Month: September 2015

Pigging out in Calgary at Brewery & The Beast

Published by theporkgirl

I go to a lot of food events. So when I heard that Brewery & The Beast was going to happen in Calgary this summer I debated whether I wanted to make the three hour drive to attend a meat festival. One bite in and I knew we made the right decision. Thankfully my roommate Marc, The Spaniard and I scored a ride with Blaine, who was driving down to volunteer for the event (which was great since we were all slightly hungover). The weather could not have been more beautiful for an outdoor afternoon event at Pumphouse Park. The staff and volunteers were friendly and organized – we quickly had our IDs checked and were given a custom board designed to hold a tasty alcoholic beverage and multiple servings of meat. Our first stop was to visit my friend chef Michael Allemeier at the SAIT culinary booth who was wielding a cleaver breaking  apart pieces of slow-smoked pork shoulder from Hill View Colony and topped with hand-picked Evans Cherry BBQ sauce. It was of course …

A Good Old Fashioned Penthouse Party

Published by theporkgirl

Two summers ago I became friends with a girl named Kristina who asked if I wanted to come to a party with her. Of course I said yes. The condition – I had to dress up. I met the guy she was dating, his boss, who was one of the party hosts, as well as two fabulous gay men at the elevator. I’ve since become friends with all of them and Rob & Paige’s summer party has become one of the best events on my social calendar. This is not your average house party. First of all – the dress code is fabulous. For the occasion I had my hairstylist friend Des to help with my hair and went to MAC at WEM so my girlfriend Katie could style me up with party makeup. I busted out one of my vintage finds, rocking a 70’s inspired completely sheer dress – cause exposed black underwear is acceptable at this kind of party. Next – the view of Edmonton’s river valley from Rob & Paige’s home is absolutely stunning. …

Dressing for the Derby

Published by theporkgirl

A little known fact about me… I like to collect hats. Sadly, I do more collecting that wearing, but I plan on changing that. When one of my dearest friends Tawnya asked if I wanted to go to the Canadian Derby at Northlands this year I jumped at the chance; I love any opportunity to pull together an outfit from my tickle trunk. I thought it would just be the two of us, but she demanded that The Spaniard join us for a day at the races. We channelled our best British horse-racing style; I wore a hat I got at my favourite church charity shop in Brixton, London, and Tawn wore a fascinator that I made in a hat class in London. The day was a cold one in August, but that didn’t stop us from going for it. When we arrived we took advantage of the fashion stakes photo booth. Walking long distances in heels is never fun so we gladly accepted a ride in a golf cart to the gate from one of the …

Road Trippin through Southern Alberta

Published by theporkgirl

When The Spaniard received a letter saying he had been approved for his permanent residency in Canada he was informed he had to leave the country to officially ‘land’ as part of the process. Since you need to stay in the country once you land until your card arrives in the mail, he wanted to get the process taken care of immediately so he could get home in time for Christmas. But, with the Canadian dollar in the tank and flight prices high, I voted against flying to the US for a weekend and instead convinced him of  a good old-fashioned road trip to the Montana border and back. After spending the night in Calgary on the Friday, where we took advantage of a free room at my sister’s place, we set off west of the city in search of highway 22 – also known as The Cowboy Trail. First up on our scenic drives was Turner Valley where we stopped for lunch at the Chuckwagon Cafe and Cattle Co. – as seen on an episode of  ‘You Gotta …