Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Saturday Morning Alderney Market Ritual

I'm not usually one for rituals. In fact, people who need a certain amount of structure or routine in their lives often perplex me. Routines make me feel suffocated and it tramples on my free will.

But here is one that I have come to realize that I have acquired without knowing.


It happens on my Saturday morning trips down to Alderney Market. I'm not there every single weekend.... but when I am there I follow the same exact game plan every time.


I go in and get what ever fruits, veggies, milk and meats I feel like then...


I go get my Breakfast Sandwich at Sherry's Kitchen, get my large medium roast coffee at Port City Coffee and my breakfast of champions desert at The Doughnut Stand.  





Sunday, September 8, 2013

Flavor 19



I ended up in Sydney the other day unexpectedly and before you knew it it was supper time. After trying the original Flavor location a few years back I have been really looking forward to trying out the second location Flavor 19.  Overall the decor is nice and modern and the food was pretty good (more one that in a moment) but the biggest drawback was the fact that they did not have a AC. This was early August and it was the better part of 30 degrees out and it noticeably hotter inside, I felt so bad for the 2 waitresses working it was bad enough sitting still in that heat. The uncomfortable heat really took away from our meal and I know I won’t be going back till it is much cooler outside.


As i said the food was pretty good I am not sure about great but probably better than other restaurant food I have tried in Sydney. I had the Crispy Thai Chicken burger, this was a tasty burger but there was too much chicken and not enough toppings, I ended up pulling ¾ of the chicken off the burger and eating it after I was done the rest of my meal. For my side I had the beet and goat cheese salad, this is one aspect of the meal that I could not say a bad thing about it was very good and had just the right amount of the creamy goat cheese to balance out the beets. I was with my Mother who had the Butter Chicken and Seafood, she found it kind of bland and even though she loves shrimp and scallops she commented that they did not add anything to the dish.



The location is lovely right on the Lingan Golf Course close to the university and mall and I am sure when it is not so hot out it would be a relaxing place to have a meal. The food was good and the service was great, I will be back just not in the summer.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Dirty Dancing... Halifax Nights

Our Big Day Night Downtown HFX


We were psyched to be given the opportunity to participate in the Halifax Downtown Business Commission’s Big Day Downtown promotion. We were given a $150 Visa gift card and let loose to spend our monies in Haliwood’s downtown then blog about it. There was just one condition, we were given three words which had to describe our experience; our words were Thrilling, Playful and Satisfying. Our own conditions were that we had to do something different that none of us had ever done before or any of the other bloggers participating. With a lot of debating the idea to spend a night out rather than the day was born.


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Ace of Base ... or Burgers


A couple of weekends ago we headed out to go to a cafe to have the all important coffee and get a couple of blog post wrote, well as we  often end up doing we got off track. So instead we ended up at Ace Burger on Agricola St for late afternoon lunch. Ace is located inside Gus' Pub which gives it an unique vibe, our group had mixed feelings about the location not loving the odor of the pub itself but personally I do enjoy the way it feels like a part of the Northend community.  Ace is owned as the same family that owns Brooklyn Warehouse, and BW happens to be running a Crowd funding at the moment to improve their kitchen and if you are interesting in supporting them you can find the info over on their blog.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

GOING LOCAL .... FOR V-DAY!

Noggin Farms & Gourmandise Ave, Halifax Seaport Market
Sure... it’s super easy to go local for Valentine’s Day if you take your lover out to eat at a local restaurant and buy them roses or whatevs from the local florist. Not that there is anything wrong with following typical Valentine’s traditions but it’s also kind of boring. We decided we'd just mention some Made in Nova Scotia ideas for the big V-Day to get you started so you could show your lover that you’re thoughtful, creative and...  locally minded to get that romance mojo flowing. 

If you’re single, don’t worry, I’ve got something for you and maybe a few of your fabulous single friends in a post this week!  And by this week, we mean probably tomorrow... 

Now, Valentine’s Day is just under a week away so let’s start with the best part of V-Day....

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Coffee In Nova Scotia 522.. it’s 902 522

My Friends know never to speak to me until I have had my coffee. No coffee... No nice!

I’m not one of those coffee snobs... but I do know the good from the bad. And if that coffee comes from a Nova Scotia Roaster then it makes it all the better.

One day last summer as I was strolling through my local Sobeys, a bright shinny copper bag caught my eye. Not just any bag, a coffee bag. I said to myself “Self, this is coffee in a shiny bag.... just what every girl wants”

The shiny bagged coffee is from Nova Scotia 522, a gourmet coffee roasting company located in Aspen, Nova Scotia. Yes! I said Aspen, Nova Scotia. It’s just past Melrose.....near Sherbrook, Eastern Shore.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Pizza à la Morris East

I first heard about how amazing Morris East’s wood-fire oven pizza almost two years ago. Though the restaurant has been around for awhile, I had never heard of it until a friend casually mentioned it to me while passing by on our way to another restaurant. I made a mental note to check it out as soon as I could but unfortunately, it took me almost 1 year and half to get there... even though they’re in my neighbourhood... and another 4 to write my blog post.

