Peasant Cookery Restaurant, 283 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Stopping in for cocktails at Peasant Cookery in Winnipeg provides a great opportunity to find some original ways to sample Manitoba–Canada’s–premiere whisky: Crown Royal.

Crown Royal blended whisky is the top selling Canadian whiskey in the United States. Blended from 50 special whiskies in a distillery just outside Winnipeg, Manitoba, at Gimli, the whiskey has a long tradition of being the “best” of the best. It was, as its name suggests, originally created in honour of the Royal family, in this case, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, way back  in 1939.

Those first cases were delivered to the royal train when the royal couple arrived in Manitoba. For more about the 1939 Royal Tour, see the television and radio clips from CBC radio at: http://archives.cbc.ca/society/monarchy/topics/2367/

Kaitlynd Landry, bartender at Peasant Cookery in Winnipeg, mixing cocktails with Crown Royal whiskey.

Peasant Cookery’s innovative young bartender, Kaitlynd Landry, spent three months developing their cocktail list after intensive training in the classroom and on-the-job.

The Cocktails

Like a wine tasting, I sampled three Crown Royal cocktails before choosing my favorite to order.

• The Manitoban — Crown Royal, Chambord, fresh beet juice, brown sugar simple syrup, and rhubarb bitters.
• Smoked Vanilla Manhattan — Crown Royal, Cinzano, smoked vanilla infused maple syrup, whiskey barrel aged bitters.
• Blue Divine — Crown Royal, fresh blueberries, lemon juice, simple syrup, and soda water.

I slotted The Manitoban, which reminded me of borscht (that I do love!) into third spot, and the strong, sweet whisky taste of the Smoked Vanilla Manhattan into second. Blue Divine, with its tart blueberry flavour, was easily my favourite.

Give these cocktails a try and let me know what you think!

Crown Royal Video

Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, Yukon

by Sourtoe Linda (Aksomitis)
That’s right–I’ve got the right to call myself a Sourtoe–even have a piece of paper issued by the Yukon Order of the Sourtoe Club to prove it. The Sourtoe Club was started in 1973, and my certificate, dated March 3, 2006, is numbered 20874, so I’m far from the first–or last–sourtoe!

Exactly how do you get to be a Sourtoe? Well, it’s not for the squeamish or weak of spirit (spirits however,  consumed in great quantities, do make the whole process easier to take). My liquor of choice was peppermint schnapps, a strong enough flavor to hide whatever taste the pickled toe in the shooter glass might have. Indeed, the sourtoe is a REAL human toe, complete with a brown-stained, cracked toenail and a few hairs.

The process is simple. Your ounce of alcohol is poured into a shot glass over the sourtoe. You, the inductee, need to down all the fluid while being carefully observed to make sure that the toe comes in contact with your lips as you drink. There is, of course, a chant and ceremony, as spectators all watch to confirm (or deny) the drinker’s claim to have touched the sourtoe.

This notorious Yukon Order of the Sourtoe Club was founded by Captain Dick Stevenson. Why? In response to a dare of course–what other reason could there be?

Legend has it that Stevenson discovered the petrified remains of a human toe under the floorboards of an old miner’s cabin on the Sixtymile River. The toe made the rounds of local saloons, until someone dared Stevenson to stop flapping his lips and use them to prove himself by putting them to a drink with the sourtoe in and swallow it instead. As chance would have it, a newspaper reporter happened to be present, and the legend was born.

Captain Dick, owner of the Downtown Hotel, carries on the tradition. The toes, which only a few brave (crazy) souls have swallowed, are donated by people, mostly Yukoners, who lose a toe to some calamity, such as frostbite. The Sourtoe induction ceremony takes place in the Downtown Hotel’s lower level, in the Sourdough Saloon.

