Back in my Junior High days the cool thing to have for lunch was pizza and a can of pop from the pizza store across the street. Now that I'm an adult, my pizzas are usually paired with wine or another fun drink. But now there's a new pizza place in town bringing back the old school pizza and pop combination.

Urbano Pizza Co. - #110, 10220 103 Street - Edmonton AB

Just over a week ago Brittney LeBlanc, Gastropost Alberta Community Manager, invited a bunch of pizza-loving bloggers out for a pizza and pop party at Urbano. Urbano is brought to the city of Edmonton by Christian Mena and Lino Oliviera, the duo behind Sabor Restaurant and Bodega Tapas & Wine Bar. It makes sense that this pizza spot is just a couple steps down the Boardwalk Building from those two spots.

At Urbano you have the choice of ordering from one of the six signature pizzas or building your own from the seemingly endless list of available ingredients. This is awesome news because that means the pizzas can cater to dietary restrictions. So whether you're celiac, vegetarian or vegan, there's a savoury pie that can be built just for you.

The space inside Urbano is small, but still large enough to hold four powerful Turbochef Fire ovens capable of cooking a pizza in 90 seconds flat. The colourful ovens remind me of Bender from Futurama - cute right? Of the four, one is dedicated to firing up gluten free pizzas, and all four are portable, meaning Urbano Pizza parties can happen around the city.

As I have mentioned, Urbano is small and has space for about 15 people to enjoy pizzas on the second level seating area. There is additional seating available outside on the boardwalk, but based on the layout it seems to be best suited for grab & go pizzas. That really isn't a problem, given that you can honestly be in and out in under five minutes. Each pizza is priced at $11.95 (with exception to Nonna's Fave for $9.95), even if you build your own. When building a pizza your way the sauces available are made in-house, and the toppings are unlimited and included in the price, with exception to premium toppings (shrimp, prosciutto, etc.) for $2 each.

Our pizza party started off with Nonna's Fave (any sauce, any cheese), the good old combination of tomato sauce and cheese. From that point on it seemed like the pies were arriving one each minute, before thirteen of them sat at the table before us. I'm telling you, those ovens work hard and fast! Our night was full of a mix of signature pizzas and staff creations, and as much as I wish I could say I tried a slice of each pizza, my stomach isn't quite big enough to accommodate that yet!


Staff Pick: Empanada beef, tomatoes, jalapenos & cheese
Bubby's Fave brings together smoked salmon, cream cheese, red onions, capers, and hollandaise. It's a classic flavour combination that I didn't think I would ever find on a pizza, but it works. I do think the pizza could work better with the salmon thrown on after cooking, but regardless it remains a tasty pizza.


Staff Pick: pepperoni, peppers, black olives & cheese
The Piri Squared pizza was the one I was most looking forward to, as it ties Urbano to Sabor Restaurant's popular Piri Piri Prawns. Piri-piri chicken, Portuguese chorizo, Limiano cheese, roasted red peppers, fire roasted tomato sauce, and shoestring potatoes were a nice flavour combination, although I found the chicken to be a bit dry.


Staff Pick: Pepperoni, green and red peppers, sauteed mushrooms & cheese
Urbano didn't forget the vegans, as the Garden Fire features fire roasted tomato sauce topped with grilled portobellos, zucchini, eggplant, artichokes, roasted red and yellow peppers and vegan cheese! This pizza is loaded with vegetables and could easily fill you up like any other pizza on the menu.


Staff pick: green peppers, roasted red peppers, black olives, jalapeno, sauteed mushrooms & cheese
The Bacon and Eggs pizza offering is a fun play on breakfast for dinner (or lunch I suppose). Back bacon, Caciocavallo cheese, onion jam, and two eggs sit on fire-roasted tomato sauce, and it really resembles breakfast on a pizza. It was nice to see that the eggs weren't extremely overcooked, and the components worked well together.

So how are the pizzas overall? The thin crust recipe cooks evenly and the TurboChef ovens give the crust the char it needs. If there's a pet peeve of mine, it's crust that flops and drops all the toppings once it is lifted, but that isn't the case here. Urbano's dough cooks up similar to that of a flatbread, so it is evenly dense and crispy across the entire slice of pizza. Everyone has a different preference for pizza, and I've come to love pizzas made with Neapolitan dough. Soft, risen crusts and a bubbly, blistered cornicione are my favourite, and although Urbano's crust isn't quite for me, I know others would disagree.

It's nice to see that another quick food option has popped up downtown, and it will definitely become a go-to for many that work and live in the heart of the city. Service is quick, you can fully customize a pizza to your liking with high quality, fresh ingredients. And most importantly, it's very affordable at $11.95. Don't have time to sit and eat? Urbano also offers pizzas that you can take home and bake yourself. And here's a lunch time tip for you: everyday there is a different pizza feature created by the staff. If you order the feature pizza, a can of pop is also included for $11.95, so you can have your own pizza and pop party!

Big thanks to Gastropost & Urbano Pizza Co. for hosting a fun pizza and pop party - I think I need to have them more often.

