heritage festival!

Happy long weekend, friends!

I'll be at Hawrelak Park all weekend long enjoying the Heritage Festival. The three-day multicultural event is, hands down, my favourite Edmonton festival.

It features 62 pavilions (representing over 85 cultures) and their dance, music, arts & crafts and of course, food. Oh, the food! There are 612 droolworthy items on this year's menu.

At last year's event, I ate my way through 20 countries (pics here). This time around I'm hoping to discover even more deliciousness.

I hope to see you there! And please don't forget to bring in a donation for the Edmonton Food Bank. This weekend is their single largest annual food drive. Let's help them reach their 50,000 kg goal.

Dajana

eat: crave cupcakes

My love affair with Crave spans almost eight years. Two sisters opened the Calgary-based bakery in 2004 in the Kensington area and I was lucky enough to be living there at the time. If you have yet to try a Crave cupcake -heed my words - these sweet and colourful concoctions are worth every single calorie. The icing is buttery and delicious, the cake is moist and decadent and the selections are plentiful. What more could a girl with a sweet tooth ask for?





When we moved back to Edmonton a few years ago, I pined for Crave's melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. Trips to Calgary always included a stop at Crave so I could get my fix. I can't begin to fathom how many A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts I've consumed over the years. It's probably a figure best left to the imagination. (:

So, I was beyond delighted (and excited) when Crave opened an Edmonton location earlier this year. Happy dance time! 3 hour drives to Calgary were no longer necessary. My friend Angela, who lives in Calgary, joked that she would never see me again now that Edmonton had its own Crave. Ha!

In addition to offering more than a dozen tasty cupcake flavours (available in regular & mini sizes), the bakery also offers a feature "craving" ever month. Lucky for us, August happens to have two specials, s'more cupcakes and cookies! I tried the cupcake last week and was in ecstasy. Rich chocolate cake infused with chunks of chocolate and topped with homemade ooey-gooey marshmallow, a graham cracker and more chocolate. This is the perfect taste sensation when camping is just not in the cards.

Take a gander at its loveliness.

If you're more of a cookie monster, they have those too (hello ginger creams!) plus cakes and ice cream sandwiches. Their newest sweet treat? Old-fashioned whoopie pies. Please try the raspberry chocolate - rich, raspberry buttercream stuffed inside delicate chocolate cake. Oh. my. goodness.

And guess who else loves Crave? Why my ladyfriend Christine, of course! She and I met up recently for some of those aforementioned sweet treats and an impromptu (and utterly hilarious) photoshoot. Be sure to check out her take on the mini doughnut cupcake at her gorg blog, just bella. The lady is quite the photographer and the owner of the cutest baby bump ever!




Happy Friday, friends!

Hope yours includes sharing cupcakes and sugar-induced shenanigans with a good friend, too.

Dajana (:

heritage festival pics!

I ate my way through 20 countries at last weekend's Heritage Festival. That's some serious eating, even for me! My favourite discovery was the Persian ice cream at the Iranian pavilion - it was a creamy, saffron, pistachio and rosewater flavoured delight. Pure deliciousness! I raved about it to everyone and anyone that would listen to me. That's how dang good it was. Did you get the chance to try it? If not, don't fret - there's always next year.

Try to refrain from licking the computer screen while perusing these food pics. (;

Persian ice cream! Yumminess in a cup.

Wondering about the golf shirt and fancytastic nametag? I'm a proud Heritage Festival volunteer!
Here I have two Laotian dishes in my hands - kao sankaya and papaya salad.

Kao sankaya from the Lao pavilion - sweet rice with coconut milk, topped with mango sauce.



The Cuban pavilion made its return this year! Yay!
Loved their roasted chicken, rice congris and chicharitas de platano.
Might have had a pork sandwich or two, as well. :)

I started each morning with, karjalan piiraaka, the perfect breakfast from the Scandinavian pavilion -
Finnish rice filled rye and flour pastry topped with egg butter.

Classic Crêpes Suzette from France's pavilion.
The sauce was carmelized sugar, butter, orange juice and Grand Marnier liqueur. So so good!



Have you ever eaten freshly made bannock? It's amazing!
My compliments to the cooks at the Aboriginial pavilion!
Right after this picture was taken, I slathered this bad boy in raspberry jam and butter. Mmmm...

The Heritage Festival wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Dutch pavilion for some tasty poffertjes (small pancakes).

People enjoying the sounds of a reggae band performing at the Caribbean pavilion at the north end of Hawrelak Park.

The three tenors...Heritage Festival-style.

A flurry of vibrant colours at the Aboriginal pavilion.

Teepees at the Aboriginal pavilion were located in an ideal spot, near the Hawrelak Park pond.

Dancer from the Aboriginal pavilion. Everyone wanted their picture taken with this pretty lady.

Scott and our niece Raissa with our good friends from Lloydminster -
Jess & Matt, and their boys, Jakob and Benet. Seen here with a really tall dude.



Sumptuous saris on two dancers from the Indian pavilion.

All male dance group entertaining the crowds at the Indian pavilion.

