It’s official! We took second place in The Ninjamatics’ 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards in the category of Arts & Culture Blog. Lots of East Coast bloggers made the shortlist and went on to win in their respective categories. Take a second to visit the site for a full list of the winners. Thanks again to my co-blogger Lauren Oostveen and to all of you readers for your support. We’ve got more bloggers on the site this year, focusing on the Coffee Q&A series but expect occasional posts about living on the East Coast still.

Our next Coffee Q&A guest is Jonathan DeRouchie who once shared an office with me at CBC. We caught up with each other at Just Us Coffeehouse on Barrington Street where we had a lovely lunch of pakoras and chickpea rolls with some Fair Trade coffee. His three-year-old daughter joined us. Jonathan is the father of three girls, runs a digital development company called Organism, and is currently on paternity leave as regional producer for CBC Maritimes.

Jonathan DeRouchie with daughter outside Just Us Coffeehouse (1678 Barrington Street)

Kimberly: How do you take your coffee?

Jonathan: Matcha..? I just don’t like the taste of coffee as much as I used to. You have to put too many things in it to make it taste good. I like the actual substance itself so matcha’s good because it’s just tea. I guess I could just drink coffee black but then I wouldn’t like it even more!

Kimberly: Why did you decide to move to Nova Scotia and what makes you stay?

Jonathan: It was to get out of the city for five years or so, to let the kids be at the ocean, for a position here with CBC. It’s really good. It’s a beautiful province. Amazing nature.

Kimberly: What’s your day job?

Jonathan: Day job right now is mostly father, being on parental leave for almost a year until September, with a little bit of dabbling and tinkering with HTML5 and javascript and CSS. That would be a bit of a day and night job. I don’t really have a day job. They all blend into the same space and time.

Kimberly: Walk us through a day in your life.

Jonathan: Right now I would say a bit of juggling with freelance, client relations, girlfriend and child relations, and throw in a movie or a video game here and there. I guess lots of interactions with everything whether it’s people or computers.

Kimberly: What do you do for fun?

Jonathan: I would say that pretty much everything I do is for fun. I love what I’m doing whether it’s hanging out with the kids, or working if you want to call it that. It’s all just really the same perspective. Everything should be fun whether I’m alone, with friends, with kids, or the dog on a walk.

Kimberly: What do you enjoy most about living here?

Jonathan: We’re just on the edge of the south shore in Black Point and right across the street is a beach. Definitely a pro. And the 40 kilometer trail right behind the house is also really nice. I also enjoy the solitude of not having friends dropping by all the time and always having to be in a social situation. I do like that. It’s meditative.

Kimberly: What’s one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?

Jonathan: I’m pretty transparent, actually. People who know me usually know a whole lot about me but the one thing maybe: being a vegan.

In our ongoing Coffee Q&A series, this week I met up with Jo Treggiari at The Wired Monk (5147 Morris Street). She’s the author of the acclaimed YA dystopian novel Ashes, Ashes and currently lives in Lunenburg, NS. We chatted over some yummy caramel apple ciders about living on the East Coast.

Jo Treggiari (photo credit: Kate Inglis)

Kimberly: How do you take your coffee?

Jo: I’d like to say black but I take mine with milk…but strongly brewed French press.

Kimberly: Why did you decide to move to Lunenburg and what makes you stay?

Jo: I wanted to move back to Canada and live by the sea. We took a vacation to Lunenburg and fell in love with it and made a crazy decision to move there. So we did. Why do we stay? Because it’s beautiful, it’s close to Halifax which is a big city, and there’s really quite a mix of artistic people there.

Kimberly: What’s your day job?

Jo: My day job is a writer. I have two published books: one is for YA and one is for middle grade younger children.

Kimberly: Can you walk us through a day in your life?

Jo: I always get up much earlier than I’d like to. I get up, I wake my children, I let the dogs out. I feed them. I drink lots of coffee. Then I walk the kids to school—my son first, then my daughter goes to daycare—with one of my dogs then I take my dogs usually for a five mile hike. Then I come back at around 10 and I write ’til my son comes home at around 2:30. There’s a lot of window-gazing and internet surfing and coffee drinking while I write. I try to write 1000 words a day if I’m working on a project, which I usually am. Then we go pick my daughter up from school and it’s mayhem until dinner and they go to bed. I try to write again after that.

Kimberly: What do you do for fun?

