#PodcampHFX2015

So PodcampHFX got new digs this year. For those of us who's first time it was in the new Spring Garden library, and for those of us who have been there before, only one expression can sum up our thoughts... whoa! This is not your grandma's old library that smelled of dying books (and probably rats), it's.... beautiful. An amazing design with all the latest comforts of modern society. Well done Halifax, well done.   

The O'Regan Hall is a great space. It's a super relaxing and open atmosphere. There is plenty of room to move around and you don't feel stuck in one spot. The numerous other gatherings rooms were nice as well - the RBC room still has its 'new car smell'. 

That being said, let's get on to the most important part.... our reviews. 

If you don't know how this works for us. We rank based on a Jedi Ranking System. It's totally arbitrary but if you agree or don't agree let us know in comments below. If you think we suck, we appreciate those comments too.   

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.  

I Promise to Vote for....

Whoever gives the Higgins their Christmas Tree farmland back. 

The Higgins run a family business in Moose River on land that it has owned by their family for over 120 years. Their business is selling Christmas Trees... yup, you can pretty much say they help spread the Christmas spirit (Well, except when you have to put on those friggin’ lights). The farm is in the same area as the Former Moose River Gold Mine where recently more gold has been found underground. A company from Australia has bought up most of the un-used land around them and received rights to extract the gold via an open pit mine. The family had been offered $300,000 to sell their land and refused, which I believe they had every right to do so... but then the government stepped in.

The Comedy of Errors - Opa!

This Friday evening we to attended Neptune Theater’s The Comedy of Errors, and what great night it was. I was not sure what to expect with it being a Shakespeare play and I thought maybe the language would be distracting, but with in the 1st monologue lost all notice of the Old English and fell into the story. One of the 1st things i noticed before the show got started is how beautiful the set was, I have seen a number of shows at Neptune (mostly the musicals) and this was definitely my favorite.  

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.

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.

Reason 100987 why I love my city...

I'm in love. The secret is out, I love my city. Halifax is a unique and wonderful city with surprises around every corner.

What I love about my city is they way the old and new have blended together to create a one of the most beautiful cityscapes I've ever seen. Have you ever been to the look out on top of the citadel? Do it! Seriously, it's worth the climb.

One thing that's always fascinated me was the harbour. Everywhere you look it's old mixed with new. My favourite part of the boardwalk is the area around Bishop's landing next to Sugah!. One moment you're looking a multi-million dollar energy efficient building the next you're looking at a 200 year old fortified island in the harbour.

Wintersleep in PHK

As the finale to our weekend of concerts we checked out Wintersleep on the Granville Green in Port Hawkesbury Cape Breton (you can read all about the Granville Green in our past post) . We are HUGE Wintersleep fans and felt it would be a perfect way to cap off a weekend of music, beaches and road tripping

Matt Mays was at the Jubilee....What Else Can I Say

There are five things that happen when you go to Matt Mays concert in the NS.

1. Matt Mays comes out with a hat on, takes it off and then puts it back at some point near the end of the show.

2. He always climbs something.

3. You become BFFs with everyone around you.

4. You must know the words to ALL of his songs and if you don't your new best friends will disown you.   

5. You realize that he is probably the best live performer you will ever see... unless you’re lucky enough to see, let's say Neil Young and then he’s probably a very close second.


This is the photo story of what happened at the Jubilee in New Glasgow Saturday night.

The Night We Met the Sheepdogs at Jubilee...

Jubilee Sign

... and they were giants.

Literally and figuratively....

I’m approximately 5’7”and I came to their shoulders. They were soo much taller than I expected and they also surpassed all my other expectations in every way. 

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.

Paper or Plaskett

There's a reason that I love this town. Well there's several but my favourite at the moment is  Joel Plaskett. Sonic Concerts just announced that the ECMA  nominated Joel Plaskett will be giving a show March 28 at Olympic Hall (my favourite new venue BTW). Tickets are $30.00 (plus tax and annoying fees) and $35.00 at the door. Just to give you that extra edge on getting tickets, pre-sale tickets can purchased here. The password is MONKEY.

                                                       

We Love The Candy Show

From Wikipedia 

I want to be best friends with Candy Palmater.

If you haven’t seen the stand up comedian’s TV show on APTN which is filmed here in Halifax then you’re missing out. She’s the new edgy multicultural version of Oprah.

Now, I had heard of Candy for awhile. I follow her on twitter and I’ve watched several youtube videos so I knew that she was a funny, funny lady but... I was two shows in and I had already laughed so hard I almost peed myself. WARNING!! If you’re a little emotional like me, some parts will also make your eyes well up with tears.

Screaming Eagles

But not the Cape Breton kind......




I shouldn't have to say this, but just in case, we have bald eagles!  Real life screaming eagles located in Sheffield Mills in the Annapolis Valley. And I am not kidding about the screaming part they... were very loud.
Last weekend (Jan 26 & 27) and this weekend (Feb. 2 & 3) the 20th Annual Eagle Watch is being held, conviently located in Sheffied Mills (Wine Country!) the eagle watch is a great way to spend a winter day.

Way too early on a Saturday morning, we got up to go get a look, and were not disappointed. 

LOCAL KIJIJI ADS

Kijiji is the best source for local entertainment when you're at work.. 

well maybe it's Youtube but if you're trying to be sneaky and not look at anything with sound.. Kijiji is the way to go. Kind of like a local Reddit

We can spend hours looking at ads on Kijiji at the stuff people put on there.. here are some of the recent good ones we've found and posted on our twitter...

$2.50 A half a Jug of Milk (It's Scotsburn in case you're wondering) - Halifax

$0.59 for a Box of Dollarama Toothpicks - only 11 used - Yarmouth

If you find any more please let us know!! 

Podcamp HFX 2013

Who gets up at 7:30AM on a Sunday morning to go listen to people talk about all things interwebs? 

Yeah that would be us. This is the third year that we've been to Podcamp HFX and we all agree that it has grown considerably each year. The sessions just keep get better and better. 

If you haven't heard about Podcamp HFX then I'm going to assume you like under a Twitter rock and tell you that it's basically nerd camp for social media nerds. You can follow the link for a full list of the sessions. 

But like any conference there are always hits or misses and we're opinionated people ... so we're going to rate each session we've attended according to our trusty Jedi Ranking rating system (to view last years click here) 

Team Wintersleep VS Team Matt Mays

UPDATE: You can now vote for Fan Choice Video and Entertainer of the Year at http://thechronicleherald.ca/ecma 

That's the heated debate... who do we want to win the Fan Favorite Video of the year at the East Coast Music Awards? We're still undecided but we basically narrowed it down to two... And we love them both...

Pirates vs Privateers... what's the diff?

Navel Battle of Halifax, NS. From Wikipedia

If you’ve ever spent any time in any Pub/Bar/Tavern in downtown Halifax then odds are you probably know most of the lyrics to Barrett’s Privateers. Many of us know the lyrics but do we really understand what they mean? Really though, A Letter of Marque, what’s that? And why did it come from the King if they were going cruise the seas for American gold?

So yeah.. If you’re like me then you probably never really thought about it much either. It’s a drinking song so I’m usually.... well, you know.

Blog Nova Scotia - Christmas Haul, Stocking Stuffer Edition

As time tends to do this time of year it got away from us, so we are late posting our final Christmas Haul video with recommendations for local Nova Scotia stocking stuffers.

Blog Nova Scotia - Christmas Haul, Food Edition

In our second Video Blog we look at the local food items we have purchased for our friends and family.