Behind the Scenes at Odysseo

4 / 22 / 144 / 22 / 14

Cavalia’s new show Odysseo opens tomorrow in Calgary. Invited to the media preview today, I have to say this mystical, magical show is like nothing you’ve ever seen.With 70 horses and 49 human artists performing under the big white tent at Canada’s Olympic Park, Odysseo is the largest traveling show on earth. Bigger than U2. With a stage that’s bigger than a hockey rink. It’s twice as big as their original show, simply named Cavalia, which is still touring places like Dubai, Belgium and Australia.Beyond the amazing equestrian and acrobatic spectacle, special effects include high-def computer graphics on a screen called a “cyclorama” — the size of three IMAX screens. When the horses come toward you, it’s like they’re breaking free from a film or a painting.Show creator Normand Latourelle calls this 6-D. “It’s like watching a big Hollywood movie, but it’s live.”Seating seems intimate, yet the big top has enough room for an audience of 2000. Of course, it feels really intimate when you have a front row seat.Dream sequence followed by fantastic dream sequence, enhanced by acrobats, live musicians and a massive merry-go-round that lowers from the rafters, finally transforms to an aquatic vision.300,000 liters of water fill the stage to create a lake for the finale. If you’re lucky enough to have a floor seat, you may get splashed.After the incredible 50-minute preview, I trotted to the stage to take a selfie with some of the stars of the show, like Indigo the Appaloosa and his lovely rider…… and bumped into Normand, who tells me he doesn’t ride. “They put me on the horse once for a picture and I looked like a potato bag.”

But that doesn’t stop him from creating spectacular shows. After all, he helped start Cirque du Soleil without ever trying a trapeze. “Why should I ride? But I can pretty much understand what the horse do,” he says, his Quebec accent coming through. “The rule here is let the horse be a horse. Don’t make them do human tricks.”The natural scenes surrounding the horses were inspired by Normand’s view from home, an hour outside of Montreal. “I watch out my window when I’m in the kitchen. It’s what I have reproduced on stage. So I brought the mountain. I have almost a lake, a forest, all the images we project.”Behind the scenes, the temporary stable rivals pony digs at Spruce Meadows. Performers tend to their mounts before getting out of costume.No lead rope required!Pompon is a Canadian Cross. I didn’t realize that this breed, descended from horses sent to the New World by Louis XIV, was once on the verge of extinction. Now numbering 2500, there are two of them here.This is where the horses poop before the show! I’m not kidding! Thanks to my time at 19 Action News in Cleveland, I’m not afraid to ask the tough questions. And Normand was willing to talk. “We exercise them before. When they poop in the warm up, we thank them. They know it’s the place to do it. So they don’t do it often on stage.”I thought there would be all kinds of crazy hooks and loops to assist the performers, but many of the saddles looked like regular English ones to me.No mares in this barn! All the horses are either stallions, or geldings, like Raz, this six-year-old Arabian.Don’t tell my horse Simon, but I think Raz and I had a little connection.1200 invited VIP guests will be under the big top tomorrow night for Odysseo. I’m thrilled to be one of them, since I have a feeling I could watch this performance a thousand times over and not tire of it. Stay tuned for my official show review, later this week.

Meanwhile, if you haven’t got tickets yet, Cavalia has added twelve extra nights in Calgary, with VIP tickets that include your own stable tour. And open bar! A votre sante, Cavalia.

Black Pig Bistro Sneak Peek

4 / 18 / 144 / 20 / 14

Bridgeland’s latest addition to the foodie world of Calgary is still papered up against prying eyes.But last night, if you were on the list, you were invited to a sneak peek at Black Pig Bistro, before the media launch next week and before the public opening. It felt very VIP, but it was actually more grassroots — and savvy marketing strategy. The soft launch was for local social media supporters.And who doesn’t support free food and wine?Circulating chef and co-owner Alison Bieber offered chicken liver pate in appetizer form, which will be served as a smear on the antipasti dish when the restaurant opens. I’m anti-smear, but pro-pate. Delicious.Love the random Tiffany blue wall in the middle of the subtle brown and white decor. Or Blue Besos blue. Take your pick!The other two-thirds of the co-owner triumverate, Denise and Larry Scammell. Larry tells me black pig is the tastiest of all pork.After all those conservative photos, I finally found the restaurant’s namesake, willing to ham it up for the camera. Black Pig Bistro opens to the public next Wednesday.

