Though we still have numerous boxes scattered throughout the condo, I feel more settled now than I did on the weekend. We even cooked our first meal last night in the kitchen! And I have to say, nothing’s better than being able to walk to the office in less than fifteen minutes – beats waiting for the bus any day! On to this week’s food notes:

• Doors Open Edmonton takes place this weekend, with numerous events celebrating Edmonton’s “built history”. Of note is their Speakers’ Studio, a new series for this year’s festival, which features a talk titled “Incarnation of the Edmonton City Market” on July 10.
• Ever want to know what goes down at a barista competition? Transcend is opening up their internal barista competition, where the top two winners will earn the right to compete in the Prairie Regional Barista Competition. Check out the action July 11 at 2pm at the original Transcend.
• Look for Original Fare’s semi-annual Fork Fest July 18 – 22 and 25 – 29. I’d prefer it didn’t coincide with Taste of Edmonton/Capital Ex, but then again, it’s difficult to avoid double booking with a festival in the summer.
• Tickets to Slow Food Edmonton’s annual Wild Boar and Beer BBQ, taking place on August 8, are now on sale! I’m a little biased because I’m one of the co-organizers this year, but I think it’s going to be a great event – Hog Wild is supplying the boar; Tree Stone Bakery, Cafe Haven and Leva Cafe will be providing the sides; and of course, Alley Kat beers will be on tap. Look for a scavenger hunt to be released later this week on my blog for a chance to win two tickets!
• From the City Market: “The City Market is launching a recipe blog and is looking for local recipes that celebrate the City Market’s great vendors and delicious products. A blog will  launch  on July 31, 2010 as a part of their celebrations marking Food Day Canada.” E-mail your recipes here.
• Speaking of the City Market – Vue Weekly wrote a profile on Eva Sweet Waffles this week (I love that they are at the market every Saturday now).
• BruleeBlog (aka Sherene) reviewed mrkt, which should become a destination lunch spot for the core crowd.
• Chris posted about a second Crepeworks that will be occupying the space vacated by Le Papier on Whyte Avenue.
• The second location of DeLux (on Bourbon Street at West Edmonton Mall) opened its doors on June 30. It’s bigger and better, according to those who have been, and even has a take-out window.
• A second Twisted Yogurt location is set to open in Southpark (along Calgary Trail) soon.
• Eat and drink al fresco: Avenue Magazine published a spread about the city’s best patios this month.
• It was only a matter of time before urban beekeeping was given the same profile as urban chicken coops (which was covered in Vue this week) – some are hoping the City will allow for a small pilot to allow for urban beekeeping.
• I still can’t believe I missed Valerie’s epic taste tripping party last week, but reading the recaps from Chris, Sherene, LeQuan and Lea, among others, was a bit of a consolation prize. And, well, Valerie was nice enough to provide us with two miracle berry tablets for our own use…
• On the heels of Tea Desire closing, David’s Tea is opening up their second Edmonton location in Southgate.

David’s Tea

• I took a break from the moving madness on Monday to have dinner with Valerie at Wild Tangerine. Wilson took good care of us, though I probably should have mentioned to him how cold I was – I must have been sitting under an AC vent on full blast!

Crispy pork spring roll

Judy’s famous Thai Green Curry with Prawns & Tortiglioni (loved the use of pasta instead of a traditional rice starch)

Asian Chili with Tofu and Rice Cracker (Valerie loved it)

• We’ve were eating out a lot last week, between late nights and a lack of kitchen equipment. One day, we stopped for lunch at the Italian Centre for one of their hunger-busting paninis. The best thing about the sandwich? The bread.

Giant panini @ the Italian Centre

• While Mack’s dad was in town this weekend, he wanted to take us out for dinner. Satisfying his request for Indian food, we directed him to Origin India (we think their naan is the best in the city). Martin loved it.

Plate #1 at Origin India

• After the gluttony, we took a walk around downtown to help the digestion process along. It was a good opportunity to check out the progress of Shaw Conference Centre’s garden.

Great use of space!

• On Canada Day, we were invited to Mack’s friend Reg’s house. His penthouse suite overlooking the Legislature allowed for fantastic views of the fireworks, but even more notable were the appetizers he served hungry guests. He had concocted a Big Mac salad roll, which to our surprise, tasted exactly like a Big Mac encased in rice paper (complete with special sauce and sesame seeds). Bravo, Reg!

Beautiful view