Lilac Festival Calgary

May 26, 2013 by Cher | Leave a comment

Bye bye Winter, and hello Lilac Festival! Spring is finally here!

Every year on 4th Street in Calgary, we await the market fair, Lilac Festival, that kisses goodbye the winter and kicks start the Spring for us. Fragrance of lilac is in the air, mixed with the freshly cut grass and BBQ flavour. There are flowers of the Spring, and vibrant colours of pink, purple and white! Everything in the surroundings are bathed in warm sunshine and singing “come out and play”! So, we did and we were grooving with the music!

The festival has been a success, and is getting bigger and bigger every year.  On this 24th anniversary, the event runs from 12th Avenue SW to Bow River along 4th Street SW. If you like the crowd, live performance, street foods and unique craft products, you wouldn’t want to miss this fun event. It’s children and pet friendly, too!

If it’s gonna be your first time visiting Lilac Festival, bring drinking water, wear shoes for walking, get there early (10am) and allow 3 hours to cover the ground.

 

Good Eat: Down Town Food Modern Bistro Calgary

May 21, 2013 by Cher | 3 Comments

Modern day conveniences keep our palates satisfied regardless of seasonalities and without geographical boundaries. What’s often forgotten is what our native land has to offer. With commitment to using local ingredients, DownTownFood (DTF) took us exploring the flavours of the season and of the land. It’s no easy task for a restaurant in Calgary, landlocked and long harsh Winter with major temperature swings (chinook), to insist on local ingredients and sustainability. Foodies in Calgary, you are in luck!

Chef’s tasting menu is often our first choice on the menu during first visit. It tells uncompromising stories by the chefs, through which, unpublished tit-bits were often found. DTF’s Garde Manger chatted with us about the meal. We found that his favorite ingredient is mushroom. He experiments like a mad scientist in the kitchen. He wears trendy cap perhaps to hide his mad scientist hair from the hot kitchen (lab). Haha. We’ll be going back for the next seasonal menu for sure, and maybe get a chance to also chat with DTF’s Chef Darren MacLean in person.

 

 

 

V Indicators:

1. Delicious non-alcohol beverages: yes

2. Checks on the table: 4

3. The decibel point: 67

4. The price tag: $75.00/ person without wine pairing

 

Good Eat: Spanish Restaurant in Miami – Casa Juancho Restaurant

April 26, 2013 by Jessie | Leave a comment

We came here with the local friends.  Casa Juancho Restaurant offers live music = FUN!

Food and sangria were excellent!  The baby eel and roasted pepper appetizers were great!  Seafood paella was delicious!!!  Caramel Custard & Pear poached in red wine sauce wrapped up a perfect day with friends in Miami!

這家在邁阿密的西班牙餐廳有現場音樂。海鮮飯也很好吃！

Good Eat Review: Oyster Bar Restaurant inside Grand Central Station NYC

April 20, 2013 by Jessie | Leave a comment

We walked by the Oyster Bar Restaurant inside the Grand Central Station in New York City many times in the past and didn’t get a chance to try it.  This past January when we took Mom to NYC, we took her to the Oyster Bar restaurant for lunch since she loves oyster and seafood!

我們過去經過在紐約市大中央車站內的牡蠣酒吧餐廳多次，但並沒有機會嘗試一下。今年一月初，我們帶媽媽去紐約時，我們帶她去Oyster酒吧餐廳吃午飯，因為她很喜歡牡蠣和海鮮！

New menu is printed daily!   他們每日打印新的菜單喔！

 

Retro upscale diner décor.   餐館裝飾是高檔又復古的風格。

Heavenly lunch with a good price!  We recommend this place for a great seafood lunch!

美味的午餐，價錢也不算高！強烈推薦它!

這裡也不是太嘈雜。

It’s a great place to dine when you visit NYC.

Bloom! Canine & Orchids Runway Extravaganza at RF Orchids – Southern Florida Tropical Trail

April 19, 2013 by Jessie | Leave a comment

Celebrity Designer, Kiki Hamann’s “Bloom! Canine & Orchids Runway Extravaganza” (click the link to see photos of the event) was hosted at the beautiful RF Orchids in Florida (on April  6, 2013).  It is South Florida’s oldest  and most prestigious orchid farm.  There are many exotic orchids on display in the lush tropical garden.  More beautiful photos on their facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/RF-Orchids/129023360854

RF蘭花園是南佛羅里達州最古老且最負盛名的蘭花農場。有許多異國情調的蘭花顯示在鬱鬱蔥蔥的熱帶花園。他們的臉書頁面上有更多照片！

 

Note: Escorted walking tours of the private garden at 11am and 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays.  It’s closed on Mondays.

注：週六和週日的上午11時和下午3時 有私人花園步行遊覽。它週一關閉。

 

 

 

Winery Review – Schnebly Redland’s Winery in Florida

April 14, 2013 by Jessie | Leave a comment

Our dear friend, Celebrity Designer, Kiki Hamann brought us to this paradise-like Schnebly family winery.  It’s the southernmost winery in the United States and it produces the most exotic handcrafted tropical wines, using no grapes!  The winery has beautiful tropical gardens, coral waterfalls and cool tiki huts.

They offer wine tasting daily and tours on weekends.  They even have live music and dancing every Friday nights!  We had a fabulous relaxing time wine tasting in the beautiful garden with our dear friends.  We tried Avocado wine, Starfruit wine, Lychee wine, Mango wine… just to name a few.  Tasting cost is $9.95 USD per person and you can keep the etched Schnebly wine glass :-) We loved all the wines that we sampled and brought home a few bottles!  They also brew exotic fruit beers but we didn’t get to try it.  We’ll go back for sure!  We highly recommend this winery to anyone who is visiting southern Florida.  It’s a great experience!