I love watching the elegant Thai dancers. I also love Thai-iced tea! It's a must try.

Behind the scenes at the Guatemalan pavilion. Countless mangos need to be peeled to make Mango Loco
- mango on a stick rolled in lime juice and spices.

Lucy and Scott came to visit me during the Festival.
Dogs aren't allowed on the grounds so I met them at one of the entrances.
Notice my trusty golf cart. This was my beloved chariot for the weekend. I LOVE driving it!

Giant Taiwanese puppets.

Croatian dancers beginning their performance.
The Croatian doughnut, known as lepinje, are a hugely popular menu item.
People will line up for a heck of a long time to bite into one of these doughy sensations.

Chinese lions running loose around the park! ;)

Next year I'm definitely trying the pelmeni.

Red horse at Scandinavian pavilion. Random but fun.



Who is that buxom lady at the Scandinavian pavilion? :)

By day 3, the Borneo pavilion had run out of some of its more popular items. Luckily, I had tried their yummy banana fritter earlier in the weekend. I'm smart like that. :)

Early morning tai chi at the Taiwanese pavilon. What a tranquil way to start the day!

The south end of Hawrelak Park. There's ample space for everyone to find a place to take it all in.

It was a gorgeous weekend filled with sunshine, culture, food & community building (6000+ volunteers)! Mother Nature gave Edmontonians a much deserved reprieve from the rain, the mosquitoes were nary to be seen, and everyone was able to experience multiculturalism at its best. Have I mentioned how proud I am to be a part of this world class event?!

Next year's Festival takes place August 4 to 6. Save the date, friends!

Dajana :)

p.s. Got a couple more minutes? Read Paula Simons' blog post, Why we live here – a Heritage Festival epiphany. It's a real good'er.

heritage festival

Happy long weekend, friends!

I'll be spending all three days at Hawrelak Park with 300,000 of my closest friends, enjoying the sights, sounds and most importantly, the tastes of the 36th annual Heritage Festival. This three-day cultural extravaganza is, hands-down, my most favourite festival in the city.

62 pavilions representing 85 cultures. This festival is what Canada is all about - multiculturalism.

Check out the amazing menu, but be prepared to drool. This is a foodie's dream.

My first stop? Poffertjes at the Dutch pavilion. Poffertjes are tasty little pancakes dusted with icing sugar. After inhaling the lil'cakes, I'll go wherever my nose leads me.

Hope to see you there!

Dajana 

p.s. Please don't forget your non-perishable food donation for Edmonton's food bank! This weekend is their single largest annual food drive. Let's help them reach their goal.

my new favourite place: enjoy centre

My backyard garden was calling for some hostas, salvia and lavender plants so, Scotty and I made our way to the Hole family's Enjoy Centre, a stunning new greenhouse complex built on Riel Drive in St. Albert.

And let me tell you peeps, once we got there... enjoy we did.

EC is a gorgeous space with cathedral-sized greenhouses, vaulted-glass ceilings and a fresh, airy contemporary feel. It's beyond impressive. I could have spent hours lingering over the countless planters, vases, flowers, greenery, books and art. Yes, art. And heaps of it.

This is much more than just a place to buy plants and gardening tools. Take a look-see.



There's a café on-site devoted to local food, the Prairie Bistro, where we ate the most delish pulled lamb panini with grilled leeks & mint marmalade... yum.

In addition to the 140 seats inside, there are 90 seats on the patio (overlooking Big Lake), as well as an ultra chic lounge perfect for drinks, tapas and girl talk. Cocktails with botanical ingredients anyone?

A bakery, deli, spa (!), wine store and gift shop are set to open as well.

Edmonton ladyfriends: we can meet for lunch, shop and then head to the spa. Whaddya say?



While we were walking around this sublime green thumb emporium, Scotty said to me, "I'm not even a gardener and I think this place is amazing."

Yessiree! Ah-mazing. And it's going to be a wonderful place to escape the long, dreary cold of our Prairie winters. Although, I know I shouldn't speak of such things in May. :)



I hope you have an opportunity to check it out for yourself. It's truly a sight to behold.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Dajana

family day long weekend!

It's Family Day in Alberta and the last day of a lovely long weekend. I was able to spend heaps of time with my fav peeps - my boyfriend, my pup, my parents and my niece. Love them to bits!

One of our stops over the weekend was the Silver Skate Festival. Held at Hawrelak Park, Silver Skate is Edmonton’s longest running winter festival. And I can see why - the snow sculptures were amazing!

        

I also spent time with this chocolate cutie...

And on Sunday we took our lil' niece to a puppet show based on Leo Lionni's books, Swimmy, Frederick and Inch by Inch. The puppeteers were from the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia and they were wonderful! We also liked that they announced it was a non-shushing show. You could hear all of the parents breathe a collective sigh of relief. :) Highly recommend Lionni's books and the Arden Theatre Family Series.

 

Heart this kid!

I hope you had a super weekend and were able to spend it with your fav peeps, too!

Happy Familja Day!

Dajana