Last year, the inaugural East Meets West Festival, put on by the Chinatown and Little Italy Business Association, was a great success. So much so that its 2010 incarnation was expanded from one to three days, with an additional cultural group added to the mix. Though I had good intentions to attend the Viva Italia [...]

As a volunteer appreciation gesture, my fellow board members and I were fortunate enough to receive two free tickets to an Edmonton Eskimos game this year – we even had the opportunity to pick from any of their home games. I offered to take Amanda (who had never before attended an Eskimos match), and she [...]

It was one of the coldest Saturdays in recent memory, chilly and gusty, particularly depressing given the fact that it is still August. But I was still looking forward to the City Market, given the penultimate cultural festival would be taking place today.

Roving accordion player!

Pinocchio gelato stand (the weather was really unfortunate)
Edmonton Opera was on [...]

Things are slowly, but surely, changing in the neighbourhoods of Queen Mary Park and Central McDougall. Probably not fast enough for some, but it’s happening.
The two communities that make up the “North Edge” are one of the four areas the City has targeted for neighbourhood revitalization. The Queen, a community garden next to the Edmonton [...]

Though I’ve been keeping afloat of the series of Celebrity Chef burgers at Delux, none of them have really captured my attention, at least not enough for me to make an effort to trek down to Crestwood to try it. But this month’s poutine burger? Stop the presses.
We took Che Bechard’s creation for the month [...]

It’s not a secret that the Fringe is my favourite summer festival. The shows, the food, the buskers, the atmosphere – it’s a combination that rightly attracts an incredibly diverse crowd. I really admire what the Fringe is doing to try to build their audience from the ground up, tackling the age-old issue of those [...]

The haze that remained over the city couldn’t cast a shadow over the City Market this week; at least for us. I’m not sure what it was, but we really enjoyed ourselves today – possibly because we could actually do some real shopping today (our fridge is now working again), or because we were able [...]

Though I’ve attended a few artsScene Edmonton events before (notably their patio party at Latitude 53 last summer), this was my first of their behind-the-scenes series, which provides attendees with the opportunity to “go backstage” at cultural institutions such as the Alberta Ballet, Edmonton Opera, and most recently, at the Freewill Shakespeare Festival. This time, [...]

We spent most of the weekend at the Fringe, which not only meant watching quite a number of shows, but also having the opportunity to sample food from several vendors, both on and off the Fringe site.

Green onion cakes are a perennial Fringe favourite

A vendor dedicated entirely to chocolate covered bananas!

Deli Manjoo, small, custard-filled cakes [...]

I saw my first Teatro la Quindicina play in 2001 – the summer after I graduated high school. Cocktails at Pam’s had received a 4 1/2 star review in the Journal, and it seemed to be on everyone’s must-see list.  At the time, I was a volunteer, and redeeming volunteer appreciation Fringe bucks at the [...]