During Trek Over the Top sleds fill the streets in front of the Downtown Hotel

The Downtown Hotel, as you might imagine with the Sourdough Saloon, is a happening place in Dawson City. During the 2006 Trek Over the Top, when I visited Dawson, it was our central location, where we knew we could sit down for an hour and always find either a friendly local Yukoner, or visiting Trekker, to talk with.

As well as activities that might not suit the faint-of-heart, the Downtown Hotel also provides a classy dining room that rivals any hotel. In the Jack London Diner, on the hotel’s main floor, you can expect to fine white linen and candles, along with some great food. I had the Arctic Char, a local favorite, and highly recommend it.

Jack London, who the dining room is named for, was a writer who brought the spirit of the Yukon to the World. His most well known book is Call of the Wild, although he wrote over 50 novels and stories. London, an adventurer born in 1876 in San Francisco, landed in the Yukon in the winter of 1897 and found his own kind of gold in the Klondike Gold Rush, when he began publishing.

Along with bringing the wild to life, London also was an activist somewhat ahead of his times. One of the most publicized figures of his day, he supported socialism, women’s suffrage, and eventually, prohibition. He was among the first writers to work with the movie industry, and his novel The Sea-Wolf became the basis for the first full-length American movie. He was also one of the first celebrities to use his endorsement for commercial products in advertising, including dress suits and grape juice.
Downtown Hotel in Dawson City

The Downtown Hotel is a great place for fun!

The name, Jack London Diner, seemed to fit right into the Downtown Hotel!

Of course, one of the key things people look for in a hotel is a comfortable place to sleep. We weren’t disappointed on that point either! Our room was one of the 34 in the main part of the Downtown Hotel, which was renovated in 2002. Although we didn’t visit the Annex, which has an additional 25 rooms, glass roof atrium, courtyard, and jacuzzi, we certainly heard about the fun other Trek Over the Top participants had!

During other parts of the year, when visitors don’t seem to be just on snowmobiles, the Downtown Hotel offers a limousine service to the airport and transportation around Dawson City. Mind you it’s only a block or two to some of Dawson City’s other attractions, including Diamond Tooth Gertie’s gambling hall.

So, when you check in to the Downtown Hotel, tell them Sour Toe Linda sent you!

For More Info:

Make a reservation at the Downtown Hotel: http://www.downtownhotel.ca/

Find out more about Trek Over the Top at: http://www.trekoverthetop.com/

Find out more about Jack London:  http://london.sonoma.edu/

Copyright September 2006 by Linda Aksomitis

by Linda Aksomitis

Diamond Tooth Gertie -- mural of Klondike Goldrush in background

Diamond Tooth Gertie’s may feel like you’ve turned back the clock to the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s, until you look around and see, not miners, but snowmobilers sporting their bright yellow, red, and green jerseys. Indeed, Gertie’s is the gathering place for the hundreds of snowmobile drivers that make the Trek Over the Top, Tok to Dawson Poker Run, three consecutive weekends beginning in the end of February each winter. And Gertie does know how to throw a party!

The weekend truly begins for trekkers as they check in with Canadian Customs, who set up a table at the entrance of Gertie’s. From there, it’s on to the main event–a good time!

Diamond Tooth Gertie’s opened for business in 1971, as Canada’s first and only legal gambling hall, bar, and cancan show parlour. The building however, has a lot more history, since it was erected in 1901 as a home for the fraternal Arctic brotherhood. Today the hall is a nonprofit facility operated by the Klondike Visitor Association.

There really was a Diamond Tooth Gertie though, who came to Dawson’s dance halls during the Gold Rush era–Gertie Lovejoy. The Diamond tooth part, as you might have guessed, came about because of a diamond she wore between her teeth when she danced. The Gertie from that era–as befit a woman in the time of Queen Victoria–was a lot more demure than the modern Gertie. She wore typical Victorian attire that covered arms and front, and danced, not the cancan, but a waltz, polka, reel, or schottische. Miners, for the pleasure of holding her for a one or two minute dance, paid the handsome sum of twenty-five cents! Gertie went on to marry one of Dawson’s prominent lawyers, although she never truly lived down her earlier employment in the dance hall.

