This ‘n That…

This posting is a short amalgamation of miscellaneous happenings, photos, food and critters from the past 2 months that really didn’t fit into any other blog that I’ve written…

A snow storm in Ohio prevented our usual trip to the eastern suburbs of Cleveland and a visit with our son David II, his wife Amy and our 2 grandsons, David III and Emmett Lee.  So, at the last minute, what to do for Thanksgiving dinner?

We found our answer at Costco…with this unfrozen pre-prepped turkey breast and stuffing.  We were unsure if we’d like the stuffing and since it was just a breast, we thought that the finished product might be a bit dry.  No worries though!  The meat was tender and moist.  The stuffing was decent…not spicy with sausage like we prefer…but pretty good!

We ended up with a lot of leftover turkey and stuffing, never a problem for a guy who really likes turkey and stuffing sandwiches.  But, I’d noticed a recipe for a Cheddar-Bacon Breakfast Casserole posted by Mary Bergfeld from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite. (http://oneperfectbite.blogspot.com/)

I did take ‘just a few liberties’ with the recipe that Mary had posted.  I used turkey…a lot of turkey…instead of 4 slices of bacon or a cup of diced cooked ham.  In addition, I didn’t have any dry French bread around, but what the heck…I had a lot of stuffing!  Add 1 ¾ cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese, 2 cups of milk, 4 beaten eggs, 2 tablespoons of fresh Italian parsley, ½ teaspoon mustard, a bit more than ¼ teaspoon of black pepper and 1/8  teaspoon of onion powder. 

The big problem was that the stuffing was already moist and there was just too much liquid… The good news is that the problem was solved by just leaving it in the oven well past the suggested 25 – 30 minutes.  The resulting casserole was pretty good…I liked it better than Laurie did…and after the leftover casserole sat for another day or two, it was even more flavorful.  The stuffing actually added flavor and texture…

A few days later, we were out running errands and we stopped for lunch.  We had a 2 for 1 lunch coupon for the China Pearl Restaurant in Farragut Tennessee. It is now operating under new ownership and we thought this would be a good time to try it out.  We weren’t sorry!  It was all good… Laurie ordered the chicken curry with carrots, peppers, etc.?  She can’t really recall everything but she loved whatever she had!

I ordered the chicken with broccoli… Both of our lunches came with our choice of 3 different soups and an egg roll.  They even got the spice levels right with just enough heat in my sauce to make my head sweat!

Our cost for lunch with, taxes included but not including the tip, came to a grand total of $10.08!  If you’re in the area, give the ‘new’ China Pearl a try.  This restaurant is located in the same center as the Farragut Kroger Store at 11248 Kingston Pike (US Hwy. 11), in Farragut Tennessee.  Phone: 865-966-6937.

Dawn Marie once again joined us for Christmas in East Tennessee… Here we are decorating the Christmas cookies that Laurie made up.  Given my minimalistic artistic skills, I limited myself to about 3 cookies. We each really enjoyed decorating these cookies & of course, had to sample them to see if they were fit to consume!  Ha-ha J

Dawn was meticulous with her decorations.  She and Laurie decorated most of them.  They were the best Christmas cookies I’ve had in 5 years! The recipe Laurie used for the dough was from The Pioneer Woman, with a simple powdered sugar frosting with a bit more butter added.  She and Dawn like a butter cream frosting!

The recipe for the dough is as follows:1 1/3 c. butter

• ·        1 ½ c. sugar
•       1 1/3 c. butter 
• ·        1 t. orange zest
• ·        1 t. vanilla extract
• ·        2 whole eggs
• ·        3 T. whole milk
• ·        4 c. all- purpose flour
• ·        3 t. baking powder
• ·        ½ t. salt 

Directions:

• ·        Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• ·        In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, orange zest and vanilla thoroughly.
• ·        Add in the eggs and beat until light and fluffy.
• ·        Add in the milk & mix.
• ·        In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) Then blend this into the creamed mixture.
• ·        Wrap in plastic wrap and flatten into a disc shape and refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours or freeze for 20 minutes.
• ·        Roll out dough and use cookie cutters of your choice to cut out shapes.
• ·        Bake on parchment paper lined cookie sheets until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow them to cool before frosting.

