Mmm…Pho, or is it Mmmmmm…Pho?

A nondescript building sits near the northeast corner of 83rd street and 83rd avenue in Edmonton. Over the past 6 years, it has been derelict and vacant for 4 of those years, and was occupied by a less than sketchy restaurant with even sketchier clientelle for the other 2 years. Renovated and rejuvenated, this building now houses Mmm…Pho, a restaurant specializing the popular Vietnamese comfort food.

Located at 8205 83rd street in Edmonton, next to the TD branch on the corner of 83rd and 83rd, Mmm…Pho is a small, sparsely decorated, but clean restaurant.  My daughters and I have dined at Mmm…Pho twice in the past month and we were pleasantly surprised. The service is friendly and helpful, which differentiates it from the myriad of Chinese restaurants I’ve sampled in Edmonton.

With a small selection of appetizers and desserts, the remainder of the menu is entirely pho. For the unfortunate few who haven’t tried pho, it is a fragrant Vietnamese noodle soup. Various vegetables and meats can be added to pho. Pho is also traditionally served with a side of fresh basil, bean sprouts and various spice enhancing peppers.  My oldest daughter is a vegetarian and was unable to find any dishes that were clearly meat-free, but after our server consulted the kitchen, we were informed a vegetarian pho could be prepared. My omnivorous daughter and I tried the steak pho. Each order of pho came in an enormous bowl, which could have easily fed 3 people. The vegetarian pho consisted of carrots, broccoli, sprouts and cabbage while my steak pho had thin slices of medium steak mixed in. The phos were deliciously fragrant and tasty. While the vegetables in the vegetarian pho were slightly overcooked, my daughter still gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up. This is not fine dining, it’s a Vietnamese diner serving Vietnamese comfort food…and it’s very comforting.

If you like pho, check out Mmm…Pho!

Gay Pride Parade…In Edmonton?!?!?

Believe it or not, in the middle of the most conservative province in confederation, a gay pride parade was held on June 13, and it was wildly successful. The last estimate I heard said there were approximately 10,000 parade watchers and participants. Pretty good numbers for Canada’s Texas.

I was part of the “Unitarians for Social Justice” contingent, and we marched in the parade with a 125 foot long rainbow banner. From what I heard, we had the biggest entry in the parade. For the first time in the 5 years that I’ve been marching in the parade, I didn’t see any protesters. I hope one day my daughters will be able to tell their kids that they marched for civil rights when they were children.

Maybe one day, we won’t need a gay pride parade.

June is Bike Month

June is bike month in the City of Edmonton and there are all sorts of activities planned. I wanted to ride to school with my daughter last Friday, but it was too cold and rain was imminent. We passed a “bring you’re bike to breakfast” gathering a block from my daughter’s school. I was so sad, I couldn’t wait to get on my bike.

I hope City of Edmonton employees can’t wait to ride either. The city just spent $17,000 on new bikes for city employees to use in the downtown core. The right-wing pundits are of course attcking this decision, calling the bikes “luxury” or “high-end”. While you can get a good, reliable bike for $700, it’s far from “high-end”. I suspect the right-wing pundits would consider a $99 bike from Canadian Tire more reasonable in the same way I think it would be more reasonable for these same pundits to abandon their Hummers and drive around in used K-Cars. The left-wing is of course supporting this idea but they want to see it expanded. I think the $17,000 bike plan should be treated as a research project. If the plan works and is found to save money, increase productivity, reduce traffic, etc… then it’s a success. If the project is deemed a failure, losses can be reduced by selling off the bikes. Selling bikes at half the purchase price would mean an overall cost to the taxpayers of $8,500, which in my opinion is an acceptable risk when weighed against the possible benefits. I realize it’s a simplistic analysis, but I’m not a spin-doctor.