SEW HUNGRY!!! (CAPS NECESSARY)

The masses came, saw and waited in extremely long lines at Hamilton's Sew Hungry. A food truck rally that has become an annual delight in Hammer Town. The event takes place on Ottawa Street, which is known for it's tailors, seamstresses, and all things to do with sewing...hence Sew Hungry being the name. The Ottawa Street BIA is all to blame for this gastro-riffic day. Thank you.

There are over 40 food trucks as well as local restaurants to choose from. I saw so many interesting choices and I wish I could have tried them all. Unfortunately I only have one stomach and not enough dolla, dolla bills to make that wish a reality. Some of the most interesting ones I saw were  Texas Tornado, The Big Chief Fresh Food Company (Native American food), Mike's Dog House, El Gastronomo Vagabundo and Gringo Gourmet. Hamilton's old faithfuls were out as well including Gorilla Cheese and Southern Smoke Truck.

 My friend Kristen works on the Food Man and Culture Boy truck. She told me that she is obsessed with the duck tacos so I decided to try that while my friend Jolene had a Portobello Burger at another truck. I am glad that she talked me into that little delicacy. The duck taco had duck confit, mango, fennel, green onion, hoisin and siracha. WOW! What a totally interesting mixture of flavours. It tasted like summer. The weather felt like summer too so that worked out well (minus the sunburn I acquired).

Kristen hanging out/workin hard on the Food Man and Culture Boy truck.

Delicious Duck Tacos.

Me likey.

There is a lot more than just food trucks to go check out. There are lots of unique little shops and vendors on Ottawa and what would a food truck rally be without the host of the food network's, Eat Street, James Cunningham. He is hanging out down there and doing a book signing for his new book, Eat St.

If you're reading this and it is still May 3rd, 2013 you are in luck. You have not missed out on this event just yet. It runs from 4-8pm tonight so now you know where you're going for dinner. You're welcome. Enjoy.

Oh Come All Ye Faithful...Or Whatever

As some of you may or may not know I can be a bit of a grinch about the holidays. Maybe it's because my birth was unlucky enough to fall on the same day as the sweet baby Jesus or maybe I just hate how commercialized Christmas has become OR maybe I'm just an angry person underneath and crowded malls and the sappy, stupid look people get this time of year just really get my blood boiling. Either way I can at least admit that I am a tad irrational about my holiday hatred and you know...they say the first step is admitting you have a problem.

No spirit eh well...here I am dressed as Santa for charity. I was also the victim of a random mistletoe attack.

Now don't get me wrong, some things do still give me that warm, goofy feeling of sugar plum fairies and candy canes. Very few. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, the way my mom won't let anybody in the living room in the morning so we can't see what "Santa" left us, and in the past couple of years the Holiday Makers' Market on James Street North are what get me in the Christmas spirit.

Market Poster

James Street North has become so popular in Hamilton thanks to art crawls and supercrawls and yes many of the vendors at the holiday market are regulars at those crawls but something about going to this particular market just screams Christmas to me.

I have been a regular attendee to this market for the past few years and I have found amazing, beautiful, handmade gifts every year. Something about giving somebody something they can't buy in a store and that nobody else in the world has but them is so special. Plus getting my shopping done there and avoiding the chaos of the mall doesn't hurt either. 

Make it one of your traditions!!

Plenty of great, original gift ideas all under one big beautiful roof. Christ's Church Cathedral, located at 252 James St. North really reminds me of Europe. The cathedrals I've seen over there are just awe-inspiring. Even if you're not religious the beauty can still really move you. I've had those experiences. I cried in Notre Dame in Paris because I was so moved. Christ's Church doesn't bring me to tears but for a church in Hamilton it is really very beautiful. I think it's funny that I love churches so much but am not religious, funny really.

Anyways the whole point of this was not to go on a tangent about religion, or churches or hating Christmas but it was to tell you that the Holiday Makers' Market is taking place THIS Saturday at Christ's Church Cathedral!! If, like me, you are not finished (or started) your holiday shopping you should definitely come check it out. I can almost guarantee you will find something wonderful. In fact it may be so wonderful that you decide to keep it for yourself instead of giving it as a gift.

Happy shopping.

Oh and PS. If none of this is enough to draw you down to the holiday market I must tell you that many of Hamilton's food trucks will also be attending. There. Now you have to come. See you there!! I'll be the slightly green one who's heart grew 3 sizes.

It's A Bird, It's A Plane. No! It's Supercrawl!

