So I came to Edmonton this week for a conference and in the evenings I had to pass the time so the first night I ate in the hotel cafe since it was late and I wasn’t sure where was good nearby.

The cafe is called Pradera Café and had a lovely menu. I had a salad with bocconcini cheese, tomatoes and pine nuts. The dressing was light and flavorful.

After my salad I had a peacan crusted chicken burger and fries. It was excellent as well and was tasty off the bun as well as on.

I have a really lovely hotel room at the Westin (thank goodness for conference prices!) – it has an amazing view of the city and is really sunny!

I really enjoy having a desk in my room and a little sitting area so that is nice – it’s very spacious. Although, I don’t spend a lot of time in the room it is nice to hang out in at the end of the day.

Some desserts from lunch! yum!

One of the hotel staff recommended a little greek place near the hotel for dinner the second night – although the prices were expensive the food was tasty and it was close by which was very convenient. The chef in the kitchen was greek and I had a great waiter from Malaysia who is a student in Edmonton.

I had the chicken souvlaki platter (although I didn’t eat the bread because with the potatoes and rice I was getting a lot of carbs) – which was really yummy!

I ordered some yummy baklava for dessert – it was HUGE! So I only ate 1/3 of it but took the rest back to the hotel in case I want it later.

After dinner I headed back to the hotel but decided to go out across the street to “100″ Hundred for a snack and drink while I read my book.

It was a really cool place and very popular. I had a love potiontini and the most amazing popcorn! Truffle butter popcorn!! It was delicious and I might just have to go back there to have it again!

I really enjoyed being out and reading my book. I was at a large table so partway though my snack 7 people joined me at the table and they ordered dinner which included lobster tacos, sliders, salads and other little plates to share.

I had a good time and headed back to the hotel for some light writing! A fun activity and way to pass time while hanging out alone.

The dinner on Wednesday night was amazing – the key note speaker was a really interesting doctor, Dr. Evan Adams, doctor and actor! I was really interested in what he had to say about health of Aboriginal and First Nations people in BC.

Our dinner started with squash soup – it was delicious. I wasn’t sure what made up the cream on top since it was a light green color – pumpkin seed oil? but it was really good.

We then enjoy a modern spin on a Caesar salad – I thought the presentation was great and innovative as it prevents the salad from getting wilted and you dress it yourself with as much or little dressing as you want. The bacon chips were really yummy!

For our main course we had some lovely Alberta beef – I liked the presentation but also liked that there were a few potatoes but not too much.

Dessert was excellent too – although the portion was slightly too large for me. It reminded me of a Sacher torte – the pastries this week have all been very good.

After dinner we enjoyed an amazing concert by Susan Aglukark and her band. She is one of my first Aboriginal idols so hearing her sing live was amazing and getting to meet her was really exciting!

After the concert we were able to buy her albums, get autographs and get pictures with her. Of course, I was so excited about meeting her that I forgot to ask for a picture and had to go back and ask. She was very gracious and it really was a pleasure to meet her.

Tags: 100, baklava, bocconcini and tomato salad, concert, Edmonton, Hundred, It's All Greek to Me, love potiontini, music, peacan crusted chicken, Pradera Cafe, souvlaki platter, Susan Aglukark, truffle butter popcorn, Westin Hotel

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