He (alongside my mom) was very generous in hosting an informal going away BBQ for me and some family friends one last time before I left in July. My mom did the pies, and my dad did the drinks, meat and other little touches.

It was a bitter sweet way to say good bye to the city. Thanks to the friends who were able to attend at the last minute. The food was excellent, but the company really made it special.

I started the last day at the downtown Farmer’s Market. I planned on making a video of it, but… former colleague, my wedding shooter and friend Ryan Jackson recently did a better version than I could have ever hoped to do.

Pretty awesome vid, huh?

I promised to send this photo to Andreas of Greens, Eggs and Ham… and now I finally can. It kind of looks like he is eating a sandwich from Elm Cafe, non?

Okay enough reminiscing. It’s business time.

My dad, at my request, made one of my favourites… smoked brisket. He does excellent ribs and flank steak, but the 12 hour + smoked brisket is really amazing.

He always makes sure to sketch the lie of the land, or the meat grain, so he knows where to cut and how. Note the fat cap.

In case you are in Edmonton and want to know where he gets his meat, he finally settled on Sunterra on the southside. He complains they still do not leave enough fat on it for him, though. One of the great mysteries of Edmonton is why so-called beef country does not have excellent butchers available all over. They are available, just hard to find.

Also note the margaritas. His are killer. In a good way.

Roz and Dan load up.

Cast iron pan cornbread. Crispy, creamy, soft and buttery. Perfect.

Home made beans, probably his best yet, cole slaw and home made bread AND cornbread.

Key Lime pie. I once offended my dad by telling him I thought the key lime pie from Cactus Club Cafe rivalled or maybe even bettered his. In any case, it is a good substitute for when he is not in Canada, which is quite often these days.

Perfect lawn, perfect food, perfect people, perfect day.

Matt and Mike have a post dinner snooze.

On the way to Banff (and onwards to Japan) the next day, Mike and I had brisket sandwiches. Effing perfect.

So, here we are, more than three months later…

MRKT!

I will be straight with you. This was eons ago in my memory and I do not remember details. I did not take notes, but I only remember that it was decent and exactly what Edmonton needed for many years downtown; a solid sandwich and soup place. Although I found SoulSoup’s soups a bit unbalanced (ie., salty) and sometimes even odd, I enjoyed that there was a place doing unusual, new every day soups. (SoulSoup’s creators are the brains behind MRKT)

The cool interior of MRKT, which is perched above Red Star and Halo on Jasper Avenue.

Braised beef sandwich and Mexican Black Bean soup

The sandwiches we got were good, but the soup was better. I found the sandwiches a bit plain considering the number of ingredients, but the soup was pretty delicious and not as salty as what I remembered at SoulSoup.

My dad was pleased, as was I. A delicious sandwich and hot soup on a cold rainy day in Edmonton…what more can you ask for? I am only sad we did not have time to visit Elm Cafe together before I left town.

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MRKT
10542 Jasper Ave NW

So we are taking a little time machine trip back to July when I still lived in Edmonton. I had been spending a lot of my days packing at that time, and was visiting the Starbucks nearest my house…a lot. One night I went to the nearby Mac’s instead for a change and saw they had a new milkshake machine.

The concept was so simple, I could not believe no one had thought of it before. It is a freezer with frozen drinks in it, and an automated machine that blends your chosen drink to a desired consistency and turns it out to you after a few seconds of blending. I was so hooked I was kind of glad to be leaving the country to get away from the calorie packed drinks.

The flavours were pretty decent; vanilla, chocolate and something fruity. The chocolate shake totally reminded me of an old school malted drink, which is awesome because they also offer a genuine malted drink. It must be pretty good if just the chocolate was malty. Additionally, there are frozen cappuccinos and smoothies available as well. The cappuccino did not really do it for me – it was too much like, well, frozen coffee. I thought it would be more of an ice creamy treat, so it was my mistake to buy one.

All the drinks are $2.99.

Pick out a drink from the freezer, peel back the foil lid, load it in the machine and pick the consistency you want the shake to be: extra thick, regular and less thick. I went for thick initially because I love thick shakes, but it was a bit too thick for my tastes. Regular is actually pretty good for sucking up through a straw. Go for extra thick if you want to give it time to melt and soften before drinking it.

The machine popping out the drink.

After disappearing into the machine for a bit and a scale to show you how close your drink is to being done, it pops out all blended. You put a lid and straw in it, pay, then drink.

The shakes are not bad, pretty rich and creamy. They are a bit icey and crystally, but convenient and a lot cheaper than Cold Stone, and a bit cheaper and easier to get to  than what was my favourite shake place at that time: Wendy’s. I was concerned I might get someone else’s flavour in my drink, but that was not a concern it turned out. The machine rinses itself out so you just get your drinks flavour and no one elses. I also loved the robot aspect to the drink being made. Fun!

So while I am no longer able to indulge in this fun treat, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t…even if I hear winter is fast approaching in Edmonton.

It is not often I dedicate a post to a single food item, but due to time constraints and overall fabulousity of this item, it must be done.

On Friday night I buzzed down to Elm Cafe to get a latte at a late hour. Nate mentioned he was whipping up 20 (and only 20) chicken and waffle sandwiches the next day – Saturday morning. The waffles were from Eva Sweet, the food truck darling here in Edmonton and the chicken from Four Whistle farm, lovingly braised and tenderized by Nate. I knew I had to get one. (or two!)

Saturday morning I waited until he tweeted that the sandwiches were ready and nearly ran down. It had really only been about 2 minutes since he tweeted, but already people were filling up Elm Cafe to get a bite of the action. It proved to be a very popular item – Elm sold out of the sandwich in just over an hour.

It was pretty fantastic, I have to say. The outside was crispy and carmelized with syrup, butter and chicken renderings. Inside, the savoury chicken offset the sweetness. I kind of wished the sandwich was a bit juicier – perhaps the addition of some more syrup at home would have remedied this. Nate also forgot to put the argula in our ‘wichs, but I don’t think it was a great loss.

It was a fantastic decadent treat, and I felt very privileged to be able to eat one. Limited edition food is the future!