(Laurie wanted me to point out that the pan the cookies are on is not what she baked them on.  This pan is only used “normally” with foil lining it and we just grab it quickly to place the decorated cookies on to sit till they could be packed in tins.  They were only on the cookie sheet till she took the photo) 

Here’s yours truly cooking a big breakfast for us on Christmas Eve morning.  Laurie’s only complaint about my efforts to cook is that I am really messy!  On the other hand, she doesn’t fry anything…that’s my job…so she’s stuck with me if she wants a basic breakfast at home!

Here’s our breakfast spread…minus the English muffins.  Lots of cheese eggs made with sharp cheddar cheese, a touch of milk and lots of pepper; thick cut bacon from Costco; sausage patties…also from Costco; hash brown potatoes fried with butter, pepper, onion flakes and a touch of garlic powder.  The little plate at the top contained the remnants of Dawn’s Mexican meal from a couple of nights earlier.  She ate it with her eggs.  This was a very good breakfast!

We and 11 other friends were at Karen and Charlie’s for Christmas Day dinner.  It was excellent and we all had a great time!  Laurie tried to take a good photo of one of their cats, a Devon Rex named Ali.  What’s not to love about that face?!  Seeing as Devon Rex cats have no fur, Ali loves the heat.  The fireplace, a blanket or the top of any electronic device that is powered up are all popular spots for her this time of the year!  

Our cat J.D. loves heat too… He searches the house for sunshine but if that isn’t available, he’ll go for the fireplace or a nice bright table lamp.  He does run our house!  He tells us when to feed him, to let him out on the porch, to place a blanket on a lap for his comfort, etc.  He even tells us when it’s time to go to bed.  This latter habit ‘may’ stem from the fact that when its bedtime, he gets a snack, he’s played with one last time and he receives his evening massage. (No, I’m not kidding!  Laurie gives him a massage every night…)

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!  I hope that it isn’t too cold where you are…

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

The Edmonton Model Railroad Association

Near the entrance to Fort Edmonton Park in Alberta, I noticed a sign inviting visitors to stop by the Edmonton Model Railroad Association’s exhibit.  It’s just down the tracks via a boardwalk from the Fort Edmonton Park Railroad Depot.

This is an innovative model railway layout!  It’s a ‘mushroom’ two-level design, allowing almost twice as much mainline track as a single level would permit.  There are walkways for members and visitors on both levels.

 

We definitely appreciated the Association’s member who offered to take us on a guided tour inside this impressive layout.  Viewing windows are available for visitors.  They give you a good overview of this complex layout but they aren’t too good for photographs…

The detail of the many active vignettes is amazing.

 

The Freight Shed at Fort Edmonton Park is home for this layout.  The structure was completed in 1992 using funds raised by the Association’s club members.  A full 60% of the building’s construction was completed by members.

Here we have a lumber mill complete with a drying kiln… Just across the tracks, a couple of families are enjoying their vacation outings complete with towed RVs. 

The Edmonton Model Railway Association was formed in 1946 and it will celebrate its 68^th anniversary in 2014!

Given this view with so much going on and all of that track showing, it’s time for a few statistics…

So far…and this exhibit is still a work in progress…it has over 2,344 feet of track; 3.66 miles of wire; 225 switches; 9,542 ‘planted’ trees; 11,048 ‘built’ trees; 59 locomotives from various eras, and; 750 pieces of rolling stock!

There was so much detail to look at it was hard to decide what to photograph.  Note all of the trees and the hills…not to mention all of those structures!

The Edmonton Model Railroad Association has built this layout based on a real railroad that was surveyed and chartered in central British Columbia back in 1896, but which was never built.    It is called the Monashee Pacific Railroad.

I have always loved model railroads…but I’ve never had the patience or talent needed to build a proper layout.  As far as models are concerned, the most I’ve ever built were a couple of model warplanes from WWII and a couple of ships… However, I do own a toy electric train set from Montgomery Ward dated 1960 that I’ve never taken out of its original box.  I probably need to sell it on eBay!

The actual railroad would have linked Vernon British Columbia to Castlegar British Columbia by way of the Monashee Mountains.  The Club’s layout represents what members feel that the railroad would have looked like in 1959.  The names along the line are actual town names or geographical points along the original surveyed route.

Here are some passengers waiting for the express passenger train… I just noticed that the small freight shed in the photo is off its ‘foundation’.