Tanya Taylor’s Tickle Trunk

4 / 11 / 144 / 12 / 14

When Tanya Taylor brought her trunk show to Holt Renfrew Calgary on a recent Thursday, the highlight of her evening plans included spending some quality time with the television. “We haven’t had very much sleep, so we might do some room service and Scandal.”While she may love a show whose main character is known for wearing white, Tanya’s palette this spring is anything but. Her designs are driven by color, and the one she’s loving this year is poppy orange.That’s what Tanya calls it. I saw tangerine. But deep coral, peach, citrus zest, no matter how you interpret it, the color was a definite theme, spreading throughout the back room on Holts’ second floor.There’s a couture element to this off-the-rack collection, available in Canada exclusively at Holts. The New York based designer says fabric is an integral part of her process. “I paint all the prints originally, then print them on silk. There’s an original hand-drawn quality about everything in the collection.”Originally from Toronto, Tanya is painter at heart. With a finance degree. She found fashion to be the perfect intersection between art and business. “I liked the idea of starting my own company, similar to the entrepreneurship I’d studied, but also being able to sit down and paint on a canvas, then translate that into a dress.”Trunk shows tickle Tanya with the opportunity to interact with the customers. Visiting Calgary comes with the bonus of interacting with her extended family here.For those who need more than poppy orange, there are options. And while Olivia Pope has been branching out from her go-to color of late, Tanya Taylor’s Spring 2014 Collection has an outfit to bring her white wardrobe back.

Double Zero Doubles Up

4 / 4 / 14

Hold the anchovies? Who says that? Not Double Zero.
The popular Stephens Avenue pizza joint created a new white anchovy crostini concoction to celebrate the opening of their brand spanking swanking new location, in the north end of Chinook Centre.Executive Chef Robert Jewell, slinging the pie in the sky here, sings the siren song of the white swimmers. “You don’t have to bring the sexy to anchovy, to me they’ve always been sexy. It’s one of my favorite things to snack on. We’re trying to open customers up to it.” He says they’re more subtle than sardines. If that doesn’t get you you, maybe the super-luxe price tag will: $45/kilo. Prepared the Double Zero way, the little fishies pair nicely with Prosecco.But let’s get to the real reason we’re here: the pizza. Plagiarizing directly from the 00 website, “Double Zero is named after the finest grade of flour on the planet.” Since I know flowers better than flours, I’ll just take them on their word.Wondering why this dude with the beard is lurking everywhere? He’s all over 00. The tables, the walls, even the advertising. We’ll get to that in a minute. In the meantime, check out the ‘za. Super affordable and super good……once it’s served it doesn’t stay on the plate for long. The one with the bacon was my personal fave.The media party was wisely contained to the downstairs bar/bistro area, but upstairs the restaurant was rocking! Even though it has only been open since Monday.Packed with beautiful people, can Double Zero sustain the Opening Week clientele standards once mall rats get wise to their fresh new dining option conveniently located right next door to Tori Burch? Although Chinook shoppers are pretty cute.Back downstairs I thought I’d tracked down The Dude. Not Jeff Lebowski, but the bearded bro in all the promo. Turns out it was a different beard, belonging to a different dude: Jon Molyneux of the uber-tasty Concorde Group. But he revealed the wine list cover model is Peter Feenstra of Tank Design, a Friend Of The Restaurant, like everyone featured in the arresting black and white wall murals. Feenstra also designed all the furniture in the restaurant.Thanks for the party, Double Zero! Not only did I learn beards are optional here, it turns out that 2 x 00 = feel good, taste good math.

