I am a bad, bad blogger. I have not been posting nearly as often as I should be. I will try to remedy this. In the meantime, check out some of the Alberta/Edmonton blogs on the list fellow Edmonton-based blogger, Aaron Braaten, has put together.
Spring is starting to show her beautiful face here in Edmonton, and that means that Edmontonians will soon begin one of the great traditions of Edmonton life—getting the hell out of River City.
Leaving Edmonton is an odd part of Edmonton culture. Often, this involves leaving permanently. For many people, succeeding in business or in art means leaving Edmonton for Vancouver or Toronto.
For others, Edmonton is simply too “boring” to remain past the age of 24 or 25. These people tend to leave as soon as they graduate from university or college.
It’s not these permanent ex-pats that I’m referring to here, though. I’m talking about the great Edmonton tradition of travel. I’ve noticed that Edmontonians love to travel the world. At the very least, we love to take day trips around Alberta.
As the snow begins to melt, and the roads around the province dry-up, Edmontonians will start hitting the road, and visiting other communities within the Wild Rose province.
With that in mind, I’m hoping that between you and I, we can compile a list of good food outside of Edmonton. If you were to take a food pilgrimage around Alberta, where would be make sure that you stopped?
I’ve got a few locations, including:
Those are just a few of the places that came into my head immediately. I’ll add more to the list as I think of them, and I hope that you’ll help increase the size of the list by leaving comments with some of your favourite food places around Alberta.
And, if you have any Edmonton restaurants you’d like to mention, leave a comment on the Edmonton Restaurant Guide.
I just wanted to leave a quick note for all of my readers to let you know that I will soon be switching my RSS feed to a Feedburner feed. If you’re feed reader stops giving you updates in the next day or 2, it’s not because I haven’t been writing. It’s because the feed location has changed, so you’ll need to update your subscription.
Check back soon for the new feed location.
Update 03-12-2008: The new feed location is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/river-city-writer.
I was reading the CBC news this morning and came across what may be the most ridiculous idea ever proposed in the Edmonton city council. Councilor Kim Krushell wants to put a giant, temporary dome over Churchill Square in the winter months, so that we can have an outdoor winter festival in Edmonton.
The idea was so absurd that I couldn’t help but leave a comment on the CBC website in response to the article. I’ve republished my comments here, and they can be seen below the excerpt.
Edmonton could extend its popular summer festival season by placing a transparent dome on Churchill Square, a city councillor suggested Monday.
At a cost of $200,000, the 15-metre high, 30-metre wide geodesic dome would allow the city’s main downtown square to be used even in Edmonton’s bone-chilling winters, Coun. Kim Krushell said.
“It would be a way to make Churchill Square, which we did spend a lot of money developing, to actually work for us,” Krushell said.
The dome is designed to be removed, but meant to remain up most of the winter.
The square, which received a $12.3 million makeover in 2004, is home to a succession of summer festivals, including the Works Art and Design Festival and Edmonton International Street Performers Festival.
The dome would allow natural light to enter and could be heated, providing room for up to 1,200 people, Krushell said. (More…)
What a ridiculous idea. I’m in favour of Edmonton having a winter festival (or several), and I think Churchill Square should be the focal point of any such festival. But, a giant temporary dome? How absurd.
Sure, having one or two smaller “warming tents” for people to go inside and warm up if it’s cold out during the festival would be good (and likely necessary), but to cover the entire Square in one big plastic dome? Please, let’s get serious.
The point of a winter festival is largely to embrace the outdoors, despite the cold temperatures. Hiding away inside of a dome is no different than hanging out in the mall during the winter.
If Edmonton is going to have a winter festival, it should be held outdoors, in the cold.
Is the Suburban Burger at New City Likwid Lounge the best burger in Edmonton? I’ve been thinking about that question since I had one for the first time on Saturday night.
At the time, I was telling my friends that it wasn’t the best burger I’d ever eaten, but it was definitely high up in the list. This remains true. However, I also said that it wasn’t the best in the city. I said that it was one of the best, but not the best. This, as the rather leading headline to this article indicates, is inaccurate.
