I arrived late Friday and have now settled back into life in the UK. Thankfully I haven’t missed all the great “summer” weather. Based on the last couple of days, the weather is starting to turn although the blue skies are most promising. I will miss the bright blue skies of Calgary. Ping me via email if you’re around and let’s catch up. It’s probably been a while.
Sled Island Festival
Last weekend, Calgary hosted the four day annual Sled Island Festival. This year it expanded to include arts, movies and plenty of live music events, many dotted around downtown bars and pubs. It culminated in a two day epic down at the Mewata Barracks with a perfect set up of two stages right next to each other providing almost endless music to the masses.
Although both headliners, Broken Social Scene and Mogwai disappointed to end each day on an upbeat note, instead playing slower melodic tunes, the rest of the festival provided some awesome goodness including the amazingly enchanting duo, Tegan and Sara. Calgary weather held strong for the two days, with sunshine lasting until extremely late in the evening and the occasional cool wind providing relief from the dry heat.
Although this festival didn’t have any huge names, it provided an opportunity for the local talent to shine. Local band ChixDiggit (shown above) had plenty of funny little jokes and got the audience in on much of their act. Their music, more suited for live entertainment than probably on a CD was a great addition to the festival line up.
Saturday saw the San Francisco based band, Still Flyin’ barely fitting on their stage although their fun music and antics helped to make the festival a success. And yes, that is a person dressed up in a spiderman outfit. Other bands definitely worth checking out include Jane Vain and the Dark Matter\ and The Cryptomaniacs.
It’s great to see Calgary host such a great festival, showing more culture than what it’s probably known for.
Quick Recap
Here’s a brief summary of what happened last week:
- Arrived back Sunday to catch up with Ajit and Luca at one of my favourite gastro pubs, conveniently located about three blocks away, The Dovetail. Surprisingly unbusy on the Sunday evening, we had some wonderful burgers washed down by some even better Belgian Beers like Chimay Blu. Unfortunately they don’t have boar burgers on their menu any more apparently because it’s difficult to find any organic suppliers, so I went for a lamb burger instead. What a way to settle back into town!
- I dropped into our office on Monday to have a chat with a number of people including the new Managing Director for our new Swedish office. It was great to catch up with people, and then caught up with Gerrod and Kristy at another of my favourite eating places, Wahaca. Wonderful evening although the tiny table meant both Kristy and I spilt some food at some stage.
- The following day, I headed out to Limerick for the XP2008 conference and had a great time catching up with a number of people from previous years and indulging in decent weather (for Ireland). I somehow managed to return with two umbrellas though that’s a whole other story. The conference ended with a huge dinner at a Castle about half an hour away from the city, before returning to London.
- Quickly unpacking and repacking on Saturday, I also ended up at one of our internal conferences, this time held at Regents College right in the middle of Regents Park. An evening BBQ with plenty of food and drink saw us enjoy the summertime atmosphere surrounded by old friends and colleagues.
- I also managed to catch up with my sister over some Dim Sum before heading out to the airport where we sat for an extra hour because of the arrival of Bush.
A busy yet thoroughly enjoyable week and I look forward to more of it when I return in late July.
Limerick’s Limerick
I’m completing Gerrod’s challenge on a rather jetlagged brain. I don’t think it’s too bad either What do you think?
Came back to London last week
Enough for great weather to peak
To drink some fine grain
And get on a plane
For limerick in order to speak
I promise I’ll get around to writing up about my time there, though expect the technical stuff to appear on my work related blog.
Back in London
Arrived back in London today for a short visit before heading back to Calgary. Something is completely wrong with the picture below being the photo taken outside of my window, and the complete opposite (torrential rain, grey skies) what I left behind in Calgary.
This is not the world I remember! I’m not complaining though.
Afternoon Tea at Banff
A couple of weekends ago, Eileen and KP graciously took Reshmi and myself up to Banff for afternoon tea at The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Looking very much like a castle nestled amongst the pine trees, the hotel has a weird mix of old and new to please everyone. Much like the Fairmont Lake Louise, shopping is very much upmarket (who buys artwork in the $1000s when they’re on holidays in the mountains?) with a number of restaurants and bars to suit all tastes.