Jo: I just joined a bowling league in Lunenburg and that’s pretty fun. It’s 10 pin bowling and smaller balls than I’m used to without the little holes. It’s very fast. There are men there who just fling the ball down the lane at scary speeds—if you were standing there in front of it, it would kill you—but with precision as well. If I did that it would go across five lanes and probably nail some poor old granny at the other end of the bowling alley. It’s really scary to watch them because they do a whole wind up and then this thing just rockets down the alley. So, I’m bowling and I just learned how to hook rugs which is more exciting than it sounds. I’m doing that with some friends who are crafty.

Kimberly: What do you enjoy most about living in Lunenburg?

Jo: It’s small and it’s quiet. You can walk everywhere. But it’s not boring. As a writer, since I spend so much time alone, at least I have something beautiful and inspiring to look out the window at so that’s a positive thing. And then when I have enough of my own company and I’m going crazy, I can go out and know that there are people who are doing genuinely interesting things. It’s a mix of peace and quiet without being lost in time. It feels like there are cultural things going on and there’s that undercurrent of things changing.

Kimberly: What’s one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?

Jo: It would probably be that I had a gangster rap label in California. That would be the most surprising thing. I put out horrible gangster rap records for about 10 years.

Ben Boudreau at Fred Salon Cafe & Gallery (2606 Agricola Street)

Who better than to start off this year’s new series than my friend Ben Boudreau. He’s the community manager at Yelp!, hilarious blogger at No Ordinary Rollercoaster, and all around smart guy (just ask the internet). You may even have spotted him in Bell FibreOP ads lately (check out #benspotting on Twitter). We hung out at Fred Salon Cafe & Gallery recently where, admittedly, neither one of us had coffee. The food and atmosphere were fantastic though. Not to mention the company. Here’s our Q&A to prove it. (P.S. If you know someone you’d like us to profile check out details about our Coffee Q&A series.)

Kimberly: Since this is a coffee Q&A, I have to start by asking how do you take your coffee?

Ben: I’ve actually just recently become a coffee drinker so for the longest time I would only drink lattés and cappuccinos but now I have my own espresso machine at home so I’ve been making Americanos. I haven’t gotten down to just black coffee yet but that’s my goal. I feel like I’ll have bragging rights then.

Kimberly: You’re originally from HRM. What makes you stay?

Ben: I’ve gotten really lucky, I think. I do hate to say it but I think this is a hard place to get started because a lot of people want to live here so badly that good opportunities are few and far between. I stay here because I really believe in the next generation of this city. I think there are great things ahead for us in Halifax and that with a little effort and a lot of luck I can play a part in them. And that’s why I stay. I stay because this is a great playground for what I want to do in the future, not necessarily right now.

Kimberly: What’s your day job?

Ben: I am the community manager for Yelp! here in Halifax. We’re an online community that helps connect people with local businesses. My day job is awesome: I work from home, I set my own hours, and when I get tired of working from home I go to my favorite coffee shops and work from there. I feel like I almost have a retirement sort of lifestyle of being able to do my own thing and  basically my entire job is uncovering the best this city has to offer and I sure as hell can’t complain about that.

Kimberly: Walk us through a day in your life.

Ben: Sure. I embarrassingly don’t get out of bed before 8:30 or 9. I then let the dogs out; I have two miniature dachshunds. Then I make my coffee. I read my blog posts—not mine but the blogs that I follow and the Tumblrs that I follow. I have them all set up on Pulse which is my favorite app. If you don’t have it you should get it. Yeah, I do that while I have my coffee and then I sort of just dive in. On a typical day I could be doing anything from just interacting with people who are on Yelp! to going out and meeting with business owners to meeting Yelpers at cool cafés to planning events. It really runs the gamut. I don’t have much of a typical day but, you know, that’s what I like about it.

Kimberly: Your job sounds like a lot of fun already but what do you do for fun when you’re not at work?

Ben: What I do for fun is actually pretty low key. I like to cook, I like to just be out in the city with great friends. Usually for fun I’m just going out and doing things with people and trying to find cool new stuff. Other than that I love writing, I love reading, I love cooking. Those are my big three.

Kimberly: What do you enjoy most about living in Halifax?

Ben: I really like that it is a bit smaller. I love visiting big cities but I’m not a big city guy. So I appreciate the fact that it doesn’t take long to get anywhere and that if you’re looking for a Thai place I can know every single one in the market. I really do like that it’s small and compact but I also really like the community spirit. It’s really easy to make a big splash here whether it’s with a personal, private, or professional project and it’s really easy to connect with like-minded people to do really great things. We don’t have to jump through those hoops of ego or bureaucracy to get to the right people to make things happen. We can just find them and get it done. And I love that.