Contestants in the Hawaiian Costume Competition

Trekkers are treated to two banquets at Gertie’s: one Friday night and one Saturday night. The theme of our first night, for those who had room to squish suitable clothes into whatever bags they could strap to their sleds, was Hawaiian night.

The contest to determine the best apparel took awhile, and kept us roaring with laughter. It truly seemed to me there might have been some reincarnated gold miners having their fun with us, from the get-ups that took the stage.

Of course, one of the main attractions of a banquet is the food. Friday night snowmobile club members barbequed up some baked ham, complete with pineapple and other assorted Hawaiian trimmings.

Let the Games Begin at Diamond Tooth Gertie's

Once the meal was cleared, Diamond Tooth Gertie and the girls came out to do a performance, so the night really started to roll. It was amazing how fast the dining tables could shove back and the gambling casino roll out, so the Yukon’s best gambling tables were soon packed.

The Saturday night banquet at Gertie’s proved to be just as tasty as the first one–this time local snowmobilers barbequed up steaks with all the fixin’s, even for those of us who were lucky (?) enough to be the very last table called. Me, naturally.

Saturday night featured some stiff competition for Diamond Tooth Gertie and her girls–the Yukon Snow Shoe Shufflers. It may seem like an odd name until you actually see the girls. For indeed, these talented dancers wear snow shoes on their feet, and as they say: “Over 100 years ago, the Yukon played host to the greatest gold rush in history. Thousands of stampeders made their way valiantly over the mountains, and through the valleys, to lay claim to the rich Klondike goldfields. Hot on their heels came the women… who mined the miners! They were a hearty breed… fleet of whit, strong of courage and thick of thigh!”

Snow Shoe Shufflers doing 'the strip' at Diamond Tooth Gertie's

The Snow Shoe Shufflers began as a joke–one that has entertained audiences across Alaska, the Territories, and the Western Canadian provinces, for more than two decades. They’ve appeared on international television in Europe and Asia and on CTV’s morning show and Much Music, as well as on the Big Breakfast Show in Edmonton.

The current line of dancers includes: Lake Lebarge Marj (one of the original creators); Rat River Mary (the other original creator); D-9 Dori; Gold Claim Lorraine; Mystical Melanie; Gold Dust Darlene; and Tricky Vicky.

While the Shufflers originally started out with just a two-minute dance, their repertoire has expanded to include a number of different acts, all of which include their snow shoes! They currently perform the: the Charleston, the Colonel Boogie, the Snowshoe Shuffle line dance and the Half Full Monty.

We trekkers, however, were also treated to a dance that included some snowmobilers, who, needless to say, weren’t quite as adept on snow shoes as on skis!

Snow Shoe Shufflers and some imposters!

While you may not get to meet the Snow Shoe Shufflers unless you visit Diamond Tooth Gertie’s during the Trek Over the Top weekend, you’re sure to have a good time anyway. If you’re not a snowmobiler try Whitehorse’s Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous, where they volunteer.

So, when you stop into Diamond Tooth Gertie’s, tell them Sour Toe Linda sent you–they’ll know what you mean.

For More Info:

Meet the Snow Shoe Shufflers at: http://members.tripod.com/snowshoe_shufflers/id2.html

Find out more about Trek Over the Top at: http://www.trekoverthetop/

Copyright September 2006 by Linda Aksomitis. All Rights Reserved.

by Linda Aksomitis

Old world pubs and patios. Windows and doors thrown open to the street. Laughter. Lively discussion. Classic buildings telling tales of gold and treasure. Paris? Rome? No, Whyte Avenue in Edmonton, Alberta’s Old Strathcona District.

Hudson's on Whyte Avenue

My husband, David, and I, have specific tastes as tourists, and Old Strathcona comes out on top in weekend getaways for us. While Whyte Avenue’s historic surroundings certainly are part of the attraction, the Strathcona atmosphere suits our fun-loving lifestyle perfectly.