If it had been built, the real Monashee Pacific Railroad would have had about 135 miles of mainline track.  The model version of the railroad continues into the USA south of Castlegar.  It also connects with the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National north of Vernon.  This ‘modification’ gives club members the ability to utilize some of their favorite railroad equipment from their personal collections…

I thought that ending this posting with a photo of the Monashee Pacific Railroad’s roundhouse showing a number of their locomotives was appropriate. 

My hometown, Jackson Michigan, used to have a magnificent all brick roundhouse.  I was quite young when it closed and was torn down.  However, the beautifully restored railway depot in Jackson is still in operation with daily AMTRAC trains stopping by.  It is one of the oldest continually operating railroad stations in the USA…141 years in 2014!  To learn more, go to http://www.greatamericanstations.com/Stations/JXN.  To view some early pictures of that station, you can go to http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Stations/CountyStations/JacksonStations/Jackson/JacksonMIUnionStation.htm.

The Edmonton Model Railway Association is a non-profit society.  They do accept donations…and they’re always looking for new members.  To learn more about the Association, go to www.emraonline.ca.  Many thanks to the Association member who took the time to give us a tour of this fascinating model railroad layout!  If you like railroading, this is a great place to stop by when visiting Fort Edmonton Park.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

A Taste of Thailand – Maryville Tennessee

When Karen and Charlie called us and suggested that we all go out to dinner with them at a nearby Thai restaurant, we were all for it!  We like Thai food…  Here in East Tennessee, we’d previously sampled Thai food at Surin of Thailand, Little Bangkok and another restaurant in Knoxville named Lemon Grass…

But this time it was the Lemon Grass Restaurant in Maryville Tennessee… In addition to Thai cuisine, this restaurant also has a sushi bar.  For some reason, sushi is very popular in the greater Knoxville area…with many restaurants featuring sushi as part of their menu.

Lemon Grass in Maryville isn’t a large restaurant, but its ambience is simple and tasteful.  Note the table settings… The white table cloths and cloth napkins definitely provide a bit of an upscale feel.    

Decorations are minimal but eye-catching.  From the outside of Lemon Grass, you wouldn’t expect such a warm and cozy interior.  I really thought that it might be more Spartan than it was…

For her appetizer, Laurie ordered the Fresh Basil Rolls. ($4.59) They included Gulf shrimp, vermicelli rice noodles green lettuce and fresh basil leaves, wrapped in streamed rice paper and served with plum sauce.  Laurie loves appetizers like this one…wrapped in rice paper providing a nice light starter with the basil waking up all of her taste buds & mine too!  Thumbs up!

The menu at Lemon Grass is shorter than in many Asian restaurants.  For example there are only 9 appetizers listed… I would guess that Laurie will try the Cheese Rolls the next time we dine here. ($3.79) These sound a lot like Crab Rangoon, one of her favorites, with crab meat, cream cheese, and carrots wrapped in rice paper then served with Tamarind sauce.

I guess that part of the attraction was the name of my appetizer…Sarong Shrimp. ($6.59) This eye candy of an appetizer consisted of shrimp stuffed with Thai herbs and then wrapped in rice paper and deep fried to form these nifty cones. The appetizer was served with sweet chili sauce.  I really enjoyed my selection and Laurie loved it too!

I was also attracted to two other appetizers… One was the Chicken Satay, ($6.99, with sliced, skewered, and then grilled white meat chicken breast marinated in curry and coconut cream then served with peanut sauce and cucumber salad.  The other choice was the Lemon Grass Golden Cups, ($6.59), edible crispy golden cups filled with minced gulf shrimps, chicken, and sweet corn and peas.

For her entree, Laurie ordered the Panang Curry…with a bit of extra heat. ($11.59) She chose chicken over beef or pork in a sweet curry paste with basil leaves and a touch of coconut milk.  This dish normally comes with bell peppers but she had them leave the peppers out. 

Laurie loves curry…and there are 8 additional curry dishes on the menu.  They range from Spicy Red and Green Curries ($11.59) to Jumbo Shrimp Masaman and Scallops in a chu-chee curry cream sauce. ($16.99)

Note: All entrees are served with Jasmine Rice.  For an extra $1.50, diners can order brown rice if they prefer.

