FLIP Regina Sask

Well, where to eat in Regina… Let’s look on Yelp and see… Huh… This place flip has lots of good reviews, I should go.

Taking a look at this menu is wild! There’s a dozen exotic things like catfish and red shrimp with chips, buttermilk fried chicken gizzards on a bed of dirty rice, and something called Yakitori Foldies.

I ordered the chicken gizzards because I’m pretty sure I’ve never had gizzards  before. The head chef informs me they are the upper part of a chicken stomach, slightly uncomfortable with that idea but in some parts of the world people eat insects as a protein daily so I’ll be fine. They arrive and look surprisingly good, after the first couple bites I realize they are good! Similar I texture to calamari but more dense and with some extra chewiness. The dirty rice has some spice to it and is served with some white BBQ sauce. Mighty fine rice!

Buttermilk fried Chicken Gizzards and Yakitori Foldies (only half shown, other half got eaten fast!)

The Yakitori Foldies are skewered hanger steak with Miso mayo and a Ponzu glaze. Served on the skewer with mini steam buns. Mighty tasty!

For the main course I’ve opted to have the catfish and red shrimp with my fries done in shortening instead of canola oil! We’ll see if it’s as much of a change as I’m expecting.

The catfish and red shrimp are rich in seafood flavour! Almost too flavourful for me. I’ll admit, I’ve just learned that I’m not a huge catfish fan. It tastes similarly to the smell of the ocean to me. My table mate this evening has chosen the Charred Short Rib with spaetzle and it looks delicious!

The fries in vegetable shortening are quite good. There is a slight difference in taste and texture. They have a homemade ketchup here that is really good as well. It seems to be made from actual, real tomatoes!

And with every good foodie review a dessert is needed! The feature dessert is frozen Black Forest cake. It’s fantastic!! The chocolate cake part is almost more of a decedent brownie and the cherries are the real deal! Not those generic marichino style cherries. There is even a couple of cheese cake style layers.

Wrapping up, this place is part of the Salt food boutique and Atlantis coffee shop. They will have a brewery opening up soon and it’ll  be called Malt!

They take great pride in a high level of cleanliness and speed. The kitchen is open to the bar where you can sit and watch them madly cook the dozens of dishes being ordered! Lots of natural light and a great big patio to hang out on. Will come again!

ThaiOrchidRoom

Here I am in Eagle-Tail-Feather-Headdress (aka Medicine Hat) Alberta and the Thai Orchid Room has been recommended several times. Let’s give it a try!!!

Fun fact, this place has been here in Medicine Hat for around 9 years, but it was first in Bow Island! The owner is working tonight and has a great sense of humour! When I asked him about being the owner, he said “well the bank is more of the owner than I am…” Hilarious!!

I usually just get a glass of water but there’s a Thai iced tea that sounded awesome! It tastes like traditional iced tea, but has a shot of cream and a maraschino cherry! Here’s what it looks like:

This is a big group tonight (6 of us) so were staring with a combo appy platter. Super yummy but, not as much food as I was expecting. The owner has spoiled us this night and brought us a hot fish sauce with rice balls, for fun. Quite good, with a serious zip! I didn’t eat much but my lips are tingly! There are many fresh flavours but none are overwhelming. They all marry quite well! Don’t take my word for it though, here’s Mike!

We cut the video short; Mike would have died if he’d take that bite!! He’s still exhaling heavily with a big groaning sigh! A bit of time has passed now and we both agree that, as hot as this sauce is, the tingle doesn’t linger that long.

The meals arrive! Traditional Pad Thai, a Mahi-Mahi fish entrée and Lemongrass chicken with veggies.

The mahi-mahi was flakey and flavourful like you wouldn’t believe! The batter was almost more tempura style rice flour coating, than a thick batter and was done very well.

As for the lemongrass chicken, nice tender pieces that were breaded just right; the rice flour coating seemed to absorb the flavour of the sauce really well. It was deliciously balanced, with flavour and texture! Not too much and not too little. The sauce was very authentic. Other phrases used for the lemongrass at the table, “totally awesome” and “very delicious”!!

