions and other things. Mine was mostly covered in cilantro and chili flakes - Thanks, Phil!

They also used the event to unveil their jarred ketchup and spice blend for the first time. We walked away with a jar of ketchup that will surely taste just like summer.

Parts and Service, a food truck starting up in the spring of 2014, also made their debut... With bone marrow and duck confit. Needless to say I'm looking forward to next spring; both dishes were excellent.

Torching the bone marrow.

Duck confit with Brussel sprout slaw.

Finally, we stopped at Bully for their pork shoulder medallion with an incredibly creamy wild rice (they said 'au gratin'), crisp kale and pickled red onions.

We also ate very good, fresh donuts from Paper Bag Donuts that I did not take a photo of. There were other vendors we didn't make it to - Sailin' On, Nineteen and Casa 12 Doce.

The event felt similar to Street Feast in London, except, you know, inside (now that I've searched Street Feast for a link, I see they have a 'Hawker House' market during the winter).

Minor things - A second beer tap to get the line going would have been nice, and some more bar height tables to set food down, but of course these are easy improvements, and considering this was their first event in the space...

Excellent - I have to say, we appreciated the forethought of a giant coat rack at the entrance; That space heats up fast! They also had two of the guys from Shout Out providing their dj services, which meant the music was incredible.

Hoping there's another Hawkers Market in the works for Edmonton soon!