spring

The patio furniture is out, the sun is shining, and Earl’s has it’s new Spring menu!

Nothing says spring (especially for those of us without barbecues at home) quite like a 16 oz bone-in Certified Angus rib eye steak, rubbed with olive oil, gluten free soya sauce, minced garlic cloves, fresh lemon juice, fresh basil, fresh rosemary, fresh parsley, dried ground porcini, and cayenne).

That’s Earl’s picture. I don’t take pictures that nice.

Michael and I were invited (and jumped up and down with excitement when we did) to a Wine Maker’s Dinner at the downtown Edmonton Earl’s. We were introduced to CedarCreek Estates Winery, the people that make Earl’s house red and white wines.

Hang on, I was given photo of that too, let me find it…

Professional photo (and exactly how I figure I look when tasting wine – with a sophisticated air, carefully swirling, sniffing, swishing….):

My reality (filler ‘er up! right to the brim please!):As always, Earl’s knows how to show a person a good time. But it’s not all about the show, it about the food, and the people, and Earl’s gets it right. Every time.

Even when Michael and I are aren’t at an “event”, the food at Earl’s is consistent, and delicious. The Earl’s girls always seem to be enjoying themselves and enjoy the work they do. Chef and his crew provide delicious food and a consistent menu for those of you stuck on Dynamite rolls as well as new things like a scrumptious Rocket Salad. This salad was toe curling delicious – citrus dressed arugula, beets, pears, goat cheese coulis, and candied pecans.

This definitely is my own picture. It’s the quality of picture you’ve come to endure:It was a terrific night, and cheek kissy-kissy to Earl’s Cate Simpson, Gareth Smith and Chef Rui Carvalho for hosting such a fun, tasty event.

A shout out to table-mates: Brian Allen of Vintage West and his vast knowledge of wine and his engaging personality. To beautiful, spirited Nisa of Focus Communications. To the colourful, one of a kind Edmonton foodie extraordinaire Gail Hall.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I finally had the opportunity to meet Edmonton’s delightful uber foodie, Liane Faulder!

Let’s do this again sometime. All of you! Invite to watch the Canada Day fireworks is still open.

P1020272 — If you click and make this big, you can see “snow mountain” out there on the horizon.

I was just fine with the weather we’ve been having. But when I woke up this morning and looked at yet another layer of snow blanketing the city, I sighed deeply. And deeply again.

Let’s go back a few days. Thursday night. Most fantastic night out. Cab ride home sort of fantastic. Then Friday. Feeling a bit past my sell-buy date from the previous nights fun. No power in the apartment from 9 to 1. This was planned. I had the idea to be out of the apartment running errands, but I had no car and no motivation to get the car. We had no water pressure to take a shower. I can count about three times I went to turn on the kettle for coffee, and three times remember, “Oh ya. No power”. So I burrowed myself in bed and slept like the dead.

Power eventually comes back on with the chirping of the smoke alarm. But then I hear ping ping ping. I notice rivulets of water coming down our inside wall.

A pipe burst in our upstairs neighbour’s apartment, flooding our carpeted hallway. Hungover. No water. No power. No coffee. No tea! Then too much water. Sploshy sploshy Singin’ in the Rain sort of water.

I was momentarily Very Excited, because I remembered we had a Sham Wow in our cupboard. But our Sham Wow didn’t work. Vince is a F’ing liar. Capital F.

Our building management responded fairly quickly, although I had to spend some time trying to remind our maintenance guy that there was in fact another floor above us. We did get the water flow turned off, water sucking machines brought in, and now an industrial blower that has quite literally ripped up our carpet in the hallway and ballooning up in dramatic uprising.

My interest in everything waned. Michael tried to encourage me to watch a bit of curling followed by the Davis Cup this afternoon (bless him), but all I could do is watch cat videos on You Tube.

What’s a girl to do? Tea doesn’t quite cut it. But wine does.

I have had a glass of wine (surprising, because I swore off drinking alcohol ever again after Thursday night). I’ve got the Animals belting out House of the Rising Sun, a batch of meaty pasta sauce on simmer on the stove, Michael holed up in his “man cave” watching the Davis Cup with his tea eating Jaffa Cakes. And between writing paragraphs, I check out the window to see if the ice has melted a bit more on the North Saskatchewan river. It hasn’t. Not today.

But as you can see in the pictures at the top, the sky is blue, and getting bluer. Things can only get better. My optimism fully restored thanks to a simple glass of wine and some decent music.

Spring is ready to step out of the closet and belt out an aria at any moment. Of this I am certain.

Walsh Cooks – An Edmonton Food Blog

Cooking. And when tired of that, eating out.

Spring has Sprung at Earl’s

Come on Edmonton! It’s APRIL!