We’re nearly a month away from Christmas, and with American Thanksgiving now out of the way, I think it’s now appropriate to pull out the decorations to start making merry at home. It was also perfect timing for a Christmas fête at the Queen of Tarts. Sparking wine and sparkling lights There’s a lot to [...]

It has been a long time coming, but Queen of Tarts has finally opened, just a stone’s throw away from her summer home at the City Market! Queen of Tarts It was announced back in September 2010 that Linda Kearney would be opening a permanent storefront on 104 Street in the historic Armstrong building, with [...]

Sergio Manrique and I have sat on an inter-agency immigrant services committee for some time now, but I had no idea that he and Ninfa Castellanos had been planning on opening a Latin bakery together until I read about it. La Monarca opened on December 1, just a block away from where the Old Bread [...]

I had read about the The Old Bread Factory after it opened in the summer, but the one time Mack and I remembered to stop there, it was already closed. We were in luck on a Saturday night recently, however, as when we passed by the small bakery in the Whitemud Crossing strip mall, we [...]

Life is all about the little things. Watching the leaves fall from the trees in autumn. Drinking in the mid-afternoon sun. Savouring that first sip of morning coffee. Or, finding that a new bakery opened up in your neighbourhood. Thanks to Nate Box (who will be opening his own restaurant, Elm Cafe, soon enough), I [...]

I decided to check out Fresh Start Bakery (484 Riverbend Square) with my parents while we were in the area this afternoon. I had originally read about the cafe in Vue Weekly, and noticing the apparent hunger in Edmonton for upscale breads and treats (Fresh Start joins Cobbs Bread and the more established Bon Ton [...]

I am not afraid to admit that I have a cupcake fetish, or at the very least am in the midst of a cupcake phase. Ever since Magnolia Bakery hit it big in New York, gourmet cupcake shops have been springing up in major centres across North America. Even Edmonton, as small as we are, [...]