Weather we like it or not

Here in Alberta we have quite a short summer and a very long winter for the most part. So when the official first day of summer came and went the other day I was unimpressed. Why you may ask would I not be happy about the first day of summer?

Well Alberta has turned into mother nature’s perpetual PMS playground!

Just last week Edmonton, was in a state of anticipation as forecasts predicted severe thunderstorms and the chance of a tornado..or two..just to make everyone sit on the edge of their seat in fear. In my office. No one was allowed to leave until the warnings had been downgraded to a watch. In the space of a few hours we saw torrential downpours, hail and wicked fast winds whipping through the city. Some roads were closed due to flooding. Mostly in underpasses.

You know that saying “April showers bring May flowers?” Well obviously somebody missed the memo about this being JUNE.

Today, Calgary, is partly evacuated due to flooding of the downtown core. The Saddledome and Stampede grounds are underwater! Thankfully, most of my family and friends are not located downtown. Also, outlying areas like Canmore, High River and Bragg Creek are seeing the effects of flooding. Yesterday RCMP were asking for anyone with marine boats to help evacuate people. How the heck does this happen?!

Thankfully, Calgarians as well as people from across the province have volunteered to help in anyway they can. In crises such as these it is nice to see humanitarian efforts. With a state of emergency declared I hope everyone gets to safety.

Now on a side note July is coming up so mother nature had better get this weather under control. Summer will only be two months of sun if it ever shows up and stays more than a day.

For a live feed on what is going on check out this link to Calgary’s CTV news station. Right now Naheed Nenshi, mayor of Calgary is on-camera being interviewed.

http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=875562&playlistId=1.1335319&binId=1.1201914&playlistPageNum=1

Stay safe everyone,

~E

To the Farmer’s Market We GO!

This past Saturday, Mike and I adventured to the Strathcona Farmer’s Market up by Whyte ave. Now to say we are kids in a candy store would be an understatement. Usually I’m the one holding back saying we shouldn’t spend a lot but holy cow this market was crazy!

One guy was running a cheese booth and there was this two-and-a-half year-old aged gouda called the Grizzly he had us try. I just handed him $20 and took the cheese. No convincing necessary! Boy oh boy did we have quite a lot of fun perusing up and down the market aisles. Mike and I like to go to a farmer’s market every saturday and this was the first time going together to this market. The photo you see below is most of what we bought at the market. I do admit I took awhile to take the photo and we’ve already dug into some of our goodies. We even made a pact to not eat the artisan chocolates we bought without each other. You try staring down a balsamic & strawberry chocolate delight and see if you don’t drool! Both of our inner fat kids would wreak havoc without anyone to watch.

Anyways, here’s the list of what we bought:

~flavoured honey sticks

~yellow, orange and red tomatoes (we always get these)

~gala apples (my all-time favourite! so obviously a staple in our house)

~artisan chocolates

~fancy mustard with flavours of tequila & line. good ol’ honey and sweet banana pepper

~pickerel fillets

~aged gouda cheese

~herb havarti cheese

~feta cheese

~pickerel fillets

~chicken sausage

~lemon & basil pesto

~sundried tomato olives

~homemade pasta

~regular white pitas

I think that’s it! Expect more food porn to dream about! I hope I tempted anyone who reads this to go check out the local farmer’s market in your area! I have not been disappointed thus far.

Stay classy.

~E

The wonderful world of food

Alright, here we go!

I have the most fantastic man in the world. Now I could go on about the many aspects, characteristics, acts of being amazing that Mike does, but right now I want to talk about our mutual love of food.

We cook ALL the time! I thought it was hard without a dishwasher before when I was living on my own. Doing dishes quite often all by hand. Those days are nothing compared to the amount of dishes used by the both of us to make fantastic food creations. We have a dishwasher and boy does it get used but we still just have a perpetual cycle of dishes piling up. Just to clarify, I am not complaining. I will wash dishes until I have wrinkly old woman hands just to be able to eat everything Mike and I make. Okay, he cooks way more than I do but he’s super talented and just knows so much since his profession is being a cook.

I always make the joke that he’s making me fat. However, I’m still a sprightly young woman so yay for metabolism! I do have one confession. I have an inner fat kid. This kid shows up rather frequently and so I have dubbed this desire to consume delicious food, Stanley.

That was just a random fact. Onto more pressing information.

Since Mike and I create yummy dishes together I’ll be blogging about it! Tada!