Although they stuffed up our booking, with the result being the four of us crammed on a small table perched a little bit away from the amazing views provided through the window, the company and food helped make it an enjoyable experience.
On their website, their menu lists afternoon tea as:
Seasonal Fruit Salad
Dainty Finger Sandwiches, English Cucumber, Egg Salad, Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese and Carrot Ginger
Victorian Scones, Devonshire Cream and Strawberry Jam
Fresh Delectable Pastries and Sweets
Banff Spring’s Special Blend of Tea
Dainty Finger Sandwiches, English Cucumber, Egg Salad, Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese and Carrot Ginger
Victorian Scones, Devonshire Cream and Strawberry Jam
Fresh Delectable Pastries and Sweets
Banff Spring’s Special Blend of Tea
Our waiter, much like many of the staff around town, was an Australian guy (from Melbourne) and served plenty of tea to make up for the tiny little table. Considering how busy the rest of the dining area was, he did a pretty good job of keeping up glasses of water full, our cups of tea hot and made it a pretty pleasing experience.
Although afternoon tea is relatively expensive at $32 and unlikely to be up to par to many of the London based ones, the dining atmosphere and (potential) views are worth going at least once. Book ahead, and given our experience, it’s definitely worth confirming the details of your booking closer to your visit.
Wahaca
London always has its underground surprises and Wahaca is one of those best found by those wanting a little less Tex and a little bit more Mex in their foods. I’m not sure how long it’s been open for, with its brightly blue coloured walls at least giving it a newish appearance.
This restaurant has a strict non-booking policy and given its spacious dining area seems to be able to accommodate smaller tables of two to four. I’d definitely recommend arriving much earlier if you’re part of a larger party.
Dining is relatively informal with your placemat reminiscintly wagamama-styled except this time the entire menu is on the placement. Ordering feels almost overwhelming and I’m glad you can choose to either order full dishes, or tapas “street” style, both working well for groups of any size.
It feels like almost anything you would want out of a Mexican restaurant is there and more. Full of exceptionally fresh flavours and with some dishes having that additional kick, Wahaca does not disappoint. Even in the drinks department, they offer plenty of choice and serve other Mexican alternatives to the standard Corona export.
Definitely a gem that easily missed in the wealth of options in the area, Wahaca offers fresh, tasty Mexican food at reasonable prices. Definitely try the extremely tender Pork Pibil dish though watch out for the chilli that’s likely to literally knock your socks off!
Details: Wahaca
Found at: 66 Chandos Place, Covent Garden, London WC2N 4HG
Contactable on: +44 (0) 207 240 1883
Highlights: A hidden gem offering tasty plates of super tasty Mexican food that will make you regret ever declaring all Mexican food is bland
Room for improvement: It’d be nice if they accepted bookings for larger groups, limited to a certain number of course.
The Kua Rating: 8 out of 10
Where in the world is… TheKua?
It’s been a bit of whirlwind trip, and despite the posts around Calgary, I did, indeed, spend just over a week in the UK for a conference. I had registered for this specific conference late last year thinking it would be a breeze to get to from London, ironically ending up in another part of the world. I had plenty of fun (see the conference report here if you want) and they even made time for a networking trip where we indulged in the small bit of sunny weather.
I went along to Glastonbury and then Wells where we had a brilliant time walking around town, taking in the unique atmosphere of both towns. Having the sun out for the entire day definitely made up for the rest of the classically dreary overcast skies for the rest of the trip. I found it surprisingly cold as well for London, having left Calgary at a comfortable 20 degrees celcius.
Unfortunately I had little time to really do that much in London other than pack, unpack, catch up for a quick meal with my flatmates and my sister, and head out to the conference and back again. It really was a fleeting visit and before I knew it, I was on the plane back “home”.