The Coup in Calgary
Feb 15
We went to Calgary.
Last year, we passed by a few times, but we hadn’t made any actual visits to the city for 6.5 years!
This is 6.5 years ago:
We stayed at the same hotel, Best Western, this time as well. I remembered the hotel when we got there.
I caught a cold just before this short trip. So I was making uncomfortable noises… very bad.
Why would you go on a trip when feeling sick? Well, it was already planned and we were looking forward to it, and this trip could be the last trip before having our BB. So why not? We departed Edmonton praying my cough would go away soon…
The weather was nice and so was the drive. In Japan, we have highway stations. It’s a rest area with toilets, gas and snack/souvenirs along the major highways. There is no such thing in Canada, even though the distances are so vast, compared to Japan! There are a few towns or gas stations along the way, but too few. We have to drive off the major road to get to a small town to get what we need. It’s sometimes 2-3 kms away. This is important as I need to go to the washroom often in my pregnant condition and my hubby also as he is a coffee lover.
We packed a lunch from our fridge-left-overs and when we finished eating, we arrived in Calgary! It’s about a 3-hour drive (it’s 4 hours if there is snow on the road or a snowstorm).
I think Calgary has a similar temperature to Edmonton’s, but on this day it went up to 12 c degrees! So warm!
We went to the Consulate General of Japan in Calgary to pick up the official translation of my Japanese driver’s license. A lady at the counter explained the related matters in details for me. It was a nice visit.
That was the only thing that I had to do in Calgary. Now we were free here for 2 days. We spent time hanging around the city.
This night, we went to a organic restaurant, The Coup, for dinner.
They have a bar area too. Beer is also local and organic. We arrived at 7:00. It was already full.
We had some drinks and an appetizer at the bar until a table got available for us.
My hubby’s beer on the left, and my mint lime lemon iced tea on the right.
This was great. The dip which looks like a snow man consists of some beets, peas, and soft nice cheese on the bottom. I didn’t read the ingredients, so I’m not too sure what they are, but it tasted very nice and healthy. The presentation was also cool. We really liked it.
We moved to a table and ordered mains.
The place was really dark and I couldn’t photograph my hubby’s dishes. Too bad! He had a soup of the day and the grazer burger (some kind of tofu burger). He said it was really good too.
Mine was beachfront hot pot, which I had already decided to have by looking at their website before coming to the restaurant. The soup was coconut and tomato soup. So I was imagining a thick laksa-like soup, and it was like that. The vermicelli was a bit so-so, but I liked that it had a lot of root veggies as its topping. It made me so warm. We got really full!
He was happy! And of course me too as you can see. Happy together!
The Coup (403) 541-1041 924 17 Ave SW, Calgary, AB
The Creperie
Jan 16
3 of my Japanese girlfriends and I went to The Creperie for lunch.
It was under ground, so it feels dark, but it’s a big restaurant and has a wine-cellar-like nice atmosphere. There were some negative comments on Urbanspoon such as “dusty” or “dwindled”, but I didn’t feel so too much. It was not crowded at all though.
A 3-course (salad, main course, dessert) sounded a good deal. All of us had that.
Nice big selections for salad and main, so it took some time to decide! I decided California Salad, which had nice fruity raspberry vinaigrette dressing on it. There were as much as 3 selections of crepes for vegetarians! Nice! I had a Crepe Ratatouille, which is zucchini,tomato, eggplant,red and green peppers, onion, garlic and herbs, topped with our cheese mix and wrapped with our herb crepe and topped with cheese!
Dessert was also crepe.
We had a really great time eating and chatting.
One week later, I went back there with my hubby.
This time, I had Crepe Florentine, which is creamed spinach with mushrooms sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. He had a seafood crepe.
It would be nice to come for dinner too.
The Creperie (780) 420-6656 Downtown 10220 103 St, Edmonton
Cha Island
I went out for a tea with R, my Iranian friend. I was wondering if I should put it off or not, because I was coughing a bit from the indoor dryness. But it wasn’t too bad in the afternoon and if I keep drinking tea, the cough should be kept calm. When I met her, she was also in a similar situation, coughing a bit. Good (!?).
The cafe that is specialized in tea, Cha Island. I didn’t know about this cafe, so I was looiking forward to it.
Teas are all based on 3 kinds: Green Tea, Black Tea and Rooibos Tea. Other flavours are added onto them. You can try and smell the aroma of the tea by opening the jars. They smell really nice and delicious.
The one we chose today was East Coast Rooibos Tea, which contains some blueberries. Great satisfaction on the flavour and the aroma.
Small is $3.5。This is a large pot for 2 – 4 people, $6.5。
We also had a waffle. The coconut flavoured one is called Tropical something… sorry forgot the name. Very popular one, I heard. Adding one scoop of icecream=$1.
The atmosphere is just like a tropical island. Surf board, Bob Marley, wave paintings, and coconut trees are on the walls… And the owner’s hair style was dreads. Sounds like his wife is Vietnamese and they’ve got Vietnamese Coffee too. Nice.
There are out-door seating for summer. It’s spacious and the time can pass slowly here. It’s a perfect place for chatting with friends in the afternoon!
Do you know about Rooibos Tea? I didn’t know until yesterday. It’s a perfect tea for pregnant women and also for breast-feeding mums. It contains no caffeine! And also it’s low on tannin. Tannin is in coffee and other teas and it prevents iron and other nutrition from getting absorbed to the body. We need iron badly. We don’t want to let it happen. So it’s a great tea! I don’t see Rooibos Tea at regular supermarkets, do you? I wonder we can get it only somewhere like this cafe. Sounds like we can buy tea here by bulk. Good to know.
Thank you, R, for taking me here! It was a nice afternoon.
Cha Island Tea Co. (780) 757-2482 10332 81 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB
We Love Duchess
I’m currently working on about 4 projects and must be chaotically busy, right?
But because of the Chinese Lunar New Year, everything is slow (as all my clients are in Hong Kong). So now I have time for blogging!
Happy Lunar New Year!
It’s a good time as I have so much things to write about. For some stories, I have to go back the time and write about around Aug or Sep last year. A half a year has already passed, so some memories are gone, but it’s OK. Better than nothing.
Aug 28, 2012:
It was the next day we came back from the NY trip with our car, with the 13,000km drive!
I was going to start tackling my mountain of work! Then I heard the ding-dong upstairs (our landlord live upstairs) and then banging the door. Our landlord and his wife were all out. There were 2 firemen there when I came out of the house, telling me that we have to evacuate for 4 – 5 hours due to the gas leak around here.
What! This timing!? I’m so busy!!
Well, OK, we have to leave as soon as possible.
We went out for a grocery shopping that we had to do anyway soon or later.
There were quite a few fire engines out there, a few police cars and also media people. Sounded like some construction worker at the site got a gas pipe by mistake.
4-hour waiting is a long time! We went to Duchess (Cakes and bakery cafe).
I was taking a rest with nice tea and cake gracefully, even though I haven’t even started working… ^^
Lavender Meringues & Banana Cream Pie
Raspberry Tart
Lavender Meringues
Gochiso-sama (Thankful for the food)!
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