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Lindork’s Lists #77 – Farm tours, Fringe, RibFest, Dine Around Festival, and more!
Newsletter for Aug 11 -17, 2021
Please note some indoor locations still require masks. If attending an indoor or outdoor event, try to avoid crowds. Sanitize regularly, keep a distance, stay home if sick, get vaccinated!
Take in a farm tour or culinary experience for Alberta Open Farm Days
Alberta Open Farm Days takes place this weekend Aug. 14 & 15—where you can find unique culinary farm experiences, farm or ranch tours and other rural Alberta, agriculture-focused activities. It’s an agri-tourism and rural sustainability Open House and you’re guaranteed to learn a lot about where your food comes from! If you book a meal it’s also an amazing experience. This year you can also buy products from the Open Farm Days Incubator Project (I was gifted some awesome food samples) including mushroom jerky, honey lollipops, and Stone Post Farms bone broth!
Take in this year’s Edmonton Fringe Festival
The Edmonton Fringe Festival is back for a hybrid event this August 12-22 in Old Strathcona, featuring live and digital performances. Check out their show line-up and plan your fun! There will still on on-site activities, an outdoor stage, beer tent, and food options, but much fewer performance venues and in-person shows / capacity. Together, we fringe!
Visit a local comic book store for Free Comic Book Day
The 20th anniversary of Free Comic Book Day takes place August 14 and there’s a few local comic book shops celebrating! This is a great way to visit some local businesses, level up your collection or become introduced to the wonderful world of comics and pop culture. Check out this Daily Hive list of participating local comic book shops and what to expect.
Head out to the Grove Rotary RibFest in Spruce Grove
Spruce Grove, just 20 minutes west of Edmonton, is putting on a Rotary Rib Festival Aug 13-15 at Spruce Grove Central Park. It’s free, family-friendly, filled with good eats, local musical performances, contests and more. Gator BBQ, House of Q, Prairie Smoke and Spice are the BBQ. vendors, there will also be a classic car show & shine and much more entertainment lined up.
Take part in the Botanic Garden’s Bon Festival
The University of Alberta Botanic Garden is hosting a Bon Festival this weekend (Aug 12-15) which takes place from 7-10 p.m. It’s a peaceful ritual of light in their Kurimoto Japanese Garden, where you can write a message in memory of a loved one, place it in a special lantern, and set it afloat on the pond, creating a beautiful display of light.
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
Please safely support local restaurants. Although Alberta is lifting restrictions, many restaurants will still require you to wear masks when not eating. Please be kind and respectful.
This week’s Food to Try is Alberta on the Plate – Dine Around Food Festival themed!
This August I’m an Alberta on the Plate Ambassador, promoting local food and restaurants with a focus on local ingredients! Alberta on the Plate puts on an annual province-wide Dine Around Food Festival which this year runs until Aug 15, where 80 restaurants across Alberta are offering special set menus ($15, $25, $50, $65) using local Alberta ingredients. Check out participating restaurants & menus!
I’ve tried a few participating Edmonton area restaurants so far (with more to come!) and have some recommendations for you!!
Try the crispiest pork belly from Tryst Wine & Small Plates
I absolutely devoured the crispy pork belly featured in Tryst Wine & Small Plates’ Dine Around menu—a $50 dinner featuring Alberta beef tataki, galimax baby cucumbers, and Reclaim Urban Farm herbs, the star slow roasted Blue Ridge Farm pork belly with smoked creamed Taber corn, buttered Sudo Farms fava beans and miso butter, and for dessert, a Purple Gem Farms Saskatoon sage compote lemon semifreddo. Tryst is located in St. Albert at 21 Perron St.
Try the honey cream cheese crepe cake from Fairmont Macdonald
I loved the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald’s unique dessert featured in their $65 three-course Dine Around Festival dinner special: a Mac Honey (they have their own apiary at the hotel!) and Vital Green Farms cream cheese crepe cake (such an interesting texture!!) with candied hazelnut. Plus, you simply can’t beat the patio view at the Hotel Mac (10065 100 St.)
Try the pork sandwich from Dalla Tavola Zenari
You fill up REALLY fast with the $25 Dine Around lunch special from Dalla Tavola Zenari in downtown Edmonton (10166 100A St.) It’s Irvings. Farm pork roast done in a traditional Italian style thinly sliced on house-made focaccia bread and topped with Italian slaw and garlic aioli (Kuhlmann’s cabbage, Micro Acres microgreens, Handy Bakery bread dough). It comes with your choice of Dalla’s soup or salad options and a honeycomb panna cotta with Reclaim edible flowers and Roasti coffee or Vitaliteas tea! I thought this was excellent value and super tasty quality. They also have a $35 dinner special option if you’re not around for lunch.
Try the braised pork cheek from Glass Monkey (ok I think I like pork lol)
Okay, I knew I liked pork but seeing my recommended picks for Alberta on the Plate really reinforces that point. I am loving all the local pork dishes for this food festival! The Full Course Strategies braised pork cheeks that is part of Glass Monkey Gastropub’s $65 Dine Around menu is AMAZING. So, so tender. Soaked in a red wine sauce with Mona Foods mushroom gravy, Sylvan Star gouda cheese mashed potatoes, fried pumpkin blossoms and steamed vegetables. Absolutely phenomenal dish I still want more of. The Glass Monkey is in south Edmonton at 5842 111 St.