 

我們朋友，名設計師，琪琪哈曼，帶我們來了這個世外桃源般的Schnebly家族酒莊。這是在美國最南端的酒莊。 它產生最奇特的，手工製作的，熱帶水果酒，完全沒有用葡萄做的酒！該酒廠擁有美麗的熱帶花園，珊瑚的瀑布和清涼的夏威夷風情木屋。

他們每日提供品酒的服務和週末遊覽。他們甚至每週五晚有現場音樂和舞蹈！我們有一個美妙的下午，與我們的親愛的朋友們在美麗的花園內放鬆品酒。我們試了酪梨酒，楊桃酒，荔枝酒，芒果酒…這只是僅舉幾例。 :-) 我們很喜歡我們品嚐的水果酒，也帶回家了幾瓶！品酒的費用是每人$ 9.95美元，你還可以保留Schnebly酒杯做記念！

他們還釀造水果啤酒，但我們沒有機會去嘗試。我們肯定是會回去的！我們強烈推建這個佛羅里達州南部的酒莊。這是一個很美好的經驗！

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Brunch at Habitat Canmore

April 1, 2013 by Cher | 8 Comments

Yeah! It’s the long weekend and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! My husband and I drove to the Rocky Mountains with our dear friend for a much needed long weekend get away. We kept it schedule free, just wondered around the town of Canmore and soaked up our vitamin D with warm Spring sunshine and mountain fresh air.

Rolling off the bed with the sound of running creek pass 10:30am, we were all hungry. Our local friend suggested we check out this restaurant called Habitat located at Grande Rockies Resort for their Easter Brunch. It’s $25 a head, simple offering with full flavours. Traditional Easter ham was served with amazing fruit compote. Besides the regular brunch buffet items like fresh herb scramble eggs, sausages and bacons, Eggs Benedict, flaky pastry and fresh fruits; Habitat revealed a bit of its famous dinner menu charm with curry cauliflower soup and red wine beef stew that stole my husband’s heart before noon hour.

Brunch doesn’t seem to be a regular routine at Habitat. May be it’s an Easter special. Humorous and attentive service sure made me want to come back and try out their lunch and dinner indulgence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Eat Review: Brunch at Lougheed House in Calgary

February 28, 2013 by Jessie | Leave a comment

Lougheed House is a historical house full of history.  It’s located in downtown Calgary (on 13 Ave SW between 6 & 7 St).  Most people don’t know that they also have a restaurant there – call “The Restaurant.”  It serves lunch from Wednesday to Sunday (11am to 2pm MT) and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 2pm.  The food is always good.  They use as much local food as possible.  It’s a lovely place for a nice brunch on the weekend with family – they take reservations & it’s kid-friendly.  You can also make reservation to have private function.

Lougheed House是位於卡爾加里市中心（13 AVE SW, 6及7街之間），一家充滿了歷史的建築。大多數人不知道，他們還有一個餐廳 – 供應午餐從週三到週日（上午11時至下午2時MT），週六和週日早午餐從上午10時至下午2時。他們盡可能地使用當地的食材，他們做得食物總是很好吃。春夏時，可欣賞他們著名的花園。 這實在是個和家庭人享受早午餐不錯的地方。

Good Eat Review: Lazy Monkey in NW Calgary – Taiwanese Casual Food

February 26, 2013 by Jessie | 2 Comments

卡加利的台灣小吃 – 懶猴

Lazy Monkey is a Taiwanese restaurant in NW Calgary.  It’s a small family operated restaurant.  They offer some popular Taiwanese comfort food and a variety of the famous Taiwanese bubble tea drinks.

We visit it pretty often.  :-)

Some of our favourite items:

  • Chicken Thigh with rice
  • Spring noodle soup
  • Dry ribs
  • Taiwanese version of “popcorn chicken”
  • Coconut toast
  • Bubble teas: My hubby’s favourite bubble tea is half sweet Passionfruit Green Tea with pearls (“bubbles”).  Mine is half sweet Lychee black tea with pearls.  If you like dessert flan (like me), then you must try “Pudding Milk Tea” – I usually ask “no sugar” for the milk tea since the pudding is already sweetened.  You can try it “half sweet” for the first time.

排骨飯 Deep Fried Pork Chop with Rice

雞腿飯 Deep Fried Chicken with rice

 

 

Good Eat in Calgary: Q Haute Cuisine

February 21, 2013 by Jessie | Leave a comment

We recently had an amazing dinner experience at Q Haute Cuisine in downtown Calgary!  We will definitely go back for more!  The Chef’s table in the kitchen sounds very interesting – that may be the next thing we try!

If you are a foodie and love some extraordinary culinary surprises, then I’d recommend you to try the Chef’s tasting menu at Q Haute Cuisine with wine pairing.  You can pick the number of courses and how many glasses of wine you prefer.  It’s a great restaurant for a special occasion and for foodies.

Take a look at our delicious 8-course chef’s tasting menu dinner below: (which included a dessert “cooked” with liquid nitrogen by the table side! Super cool!)

dessert cooked with liquid nitrogen

Everything is made and sealed in the kitchen

 

mini assorted desserts

toasted marshmallow + camomile tea (in the tube below the marshmallow)

Until next time… Cheers!

 

 

Like Q Haute on Facebook & Follow Q Haute on Twitter

You can see the menu and book your table on their website - www.qhautecuisine.com