While I took many more shots, these are the more interesting ones.
Philippe
Showing posts with label events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label events. Show all posts
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Playing with fire
So I got an invitation to an event this evening; essentially, one man got to risk life and limb spinning a flaming orb of molten metal for our long exposure amusement. I wish I could say I was sorry I took part in this kind of thing, but I'm totally not :P
While I took many more shots, these are the more interesting ones.
Philippe
While I took many more shots, these are the more interesting ones.
Philippe
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Christmas Market
Sent from Anna's phone
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
Whyte Ave. Art Walk
This weekend, beginning on Friday the 13th (and my birthday!) I will be
spending most of it as my daughter's go-fer at the 17th Annual Whyte Ave Art Walk. We're really looking forward to it! There will be hundreds of amazing artists showing, demonstrating and selling their work.
Here's a map showing where the artists will be set up. My daughter's booth will be in the green striped area between 103 St (Gateway Blvd) and 102 St.
It's expected to be a hot weekend, though not quite as hot as it has been in the last few days, so be sure to put on the sun screen, wear a hat, stay hydrated, and enjoy the weekend!
Here's a map showing where the artists will be set up. My daughter's booth will be in the green striped area between 103 St (Gateway Blvd) and 102 St. It's expected to be a hot weekend, though not quite as hot as it has been in the last few days, so be sure to put on the sun screen, wear a hat, stay hydrated, and enjoy the weekend!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Pampas supper
Menu
Roasted chicken drumsticks
Roast leg of lamb
Pork sausage
Garlic steak
Parmesan pork loin
Bacon wrapped chicken thighs
Beef ribs
Bottom sirloin
Rump steak
Ribeye steak
Best so far:
rump steak
Bottom sirloin
Ribeye steak
So we've come back to Pampas for a birthday supper. Always a pleasure, I was surprised to find my usual favorite bottom sirloin coming in second behind an outstanding rump steak
Sent from my BlackBerry® PlayBook™
www.blackberry.com
www.blackberry.com
Monday, February 20, 2012
Family Day
In Alberta, today is Family Day. There were all sorts of things to do around the city, but we're not crowd people. Instead, with the incentive of having a guest with us for the next while, we finally had a cookout.
We bought the firewood to do something like this 3 (or is it 4?) years ago!!
After picking up a hatchet to cut kindling and some grillable food, we headed over to a picnic shelter in Dawson Park. This is an area we used to hike through fairly regularly before we moved to where we live now. It's a really nice picnic area. There are a number of bbq grills scattered about with picnic tables near them. The shelter has a roofed area with a pair of picnic tables and a double grill fireplace. Inside the building is an open area with seating, and behind the outdoor fireplace is an indoor fireplace as well. It has doors that are padlocked, though, so I assume there's someplace to call to get access to it. There's also a water fountain (handy, since we forgot to bring drinks) and bathrooms. This heated indoor area was much appreciated as we waited for the fire to burn down enough to grill. It was a warm day, but only when you consider what our February temperatures normally are. *L*
The downside of having such great facilities is that people tend to not treat them very well. When we got there, we found whole branches - small ones, and very twiggy - in front. Under one half of the fire area, we could see where someone had tried to start a fire. The twigs and branches were all quite green. We figure some less then sober folks had stripped nearby bushes of branches and twigs to make a fire, using magazine pages to try and get it started. They failed. It was quite a mess. We cleaned it up a bit, and found a handy branch we could use to lift the grills and adjust the burning logs as needed.
(photo set can be viewed here)
I picked up a grill pan meant to do things like veggies on a bbq, so we wouldn't be putting our food directly on the filthy grill. It's supposed to be a non-stick tray but, by the end of it, I doubt it still was. ;-) Not really made to be used over an open flame like this, even though we did let the fire burn down, first.
We tried two kinds of hoagies on the grill - beerwurst and maple flavoured. They were both good, but we all liked the beerwurst best.
