This past thursday we went to The Wokkery for my make-up birthday dinner. It was missed in July because of Lucas' birth. We decided to have the Peking Duck 3 course meal with a couple of extra dishes on the side as well.
I didn't really get a good chance to take more pictures but that's the first of the 3 courses on peking duck. It's essentially the bbq duck skin which is then wrapped in a tortilla like wrap and filled with hoisin sause and some vegetables. The other 2 courses include a soup made with the duck bones and a lettuce wrap dish with the filling comprised of stir fried duck meat and bamboo shoots. Over all the meal was very good. The Wokkery is a small place that's very easy to miss. It's on a inner street on 98st and 109 ave. we were the only table there that night (granted it was a thursday). Would definitely come here again.
Even though this dinner was technically for my birthday the star of the show was still Lucas. He's just so darn cute lol:) Here's a couple of more pics...Glad he was here to celebrate his uncle peter's birthdayL)
Had a great time this weekend at the ESSC Slo-pitch Tournament. We finished 4th in our division but fought hard against the 1st place team (who pummeled us during the round robin games) in the semi-finals; only lost by 1 point:)
There was a racing event that took place at the stratotech race track this holiday money. All the funds raised went to the Alberta Cancer Foundation particularly the Cross Cancer Institute. Here you can time your car on the race track or enjoy a mini car show while supporting this wonderful cause.
There was great turn out at the event and there were many different makes and models of cars with a vast variety of mods and upgrades on showcase. Here's a link to the fundraising webpage. Please support this great cause.
Tonight was the celebration of my nephew Lucas' 1 month celebration. It's traditional in chinese culture to celebrate a newborn baby turning 1 month old. It also serves as a formal introduction of the newborn to extended family and friends. The celebration was held at dynasty century dragon palace (formerly marco polo restaurant).
Hard boiled eggs dyed red are traditionally served at this celebration. The eggs represent fertility, family and harmony.
Lucas having his supper while the rest of us have our feast.
We were served a 10-course banquet style feast which included chinese cold cuts with jelly fish and crispy pork, bird's nest (deep fried grated potatoes shaped into a nest and filled with seafood and vegetables), roasted quail, shark fin soup, deep fried shrimp balls, lobster with cream sauce, steamed fish with sweet soy sauce, a chinese vegetable dish which i forgot the name of, fried rice and a noodle dish. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures as we started eating and picking at the food as soon as it arrived at the table. I was gonna be rude and ask people to wait while I took a picture of food. (try explaining that to people in chinese lol)
The food was good. Just your typical chinese style banquet dinner. The focus of the night was obviously Lucas though and not the food. It was funny seeing him get passed around to different family members and friends. Lucas was behaved really well though. All that noise and commotion and he slept through it all. Only woke up once for supper and a diaper change. That's my awesome nephew for you:) Happy 1 month Lucas!
Yesterday I finally got a chance to check out downtown's farmer's market even though its been open for a couple of months now.
It's awesome to see so many local farmers and vendors selling their products. I ended buying a couple of meat products from some local vendors.
I first bought a pound of ground elk (that's right, elk) meat from this vendor. I've never had elk before but apparently it's super lean and can hold flavors very well. I'll make some burgers with it and post how it tasted.
Then I bought a pack of pork sausages (mild fennel italian sausage) from Irvings. I actually made some for breakfast this morning and it was really good. There wasn't any fillers in the sausages and it didn't leave a greasy taste in your mouth afterwards. It was actually quite lean as well which I liked very much. Will definitely try some of the other flavors of sausages in the future.
Saturday night we decided to go to K-days. I'm glad they changed the name back to K-days. I, like many other edmontonians, never liked the name capital Ex which was probably one of the reasons I haven't been in so long. For 1 night I get to indulge and binge on greasy deep fried carnival food:)
I usually go for the staple carnie foods. We went for the onion blossom with chipotle mayo, corn dog (pic not shown cause I ate it too fast:P), a large cup of old fashioned root beer, mini donuts and dole pineapple whip soft serve.
There's also a BBQ pit at K-days this year where professional BBQers sell their succulent creations of ribs, wings, pulled pork, various bbq goodies. My friends Dam and Bryan bought a full rack of ribs from Gator BBQ (who have apparently been to many bbq competitions and had won a few awards for their ribs). I tried a couple of ribs, it was pretty good. The meat fell right off the bone and the bbq sauce was very tasty. It was a good late night snack.
Bryan testing his skills at the rubber chicken game. No stuffed animal this time tho:(
The fireworks were actually really good at K-days. I'm glad they put some more money into it. It was a very good 10 minute show. Very surprised and impressed.
It's week of festivals and events here in etown. Earlier this monday evening my friend Cam and I went to the annual Taste of Edmonton event. Glad it didn't thunderstorm or rain like they had predicted. Wrong again meteorologists lol. Taste of Edmonton showcases a whole slew of the may different restaurants etown has to offer. They said they added 9 new restaurants this year but the venue didn't feel any bigger than the previous years I've been to. Tickets were $1 so we bought a sheet which has 30 tickets and set off. Of course we couldn't sample all the restaurants but here are some of the few places we hit up.
We started with the dry and spicy chicken from the lingnan. You might have heard of this restaurant or should I say seen this restuarant on tv as the owners of the Lingnan were on the tv show "the quon dynasty". I've actually never eaten at the Lingnan itself though I hear it's really good. The chicken was tasty. Could have used more punch on the spicy end of things but I guess they need to cater to people who might not like spicy as much as others. This dish costs 3 tickets.
