A new love

I’ve fallen in love…with a menu.

It has everything a partner could ask for. Depending on what I want that day, it’s sweet, savory, spicy on my tongue. While it updates itself with specials, I know it won’t play games with me, every time I go I know some things will be the same. It understands I want to be healthy and provides me with such options. This menu realizes I’m busy and therefore accommodates for the limited amount of time I have to spend with it. And the best part is I haven’t had all it has to offer, so I know when I go back for more I can expect a new experience in the same comfortable environment.

Where can you find it? I probably shouldn’t tell you, but it’s okay, I can share. Located in the Exchange District my new love can be found plastered to the wall at Kay’s Delicatessen. Open Mon-Fri 9-6 and Sat 10-3 – the latter starting April 17th.

I swear it’ll have you saying: Can we do it again tomorrow?

Help! I can't read cartoons!

My boyfriend and I have been dating for four years now. Before meeting him, I didn’t watch movies, I didn’t know my Seinfeld episodes and I didn’t read graphic novels. Uh, correction, I still don’t read graphic novels. Matt has tried time and time again to sway me into the world of visual art, and I’ll admit, I’ve tried – but I can’t do it. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have to tell people you can’t read cartoons?

Don’t get me wrong, I want to read graphic novels – I do think they’re cool and I certainly think they can be beneficial. My fundamentals of literary studies class, last year at the University of Winnipeg, required me to read Frank Miller’s graphic novel, 300, and I still don’t know what that book is about. Uh, correction again, I do know what it’s about. It’s about the Battle of Thermopylae – but I only know this because I looked it up on Wikipedia two minutes before class started, panicking the professor would think I hadn’t read it. Sure enough, when he asked someone to describe the book I immediately shot my hand up, said the Battle of Thermopylae, smiled and shut up for the rest of the class – confident I had made it obvious I read the book, and certain I wouldn’t be called into questioning again.

I do think that people who can and have the patience to read graphic novels have a talent. I want to be like them. So I’ve compiled a list as to why I don’t understand graphic novels; perhaps you can help me out.

1. Graphic novels require visual literacy. The idea of linking images to words in order to create a meaning is mind-boggling to me. Where do I start?
2. Graphic novels have a reading pattern I don't understand. Yes, I know, left to right, top to bottom. But what happens when the boxes change shape? Is it up...or down...or zigzagged? Man I'm confused.
3. You're supposed to read the pictures too, right? How do I know when I'm done?
4. Books give me in-depth character development, a concrete timeline and a sense of imagination -- how do I get that out of a graphic novel?
5. Graphic novels paint the picture for you. In which part do I get to imagine?
   

The Update

For those of you who read my blog yesterday and are wondering whether or not my lunch reservations at Monticchio's ran smoothly: it did.

Lunch was served quickly and was more than a generous portion of salad that kept me full throughout the remaining IPP presentation's that afternoon.

However, interestingly enough the "discount" listed in our IPP brochure for Monticchio's says we can get a bruschetta sandwich and side salad for $6.99 -- great that's cheap right? Well the bruschetta sandwich and side salad is a dollar cheaper in the actual menu! Some "discount" they offered.

Nevertheless, the entire lunch menu is very inexpensive, between $5-8, the service is friendly and, yes, it ended up being quick despite the kerfuffle the day before.

A Quick Tiff

The second-year Creative Communications students from Red River College are currently hosting the Independent Professional Project Presentations (IPPP) at the Park Theatre in Osborne Village. The two organizers have arranged discounts at a few restaurants for anyone attending the IPPPs which is great.

However, yesterday on our one hour lunch break a group of about 10 of us headed down to Monticchio's to cash in our coupons.Already the place was starting to fill up with CreComm's who had the same idea. No big deal. But after 20 minutes of waiting at our table with no sign of a waitress we started to get worried we weren't going to be able to eat in time to get back to the presentations at 1 (it was 12:25 already).

