Culinary cornucopia at Capital EX

Tag : Kinds Of Spices

We thank you for our health.
And remember those who are sick.
We thank you for our freedom.
And remember those who are enslaved.
Thank you for this food we are about to consume, for thenourishment of our bodies.
May these remembrances always make us mindful of the needs ofothers.
Amen.
GREATEST OF GRUB
Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub, let's eat!
Culinary adventure is all over town during Capital EX, includingthe midway corn dogs and poutine!
Taste of Edmonton is in Churchill Square through next Sunday, from11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
At Capital EX, in the AgriCom's Hall A, is SIP! The wine and foodexperience.
Taste, in its 24th year, has a problem. Too much good food!
In years past, there were always five or six 'must-eaters', classicdishes like the Palace Banquets chicken caesar pita or Sutton Placechocolate dipped strawberries.
This year, the bar seems much higher.
Every booth has something truly yummy on offer.
Shrimp skewers (Blue Willow), sweet potato fries (Brewsters),seafood paella (Chef's Grill), balsamic strawberries (Four Rooms),shrimp nuggets from Hudson's, veggie tempura (Korean Village),sushi (Kyoto), baklava (L'Espresso), chicken teka from New AsianVillage, the Old Spaghetti Factory's strawberry cheese cake, Tasteof Ukraine's koubasa, beef Sternberg from the Creperie, chocolatepeanut butter chunks from Traamici ... and that's less than halfthe booths sampled!
If you had to pick best of show ... the Lingnan's dry spicychicken, in secret spices discovered by Miles Quan in China, plusEl Rancho's Mexican fried ice cream. Doesn't get more decadent!
BEER HUNTERS HEAVEN
SIP! echoes Taste of Edmonton, with a difference.
In a quiet corner of Hall A during Capital EX, its emphasis is onspeciality appetizers (pricey at $5 each) developed by Northlands'flourishing kitchen, and samplings ($2 per mini-glass) of a broadrange of unusual alcoholic beverages.
At Art of Conversation XXVII on Thursday evening, the beer hunterin Hicks on Six emerged.
Best of this show was Amber Brewery's Australian Mountain PepperLager, a brew Jim Gibbon makes in town with a tarty touch and adelightful after-bite.
Runners-up, the American Great White beer saved by the SherbrookeLiquor Store for its beer club members, and Black Velvet - halfGuinness, half champagne.
The appetizers were superb, beef, lamb, and legume fusion dishes,matched to sauces and veggie garnishes.
Great desserts too, I was told. I didn't try them. Dessert doesn'tgo well with beer.
Hicks (hic) on Six did not drive home!
RED FRIDAY BUILDS MOMENTUM
Edmonton Garrison base commander Gary Blenkinsop is tickled red.
Not pink. Red.
Lt. Col. Gary cannot believe the show of support building towardRed Friday.
All Edmontonians are being asked to wear red this coming Friday, asa display of support for our men and women in the armed forces,laying down their lives in Afghanistan.
At the Capital EX parade, the biggest cheers and applause weresaved for the marching soldiers.
A wave (of standing ovations) rolled alongside them.
With no "official" prompting, Northlands has jumped all over RedFriday in a spirited partnership with the city's official militarysupport committee, the Spirit of Edmonton.
Northlands chairman Jerry Bouma, in a lovely touch at the CapitalEX opening reception welcome, pulled out wallet photos (on thePowerPoint) of his Dutch dad in uniform with his mom, right afterthe Canadian liberation of Holland in the Second World War.
Many more details to come. Broad and deep will be this aspect ofEdmonton spirit.
THIS 'n' THAT
- Audie Lynds signed off Joe-FM's morning show Friday and left thebuilding, never to return.
As covered in this column, the new Capital FM was looking for awell-known jock. After 30 years with CHED, Power 92 and Joe, Audieis their man.
Will Capital sign a co-anchor? Don't expect an officialannouncement for a while.
- Long-time Shriner Bruce Hogle was completely surprised earlierthis month, to receive, at the international Shriner Convention inSt. Louis, the Imperial Potentate's Award of Merit - the highesthonour of the North America wide organization, given to only threeindividuals every year. The retired CFRN-TV news boss and legendarycommunity leader is one of just a few Canadians so recognized. Welldone, Bruce!
- All kinds of interesting comments coming via blog or e-mailregarding whether bull-riders should wear protective headgear, withthe sweetener of five entries winning tickets to the ProfessionalBull Riding competitions at Rexall Place during Capital EX nextweekend.
Enter by sending me an e-mail at the address below or leave acomment on the Hicks on Six blog, under the posting, IS PROTECTIVEHEADGEAR BULL OR NOT?
The comments make for lively reading, and overwhelmingly favour ofmandatory headgear. Surprising, since granolas, lefties andbleeding hearts aren't big readers of this column.

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