My Blog = My Life: 
Search results for lunch

The Round-up:

• Food - 4 out of 5
• Service - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 3.5 out of 5
• Total - 11 out of 15

1946 Hamilton Street, Regina, SK
306-352-8424

_______________________________________

When I first heard there was a Thai restaurant on Hamilton Street downtown, I have to admit I was a little skeptical.

I pictured a little hole-in-the-wall place that would see a lot of foot traffic during the day (but few actual customers) and almost no one at night (when Regina's downtown transforms into a semi-deserted ghost town).

Boy, was I wrong.

First of all, Hamilton Street is undergoing a huge makeover. Over the last couple of years, new shops and eateries are popping up and filling in the holes left by vacant storefronts. There are still a few gaps, but given time they'll fill in too.

Second of all, Regina's downtown office crowd loves the place. Pay a visit almost any weekday at lunch and you'll be lucky to get a table if you're not there right at noon.

If you're new to Thai food, Siam's lunch buffet is an excellent place to start. There's always a good selection of meat, vegetable, and noodle dishes (Pad Thai is a sure bet), along with a couple of appetizer and dessert items.

Best of all, you can be in and out of the place with a full belly in 30 minutes or less. And get this, the grand total for the lunch buffet comes to less than $10 per person, tax included. I know, shocking.

Hold on now, before you drop the laptop and run down to Hamilton Street I need to talk more about the food.

On a recent Saturday morning, a group of us paid a visit to Siam for a not-so-traditional brunch (there's no buffet on Saturdays, FYI). We got off to a rocky start when we showed up at 11 a.m. (opening time) and the doors were still locked for another 15 minutes.

This didn't sit well with me -- unlike my usual Saturday morning of sleep and relaxation, I'd already done two loads of laundry, shopped for groceries, and ran a couple of other errands. I was hung-ree.

Once we were seated, things went more smoothly. Our gracious waiter was patient with us as we waited for others to arrive and took our time figuring out what to eat.

We ordered a ton of food, by the way. Siam makes this relatively easy by including pictures in the menu and on nifty digital photo frames hung on the walls next to tables.

These are my top three picks, for the first-timer:

- Appetizer: Mieng Kham (Leaf Wraps): This dish is a pleasure to behold and to eat. Crispy fresh coconut, fresh ginger, red onion, Thai chili, lime, cashews, and plum sugar sauce, served on top of bok choy leaves that you roll up yourself, then pop in your mouth.

- Entrees: Larb Moo: This item technically falls under the Salad category on the menu, but its size and filling portion makes it more like a meal. Spicy ground pork is mixed with roasted rice, red onions, green onions, cilantro, and lime juice. It's got some heat but not so much as to scare the beginner away.

Pad Thai: You haven't truly lived until you've had this Thai classic. A bed of warm rice noodles is covered in fried tofu, bean sprouts, and shrimp, then layered with sauce. Practically everyone likes Pad Thai. If you're completely unsure of what to order, start here.

On the whole, Siam is one of downtown's best restaurants with a huge menu, good service, reasonable prices and decent opening hours.

OK, you're dismissed. Eat much and prosper.

www.siamrestaurant.ca

The Round-up:

• Food - 3.5 out of 5
• Service - 2 out of 5
• Decor - 3.5 out of 5
• Total - 9 out of 15

1950 Broad St., Regina, SK.
Phone: 306-585-8880
_____________________________________________________

I wish this Japanese restaurant earned a higher score -- I really do. Not only is Hanabi close to a number of downtown offices and hotels, its bland storefront hides a warm and inviting dining room that puts you immediately at ease. The lanterns, curtains, sushi bar, and large number of semi-private booths could almost -- just for a second -- make you believe you were in Japan.

Hanabi's menu is full of Japanese favourites: Sushi, Tempura, Bento Boxes, Teriyaki and Edamame (whole soy beans) are all there. For the more adventurous, there's Soft Shell Crab, Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake), and Seaweed Salad. There are also a a few Korean dishes on the menu.

When visiting for lunch last week, my friend (let's call her Ms. Thang) and I ordered a number of our favourites. It was her birthday and we have sushi on her birthday almost every year.

We asked for Miso Soup to start, followed by Gyoza (pork dumplings), Salmon Rolls, the Cream Cheese Roll (a house specialty), and two Inari (tofu pockets).

Things started reasonably well. The Gyoza arrived in about 10 minutes. They were OK, but I am almost certain they were store-bought -- a bit of a disappointment.

After another 10 minutes or so, we got the Inari, which usually come at the end of a meal, like a dessert item. At least they tasted good.

Then came the Cream Cheese Roll. Crisp seaweed wrapped itself around salmon, cream cheese, cucumber, avocado and a "Special Sauce" (our waitress told us it was warm apple sauce). This roll was a new one for both of us, and it was delicious.

Next up, and after another noticeable delay, we got one of the Salmon Rolls. The other was mysteriously absent. We split the eight tasty morsels of soft sushi rice and tender pink salmon. And then we waited.

Finally, the next Salmon Roll landed on the table. We devoured it quickly. Lunch hour was basically over at this point. It was at about that moment that Ms. Thang, who was getting testy, had a realization. "Umm, we never got our Miso," she said, usually the first item to arrive within minutes of ordering.

"No, we sure didn't," I said, and rolled my eyes. At that point we had no further time to waste.

I asked for the bill. It came two or three minutes later, so I put my money in the billfold and waited for the waitress to come get it. She didn't.

Ms. Thang and I gathered our things and headed to the till, by this point grumbling to each other about the service.

"How was everything?" asked the sweet and smiling hostess.

We diplomatically told her that the food was great, but holy jeepers, could it have come any slower? At lunch?

Perhaps the secret to success at Hanabi is to visit their website and pre-order items off the online menu. It couldn't hurt, anyway. Or, just go in at supper hour when you have a couple of hours to kill.

www.hanabi.ca

The Round-up:

• Food - 3.5 out of 5
• Service - 2.5 out of 5
• Decor - 3 out of 5
• Total - 9 out of 15

1009 Albert St., Regina, SK.
Phone: 306-543-1000

___________________________________________

Location, location, location.

It's the single-most important factor for many places of business.

In fact, there wouldn't be half as many Starbucks in the world if the company's executives weren't so incredibly good at sourcing hot locations in major cities.

So, if location is everything then Regina's Spices of Punjab Indian restaurant should be a massive, embarrassing flop.

Located on the main floor of the Inntowner Motel on Albert Street (yes, that motel) and tucked behind a random clothing store, Spices of Punjab should have died a slow and painful death mere months into its lifetime.

In fact, popular wisdom says that any new restaurant will go under within a year (probably sooner) if it doesn't have things right. Spices of Punjab is going on two years old. That means something -- something good.

