Back from the land of pierogies and kielbassa!

Part I

Well, this is not entirely true, I only had a brief sojourn in the "big onion." While in Edmonton, I took my dining companion on a tour of the more salient culinary institutions, such as Marchyshyn's - the only place for Ukrainian food (hmmm, Stawnichy's is also pretty good). Sadly though, we visited too close to Ukrainian Christmas and nothing was left on the shelves but a few robust Kielbassa rings and vats of poppy seeds and wheat. To amp up our Ukrainian Christmas dinner, we hit the Edmonton Farmer's Market and procured home-made pierogies and holubchi from a great Baba with dyed black hair and a Christmas sweater.

We also visited some of my favourite Edmontonian haunts, including The New York Bagel Cafe, which has since relocated to a larger space on Calgary Trail. While it lost some of its cozy atmosphere, it still makes great bagel platters, including one featuring Russian caviar which will set you back $96. We settled for the home-made dill cream cheese and rye bagel, which comes with excellent potato salad and a dill pickle. My dining companion opted for the pickled herring, which apparently doesn't lend itself well to a bagel sandwich. I should make brief mention of the reading material available for perusal. The cafe features many window wells holding many books, including a treatise on the psychoanalytic analysis of the vegetarian and a book of erotic dance positions.

We also visited one of the University of Alberta's mainstays: The Sugar Bowl. While they have since instituted a weekend brunch which makes it impossible to get a seat, we did grab two espressos for the long drive back to Calgary. This kept my dining companion awake until we experienced the one curve in the highway at Red Deer, after which he promptly fell asleep. I drove on listening to the new Christine Fellows cd, which is a great accompaniment to a prairie drive.

I have featured a photo of the world's largest kielbassa ring, located in Mundare, Alberta.