Kimberly: What’s one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?

Ben: Probably that I’m an introvert, actually. People usually assume that I’m this outgoing extrovert—and I am when I’m out with people—but I read this great article about how being an introvert doesn’t mean that you don’t like people or you don’t like socializing but it’s that socializing takes energy away from you and that you have to recharge versus “you don’t like it.” And that’s very much how I am. I love being around people, I love having great fun, I love socializing but I really need my down time even more than that. People might think I’m a party kid but for the most part I spend way more time at home just quiet with my family, reading, doing whatever. That’s probably the biggest thing.

Photo by Lara604 from Flickr

So 2011 didn’t turn out to be as laid-back a year as I had anticipated it to be. The new job kept me busy as did my extra-curricular projects. It meant that this space was fairly neglected despite being nominated for a Canadian Weblog Award in THREE categories. Well, 2012 comes with a new feature and new faces.

Coffee Q&A works like this: one of the bloggers on this site will sit down for coffee with local entrepreneurs and generally interesting people, we’ll ask some questions, they’ll get answers to them, then we post the Q&A here. The result? Well, not only do we get to hang out with cool peeps but you can learn more about all the amazing things that are going on in your city.

Right now, we’ve got Halifax and Charlottetown covered. You can find out more on the “About” page. New to the site this year is Colleen McKie. To make this a truly East Coast feature, I hope to add more bloggers to the roster in the upcoming months.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in being profiled or have suggestions for people we should profile, drop us a line. You can find our contact info on the “Contact” page on this site.

Last week I was invited to participate in the Neptune Theatre‘s Word of Mouth performance of Frankenstein. I’ve been waiting impatiently all summer for the start of their season, mostly for this play. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has long been one of my favourite books so I have to admit to holding the performance up to a fairly high standard. Those who are only familiar with the Hollywood version (with few exceptions including Kenneth Brannagh’s 1994 production) are in for a surprise.

The Creature

The book, and the play, deal with an array of issues that go beyond the cliché “monster” and angry mob of peasants. It’s the story of a man in pursuit of science and the morality behind what he does. The themes are quite timely considering all the tinkering that’s going on in the scientific community today.

Overall, the play was bit hit and miss for me. Let’s start with the hits. The set was a combination of traditional elegance for Dr. Frankenstein’s study and chillingly creepy when the large portrait was pulled back to reveal the science lab. Lighting and sound effects all added to the ambience. Hands-down the best part of the night was Stephen Gartner’s portrayal of The Creature: intelligent, crafty, and at times primal. Robert DeNiro’s version has nothing on him. He was a believable Creature, one with whom you can almost empathize. Elizabeth Richardson was a lovely Frau Frankenstein and Charlie Rhindress added charm to the play.

Unfortunately, the weight of the performance sat on Seann Gallagher as Dr. Frankenstein and I found his performance forced. Likewise Alexis Milligan as Elizabeth. They came off as caricatures of the people they were supposed to be and I found myself neither sympathetic nor interested in their respective plights. I hate that I didn’t totally love the play because of it.

That said, if you’ve never seen the “real” Frankenstein, I think it’s still worth your while to check it out. You’ll see a side to the story that the horror movies have glossed over since Shelley  first sat down to write this tale on a dare.

Remember that unconference that was held last year where a whole bunch of bookworms converged on St. Mary’s to talk about publishing? Well, it’s happening again AND on the same weekend as Word on the Street. That’s two full days of bookish delights.

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, BookCamp Halifax is a free event where experts from the publishing world facilitate conversations that are directed by YOU the audience. Everyone has an equal opportunity to voice an opinion or experience. Registration is open. And everyone who attends the event is eligible to win an eReader, generously donated by Kobo!

I’ll also be co-hosting the CKDU 88.1 FM Book Club on Tuesday, September 20 with Stephen Patrick Clare from 1:30 to 2:30. We’ll be talking about BookCamp, Word on the Street, and all things publishing. Catch us live or streaming online and submit your questions which we’ll take via email or Twitter (@AliasGrace and @Top100Books).

Last year I was invited to participate in the Downtown Halifax Business Commission’s Big Day Downtown campaign. I guess they liked what I posted because I was invited back this year. Only there was a twist. All the participating bloggers were asked to “try something new.”

Where last year I just kind of winged it with the in-laws, this year I actually had to come up with a course of action. Since I naturally narrowed it down to food experiences, I had to think long and hard about where I was going to spend the $100 prepaid credit card that comes with the opportunity. I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to food and while looking over online menus I thought my options would be limited. While getting my hair done  before heading off on my Big Day Downtown, the amazing and lovely Pam at Aspirations helped formulate a foodie plan of attack.