So recently Mike made cabbage rolls, some kind of cabbage soup, braised duck with potato slices cooked in duck fat and a variety of delicious salads in the last few weeks. I have baked apple pie, tarts and espresso shortbread cookies. Oh and Mike made me THE MOST EPIC birthday cake which I will probably have to find a picture of just to show off to the world.

Expect me to post recipes and pictures on here and check out my instagram feed for instant updates on what we make.

Hooray for loving food together!

Stay classy,

~E

This one time at camp

So, part of my job working with the 4-H Magazine is I have to go out and take photos at all of the provincial programming we have in the summer. Let me rephrase that. I have the esteemed privilege to be paid to go out to wonderful summer camps where kids will ask to play soccer, basketball, volleyball and drip-drip-drop with the Summer staff for hours on end.

Now 4-H in its own right is a fantastic organization. Yes, members have to fill out record books, attend meetings and participate in a project all year, which seems boring at times and fun at other times, but it is sooooo worth it!

Summer camps. The epitome of an awesome 4-H experience. Camps for every age group and a week of being told to head outside to go have FUN! Parents send their kids off to camp and they come back energized (or tired depending on how late those rascals stayed up chatting in their bunk rooms) after having made tons of new friends and eating delicious homemade meals.

I decided to blog about this after researching cool camp quotes. Thanks Pinterest for making me miss the good ol’ days of going to camp! However, like I said I get to go back and take pictures, interview the kids, listen to some great presenters and eat some great down home cooking.

If you have kids SEND THEM TO CAMP! You won’t regret the money spent, the time away from your children or the endless stories they have to tell you. The experience a kid has at camp is priceless. Honestly, some of my greatest friends are former 4-H campers just like myself.

Plus, we got to learn how to canoe, climb ropes, use compasses, make crafts and learn to maybe not eat that berry on a rather suspicious looking bush. Also, we totally knew how to shoot a bow and arrow at the archery range waaaayyyyy before Katniss Everdeen!

So, yay for camps! All the camps! All over the world! I hope everyone sends their kids to camp at least once so that they can make new friends, learn some cool stuff and have a blast just being a kid.

Stay classy,

~E

Black Garlic..Say What?!

Its sweet, savoury and DOES NOT give you bad breath!

Welcome to the world of Black Garlic!

Whilst on a gallivant to the local Farmer’s Market in downtown Edmonton, my boyfriend and I happened upon a man selling what I at first thought looked like rotten garlic. But wait! Who would sell rotten garlic. Investigate further and discover the process of garlic fermentation.

Lions, tigers and bears oh my!

Such an odd concept of deliciousness could only be found at a circus, a circus of local food goodness!

So now here’s the scoop: Black garlic is freaking tasty as heck! Forget anything you have experienced with fresh garlic. Bad breath, bitter taste, funky odour. I say nay! Black garlic is honestly like candy. The BEST part about it is the health benefits. This tiny powerhouse of flavour is actually right on up there with blueberries as one of the best natural antioxidants you can eat.

So the next time you’re out an about looking for a tasty treat that’s not so normal try black garlic. If you hate it…well you’re just weird haha and if you love it…you’re welcome!

For any local Edmontonians looking to visit the same vendor who carries black garlic at the downtown market, click on the title of my blog or look up Garlic Purity Plus.

Stay classy,

~E

Rainbow March

OH Pride Day!

A time when the most popular colour is rainbow and dancing in the streets while scantily clad is encouraged during the day. I have many friends who are loud and proud about their sexuality and I can honestly say they are the most amazing friends I have the pleasure of knowing.

This year was my first year of actually seeing the Pride Parade in Edmonton and it was awesome! Companies from all over the city had pride floats in the procession. Holy crikey I am using quite a lot of alliterations. Anyways, the best float I saw was a group of lovely ladies dressed up in beaver and lumberjack costumes. The ideas for floats were clever and looked like so much fun! Whether LGBTQ or straight but supporting the pride of being free to express, tons of people were out and about to celebrate.

Coincidentally, the Pride parade happened on the same day as the downtown Farmer’s Market so good food mixed with high energy celebrating made for a wonderful day!

I even got to see my friends walk in the parade! They were the Inqueeries group and they were cheering loud! Hopefully next year I can walk in the parade with them.

Happy Pride Day!

Prepare to be amazed!

GUESS WHAT!?

The tickets are booked and adventure awaits on June 23rd!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I have the pleasure of turning another year older! The best part of my birthday was yesterday. We had a celebration out at my parents house and then came home to a surprise party set up by my dashing and very sneaky boyfriend!
I LOVE SURPRISES!

Thank-you to all of my family and friends for making my birthday an amazing experience!