For dessert, we split come bananas, stuffed them with chocolate chips, then wrapped them in foil. The peels were left on to hold everything together. After the hoagies were done, we put the foil wrapped bananas directly into the hot coals to cook. They turned out quite nice! The last time I did something like this, it was using cocoa and an oven. Tasty, but not as fun as doing it in a fire. :-D
I hope everyone else had a great holiday (whatever it's named where you are) today as well.
We bought the firewood to do something like this 3 (or is it 4?) years ago!!
After picking up a hatchet to cut kindling and some grillable food, we headed over to a picnic shelter in Dawson Park. This is an area we used to hike through fairly regularly before we moved to where we live now. It's a really nice picnic area. There are a number of bbq grills scattered about with picnic tables near them. The shelter has a roofed area with a pair of picnic tables and a double grill fireplace. Inside the building is an open area with seating, and behind the outdoor fireplace is an indoor fireplace as well. It has doors that are padlocked, though, so I assume there's someplace to call to get access to it. There's also a water fountain (handy, since we forgot to bring drinks) and bathrooms. This heated indoor area was much appreciated as we waited for the fire to burn down enough to grill. It was a warm day, but only when you consider what our February temperatures normally are. *L*
The downside of having such great facilities is that people tend to not treat them very well. When we got there, we found whole branches - small ones, and very twiggy - in front. Under one half of the fire area, we could see where someone had tried to start a fire. The twigs and branches were all quite green. We figure some less then sober folks had stripped nearby bushes of branches and twigs to make a fire, using magazine pages to try and get it started. They failed. It was quite a mess. We cleaned it up a bit, and found a handy branch we could use to lift the grills and adjust the burning logs as needed.
(photo set can be viewed here)
I picked up a grill pan meant to do things like veggies on a bbq, so we wouldn't be putting our food directly on the filthy grill. It's supposed to be a non-stick tray but, by the end of it, I doubt it still was. ;-) Not really made to be used over an open flame like this, even though we did let the fire burn down, first.
We tried two kinds of hoagies on the grill - beerwurst and maple flavoured. They were both good, but we all liked the beerwurst best.
For dessert, we split come bananas, stuffed them with chocolate chips, then wrapped them in foil. The peels were left on to hold everything together. After the hoagies were done, we put the foil wrapped bananas directly into the hot coals to cook. They turned out quite nice! The last time I did something like this, it was using cocoa and an oven. Tasty, but not as fun as doing it in a fire. :-D
I hope everyone else had a great holiday (whatever it's named where you are) today as well.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Writers' Corner
Susan Juby at the EPL Writers' Corner.
update: I sent this photo from my mobile phone with little explanation. I was more interested in the talk than my phone. ;-)
Our local library branch has started up something called Writer's Corner, with a series of guest authors coming to speak. When my friend asked me if I was interested in going with her, I really didn't know what to expect. I'm glad we went. Susan Juby was a great speaker and had a lot of interesting information to share. I really enjoyed it.
Now I'm curious about her books, and the other Writer's Corner sessions! :-)
Friday, August 26, 2011
Living Book
Today my older daughter and I headed downtown for a library event. Along with a book sale, entertainment and more, they had several people acting as Living Books. This is my friend Laura. :-)
She's awesome, has had an amazing life and, from our past conversations, I know she would have been a most interesting Living Book! I look forward to hearing more about how it went from her perspective.
Living Books is a very interesting concept. Volunteers are chosen to represent various groups. People can "check out" their Living Book and ask whatever questions they want about this person's experiences. In Laura's case, she was The Life of a Traveler. Others shared their experiences as a Cree woman, a formerly homeless man, an adoptee, an immigrant, a mom of triplets, and many more. Each person could be "checked out" for 45 minutes and did 3 time slots. Each time slot got reserved weeks ago! This has turned out to be a very popular program, and I am tickled that my friend got to take part. :-D
She's awesome, has had an amazing life and, from our past conversations, I know she would have been a most interesting Living Book! I look forward to hearing more about how it went from her perspective.
