24/1/12- Taste of Canada Tuesdays- Perogies

Well, it's  back. Taste of Brit- I mean, Canada Tuesdays!

Just for this one week, lets take our taste buds to Canada. (Ultimately we are taking our taste buds to Poland and the Ukraine, but that's just details).

Though I am back in the UK now, a couple weeks ago I got to try the Perogy Boyz- a food truck in Calgary thats been getting some serious buzz around town. 

As a perogy lover and maker (see Christmas traditions), I had to give these Boyz and their 'rogues a try before flying back to England. 

My cousin and I (my compadre perogy maker) took a trip downtown one chilly (-30) day to find the roaming truck, and to have some lunch. Thankfully due to the cold temps there was not a huge queue for lunch. 

We both got the traditional perogy (though they did have some other interesting mixes), and I have to say they were fantastic. (Better than ours? That's debatable). I love the idea of these food trucks, and how the Perogy Boyz are making 'rogues the hit meal for lunch. Check em out next time you are in YYC.

Now that I am back in the UK- the land where perogies are not common- I am keen to whip up a few batches to freeze for those perogy-kinda-days. 

15/1/12- Cycle Sunday...on ice.

Cycle Sunday is back!

This week I've chosen to share a photo from our lake skating adventure on New Years Day. This is lake Invermere in BC which was completely frozen over. 

Perfect for skating... or riding ones bike? 

See the wee cyclist out there amongst the ice fishing huts?

4/1/12- Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Lots of solid time spent with family and friends over the last week or so. (My excuse for the lack of blogging).

Soon life will resume to normal, and I will be on here regularly, with my weekly posts like Taste of Britain Tuesday and Cycle Sundays. 

In the meantime, there will be more skating, snowboarding and enjoying the season. 

12/12/11- Chew chew, its lunch time!

This weekend my cousin, friend and myself attended Market Collective. I took only two photos and they were pretty poor, so chose not to blog about that event.

However, if you are in the YYC area, I highly suggest attending a Market Collective event sometime. (There is one again next weekend). We made sure to get our Christmas-themed photo taken with the odd outfits and humorous poses as well...what a hoot!

A few weeks ago I went for lunch with a friend in a small town just south of Calgary. We decided to lunch in the cute cafe that is located in a train car! The food was great, but of course the idea of eating in a stationary, old, CP rail train car was more delightful!

After this we checked out a local shop with excessive antiques. Will share the photos soon.

31/10/11- First snow

What's that falling on my windshield? 

(FYI I was stopped at the red light and took this photo. Driving and taking photos is dangerous!)

Yup, it's snow!

However, the good thing about this snow is that it only was in certain areas of the city, and melted by the afternoon. The first snowfall is always fun and pretty, but after many months of it, let me tell you, its not so fun!

27/10/11- Minnewanka

How beautiful is this?

Taken at Lake Minnewanka a couple weekends ago. The lake is close to Banff, and believe it or not is used for scuba diver training. There's not much to see down below, but the frigid mountain temps make this lake a interesting training ground for new divers. 

19/10/11- Rockies!

Flying over the Rocky Mountains from Vancouver to Calgary. 

I mean, how amazing are they! I do miss seeing them everyday, and am loving seeing them each morning now that I am home. Can't wait to get on them with the snowboard as well!

12/10/11- Nice marketing

Oh hello blog! I've missed you...

The schedule of my life in Canada is a wee bit different than England, and as I've said in previous posts I'm still getting used to it for this time I am home. It feels funny to be sharing images and stories of Canada, as the blog is called "This is Great Britain" not Canada after all. 

But I hate to drop the blog for the time I am home, so I will march on and continue it. I'd think that my British followers may be interested to see bits of life over here?

A little tiddle from our Vancouver trip as mentioned in the previous post. One day we saw a Telus truck set up on the side of a busy street in Van, with a long queue of people outside of it. (For the UK crowd Telus is a mobile provider like Vodafone)

We did some further investigation and found out that the queue was for a free tshirt which you could choose the silkscreen image for your shirt. The choices you had were the ones below, we thought they were pretty cute so decided to wait and get one.

