crazy white girl with a kitchen

After working at the Journal for a few Christmas seasons, I can tell you it has always been a challenge finding a restaurant for our department to have Christmas lunch at.

First, there are a number of palates to please. The Journal has 11 staff photographers, plus many freelancers and desk staff. It can be hard to find a place to suit everyone, in terms of taste and budget. Second, the photographers are educated eaters. They get to photograph and visit many restaurants on the job, know the hot spots, and can be trusted for their restaurant expertise if you need a place to go. Lastly, it’s hard to find good places near the office, which is our preference due to a crazy busy schedule. Last year we ate at The Hat. I suggested Hardware for lunch, but no one bit.

This year for the Christmas lunch we went with the old reliable: an Indian buffet. Karma Bistro has been in the space formerly occupied by La Tapa for some time now. Based on previous visits I can say their a la carte menu is strong, and it is a reasonably priced choice for Indian food in the downtown core.

Ryan and Candace fill up their plates.

The buffet was fresh when we arrived at 11:30, with a large variety of dishes. I saw fish amritsari, pakoras, butter chicken, daal bukhara, eggplant, two kinds of rice and a few other dishes, roughly 10 in total. Naan is delivered to the table (unbuttered, though) and there are various chutneys and desserts available.

I found the buffet items to be above average quality, even if some curries (the daal) were a bit thin. Nothing was too spicy, so don’t expect a sweat inducing, authentically Indian meal. The lamb was a bit fatty and cut haphazardly, but flavourful and tender. Vegetables were crisp and well spiced. Service has always been good there, I find. For $14.99, I think all 17 of us came away happy and with a full stomach.

It is a busy place at lunch, so I suggest reservations.

Afterwards, we looked at photos from the past year, naturally.

Karma Indian Bistro
10523 99 Avenue
(780) 498-2992

It’s not often I blog about work. I’m kind of shy about it, and I do not often do work tangible enough to share with people.

I have been busy this month trying on a new job for size: video editing. I’ve done some edits in the past, but this one was special. It was a bit long and complicated, and I was telling a story I did not know much about going into it. So I did what I do best: researched. I read about Afghanistan, the war there and Canadian soldiers.

Finally, over one and a half hours of footage was whittled down to 15 minutes, then again down to 9. It’s long, but I hope I have highlighted Warrant Officer William MacDonald’s story well, and tried to keep it moving. He’s an eloquent speaker and incredibly modest about his achievements. I’m proud of this video (It even features my voice in a cameo appearance!) and I feel more educated on the war in Afghanistan.

You can read more about W.O. MacDonald and his experiences in Afghanistan in Ryan Cormier’s story, here.

Additionally, as I do not feel the content often fits my own personal blog, I sometimes moonlight as a blogger for my colleague and friend Ben Gelinas’ blog, Button Mash. Last week I wrote about the best and worst hair in video games: Game character hair requires much Dippity Do

My favourite part was ’shopping hair dos onto the characters. You’ll have to visit the blog to see them, though. 

Reporters and editors watch the newsroom tvs intently as the balloon boy comes down. Well, as his balloon comes down, anyhow.

Then, my friend Ben and I went out for lunch. I just wanted tea, but he promised a delicious wrap. So we went to Wrapture in City Centre mall. Although the mall is less than five minutes walk away, I have not eaten at that food court in over a decade. Wrapture might convert me to eating there again.

Wrapture started in Calgary, and offers wraps, smoothies, soups and healthier fast food. I jokingly called it a Chipotle knock off. Their typefaces, logo, branding, even their tinfoil wrapping and upsells (extra meat, chips and salsa) all remind me of Chipotle. The burrito I had (Baja Chicken) was pretty solid, if slightly under seasoned (odd for fast food!) I have to say I preferred it to Mucho Burrito.

Packed with rice, chicken, black beans, fresh salsa and cheese, at $7.95. Available in a bowl as well. Thanks for lunch, Ben.

On the way to Wrapture, we saw this mysterious birthday cake, perched on the side of a city garbage can. Ben took a photo with his Blackberry.

Naturally, all I could think of was throwing it to the ground, a la SNL’s and Lonely Island’s Andy Samberg.

If any of you are bird lovers, you should check this out. For the second year in a row, the Journal has their goose-cam up and running. One of the photographers lives on an acreage and had a Canada goose nest on his property, so last year he and another photographer trained a live webcam on it and people witnessed the hatching of six little goslings. This year’s camera started running last week, and mama goose is kind enough to pose again.