Living Books is a very interesting concept. Volunteers are chosen to represent various groups. People can "check out" their Living Book and ask whatever questions they want about this person's experiences. In Laura's case, she was The Life of a Traveler. Others shared their experiences as a Cree woman, a formerly homeless man, an adoptee, an immigrant, a mom of triplets, and many more. Each person could be "checked out" for 45 minutes and did 3 time slots. Each time slot got reserved weeks ago! This has turned out to be a very popular program, and I am tickled that my friend got to take part. :-D
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Walking
Now I'm hungry!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Friday Night Folk Fest
2011-08-06-FolkFest
Originally uploaded by amkb
My first attempt at time lapse photography. I don't have all the equipment to make this easier - namely, I lack a timer! I spent the evening sitting on the balcony with a tea timer. *L*
I used a Nikon D80 with a Nikkor 70-300mm lens. I had the ISO at 100 and the camera set on Program. To reduce vibrations, I weighted the camera with a bag of lentils. *L* Most of the images were taken at 5 minute intervals, but after it got dark, the timing relied more on whether or not something interesting was going on. I did move the camera every once in a while. At one point, I noticed the crowd seemed to congregate off to the side for a while. Later on, when the shutter was open for several seconds, some bright lights near the tents were overwhelming the shots, so I adjusted to move them out. As the festival wound down at 1 am, I adjusted to better view the people leaving.
The images were put together using Magix Movie Edit Pro15 Plus. Each image is set to 0.15 seconds. The music is called Serious Curious, and is proprietary to the Magix software.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Playing
It's that time of year again. Music from the annual Edmonton Folk Festival is drifting in through our windows, and out our south facing windows we can see the crowds on the hill. Every year I think that maybe this year, I should get tickets and actually go to the festival. I only ever hear rave reviews.
Then I see the crowds on the hill and realize that, as much as I'd love to check it out, I just don't have the temperament for it! *L*
Instead, I enjoy the view and take a few pictures. Once it gets dark, I like to start playing with the camera. For tonight, I'm particularly happy with this one.
There's a bit of noise reduction and local tone mapping done to this, plus it's 50% of the original size. The timing worked out rather well. I started off zoomed in as far as I could, then while the shutter was open, zoomed all the way out again. (Nikkor 70-300mm lens) In the second or so that took, the stage, which faces away from our balcony, suddenly lit up with a bright blue-ish white light, adding an extra element to the photo.
Then I see the crowds on the hill and realize that, as much as I'd love to check it out, I just don't have the temperament for it! *L*
Instead, I enjoy the view and take a few pictures. Once it gets dark, I like to start playing with the camera. For tonight, I'm particularly happy with this one.
There's a bit of noise reduction and local tone mapping done to this, plus it's 50% of the original size. The timing worked out rather well. I started off zoomed in as far as I could, then while the shutter was open, zoomed all the way out again. (Nikkor 70-300mm lens) In the second or so that took, the stage, which faces away from our balcony, suddenly lit up with a bright blue-ish white light, adding an extra element to the photo.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
2011 Taste of Edmonton - part two
Well, our plans to head out early today were ended by the deluge of rain this morning. What a downpour!
By mid afternoon, it was looking safe to head out. My older daughter decided to stay home, but my younger daughter, Danielle, had to go to the library. It's right at the square the festival is being held at, so she decided to take it in after all.
For our first tastes, we picked up a Hurricane Potato from Korean Village, then went back to Lit - Italian Wine Bar for their Basil stuffed Bocconcini with Prosciutto Wrap.
The Hurricane Potato is a really fun dish! Danielle is not a big potato fan. She likes her mashed potatoes and that's about it. She's the only kid I've know who didn't like french fries. So when she says she found the Hurricane Potato delicious, that's pretty impressive! *L* I found it very tasty as well.
As for the stuffed bocconcini...
Wow. That was SO delicious!!! Danielle didn't know what bocconcini was (I have bought it once before, but we really didn't know what to do with it), so she wasn't sure what to expect. When I asked her what she thought of it, all she could say was "MMMMMmmmm!!!" while savouring every bite. Both this dish and the Ahi tuna salad Nicole and I tried there yesterday took longer to get than at any other booth we tried, but they were well worth it. It was fabulous!
