Sit inside Pharos Pizza, in one of their 1970′s leather seat booths, and look across the street. Poised like a vulture studying its next meal is a Domino’s take-out counter. The ground zero of the fast food incursion into the Edmonton historical district of Old Strathcona happened a mere block down, where a KFC, a [...]

Back in January, I decided to go off meat for 3 months in what I called The Vegetarian Experiment. It turns out I didn’t last 3 months; but I definitely feel the experiment was a success. Here are a few observations: 1. Vegetarianism isn’t that hard It was very easy for me to fall into [...]

“We’ve gotta get Jack’s coffee sorted out before he gets here,” says Dominic. It’s only 7:15 – the market officially opens at 8 AM – yet there is urgency in Dom’s voice. I arrange the coffee bags faster. Every Saturday since Catfish Coffee set up shop at the Old Strathcona Farmers Market, Jack sneaks in [...]

Sunday morning, my shoulder will feel sore as hell. It’s getting punched repeatedly by a merciless bully. The bully’s name? .300 Winchester Magnum. I line up my shot, remembering not to lean forward too close to the rifle’s sight; I don’t feel like shopping for a new pair of glasses with a black eye. My [...]

Wow, has it been a month already into my vegetarian experiment? One month is long enough to start forming habits, and my vegetarianism is no exception. The simple fact is, I barely think about it anymore. As a matter of fact, others are starting to think about it for me. Eating vegetarian is a personal [...]

Wednesday evening, Helene heated up a pot of spicy pea soup that she had frozen in December. The soup base was from a stall at the Farmers Market. Hungry, we dug in immediately. “Say, didn’t we use bison bones as the stock for this?” I asked. We both stared at each other, in shock. Yep, [...]

I’ve been a vegetarian for a week now, and it’s going pretty well thus far. Many vegetarians report an increase in energy from the get-go. Did I get an energy boost myself? Well, I think so. Could be psychosomatic, of course, or it could be that the contrast between my Christmas Holidays diet and this [...]

As you know, I place a lot of importance on small-scale meat production, as opposed to industrial slaughterhouses. I believe that although it is ethically acceptable to eat meat, this does not imply the right to treat animals inhumanely. Here is a blog post that exemplifies the kind of understanding and appreciation that can grow [...]

As I said in a previous post, I’ve decided to give the vegetarian lifestyle a 3-month trial this year. Last Sunday, I took my parents and brother out to Au pied de cochon, and sensing the orgy of meat this would represent, I decided that it would be a fitting point to start my vegetarian [...]

Having heaped praise on the Old Strathcona Farmer’s Market throughout the better part of last year, I was curious to revisit the fabled Marché Jean-Talon during my Montreal visit. Partly, I wanted to see how the Market held up to my year-old memories of the place; but also, having learned a lot about food and local agriculture this [...]