Karen and Charlie are not into spicy foods, but they’d been to Lemon Grass before and they knew what they wanted!  They shared both of their entrees… Their first entrée was the Walnut Shrimp, ($14.99), large shrimp with honey, plum sugar, mayonnaise, and walnut.  They really like this dish!

Other entrees that aren’t noted for their heat…just their flavor…included Masaman-Kai, ($11.99), tender white meat chicken in masaman curry with pearl onions, green avocado, and cashew nuts; Broccoli with Mushrooms, ($10.29), chicken, beef, or pork sautéed in brown oyster sauce; Jumbo Shrimp Masaman,  ($16.99), masaman curry with green avocado and roasted cashew nuts, and; Tuna Tataki, ($17.99), seared sushi-grade tuna in Japanese ponzu sauce with a side of baby spinach.

Charlie and Karen also shared Cashew Nut. ($10.99) Chicken, pork, beef or tofu can be specified for the same price.  This dish came with chicken sautéed with roasted cashew nuts, onions, squash, zucchini, carrots, and mushrooms.  They both enjoyed this dish as well!

Other than the Entrees and the Lemon Grass Chef’s Specials, the menu includes 5 traditional salad offerings, 6 different soups and 5 different Thai Noodle or Fried Rice dishes. (Including Pad Thai $10.99) There are also 2 vegetarian dishes available…

My entrée, (extra heat requested!), was the Spicy Basil Leaves. ($10.99) I chose beef vs. chicken or pork.  The beef was sautéed with fresh basil leaves, garlic and Thai chili sauce.  The dish normally comes with bell peppers…but I don’t care for bell peppers.  The chef got the spice level just about right, with just enough heat to make my head sweat a little…

Spice levels range from 1 chili pepper or mild, (stimulates a ‘kick’ to your lips and tongue), on up to 4 chili peppers or “Thai Hot”, (Can you take it? For addicts and Thai nationals) 

Since it was Laurie’s birthday, the restaurant brought out this luscious dessert for us all to share. (There was a candle in the middle of the ice cream) This is Fried Bananas with Ice Cream, normally $4.50.  The pieces of banana are enclosed in the little fried wraps…with sesame seeds, cinnamon and honey drizzled over the top. Excellent! 

Even though we had a dessert to share, this one sounded good too and I ordered it!  This is Phay Robi…I think this is how you spell it. ($4.50) This crepe includes condensed milk, powdered sugar, honey and it has blackberry compote over the top.  It was very nice…almost as good as the Fried Banana offering!

To our susrprise...Charlie and Karen picked up the tab for this delicious meal!
A happy birthday gift to Laurie and myself! :)   Thank you Charlie and Karen! We enjoyed the company and your generiousity.  On us next time!

Service was competent, the restaurant is clean and the food was very good indeed!   However, for those diners who expect huge amounts of food when you order an entrees in a Thai or Chinese restaurant, the portions at Lemon Grass are a bit more reasonable.  You’ll have plenty of food but you probably won’t be taking any home…

Lemon Grass - Thai Cuisine and Sushi bar, is located at 912 West Lamar Alexander Highway, (US 321), in Maryville Tennessee.  If you're headed to Smoky Mountain National Park from I-75, you'll pass right by this restaurant. Phone: 865-681-8785.  To learn more about this restaurant, you can go to http://www.mylemongrass.com/coupons/. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a taste of Thai food!  

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Fort Edmonton Park (#3) – Alberta Canada

In this segment about our visit to Fort Edmonton Park, we’ve entered the 1920’s…

This recreation of the Selkirk Hotel was built in 2003.  It has 30 guest rooms furnished in the 1920's style.  Originally it was a 40-room hotel.  It began life in February of 1903 as the Windsor Hotel.  Robert McDonald bought the Windsor in 1911.  He expanded and renovated the property to include 100 guest rooms, renamed it the Hotel Selkirk and reopened it on November 10, 1913.  For the next 50 years, the 3-story hotel was one of Edmonton’s most popular meeting places.

To check out the accommodations and book a room at the Selkirk Hotel, go to http://www.fortedmontonpark.ca/hotel-selkirk/.

 

The original well-loved landmark hotel in downtown Edmonton was severely damaged by fire on December 18, 1962.  It was demolished the following September to make way for the Royal Bank of Canada tower.