The décor in the restaurant has a very simplistic urban modern, art nouveau feel to it. Dark colours of browns and blacks mixed with bright reds and some greens. It’s extremely urban hipster-ish and maybe a little bit pretentious. I also found it very small with the tables almost too close together. The next table away from us was less than a foot away.... and I’m not exaggerating. It’s almost a good thing it was almost 1:45 pm in the afternoon and the table was vacant or else I feel I would have probably lost my mind... or at least been too busy eavesdropping to pay attention to my own tables conversations. 

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Middle Spoon... Coming Soon!!

Driving down Barrington Street the other day, I notice a sign in the window in the vacant space next to the Fireworks Gallery. On this sign was written some magical words....The Middle Spoon Desserterie and Bar, Coming Soon. I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was reading right. Dessert AND bar?!? Combined together in one space?! This is amazing!! After a few years of seeing shop after shop closing down with nothing new opening to replace them, things maybe be finally starting to look up in the Death Valley of Barrington Street. Maybe the curse is gone...

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Scotian Rant: 5 Best Things...


Browsing through the twitter #hashtags on my hootsuite of #Halifax for the past couple weeks, {Hootsuite is my new love!}, I came across a couple of feeds that were lablled “Five Best whatevs in Halifax”. It shows up as a series of consecutive tweet of the the best locations, restaurants, etc.... So curiosity got the best of me. I love list so I just had to click to see if they lived up to my extremely low expectations.

Sigh...all I could do is face palm. It is painfully obvious that the writers of these... umm...things have never set foot inside the city and rely too much on Internet search engines to gather their information. Now, the tweets just continue to show up on my #halifax feed every day, three times a day and I just cannot take it anymore!! What gets to me is that some people might actually be looking at this information and making choices based on some of their, their ummm... how do I say this nicely... ill-informed information.

First up, they list East Side Mario’s in Bayers Lake as the best restaurant to eat. I hope this one was gaged on reviews of customer service because I mean...EAST SIDE MARIO’S!!?? (hey ba da boom ba da bing)….I like East Side Mario’s but come on, it’s like generic food. You can order the same thing in Halifax as you can in Toronto. I see that I am also not the only one who seemed taken aback because our friends Bonesheads Smokehouse commented about it on their twitter too. Halifax is full of local restaurants that offer excellent food paired with great customer service. When I think of casual dinning I’m thinking The Hart & Thistle, The Fireside, The Shoe Shop and hey, let’s not forget Boneheads on the corner of Barrington and Inglis. (They have the most amazing cornbread and pulled pork).. Oh, let's not forget our Pubs like The Lower Deck, Henry House, Dirrty Nelly’s, Foggy Goggle, The Old Triangle, Maxwell’s and The Ale House whom all have awesome Pub fare. Since Halifax has the most bar and pubs per capita than anywhere in North American! And Those are just off the top of my head.

Their “best of Accommodations” doesn’t really get much better. While the business hotels listed pass my standards, the Haliax Spa and Retreat’s only selection is Atlantica Oak Island ...um, which technically ...errr...isn’t even in HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality). Not to take anything away from Oak Island because I love the place and I would like to point out they don’t even use it’s proper name in the listing. I love their sister hotel, Halifax Atlantica which actually is in Halifax. They kindly let us use one of their photos in our oval post. They are also accommodating all the media who are here for the 2011 Canada Games and housing the big media war room as well. That it in it's self should speak to their caliber of customer service. But there are several hotels that offer spa service here in HRM as well, such as The Westin Nova Scotia, Marriott Courtyard and Marriott Harbourfront. As for the motels.... well I’m not even going to go there with this one.

I saved the best for last. “Best Five Locations”. You’re thinking The Citadel, The newly designated Canadian Museum of Immigration of Pier 21 or maybe even a Brewery Tour at one of our fine breweries. Nah, numero uno is “Explore Halifax” Whhhhhhhhhaaaatttt?? That’s not a location! It’s like saying the best part of Nova Scotia is Nova Scotia. But don’t worry, they narrow it down on number three where they tell you to explore the downtown. Unfortunately it gets worse, number four and five is explore the South Shore and the Eastern Shore consecutively. I’d like to take this time to point out that here in Nova Scotia we don’t call those places Halifax, we call that........ other regions of the province. Very much places worth seeing but they have towns and villages with their own names, thanks.

If you really want to know some of the best places to stay, things to do, and places to see then you might want to check out what the locals think. it’s best to check out The Coast’s Best of Halifax List. They poll readers each year for the best of the city. Click here for the link. Let us know what your opinions on the list in our comment section.

Now I got that off my chest. Deep Breath.... okay now I feel better.
Does this not irritate anyone else?