Next up, we went to The Palace Banquets for their Bacon Wrapped Scallops, then to Kyoto for their Canada Maki and Tempura shrimp. These were all sure things for us. The scallops are a tried and true favorite and one of the things we get as a treat after we've tried all the new stuff we were interested in. I had the maki last year, but Danielle hadn't, so it's a new one for her.
As expected the scallops were wonderful. So much flavour! What a treat.
Of the other two, the tempura shrimp is another treat. The downtown location for Kyoto is near my husband's office, and is among the places on our list of restaurants to go to when we meet him for lunch every now and then. Their service kinda sucks, but the food is always really good. The shrimp did not disappoint. The tempura batter is light and crispy and it's cooked just right. We both liked it.
Danielle is new to enjoying sushi type foods. Last year, she wouldn't even try it, but since then she's developed a taste for the California rolls Nicole and I sometimes get, so she was willing to try it this year. She liked the maki, except she wasn't big on the cucumber. She just doesn't like cucumber much. Still, she found it good. I found the flavours very fresh and light, and really enjoyed it.
Our next stop, we again went back to booths Nicole and I had gone to yesterday. I knew Danielle would like to try the chocolate shooters from The Sutton Place Hotel (I was right, she loved them), and I wanted to try the Grilled Hungarian Sausage with Potato Salad from Bistro Praha, which is the same place we got the marinated strawberries and vanilla whipped cream from.
Danielle is indifferent to sausage at the best of times. She found it good, but not good enough to actually eat all of her half. She liked the potato salad better - another surprise from her! I, on the other hand, found it amazing. Grilling really took the sausage a step up, and the potato salad had a wonderful lingering flavour. In fact, it was so good, I gave my chocolate shooter to Danielle, because I didn't want to spoil the flavours by eating something sweet. It was just so satisfying - comfort food at its best! In fact, as torn as I am by the prosciutto wrapped bocconcini and the bacon wrapped scallops, I really thing the grilled sausage and potato salad was my favourite dish of all.
For our last dish, we went for stuff we like, but from places we've never been to before. We got hooked on Taro flavoured bubble tea just a few short weeks ago, but this one was from I Love Bubble Tea, which is new for us (sorry, can't seem to find a link for them). It was delicious. The tapioca balls on the bottom were a different size that we were used to, and the texture was remarkably like a slushie, but these were not negatives, by any means.
I was a bit nervous to try the pad thai. I love pad thai, but have only ever tried it from one place, which allows me to choose the amount of heat I want. Being sensitive to spicy foods, I always picked the least amount. This pad thai was from Numchok Wilai Restaurant (their booth was one of my favourites for their decoration). I was really surprised by the quantity they gave, which barely fit on the plate. It was mildly flavoured, so my concerns about heat were for naught. It was slightly sweet, which is not something I am big on, but quite tasty. The bits of sprouts added a nice crunch. It was one of those things I liked more, the more I ate of it. Danielle, on the other hand, doesn't care for pad thai at all. She took a small taste and that was it. Not her thing.
At this point, we'd used up all the tickets budgeted for this year.
Today we had a lot more hits than misses compared to yesterday, which was strangely disappointing. We've got a couple of new restaurants on our list of places to look for, that's for sure!
I'm already looking forward to trying more new things next year!
By mid afternoon, it was looking safe to head out. My older daughter decided to stay home, but my younger daughter, Danielle, had to go to the library. It's right at the square the festival is being held at, so she decided to take it in after all.
For our first tastes, we picked up a Hurricane Potato from Korean Village, then went back to Lit - Italian Wine Bar for their Basil stuffed Bocconcini with Prosciutto Wrap.
The Hurricane Potato is a really fun dish! Danielle is not a big potato fan. She likes her mashed potatoes and that's about it. She's the only kid I've know who didn't like french fries. So when she says she found the Hurricane Potato delicious, that's pretty impressive! *L* I found it very tasty as well.
As for the stuffed bocconcini...
Wow. That was SO delicious!!! Danielle didn't know what bocconcini was (I have bought it once before, but we really didn't know what to do with it), so she wasn't sure what to expect. When I asked her what she thought of it, all she could say was "MMMMMmmmm!!!" while savouring every bite. Both this dish and the Ahi tuna salad Nicole and I tried there yesterday took longer to get than at any other booth we tried, but they were well worth it. It was fabulous!