Raspberry Fizz

First stop: The Bicycle Thief. Sadly they were not open at the time Cokebaby and I headed down to the waterfront. We still have plans on checking this spot out though. Had they been open our plan was to try their polenta board and cocktails. Instead we went to Ristorante a Mano for appetizers. He had a Campari & soda to start. I asked the very helpful and friendly server for a unique recommendation and she came back with a Raspberry Frizz: a cocktail made with Bacardi Razz, Chambord, Raspberry sorbeto, and Prosecco float.

Appetizers

The appetizers were very tasty. Vongole Gratinate: Clams stuffed with housemade Italian salsiccia, baked, served on half shell ($9). Truth be told, the only time I’ve ever eaten clams has been in deep-fried strip form with a side of fries. These were a far cry from their fast food cousins. We also shared the Polenta con Salsa di Fichi e Formaggio Caprino: Polenta rustica with caramelized onions, fig relish & goat cheese, baked al forno ($11). Even though I’ve been to Italy a couple of times now and have had incredible food experiences, polenta was not among them. In fact, the only time it’s crossed my palate has been in the form of those pre-made rolls at The Italian Market. I know, I know. My bad. It’s clearly what Velveeta is to cheese.

Delicious as this first course was, the real adventure took place at Bistro Le Coq, the new French restaurant on Argyle Street. Having travelled to Paris and the south of France a couple of times now, I was excited to see what this place had to offer. The atmosphere is perfect. There are three sections—bar, lounge, dining room—each with a distinct decor. It’s amazing to see that they were able to completely transform the old Mosaic space.

The staff are all fluent in French and they just look charming in their black and white uniforms. You’re greeted in French and offered seating in any of the three areas to suit your mood. We headed to the dining room which is done in a modern country kitchen style. To start we each had a cocktail from their very interesting bar menu. Here, I will admit to being a lame blogger because I forgot to write the names down as I expected to find the items online after. All I can tell you is that Cokebaby’s drink tasted like the most refreshing iced tea and mine had a lovely pear liqueur.

A French feast

When we asked our server for recommendations, she listed a number of items rather than the blanket “everything” statement that is so unhelpful. That said, I really wish I could have tasted a little bit of everything. Since that wasn’t realistic, Cokebaby and I decided to share a few plates.

Duck prosciutto: house cured duck breast, berry compote, our pickles ($9). Cokebaby doesn’t even like pickles yet he was so impressed with these ones that he MADE pickles the following weekend. Apparently the new brunch menu includes eggs Benny made with the duck prosciutto and, believe you me, I will be coming back for that.

Classic steak tartare: topped with a soft poached egg, truffle oil drizzled crisps ($12). Here’s where I’m going to pause for a second because, let’s face it, steak tartare? The very idea has always grossed me out a little. I mean, sushi’s one thing but raw cow seems like tempting the gods of food borne illnesses. However, I was on an adventure. First thing’s first: I was expecting hamburger meat. What I got was high quality, lean steak that was hand ground. The egg was perfectly poached and oozed over the meat to create a subtle combination of flavours. The texture, in fact, was no different that sushi.

Salade Niçoise: with seared rare ahi tuna crusted in sesame ($10). I am a huge fan of this type of salad. There are different variations of ingredients depending on the chef but my favourite includes boiled potatoes which this one had. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was disappointing—I mean, the Ahi tuna was seared to perfection—this dish was probably my least enjoyable part of the meal. For starters, the olives weren’t Niçoise style. The dressing was a little bland and missing the zing of Dijon mustard. It really needed anchovies, too. For a salad it was lovely, just not what I expect in a Niçoise.

Pommes frites: done in duck fat, sprinkled with parmesan, truffle mayo ($7). Enough said, right? Decadent beyond words but oh so very good. If you’re just visiting for cocktails and snacks, don’t miss out on these.

The plan was to head to The Middle Spoon for dessert. Honest it was. This was the location of the Big Day Downtown launch and I was hoping to finish where it all began but…our server mentioned their soufflé: chocolate & Grand Marnier cream ($8). Neither one of us had ever eaten soufflé. How could we resist? Kudos to her for mentioning it would take 25 minutes to make and giving us enough of a heads up so we wouldn’t have to wait too long. We finished off our evening with an espresso each ($3.50) and a soufflé that was like cocoa clouds with a touch of orange. Sorry, there was no time for pictures. You’ll have to trust me when I write it was worth the wait.