*Disclosure: Gastropost invited me to attend the pizza party at Urbano Pizza Co.. 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.

I'm going to let you in on a secret: I love grocery shopping. Groceries are a weekly task for my boyfriend and me, which means we get to spend time together picking up the food we plan on cooking together for the week. With both of us having graduated just under a year ago, we are working hard on saving money to buy our first home. I spend a portion of time each week flipping through flyers delivered to my house, searching for deals so that we can save just a bit more money here and there to get a bit closer to our dream home.


All Flyers // Favourites List
But why spend time flipping through pages when you can get everything in one place? Meet Flipp, a free app for Apple and Android that brings together weekly circulars to help you save time and money on your purchases of groceries and household items. I was invited to take the #FlippFoodChallenge to see how much money and time I could save just by using the app. All I can say is, where has Flipp been all my life?

After I entered my postal code, flyers for nearby stores popped up. There was also the option of adding stores that I frequent into a favourites list to cater the list of flyers to my needs. After that, it was time to browse.


Weekly Circular // Clippings
When you search through a flyer for a specific store, the dates that the prices are advertised for appear at the top. With the tap of a finger you can choose what items to add to your shopping list, and those items are transferred into the 'clippings' section of the app. All your clippings are listed alphabetically by store, making it easy to compare prices and ensure that you purchase all your items when using the app in store. I liked this function of the app the most, because it made sure that I wasn't wasting my time browsing around the store unnecessarily, and I didn't miss a thing on my shopping list. If certain offers expire before others, they're clearly marked.


Shopping List // Search
Another great feature in the app is the Shopping List, where you can enter a list of all the items you need for the week. There are suggested popular items you can pick from, and all the weekly deals for the items pop up for you to browse through to find the best value. If you're looking for a specific item, you can enter it into the search bar and all deals for that item pop up too. It's so handy if you don't want to comb through the circulars!

Using Flipp really did save me time and money for grocery shopping last week. With the user-friendly interface it was a breeze looking for certain items, I spent less time in the grocery store and definitely saved some money along the way by comparing prices with ease. We were able to save anywhere between $1-$3 on each of the items we needed for the week just by using the app. Of course there is definitely the trade-off of time used driving from one store to the next to get the best price on certain produce, but most of my grocery stores are within minutes of one another. Time can also be saved as some stores offer price matching, and you can do it directly from your mobile device. Using Flipp is also better for the environment, as you can eliminate the printing and delivery of circulars to your home and shopping lists don't have to be written down on paper. I thoroughly enjoyed using Flipp, and now I have my mother hooked on it too. The money saved will definitely contribute to my dream home fund and maybe pay for some date nights along the way. I'll definitely continue to use the app, and I encourage you to try it out too!

*Disclosure: I received compensation for the #FlippFoodChallenge and to write this blog post. Views expressed in this post are solely mine. This post is 100% my opinion, and as always, my priority is to you, the reader, to present an unbiased, thorough review.

Back in my elementary school days the annual field trip to Snow Valley was always the field trip I looked forward to most. Spending a day on the slopes and having slushies and french fries at lunch was the dream. These days, even though I drive by the hill on my daily commute, it's pretty rare to find me at Snow Valley in the winter time.

The Lodge at Snow Valley - 13204 45 Avenue - Edmonton AB

Beyond the winter season, I had no idea that The Lodge was open throughout the spring and summer. Snow Valley is located in the Rainbow Valley surrounded by the lush foliage and pine trees of the Whitemud Ravine. It is a beautiful place to host functions and spend time in the summer - something that had never crossed my mind in the past.


Couscous Salad
The culinary services at The Lodge recently welcomed Chef Leo, a Red Seal chef formerly of Sorrentino's, to lead the culinary team. I had the opportunity to attend a lunch at the lodge to try their food and experience their catering capabilities first-hand.


Chicken Rillette
Walking up to the second floor, the space before my eyes was entirely different from that of my childhood memories. With the area cleared and tables set the space was transformed into a room with rustic charm that could easily host banquets and corporate functions.

Lunch that day was served buffet style, featuring a salad bar, hot food station, and of course dessert. Roasted romaine salad, a couscous salad, and a platter of chicken rillette with a variety of toppings were available in the cold salad section. It was nice variety to start off the meal and there was something for everyone. From the hot service station, I was quite impressed with the teriyaki burger dressed with a slice of sweet pineapple, and the salmon cake with a honey reduction was delicious.

From plated dinners to full buffet service, The Lodge at Snow Valley is capable of hosting up to 200 people in a single event. The Lodge is available for booking throughout the spring and summer season, and their menu doesn't disappoint. With it's unique location and full catering abilities, The Lodge is a great space to host anything from meetings, to weddings, to big corporate events, so definitely consider them the next time you're looking for a location to host an event!

*Disclosure: The Lodge at Snow Valley invited me to attend a media tasting. Views expressed in this post are solely mine. I was not expected to feature this lunch 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.