Purple Perk

I walk by this place everyday on the way to work, so on Friday I thought I'd stop in. I had thought it was a coffee shop, but not really

The Purple Perk is a sort of sandwich cafe & coffee house. It's pretty difficult to pin down exactly what it is, but it is good. They sell a variety of hand made panini's, sandwiches and salads. I had an artichoke & tuna panini & a roasted veggie & cheese panini. They're excellent & I went back on Saturday for more. They do sell coffee & their own version of a frappichino, but it's only so so, and I never thought it was worth the 4 bucks.

Inside there are about 30 seats, but the majority of people s eem to want to sit outside on the street & watch the world walk by. The staff is pretty cool & laid back, so you don't get that ooey formal feeling when you go in there. All in all, it's a good sandwich shop and 20 bucks feeds 2 people (with drinks)

Tip. Go early, or you'll find they have no food left.

The bathroom doors are kinda wierd too. They remind me of a entrance to a private investigatiors office in the movies.

New direction

Well, seeing I can't write much more about moving here, I've decided I'll make this blog into a sort of arts, entertainment & music blog for Calgary. And maybe some dull politics too. Why should everything be so interesting?

Koyro

A few days a week I stop at Koyro for lunch. It's in the +15, somewhere near 5th and 5th in the food court.

It's a Korean BBQ outlet and it's damn good. I've never much had Korean food until I came to Calgary......and it's really good. 7 bucks gets you a full plate of food, two veggies, two scopes of rice and two types of meat or 1 type of meat and dumplings. For a fast food place, the food is freaking AWESOME & worth every penny. I don't know if there are other places like this around town, but I'm sure it must be a franchise.

Le Chien Chaud

I hope I spelled the title correctly. This is a hot dog joint on 4th Street around 23rd Ave. Stopped by today walking home to eat just out of curiosity

Call it an upscale hot dog joint, it's pretty decent. I walked in to hear the guy working there listening to CKUA, the local public broadcaster which surprised me. There are about 10 choices for Hot Dogs, all of them 5 bucks. U get options like The Canadian, Greek, German, etc, all of them decked out with what you'd expect on a hot dog.

I'm not a huge fan of hot dogs, but I have to admit this place isn't bad, tho 5 bucks seems step.

Liberals win

Calgary's growth is changing it as a city. Earlier this week, we had an by-election, and in Calgary-Elbow the Alberta Conservatives lost. It was Ralph Kleins former seat.

There is alot of talk about what happened. The government of Alberta has ignored Calgary for the most part and really pissed off it's citizens. The transit system is overloaded, roads are bad, schools falling down & all of this in the richest city in Canada.

But I can't help wonder if the growth of Calgary and the huge influx of outsiders are the real reason for the change. Few cities in Canada vote in Conservative governments. That's likely due to the complexity of a city, the different cultures & income groups that live in a city. Calgary's reached that stage now so I think you'll see more changes coming. It may very well be the beginning of the end for the Conservative dynasty.

Superstore

If you are moving here, I recommend you go to Superstore to shop. It's alot cheaper than Safeway or Co-op. There are a few downfalls........

1. The stores are huge. It'll take 90 minutes to do your shopping. You'll walk what feels like 10 kms

2. If you forget something, it's a long walk back to find it. Plan accordingly.

3. The stores are few and far between. I tried the one in Deerfoot Meadows. It's new, clean, & nice, but it's a long drive and a hell of a bus ride if you're car less.

4. You have to buy bags. I might suggest the plastic bins you can buy for 3.99 and reuse. No more bags at all. They also sell a reusable cloth bag

5. You need a dollar coin to get a cart. This is THE most annoying thing about stores out here.

The Caroma Toilet

Calgary is a city with a water shortage. It gets it's water from the mountains, so when the ice all melts, well....it's not so good.

My condo has a Caroma toilet. It's this expensive, but interesting concept of a toilet. If you take a piss, you press one button to flush and it only uses a litre of water. If you take a dump, well...you press the other button. It also is much quieter and faster than a typical toilet.