the week that was and is - october 14th 2009

Snow in Edmonton! Oh dear me..what will all the kiddies do for Halloween! Speaking of Halloween, what is everyone giving out this year? If you do that sort of thing. The homestead is handing out those mini bags of chips.

One of my favorite blogs, I'm Only Here for the Food!, is celebrating one year on ye ol' internet. Do check it out if don't already. Not only does Kim do a fantastic job of visiting spots in and around Vancouver, he travels occasionally and gets to sample treats from Richmond, VA to Panama and back.

Local food aficionado, Kevin Kossowan, recently returned from a trip to the Okanagon where it looks like he went on a bit of wine bender! In his words - I'm back. 22 wineries. 140+ sets of tasting notes and scores. Full review to come. Can't wait Kevin!

One of my favorite TV personalities, Alton Brown, is celebrating 10 years of Good Eats. From food basics to winning a Peabody award. I think Alton does a great job providing insight and techniques for every skill level. Without him, Food Network (IMO) would be seriously lacking. Great work Alton.

Speaking about food based programming, are we ready for another food specialty channel. I wonder if we will get the Cooking Channel here in Canada.

Anytime a Canadian food product gets recognition is great, but how awesome is this - 'crowned World Champion in Las Palmas at the world’s largest cheese competition. Canadian goat’s milk cheese, Le Cendrillon, saw off nearly 2,500 other competitors to take the title of World Champion Cheese 2009'. Best cheese around. Boo yeah!

I received a sample of Mom's Healthy Secrets cereal in the mail this week. Seriously do we even get this cereal here? The website claims - Mom's range of cold cereals includes 3 varieties each with a specific functional purpose: antioxidant-rich VibraBerry, high in-fibre FibreFit or OmegaActive a source of both Omega-3 and Omega-6. The package I got was FibreFit, and I didn't really like it. It didn't seem to have any real identity. It was like raisin bran (bran flakes and raisins) + shreddies + dry oats + goji berries. My cereal choice is Fiber One so believe me when I say I couldn't figure out how this sample was so bland.

I can't remember where I was exactly, but the first time I tried a Tim Tam slam was like love at first sight. So, with Tim Tam's now available in Canada, the homestead picked up chocolate and chewy caramel. If you've never attempted a Tim Tam slam, start with the original as the caramel biscuit requires a bit extra sucking power.

Taking in the Canadian Thanksgiving, my friend Sarah and I ventured off for a mini tour of the Edmonton's sights and sounds. We started at the Royal Alberta Museum, which was quite deserted. We were both excited to find out there is a Robert Munsch exhibit, but in the end were won over by the live creepy crawlers! Unfortunately, neither of our cameras lasted (who checks batteries these days), which turned out to be a real bummer as our next stop was the Muttart Conservatory. I'll never get over how much beauty is enclosed in those glass pyramids, and I think we both loved learning about the prehistoric Wollemi Pine.


P.S. Happy Birthday Jenn, I hope you have a fantastic day!!