Things To Do In Downtown Calgary On A Chilly November Evening

Shoulder seasons are, in general, pretty terrible. It's not summer and it's not winter yet, either. It's too cold to spend time outside and there's not enough snow to go skiing yet. Yes, November is one month that kind of gets the short end of the stick as far as seasons go. There isn't even a large holiday in it, like Christmas or Thanksgiving, to distract everyone from how miserable the weather is. Especially for travellers staying in downtown Calgary, November is the pits. You'd wander around and find a likely restaurant or bar, but it's too cold out and you don't want to. So, here's a short list of some things you can do when you're stuck inside a hotel room in downtown Calgary on a chilly November's eve.

Join NetFlix

You should probably do this anyways. Now that you can watch it from any wireless capable device, there's the added bonus of being able to watch your favourite shows from anywhere where there's Internet, and with us the Internet is free.

I was originally going to write that you should consider renting a DVD, but no one really does that anymore, do they? You could also pay through the nose for some Pay-Per-View movie in your hotel room, but for the exact same $8 you could access a huge library of television and movies.

Get Into a Good Book

There used to be a really great book store in downtown Calgary (I miss you McNally Robinson), but these days the best one within a short walk from Nuvo Hotel Suites is actually a Chapters that's just two blocks south of us. Although, you will have to briefly leave your room, you can pick up a brand new good book to get into.

To The Pub!

You knew this was coming. Luckily for us, the surrounding area of downtown Calgary holds many, many pubs. The ones nearest us are Brewster, and the Blind Monk, however the Nuvo Hotel Suites is located just a few blocks north of 17^th Ave, also known as the Red Mile. Heading out for an evening drink there, especially after or during a Calgary Flames game, is a much more vibrant way to enjoy a chilly November evening.

The 2010 Lilac Festival

Turns out, pretty flowers are an awesome excuse to throw a party. The Lilac Festival is an annual street festival held along the thirteen blocks of 4^th street in the Mission and Beltline neighbourhoods. The festival has been held on the last Sunday in May since 1989, has a regular attendance of over a 100 000 revelers, and features street dancing, crafts, food, and entertainment stalls.

               Strangely enough, there isn`t any real reason for the existence of the Festival. It`s actually a celebration of every plant in the Syringa family. However, at this point it`s more than big enough to keep going on its own momentum. Last year, 2009, there were approximately 120 000 attendees who were able to enjoy over 600 craft, food and entertainment vendors along the 13 blocks of the festival. On top of that, the Lilac festival was recently voted as the #1 free festival in Calgary. Just in case that isn’t enough to tempt you, here’s a bit of a photoblog entry from the last couple of years.



A Notable Addition to Montgomery

There’s an exciting new restaurant coming to the Montgomery community in June. Award winning Chef Michael Noble will be bringing out his own restaurant concept, Notable. The finished restaurant will have a 132 seat capacity, and will focus on food that is recognizable, but magnificent.

Why is this new restaurant exciting? Well, Chef Michael Noble has quite the resume. 

He was most recently Director of Culinary and Product Development for Earl’s Restaurants, where he developed menus for all 50 Earl’s locations, as well as brought the company into a new era of culinary awareness.

Previously, Michael was Executive Chef of Calgary’s Catch Restaurant, Enroute Magazine’s 2003 Best New Restaurant in Canada. Michael relocated to Calgary from Vancouver in 2002 where he was Executive Chef of Vancouver’s award winning restaurant, Diva at the Met and the Metropolitan Hotel. During Michael’s tenure at The Met he won the Top Table for Vancouver Award from Gourmet Magazine, and a Golden Plate Award from GQ Magazine.

Michael has been a serious competitor and impressive ambassador for Canada at international culinary competitions. Noble twice competed for Canada (1995, 1997) at the Bocuse d'Or World Cuisine Competition in Lyon, France. In 1996, Michael competed in the World Culinary Olympics in Berlin as a member of Culinary Team Canada where his talents helped Team Canada bring home three gold medals and three bronze medals.

  I have to admit, I had no idea there was such a thing as the Culinary Olympics, but I’m glad that Michael helped us kick ass at them. All told, he’s been a chef for just over 27 years, and bringing all that experience to a new start-up restaurant is cause for excitement in my book. On her blog (www.mynotabledad.wordpress.com), Chef Noble’s daughter has explained the philosophy her father is following for his newest creation...

  At NOtaBLE, my dad is planning on following the same recipe of transforming quality ingredients by hand, into mouth-watering finished items. All of the bread served in the restaurant is going to be made completely from scratch in house as well as the desserts (none of that store-bought [expletive deleted]!).

  They are just starting to interview for positions there now, if you’re interested in applying you can e-mail your cover letter and résumé to lnoble@notablerestaurantworks.ca. If you’re interested in receiving updates on the contruction of Notable, you can sign up on the following sites.

www.mynotabledad.wordpress.com

http://www.notablerestaurantworks.ca/

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            There’s an exciting new restaurant coming to the Montgomery community in June. Award winning chef Michael Noble will be bringing out his own restaurant concept, Notable. The finished restaurant will have a 132 seat capacity, and will focus on food that is recognizable, but magnificent.