Next up, we went to The Palace Banquets for their Bacon Wrapped Scallops, then to Kyoto for their Canada Maki and Tempura shrimp. These were all sure things for us. The scallops are a tried and true favorite and one of the things we get as a treat after we've tried all the new stuff we were interested in. I had the maki last year, but Danielle hadn't, so it's a new one for her.
As expected the scallops were wonderful. So much flavour! What a treat.
Of the other two, the tempura shrimp is another treat. The downtown location for Kyoto is near my husband's office, and is among the places on our list of restaurants to go to when we meet him for lunch every now and then. Their service kinda sucks, but the food is always really good. The shrimp did not disappoint. The tempura batter is light and crispy and it's cooked just right. We both liked it.
Danielle is new to enjoying sushi type foods. Last year, she wouldn't even try it, but since then she's developed a taste for the California rolls Nicole and I sometimes get, so she was willing to try it this year. She liked the maki, except she wasn't big on the cucumber. She just doesn't like cucumber much. Still, she found it good. I found the flavours very fresh and light, and really enjoyed it.
Our next stop, we again went back to booths Nicole and I had gone to yesterday. I knew Danielle would like to try the chocolate shooters from The Sutton Place Hotel (I was right, she loved them), and I wanted to try the Grilled Hungarian Sausage with Potato Salad from Bistro Praha, which is the same place we got the marinated strawberries and vanilla whipped cream from.
Danielle is indifferent to sausage at the best of times. She found it good, but not good enough to actually eat all of her half. She liked the potato salad better - another surprise from her! I, on the other hand, found it amazing. Grilling really took the sausage a step up, and the potato salad had a wonderful lingering flavour. In fact, it was so good, I gave my chocolate shooter to Danielle, because I didn't want to spoil the flavours by eating something sweet. It was just so satisfying - comfort food at its best! In fact, as torn as I am by the prosciutto wrapped bocconcini and the bacon wrapped scallops, I really thing the grilled sausage and potato salad was my favourite dish of all.
For our last dish, we went for stuff we like, but from places we've never been to before. We got hooked on Taro flavoured bubble tea just a few short weeks ago, but this one was from I Love Bubble Tea, which is new for us (sorry, can't seem to find a link for them). It was delicious. The tapioca balls on the bottom were a different size that we were used to, and the texture was remarkably like a slushie, but these were not negatives, by any means.
I was a bit nervous to try the pad thai. I love pad thai, but have only ever tried it from one place, which allows me to choose the amount of heat I want. Being sensitive to spicy foods, I always picked the least amount. This pad thai was from Numchok Wilai Restaurant (their booth was one of my favourites for their decoration). I was really surprised by the quantity they gave, which barely fit on the plate. It was mildly flavoured, so my concerns about heat were for naught. It was slightly sweet, which is not something I am big on, but quite tasty. The bits of sprouts added a nice crunch. It was one of those things I liked more, the more I ate of it. Danielle, on the other hand, doesn't care for pad thai at all. She took a small taste and that was it. Not her thing.
At this point, we'd used up all the tickets budgeted for this year.
Today we had a lot more hits than misses compared to yesterday, which was strangely disappointing. We've got a couple of new restaurants on our list of places to look for, that's for sure!
I'm already looking forward to trying more new things next year!
Monday, July 25, 2011
2011 Taste of Edmonton - part one
Hello again!
With various goings-on in our home, we've missed out on some of the festivals being held in downtown Edmonton. Taste of Edmonton, however, is one I didn't want to miss!
My younger daughter isn't as interested this year, so it's just my older daughter, Nicole, and I this year. We usually split things between two days, focusing first on trying new stuff before we finish off our tickets on some tried and true favorites.
The festival runs from 11am to 11pm. Usually we go during the day to beat the lunch rush, but with the heat, we tried going in the evening this time. Unfortunately, that meant my pictures sucked. I did manage to fix some to upload to my flickr account, but most weren't worth making the effort. We're planning to go back for 11am tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll get some better shots.
