Traveling, and Shopping

I want everyone to stand up and do the HAPPY DANCE with me. You probably want to know why you have to do the happy dance with me, well, it is because after a long few months I am childless (or adultless, if you want to put it like that) again.

Not that I don't love them but....

We made a very fast, trip up to Edmonton Monday afternoon. We were back in LA within 3 days. In that time up there we found him a place to live, a car and did all the licensing etc, cel phone, etc etc and spent a bit of time with my other two boys. It was very busy, very stressful and I did not even make it to a grocery store to bring back Becel with me!!!!!! That is how Busy I was...

These are just some random images from the trip....and as dark and as dismal as these pictures were, Edmonton matched it. Gray, muddy, dismal, cold, and reminded me why I don't like there any longer!

We stopped by to see my middle son Chris when we arrived....


And stayed at the boys place. Chad EVEN gave up his bed to us! And cooked us dinners...I guess they do grow up eventually after all....


My brother hung out with us each evening, I had even carried this case of 12 beer bottles of International beer around the world up in my suitcase for him...


Kevin and his new car (or is it his new stereo with a car attached?)


We had only rented a tiny Hyundai......


Found Kevin a nice basement suite just on the south side....


We introduced Bazza to another Canadian Delicacy this trip. He had never had a crab apple before! Who knew...I figure that Kevin will never starve anyways with apples in the back yard...


Although apparently in a basement suite he will have to learn to keep his playstation games quieter then he ever did in his mothers house!


We settled for the obligatory Value Village couch that will double as a bed, entertainment center, dining room table and I was also kind enough to buy him a bunch of mixmatched dinner items and a 25 lb bag of rice to start off with so he does not starve...


I am not sure whether he flew, or we drop kicked him out of the nest.....but the nest is happily empty at the moment...

Found this cute little Building next to Chad's Treasury Bar, from 1910. It looked little and small sitting there...It is certainly showing a lot of old and poorer areas throughout the city from when I lived there.


Went over to The Treasury to see how Chad's place is coming along there and things are coming along...Inevitable mix ups and scrambles with a new first time operation including a nice flood in the women's bathroom that made its way to the basement, but the menu is expanding as they pick up steam and the nightclub is very busy on the weekends.

Went for lunch and I had a Turkey Burger which was very good...


Others had a flank steak sandwich....


And a chicken pot pie.....


They received a nice review from the Edmonton Journal this week on the food (original link here)


The spicy fried oyster po' boy is made with breaded Fanny Bay oysters in a bed of tomato brandy aioli, topped with pickled diakon, cucumber and carrot slaw.

Photographed by:
Shaughn Butts, The Journal, Edmonton Journal
THE TREASURY VODKA BAR & EATERY

10004 Jasper Ave.

780-990-1255, thetreasury.ca

Lunch for two, excluding tax, tip and liquor: $50

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Watch for Dining Out reviews every second Wednesday in Food. Find them all online and add your comments at edmontonjournal.com/diningout.

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Fifty years ago, the streets around the present-day location of The Treasury Vodka Bar & Eatery were lined with armoured cars waiting to carry cash to city banks. The building at 10004 Jasper Ave., kitty corner from the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, was a cash warehouse with a massive two-storey vault flush with millions of dollars to fuel commerce and industry in boom town Edmonton.

Well, the lineups are back, but instead of armoured vehicles, couples now queue up around the block on weekends for an evening of fun and frolic at one of the newest downtown restaurants and dance clubs.

"We've got a very unique concept," boasts The Treasury's spokesman Sean Farmer. "It's a hybrid between a restaurant and nightclub."

It's a restaurant by day that turns into a nightclub on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, a place where one can dine and dance and order $200 bottles of quality vodka presented by personal servers.

Farmer says it has been a smash hit since it opened Aug. 19. Young Edmontonians are packing the versatile room where modular furniture is pushed back at night to make way for dancers.

"They come in at 5 p.m. for dinner and before they know it, they're dancing on the dance floor at midnight."

The 14,000-square-foot facility, which is expected to add an oyster bar on its lower level next year, also aims to cater to the business lunch crowd with a 20-minute lunch menu.

We gave it a look shortly after the club opened. Owner Austin Tran and his partners have spent more than $2.5 million on renovations of the former Toronto-Dominion Bank, and it's evident in the marble bars, chandeliers, dark wood and floor-to-ceiling vodka and champagne rack. But the dazzling golden pillars that really set off the place were apparently original decor before the TD crowd covered them with drywall.

The place was empty when we arrived, with only a few suits at a couple of tables. Pop music blared from a speaker above our heads, but shortly after our arrival was abruptly turned down to a comfortable level.

