Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the media launch for 2013's Taste of Edmonton (July 18-27, 2013) held at the Art Gallery of Alberta. A beautiful and very fitting venue if you ask me, considering Taste of Edmonton has always been held in Churchill Square just outside the doors of the gallery. For it's 29th year, the logo has been revamped with vibrant blue and green, and the festival has so many different events to partake in. I'm so excited for the festival this year, and wouldn't be surprised to find myself there every single night!

To start off, one of the new changes this year is the 9 new restaurants, with 40% of the menu items being new as well. I remember back in the day when I was reluctant to visit Taste of Edmonton, just because it was the same food over and over each year. Kudos to the committee for striving to improve the festival, and for the chefs for being innovative and coming up with new dishes! In addition, a total of 7 local food trucks will be featured on the grounds over the course of the festival. Another great feature is that some restaurants are able to offer regular and large sizes of the same dishes. If you're hungry, try the large! Want a taster? Try the regular. Better yet? The menu has a great legend indicating which dishes are new, feature local ingredients, are vegetarian, contain seafood, are gluten free, or contain nuts. Take a look for yourself here.

Brand new to the festival this year is the Sip N Savour venue, which will feature interactive culinary workshops, themed dinners, a specialty food market, and food cooking competitions. Some days will feature more than one workshop, but there's something for everyone, ranging from making gluten-free meals to making cheese and curing bacon. Themed dinners? All will be served alfresco, and run according to the theme of the day. One of my favourite things about Taste of Edmonton has got to be the cooking competitions though. And this year there's three! A Burger competition featuring local chefs, a BBQ baked brownies competition, and a black box competition (think Chopped!) that I will be competing in with my friends Lesley & Addie. Come cheer us on!

But what is a media preview without the food? Some select vendors were on site to give us a taste test of the menu in July, and I must say some of these dishes I would eat again & again. My day started with the Banana Bread Pudding with Chantilly Cream, Caramel Sauce & Bruleed Banana from Zinc. Wow. The bread pudding was moist, dense, and eggy, served up warm and not overly sweet. This dish will be available in both regular and large sizes, but seriously, go for the large!

This year, Padmanadi Vegetarian Restaurant will be serving up their version of Chicken Drumsticks (vegan) with a plum sauce. I was surprised by how closely the soy product mimicked the real texture of a chicken drumstick! But I could still tell I was eating a soy product, as it was a little bland and had a slight porous nature to it. It's definitely something different, and unfortunately not something my meat loving self would want to have again.

The Hat Resto Bar is offering some Mahi Mahi Sliders and Sausage bites, both dishes available in regular or large sizes. The slider had a slight fishiness to it, and the bun was soft, but a little dry. It could definitely use a little more sauce. The sausage bites on the other hand were quite salty and were served up with a stout sauce.

One of my favourite guilty pleasures: deep fried pickles! The Canadian Brewhouse is serving these babies up in regular and large portions, and they won't disappoint! The pickles still maintain a slight crunch, while the coating is crisp and not too salty. And you can show your Canadian pride while you munch away!

The Underground Tap & Grill has a seafood crostini as one of their offerings - the crostini itself was quite dry and hard to bite into, but the seafood mix on top was generous, and topped with some tomato and parmesan cheese.

Naan-O-Liscious served up their craisin papri, which will be available in two different sizes. This street food inspired dish is made with samosa chips and chickpea salsa, mixed with mint and coriander chutney, and topped with yogurt and craisins. I actually quite enjoyed the mix, as there was a distinct crunch from the chips, and bold flavours from the spices. The craisins helped tone down the spiciness, adding both texture and an unexpected sweetness to the dish.

Mikado is joining the restaurant line up this year, and cooking up their dragon eyes, served up in regular and large portions. The dragon eyes at Mikado are something I always order when I get there - salmon sushi, wrapped up, deep fried, and served with a Sriracha mayo.. mm, gets me every time!

Smokehouse BBQ is offering their famous Pork Balls, which are massive arancini stuffed with pulled pork and caramelized onion. Fresh out of the fryer and these are sure to please with their crisp exterior. Watch out though - they're served with a raspberry chipotle sauce, and its got a kick. Like, the fire in your mouth kind of kick!

It's All Greek to Me is offering their spanikopita this year, and their version features an incredibly flaky and crisp pastry. The spinach mixture inside is quite creamy, and flavoured just right so it's not overly salty.