Having thought about all of the glorious, juicy, flavourful goodness that was packed into the Suburban Burger, I have to say that it is the best burger in Edmonton. Maybe, one day, I’ll eat a burger in this town that’s better, but that day hasn’t come.
The Suburban Burger even beats out the 100% Sirloin Burger at Two Rooms Cafe. It’s a few bucks cheaper, at $9 (compared to $11), and bacon, mushrooms, and cheese can be added for $0.50 each. Even if you load on those extra toppings, the Suburban still comes in $0.50 cheaper.
Of course, price doesn’t determine quality. Ultimately, taste is all that matters, and the Suburban Burger is packed full of flavour. The hand-made patty is incredibly juicy, but it’s not sloppy.
I’ve eaten burgers that were incredibly juicy, but which have fallen apart after the first couple of bites, making them an awkward mess to eat. And, of course, on the other end of the spectrum, there are burgers that are solidly constructed, but which are about as moist as a cardboard box.
The cooks in the Likwid Lounge kitchen have managed to find a near perfect balance between juiciness and solid construction.
Drink this with a pint of Big Rock Traditional Ale ($4.25 a pint every night from 8pm to closing) and you’re set for one of the best burger experiences in River City. I recommend sticking with fries to make the meal complete, but you can change that to a garden salad if you want to pretend you’re eating a healthy meal.
For more information about New City Likwid Lounge, read my review of the New City Compound.
After being on hiatus since December, the Raving Poets are back with their 2008 Spring Season, titled Heart Beat.
For those who may not know about the Raving Poets, here’s a run down of what goes on at these things:
There is, of course, a bit more order and structure than I’m letting on, but the point is that the Raving Poets Experience is unlike anything else. It’s part spoken word, part live improvisational music, and part bacchanalian release.
If you’ve never experienced the Raving Poets, I highly recommend you come and check it out. It runs every Wednesday at 8:00pm for the next 13 weeks down at Kasbar Lounge (10444 Whyte Avenue, downstairs from Yianni’s). If you want to get on the reader list, you’ll have to arrive early: sign-up is at 7:30pm and closes promptly at 8pm.
For more information about Heart Beat, check out the Raving Poets website.
Did you know you can’t vote if you have no fixed address? I suppose this is obvious, given that political ridings are based upon where you live. But, really, this sickens me.
The homeless in this province are those who are suffering the most as a result of the out-of-control economy, and they don’t even have the right to vote? Never mind that they’re Canadian citizens and residents of Alberta, if they don’t have a home, they don’t have a vote.
Now, I don’t know how this could be solved. Maybe they could use the address of a homeless shelter. But, that would require that they know the address of a shelter (which they may not, especially if they are newly homeless).But, no doubt, someone in the bureaucracy would decided that, in order for someone to list a shelter as their address, they’d have to actually have spent a few nights in the shelter and been issued some sort of documentation to prove it.
Considering that we don’t have nearly enough beds for homeless people as it is, such a requirement would mean that a lot of people would still not be able to vote.
I wish I had a solution to this problem. Unfortunately, all I can come up with is anger and disgust.
Change…that’s been the buzzword for this election campaign. Apparently, it’s not going to be the outcome, though. We’re in for a few more years of Tory rule. The Progressive Conservative will, as a result of this election, likely reach at least 40 years of power before we have another election.
I’m really pissed off by this. No party should be in power for 4 decades. Apparently, though, Alberta doesn’t agree, as the PCs have won a very large majority government. Not only have they won more seats that during the last election (at least according to the projected results that I’m currently seeing), they’ve also won more of the popular vote.
In my own riding of Edmonton-Centre, it looks as thought incumbent Laurie Blakeman has won again. I was hoping NDP candidate Deron Bilous would win the seat, but I’ll take Laurie if I have to. I’d much rather a Liberal represent my riding than a PC.
But…no change for Alberta.
It’s time to vote, Alberta. I don’t care who you vote for, or what you’re basing your vote on; just get out there and vote. Your vote does matter.
VOTE!