(We both got the iphone is the new nintendo print)

The shirt was pretty good quality and there was only a small telus logo on the back. Smart marketing telus, smart. 

Everyone loves a free tshirt. Don't they?

  

11/10/11- We woke to this

My BFF and I took a girls trip to Vancouver last weekend. What a beautiful city, and so lovely at this time of year! 

We stayed in a hotel on Robson Street, which goes up 48 floors or something of that height. We got a room on floor 27 and this was our view- amazing. I highly suggest staying there as the views are great and location to the city is perfect. 

We also enjoyed the sights of the constant stream of lululemon fashion on the streets, it seems like its the norm to wear it everywhere and anywhere. Also very miffed about all the Vancouver Canucks fans wearing jerseys, but not on a game day. Odd. 

Clearly I've slowed down on this blog since I've been home...Just need to get back into the swing of things here and I may post a bit more. 

Taste of Britain Tuesday- Pancakes 30/8/11

For todays Taste of Britain Tuesday, I chose the humble pancake.

British pancakes are different from the Canadian type I am used to. The main change is the thickness of the pancake, as well as the topping. They do have a similarity to French crepes as well...The batter in a British pancake is quite runny, compared to the thick Canadian batter.

Traditionally pancakes are eaten with lemon and sugar.


Right, thats enough writing about pancakes, eating them is far better.

Cinnamon. 3/7/11

I made this very odd looking cinnamon pull apart loaf today...I got the recipe from Dinner with Julie a Canadian blogger that posts some amazing recipes.

This was interesting to make, and turned out great! (However, I think that certain types of baking does not photograph well. Take a look at Julies website to see how it really looks ;)

My Mom arrives tomorrow for a few weeks of quality time. I'm excited to have her here, and therefore may be posting a little less.

Canada Day 1/7/11

Happy Canada Day!

I could go on about my love for Canada, but I will keep it simple just by posting this pic I took a few years ago.
Mountains, the maple leaf, and wide open spaces.

:)

Rain rain go away! 17/6/11

This is the weather we are having right now- same with you?

We've got an outside event happening tomorrow, and rain will not do. Fingers crossed it stays dry for a few hours in the morning.

I do enjoy the smell of rain- or wet grass moreso? We've all heard that connection between smell and memory, and one just popped into my head (maybe its the time of year). Our annual campout I have with my family. Not sure if it was the rain, or that fresh outdoors feeling, but it gave me a little smile.

Happy weekend!

Day 317- 15/8/10

Farewell to the flat Alberta landscape for now...

Day 314- 12/8/10

We spent the day in Drumheller an interesting place with a great history of finding lots of dinosaurs in the area, and a fantastic museum.

Worlds biggest dinosaur!!!!

From inside the mouth of the beast

Hoodoos!

Day 312- 10/8/10

A visit to the Bavarian town of Kimberley


Happy Hans!!!! Even though you couldn't put a quarter in to make him sing and dance, he still came out every hour at 4 min past to yodel.

Day 311- 9/8/10

A couple days away from the city, a road trip to BC. We took a stop over at my Uncle & Aunts ranch on the way. Beautiful area and so very peaceful. We took a little ride around the property to try to spot some bears, but no luck this time.



A drive by Frank Slide...This photo does not do the disaster justice, pretty crazy to see.

Worlds biggest truck- Titan! A coal mining truck in Sparwood BC

Day 307- 5/8/10

One thing I love about being back in Canada (besides my family and friends) is the wine! Canadian wine is so good, and can not be found in the UK (or at least around here). This is one of my fave's, a good vineyard in the Kelowna area. I tried to enjoy as much Canadian wine and beer whilst we were home.

Day 273- 1/7/10

Happy Canada day!
I had the chance to attend the Canada Day celebrations in Trafalgar square, it was fantastic. Nothing like the feeling of being surrounded by fellow ex pats on your country's day. The highlight was getting photos with the mountie, watching a bit of street hockey, hearing people with accents like mine, and of course the food.

We had some Sleeman honey brown, hickory sticks, nibs, and the chance to get some poutine if we really dared. It was a great day.

Day 264- 22/6/10

A package from home arrived today with many stamps, and my fave Canadian treat!