Our weekend started with check-in at one of Edmonton’s boutique hotels, the Metterra at 10454 Whyte Avenue, when the valet whisked the rental away, and hotel staff took care of the remaining details. From there it just got better and better!

We set out to explore Old Strathcona, which spreads out along Whyte Avenue between 102 and 109 Street, as well as a four-block section off of 103 and 104 Street. Incorporated as a town in 1899, its name comes from Lord Strathcona, an icon who embodied the spirit of the west, starting life simply as Donald A. Smith, but during the seventy-seven years between birth and being elevated to peerage by Queen Victoria in 1897, was a Hudson’s Bay Governor, Member of Parliament, railway financier and Canadian High Commissioner.

Elephant and Castle

The spirit of Lord Strathcona is very much alive along Whyte Avenue, as we soon discovered. Hard worker, idealist, adventurer, Lord Strathcona was many things, but when he drove the last spike in the Transcontinental Railway in 1885, uniting 3700 miles of provinces and territories into a nation, he proved he was a visionary who could turn dreams into reality. The same thing is true for the many privately owned businesses along Whyte Avenue, who forestalled the wrecking ball and worked to create a cultural hub in Edmonton.

During a group tour I learned some of the buildings in Strathcona can trace their history back to the boomtown era when goldrush fever lured men from across North America into the Klondike. Thousands plodded with horses and wagons through Edmonton between 1891 and 1899, staking their life savings on dreams of gold nuggets. Businesses grew in response, and the Ritchie Mill, first opened in 1893, is the oldest surviving mill in Alberta and possibly the earliest of its kind in Canada. One of the buildings that took my eye was Strathcona’s Fire Hall, which was built in 1910, and is the only surviving fire hall of its age and type remaining in Alberta.

Dominion Hotel

Many of the buildings, like the Dominion Hotel, retain their historic exteriors, while having been completely refurbished inside. I couldn’t resist peeking in and picking up some small gifts at the shops. Mind you, we made lots of intriguing stops along Whyte Avenue: When Pigs Fly; Chicken Scratch; The Plaid Giraffe; Shell Shock; and The Tin Box!

One of the amazing things about visiting Edmonton in the summer is the length of the days–when I checked my watch it was already 8 p.m. with a temperature still in the upper 20s (80s), and the sun high in the sky. A day’s shopping can certainly be more than anticipated, much to David’s dismay.

Souvenirs gathered, it was time to start sampling the entertainment along Whyte Avenue. First came something to drink, so we plopped onto stools at a table for two in Hudsons, and ordered mugs of beer, along with my bar favourites, hotwings (very hot I might add) and ribs. With so many options, though, there was no time to linger, so we worked our way to O’Byrne’s, which was reputed to have one of the best patios along with Celtic music. We weren’t disappointed either!

After a few songs we wandered back to the Metterra to drop off the camera, so we could scout out dancing spots for the evening, and were drawn to the almost-packed Julio’s Barrio and Mexican Restaurant right next door–lively Latin music pulled me in, while the mouth-watering smell of fajitas on the grill enticed me to sit down and order dinner to follow the appetizers we’d already eaten.

Conversations with the locals tipped us off to the “Blues on Whyte” pub in the historic Commerical Hotel, so we were soon off once again. We settled in right beside the dance floor, and at the first beats of the music knew we’d be there until long after dark finally fell, when we’d make the short trek back to the Metterra. We had it all: fabulous music, great service, friendly people (David even ended up coming home with a new hat he traded for), and conversation. What more can you want in an evening?

Our second day we explored more of Edmonton, but, like many other visitors we knew to this fine city, Whyte Avenue and the Old Strathcona district became our favourite memory to take home and share with friends.

If you visit:

Discover more about Old Strathcona at: http://www.oldstrathcona.ca/ and http://www.strathcona.org/

Published September 7, 2006.