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Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria – McKenzie Towne Calgary

I’ve always wondered what the empty spaces on High Street in McKenzie Towne would turn out to be as 2 prime locations recently closed for whatever reason. I’m happy to say that a Day Spa has now turned into Famoso Neapolitian Pizzeria which has been a location where I’ve been trying to put on the top of my priority list since it opened. My co-workers can’t stop raving about it, and of course, I went during the coldest days of autumn – and I’m happy to say there was still a line out the door. It was a little cold for me as it was around 8:30PM on a Friday night, so I figured I would go during lunch on the Saturday – which I did! When I entered the pizzeria, we were immediately greeted by friendly staff asking if we’ve dined there before. We said no, and thank goodness we did as you write your order down and go up to the counter to order/pay.

I ordered a Gelato Float as I love floats. I have no idea how you’re suppose to order it as the menu only says “Gelato Float”, but I got my husband to order it, and I got the most disgusting float! I guess my husband wanted just a fountain drink of “Iced Tea”, and he must of gotten confused when ordering my float. I ended up with a Chai Tea Latte Gelato with Iced Tea, which is something I would HIGLHY NOT recommend! hahaha! Usually, I know floats with a sweet fountain drink like Grape or Root Beer with a vanilla ice cream… ah well, there’s always a first for everything!

We ordered an appetizer and a pizza, as this was a lunch – we ordered Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella Balls which was a platter with fresh mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto baked in Campania tomato sauce served with flatbread. I just scooped out a mozzarella ball onto my plate and dissected it and covered it with the delicious tomato sauce with a bit of flat bread!

The pizza that we ordered was Abruzzo Pizza which was a pizza topped with Oven-roasted Italian sausage, onion, mushroom, fennel seeds and smoked mozzarella. It was a pizza that said it’s new for the Fall & Winter season, which was a good idea as the combination of the Italian sausage and smoked mozzarella was a such a delicious combination. The pizza crust was really something special! It wasn’t greasy at all, and the texture was amazing! There’s a place in my heart for greasy pizza crusts, but for ones that aren’t too greasy – this is a great alternative!

I love the location, and the environment! The service was excellent, and the food was exceptional! Now that I’ve finally tried the pizza here, my co-workers won’t stop talking about their desserts… so, needless to say, I will be back!

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria

Southeast
5 High St SE
Calgary, AB
(587) 352-5566

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Edmonton Hotel and Convention Centre

Edmonton isn’t a place where we go, unless we truly have to. Lately, my other half has been going to Edmonton once in awhile for business, and he’s been staying at the Edmonton Hotel & Convention Centre which was formerly a Holiday Inn hotel. This hotel has just gone through some updating and renovations making the interior much more modern. This review is of the Executive King Suite which offers a lot of amenities in a hotel room. The room itself is fairly large and it offers a kitchenette, seating area and a glass divider to separate the room for the business side to the personal side. This glass sliding divider isn’t frosted to ensure privacy like the website leads you to think. But, I think they did this as the room offers 1 TV, and it’s in the “bedroom” part of the suite – so when you’re sitting in the sitting area, you can see the TV.

The bathroom is quite a beauty, the shower is modern and offers some body jets. The pressure and temperatures of the shower is very reasonable, making a nice home away from home feel,with a clean, sleek, modern design. The bathroom is large/spacious and offers yours standard bathroom amenities.

The actual room itself is large, and very comfortable. As mentioned, there is a kitchenette, which includes a small fridge and microwave making longer stays much more comfortable – or even left over meals, or packed lunches for the following day. There is even a little dining area as well, which is really neat! This suite has more than enough seating area for guests and visitors.

Here is a quick walk-through of the room that was used during the visit to Edmonton.

Edmonton Hotel & Convention Centre

4520 – 76 Avenue NW
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
T6B 0A5

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The Naaco Food Truck – Calgary

So, I’ve been eying The Naaco Truck since the day it came on to the streets of Calgary! They were at the Calgary Stampede but I really wanted to eat “Stampede Food” at there as I knew I would try The Naaco truck any other time! Well, I found time to try, and it just happened to be at Calgary Farmers Market during their first annual Sundown Chowdown which was a great event! I would say it was really successful!

The line ups were insane the entire night!! We had some friends lining up for Fries and Dolls and after about 90 minutes, they were told that food truck ran out of fries, but they were going to replenish the stock soon… so, they waited a total of 3 hours for some fries. Then, some other friends waited in line at Cheezy Bizness, which was a little worse really! It was about a 2 hour wait just to put in an order and another 45 minutes before we got the product! Luckily, the line at Naaco Truck wasn’t as bad. It was about an hour wait to get to the front of the line and about a 10-15 minute wait for the food. I think it was very successful knowing that other trucks weren’t as quick – and worse, other trucks ran out of food!