You can see all the photos in the set I made for this year's festival. For now, I've just got the booths we bought from and the dishes we tried.
Here are our first dishes.
First we checked out Lit - Italian Wine Bar for the Seared Galliano Crusted Ahi Tuna Salad, and Hoang Long Restaurant and Noodle House for Grilled Quail with Pomegranate Sauce.
Nicole was really looking forward to trying the Ahi tuna salad, but I was much more trepidatious. I don't like tuna much, and have a real problem with raw or seared flesh. I like my protein cooked! No surprise that Nicole loved it, but I surprised myself in being able to eat the tuna without shuddering. That's a big accomplishment. *L* As for the rest, it was very tasty, and an interesting combination of flavours and textures. The touch of salt really made a big difference.
We were both looking forward to the quail, which neither of us have had before. We both love pomegranate, so this should have been a shoe-in.
Surprisingly, it wasn't. Nicole's verdict was "not bad." I found it good. We both found it difficult to eat. By the time I finished getting the meat off all those little bones, I felt like I hadn't actually eaten anything. It was tasty but... not as good as we'd hoped.
On to the next two dishes.
Here we have Teriyaki Salmon on Rice from Zen and Lamb Tostada with Avocado Creme Fraiche from Zinc.
Zinc is a rather new restaurant we've been interested in trying out, so we were pretty happy to see them represented at the festival. I found it very tasty. It had more heat than I expected. I have a very low tolerance for spicy food, but this wasn't too much for me. The tostada on the bottom really added to it. Nicole, on the other hand, found it tasted like a burrito, which was a touch off-putting for her. She didn't find it bad, but it wasn't what she was expecting, and not as good as she'd hoped.
As for the Teriyaki Salmon, we had an interesting diversion of opinions. I don't particularly like salmon. That part was all right, but for me, it was the sauce that made the dish. Nicole, on the other hand, loves salmon, but doesn't care for teriyaki. She found the sauce much too salty for her liking, but really enjoyed the salmon (she is indifferent to rice). There was only one small piece of salmon for us to split, which she found a bit disappointing.
Next up, we went for something sweet.
The marinaded strawberries were from Praha, and the cappacino chocolate from The Sutton Place Hotel. (Note; I'm using the spelling from their sign.)
The shooter cups were easily the most adorable items being served! At only one ticket each ($1), they were also the best deal. They had a very intense chocolate flavour. In fact, chocolate was pretty much all we could taste. I happen to love chocolate, especially dark chocolate, but Nicole can take it or leave it. She didn't particularly like the texture of the dark chocolate cup, but it was nice. Neither of us could taste the cappacino.
As for the strawberries, they were good. We both love strawberries, and we both like whipped cream. Neither of us could taste the Grand Marni er the strawberries were marinated in, so it basically just came across as ... well, strawberries and whipped cream. We quite enjoyed it, but nothing made it stand out for us.
For our last dishes of the day, we mixed sweet and savory.
The Mango Lassi was from Khazana Authentic Tandoori Cuisine, while the wasabi beef on a bun was from Hawkeyes Too.
We are not big mango fans, but Nicole wanted to try it out after seeing how good they looked on display. I chose the wasabi beef.
I found the wasabi beef to be delicious and tender. The wasabi wasn't overpowering, but my inability to handle heat did me in. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't finish it off. Nicole enjoyed it as well - more than she expected.
As for the mango lassi, she really enjoyed it and, surprisingly, I did as well. I found it quite sweet, but the smooth creaminess countered the spice from the wasabi very well. The mango flavour was quite intense. We both liked the texture of it.
In the end, we enjoyed all the dishes, but still found it rather disappointing. It was all good, but nothing was really exceptional. We actually both settled on the Ahi tune salad as our favourite (even though I would have preferred it without the tuna, which my daughter finds quite amusing).
What I found strange is that, even after having 8 different items between two of us, we didn't feel like we'd had much at all. Last year, with 3 of us sharing 9 items, we were usually very full by the time we had dessert. This time around, we found ourselves debating going someplace to sit down and eat. The quantities don't seem to have changed from last year, and we're splitting 2 ways instead of three, but it just didn't feel like we ate much at all. Very strange.