Calgary’s Top Chef Pastry Chef

3 / 6 / 143 / 7 / 14

If you happen to be at Raw Bar one evening, mulling the idea of dessert over a glass of Moscato, look no further than the woman on the left — the one that’s about to blow up on national television.Hotel Arts’ Pastry Chef Karine Moulin will hit the airwaves this Monday, as the fourth season of Top Chef Canada starts its weekly run on the Food Network. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Karine says of the culinary battle against 13 other chefs on the show. “It was a really tough competition.”Why did she choose the pastry profession? “I really enjoy the sweeter side of things,” says Karine, who was raised in Quebec. “I grew up always having something sweet after every meal, so it’s ingrained in me, I think.”Karine does the desserts for both restaurants at Hotel Arts. The dishes for Yellow Door Bistro are French-influenced, like the I’le Flottante above. Desserts for Raw Bar, like this Valhrona Dark Chocolate Pate, are Asian-inspired. That would be the lychee salad on top and the mandarin sorbet, if you’re wondering. And good to know that Katie Mayer, Hotel Arts Marketing & Media Relations Manager, isn’t above a little photo bomb action.Hand painted truffles, served at both restaurants, will help you wash down that wine. Come down yourself Monday nights. Raw Bar will be hosting weekly viewing parties for Top Chef Canada, which airs at 7pm Calgary time. Bon appetit!

The Parrot Is Back In Mission

2 / 26 / 142 / 26 / 14

With an icy nod to a species of the verge of extinction (Bus and Stan Fuller’s former decor mascot) Earl’s Tin Palace re-opened last night in Calgary, with an invitation-only VIP bash. With our weather right now, that sculpture should be good for weeks.

Normally I wouldn’t get overly excited about an Earls opening. The casual food and dining chain opens another restaurant every few months these days, both in Canada and the US. With their reliable, reasonably priced food and tasteful ambience (now that the parrots have flown the coop) it’s always a safe bet. But this particular Earls has a special place in my heart, because it’s in the heart of Mission, one of my favorite areas of Calgary.This is what Earls looked like after the June 2013 flood hit Fourth Street.This is the same corner (24th Ave and 4th St SW) from Fifth Street. I couldn’t get any closer because it was under several feet of water. Summer was ruined for the vibrant neighborhood. As work dragged on through the winter, I can’t tell you how many times people said to me, “Let’s meet at Earls Tin Palace.” But we couldn’t. It was still rebuilding after the flood.So last night, it was wonderful to walk in side and see this. A standing room only crowd having a fantastic time, while admiring the updates. The tired rows of Bombay Sapphire bottles above the bar are gone. Subtle bricks and wood accented by industrial style lighting give the room a fresh take.Calgary’s finest partiers included a Mongolian horseman, aka Jason Gogo.An army of Earls Girls kept up with the crowd hungry for sushi and sliders from their favorite haunt, now a Kitchen + Bar.The Earls re-opening ended up being a celebration of the big picture: Mission, back on its feet. Calgary, taking care of its own during the flood. My dear friend Cynthia Moore rocking blue leopard print after almost losing her life to flesh-eating disease one year ago this week. And me, with my nose intact after cancer surgery one year ago this month. Not to mention a few drinks in honor of the Best New Blog honor. Glad to see you back, Earls Tin Palace!

Best New Blog!

2 / 25 / 142 / 25 / 14

Best New Blog!

Guess who won the Best New Blog category in the 2013 Canadian Blog Awards? That’s right. Blue Besos! It’s a huge honor to be chosen from a national selection of amazing nominees. Thank you so much to everyone who voted. Besos!!

Exposed at Christine Klassen’s New Digs

2 / 9 / 142 / 10 / 14

On a freezing cold evening last Thursday in Calgary, where we’ve been subject to an unusually lengthy slog of sub-zero temperatures sans chinooks, the Christine Klassen Gallery celebrated its new location on 50th Avenue SE, just east of Macleod Trail. No one seemed to mind that the gallery has moved from its downtown design district location. The free parking is a siren song. Nor was the lack of coat-check an issue. It was too cold inside to take them off anyhow. But the generously stocked bar kept us all warm enough to relegate our mittens to our pockets.The opening coincided with EXPOSURE 2014. The photography festival celebrates its first 10 years with Decade, an exhibition of photography curated by Vincent Varga. Decade is a showcase of mostly new works from a cross-section of accomplished photographers who have already been involved with Exposure.Keeping the focus on the important stuff here, the ART, I’d like to say that I’m not smiling because of the wine. Nor is it because I’m having a particularly good hair day (a rare occurrence). It’s actually because I found a photo that summed up my previous weekend.This 1955 photo by Fred Herzog encapsulates my carnivorous stay in Banff, where I binged on bison, elk and wild boar pate. Unfortunately, I don’t think the Meatateria is there anymore. Or it would have been high-priority on the itinerary.I loved this striking photo with Edvard Munch-ish clouds roiling above the Rockies.A bold use of blank space in Danny Singer’s photo, Bassano Summer Sky, gave it a painting-like appearance.The bonus of being at the Christine Klassen Gallery was being able to see her other exhibitions, like this photo by Colin Smith, who integrates trippy reflections into his prints. Meanwhile, Exposure continues for the rest of the month, in galleries in Banff, Canmore and Calgary.