Executive chef Paul Greene, previously of Lux Steakhouse & Bar, Madison's Grill and Dante's Bistro, was using the "soft opening" to refine a limited menu that features four salads, four sandwiches and three entrees. The dinner menu, which we glimpsed when we ordered dessert, featured only three entrees -- beef tenderloin medallions, rack of lamb and grilled ahi tuna -- but it has since been expanded significantly.

We were planning to order a salad or soup with a sandwich, but discovered the sandwiches come with soup or salad sides, so I backed off the Mediterranean grilled baby squid salad I had been eyeing.

My dining companion chose the mushroom soup to accompany her turkey burger ($16), while I selected the lavender honey green apple spring salad with my fried oyster po' boy sandwich ($16).

We didn't sample the entrees, but the chicken pot pie, Bombay butter chicken and frittata a la carte were all very tempting. Fortunately, my salad and my companion's soup arrived promptly.

Both drew raves. The pungent goat cheese set off the lavender honey apple dressing on the salad and made fine friends with the candied walnuts and paper-thin slices of green apple. It was served with a fresh-baked blueberry scone which was still warm when it arrived at the table.

Since we had requested the soup and salad be served separately as starters, the sandwiches seemed a little lonely when they arrived on small, square plates. The hoagie-shaped po' boy bun had been cut into three manageable sections, the layers held together with Tmonogrammed silver picks. The flavour of the crunchy, breaded Fanny Bay oysters was dominant, but not overpowering, in a bed of tomato brandy aioli topped with pickled radish, cucumber and carrot slaw.

The turkey burger, a blend of aged cheddar cheese and lean ground turkey, was moist and juicy, and it wasn't long before the sage mayo and marinated beefsteak tomatoes were soaking through the warm kaiser bun. My companion ended up finishing it off with a fork and knife.

While the 20-minute lunch had arrived promptly, our desserts, prepared on request in the kitchen, likely took just as long. The frozen raspberry creme brulee martini ($9) was definitely worth the wait. The marvel was served in a large martini glass with a fresh, sweet rice soft biscotti and whipped cream.

My rum tempura vanilla bean gelato split ($12) no doubt took time to prepare, particularly since it was served with freshly peeled pistachio-rolled bananas. The vanilla bean gelato was drizzled with a heavenly dark chocolate sauce, strawberry coulis and rum caramel sauce and topped with fresh whipped cream and gooseberries. I couldn't finish it, knowing I still had to waddle back to the office for an afternoon of work. I might have tried if it had been a weekend dinner meal and I had the chance to dance it off.

dhenton@edmontonjournal.com


I am proud of him, he is working hard between his two jobs Chad is and now he has two younger brothers to keep an eye on too.....We went out to the Keg for Prime Rib just before we got on another plane ride...Which the meat was quite tasteless so I was disappointed in, but the rest was quite good....



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Funny story (now, it was not at the time...)
We got up at 330 in the AM to go back to LA. In the car I could feel my stomach cramping up...UH OH, I knew what was coming. I barely made it on the plane, spending my time in the airport going between the washroom, outside where it was cool or lying on the floor of the bathroom where it was cool...you get the picture. BUT I really wanted to get home, and since we were connecting through Seattle, I thought "if I can just get to Seattle there are many more flight options to LA, as opposed to Edmonton, where they were lacking a little" I have had this before, so I know the course it runs. Sometimes mild, sometimes not. This was not a mild one, in fact it was 4-5 hours of wishing I would die. Sitting on the plane waiting to take off, I really did not think I was going to make it and was going to have to be put off the plane...

Then they mentioned there was only one washroom on the flight, in the back. I was in the second row of the front. Even before the plane took off I was heading to the back with the steward telling me I could not get up from my seat yet (i ignored him...) so here I am sitting in the one washroom (did I mention it was tiny?) throwing up in the sink (and they are not made for that, but i had no choice!) when the door opens and pushes me back as I had NOT LOCKED IT PROPERLY.

You can stop laughing now.

I retreated and took a strong ativan hoping to knock myself out the rest of the way. It worked...

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While we were in COLD EDMONTON my parents enjoyed shopping, casinoing and even keeping my swimming pool used! (this is my dad!)



I was happy to see a lot of boxes waiting for me when I arrived home though!



I have not mentioned our little grand daughter Ella for awhile, but apparently she goes to day care now one day a week to play with other kids! HOLD ON! She looks about 5 here, getting ready to go to school! Wasn't this kid just born???




Chris and Tom, our guests and friends, passed around this pic of Tom looking very CHEF LIKE from his culinary course....


Although in some ways this picture of Tom is just as nice!


Anyways, congratulations Tom......

You can follow Tom's Blog here...

It is time to move onto the next items on my TO DO list, which is apparently very long at the moment!