After looking around I couldn't help but notice they had one server on and when she finally did come to our table I asked if we were going to be able to eat on time. She explained, very nicely, that there was only one cook on so it was unlikely.

Hold on.

You mean the restaurant you work for voluntarily offered a discount for those at the IPPPs and was well aware that Monticchio's could potentially have 100 people in the restaurant between 12-1 and you have 2 people working? Huge problem.

Needless to say, we could not stay for lunch yesterday, but we did make a reservation for this afternoon. The waitress promised us that this way we'd be first to get our food.

So stay tuned and I'll let you know how smoothly things run today and whether or not they've decided to staff accordingly.

The most impressive Winnipeg restaurant

EAT! Bistro
274 Garry Street
Closed Sundays and Mondays
www.eatbistro.ca

EAT! bistro is one of the most impressive Winnipeg restaurants.

It’s the place you want to ride your bike to for a light snack in the summer and the place you go to to find summer in the winter.

The brightly coloured flower-power theme and eclectic mix of vintage tables and chairs makes EAT’s décor refreshing, energetic and fun. However, I will warn any potential clients of EAT! to choose their chair wisely as I’m pretty sure I chose a child’s chair.

The coolest thing about EAT! is that they’re a completely nut free restaurant and have wildly popular gluten free nights. Which other Winnipeg restaurant goes out of their way to cater to allergenic people? I think this feature makes EAT’s business model pure genius.

The experience at EAT! is great too. The service is quick, enthusiastic and knowledgeable of the menu. Being a first-time visitor I had no clue what sort of ordering strategy I should take – order my own dish; share several; were they big; were they small? I wanted to know. The server had answers. And he made my guest and I feel like he wanted to answer our questions rather than rush away to his next awaiting table.


(Turns out if you’re there for the first time you may want to share, but most of the dishes (excluding the dips) are big enough for one person.)

In terms of the food, it’s very inexpensive – no more than $12, unless you order a platter. The most unique dish I tried was the black bean cakes with guacamole and salsa ($8). It has a quick pinch-your-tongue spice that lasts about three seconds and then disappears completely, which feels odd but nice. The chicken feta dips with wonton crackers ($8) make a nice starter snack for the table for those who can’t wait for the main course. The wonton crackers are like a soft taco chip that you dip into a creamy puréed (yes, even the chicken) sauce. Other tantalizing dishes range between deep-fried and health conscious and are your typical lunch or light dinner items.


Plan on going for lunch? Expect a rush around noon. But not to worry, despite what might look like a 20 minute wait will take about 5 minutes thanks to the extremely efficient and quick service. They do not take reservations during lunch hours.


As for dinner EAT! prefers you make a reservation, especially if there’s an event in Aqua Books (the store attached to EAT!) or at the MTS Centre.

Overall, EAT! bistro has innovative business ideas, a creative and freshly made menu, invigorating décor and quick service. I would go back in a heart beat.

Vancouver 2010: Best Olympics ever

'Will Vancouver Games be ‘worst’ ever?’

That’s Stephanie Levitz’ headline in today’s Winnipeg Free Press.

And really? The worst games ever?

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that we’re having the worst Olympics ever. The only thing that makes that statement true is the fact that an athlete died. And yes, that’s a pretty big fact that will forever ruin our reputation. But we can assume the luge track that killed Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia is safe as there’s no investigation going into the track's conditions.

Negative, and a pretty big one, aside, I think the Vancouver 2010 Olympics might be the best ever.

Vancouver’s biggest problem so far with the Olympics has been the weather which is causing event delays, poor track conditions and an uncomfortable environment for spectators who’re watching events in the rain or being blinded by the fog, particularly on Cypress Mountain. But I think the unusually warm weather, is what’s making the Olympics so great. It’s testing the athletes’ true technical and mental abilities making us spectators aknowledge their strength so much more and hopefully making the athletes feel more proud of what they can do.