If you happen upon a screen with just straw on it; never fear. When she leaves the nest, she covers the eggs, then uncovers them when she returns. She is not a deadbeat mom! (People really freak out in the comments when they see an empty nest)

Edmonton Journal Goose Cam

I’m still well into the blizzard of schoolwork, but was perusing Minneapolis hotel websites the other day during a break. I’m going to be visiting in May for a friend’s wedding. When looking at the amenities for the hotels I noticed not every chain was promoting free paper delivery in the morning. It kind of worried me.

Then I see today that HotelChatter posted that some hotel chains are indeed scaling back newspaper delivery to guests. Marriott claims people aren’t demanding the paper as much anymore, which surprises me. When did people stop wanting a free service? How do they measure such demand?

Perhaps people aren’t as cheap as I am and fork over the $11+ for in room wifi access and read the news that way, leaving the paper folded up and in its little door hanger bag?  Either way, I still love getting the paper at a hotel. (As long as it’s not USA Today. Ugh. Maybe that’s the root of the problem here.)

My parents (who are currently holed up in an apartment run by Marriott in Bangkok) said that even that property has switched from delivering the pricier Bangkok Post to rooms to having a copy or two of the somewhat inferior Nation for people to fight over in the breakfast room. Yikes.

…He had only this source’s last name, a nickname, the general area of his suspected whereabouts (north and east of Toronto), and a warning: this was a sinister character. An hour after sharing that seemingly inadequate information with the switchboard, the operators had a full name and phone number. “They can take those stressful calls,” says [crime reporter Peter] Edwards. “They don’t get skittish or nervous. In 18 years, I’ve never heard, ‘Give me a break; we can’t get that.’”

According to Barbara Barker, an operator in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the switchboard operators often used Bell Canada for basic searches. They called pay phones to find sources in public areas because, according to Turner, “no one can resist answering a ringing pay phone.”

These are quotes from a piece on the switchboard at the Toronto Star. The ladies of the board knew everything, everyone – and could get them on the phone. They didn’t just answer the phone, they did research and dug for answers.

The article is four years old, but it’s amazing to hear the tales of the days before the internet in journalism. If you can even imagine that.

Smooth Operators [via Ryerson Review of Journalism]

Journal food writer Liane Faulder finally launched her blog today. It’s naturally about food and eating in the area – and beyond – if the post I spied yesterday while helping her is any indication! I’ve been eagerly awaiting this moment for some weeks.

Any Edmonton or Albertan food blog fans might like to go check it out: Eat My Words. The alpaca meatloaf she describes in her first post sounds outstanding. I’m off to scout some!

Out for a review dinner, Mike wanted to visit Grandma D’s. It’s a BBQ joint in the west end of Edmonton that serves up great big burgers and pretty tender ribs. It’s the place I go to when my dad is not in town to provide for my BBQ cravings.

Well, it used to be the place I went to.

Sadly, Grandma D’s closed a week into 2009. Without a backup plan, we drove down Mayfield Road with Mike’s parents and stopped in at Vic’s Steakhouse. It’s a relatively new outfit at the Mayfield Inn, of all places. I had noticed it a few weeks previous for the first time while driving past, and thought we could check it out.

While I am not the reviewer, but only a chef in our house, I will post some photos. I will also say the appetizers were amazing.

The bison short ribs buried in berry sauce convinced me to order them as an entree when we go back, and the crab, lobster and cheese dip was outstanding. We were even served an amuse bouche: pan seared scallop with boar bacon. I think the only place in Edmonton I have ever received an amuse was the Blue Pear. Impressive and unexpected.

It’s not as stuffy at Sage can be (although the food is amazing), and they really emphasize good ingredients. It’s not as mechanical as the Keg, and more consistent than Von’s. I think it might be my mid-priced steakhouse of choice in Edmonton.

Innisfail lamb with mushroom risotto

The simple modern decor of Vic’s. These photos are deceiving as we were one of the last tables to leave. It was surprisingly busy in there for a Monday evening.

I love the look Mike’s mom is giving his dad.

Pumpkin panna cotta. No replacement for the heaven on a spoon the now defunct Il Portico used to serve, but still nice.

Save room for the complimentary cheesecake pops on a stick they give out in lieu of mints. Dinner, with appetizer and dessert came to about $50 a person.

(for my vegetarian readers, they do serve many different salads and a pasta dish as a main)

Vic’s Steakhouse
(part of a small chain also in Canmore, AB and Victoria, BC)
16615 – 109th Avenue, in the Mayfield Inn
Only open for dinner, 5:30-10pm Monday through Saturday

At work, it seems I am always eating. From the “lighten up candy” served up 24/7 in the business section, cooking experiments I bring in for my favourite coworker to snack upon, or trying something new which we receive to sample. Nougat, noodles, teas, St Viateur bagels, I’m always eating.

