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Lindork’s Lists #66 – Virtual Cat Fest, Doughnut Party, Friends Food and more!
Newsletter for May 26 – June 1, 2021
Please note: Alberta has restrictions in place to address COVID-19. I do encourage you to try and support local businesses during this time, if you’re able, but do so in a safe way. Wear masks, sanitize regularly, avoid crowds, keep at a distance, shop alone, take-out / eat outside, choose digital options if avail and stay home if you are sick.
As well, some deadlines may have passed for time-sensitive food/event recommendations. If you are a newsletter subscriber, you would get first dibs before deadlines pass.
Celebrate cats, cat people and cat culture, while raising money for cat rescues!
Some of you may know that I am the Founder of the Edmonton International Cat Festival, Alberta’s only and biggest celebration of cats, cat people and cat culture, that raises money for cat rescues!
Since 2014, the Cat Fest has been able to donate $117,000 for local cat rescues! This year the festival returns for a full VIRTUAL weekend (May 29 & 30). Tickets are $20 and gets you access to 30+ AMEOWZING online CATivities and PURR-gramming from cat yoga to how to draw cats, make cat food, senior cat care, a ton of celebpurrrrty cat guests, and MORE, plus three weeks of session replay/recordings!
There will also be a Virtual Vendor Marketplace where you can shop all things CATS! Cat-themed products for yourself or gifts for your cats.
And—100% of proceeds will go to Little Cats Lost, Second Chance Animal Rescue Society (SCARS), and Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (AARCS).
If you like cats, have a cat, or know someone who loves cats, let them know about the festival and grab a ticket! It’s all for a great cause and my Cat Festival Planning Committee and I have worked really hard to put together a paw-some festival line-up for you to enjoy!!
Sit in on Anti-Asian Racism Conversations to close out Asian Heritage Month
The Chinese Graduates Association of Alberta and Edmonton Heritage Council are putting on a day of workshops, panel discussions and performances to close out Asian Heritage Month on May 29. It’s free to attend and I’ll be one of the panelists from 2:30-3:30 sharing Stories of Resilience: Community Action. Lots of other great speakers participating!
Get UP CLOSE with the Royal Alberta Museum’s Rainbow Bright session
The Royal Alberta Museum has plenty of colourful objects under their care, and if you’re curious about learning how does the museum preserves colour of artifacts so they last for generations, the free virtual Rainbow Bright event on May 28 is for you!
Celebrate seniors as part of Eat, Play, Love virtual theatre show and dinner
The Mill Woods Seniors Association is putting on ‘Eat, Play, Love‘—a virtual event on June 1 celebrating seniors, featuring a scrumptious dinner and a live virtual theatre show. Funds raised from this event will be used to buy a commercial ice machine for the associations’ cafe. Tickets are $25.
Pre-register for Heart of the City Festival
This virtual event isn’t happening until next weekend (June 5 & 6), but the organizers of Heart of the City Festival asked if I might help spread the word. This festival is a celebration of music, art, dance, and spoken word, and the virtual events are all FREE!
Got an Edmonton area event, virtual event, or something coming up you think my readers would be interested in knowing about? Let me know!
Food To Try This Week
Support local restaurants with take-out/pick-up orders! Review current Alberta COVID-19 restrictions here.
Join the delicious Doughnut Pawty for an ameowzing cause!
Thanks to Edmonton’s Doughnut Party for being a sponsor of this year’s Edmonton International Cat Festival! $1 from every half dozen doughnut order on May 27 & 28 (Thursday/Friday) ahead of the weekend’s festivities, will be donated to Cat Fest, supporting local rescues!
Book a virtual cooking class with Get Cooking Edmonton!
On that Edmonton Cat Festival theme, I’m thrilled that local Chef Kathryn Joel, owner of Get Cooking Edmonton, is leading a cat food cooking class as part of this weekend’s digital festivities!! Kathryn and her guest chef instructors teach you how to make literally all food imaginable. See all available classes and enjoy your delicious cooking class + meal!