The Mahogany Room, a full-service bar, shares the first floor of the Selkirk Hotel with the Johnson’s Café.  For many years the Mahogany Room was known as Canada's longest bar.

 

Johnson’s Café serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.   The original café was started in 1920 by Constantinos Yeanitchous, a Greek immigrant who went by the name Con Johnson. It wasn't long before "meet me under the clock at Johnson's" became a popular phrase, and everyone in the city knew the spot.

Robert McDonald, the owner of the Selkirk Hotel as well as other hotels and businesses was of Scottish heritage.  He was born in Cape Breton Nova Scotia. (One of our favorite places) Apparently McDonald was quite a character.  He owned a Packard dealership and drove around town in his pink Packard.  He employed retired boxers in the Mahogany Room…as bartenders and bouncers.  One of them worked there for 33 years.   McDonald and his family managed the Selkirk until 1950…

Part of the ambience along the 1920’s main street at Fort Edmonton Park were great advertising signs relating to the period, like the one shown above.  These signs just made things seem more authentic…

FYI… J. S. Fry and Sons, Ltd. was a British chocolate company owned by Joseph Storrs Fry and his family.  The company had a long history…beginning in 1728.  By 1919 the company merged with Cadbury's chocolate and the joint company was named the British Cocoa and Chocolate Company.  After 1981 the Fry's name was no longer in use, but the factory was still a major producer of Cadbury's products.  Following the takeover of Cadbury by Kraft Foods, the plant was scheduled for closure in 2011…

 Another sunny summer day…and yet another bride and groom.  This time the groom was suited up as a Northwest Mounted Police Officer. 

This view across the trolley/streetcar track shows the Sun Drug Store and Bill’s Confectionary.  Both of these stores were built in 1922.  The confectionary didn’t do very well, but it 1926 William Kazakos bought it and opened the new Bill's Confectionary.  Kazakos emigrated from Turkey in 1910 and he’d learned the candy making business from relatives. 

In the early part of the 20^th century, confectionaries were very popular...selling candy, ice cream, soda fountain drinks and sometimes light meals.  As a matter of fact, my father was working as a ‘soda jerk’ at a confectionary in order to put himself through Michigan State College when he met my mother…

The Sun Drug Store is a replica of the original business.  Sidney Millward built this building as well as the confectionary.  He’d emigrated from England in 1913 and he was part of the first graduating class of pharmacists from the University of Alberta in 1916.  Prior to about 1930, almost all medicines were compounded from raw materials by the pharmacist.

 

As you can see, almost all of the products sold by pharmacies in those days were displayed and stored under glass.  The Sun Drug Store and its successor operated until 1963.  The building housing the drug store and Bill’s Confectionary was demolished in 1967.

Pictured above is the Capitol Theatre at Fort Edmonton Park.  This eye-catching new building, which was completed in the summer of 2011, is a terrific looking re-creation of Edmonton’s original Capitol Theatre.  The original theatre had been built circa 1929.  This new theatre has 243 seats and it can be rented for events… The Capitol Theatre represents the first project completed under the Fort Edmonton Management Company’s extensive 5-year Master Plan for the Park.

To view current and upcoming attractions at the Capitol Theatre, just go to http://www.fortedmontonpark.ca/plan-your-trip/attractions/the-capitol-theatre/.

This is the Silver Heights Peony Garden.  The original garden was established in Edmonton in 1921.  This garden, which is across the street next to the Sun Drug Store consists of a border of hyacinth, lilac, honeysuckle and rose shrubs, with the interior containing 26 varieties of peonies.

The Peony Garden at Fort Edmonton Park is a reconstruction of a nursery started by Dr. James Brander and his father George.  Dr. Brander was an obstetrician and an accomplished horticulturist.  This exhibit showcases many plants that were available from the Gardens in the 1920s and 1930s.

This replica building is typical of the small town or rural Alberta Government Telephone exchanges that were built across the province.  This brick cottage/bungalow office design was the big trend in the 1920s.  The original telephone exchange was built in 1929. 