The North Shore Beef Ribs from Mercer Tavern were a huge hit all around at the media release. The Korean-inspired ribs had a nice char to them, and were flavoured with a soy marinade. These were a favourite of mine, and I definitely recommend ordering a large size of this too!

Partway through the event, Zinc decided to showcase their second dish for Taste of Edmonton: Crispy avocado roll with cilantro honey pesto. The spring roll was fried to a golden crisp, with a filling similar to that of guacamole. The pesto unfortunately didn't do much for me as I'm anti-cilantro, but the roll itself was tasty.

At the end of the meal, I finished off with some churros from The Three Amigos, covered in chocolate and caramel sauces. Unforunately, the churros were quite dry, which I think can be attributed to having made them in advance and storing them at the event. If they are made on the spot at the Taste of Edmonton grounds, the hot churros could be amazing!

Having had the chance to try out a variety of the food available to sample at Taste of Edmonton this year, I think it's going to be a great celebration of local restaurants - just cross your fingers that this rain we've been getting lately is ready to stop! The themed events at Sip N Savour are going to be a blast, so let me know if you're planning on attending any interactive sessions or dinners! And don't forget to stop by on July 21 for the Black Box Competition to see yours truly competing!

Disclaimer: as this was a media preview event, views expressed in this post are solely mine. I was not expected to feature this event on my blog, nor obligated to do so. This post is 100% my opinion, and as always, my priority is to you, the reader, to present an unbiased, thorough review.

Happy Monday! Hope the weather was fabulous over the weekend wherever you are! Just a quick post today as I'm exhausted from a week of doing nothing (seriously). I woke up for a midterm this morning that was supposed to be from 1:30-2:30 in the afternoon, only to be notified at 12:45 that the exam actually started at 1:00. Uh, talk about stressful.

I've had some questions in the past couple weeks about the beauty boxes available in Canada at the moment, so I thought I'd touch a bit on the subject. In the past couple months, a lot of the beauty boxes have increased their prices and changed their products - some for the better, and some for the worse.

I used to fully support Glossybox - which in my opinion was one of the better boxes, catering to their clientele and customizing their deluxe samples. However, I've recently noticed that not only has their price gone up, the quality of their products has gone down - a definite no-no in my books.

For a few months I had stopped all my subscriptions to boxes as I had way too many samples to deal with. I still do, but was curious about Top Box. They've been known to offer high-end bands, and for a price of $12, it is one of the cheaper subscriptions out there. They have now also launched a Wishlist program (chose the box you want to receive most!) and something they call a Prive box, which is a box that showcases samples from only one brand. I've had the Clinique prive box and my February Top Box (shown above) so far, and I'm quite liking it. Hey, if deluxe brands like Deborah Lippman and B. Kamins are showing up in my box, I'm not going to complain.

Reviews for the products coming up ASAP! :)
Which boxes are you subscribed to? Thanks for reading & have a good week everyone!

A couple weeks ago, it came to my attention that another beauty box was being made available in Canada. Glossybox was founded in Germany and has been available within Europe for quite some time now, and they've now moved into the Canadian market! Just a couple notes that their public relations team sent to me:

Founded in Germany, GLOSSYBOX is a monthly subscription beauty service that is revolutionizing beauty regimes across the world. Each month members receive five luxury cosmetics wrapped in the company’s signature powder-pink box. GLOSSYBOX provides its clients with new beauty trends and products and a fashionable way to store their ever-growing beauty collection. After great success in eight countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Italy, GLOSSYBOX is expanding into another twenty countries in 2012.

Global success story, GLOSSYBOX, is making its Canadian debut. Every month members will enjoy a sophisticated 5-item luxury box packed with a selection of beauty miniatures from boutique, medical and high-end collections, as well as those tried-tested-and-true favourite beauty brands. To keep the experience truly exciting, a wildcard surprise item could show up in the box at any time. The GLOSSYBOX goal is to share insider know-how and save consumers from
tough and costly decisions by sending the best cosmetic and beauty products right to the members’ door for only $15 a month. GLOSSYBOX invites members online to create a personal beauty profile. This ensures that the items in the box will be tailored to the individual’s needs or an introduction to new trends, and quality cosmetic and beauty products.

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The company was kind enough to send me the first edition of their Glossybox for the month of February, and I was quite impressed with what I found.


The box was shipped to me in a sturdy box, decorated with the symbolic Glossybox crown. Opening it up, there was the pale pink box sitting perfectly. The box itself is very sturdy, and I love that it is decorated with just one small, simple logo. Because it isn't loudly decorated with the company name, I can easily use it to hold my trinkets from around the house.


