Dining Out- of Town

I love to eat. I love to travel. Put the two things together and there can be bliss. Not only do I research restaurants, cafes and hole-in-the-wall eateries ad nauseam, but I love to ask people about their favourite restaurants while I am away from home. Even if people are not foodies, watching them explain why they love a place is always exciting. 

I have been fortunate enough to do a little travel in my life, and most recently have visited the cities of Vancouver, Chicago and Phoenix. Each offered its own particular culinary adventure. 

Granville Island Cappuccinos 

In Vancouver, a health conscious mindset prevails, with people walking, hiking and biking all over the place. It was nice to find that in a lot of the more urban neighbourhoods, the value of a specialty provider was not lost; bakers, butchers, and wine shops abound. These were alongside large and smaller grocery stores, florists and clothing stores. It seems that more culinary respect is garnered by one-off restaurants that have the opportunity to create for a smaller, but keenly interested guest. 

Chicago Skating

In Chicago, we found the choices to be overwhelming. There are new concepts, world renowned chefs, vintage rooms, fixtures of American cuisine and more. I love every moment of it. We ended up eating in the park, with a skating rink out front. The most perfect moment with cityscape, snow falling and pinot noir...

Giant Salad in Phoenix

In Phoenix, it was go big, or go home! Out in the suburbs, I didn't have the opportunity to try some of the places that I've read or heard about. But there were Burgerthon worthy burger joints, giant portion sizes, and more selection than you could shake a cactus at. With a strong Mexican influence, there were many fresh flavours to choose from.

I am planning a surprise food feature in a few months to an exotic destination. I hope to bring you all of the culinary delights, secrets and specialties of that special place, on location!

Creating for Those we Love

Brunch on Mother's Day. Sounds cliché right? It is. In spite of that, I like to host a brunch every couple of years. It beats making reservations, eating buffet food, and dealing with the throngs of people. Plus, for our family, that seems to get larger by the moment, an intimate brunch was the perfect way to celebrate all that is MOM.


My challenge this year was to create a menu that was entirely gluten-free, but that all of my guests would enjoy. I had to present it in a way that would make our mothers feel honoured, and feed the dads well. Luckily, I picked up a few grocery items, and inspiration from a new store that opened recently called the Gluten-Free Marketplace. This store provided me some brunch favourites in GF form like English muffins and graham cracker crumbs. They even have perogies! (I understand that this is not a brunch food unless it is Christmas morning at my parents house, but hooray for GF perogies nonetheless!). 


Our menu consisted of favourites with a twist. Like the Roasted Red Pepper Eggs Benedict with Pesto and Shrimp, or Proscuitto Wrapped Asparagus with Smoky Mustard sauce. But, the knock-out favourite dish of the morning was the Strawberry Melon Gazpacho that I served as a starter course. Check out the recipe from Whole Foods. I added fresh mint leaves and S&P to create this remarkably refreshing cold soup. 


Surrounded by beautiful food we created a small moment in our sometimes chaotic world. And, while that day we celebrated how grateful we are for Mothers, we understood that we were in essence celebrating the great importance of sharing our time with the people we love.  

Waiting, Impatiently!

Tomato Baby

For those of you that are not familiar, Calgary has been having a rather difficult time moving away from Winter and into Spring. 17 degrees over a few days has not even melted all of the snow, and I am feeling a little grey. 



My only glimmer of hope is the seeds that I planted about two weeks ago. Purchased from Seedy Saturday and Casey's Heirloom Tomatoes of Airdrie, these little "babies", as I like to call them, are slowly starting to pop up and show signs of season changing. It is so exciting to watch and nurture the little seedlings into food. I also can't wait to try out some of the other interesting varietals that I picked up too; Red Giant mustard greens, purple basil and the Royal Chantenay Carrots. I have no idea what to do with some of them, but my plot at our community garden will be full of new things to experiment with.

Basil Babies!

I started some nasturtium seedlings that I hope will become colour on my deck and in my salads. And, just to spite this slowly arriving season, I am going to toss a packet of black & white poppy seeds out into the garden tonight too. I can't wait for flowers, and vegetables and all of the joys of growing. 


What's growing in your neck of the woods? Do you have a recipe for Mustard Greens?! Happy Spring to All!