How should I start this weeks blog? I think there is one word that will do it. SUPERCRAWL! Yes friends, it happened. It came, it was awesome, and it left us with hopes and dreams for next year.

Hamilton has somehow become this mecca for the arts and it's definitely strange since we are known for being a steel city, not really for being artsy fartsy. I think we are starting to make a real name for ourselves in that area as well though. Over 50,000 folks came out for a weekend full of music, art, food and friends. A huge increase since the first Supercrawl held four years ago.

There is definitely a hunger from the youngsters in the Hammer to showcase their creativity and James St N. Art Crawl and Supercrawl is an amazing way to get their art out there as well as an opportunity to network and to really just embrace the community. I love the idea of 50,000 people all coming together for the same reason and it's great to see people really grabbing hold of some hometown pride. I saw a multitude of Hamilton love ranging from T-shirts to tattoos with Hamilton logos. It was...super!

Hamilton is blessed with some insane musical talent and there was definitely no limit of that at Supercrawl. There were lots of great Hamilton acts like Terra Lightfoot (Terra's Site! GO!) who is just incredible, as well as Wax Mannequin who is always an interesting act to watch. There were also lots of out of towners who came to entertain the masses. Great Lake Swimmers, Said the Whale and K'Naan were just a few and people were NOT disappointed. Click to see an awesome Great Lake Swimmers music video! Do it!

Not only was there great musical acts but there was an insane acrobatic fire show put on by the Fire Jammers. It was crazy. For crazy pyro action...click here!

The fact that this is all free is just mind blowing. Of course I bought a supercrawl button and apparently proceeds from that go to fund next years event so I really hope everybody bought buttons or donated so that we can continue to have this amazing gathering for lots of years to come!

I'm sad that it's over. It was such a great weekend. I want to do it all over again...and again, and again.

Here's a few pics from the crawl! Oh and go check out this story CBC Hamilton did on Supercrawl. I'm only directing you here because they used one of my tweets/pics in the storify section of the story and I was kind of intrigued by it. CBC Supercrawl Story.

My friend Kristen enjoying some delicious Sweet Ice at Supercrawl 2012.

Terra Lightfoot being awesome as usual at Supercrawl 2012.

One of the more disturbing pieces I saw at Supercrawl. That face is made of baby chicks. Straaaange.

Did you know that Mexican Coca-Cola is different from ours? Neither did I until we ate at Mex-I-Can during Supercrawl.

Fire Acrobats at Supercrawl 2012! Whaaat!!

Great Lake Swimmers. Super awesome Canadian music at Supercrawl 2012.

If you missed it this year and are really jealous don't worry...there's only another 360-ish days left until Supercrawl 2013!

Gore...The Park, Not An Injury Involving Blood And Guts

Last week I decided to go check out the summer promenade that is taking place at Gore Park. It goes every Wednesday-Friday from 11am to 5:30pm until September 15th. They have really advertised this saying there are lots of vendors and great food. Of course when I went down there was almost nothing there. There were a few food trucks but there was only one vendor.

I'm sure other days there is more going on. Either way it's a great way to use Gore Park as a pedestrian area as well as drawing people downtown. After wandering around there for a bit I went and checked out some stores that I never think to go to. I went to Cheapies, Dr. Disc, and a few others. It was really nice. I got some good deals too.

The Summer Promenade. Gore Park, Hamilton

 On the weekend one of Hamilton's most popular food trucks, Gorilla Cheese celebrated it's one year anniversary. They were parked at Gore for Saturday and Sunday for the celebrations. On Sunday the television show Eat St. was there to film a segment for one of their upcoming shows. How exciting for Gorilla Cheese to have gained that much attention in just one year of business. Amazing really. Of course I went down to this because I am not only a fan of Gorilla Cheese but a big fan of Eat St. I watch it all the time. I am getting hungry just writing this and remembering how yummy my Gorilla Cheese was. I had the El Jefe (Heffe) which is new and was DELICIOUS. It had smoked pork, ham, cheddar cheese, pickles and dijon mustard on it. I'm not even a huge pickle fan and I LOVED it!

My sister and I waiting in line for some Gorilla Cheese!

We met James Cunningham, the host of Eat St. I am holding a Gorilla Cheese :P

It's nice to see Gore Park being used for more than just drug deals, although I'm sure that still goes on. Thousands of people were there over the weekend and I hope that in time it can become a safer, more enjoyable community space.

Here's me standing in front of the fountain that has been in Gore Park since 1860.