            Why is this new restaurant exciting? Well, Chef Michael Noble has quite the resume. He was most recently Director of Culinary and Product Development for Earl’s Restaurants, where he developed menus for all 50 Earl’s locations, as well as brought the company into a new era of culinary awareness.

Previously, Michael was Executive Chef of Calgary’s Catch Restaurant, Enroute Magazine’s 2003 Best New Restaurant in Canada. Michael relocated to Calgary from Vancouver in 2002 where he was Executive Chef of Vancouver’s award winning restaurant, Diva at the Met and the Metropolitan Hotel. During Michael’s tenure at The Met he won the Top Table for Vancouver Award from Gourmet Magazine, and a Golden Plate Award from GQ Magazine.

Michael has been a serious competitor and impressive ambassador for Canada at international culinary competitions. Noble twice competed for Canada (1995, 1997) at the Bocuse d'Or World Cuisine Competition in Lyon, France. In 1996, Michael competed in the World Culinary Olympics in Berlin as a member of Culinary Team Canada where his talents helped Team Canada bring home three gold medals and three bronze medals.

            I have to admit, I had no idea there was such a thing as the culinary Olympics, but I’m glad that Michael helped us kick ass at them. All told, he’s been a chef for just over 27 years, and bringing all that experience to a new start-up restaurant is cause for excitement in my book. On her blog (www.mynotabledad.wordpress.com), Chef Noble’s daughter has explained the philosophy her father is following for his newest creation...

At NOtaBLE, my dad is planning on following the same recipe of transforming quality ingredients by hand, into mouth-watering finished items. All of the bread served in the restaurant is going to be made completely from scratch  in house as well as the desserts (none of that store-bought [expletive deleted]!).

            They are just starting to interview for positions there now, if you’re interested in applying you can e-mail your cover letter and résumé to lnoble@notablerestaurantworks.ca. If you’re interested in receiving updates on the contruction of Notable, you can sign up on the following sites.

www.mynotabledad.wordpress.com

http://www.notablerestaurantworks.ca/

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• Top Chef coming to Food Network Canada (canada.com)

Centro Motel and the Ronald McDonald House

This week I‘d like to blog about something one of our neighbours is doing. Foothills Hospital and its new, extremely colourful addition, the Alberta Children’s Hospital sits on the top of the river valley overlooking the Centro Motel. In fact, we’re so close that the Calgary Ronald McDonald House has accepted our offer to help them with any overflow they might have in the future.That’s why I’m writing this article, the main topic I’d like to cover is the upcomingRonald McDonald House’s 7^th Annual Cassie Campbell Street Hockey Festival, presented by Penn West Energy.

For those not familiar with the Ronald McDonald House, their mission statement is “Helping sick children get what they need most... their families”. Essentially, they provide onsite accommodation for families with children in the Alberta Children’s Hospital with the intent of providing a supportive environment for the family member who is being treated for illness. The Street Hockey Festival is their signature yearly fundraiser event, and will be taking place at the Olympic Oval on April 30^th and May 1^st. The information on their website reads...           

The Cassie Campbell Street Hockey Festival is fun for all ages. Join in on Canada's favourite game and past time, cheer on your friends, check out entertainers, arcade games, and all the action at the Olympic Oval on April 30^th and May 1^st.

 Don't forget to be at the Celebrity Game at noon on Saturday, May 1^st to see our amazing line-up of celebrities players including two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Cassie Campbell, as they battle it out for supremacy!

 This event is in support of Ronald McDonald House^® Southern Alberta, so come out and have fun for a great cause!  

For more information, please contact"

Barbara Pohl, Acting Special Events Manager

PH: 403-240-3000 ext. 142

CELL: 403-809-6909

barbara@rmhsouthernalberta.org 

There’s also a promo video that showed on Global television. If you missed it, but still want to check it out. Click HERE.



A Good Breakfast in Montgomery

Last week I wrote an article about Bear Safety. With the upcoming hiking season (it’s already started for some people) it’s important for visitors to the area to know how to stay safe and have a good time out there. It struck me the other day though, that before you need to worry about bear safety, you need to know where to hike, and even before THAT you need to know where you can get a good breakfast. Centro itself does offer a Continental breakfast, but if you’re interested in exploring the neighbourhood, there are a couple of good breakfast places near the Centro Motel, and still others on the way out of the city.

            The best breakfast place within a 15 minute drive is, hands down, Cora’s in Market Mall.

This is an actual picture of the kind of food they have here.

It’s family friendly, the food is great, the prices are good, and the servers there have never led me astray. However, because of its success, it’s very, very busy on the weekends. If you’re trying to go there for a Sunday either show up early, or be prepared to wait for upwards of a half-hour to get in. The plus side of the former being that you can window shop in the mall while someone holds your place in line.

            If you’re looking for a place where you can drop in, grab a couple of sandwiches and a coffee, and go then you actually have a number of options. There’s actually two grocery stores on the same road as the Centro, a Safeway and a Co-Op. Both of them are open early and sell everything you could possibly want to take on a hike. There’s also the Planet Coffee Roasters cafe across from Canada Olympic Park. They make better drip coffee than Starbuck’s, and they usually have some small snacks that can be bought and consumed on the way out west.