Celebrate the Friends Reunion with Friends-themed Food!!
I was SO thrilled to learn that Edmonton catering company A Cappella Catering was offering a Friends-themed Take and Bake meal for two—so creative and smart!! They ended up gifting me a meal and it was EXCELLENT. Great portion sizes too!! Choose the lasagna over the mac and cheese. Deadline to order is Noon Wednesday (May 26!) Watch for Yelo’d Ice Cream & Bake Shoppe to announce their special too.
- Note: the deadline to order has passed! Newsletter subscribers got the heads up on this first. You can still recreate foods using my Friends Food blog post.
Enjoy take-home hot pot from Liuyishou Hotpot 刘一手火锅 (Edmonton)
I was invited to a virtual hot pot dinner featuring Liuyishou Hotpot 刘一手火锅 last weekend and it was delicious! The restaurant is now offering take-home hot pot combo kits for two people ($45.95+GST). Be sure to ask for the beef tallow cow that soaks in the hot broth. And check out my Hot Pot from Home blog post!
Order Baked by Bre macarons for a good cause
Edmonton baker Bre (of Baked by Bre) is donating 100% of sales until she reaches $1,000 for Islamic Relief Canada. Bre’s macarons are as beautiful as they are delicious! I ordered a Box of 6 to gift to a friend for her birthday.
Ate something amazing recently? Want to show some love to a struggling restaurant? Have a take-out suggestion? Let me know to include in this newsletter.
Small Business Spotlight
In this week’s Small Business Spotlight, I’m shouting out to:
Armstrong Block Cannabis, a local cannabis company that offers a hand-picked selection of the best cannabis products and accessories out there—dried flowers and pre-rolls, concentrates and edibles, accessories and paraphernalia. This local cannabis shop is co-owned by three brothers, and is located in one of Edmonton’s most historic buildings downtown (10129 104 St.). Thanks Donna for suggesting this small business!
Join the AMA Good to Grow Facebook Community
I’ve partnered with AMA to spread the word about their new gardening-focused Facebook community. Join this group of Albertans to share questions, successes, challenges, and expertise around growing food at home—whether in a container or a garden! I’m not a gardening pro by any stretch (“garden in a box” is more my speed) and I love how accessible and welcoming this group feels. You’ll find some funny gardening memes and great gardening hacks, plus access to exclusive content from gardening experts and special offers from AMA partners too.
I’m trying my hand at growing lettuce and chives using AMA’s awesome Small Space Garden Kit! You can grow indoors or outside with this kit (which includes soil and gardening tools!) If you’re a pro, this group is for you too! Share your expertise and show your progress. Got gardening tips for me? I’ll take them!!
Sneak Peek: Q&A with Famous Adventure Cat Great Grams of Gary
Every other Sunday, I profile a new “interesting person” in a Q&A series just for paid newsletter subscribers. The next Q&A will come out Sunday, May 30, 2021 featuring:
James Eastham and Great Grams of Gary (Famous Alberta Adventure Cat)
Here’s a sneak peek excerpt from our Q&A:
“I think it’s important to use Gary’s profile to let people know how to visit natural spaces responsibly and why it’s important so we can preserve them for generations to come. Mountain parks are some of the last really wild spaces that exist and I think people don’t often appreciate that.”
– James Eastham, Gary’s pawrent
To get the full Q&A, plus a Q&A every other Sunday, access to exclusive paid subscriber-only giveaways, and to support the work I do, upgrade!
The paid tier is a $40 USD payment once per year, or $5 USD per month. No pressure of course! These weekly emails for free subscribers will continue to be sent out.
New on the Blog
I was already excited about the Friends Reunion (happening this Thursday, May 27 on Crave Canada), but then I just flipped right out with more excitement when I learned Edmonton’s A Cappella Catering had put together a Friends themed Take and Bake meal!! It got me reminiscing about all the great food scenes in one of my favourite shows, that I blogged a list of Friends Food you could try to recreate for the reunion!
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