Similarly to the other boxes like Glymm and Loose Button, the products inside are cushioned by paper confetti pieces, wrapped in tissue and wrapped with a beautiful bow. Lots of care and attention is put into the presentation, making it all the more fun to open.



In the box this month was: Ahava Mineral Hand Cream, Elizabeth Grant Skin Care Moisturizing Stick, Essie lacquer in Neo Whimsical, Oscar de la Renta Live in Love body lotion, Elizabeth Arden Prevage Night Cream, and Beauty So Clean Sanitizing Mist & Wipes. First of all, let me just say the value of the products in the box this month well exceeds the $15 subscription price. What I love is that all the products in the box are not shade specific (according to skin tones), and I'll be able to try everything out. The brands offered by Glossybox are mostly different from those supplied in other boxes, and it feels like their products are received from higher end companies. What I'm most excited to try out is the Beauty So Clean products - perfect for my upcoming trip this summer!

Like other companies, the box contains little notes about the products, application tips, and even little sticker labels that you can use on different boxes. Currently, Glossybox does not sell the full sizes of the sample items you receive, but the website contains pricing and purchase information if you love the product and want to purchase it. It seems that the boxes are sent out expedited via Canada Post, which includes tracking information so you can estimate when to receive your box each month - I love when prices include shipping.

Now what good is a company if you don't get rewarded? Glossybox has a great reward system for subscribers! After trying out a product, leaving a review gets you 20 GLOSSYdots, and accumulation up to 1000 gives you a free box! If you refer a friend to the program, you gain 200 points. Definitely better than nothing!

So what are you waiting for? With a $15/month subscription fee, the subscription is automatically renewed each month, but can be cancelled at any time, free of charge. I will put this out there right now: I have ended my subscription with Glymm and am planning on picking out a new subscription service - so far, Glossybox is looking pretty good in my books. Sign up here with my personal referral link. **UPDATE** Readers of this blog can enter the code GLOSSY24 to receive 10% off your first box!


I will be doing individual reviews for each product - coming soon!
GLOSSYBOX also provides the latest information and the best in beauty tips and tricks from around the world on:
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and the GLOSSYTHOUGHTS blog

*this post contains a sample provided by PR for consideration of a review

Anyone here heard of Glymm before? I really wasn't aware of this program until one of my friends informed me of the program back in the month of November. In the states, there's companies like Birchbox, Eco-Emi, Test Tube, and many more that offer a box of deluxe samples every month for a fee of around $10. I never knew Canada had started such a program, so I signed up right away and just received my box yesterday!

Glymm offers a box with 4-5 deluxe samples each month for $10, which is inclusive of shipping. I honestly think it's a great deal if you're looking for a new beauty product to try out, or if you're still trying to find the perfect product that works well with your skin. I mainly just like getting stuff sent to me in the mail ;)

The box arrived well packaged, but was a little bit difficult to open due to the positioning of the tape on the box. After breaking a nail and prying it open, you'll find a beautiful pink box on the inside, waiting to be opened.





Inside this month's box, I received...



Caudalie Vinoperfect Enzymatic Peel Mask, Ahava Mineral Hand Cream, Yves Saint Laurent La Parisienne, Sula Beauty Natural Lip Gloss, a $10 gift card to use on Glymm.com, and a cute jar of jellybeans.



The box itself is accompanied by a card with information about each product, and the price it sells for at retail for a normal size. Seeing as the Sula lipgloss is full sized ($8), that one sample alone almost pays for the entire box. I will be testing these out within the next week and will let you know how things go!

So far, I'm pretty impressed with the packaging and the way everything was sent to me. There was an email confirmation sent to me following the purchase, as well as an email with tracking information in it when the box was dispatched out for delivery. Subscriptions to the service can be done in monthly or yearly installments. For the monthly program, after the first box, you will be automatically billed once a month on your credit card without notice, until you decide to cancel your subscription. I just want to put this out there ahead of time in case any of you get confused with their system, because I sure was! I saw two charges on my credit card, and found out afterwards that I would automatically be billed.

If you are still looking for a Christmas gift for the makeup junkie on your list, Glymm has got you covered. There is an option to gift a subscription to anyone, in 3, 6, 9 or 12 month subscriptions. Perfect for the beauty and makeup obsessed.

The Glymm box is exclusive to Canadians - so sign up for the program if you're interested! (referral)