When I first saw pictures of Diner en Blanc, I was absolutely transfixed. Hundreds, if not thousands of people, all dressed in white, dining al fresco with the most gorgeous urban backdrops imaginable – the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the New York harbourfront. The scenes just looked so surreal, so serene, that I immediately started [...]

When Amanda was in Edmonton for the Chinese New Year weekend, we decided to go for brunch as a family. We limited our options to places that accepted reservations (so we wouldn’t have to wait indefinitely to be seated, especially given our party of six), and ended up at Wildflower Grill. I had brunch there [...]

One of the things I liked most about Toronto was the diversity of neighbourhoods – it was great to be able to take in such a variety of areas even in the short amount of time I was there. I know there were many neighbourhoods I just didn’t get to – I look forward to [...]

A colleague and I met halfway between both of our offices at Africa Restaurant the previous Wednesday for lunch. Last year, the establishment changed hands – Mebrat had been a community mainstay for many years, but the transition to Africa Restaurant seemed rather seamless, and I’d heard that the menu of Eritrean and Ethiopian dishes [...]

Panago is our go-to pizza take-out joint (we especially love their Italian meatball pizza). The nearest storefront on 104 Avenue is about a twenty minute walk though, so we inevitably end up driving there to pick up our orders. When Papa John’s moved into a storefront a block away from our condo on 105 Street [...]

Out of all the blog posts I write, I most enjoy recounting my travel experiences. If you are a regular reader, however, you know that this category is the most neglected. Because they are the most time consuming, I tend to procrastinate on them, a habit that is becoming worse as the years pass (I [...]

If one neighbourhood could particularly benefit from an “open house” event like Taste of Whyte or an organized food crawl, it would be the Avenue of Nations. Because of a transient population and a stigma of a high rate of crime, among other things, people often shy away from visiting the neighbourhoods of Central McDougall [...]

Almost a year after Jill, Kathryn and I had decided that we would dine at Sabu Sushi Bar together, we finally made it to the restaurant. Last Wednesday, the three of us met at the Korean-Japanese restaurant Sabu to sample shabu-shabu. Although my family indulges in Chinese-style hot pot every now and then, this was [...]

Mack and I spent a week in Yellowknife in December, ensuring we did, in fact, get a white Christmas. It was a low-key holiday, however, which is exactly what we both needed. With Mack’s brother Thom Two years ago (my first time up north), we checked off many of the “touristy” items off our list, [...]

I had so much fun in 2011! Mack and I continued to experiment in the kitchen (not a chore, especially in the summer with the City Market right outside our door). Tomato pasta, at the top of the list of our favourite home cooked meals this year Roman egg drop soup: nothing to look at, [...]