I have long been wanting to order bagels from the famous St Viateur in Montreal. However, they only ship in multiples of 72. I couldn’t fathom getting that many, or even finding enough people to share them with. And what if they weren’t even good?

Although the website tells you to store them pre-sliced in the freezer until ready to toast, I suspected that the bagels might lose their trademark crisp chewiness after sitting overnight in a plastic bag in a shipping box. The chewiness comes from being poached (in honey water, which adds the distinctive sweet taste) and the crisp bite from being wood-fired. It is highly coveted. It is the true essence of a Montreal bagel.

One of our writers is doing a piece on bagels coming up soon, and ordered a box to sample. When it came time to photograph the famous bagels, the bag was “left behind” for “someone to enjoy.” THAT SOMEONE WAS ME.

I inhaled the one we cut for the photo right there at work. It was still a bit cold, and I was not impressed. The chewiness was there, but the crispness from being wood-fired WAS mostly gone. All that was left was a doughy, slightly sweet mass. Still better than the wheels of wheat we get here though. Bagels are one instance where size does not matter and Albertan bagels are mammoth.

However, I brought them home and toasted them, applied cream cheese and they recovered slightly. I’m not sure I’d spend the almost $100 for the bagels and overnight shipping though. I guess it depends how hard I’m jonesing. I will be sure to eat many the next time I visit Montreal however.

FINALLY, the remainder of the newsroom tour. You can see part one here.

This is down on the library floor. They archive every story we run and keep back copies of not only our paper, but most of the ones in Alberta for a year or more.

I think this is the first 6 months of the year, set into piles by date.

The proof reader whiteboard. For ease of work and quick reference, they keep common acronyms, phrases, terms and names on the board.

R.I.P. ed magazine. These are the covers of the section. It was an insert that ran in the paper for a number of years, slanted towards younger readers. A few faces in the newsroom got their start writing in the section as well. I got a piece published in the final print run of ed.

The last few weeks worth of major Albertan papers, as well as national ones. We maintain a separate reading room for the less frequent papers like those from Vancouver, Montreal and New York City. Reporters and photographers often reference these to see if their stories or photos ran in other papers.

From the sports section. I think the “O word” reference is to not wanting a game to go into O.T. Sports deskers usually work the latest, because they have to get the last minute stats into the paper from the west coast. Overtime can really mess with their sleep schedules.

The book section editor pod. All of these books are here for a reason by the way; they suck. The good ones are snapped up quickly.

This is where our editorial cartoonist works. He has a few TVs in the room, which he is always watching to catch last minute stories or something to draw inspiration from, I think.

Photo files in the library. They have all our archive photos, from visiting royalty to file photos of John Lennon. Good for use in a pinch when photo researching.

Reporter pods.

TVs to watch the noon, 6′oclock and 11′oclock newscasts on. Just in case we missed something.

Sometimes, I sharpen just for the hell of it.

When I tell people where I work it’s natural for them to ask “oh, are you a writer?” I have no shame when I tell them I am not, but that I am “just” a desker and love my job.

The other day I really started to think about why I do not write and I think it’s two things; 1: I really dislike using the phone, and journalists are on the phone a lot. And, 2: This story, which I re-remembered after reading about it on my old blog archive (from 2003):

I had to interview the VP of Finance and Administration on the campus today about something I’m writing for our University newspaper. I get in early to see him, breeze through the interview, using the handy dandy tape recorder lent to me by the lovely News Editor, Jhen. I take the elevator up to the newspaper office, and as I step off the elevator, my papers and the tape recorder go flying.

The tape recorder sprung open, and THE TAPE WENT DOWN THE ELEVATOR SHAFT. I dropped to my knees and screamed NOOOOO! while shaking my fists at the sky and asking Maxellina, the patron saint of lost audio tapes, WHYYYYYY!

I was about to go all Matrix and retrieve it, but it just didn’t seem worth it.

No one lend me anything for the next few days. I’m gonna lose it. In other news, my toque is still MIA. Come home, little one!

I still miss that toque dearly every winter, by the way. The lost career in news journalism? Not so much.

The team on site! One of the photographers is missing because she was off shooting video, but here we are on our golf cart. Sexy, I know. Look at all those lenses!

I spent almost 12 hours at Indy on Saturday and then another half day editing video the next. Here’s the panoramic I took with the camera I borrowed.