In fact, I'm rather hungry right now. Time to find something more substantial to eat...
With various goings-on in our home, we've missed out on some of the festivals being held in downtown Edmonton. Taste of Edmonton, however, is one I didn't want to miss!
My younger daughter isn't as interested this year, so it's just my older daughter, Nicole, and I this year. We usually split things between two days, focusing first on trying new stuff before we finish off our tickets on some tried and true favorites.
The festival runs from 11am to 11pm. Usually we go during the day to beat the lunch rush, but with the heat, we tried going in the evening this time. Unfortunately, that meant my pictures sucked. I did manage to fix some to upload to my flickr account, but most weren't worth making the effort. We're planning to go back for 11am tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll get some better shots.
You can see all the photos in the set I made for this year's festival. For now, I've just got the booths we bought from and the dishes we tried.
Here are our first dishes.
First we checked out Lit - Italian Wine Bar for the Seared Galliano Crusted Ahi Tuna Salad, and Hoang Long Restaurant and Noodle House for Grilled Quail with Pomegranate Sauce.
Nicole was really looking forward to trying the Ahi tuna salad, but I was much more trepidatious. I don't like tuna much, and have a real problem with raw or seared flesh. I like my protein cooked! No surprise that Nicole loved it, but I surprised myself in being able to eat the tuna without shuddering. That's a big accomplishment. *L* As for the rest, it was very tasty, and an interesting combination of flavours and textures. The touch of salt really made a big difference.
We were both looking forward to the quail, which neither of us have had before. We both love pomegranate, so this should have been a shoe-in.
Surprisingly, it wasn't. Nicole's verdict was "not bad." I found it good. We both found it difficult to eat. By the time I finished getting the meat off all those little bones, I felt like I hadn't actually eaten anything. It was tasty but... not as good as we'd hoped.
On to the next two dishes.
Here we have Teriyaki Salmon on Rice from Zen and Lamb Tostada with Avocado Creme Fraiche from Zinc.
Zinc is a rather new restaurant we've been interested in trying out, so we were pretty happy to see them represented at the festival. I found it very tasty. It had more heat than I expected. I have a very low tolerance for spicy food, but this wasn't too much for me. The tostada on the bottom really added to it. Nicole, on the other hand, found it tasted like a burrito, which was a touch off-putting for her. She didn't find it bad, but it wasn't what she was expecting, and not as good as she'd hoped.
As for the Teriyaki Salmon, we had an interesting diversion of opinions. I don't particularly like salmon. That part was all right, but for me, it was the sauce that made the dish. Nicole, on the other hand, loves salmon, but doesn't care for teriyaki. She found the sauce much too salty for her liking, but really enjoyed the salmon (she is indifferent to rice). There was only one small piece of salmon for us to split, which she found a bit disappointing.
Next up, we went for something sweet.
The marinaded strawberries were from Praha, and the cappacino chocolate from The Sutton Place Hotel. (Note; I'm using the spelling from their sign.)
The shooter cups were easily the most adorable items being served! At only one ticket each ($1), they were also the best deal. They had a very intense chocolate flavour. In fact, chocolate was pretty much all we could taste. I happen to love chocolate, especially dark chocolate, but Nicole can take it or leave it. She didn't particularly like the texture of the dark chocolate cup, but it was nice. Neither of us could taste the cappacino.
As for the strawberries, they were good. We both love strawberries, and we both like whipped cream. Neither of us could taste the Grand Marni er the strawberries were marinated in, so it basically just came across as ... well, strawberries and whipped cream. We quite enjoyed it, but nothing made it stand out for us.
For our last dishes of the day, we mixed sweet and savory.
The Mango Lassi was from Khazana Authentic Tandoori Cuisine, while the wasabi beef on a bun was from Hawkeyes Too.
We are not big mango fans, but Nicole wanted to try it out after seeing how good they looked on display. I chose the wasabi beef.
I found the wasabi beef to be delicious and tender. The wasabi wasn't overpowering, but my inability to handle heat did me in. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't finish it off. Nicole enjoyed it as well - more than she expected.