We next had a skewer of candied bacon (2 tickets/skewer) from smokehouse BBQ...or was it BBQ smokehouse...i forget lol. Anyway I didn't get a chance to take a picture because I ate the skewer pretty quickly haha. It's not hard to imagine though. It's just a strip of bacon with a candied/honey glaze of some sort. Bacon in any way, shape, or form is always good right?:P
We then had the Jamaican Beef Patty (3 tickets/patty) from Irie Food. A Jamaican beef patty is like a pizza pop but the dough is a lot crispier and flakier and inside is a spicy ground beef filling instead of pizza filling. It was very good although just coming back from jamaica and having the beef patties over there I do have to say its better over there. The ones we had could have used more beef in the filling but the spices were bang on.
We then used 10 tickets to get 2 beers to quench our thirst after our little sampling of food. I had the Granville Island Brewing Companies lager named the Ginja Ninja. It was a light beer with a hint of spice and ginger in it. It was pretty refreshing actually. Good way to wash down the good food we just ate.
I had 4 tickets left and Cam was full so I just ended using the tickets to get a cup of hazelnut chocolate gelato from fantasia gelato. No picture here again sorry lol.
Taste of Edmonton is not all about the food. They have bands playing on a stage in the centre of churchill square for the patrons' enjoyment.
I recommend taking some time to check out the Taste of Edmonton, the ticket prices for the food items is not as bad as I thought it might be. It's still worth going just to try a sample from restaurants that maybe you were curious about but never decided to venture out and get a fll meal. This at least gives you an opportunity to try some new dishes and see what edmonton restaurants have to offer
dark trance, just the way I like it. let me know what you think as this is one of my favourite tracks that I've produced. #trancefamily #tranceprod...
My boy Hovig is at it again:) This track is so dark but I love it. H, keep up the good productions man. Somebody get markus schulz to listen to this guy's stuff. I'm sure its right up his alley:)
This past sunday I took a stroll through whyte ave during the Artwalk. This is where local artist can showcase and sell their beautiful artwork in a massive public setting. Now I admit I'm no art buff but there were certainly some nice looking pieces of art out there.
Now as I was walking through browsing the different pieces of artwork one artist really caught my attention. His name is Chris Brunner and he specializes in recreating cartoon characters with a slight twist on it. Ever the kid at heart I was drawn to his renditions of the TMNT, Super Mario and Luigi, and characters of sesame street etc. He first draws the characters on paper and then he would scan the image onto his computer where he would smoothe out the lines add color with photoshop and photo illustrator. The end result is a very crisp, clean image of his artwork. I bought 3 prints that caught my eye. He was selling out of some of the more popular ones fast so I had to hurry and grab some while I still could.
These brought back so many childhood memories but I really liked the adult twist and humour that was added to them. Now I need to decide on where to hang these haha. Chris also has a website in which you can view all his artwork and his contact as well if you want to order some prints. Here's a picture of his postcard as well.
After much much thought I have unfortunately decided to return Delta back to the Humane Society. It's not that he was a bad dog or anything but ultimately it came down to his lifestyle. I was essentially keeping in his kennel for more than half the day while I was a t work and/or doing other activities. And although it seemed like he didn't mind the kennel, I think he deserves a better life than being cramped up in a kennel all the time. He needs to be able to run around maybe on a farm or acreage or something and at least have a family or a couple of ppl able to take care of him. It wasn't too tough taking care of a puppy by yourself but having a second person able to help out is almost a must. Now I could have been selfish and kept this lifestyle up by keeping him but I want Delta to get the best life possible and as of right now, its not with me. If anyone thinks they are ready for a new pet in their lives please please please consider adopting for your local animal shelter. Goodbye Delta, I know you'll find a new home very soon with a wonderful family that will take care of you and give you all the things you need for a great life. It was fun while it lasted.
If anyone in edmonton is looking to adopt Delta, he should be on the adoption floor of the Edmonton Humane Society very soon:)
Nothing like a good old fashion BBQ to celebrate my birthday. Had an awesome time guys!!!!
PS..Great marinade on the wings Bobo:) Goes to show you can always put something tasty together with whatever sauces and seasonings you have lying around the house.
I did something crazy this friday..I went to the edmonton humane society and adopted a dog. His name was originally hopkins but I decided to rename him Delta. He is a 5 month old shepherd australian cattledog cross. I don't know what I just got myself into but we'll see how this goes.
This sunday I got a chance to walk Delta with a friend and co-worker of mine's dog just to socialize delta with other more mature dogs. It was a good experience for Delta and for Zeus. Afterwards, we decided to hit up whyte ave for what hovig called "getting day drunk" .
We decided to take the old school tram to whyte ave so we didn't have to drive and find parking. Good thing too..it was free for today only. It was sponsored by the old strathcona foundation which was actually hold an event on whyte ave that afternoon too.
on the tram while we were in the tunnel
we diced to go the The Next Act for brunch/lunch. Hovig wasn't kidding about getting day drunk cause as soon as we sat down at the bar he ordered 3 tequila shots (that was honestly the earliest I've ever had tequila or any shots for that matter). I haven't eaten anything all day as well which won't bode well for alcohol tolerance lol. We ordered our beers as well as some burgers. The Next Act is a hipstery pub with a good selection of beers and their food is very tasty and well known. They've won the golden fork award for best burgers I believe. After a second round of tequila shots I was pleasantly buzzed (empty stomach remember). After our meal we decided to walk a bit through whyte ave. Part of whyte ave was actually blocked off from traffic for a festival. The festival was called takin' it to the streets 2 presented by blues on whyte.
It's great to see a festival like this on whyte ave. I actually like the fact they close down the ave to allow foot traffic only. Edmonton should hold more festivals like this.
Color Me Rad was also this weekend..It was sold out before I got a chance to register but I'm definitely signing up next year. Looks like a blast. (when is running 5 km while getting pelted by color bombs not fun:P)
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