One final purchase I have to mention in my “try something new” adventure downtown: the Honey Lavender Ale from Garrison Brewing Co.: Brewed with English lavender harvested from Meander River Farms and wildflowers honey from G.G. Smeltzer & Son in Shubenacadie, this strong yet accessible ale features original flavors. At the time of this post they only had a two week supply left so I recommend checking it out. This ale is probably one of the most distinct ones I’ve ever had. It’s no wonder they consistently win awards.

1. 
   GarrisonBrewing We’re nothing if not sneaky RT @AliasGrace: @garrisonbrewing The Honey Lavender is very nice. Sneaky because it’s so understated at first 11 Sep 2011 from TweetDeck

— this quote was brought to you by quoteurl

All in all, another fantastic Big Day Downtown. The new twist provided a challenge but one that I was very happy to meet. My taste buds were quite pleased.

If you follow me on Twitter or know me in real life or read this post, you’re probably wholly aware of my hate-on for Metro Transit. My anger usually percolates on poor weather days. And, believe me, we’ve had plenty of those this summer.

Preferred method of transportation. (Photo credit © zir.com from Wikipedia)

My recent complaint is with a route that shall be henceforward referred to as UNFASHIONABLY EARLY. For those of you who are unfamiliar with using the so-called “services” of Metro Transit, they include this thing called GoTime. It’s a posted phone number at each stop that allows you to call an automated voice who tells you in—what I’m beginning to think is—a snide tone when your bus is supposed to arrive. Lately I’ve been foiled by the only partial integration of an actual GPS system that’s been years in the making. Apparently, when The Voice tells you a bus “will depart” vs. “is scheduled to depart” the former means the GPS is tracking said bus and the latter means the posted time (read: schedule).

That’s frustrating enough because I’ve left work thinking I would get to the stop on time but the bus manages to get there early and leave me behind in the dust or, more aptly, the torrential rain. The early bus arrival is really the point of this post because, barring being a Time Lord, there’s nothing I can do to prevent this from happening. Believe me, a TARDIS would be my preferred method of transportation in this city. Far more reliable even if it gets me to my destination in the wrong year.

In any case, the bus I often take in the morning only runs a few times a day: twice in the morning, twice in the evening. I take the second (and last) bus of the morning. Said bus is frequently UNFASHIONABLY EARLY. I had enough the other day when it arrived at the stop fully six minutes before The Voice said it was supposed to be there. So I wrote what Cokebaby calls one of my “crackpot letters” to Metro Transit to lodge my complaint.

Here’s the response I got:

“I reviewed the situation and unfortunately the [UNFASHIONABLY EARLY bus] does not have a scheduled time point for your stop. To explain this if we look at the Riders Guide you will see the bus is scheduled to leave Stop [SUBURBIA] at 7:39 AM scheduled to arrive at Stop [URBAN SPRAWL] for 8:01 AM. Arrival at any stops in between these two time points depends on how many passengers the Operator has to pick up and drop off along the way. It may be the case that on average the bus arrives at 7:50 AM but in cases when there are fewer pick up’s and drop off’s then the bus may be there earlier at 7:44 AM.”

Excuse me? Pardon my French but WTF is GoTime then? No, really, I’m not even being tongue and cheek here. What is the effing point of GoTime if it’s just an imaginary time? Also, what other stops in the city aren’t “scheduled” ones and how do I find this information out if not through GoTime?

You can be sure that I’ve sent a response back. It includes the word “archaic” because I find it hard to believe that we’re living in 2011 and they can’t even get an automated voice to lie to me properly.

One of the fun highlights of this trip to Provence was attending the Roman Games in Nimes. You know how Civil War reenactments are popular south of the border? Well, picture that except on a much more epic scale. The fully operational Colosseum in Nimes was the backdrop for a reenactment of an actual Roman Game with participants from all across Europe. As spectators, you could even rent costumes for the day and wander around town dressed as different classes of Romans and Gauls.

It was a great event for history buffs and families. There really was just a little bit of something for everyone. I’m pretty sure there must be some YouTube videos of us wandering the streets of Nimes in full costume though…

The best-preserved Roman arena in France.

Roman legionnaires, Celts, the Imperial Court, auxiliaries, cavalrymen and war chariots were all in full costume in celebration of ancient Roman civilization.

Before the Games began, the Colosseum was open for kids to participate in Gallic or Roman training.

Part of the "Ludi" games, famous throughout the Roman Empire.

Coming up: a couple restaurant reviews. For more pictures of Provence, visit my Flickr photostream.