Taj Indian Airdrie - Comfort Food at its Finest.

In the middle of the night – your imagination can be a powerful thing.

We are currently trapped in a living hell, known only as non-insulated Apartment Living.

I’ve lived in Apartments before and it’s run the gauntlet between “fine” and “am I willing to lose my bond and abscond in the middle of the night”.

In my minds eye, I imagine my upstairs neighbour to be a 300kg Driller who wears his work boots inside and is as nimble as a 3 legged elephant. The fact that he also likes to throw heavy, squeaky toys to his infrequently manicured, and easily excitable, manic dog – does not endear him to me either.

That he is a night owl, who likes to pace his bedroom (also above my bedroom) has been enough for me to take him off the Christmas Card list.

But it’s his love of bad death metal rock, and his tone deaf attempts to replicate it on his electric guitar – complete with amps! – that really has me grinding my teeth.

I am a patient person (sometimes), I could even be described as peace loving. But if you want to see my shackles go up, and my inner warrior emerge – wake up my non-sleeping baby and see how well you fare.

Costa Vida Fresh Mexican

Before we left home – I had my weird list of food I needed to try while we are living in Canada.

Twinkies. Urgh. So nasty. Sweaty yellow cakes with fake cream… enough said.

Poutine. We’ve had seriously good, and seriously gross.

American Hot Dog. The BEST I’ve ever had!

Taco Bell. Well – even though this was on my list – Marlee our Au Pair squealed with disgust every time I mentioned this. 

Which I will admit – her stories of past visits have put me off slightly – but mark my words, give me a few drinks and I WILL give it a go!

So when I saw that Airdrie has new Mexican Restaurants popping up I got seriously excited! So excited in fact – that without realising it – I basically gate crashed their opening day while they were still mopping the floors… talk about keen.

Brewsters, we have a local!

 

Wings

Of all the things I have struggled with since we moved here – the complete lack of familiarity has been the hardest.

From not knowing where to shop, to what brand of pasta sauce to buy, and who the hell goes first at a “4 Point Stop” Intersection. Nothing shakes your confidence more than having to second guess yourself at every turn.

What I have really missed though – is having a “local”. That failsafe location where you can go for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner or just a drink. That place the car knows how to get to automatically and where the staff recognise you as a regular.

Thanks to an amazing Burger that we first discovered on Man vs Food, we now have a Local!

The Avenue Cupcakery...

Along with our new start in Canada are a lot of new experiences. 

We’ve downgraded from a 4 bedroom house with a yard, to a 2 bedroom apartment with an icicle ridden balcony. We’re getting by on one car instead of two. And we’re learning how to navigate a completely different climate.

A few pointers for those of you “Tropical” people thinking of relocating to the colder side of life.

1.  A Chinook is not just a helicopter. It is also a weather pattern that makes the Albertan temperatures fluctuate wildly from -35C to 5C overnight. And vice versa.

2.  A $20 Kmart Pram was never designed to tackle 6 inches of snow and sludge so you should be prepared to abandon it by the side of the road when the wheels eventually fall off.

3.  No matter how bad your cabin fever. It is rarely a good idea to bundle your toddler up for a “road trip” in said pram, frigid Chinook wind and icy roads.

Wild Flour Bakery Banff

There are few things that excite me more than visiting cute little towns and eating at the local's favourite haunts. So when you see somewhere advertised as “Banff’s Best Breakfast!” and “Banff’s Local Artistan Bakery” – you can pretty much see me running to join the line-up.

So we got up early – not our choice – the ratbag is an early riser who can’t be trusted to play alone, and trudged through the snow to what was promised to be an amazing breakfast.

I have to say I was put off from the minute we walked through the front door.

The scowling waitress was obviously not happy to be at work and glared at us while we struggled to decide what to order. 

The reason for our struggles? What we had thought would be an artisan bakery heaving under drool-worthy baked goods and big, gourmet, “fill up the Snowboarder” style breakfasts was more of a Yuppie, Vegetarian café… and the pastry cabinet had yet to be filled...