Try the summer squash (zucchini boat) from Butternut Tree
Okay, it’s not all about the meat! lol The Butternut Tree downtown (9707 110 St.) is known for making vegetables the star in their dishes and that’s true of their $65 Dine Around Festival special as well. Start with a tasty stone fruit dish with nigari ricotta, Prairie Gardens herbs and blossoms and Amiable Organics leek oil. Dig into the delicious summer squash (zucchini boat) main dish with herb dressing, Gruger mushrooms, Fairwinds goat cheese stuffed squash blossom, and end with a sea buckthorn ice cream with birch syrup, Saskatoon berries, candied lichen (made with Mans Organics eggs and Rogers sugar). Delicious and light.
Those are just a few of the Edmonton area Dine Around Festival restaurants I was able to get to as an Ambassador for Alberta on the Plate. There are 16 participating restaurants in Edmonton so you’ve got lots of options to choose from if my suggestions above don’t pique your interest, lol. Specials are offered until Aug 15. Plan your meal!!
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 new section of Lindork’s Lists, I shout out to support small businesses that aren’t necessarily food/restaurant or event-based.
In this week’s Small Business Spotlight, I’m shouting out to:
Josh Harnack, a local artist and Edmonton painter who recently released a hard cover coffee table book called Make It Till You Make It: An Artist’s Origin Story, that features a wide range of his reactions (some huge successes and some big failures). There are many amazing local artists to love in the city, but many of them don’t necessarily have physical items you can purchase (just amazing mural and public art you can enjoy!) In this case, you’ve got a tangible art piece you can buy to support Josh
Josh also recently completed a new Instagrammable Wall at the Emmy Deveaux building (6924 104 St.) that is definitely worth checking out! I can’t wait to.
New on the Blog
I’m teaming up with the Old Strathcona Business Association, Paths for People, and SPIN, to host FOUR Instagrammable Wall Walking AND Scooter Tours along Whyte Avenue this August and September! Limited tickets just went on sale this morning (and are almost sold out!) so if you’re interested in attending one of these, get tickets!
As of this public blog post, two of the four walks are sold out with just a couple of spots left for the remaining two. I’ll also be hosting a fifth Walk where tickets will be released FIRST to newsletter subscribers in my Aug. 25 newsletter, so stay tuned for that ticket release!
My Travel Alberta video about Indigenous food experiences in Edmonton is now live!
In this video I met: Chef Scott Iserhoff of Pei Pei Chei Ow and Chef Curtis Cardinal of Tee Pee Treats Indigenous Cuisine who each shared with me about their business and perspectives on Indigenous food and culture.
Don’t forget to use my guide to Explore Edmonton by Bike! I’ve put together suggestions for landmarks and food stops you should experience by bike in my recent blog post with ZenSeekers and Destination Canada.
Now Public: Q&A with Mallory Yawnghwe
Every other Sunday, I profile a new “interesting person” in a Q&A series just for paid newsletter subscribers. Then a month later, I release that Q&A publicly on my blog. My eight Q&A of the series is now live on my blog if you’d like to read it, featuring Mallory Yawnghwe, the owner of Indigenous Box.
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!
No pressure of course! These weekly emails for free subscribers (you!) will continue to be sent out.
Surprise Giveaway!
In this week’s newsletter, email subscribers got a chance to enter another surprise giveaway—tickets to JubeFest at the Northern Jubilee Auditorium!
JubeFest is a series of weekly outdoor summer concerts put on by the Jubilee Auditorium in both Edmonton and Calgary. They’ve got a couple more shows remaining in August if you’re interested in getting tickets (thanks to the Jubilee for gifting me tickets to giveaway to newsletter subscribers).
My subscribers regularly get access to exclusive giveaways, so if you want curated recommendations on Things to Do, Eat, and Know Each Week, and the chance to win free stuff, be sure to sign up as a free subscriber!
Discount Codes You May Want To Use
- Get 15% off premium, locally-made dog treats MYLZ Treats using my code LINDORK15
- Get 50% off your first hair cut at Frenchie’s Hair when you mention Linda Hoang referred you.
- Get 10% off online or in-store purchases from Camper’s Village using code LINDORK
- Get 10% off your Jasper Food Tours Peak-Nic Experience using code LINDORK
- Get 10% off your Jasper Rafting Adventure valid on all trips excluding Peak to Paddle packages using code LINDORK until Sept. 15.
Get 10% off a Ninja Warrior Birthday Party booking with Fitset Ninja using code LINDORK10 by Aug. 31, 2021 (parties can be for after that date)
Get 10% off any Big E Tours using code lindasgift by Sept. 30, 2021
Get 10% off your VespaYEG rental using my code LINDORK10
Get 10% off any kit or tour from Chef Table Living using code LINDORK10
- In August, save $10 off any wash package at Bubbles using my code BUBBLESLINDORK
Don’t Forget To #ExploreABWithMe and Win!
Thanks to AMA Travel and the Banff Lodging Co., if you Explore Alberta and share your Instagram or Twitter posts using the hashtag #ExploreABwithMe and tagging me @lindork, you’ll be entered for a grand prize 2-night stay at the Banff Lodging Co.!
Whether it’s exploring your backyard, day trips, camping or other weekend getaways in Alberta, I’d love if you used my travel blog guides to help plan your summer exploration, and I’d love to see where you get up to in the province!
In addition to the Banff Lodging Co. grand prize, I’ll also select 20 people who will win $10 gift cards to the Italian Centre Shop (just the right amount to pick up a famed Italian Centre Shop Panino, perfect for road trips!
Subscribe for More!
Be sure to sign up as a free subscriber to receive my full newsletter in your inbox first every Wednesday (before anyone else!) Get hyper local ideas for things to do and places to eat before anyone else + more!
The full Lindork’s Lists includes:
- Things to Do This Week
- Food to Try This Week
- Walls of the Week
- Interesting Thing on the Internet
- Social Media Did You Knows
- Promo Codes / Discounts
- Exclusive Newsletter Subscriber-only Giveaways
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