It helps that owner Darren Singh is a member of the family that opened India House on Victoria Avenue a decade ago. India House has changed hands now, and sadly gone downhill. Still, the place was wildly popular when it first opened.

Singh continues the tradition of a tasty and reasonably priced lunch buffet from Monday to Saturday for just $10. Spices of Punjab was packed when I went a few months ago at lunch, so the food on the buffet line was fresh and hot.

Buffet choices include rice, naan, a few curries (usually one chicken, one lamb, one veggie) along with delicious bright-red Tandoori Chicken brought to your table by the servers. All said, the buffet definitely hits the spot. Even more so if you're on a short lunch.

Dinner time is quieter but more relaxing. The dining room is decorated in reds and greens with plenty of Indian artwork. As a bonus, it's bright and clean, something you wouldn't guess by looking at the motel's exterior.

On the other hand, service can be less friendly at night. Our waitress on a Thursday seemed irritated when we asked for a booth after she tried taking us to a table. It was 7 p.m. and only two other tables were seated. We didn't think getting a booth for two was such a huge deal. (The waitress later warmed up to us, for the record).

My dining companion, the World Traveller, and I placed a massive order. We'd both been craving Indian for weeks.

We started with Pakoras (deep-fried chopped vegetables with chutney) and Samosas. Then we went on to ask for Butter Chicken, Aloo Gobi (a cauliflower and potato curry), Chicken Biryani (a mixed rice dish), and Garlic Naan Bread.

The World Traveller used to live in England, where curry is as popular as submarine sandwich shops are here. She has also been practically everywhere on the planet (what gave that away?). She knows her stuff and was mostly impressed with the food, all of which got to the table in very good time.

The only disappointment for me was the Chicken Biryani. It's much smaller in size than what India House used to serve and didn't have the same flavour that I remember from years ago. Spices of Punjab has also done away with the Biryani's cashew nuts as an ingredient. Yes, cashews are expensive but they were the best part of the India House version.

I said to the World Traveller that I felt slightly guilty turning into the parking lot in front of the motel when we first arrived.

She laughed at me. Seriously though, sometimes certain people visit certain motels for certain reasons. Certainly you know what I mean?

That's OK, I will be back. Location be damned.

Spices of Punjab is worth an awkward moment or two in front of a shady motel.

spicesofpunjab.com
FYI: Website was out of date and incomplete at time of writing. Double check any information on the site by calling directly.

The Round-up:

• Food - 3.5 out of 5
• Service - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 4 out of 5
• Overall - 11 out of 15

Let's start with the good: Tangerine is a tastefully decorated bistro that has added a healthy dose of personality to the strip of shops on 14th Avenue between Lorne and Cornwall streets. The restaurant seems to be doing a very good business over the lunch hour. Ladies who lunch, business folks, and university kids are all common sights.
Service is very fast - as it should be at a bistro that depends on the lunch hour to survive. My meals have arrived within minutes of ordering during both of my lunchtime visits. Considering that ordering is done cafeteria-style, that is up at the counter, there is no reason for service to be slow.
The menu, written in chalk on a large wall next to the deli case, has a good mixture of proteins, grains and greens, and it changes often. Tangerine also brews coffee and serves up homemade biscuits and sweets. All of this lends an urbane feel to the place - Tangerine would fit right in to New York's Lower East Side or Vancouver's West End. But it's all ours and we should be proud to have it.
As for the not-so-good: Tangerine needs to work on portions and prices. The other day I ordered the $11 Greens and Proteins: a six- or seven-ounce piece of salmon atop a bed of greens with a light dressing. The dish's modest size left me feeling hungry, and that I'd paid too much. Consider that Siam Thai restaurant downtown offers an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet for $9; or that La Bodega serves a mean sandwich with fries for about $12.
As for the salad, I have a strong suspicion that the lettuce mixture I ate was store-bought. This is a bit of a shame in the middle of summer when fresh local produce is everywhere.
Finally, Tangerine could play more heavily on the "food bar" theme that it uses as part of its name. At the moment, the restaurant is open until 7 p.m. on weeknights. But give the place a liquor licence, dim the lights, put on some groovy music, and you could have a very cool evening hangout. Of course, this may come as Tangerine matures. Owner/chef Aimee Schulhauser is wise to take a "walk before you run" approach to the place.
The verdict: give Tangerine a try for your next business lunch, or if you happen to be hanging around downtown on a gorgeous summer day.

The Round-up:

• Food - 4.5 out of 5
• Service - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 4 out of 5
• Total - 12 out of 15

2228 Albert St., Regina, SK.
Phone: 306-546-3660 _______________
There are plenty of reasons why La Bodega is one of Regina's best restaurants.

OK, I guess you want me to name them. So here goes:

1.) La Bodega took an old, forgotten, decrepit house in the Cathedral neighbourhood and turned it into a hip, vibrant, intimate restaurant. That's not just luck, it's good planning. Previous owners of the building launched a bakery in the same spot and it was a massive flop within a year.

2.) So why has La Bodega succeeded? I think there are three key ingredients: a smart menu, a great location, and a design that allows La Bodega to be a restaurant, lounge, and/or concert venue depending on the time of day and the day of the week. They say you can't be all things to all people, but somehow La Bodega has always managed to attract the cool kids and the business lunch crowd and middle-aged couples just looking for a nice meal. That's no easy feat.

3.) Food -- of course, La Bodega would be nothing without the food. When La Bodega opened almost 10 years ago, no one in Regina had ever heard of tapas. Executive chef and owner Adam Sperling brought a creative, exciting menu to the Queen City and presented it in a way that was fresh and interesting to diners. Most people fell in love with the place after just one visit. And even now, the chefs continue to change and improve upon their menu, revealing new versions of it several times per year, keeping old favourites and introducing new ventures. And if a menu item doesn't work, La Bodega gets rid of it.
4.) Unless you're at Smitty's or an unapologetic hole-in-the-wall, a restaurant's decor is almost as important as what's on the plate (I said almost). La Bodega has always got the decor part right by using a mix of sophisticated yet rustic furnishings. The plain and sometimes mismatched wooden tables and chairs are jazzed up by much-more daring artwork and colours on the walls. The music -- never radio and certainly not Top 40 -- captures the worldly nature of the place without coming off as fake or, worse, New-Agey. In short, La Bodega's gypsy chic style is the Cathedral neighbourhood in a nutshell. It fits into its surroundings naturally. What more could you ask for?
5.) OK, this last reason is half-serious and half a joke. But when La Bodega first opened, they sold alcohol at ridiculously cheap prices. The food was never undervalued, but the drinks sure were. And people loved it. So they stayed for another. And another. And hey, can we see that menu again? We're hungry now. Over the years, it seems the prices of booze have crept upward, but you can still get a decent glass of wine for $5-6 per glass.
So, what's the downside? La Bodega's biggest weakness is its weekend brunch. The menu is nowhere near as tasty as what's on offer for weekday lunch or suppertime. And the prices for an Eggs Benny border on the obscene. To me, the best breakfasts in the world are cheap and dirty. Get in, drink your weight in coffee, and get out $8 later.
Otherwise La Bodega, you rock.
http://www.labodegaregina.ca/

The Round-up:

• Food - 3 out of 5
• Service - 4 out of 5
• Decor - 3 out of 5
• Total - 10 out of 15

120-1914 Hamilton Street, Regina, SK
306-949-4005

Today, we're heading back to bustling Hamilton Street, site of many changes and new businesses in downtown Regina these days.

One such business, The Great Panini, opened a few months back. Although I work at my "real" (i.e. non-blogging) job in an office tower just a couple of blocks away, I hadn't visited the shop until last week when frigid temperatures made me skip my usual walk home during the lunch hour.

The Great Panini, located a couple of doors south of the TD Bank, is a clean and cozy cafeteria style eatery that opens in the early hours of the morning and stays open through lunch until the end of the work day.

It just so happens that I timed my visit for the unveiling of a new sandwich: The Fozz. And let me tell you, The Fozz was moving fast -- I got the last one. Shaved chicken breast and a mild cheddar combined with roasted sweet red peppers and hot banana peppers were layered on a nine-grain Ciabatta bun then toasted to perfection. I have to say it was pretty tasty.

The Great Panini offers sandwiches on their own, or as a meal. I opted for the meal and had my choice of soup, salad, or a pickle. A sucker for all things canned and vinegary, I went for the Van Holten's Kosher Pickle, which comes individually wrapped in a pouch. It was a giant pickle, but I always find Koshers lack the crunch and garlic of homemade dills. Blame it on my Ukrainian roots.

As for drinks, The Great one offers much more than fountain pop, including a number of unique teas and juices, and a good range of Boylan's sodas.

So far things were going smoothly, until my grand total was rung up on the till. I admit I wasn't paying attention to prices until this point, figuring that a sandwich combo would run at about $7 or $8. Boy, was I wrong. By the time taxes were included I was almost at 11 bucks.

A bit pricey for a takeout lunch, if you ask me. Especially when you consider the all-you-can-eat Thai buffet at Siam restaurant three doors down is less than $9. But as I said, the sandwich was appetizing, the service was fast and friendly, and the selection is top-notch. Whether it's worth it again in the future will depend on how close I am to payday, I guess.

Perhaps I ought to stop in during breakfast some day when specials are priced much lower, including the 16-ounce coffee for just 99 cents. Now that's a deal.

www.thegreatpanini.ca

The Round-up:

• Food - 4 out of 5
• Service - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 4 out of 5
• Total - 11.5 out of 15

2124 Albert Street, Regina, SK
306-545-8811

_______________________________________

Dear Abbey:

It's about this time of year when the intended joy of Christmas starts to compete with the utter madness of Christmas.

The lineups at the grocery store are longer; the parking spots at the Cornwall Centre are fewer -- heck, the lineup just to get out of the parkade is enough to make you cringe. What's a guy to do?
Signed,
Crazy for Christmas

- - - - - - - -
Dear CC:

There are plenty of ways to deal with Christmas Craze. Some of them involve muttering swears underneath your breath. Others involve a simple retreat to a welcoming watering hole.

I suggest the latter.
Yours,
Abbey

- - - - - - - -

Today me and Big Willie opted for an easy Sunday morning and headed over to The Abbey on Albert Street. It was a brutally cold morning to brave the outdoors but the lure of breakfast without having to cook it was enough to get us out there.

I'd been to The Abbey a couple of times since it opened in December '08. My first visit, less than a week after the doors opened, was good but a little rough around the edges. And that's to be fully expected so early in the game.

My second visit, about two months later, left me with a bad taste in my mouth -- literally. A friend and I went for a Sunday-night supper before heading out to a show at the Brandt Centre. I had high hopes that the kitchen would have ironed out the wrinkles by that point but I left feeling happy with the atmosphere yet disappointed with the food, especially a very greasy pizza that was overcooked.

Since that time, I learned that The Abbey hired a new head chef. I was a bit reluctant to go back until a few friends and coworkers reported positive experiences recently.

Today, my third visit proved to be the lucky charm. Big Willie and I were seated quickly on the second-floor balcony overlooking the dining room. We took a few minutes to study the brunch menu and then placed our order.

I decided to keep things simple and ordered The Usual -- two eggs any style (I went with Sunny Side Up), bacon or sausage, hash browns, toast, and a few pieces of fruit. I figure if a kitchen can't get the most basic breakfast items right then there's little hope they'll succeed with anything else.

Big Willie chose The Eden Eggs Benedict (served with tomato and spinach on a homemade biscuit). We also opted to share The Abbey Salad, which came recommended by a friend.

All things said, our only complaint with the food was that it took too long to hit the table (close to half an hour). On the one hand, this wasn't an outrageous amount of time. On the other hand, you start to wonder what's going on after about 15 minutes at breakfast time. Both our waitress and the floor manager gave sincere apologies for the delay, so at least they were aware of the problem.

Otherwise, the food was delicious. I'm not normally a fan of Eggs Benedict but The Eden won me over. I think it was the fresh, crumbly homemade biscuit that did it. Big Willie was pretty pleased with his choice, too.

My eggs were cooked perfectly, not always the case when you order Sunny Side Up. And the best part of The Usual? The crispy sausage, just like we used to eat at home when I was a kid. I'm happy to report that The Abbey serves real sausage -- not the greasy breakfast kind that some people seem to love.

The Abbey Salad, strangely the most expensive item we ordered, was also pretty delish. A Roast Shallot Dressing came drizzled over mixed greens, grilled chicken, bacon, crumbled blue cheese, and a few slices of pear. This salad was a meal in itself and is also on the restaurant's lunch menu. I think it's safe to say I'll be back for it someday.

To make a nice meal even nicer, The Abbey plays host to live jazz music on Sundays from 11-2. Today's warm groove, combined with the awesome Viennese Dark Roast coffee, pretty much made us forget it was 30 degrees below zero, at least for awhile.

All in all, The Abbey is finally coming into its own as a restaurant. Despite the odd glitch here and there, it seems that things are almost nearing perfection.

If they keep this up they might just start to lure me away from La Bodega a bit more often.

Kudos to you, The Abbey.

http://www.theabbeyregina.com/

The Round-up:

• Food - 4 out of 5
• Service - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 3 out of 5
• Total - 1o.5 out of 15

1779 Rose St., Regina, SK.
Phone: 306-522-1818

____________________________________________________________

Another week goes by, and this blog grows another inch or two. Bear with me, folks. It is truly a work in progress.

It was tough to decide which restaurant to talk about next -- actually, that's just a cliche. It wasn't so tough this time. The Four Seas Restaurant on Rose Street downtown is a new discovery for me. Me and Big Willie have been there three times in the last three weeks. And we're now frequently trying to recruit our friends. Surely that's worth writing about.

From the outside, the Four Seas is easily forgettable. Heck, from the inside too. Mind you, the owners have done a decent job of sprucing up this old building that has clearly been through a few restaurant incarnations during its lifetime.

Anyway, the surroundings are secondary. What I really go for is the food. And what the Four Seas really does best, as far as I'm concerned, is Dim Sum.

OK, perhaps it's time for a definition. Not everyone is familiar with Dim Sum (but everyone should be!).

Essentially, Dim Sum is this: a wide range of Chinese dishes served on small plates alongside tea. You could think of it as the Chinese version of tapas. What you must not think of is Chicken Balls, Sweet and Sour Pork, or giant, greasy Egg Rolls. Dim Sum is NOT that kind of Chinese food.

The most exciting part of Dim Sum is when the waitresses come around with carts of food inside small bamboo steamers. You never know what's on the cart until they take the lid off -- and try to tempt you.

Each time I've been there are new items, but you can count on there always being Shrimp Dumplings, Pork Dumplings, Steamed Buns, Spareribs, and a few vegetable dishes. There will also be things that you have never seen before, but don't worry. The waitresses are happy to answer any questions that you have.

In larger cities with larger Chinese communities, you'll find huge, loud Dim Sum restaurants where the waitresses fly past you with carts and you practically have to scream to get their attention.

The Four Seas is on a smaller, quieter scale. It's nonetheless a welcome addition to Regina's list of restaurants. And it's definitely popular with Regina's Chinese community who fill the place by 11:30 a.m. on weekend mornings.

Big Willie, who is half-Chinese, says that the Four Seas Dim Sum reminds him of the food his grandma made when he was a kid. If that's not a compliment, I don't know what is.

The next time you find yourself bored with what Regina restaurants have to offer, head downtown for Dim Sum. A whole new culinary world awaits you....

The Round-up:

• Food - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 2.5 out of 5
• Service - 3 out of 5
• Total - 9 out of 15

The Round-up:

• Food - 1 out of 5
• Decor - 1 out of 5
• Service - 2.5 out of 5
• Total - 4.5 out of 15

2201 11th Avenue, Regina, SK
306-757-2288

_______________________________________________________

To me, there's something comforting about tucking into a restaurant below street level.

Those few stairs that lead down to the dining room make the noise of traffic outside seem even further away behind the glass windows. It's like discovering a secret getaway in the middle of the city.

Big Willie and I popped into J & A Restaurant across from The Bay on 11th Avenue last weekend. The place was fairly full for a Saturday so I figured we were in for a good time.

Friends told us that J & A, which specializes in Chinese cooking, does a mean dim sum. Being dim sum fans, we just had to check it out.

We settled into a table fairly quickly -- our waitress just had to wipe it clean before we could sit down. She wiped it, though I wouldn't say it was clean. But we got past that. We were hungry, after all.

We waited a few minutes for tea and then a few more minutes to order. With only two waitresses working the floor, the service wasn't exactly speedy.

Unlike most dim sum restaurants, J & A does not bring carts of hot food by your table. Instead, you are provided with a slip of paper on which to tick off your choices from the menu.

We went with a range of standbys, like dumplings and spring rolls, along with a few more unique items (like cassava cake).

As we waited for the food we started to take note of J & A's decor, which includes a strange mixture of fake flowers, pink chairs, and Walt Disney characters on the walls.

First to hit the table were the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings. These weren't exactly proper Chinese food, but they sounded good. And they tasted good. At first.

I was on my third wing when our whole experience started to go downhill. I bit into the wing and noticed that underneath the crispy skin was a whole lot of blood. How a chicken wing can be deep fried and crispy on the outside, but bloody on the inside, I'm still not sure. I stopped eating the wings and waited for the next item to arrive.

The Vietnamese Spring Rolls were up. Three puny spring rolls came on a small white plate. That's it. No sauce, and an odd number of rolls (there were two of us, as I said).

The rolls tasted about as good as they looked. In fact, they really reminded me of frozen appetizers from Costco. I'm just saying....

We asked the waitress if she had any type of sauce for the rolls. She brought us some plum sauce. In a package.

Next we got the Cassava Cake. This dense, yellow cake was hearty and very filling. Cassava, a root vegetable common in the tropics, is mixed into a sweet cake and then cut into squares. It tasted OK but I'm no cassava expert so I'll refrain from judgement here. Big Willie grew up eating the stuff and he thought J & A's version was on the sweet side.

Next up, another item and another disappointment: the Shrimp and Vegetable Dumplings.

Unlike any other dim sum restaurant I've ever visited, J & A serves dumplings in metal steam baskets instead of traditional bamboo steamers. That's a bit of a shame because the metal seems to dry the dumplings out while bamboo seems to retain more moisture. Plus the bamboo adds a touch of authenticity.

These dumplings were overcooked and the pastry pockets weren't even staying closed. And they had almost no flavour. Good Lord, it was time to take action.

We still had at least three more items to come, but me and Big Willie had more than enough by this point. We called the waitress over, pointed out the bloody chicken and asked her not to send any more items. Oh, and Big Willie mentioned that his teacup was dirty when it came to the table.

You might be thinking that we should have pointed out the chicken incident sooner. And we probably should have. But I like to be an easygoing diner and I was willing to let it slide at first, until everything else turned out to be a disappointment too.

We asked the waitress for our bill and she brought it quickly. Thankfully, she took the chicken and the items that never made it to our table off the bill.

We settled up, threw on our jackets and made a beeline for a real dim sum restaurant: The Four Seas on Rose Street.

To read my review of Four Seas, follow this link: http://www.reginafooddude.com/2009/10/four-seas-restaurant.html

As for J & A, your quaint basement location in a convenient spot downtown almost had me at hello. Unfortunately, you blew it. Big time. We won't be back. And please lose the Mickey Mouse decorations.

The Round-up:

• Food - 3 out of 5
• Service - 3 out of 5
• Decor - 3.5 out of 5
• Total - 9.5 out of 15

4180 Albert Street, Regina, SK.
306-757-BREW (2739)

___________________________________________________________

You know you're always and forever a Prairie Boy when the thought of digging into a bowl of crispy coleslaw makes your mouth water.

The other night me and The Mom decided to go out for a weeknight supper -- we just didn't know where. As we drove south down Albert Street we stumbled upon Brewsters Brewpub and Restaurant. "Hey, I haven't been to Brewsters in ages," I said. Neither had The Mom.

So Brewsters it was.

Started in 1989 by Regina's Lanigan family, Brewsters has blossomed into a chain of thirteen restaurants in Regina, Edmonton, and Calgary -- with a fourteenth coming soon.

Now, the purpose of this blog is not normally to explore chain restaurants far and wide. That being said, I don't know of any other Regina-based restaurant that has done as good of a job at expanding its presence as Brewsters has. So, a little credit is due.

One of the interesting things about the chain is that each of the Regina locations is slightly different. The north-end location, next to the Galaxy movie theatre, is mainly a big pub with a compact dining room. Down in the south end, Brewsters truly feels like a dining room with dim lighting, plenty of seating, and several cozy sections. Then the east-end location feels like a slightly rundown blast from the past, although I haven't been in awhile and that might have changed.

Brewsters also has nightly food and drink specials. Some of them, like Thursday night's Riblicious special, are just too good to pass up.

Riblicious comes with a sizeable plate of ribs prepared three different ways and a side bowl of coleslaw. Ahh, coleslaw, you had me the moment I read your sweet name on the menu.

Now brace yourself, the best part is yet to come. The afore-mentioned Riblicious special comes to a grand tally of... just... $11. Sweet jeebus, why haven't I been dining at Brewsters more often?

I can't sign off without mentioning Brewsters extensive list of handcrafted ales and lagers. From the medium-bodied light golden Original Lager to the more adventurous Farmer's Tan White Ale, there's plenty to choose from. And it seems to me that the list has grown a lot in the last couple of years. Next time I visit I'm going to take a stab at a glass of Blue Monk Barley Wine. At 9.9 per cent alcohol, this heavy hitter might just serve as a meal.

My only suggestion to Brewsters on the beer front is to come up with one that truly honours its hometown. How about some Pile O' Bones Pilsner? Or maybe a cold frothy mug of Queen City Wheat Ale? Such a tribute would only be fitting, after all.

www.brewsters.ca

The Round-up:

• Food - 3.5 out of 5
• Service - 3 out of 5
• Decor - 4 out of 5
• Total - 10.5 out of 15

3255 Quance Street, Regina, SK.
Phone: 306-586-7625

____________________________________________

I have to admit, Regina's East End isn't a part of town I visit all that often. I make the long drive down Victoria Street East once every week or two, usually to pay a visit to Costco. The rest of the time, I prefer doing my shopping in other parts of town where the traffic is a little less likely to cause a headache and a little more likely to support local business.

As a result, I often forget about one of our city's best casual restaurants. Rock Creek Tap and Grill opened about three years ago. The sight of a locally owned restaurant among the many chains that line the East End's streets was a welcome one. To boot, the food was great and the decor was classy, without being all uppity.

I've made several more trips to Rock Creek for good appetizers and great meals since then, but my last trip was almost a year ago. Until yesterday.

We arrived around 1 o'clock and the parking lot was almost totally full. A pretty good sign for a Saturday afternoon. As usual, we sat in the lounge where a table for six was easier to come by. We made ourselves comfortable and managed to score a couple of menus (literally two). Like I said, it was busy. Drinks were a bit slow to come by, as was the waitress to take our order, but thankfully we weren't in any hurry.

When it came time to order, we stuck mainly to pub-food classics, or Comfort Food, as the menu calls it: Chicken Fingers with fries; the Hickory Barbecue Chicken Burger; the Black and Blue Burger (a Cajun-style sirloin burger with blue cheese, bacon, lettuce and tomato); and the Quance Street Club (grilled chicken breast, smoked bacon, pea shoots, tomato, avocado, jack cheese and pesto aioli).

The food hit our table in good time and we dug in with gusto. Things suddenly got very quiet. Only the sound of chewing and the odd, "Mmm, this is good," broke the silence. The portions were hearty, as were the sides. I had a spicy cup of Chicken Vegetable with my Club. With four or five slices of jalapeno pepper floating in the broth, it was an interesting soup. I'll leave it at that.

Big Poppa, my dad, was making short work of his burger with yam fries next to me. Across the table my sister, normally an adventurous diner, was munching on the chicken fingers. It was a choice she didn't regret. The Calgary Boys also had no complaints about their sandwiches. Actually, they ate them so fast that I'm not totally sure what one of them ordered.

Rock Creek's menu is a savvy one -- there's the right mix of classic standbys and new inventions to keep you interested, and to keep you coming back. On the appetizer menu, you'll find everything from Cajun Blackened Guac Scallops to good-'ole nachos (with bacon and banana peppers). The lounge has food and drink specials almost every night of the week, and a bevy of fancy TVs. Can't get tickets to the next Rider game? Try hanging out here. If you can get a parking spot, that is.

www.rockcreekgrill.com

The Round-up:

• Food - 4 out of 5
• Service - 3 out of 5
• Decor - 4 out of 5
• Total - 11 out of 15

3000 Wascana Drive, Regina, SK.
306-585-3663

________________________________________________
January has been full of calm nights and above-average temperatures. 2010, I like you already.

It makes a person want to get out a bit more often. So, The Mom and I decided to take our appetites to The Willow on Wascana the other day.
OK, it wasn't just the warm weather that lured us to the shores of Wascana Lake. It was the $20 off lunch or dinner promo that The Willow ran for just two days this month.
The Willow opened in August 2004 and has carved out a niche for itself ever since. It's almost definitely the only menu in town that sources all of its meat, fish and poultry from Saskatchewan sources.
It wasn't too busy for a Wednesday night so we chose a corner table in the warm and cozy dining room. As far as atmosphere goes, The Willow has it made. In winter, the wood ceiling and earthy tones make you forget the sub-zero chill outside. On the other hand, summer is all about the great outdoors as you dine on The Willow's gigantic patio overlooking Wascana Lake.
Now what about the food? It's safe to say that The Willow doesn't shy away from taking risks. The new winter menu features Free-Range Elk Tartare, Coffee-Infused Short Ribs, and a Wild Boar Ragout.
The Mom was feeling adventurous so she went with the wild boar.
Boar sounded a little too Lord of the Flies for me, on the other hand, and I can rarely say no to a good homemade sausage. So, I chose the Chorizo Chicken Roulade.
Our plates arrived in no time and I was in love with the chicken dish at first sight. The juicy morsels of chicken wrapped around a chicken chorizo sausage disappeared from my plate quickly, as did the southwest-style corn salsa served on the side.
Now you're probably wondering what on earth wild boar tastes like? So were we. Our waiter told us it was like pork with a bit more fat. He didn't lie about that last part, for sure.
The tender slab of boar was served on top of homemade pappardelle noodles with a tiny Saskatchewan-grown tomato on top. The noodles were great. The boar was... well, it was kind of like eating sushi for the first time. You're a little bit curious and a little bit scared, especially when a few bites of the meat were more fat than flesh.
As for the service, it was good but not great. Our friendly waiter took the time to joke with us a little, but had trouble recommending dishes and explaining some of the ingredients. For a fine-dining restaurant that charges top dollar that just doesn't cut it. Servers should know each menu item inside and out.
That being said, The Willow scores big points for showing Regina that the food we grow and harvest right in our own backyards is as good or better than anything we truck in from a thousand miles away.
www.willowonwascana.ca

THE ROUND-UP:

Food - 3.5 out of 5
Service - 4.0 out of 5
Decor - 3.0 out of 5
Total - 10.5 out of 15

1970 Hamilton Street
Regina, SK
306-205-8345
fliprestaurant.ca
___________________________________________________________

Flip Eatery opened its doors in November 2011 on a slushy mid-fall day just before Remembrance Day. The timing isn't likely the most common for a restaurant opening, but from Day 1 folks flocked to Flip in droves.

Tucked into a new addition to the Avord Tower just behind Atlantis coffee shop on Hamilton Street, Flip is all windows, wood, clean lines, and simple modernism. It's one part Ikea, one part EQ3, and a pinch of boho chic as far as style goes.
While it might not have the glam factor some people look for in a downtown restaurant, Flip has plenty of good going for it. The huge, unobstructed windows onto Hamilton Street are a big contrast from almost any other restaurant downtown, most notably Golf's, the Diplomat, Crave, and Memories (all within a couple of blocks of Flip). It's as though we're finally celebrating downtown Regina and not covering it up with drapes and heavy velvet in order to pretend we're somewhere else.
Flip's menu is classic comfort food for the very large part - several sandwiches, a couple of burgers, a risotto, a bit of seafood, wings, salads, and, of course, soups make up the majority. And there's a deadly poutine that comes with the option to add in shortribs or pulled chicken as a bonus. (Try either or both, you won't regret it, and the portion sizes are heart-friendly, for poutine that is).
Prices fall in the mid-range. You're looking at roughly $15 for lunch (with a drink) and $25 for supper (with an appetizer and a drink). It's not cheap, exactly, but Flip definitely won't break the bank.
An informal survey of my friends regarding the restaurant resulted in everything from, "Love it!" to "It's good but not quite great." Some were less excited about the decor, and others feel the menu could use some pizzazz. From my perspective, Flip could add some variety to the lunch versus supper menus (right now they're the same). While I understand the benefits of having one menu for a chef and owner as far as minimizing food wastage and cutting down on prep time and ordering, the supper menu still feels a bit too "lunchey". I'm more likely to stay home if a sandwich is what I'm craving for supper.
That being said, Flip deserves huge credit for turning a non-descript piece of land into a happening downtown hangout. As Regina grows, more people are seeing downtown as a place to live, not just to work. Places like Flip make our downtown core even more attractive, and that's always a good thing.

Bonjour my friends!
It's time once again for... FLEA... MARKET... FINDS!!!
Which in this instance includes absolutely nothing from a flea market or thrift store... But I did find some stuff that I'm crazy for!... AND I found it with my former blogging and now real life friend Joyce from the blogs Monticello Antique Marketplace (Where she is the manager) and Calamity Janes' Life & Style
We had the best time hitting the streets of Centralia Washington! I have a few things to share this week from that shopping trip and more to come next week. *winks*
But first I want to announce the winners of my blog followers giveaway. Thank you to everyone who left me a comment! You are all so appreciated! The numbers were selected randomly by my hubby. Sooooo...
The winner of group one (the canisters) Is Betsy of My Salvaged Treasures
The winner of group two (the pitcher, journal and frame) is Lana of Lana Austin Motif.
And the winner of group three (fairy vase) is Kim of Moonlight dreams.
Congratulations you three! And please email me at jewlbearvonhoyt@msn.com with the addresses to which you'd like your items sent.
Ok on to the finds! Starting as always with my favorites, which this week was a three way tie. And the theme for the week was "France"... Not much of a surprise if you follow my blog *winks* "Francophile" should be my middle name lol! I found three different couronnes de mariee. "What the heck are those?" You might be asking? Well... they're the interior display pieces from Globes de mariee, which are french brides domes from the victorian period. You can see my other post HERE to find more about them. I can't get enough of these beauties!
This first one makes a perfect display for one of my favorite Marie Antoinette boudoir dolls.

And without the doll.

Marie is gazing fondly at this petite jewel box featuring a picture of the Eiffel tower. An ebay find.

This next couronne is loaded with lots of beautiful porcelain roses and the bridal headpiece.

I love all the pink!

And this third is more of an upright style for showcasing the bridal headpiece.

It has all these beautiful etched glass mirror pieces.

I didn't even notice until I got it home that it had the initials of the bride and groom. An "M" for the groom.

And an "R" for the bride.

I've placed it in my living room for now with another globe de mariee.

This is a shot of my beautiful friend Joyce and I at the Olympic Club in Centralia where we had lunch. It was really cool and loaded with antiques... including us! Lol!

Joyce (Sweetheart that she is) brought a little gift with her for me that she thought had my name on it... A 1920's boudoir doll in a lovely tattered silk dress...

Boy was she right!! Thank you soooo much Joyce! I adore her!!

I found these victorian brides shoes (1880's) in kid leather ($43) while out shopping with Joyce. I love their ruffled fronts.

I added them to this globe de mariee and they fit perfectly! I'd like to also mention that they fit me perfectly! What a thrill! Those victorian ladies were notorious for their teeny tiny feet *winks* Sorry they're hard to see.

Here's a group shot of some of them.

This chippy rusty metal cherub planter ($30) was another favorite find. I filled it with dried hydrangeas

Isn't he a cutie?!

And lastly this pretty boudoir doll with human hair and a net lace gown to add to my collection in the doll armoire.

She has such a sweet wistful expression.

Well that's all the finds for this week. I hope you'll come back next week for more flea market finds. I have some neat stuff to share *winks* Please leave me a comment and I'll do the same. I LOVE hearing from you! Vanna
I'm joining Kathleen at Charm Bracelet Diva for Club G.W.
Sherry at No Minimalist Here for Open House Friday.
Honey at 2805 for Potpourri Friday.
Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday.
And Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show And Tell Fridays.
Pamela at From My Front Porch To Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursdays.

I debated whether or not to include my personal schedule as part of the Keeping A Growing Home Series because really, it probably won't work for anyone else; our circumstances aren't the same. However, several women who are contemplating homeschooling have written and asked to see how it can actually fit into their day in addition to managing the rest of their homemaking responsibilities. I have chosen to include it for the sole purpose of assuring those who sincerely wonder that it can be done.

Below is a summary of a very good day at our house. It often looks nothing like this. Kids get sick or wake up on the "wrong side of the bed" and need more training and correction on some days than others. Interruptions happen. Sometimes it's little stuff like a blender explosion that takes me 30 minutes to mop up. Sometimes it's a bigger deal like the 20 week bed-rest of my last pregnancy.
Schedules and routines are designed to serve you, not the other way around. Learn to be flexible and roll with the punches. It's good to have a vision (Proverbs 29:18) and be intentional about your day, but remember: "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth His steps." Proverbs 16:9God often allows disruptions to teach us life lessons, bring blessings in disguise, remind us of our dependence on Him, and equip us with grace to overcome obstacles greater then our own strength could bear so that His name is ultimately glorified.
If supper doesn't get made, there's a pizzeria down the street; if school doesn't get done, there's always tomorrow; if the laundry doesn't get folded, we can live in wrinkly clothes for a week and no one will care; if I don't write a blog post, there are hundreds of thousands of other ones on the web for people to read.
If I develop a stinky attitude over a few interruptions and storm around miserably because I haven't gotten my way, the whole family suffers and I've just made keeping a growing home appear to be the worst trial a woman can endure.
This is not what I want for my daughters. It's not what I want for you.
So please don't take my schedule too seriously. :) My Daily Schedule 6:30-7:15: wake-up, personal devotions, get dressed, nurse Anna while checking emails. Flag any messages that need a reply.
7:15-7:30: write, schedule or publish blog posts, schedule Facebook and Twitter updates (I can pre-schedule updates on Facebook which are synced to my Twitter account)
7:30-8:15: wake kids up, change diapers, get dressed, have breakfast (smoothie).
8:15-8:40: Bible Time

• Bible Story
• Sing A Psalter
• Recite memory verse
• Pray

• Charity (4) works in her Rod & Staff textbooks at the kitchen table
• Judah (2) plays in the kitchen sink (I fill it up part way with water and give him a few toys) or colors a picture
• Anna (7 months) bounces in the exersaucer
• I start supper prep when Charity has independent work to do

• playtime
• I might throw a load of laundry in the washer and check my emails

• Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Charity on the couch
• Judah usually like to sit beside us and sound out the blends too
• Anna goes down for her morning nap

• Read from our weekly selection of books we borrowed from the library or do a craft that involves both kids

• kids play outside in the sandbox
• I throw laundry in the dryer, clean up kitchen, or start working on an odd project like switching out the winter/summer clothes or organizing the pantry

• Charity is allowed a few books in bed (if she's tired enough, she'll fall asleep)
• Judah and Anna nap

• write blog posts, answer emails, reply to advertising inquiries, working on reviews or eBooks, reply to comments, and interact with my Facebook community

Part 1: Keeping A Growing Home | A Management Series for Moms Part 2: Keeping A Growing Home | Know Your Role! Part 3: Keeping A Growing Home | Making Priorities & 15 Good Things I Don't Do Part 4: Keeping A Growing Home | Time-Saving Home Management Tips Part 5: Keeping A Growing Home | My Daily Schedule

If you enjoyed this post, you may wish to follow Growing Home for updates via Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, or have them emailed directly to your inbox. In the interest of full disclosure,some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I receive a small commission. I only recommend products I use personally. Thank you for your continued support!
Linking to: Raising Homemakers, Deep Roots At Home, Raising Arrows, A Wise Woman.,Walking Redeemed, The Better Mom, The Modest Mom, A Mama's Story, We ARE That Family, Raising Mighty Arrows, Hearts For Home, Frugal Homeschool Family,

It took a few years of being surprised each time I peeled off the shell before I finally thought to ask Brad's Mom, a master with food, how to guarantee a perfectly boiled egg each time.

When I used my own method, soft-boiled eggs would turn out runny, and hard-boiled eggs resulted in an ugly gray film around the yolks. Now, they turn out perfect every time! Here's my mother-in-law's secret:
For soft-boiled eggs (pictured above): Add eggs (don't use fresh ones as they're harder to peel) to a saucepan and cover with cold water. Dribble in a little vinegar and a dash of salt. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Turn the burner off and cover the pan with a lid. Set the timer for 6 minutes. Immediately immerse eggs in cold water to stop the cooking process. Peel, slice, and enjoy!
For hard-boiled eggs: Repeat the same steps above, only increasing the cooking time to 8 minutes instead of six.
My lunch above consists of a whole grain pita, old cheddar, mayo, organic salad greens, and a boiled egg seasoned with freshly ground pepper and sea salt. So easy, so yummy!

Carrying Anna outside to pick some beans from our garden for supper, I sighed.

The patio was more green than grey with all the weeds coming up through the cracks. The hose lay in a tangled mess off to the side and toys from the sandbox littered the yard. The flower beds looked like they were in need of a good drink and weeds had begun to crowd out the herbs I had planted in the vegetable garden.

The kiddie pool in serious need of a good cleaning, and our weedy patio. The lawn showed serious signs of neglect too. Not having been cut in two weeks, the grass had reached that unpleasant length where your ankles get tickled by the blades and bit by mosquitoes that had found a home near the roots.

I picked a bowl full of beans and returned to the house. Weeds were poking through the pavement in the driveway too. I opened the door and felt a hot tear trickle down my cheek. I quickly brushed it away. The kids were laughing hysterically together and I didn't want to rain on their parade.

Charity's dolls from Aunt Connie, all swaddled up and sleeping on the couch. Notice the pillows so they don't roll off? Toys strewn all over the living room showed signs of active imaginations and serious creativity. I like to have things neat and tidy for my dear husband when he gets home from work, but that clearly wasn't going to happen this day..not if I was going to have a nice dinner ready and Anna fed by the time he walked in the door too.

I felt deflated, hypocritical, and way behind on everything. I write about the joys of motherhood and being a homemaker, but today I just wasn't feeling it as I stared a sink full of unwashed dishes, enough food underneath the table to add an egg and make a casserole, and a long to-do list of things that still needed to be done: laundry, bath the kids, make supper, clean out the van, etc., etc.

It's not that my husband doesn't pitch in. He does, more than any other husband I know. He works hard all day and then comes home is a SuperDad to our kids and a loving husband to me. He washes, dries, and puts away the dishes after dinner, gives the kids piggy-back rides around the house while they shriek with delight, brushes their teeth, reads them stories before bed, and tucks them in at night. Then he pays our bills, runs errands I didn't get to during the day, and often brings me back a little surprise like Reese's or ice cream. He's a champion in every way so this feeling of "way behindishness" I get doesn't come from him.

Our tiny kitchen, looking well-used. :-) The unreasonable standard I had set for myself was self-imposed and largely influenced by staged photos on Pinterest and the comparison game I played with other homemakers. No one was telling me I had to serve gourmet meals every night, keep a spotless, well-organized home, and dress my children in trendy clothes that matched. But somehow I had gotten the idea that doing all these things would mean I was being successful in my role as a wife, mother, and homemaker.

Brad walked in the door and I didn't greet him like I normally do. I knew I'd probably have a melt down so I kept washing dishes. Silly of me really, because he knows his wife well and immediately knew something was up. He kissed my on my cheek and asked, "Hi Sweetheart. How was your day?"

I lost it. His kind gesture was no match for the frustrations I had pent up inside and the tears started flowing while I rattled off my list of failures. "I didn't get anything done today. The grass still needs to be cut, supper's not ready and we've already had cereal or take-out twice this week, Anna needs to be fed again, Charity's out of clean underwear, and I can't remember the last time I gave the kids a proper bath!" For emphasis, I added, "I just can't do it any more. Sometimes I think I'd just be better off at work."

Brad knew I didn't mean that. He put his hands on my waist and looked me in the eye. "The reason you feel like you didn't get anything done today, is because you were busy doing more important things." He glanced over at our three busy kids and continued. "I don't care if we have to eat take-out every night, or use paper plates for a while, or if the wash doesn't get folded. If you get nothing done all day but the kids are happy, then I'm happy too!"

I thought back on our day. It started with me crawling into Charity's bed for our morning snuggle. She told me all about how her stuffed animals had behaved at night. Judah had peed through his diaper, so I washed him up before breakfast and started a load of laundry. We had our usual smoothies, read the story of Jonah for devotions, and prayed that God would keep Daddy safe at Opa's shop and give us clean hearts that love Him above all and our neighbors as ourselves.

Judah's raspberries. Then I read Charity a chapter from Little House in the Big Woods while I nursed Anna. Judah can't sit that long, so he played "excavators" on the coffee table. After making sure everyone had gone to the bathroom, and the diaper bag was packed, we went to my aunt's farm to pick raspberries.

"See Mom? If you just squish them like this, then we don't have to make jam when we get home!"

"I'm picking all the tiny little hard ones 'cause they're SOOOO cute!"

"Look, Mom! I picked all the white ones! We can just pick off the green prickles after."

Anna had decided she was finished before we started, so I discovered how fast I can pick with one hand while rocking a screaming baby: 2 quarts in half an hour.

We made it home in time for lunch. I had some leftover chocolate drizzle from a cheesecake so I made happy faces on their peanut-butter sandwiches. They were over the moon with delight.

After nap-time, we took a walk across the road to the park and cooled off for a few minutes at the splash pad. Back home, Charity wanted to do "school," so she found her books and pencils and I showed her how to make the number three. "Around a tree and around a tree. This is how to make a three!" we sang together.

Throughout the day there were squabbles to break up, attitudes to adjust, meltdowns to clean up, time-outs for tempers, kisses for boo-boos, apologies given and accepted, and hugs for the emotionally distraught.

Brad was right. I may not have gotten much done by way of housework, but alongside me had been three little sidekicks whose minds and hearts, for better or for worse, were being shaped, molded, and influenced by their Mom.

The weight of my responsibility struck me. I wasn't raising children here, I was raising adults. I was forming the next generation of fathers and mothers. I was shaping the characters of those who would raise our grandchildren. There was so much I needed to teach them, so much discipling that needed to happen in their tender hearts as well as mine.

The laundry, dirty house, and weeds in the patio will still be there one day when I have time to play catch up. But I'll never be able to play catch up with my kids. My time with them is slipping away like hourglass sand and I can't stop it.

So, while I'd like to maintain an immaculate house, keep our patio weed-free, and cut out the take-out, I've only got one chance at this Mom thing. Charity is three years old - almost four. If she marries at the same age I did, I have just 14 short years left before she leaves the nest. The first three have come and gone in a blink of an eye. Five more blinks and it's over.
"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Deuteronomy 6:7 Truth is, if you're way behind on everything except time spent with your kids, you're way ahead.

Linking to: Raising Homemakers, Deep Roots At Home, We Are That Family, Raising Arrows, A Wise Woman., Walking Redeemed, The Better Mom, The Modest Mom, A Mama's Story

With the official start of summer, comes the official start of soaking up the sun on restaurant patios.

Here are a few of my recommendations in Regina:

Cafe Orange: At the moment, Orange is doing coffee and sweets, but they tell me that a full menu is coming soon. Hopefully by Canada Day. In just two years, this place has gone from a coffee house/kitchenware store; to an all-out coffee house; and now a restaurant. The latest transformation looks to be the best. And the deck out front on Robinson Street (by the 13th Ave. Safeway) is so new you can still smell the sweet scent of new wood. (306) 779-0779 (no website)

Sweet Bakery and Coffee House: An ever-expanding list of baked goods, combined with comfortable surrounds in a heritage building (and a very nice, if small, patio outside) are turning this new Broad Street place near College Avenue into a favourite of many. Recommend an Americano with a Lemon Tart, if you're at a loss. (306) 352-9338 (no website)

La Bodega: the treetop patio at this Cathedral Village favourite is... tops, no pun intended. Sip a few drinks or have lunch high above the Albert Street traffic. You won't even notice the cars going by. www.labodegaregina.com / (306) 546-3660

Fireside Bistro: while opinions on Fireside often vary, their patio on the corner of Smith Street and 15th Avenue is second to none. Definitely worth a drink or two and an appetizer on a hot day. (306) 761-2305 (no website)

Beer Bros.: Watch the people go by on downtown's pedestrianized portion of Scarth Street. Beer Bros newly refinished patio is small but full of sunshine. Stop by and sample an exotic beer whose name you can't even pronounce (and that's before you start drinking). www.beerbros.ca / (306) 586-2337

Atlantis: This downtown coffee spot isn't licensed for liquor, but that doesn't keep the crowds away. Open from the early morning until late, and offers free wireless. Oh, and the artwork on the walls is all by local artists. www.atlantiscoffee.com / (306) 565-2213

More to come! Please follow the blog for updates to this list, and new reviews.
Follow me on Twitter: @The_FoodDude

Need a little drama on your lunch hour?

Head to Old City Hall Mall on Thursday, March 11, for the official Soup Duel between Beer Bros. and The Willow on Wascana.

Beer Bros. is fronting its Traditional Ale and Cheddar Soup against The Willow's Land Chowder. Who will win? Well, that depends how many bowls of each soup are slurped. Bowls go for $5 each with all proceeds to the Z99 Radiothon.

Last year the restaurants raised $1,700 on a -40 degree day. Perhaps this year's far-warmer temps will help them go the extra mile.

Soup will be dished up starting at 11:30 a.m.