We ended up ordering a Beef Vindaloo, which was really good, made with tons of fresh ingredients such as their fresh vegetable slaw! This package of good food came on a piece of naan, topped with braised beef, feta, sprouts, yoghurt chutney and of course the vegetable slaw! This treat is also called the Gutsy Goan, and we were expecting more heat to it, but it is catered to the average crowd which may not take as much heat in their food.

To kick up the order up a notch or two, they did have some flavour salts that you can sprinkle on top! By the time I realized it existed, I felt bad for taking up the counter space and wanted to move out of the way so the next customers could get their order – so I didn’t get a chance to try either of their Inca Fire salt or West African Citrus spice salt…

The other order that we had was their 5 Spice Pork, which is kind of strange as I don’t think of pork with I think of “East Indian Culture or Cuisine”, but it doesn’t matter! The other thing to me was, 5 Spice is more “Chinese Asian” cuisine, but I ordered it anyway! This was really delicious and I’m glad I ordered it!! In fact, I recommend this! It’s a naan topped with shaved pork, fresh veggies slaw, sprouts and apricot tarragon chutney! The mixture of sweet and savoury is undeniably delicious! I love the braised pork alone or together with the naan taco!! I will definitely be back to the Naaco truck again!

The Naaco Truck on Urbanspoon

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Double Zero Pizza

I’ve been on a pizza craze lately, and so we met up with some friends downtown to try Double Zero Pizza which is located across the street from Holt Renfrew. The environment of this restaurant is really warm, inviting and romantic. I really enjoy this pizza place, as everything we ordered tasted fantastic! The cost is on the upper end, but it’s decent for the quality and the location of this this restaurant.

Once we were seated, we were greeted really friendly and a bottle of water came to the table. The bottle looks spectacular and it tasted pretty good too! It’s a neat touch – creative and memorable!

We ordered a bunch of appetizers to share and we really enjoyed, and we ordered 2 appetizers! We tried their Tuna Crudo fennel crusted ahi tuna, roasted tomato relish, arugula. This was an excellent appetizer, and the tuna was perfectly seared, and the perfect balance of the tomato relish! This appetizer is a great sign of what’s to come!

The other appetizer the table ordered is their famous Double “00” Meatballs made with a house blend of natural pork and beef, tomato gravy

We tried 2 pizzas from Double Zero, and the first one was spectacular! It’s their Speck Pizza which is a pizza made with smoked speck, mozzarella, arugula. This pizza is really interesting as it doesn’t seem like there’s anything holding the arugula down on the pizza – so it’s the first thing to fall off! It’s simple to pick it up and place it back on the pizza though! The speck was amazing – with a hint of smokiness, and a texture much like prosciutto, it was a perfectly made pizza that is unlike any other!

The other pizza we had was on the bottom of the pizza stand, so the picture was taken in the shadows – but it’s the Margherita Pizza which definitely wasn’t a lousy pizza! It was simple and perfect! This pizza is made of fiore di latte, basil, tomato sauce! Fiore di Latte is essentially delicious and fresh mozzarella!

At the end of the night, it was so much food that we were too full to order dessert!! It was a fantastic dinner which I loved, and I would probably need to return to eat their pastas and desserts!

Double Zero Pizza on Urbanspoon

Double Zero Pizza

751 4 St SW
Calgary, AB T2P1E3
(403) 265-9559

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GlobalFest 2012 – Finale

So, the last night at GlobalFest 2012 as it’s the finale! Without a doubt, there was the most people watching this event! The place was actually packed! We got there around 6:30pm and found a good spot. We went to grab some food from the One World Cafe and returned – and already chairs were set up in front of us and people around us!! It was difficult as it was us 2 saving space for 8 people – which ended up working well! We were on the South side of Elliston park this time, and relatively close up to the water – right in front of the OneWorld stage!

I really enjoyed watching the dances from Ukraine, as I spent the most time watching them! It was really fantastic and everyone looked so happy – both performers and audience! I know I had tons of fun watching them!

The song list for this evening were as follows:
Wake – Linkin Park
The end of the Doubs – Stefano Mocini
Sail – Awolnation
Little Motel – Modest Mouse
Sinking Friendships – Jonsi
Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap
Midnight City – M83
Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
Waiting for the end – Linkin Park
Amazing Grace – GlolbalFest 10th Anniversary Tribute

The End of the Doubs by Stefano Mocini and it’s got vocals to it. I did find the firework presentation to this song kind of boring at first, but it does get better! It was the most “boring” display of the evening, and it was still very eventful – so altogether, it was a fantastic finale!