As for the mango lassi, she really enjoyed it and, surprisingly, I did as well. I found it quite sweet, but the smooth creaminess countered the spice from the wasabi very well. The mango flavour was quite intense. We both liked the texture of it.
In the end, we enjoyed all the dishes, but still found it rather disappointing. It was all good, but nothing was really exceptional. We actually both settled on the Ahi tune salad as our favourite (even though I would have preferred it without the tuna, which my daughter finds quite amusing).
What I found strange is that, even after having 8 different items between two of us, we didn't feel like we'd had much at all. Last year, with 3 of us sharing 9 items, we were usually very full by the time we had dessert. This time around, we found ourselves debating going someplace to sit down and eat. The quantities don't seem to have changed from last year, and we're splitting 2 ways instead of three, but it just didn't feel like we ate much at all. Very strange.
In fact, I'm rather hungry right now. Time to find something more substantial to eat...
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Day Three
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Art Walk
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic Show
It's been far too long since we've posted. For some reason, this blog is getting an "attack site" notice when people try to visit it. I have not been able to find the problem. Hopefully, we'll be able to clear it up soon.
Today, my elder daughter and I took in the Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic Show, held at the Shaw Conference Centre. We've never gone to anything like this before, though we've certainly heard plenty of stories from people who take part in shows like this, either as visitors or vendors. I'm really glad we took it in!
The star of the show was LeVar Burton. There was a huge line out the door of people waiting for his autograph. He was really fantastic, taking the time to talk to everyone, posing for pictures and giving hugs. He seemed to have endless patience. The folks waiting in line were a great crowd, too. When we left, there was still a long line, patiently waiting for Burton to come back from a much needed break.
There were, of course, other people at the autograph tables. It must be a bit hard sitting at an autograph table next to someone with as large a draw as Burton! *L* The others at the tables included Wrestling superstars, The Dudleys, comic artist, Ron Wagner, comic artist, Cary Nord, Star Wars Visions and aviation artist, Robert Bailey and Star Wars super collector, Gus Lopez
There were, of course, plenty of people in costume! Some were visitors to the show, while others were from the The 501st Legion: Badlands Garrison and Rebel Legion - Outrider Base of Alberta. All were great about posing for photos.
There were, of course, plenty of vendors and displays of all kinds, including My Little Pony, Matchbox cars, costumes used in various movies, board games, paintings and prints, dolls, artists at work and yes, you could even visit one of several artists available and get a tattoo.
It was a really fun event, and I'm glad we went. In fact, we're considering going to the next event coming up in May!
If you want to see more photos, check out the set of photos I have on my flicker site.
Today, my elder daughter and I took in the Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic Show, held at the Shaw Conference Centre. We've never gone to anything like this before, though we've certainly heard plenty of stories from people who take part in shows like this, either as visitors or vendors. I'm really glad we took it in!
The star of the show was LeVar Burton. There was a huge line out the door of people waiting for his autograph. He was really fantastic, taking the time to talk to everyone, posing for pictures and giving hugs. He seemed to have endless patience. The folks waiting in line were a great crowd, too. When we left, there was still a long line, patiently waiting for Burton to come back from a much needed break.
There were, of course, other people at the autograph tables. It must be a bit hard sitting at an autograph table next to someone with as large a draw as Burton! *L* The others at the tables included Wrestling superstars, The Dudleys, comic artist, Ron Wagner, comic artist, Cary Nord, Star Wars Visions and aviation artist, Robert Bailey and Star Wars super collector, Gus Lopez
There were, of course, plenty of people in costume! Some were visitors to the show, while others were from the The 501st Legion: Badlands Garrison and Rebel Legion - Outrider Base of Alberta. All were great about posing for photos.
There were, of course, plenty of vendors and displays of all kinds, including My Little Pony, Matchbox cars, costumes used in various movies, board games, paintings and prints, dolls, artists at work and yes, you could even visit one of several artists available and get a tattoo.
It was a really fun event, and I'm glad we went. In fact, we're considering going to the next event coming up in May!
If you want to see more photos, check out the set of photos I have on my flicker site.
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