Banff Romance

2 / 4 / 149 / 3 / 15

With V-Day hot and heavy on the horizon, Banff is a serene place to cool your jets in the interim. Designated a United Nations World Heritage Site in 1995, Canada’s first national park always offers an incredible experience — whether you live close by in Calgary or on the opposite side of the world. Romantic Activity #1: take your sweetie to Sulphur Mountain. The gondolas fit four people, but if they’re not too busy you won’t have to share the ride with strangers. Hashtag: Room For Romance! Taking the gondola is touristy, but fun. You can hike up instead, but when would you cuddle with your significant other? Plus, there’s a Starbucks conveniently located at the bottom, in case you need a toasty beverage while you float up 2,292 feet. I probably should have gotten one to keep my jaw from dropping at the view. At the top, a vista of six mountain ranges awaits. Looks like the golf course down at Fairmont Springs is awaiting a good thaw.I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say this is probably the only mountain summit boardwalk you’ll find in the Canadian Rockies. If you’re not up for braving the cold, there’s a restaurant and a cafe in the gondola station. And, of course, a gift shop.But if you do take the one kilometer-long Summit Walk, not only will you discover signage pointing out which peaks you are peeking at…… you’ll make it to the Cosmic Ray Station. Back before being a meteorologist was a glamorous TV news gig, Norman Bethune Sanson climbed Sulphur Mountain (named for the hot springs on its lower slopes) on snowshoes in 1896 to record weather observations for the Banff area. Then he was hooked. He hiked up the steep three-mile trail over a thousand times over the next thirty years.After that rocky mountain high, it was time for the hotel. I empathized with the ice sculpture upon check-in, but the Buffalo Mountain Lodge offers one of the best warm-ups in Banff.Thawing options (aka Romantic Activity #2: apres-Gondie) include a full-size claw-foot tub on a heated slate floor…… and a wood-burning fire. When we arrived, paper and kindling was ready to light in the fireplace. With extra wood just outside the front door if you need it. For Romantic Activity #3: Dinner, I returned to an old flame to get my full-on foodie on ~ the Bison. Sourcing many of their ingredients from local farmers, the restaurant takes its inspiration from the region. After an afternoon sourcing my warmth from the heart instead of the temperature, there was no energy left over for in-depth menu perusal. Ordering the bison at Bison seemed like the right thing to do. And it was. Prepared in the open copper kitchen, the Carmen Creek Bison Ribeye was a massive slab of meat of smoky, saucy deliciousness. The lean bison meat was marbled and flavorful. And necessary to fuel us through Day 2, when we will face the choice of snowboarding in sub -20 temperatures or staying by that wood-burning fire. Stay tuned.

The Schmanciest

1 / 31 / 142 / 9 / 14

With wind chill making it feel like -30, it was a cccold red carpet last night. Nevertheless, it was braved by hundreds of hatless fashion fans…… who crowded inside Belgo Brasserie, where their efforts paid off: everyone’s hair was fabulous. It was all in the name of the second annual Schmancy Style, which supports the Glenbow Museum. The crowd parted for the main event when the first model strutted like Moses through the Red Sea. Below are some of my favorite looks, all available at Holt Renfrew.

The crush of cameras at the end of the runway was as feverish as a New York fashion show. Except the dude kneeling in front of us who kept getting up to give his knees a break, blocking our shots. That would result in bloodshed at NYC’s Fashion Week. But we kept it injury-free in YYC.The finale flaunted fur, which we Calgarians will probably need to keep wearing until June.Silent auction featured many stylish items, including this Jekyll & Hyde Harness by FarLee Mowat.Stylish people included three quarters of the Vinegar Designs Lab. Vincent, where are you? The Schmanciest Man of the Evening Award goes to Jason Gogo, who executed a high kick during our photo op. Now that’s Schmancy Style!