The first woman in Edmonton hired to operate the magneto switchboard system was 14-year old Jennie (Janet) Lauder, daughter of Glasgow Scotland born baker James Lauder.  (Lauder’s Bakery and Bake Shop are in the 1885 portion of the Park)

OK… I’ve been around a while but I didn’t know what a magneto switchboard was!  It is a manual switchboard using the magneto (hand-cranked generator) built in a telephone set to send signals to the telephone office. When the user at each telephone set turns the crank on the telephone set, the magneto in the telephone set generates currents to notify the operator at the switchboard of the user's call request. The operator then connects the call to the called number according to the code.

 

While I do remember seeing operating switchboards in the workplace and we had a party line when my family lived in the Michigan countryside, hand cranked phones preceded me by a few years! 

  

Many young people today have never seen one of these early public phone booths… These rural or small town telephone exchanges included a reception area where customers could pay their bill…and which featured a public phone like this one.  Another room contained the magneto switchboard and provided space for management and administration.  An equipment room was in the back…

This was our view of the inside of the rebuilt old-time trolley we rode on at the Park.  The trolley or streetcar system operates from near the entrance of the Park to the far end of the 1905 main street.  For more information about the trolley system at Fort Edmonton Park as well as the trolley’s themselves, just go to http://www.edmonton-radial-railway.ab.ca/.

This photo shows one of the Park’s steam locomotives chugging past the Blatchford Field Hanger…a replica of the original structure that was built based on the original blueprints. Blatchford Field, which opened in 1927, operated at the site of what is now called the Municipal Airport. The original hangar was built in 1929.  We didn’t visit the Hangar as it was set up for a big wedding during our visit.  The original hangar at the Municipal Airport was demolished in 1979.

The Motordrome Ltd. was built in 1919.  When it opened this operation offered a wide range of services, selling new and used cars, providing repairs, storage, a car wash and a gas pump.  This replica of the Motordrome is used as a display center for the Park’s antique vehicles as well as a restoration facility for the maintenance of the automobiles.

 This motorcycle in the Motordrome is a 1920 Harley-Davidson V-Twin with a sidecar.  I couldn’t find a Harley V-Twin for sale on the Internet…but I did find a nice looking ‘rare’ 1920 Harley Davidson Model W for only $14,500.

 

The first sidecar was designed by a French army officer.  He won a prize offered by a French newspaper in 1893 for the best method of carrying a passenger on a bicycle.  The sidecar wheel was mounted on the same lateral plane as the bicycle's rear and was supported by a triangulation of tubes from the bicycle. A sprung seat with back rest was mounted above the cross-member and a footboard hung below it.  

To learn about the history of sidecars, you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidecar.  For information about Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley-Davidson, or go to http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Content/Pages/HD_Museum/explore/hd-history/1920.html.

This is a 1920 Oldsmobile 30E Sedan inside the Motordrome.  This 6-cylinder 47 horsepower automobile is 110.5 inches long and it sold for $1,055.00.  This car featured the first 4-wheel braking system…and available options included such items as bumpers, a heater and a trunk!

The Park tells patrons not to forget to ask for a ride in the antique cars.  “Interpreters are always glad to oblige”…and we would have loved to go for a ride, but unfortunately there weren’t any interpreters around when we visited the Motordrome.

This is a 1925 Ford Model T Tudor.  It’s a 4-cylinder, 22.5 horsepower automobile that originally cost $595.00.  It was built in Canada and it still came with wooden wheels.  Wire wheels were an option from Ford Motor Company beginning in 1927.  Ford had introduced the electric starter in some vehicles beginning in 1919…but note the hand crank on this model!

FYI…the electric starter was invented by Charles Kettering…who held 186 patents in total!  He also invented 4-wheel brakes, leaded gasoline and Freon.  To learn more about Kettering, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Kettering.

We just liked this photo of the 1920s Midway and Exposition grounds looking across a plowed field.  It sure looked authentic and it fit the time and place…

This is the Fort Edmonton Train Station at the entrance/exit for the Park.  This is where you buy your tickets for the park and it houses the Park’s offices and a souvenir shop.  Visitors can board the train here and then ride to the Hudson Bay Trading Post/Fort to begin their tour through the different eras.  This is a great looking railroad depot!

This is a 75 foot, 4 inch A-1 Railway Car.  It was built in 1912 for the Grand Trunk Railroad.  It was converted into a Canadian National Railroad as a business car in 1919.  The Northern Alberta Railroad bought it from CNR in 1933 for $21,500.  After a number of mergers, the car came back to CNR.  It is now refitted at a 1920’s vintage salon/lounge and dining car.  It can be rented for dinner and small gatherings.