I watched the women’s snowboard cross yesterday and was literally sitting on the edge of my couch with my fingers crossed praying Maëlle Ricker and Dominique Maltais made it down the hill. The event was ugly, at least three quarters of the women wiped out once over the course of the day. The fog was so heavy I could hardly see the snowboarders going down on my TV so I can’t imagine being one of the riders having to locate a 60 foot jump in the midst of it. To top things off for the athletes, it rained yesterday morning making the slope extremely icy.

By the time the finals rolled around the fog rolled away, but still the course was icy. Both the spectators and athletes knew the final run was going to be a matter of who could make it down the slope without falling. As a spectator that challenge alone made the event ten times more exciting and made me respect the winner’s abilities ten times more – thankfully that winner was Maëlle Ricker, a Canadian.

So I find it disappointing that so much of the Olympics, in any city for that matter, is qualified as a success based on the smooth running of the events when really the Olympics is about the competition between athletes. To me what would make the Vancouver 2010 Olympics the worst ever would be if a bunch of the athletes were caught cheating. In no way do the Olympics become poor when a few glitches occur, as there will always be glitches.

I’ve been at home for the past five days on the couch with a raging headache, a stuffed up nasal passage and a cough so bad I could blow the snow from Russia to Cypress Mountain and still I find myself on the edge of my seat cheering on the athletes. So don’t tell me the Vancouver 2010 Olympics are the worst ever – I’m not even a sports fan and I’m sick and I’m watching so it must be good.

(See Ricker's gold medal run at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oRBEtG030o.)

Crepe Expectations

It has been less than a month since Kawaii Crepe has opened, but people are already packing in to this Osborne Village crêperie like migratory birds relieved to escape from the slushy winter snow. And for good reason too. Kawaii Crepe is affordable, quick, convenient and the food selection is large enough to kick whatever craving one may have.

Kawaii, a Japanese word meaning cute, is exactly what this place is. Every time I think of it the Chordettes’ Lollipop song plays through my head and I picture a 10 year-old boy and girl sitting in a colourful diner gazing into each others eyes sharing a milkshake, only at Kawaii Crepe it would be bubble tea, with two straws – just like the movies.

This diner style restaurant feels like you’re in a candy world. The baby blue walls with red, green, yellow and pink dripping gumball shapes combined with the sweet smell of melting marshmallows, chocolate and honey literally has you panting upon your entrance.

But sweet isn’t the only tooth Kawaii Crepe caters to. If you prefer a savoury dinner, you're in luck. The ‘ninja’ crepe ($ 6.95), one of their most popular crepes, has a sweet peanut flavour that fills your mouth with a soft crunch and a slightly spicy kick. It is a definite favourite. The ‘Osborne branch’ ($6.50), is basically a sweeter version of a chicken, bacon and ranch wrap. It’s rich and creamy but nevertheless tasty.

But then came ‘the hurricane’ ($6.75), literally. Something was off – it was too sharp. The creamy mushroom dill sauce tasted like a too-strong vinaigrette. Like every hurricane, I just wanted it to be over.

Dessert, however, brought back the sunshine following the storm. The ‘it’s-a-smore’
($5.25) is the smore that doesn’t crumble. The pillowy melted marshmallows and chocolate soaked the graham wafers just enough, for optimum chewiness. It’s-a-smore is sure to kick whatever sweet craving you may have – and for a long time as it’s huge.

If you’re seeking a lighter finish to top off your savoury meal the ‘divine brown’
($3.25), melted butter and brown sugar, and the ‘lovely pear’ ($4.25), almonds, pear and honey, and ‘and everything nice’ ($2.95), brown sugar and cinnamon will do just that for you.

The best part (well, nearly as nice as the 'it's a smore' crepe) is that these lovely crepes are quick. It takes no longer than five minutes to receive your crepes and the craving can be kicked six days a week from ten to ten (midnight on Friday's and Saturday's). Choosing one will be your only obstacle as there are just over 30 crepes on the menu.

Overall, the place provides a nice escape into a fantasy world amidst winter's harsh realities.
Note: This article can also be found in The Projector, Red River College's student newspaper.