Posts tagged: restaurants

Nobody needs a reason to visit Santorini.
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Recipes & Travel:
beaches, Caldera, Fira, Irini’s, Metaxy Mas, restaurants, Santorini, Selene, Taverna

Does Paintbox inspire your creative juices?
A bit of childhood whimsy with paint by numbers?
Or the lyrics to the 1967 Pink Floyd song?

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Recipes & Travel:
Canadian Rockies, Canmore, Cooking classes, Paintbox Lodge, restaurants, Travel Alberta

France is without question a country of fabulous food, great variety in local cuisine and easy access to fresh produce.  However, France is not known for Asian cooking and Nutmeg has had the odd craving for a little curry.
One of Nutmeg’s favourite restaurants is the Crazyweed Kitchen (click to see previous blog post) in Canmore. Her friend Hot Chili also loves the restaurant and has accused Nutmeg of always ordering the same thing off the menu.  That is not 100% correct, but it is true that the Seafood Curry Bowl that is on their menu is one of Nutmeg’s all-time favorites. This delicious dish is almost a stew, perfectly seasoned and wonderful anytime of the year. Ginger and Nutmeg are currently living 8049 kilometers from Canmore, so a visit to the restaurant is not possible at present. As a result Nutmeg has taken matters into her own hands and made her variation of the Seafood Curry Bowl using local…

Recipes & Travel:
Canmore, Curry, Curry Bowl, Easy Asian Recipes, Recipe, restaurants, Seafood Curry, Travel

Nutmeg had the pleasure on a recent sunny Friday to convince restaurant owner Micheal Beamer, to leave his station behind the La Marzocco espresso machine (for serious baristas), for a few minutes and tell her his story about this small business success. Micheal Beamer headed out to Western Canada in the late 1980’s.  He made his way to the Rockies for the skiing and the scenery.  With a hotel management degree from Georgian College and a big smile he started work at the famed Chateau Lake Louise.  Micheal’s focus on customer service allowed him to move to the position of Assistant Beverage Manager within five years.  During that time, “coffee-culture” was growing south of the border in Seattle and heading North. (more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Beamers Coffee, Canadian Rockies, Canmore, Coffee Shops, Restaurant Reviews, restaurants

It is a funny thing, how Ginger and Nutmeg (both Virgos) have so many friends with the same birth sign.  It could be some sort of natural selection occurring, as it is  quite obvious that all the very cool, sporty, beautiful people are Virgos.  Or maybe it is the fact that November is typically a cold, dark month and what else are you going to do…babies arrive about nine months later.  In any case August and September are a great chance for Ginger and Nutmeg to celebrate birthdays with their buddies.
There is a restaurant in Canmore named  Wild Orchid Asian Bistro and Lounge, it is located the Silver Creek Lodge.  The lodge is located on “gasoline alley” just off the Trans-Canada.  The restaurant is at the back of the lodge and once you arrive you quickly forget that you are so close to a busy thoroughfare.  There is a small sushi bar and a fairly large dining area.  The…

Recipes & Travel:
Canadian Rockies, Canmore, Restaurant Reviews, restaurants, Travel Alberta, Wild Orchid Asian Bistro and Lounge

Canmore has lots of choice in restaurants, although not much ethnic variety beyond sushi and a few restaurants with Asian influences (please let Nutmeg know if anyone ever goes to the Chinese restaurant…she does not think so).
The Aroma Cafe is now located on Canmore’s Main Street (it used to be co-located with Zonas on 9th Street) and likely has to pay crazy Canmore retail rent as a result of their new location.  They have a warm, casual interior with a combination of table seating, banquets and a small shaded patio.  Ginger, Nutmeg, CardaMOM and Montreal Steak Spice ventured over for a Sunday morning breakfast.   The drip coffee is decent and hot.  The breakfast options include the usual fare along with Mexican influenced breakfast burritos, huevos rancheros, Mexican scrambled eggs and your choice omlettes – all dishes come with sides of very decent crispy potatoes, spicy green tomatillo sauce and black beans.  The service is attentive yet not too overbearing…

Recipes & Travel:
Aroma Cafe, Canadian Rockies, Canmore, Mexican, Restaurant Reviews, restaurants, Travel Alberta

Nutmeg and Ginger were treated to dinner at this very newly minted Canmore restaurant, it opened on June 18th.  Habitat was reviewed in the Calgary Herald last week, whether that was the reason or the fact that they have done some heavy advertising, the restaurant was full.  It is located in the Grand Rockies Resort on Mountain Street off the Bow Valley Trail in Canmore.  When you arrive in the hotel lobby it is clearly not the standard Rocky Mountain look; there is heavy emphasis on metal, dark wood, gray-black tile, dark granite – no slate or rundle stone anywhere in sight.  In fact, if you closed your eyes to the beautiful mountain view outside you could be in Toronto with the very urban design feel.  There is a great looking kids pool, super-slide and fun splash pond located beyond the lobby – it is fantastically sound proofed and no hint of the awful chlorine smell.
The restaurant theme is…

Recipes & Travel:
Alberta, Canadian Rockies, Canmore, Habitat, Restaurant Reviews, restaurants

If you were stuck on a desert island what would you eat?
If you are visiting Palm Desert what would you eat??
The choices on an island are slim and in Palm Desert are vast, although far from fantastic.  In Palm Desert (and most of the surrounding area) it is a safe bet you will find lots of food chains, big restaurants, large menus, sizable helpings and mediocre food.  Nutmeg says this may sound terrible and although it is not a crisis, you need to try hard to find the gems – don’t worry this is one challenge she is always up for!
One of these gems is NO DA TE on El Paseo in Palm Desert .  This small sushi restaurant has never disappointed.  The sushi chef and owner Shin is very involved, if he is not making sushi he is in the restaurant making sure the quality is just so.  Ideally, try to sit at the sushi bar to catch…

Recipes & Travel:
Palm Desert, Restaurant Reviews, restaurants, Things to do in Palm Desert

Just in case it is not already obvious, if there is one thing Nutmeg is very serious about, it is coffee.  If there is one thing that brings out Mace (Nutmeg’s evil twin), it is bad coffee or inefficient coffee service.  The Coffee Mine in Canmore has long been OFF Nutmeg’s list because the service is slow.  After years in the location on 7th Avenue they have very recently moved “up-town” to Main Street.  This is good news for Main Street as it fills in some of the dreadful empty retail space (a whole other blog topic) and possibly good news for The Coffee Mine.
So Nutmeg (and Mace) decide to put the old demons aside and check out the new location on Main Street.  The problem is the first attempt was a failure…they only open at 9am on Saturdays and Sundays – too bad for early risers.  This past Sunday with Ginger in town it was no problem arriving…

Recipes & Travel:
Canmore, Coffee Shops, Restaurant Reviews, restaurants