This ends our tour of Fort Edmonton Park itself… There will be a train related blog that I will send out in the near future.  We really enjoyed our experience at the Park and we would recommend it to anyone who enjoys experiencing the past and learning about history in general.  

For more information about Fort Edmonton Park and its attractions, go to http://www.fortedmontonpark.ca/.  To view a plethora of photos of the buildings and attractions in the Park, go to http://www.ftedmontonpark.com/index.html.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

An Indian Buffet in Edmonton Alberta

Laurie and I are wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year!  

While in Edmonton Alberta, Laurie and I went for a drive searching for a restaurant that I’d researched on Trip Advisor before our trip.  Suffice it to say, we never found whatever restaurant I was looking for…and the neighborhood started looking a little dicey!  So we circled back to a place we’d noticed at the beginning of our drive that wasn’t far from our hotel…

This is New Asian Village… We hadn’t had any Indian cuisine in quite a while, so the idea definitely tickled our taste buds!  This building looked kind of plain on the outside, but the ambience definitely popped when we entered the restaurant. 

It may have been all of the lights and glitter…or it might have been our camera work…but our interior shots tended to be a bit blurry.  Never-the-less, it’s clear that we’d entered “Bollywood” North!

Although their description of these restaurants on their webpage might be a little over the top, it really isn’t too far off…

“Go for a new Asian experience.  Picture yourself a Royal Maharaja, dining in sumptuous luxury on succulent food…while sitar music stroke your ears, exotic spices dance on your tongue… Enter a world of opulence; of sensuous tastes and tantalizing smells…”

The interior of New Asian Village definitely supports the old adage that one ‘should never judge a book by its cover’! 

Here’s another view of the restaurant, looking over to the very colorful bar!

The founder of New Asian Village moved to Canada from India in 1973.  A short time later, he opened his first restaurant.  From there on, it was an American…or rather a true Canadian success story!  The Asian Village Restaurant Group now has 11 locations…

This is one side of the extensive and sumptuous buffet at New Asian Village.  Diners can order from a menu or you can go for the buffet. 

For sharper photos of the interior of New Asian Village, you can go to the company’s website at http://www.newasianvillage.com/gallery.html.

Our goal was to try as many different types of Indian cuisine as possible, and given the size of the buffet, we couldn’t pass it up. (The buffet was $19.95 each) I won’t try to tell you what was on our plates…but it was all good!  For the first time, I actually had goat that I enjoyed!

To check out the expansive menu, just click on the following link: http://www.newasianvillage.com/services1.html. This group of restaurants offers take out, catering and delivery.  They even offer a romantic limo pick up package complete with a 6-course meal.

Another plate of food…in this case it was Laurie’s.  The restaurant actually encourages patrons to eat with their fingers, using naan breads as a scoop.  We stuck with silverware… I make enough of a mess eating normally!

 

Another interesting piece of advice involved drinking water with spicy food… Don’t do it!  Drink water 1 hour before eating spicy food and no sooner than 1 hour after eating spicy food.  Water does not reduce the burn but it will increase the chance of indigestion!  Yogurt is recommended to quell any fire from hot and spicy foods.  Of course, many if not most Indian foods are not particularly hot and spicy.

This is one of our plates of the restaurant's dessert offerings following our trips through the main buffet line… Fruit, a little chocolate, some puddings, etc.  It was all very refreshing.

The menu, (and the buffet), presents 14 different Tandoori breads or naan, chicken, goat, lamb, beef, fish, shrimp and a variety of vegetarian dishes.  If you’re ordering off the menu, you can request spice levels from ‘0’ on up to whatever you can handle.  The menu also contains a number of Chef’s Specialties…

Our waiter noticed that we were taking photos.  We told him that I blog and he offered to take our photo.  It turned out to be the clearest photo taken with our camera at New Asian Village!  Note the Kingfisher beer and Laurie’s glass of wine… ($6.50 and $9.50 respectively)

This particular New Asian Village location was at 17507 100^th Avenue in Edmonton.  Phone: 780-488-6666.  We wish we had one of these restaurants here in East Tennessee.  The food was very good and the service was properly attentive. To learn more about these restaurants, go to http://www.newasianvillage.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  

We're wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year...!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave