The Coup Review

Good morning!  I hope everyone is doing well today 🙂

Today I wanted to post about the restaurant John and I went to for date night on Friday.  After phoning around to try and make reservations and continually get the “we only have 8:30 available….”  😦 ya that works when your on holiday, but not when you’ve worked a full day!  With that we decided to hit up the Coup as they don’t take reservations and have a great little bar attached to it.

The Coup is a vegetarian restaurant and the bar it is attached to is called Meet!  Hahaha I love the name.  We have been to this place a few times now over the last 5 years or so and are yet to have a bad meal there.

The cocktails caught our eye right off the bat and I had to try the Strawberry fields.  This drink was made out of muddled strawberries, white balsamic reduction, rhubarb bitters, gin, cracked pepper, and Prosecco.  It was such an interesting and delicious combination and not too sweet.  John had the Dirk Diggler which was a scotch with chambord, vermouth, and saskatoon berries socked in Burbon.  His drink was also lovely, but I liked mine more 😉

To start we shared the Beatnuts….. oh it was so good but disappeared far to quickly!

In this was raw beat, garlic, nuts, and seeds that was placed on top of some lovely goat cheese.  On the side were thick slices of cucumber to use as crackers.  I thought I was going to miss some bread or chips to put it on, but nope!  It was absolutely great as it was.  Creeping in on the side is my strawberry field drink!

For dinner I had the dragon bowl, which was a form of a stir fry with tofu.  It was absolutely packed with veggies that tasted really fresh.  The fun thing about this dish is that you get to customize it by picking either quinoa or brown rice and then choosing from many sauces.  I went with the brown rice and green curry sauce and loved my choice!  Sorry about the terrible photo but the lighting was low and I was to hungry to start messing around with lighting 😀

John decided we should have desert… well duh!  I thought he should pick it, since I was pretty full, and went with the salted caramel chocolate mouse with home made caramel corn.  I completely forgot to take a picture of this mostly because I was to busy fighting John for spoonfuls of the delightful concoction.  The portion of mouse was fairly small, which they told us in advance, but I don’t think the size needed to be any bigger.  It was so silk smooth with the right amount of sweet/salty.

Needless to say we will be a back again!

Questions:

1) Do you like vegetarian food or do you prefer to have meat with you meal?

HAPPY MONDAY MIMM 20/01/2014

Welcome to another beginning of the week!  How was your weekend?

Sorry I went a little MIA on Friday and over the weekend.  Unfortunately there was an event that occurred that had (has) me really down and just didn’t think it was respectful to try and sound happy go-lucky or anything along those lines.

But the weekend was fairly enjoyable, I am just shocked that it is over already 😦  And once again I took very few pictures… one day I will get into the habit.

So let’s jump into MIMM!  Thanks Katie!

Marvellous is… Getting my hair cut FINALLY!  It was getting a little ridiculously long, read half way down my back.  It is now at a very manageable shoulder length.  And get this, my hair stylist just did Paris Hilton’s hair for a show she was doing in Calgary!  How cool is that!?  He showed me the pics and everything 😀  I think the best one was of Paris (yes we are on a first name basis 😉 ) getting her hair done by one person, her make up by another, and her nails done all while typing with her other hand on her laptop.  I think that might the be ultimate in multi tasking.

Marvellous is… Date night with my man!  After I got my hair done Friday night, John and I headed out to the Coup for dinner.  It is a vegetarian place with some of the best food!  A review is likely on the books for tomorrow so I won’t give too much away, but we had a great night!

Marvellous is… Having two amazing friends over for dinner Saturday night.  We were finally able to have them over for dinner, after they have hosted countless a dinner.  John and I decided on a beer can chicken, roasted veggies, salad, and a Guinness cake.  I think it all turned out really well, we just need to get on top of our furniture/home decorating situation.

Marvellous was… Getting in a little gym time this morning followed by a lovely walk in the sun this afternoon.  We decided to head out to North Glenmore Park in Calgary, and what a great idea that was.  We had never been there and are glad we finally did.  The views of the mountains are incredible and it feels very woodsy in the middle of the city.

Marvellous was… having some great food over the last few days.  Pancakes, wraps, hot oatmeal, chicken, burgers… It was a delicious few days!

Marvellous are… These fabulous chewy granola bars that Amanda at Running with Spoons created!  I have a feeling that these aren’t going to last for long 😉

 

Marvellous is…Watching people become stronger and never giving up.  You know who you are 😉

Questions: 

1) What happened this weekend that you want to share?

2) How long do you go between hair cuts?

Thinking Out Loud Thursday 16/01/2014

B@#$%

“You either run from things, or you face them, Mr. White”

That opening was for my awesome friend but I G rated haha.  She is full of good ideas.  Turns out we are both really into breaking bad, so so good!

Well time to join up with the…

Party!  Thanks for hosting Amanda!

 

1) I can’t believe I got another late fine on my library card.  I think I might be a lost cause in getting books back to the library in time.  Did I mention I love my ipad?  I can’t wait to start using it as my book 😀

2) Work has been really really busy this week and I am going to use that as my excuse for lack of pictures in the post.  And by lack I mean none.  I actually feel really bad about this because having pictures of my day to look back on make me happy…. even if they usually only involve food, but then again food makes me happy

3) I hate ice in the winter more than anything.  Yes more than working late on a Friday or going to the dentist to get a tooth filled.  It makes me so nervous walking around on the sidewalks these days.  I know I am going to get a face full of cement in my future.  Why the ice?  Well it warmed up significantly over the last couple of days, I mean we are talking positive double digit highs.  This is creating a big melt–> freeze–> angry Christine face.  I complain about the cold and know I am complaining about the warmth haha sorry 🙂

4) I went for Fro Yo with a friend last night and it was amazing.  Well actually I am writing this post before heading out for it, but I have to doubt it will be amazing.  I am trying to figure out my flavour combination as I write this.

5) While I am writing this I am making an omelette for dinner and I have to share that I think I just mastered the omelette flip WHAHOOO

6) I think I have become addicted to running again, but I am okay with this.  I love how it gives me time to clear my mind and lets me refocus.  It is especially enjoyable when you get to run outside like I did at lunch time on Wednesday.  Aside from the ice it was a very pleasant run.

7) John and I are currently planning a date night for Friday and are currently trying to think of a restaurant to try.  Keep an eye out for another review coming your way 🙂  I can’t even remember the last time the two of us went out together.

8) I have been wanting to bake all week but always seem to loose interest at the end of the day.  Hopefully this weekend I will finally get a chance to make these which I have been drooling over at Running with spoons.

9) I am currently loving the TV series breaking bad.  John and I have been watching an episode every night this week (contributing to my baking lazies?) and marvel at how ingenious the writers are.  I want to be a chemist now haha

10) I am finally getting my hair cut tomorrow and am having a dilemma… do I go short on stay long?  decisions decisions…I guess we’ll see over the weekend 😉

Questions

1) tell me a thought that has been rolling around in your head!  (yes I know it’s not a question)

Winebar Kensington

Last night John and I decided we should head out on a romantic date night.  We really hadn’t been out together since our honeymoon a couple of months ago.  We wanted to go somewhere that is noted for good food, good wine, and a cozy atmosphere.  After reading several reviews we decided to try our luck at Winebar Kensington and what a great decision that was!

Winebar Kensington is a Tapas style restaurant with the menu on a chalkboard above the open kitchen.  It’s really hard to describe scene inside of the restaurant other than you almost feel like you are in a room in your house and someone is doing the cooking for you.  And WOW the food… ya… SO GOOD!  You can order as many or as few of the dishes you like.  It seems like some of the menu is permanent while the other half changes.  The wine and cheese menu is handed to you as you sit down.  John and I both decided that our game plan going in was to pick a few dishes and go for glasses of wine rather than a bottle.  Let me tell you, it was so hard to choose what we wanted from the menu as it had both of us drooling.  In the end we picked three dishes for our main and one dessert to share.

First up….

hand pulled mozzarella cheese, ripe tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, and fresh sourdough bread

This was absolutely fantastic!  That bread combined with everything on the plate… so so good.  And the cheese was so interesting, in a good way.  It was firmer than the fresh mozzarella I’ve had in the past and was just amazing.

These two dishes were up next…

Seared duck breast, balsamic reduction, crustini, and green beans

Handmade fettucini, grilled tomatoes, and rabbit

Again… WOW.  I just loved every bite.  Poor John had to fight me for the last bites and it almost came down to rock paper scissors on who got the last piece of duck and last bite of rabbit.  And I can’t say enough about the homemade pasta, tender yet toothsome!

After these three dishes we were feeling just right except for the knowledge that we couldn’t leave without dessert!  Enter…

Chocolate beet cake!

So sorry for the dark picture, it really doesn’t even start do do justice to this little piece of chocolate heaven.  The cake was moist and chocolatey without being overly sweet.  The butter cream on top was BRIGHT PINK with the beet juice!  How fun is that!  The icing wasn’t very sweet at all, which for us is just perfect!  Again fork wars took place over the last crumbs.

Oh and you guys the wines that you could choose by the glass were just phenomenal.  My favourite was the Bonarda Mendoza ARgentina Neito Reserva 2010.  I love big red wines with those chocolate cherry notes and this wine had exactly that!

All in all we had a great date night with good food, good wine, good service, and of course good company 😉  This is a great restaurant however picky eaters be warned that the menu is quite rustic!

XXOO