A delicious end to our vacation...

After Edmonton, my husband and I were picked up by my other cousin Jeff and his fiance, Tracy (from Calgary) and we chilled in Calgary for 2 more days! We checked out Southcentre mall - where (yay!) they had a Cassis, and I was able to pick up 2 more tops. We also went to Cross"Tron" Mills - which is Calgary's answer to the Primm outlets of Las Vegas. A half mall/half outlet mall type of deal. It was also good to me. I got a couple more tops from H&M and a couple tops from Gap Outlet. I also got these "neck-injury inducing" necklaces for 50% off. Seriously fab, but I need an appointment with a good chiropractor now. Still, I've been telling everyone that one must suffer for fashion! hehe.

Anyhoo...we also had some very good eats in Calgary! We checked out Milestones for lunch. I had a delicious "Grilled Shrimp California Benedict" with avocado and shrimp and yes, it tasted marvelous!

Then for dinner we went to this placed called Mercato. OMG it was so good. We had a caprese salad and the cheese was so soft and smooth - it was like a pillow of goodness, along with the sweet tomatoes and salty olive tapenade...it was seriously to die for.

For our entree we ordered "Bistecca" (Steak) and "Tonno" (Tuna) with "Fagioline" (green beans) and they served it "Family style" (that is - they put it in the middle of the table and everyone just digs in)...Delicioso!

It was on to Cheesecake Cafe for dessert! My husband had the Red Velvet Cheesecake and I had the Turtle Cheesecake...mmmm...

The following day, we hung out in Downtown Calgary (we even took the bus AND train!) but the highlight was going to "D" Haute (actually it was called QHaute, but I couldn't stop calling it D Haute) for lunch. This was a gourmet french restaurant, that was fancier than I thought it would be (only because, my cousin's fiance, Tracy kept saying that lunch was only going to be $15 and it included a starter AND an entree!) For that price I kept thinking that we were not going to be eating much, especially at a fancy restaurant like this...well I was wrong.

 We all ordered the soup of the day which was the Carrot and Cardamom soup.  We were thinking it would come out in a little cup (considering the price). Nope. It came out like this:

Our entrees were also quite good. I had the linguine with shrimp in a white wine butter sauce.

mmm...

My husband and Tracy both had the duck confit. (Duck Confit for $15.00!! I never heard!)

fancy shmancy!

Since the meal was only $15, my husband decided to order one more meal so he ordered the Caesar salad and Saffron and Tiger Prawn Risotto which the 3 of us shared.  I'm serious when I say that this tiger prawn was THE most flavorful piece of shellfish that I have ever eaten.

risotto done right...

rum baba w/ strawberries and gelato

And of course we just HAD to have dessert...We chose the rum baba ( which I think we chose because of the name) and the espresso brulee that came with some kind of tart that I don't recall the name of and some vanilla bean gelato. Wunderbar! All in all, definitely good eats and a great time in Calgary as well. I lived there for 4 months and I never knew. Craziness!!

espresso brulee w/ tart and gelato

PS. Thanks to all my family in Alberta (Edmonton and Calgary) for the wonderful time! You guys are the best!