And the chicken pad Thai, nice tender pieces of chicken that were breaded just right. Not too much and not too little. The sauce was very authentic!

Tonight we have two people who have never had Thai food before, after visiting this place, they are sold on this cultural deliciousness!

As always, time for dessert…

We’re trying to decide between the coconut crème brulee and the deep fried bananas. Ok then, we’ll have both!

I’ve had my fair share of deep fried bananas and they’re often really mushy and soggy, these ones are not! As for the crème brulee, it’s nice and cool with a very thin crust, I’d rather have a thicker crust but in any case, it was a very nice mix of flavour.

To complete the meal, we had a wonderful green tea, infused with coconut, papya and mango… incredible flavour!! The stuff you get at the supermarket doesn’t hold a candle to this stuff!!! Additionally, it was served in a very awesome and authentic looking cast metal tea pot and cast metal cups! It was Darshi’s idea to arrange the cups for this picture!

Jelena was our server, she put up with our shenanigans well! High five to her! A special Thanks to Ken for his hospitality!

The next time in Eagle-Tail-Feather-Headdress, Alberta I’ll come again.

SkinnysSmokehouse

I’m in Eagle-Tail-Feather-Headdress, also known as Medicine Hat Alberta. There’s a little place that was recommended a couple times.

Not disappointed!! I’m eating with a couple buddies and this food is great. These guys are ranting at how good this food is!

You pick 2 or 3 meats and then 2 or 3 sides depending on how many meats you chose. Then you wait a few minutes and then poof you’re served!

How should we describe this food? Well, how about manly,excellent delicious and meaty! The sides are super good!

I’ve had my fare share of baked beans but these truly are the greatest beans I’ve had in a long time.

There’s a “Skinny’s coffee Sauce” that is really good, dip your meats and bun and your fingers in this stuff! It’s good!!

NOM NOM – TIME PASSES – NOM

We all got through the mountain of meats. Very satisfied. Would come again, for sure!

BigMachines

I got the opportunity last week to go and see some cool mining equipment. Granted this stuff was out of date and no longer in use but it was really neat to see. While up in Fort McMurray Alberta, Canada I had a few extra hours to kill prior to my flight. Why not take a drive to see some big mines, since Fort Mac is considered one of the largest mining locations in Canada.

The machine I’m specifically talking about is a drag-line (it’s red). This huge machine, seems like it’s got to be almost three stories high, there’s  a giant crane that drags a huge bucket on the end of a chain (they call this chain, “the jewlery”). It also has a pair of giant metal “feet” and is the largest walking machine on earth! It would take a 2.5 meter step in about 40 seconds and walked a total of 1,100 KM  over its lifetime (that’s 683.5 miles for your silly imperial measurement users).

My nerd is about to show, but the thing kinda looks like a Jawa sandcrawler from Star Wars. It’s exactly the size I’d expect it to be anyway. Apparently these machine (three of them) were about 110 million dollars to setup. When they were phased out in 2006, they sold for a whopping penny. Ya, a single cent. two of them were sold for scrap metal. The third remains as a reminder. Reading the facts board at the ‘Giants Of Mining’ area just north of Fort McMurray, the huge machine only needed three people at a time. One to man the crane and bucket (Which is about the size of a 2 car garage by the way), one to make sure all the gears, belts and whatnot were lubricated and oiled and a third person to manage the outside, walking I’d imagine. In it’s life time (operation 1977-1999), moved one-third more material than was moved for the Panama Canal construction.

Impressive. At this same site is a giant bucketwheel, a machine that would scoop up the dirt/oil sands and move the material along a conveyor belt to the plant where the oil is extruded from the Bitumen. Check out this link for more details on that. A special thanks to Adam for the great tour! See you some other time Ft McMurray, it’s been a slice.

For good measure, here’s a picture of the information plaque: