In the depths of a prairie winter, where do you find warmth?
by Steve Grubich
In the depths of a prairie winter, where do you find warmth?
You could head south to a resort, cruise or snow angel community. Or, you could go to Edmonton’s French Quarter. Warm winter experiences are waiting there for you.
“Bonjour,” she says as I step forward to the counter to scan the overhead menu board. It’s in French. In this moment, I wish I had taken French beyond the required first year of high school. “Ummm un café s’il vous plaît?” She smiles. “Would you like something to eat with your coffee? That moment was my first contact with on-purpose, Franco-Albertan hospitality.
I discovered Café Bicyclette on a morning walk, shortly after moving to Bonnie Doon, a mature central-east neighbourhood just south of the North Saskatchewan River. Not only was 2013 a transition year for me, it was also one for La Cité Francophone, the home of Café Bicyclette.
Over two decades La Cité Francophone had developed in reputation and feel into an office building. The office building vibe was a symptom, a by-product of where the local Franco-Albertan community was headed, to becoming a closed community. Even with a performing arts theatre, “the building was alive for only 20 minutes before and after shows,” said executive director Daniel Cournoyer over a late afternoon coffee.
Cournoyer took on the executive director role in 2012 with clear intentions to transform La Cité Francophone into a true cultural center. “We could be firmly Franco-Albertan, open and hospitable.” His hands animate the transformational vision, tightly cupped for the office building era and palms up and stretching out when describing the idea of a welcoming La Cité. The bistro café was part of that vision.
I’ve been to Café Bicyclette many times since that first encounter. This is where I visit with friends, read, meet with clients and snack on the best poutine in town. A variety of francophone sounds fill the air courtesy grandmère’s HiFi playing vinyl records. Sometimes I chat with people at an adjacent table. This is how I met Pierrette Requier, local poet and Strolling Poets Society organizer.
“Art happens there,” she says about Café Bicyclette. This is true. I go to a lot of live theatre. When in people-watching mode, it’s common to see familiar artists in a working meeting at the café, then later that year, live on-stage together.
Welcoming artists and dignitaries is part of Requier’s leadership role (including Edmonton’s Poet Laureate 2015-2017). For French speaking visitors, the first stop after the airport pickup is Café Bicyclette. They are amazed. “It’s as if this café was transported whole from Montréal,” she says.
The blackboard menu is only in French. “We had a quick reference guide for a while, with images such as a chicken. But, we always come back to that menu being only in French.” says Cournoyer. (There is a written English menu both in the café and online.)
Why? “The personal exchange with staff to understand menu options initiates patrons to Café Bicyclette culture,” he says. A French immersion student ordering brunch for their English-speaking parents. Brief catch-ups with regulars. “These are important moments. We make time for these moments to happen,” he says.
Prairie winters give many good reasons to stay indoors. La Cité Francophone chooses to move beyond good reasons and embrace this time of year with the winter patio and outdoor events.
“I wanted the winter patio to be like my cabin at the lake,” says Cournoyer. Chopped wood creates a wall near wood-burning stoves. Lounge style chairs, coffee tables and plentiful blankets are an invitation for long visits and Friday live music nights.
Every February, team La Cité extend their warm embrace into nearby Millcreek Ravine. The Flying Canoë Volant Festival is a walking tour that compels visitors to stay awhile, no matter what the prairie winter has to say. The festival is dedicated to the Quebec legend of the flying canoe, leading people through the ravine at night to tell the tale. I have joined Canoe goers (35,000 plus in 2018) three times and once as a festival volunteer. The indigenous tipi site and hypnotic lantern light art installation. Learning winter square dances and baking campfire bannock at the Metis Camp. Being drawn into the legend by a voyageur in the Trappers’ Cabin. Riding a horse carriage back to La Cité for live music, cider and dancing to close off a magical night in Edmonton’s French Quarter.
Forget going south, this is where the warmth is.
Squeaky, cheesy delicious!
by Iain Ilich
Can’t get enough squeaky cheese curds? La Cité Francophone is only a stone’s throw away from the Cheese Factory (8943 82 Avenue), where they make and sell fresh cheese curds daily for those with a hankering to make poutine at home, or who love nothing more than scarfing them down straight from the bag. We won’t judge.
And when it comes to cheese curds, freshness counts. In fact, as soon as they’re made, the curds at the Cheese Factory are bagged and put on the shelf at the shop where they sit at room temperature for maximum squeak and springy texture, ready to be snapped up by eager curd enthusiasts. It’s just like buying a bag of curds from the counter at a Montreal dépanneur.
So, what makes a cheese curd a cheese curd? Simply put, cheese curds start out as cow’s milk, which is then pasteurized and turned into curd with the addition of a bacterial culture. While other cheeses may be further transformed through additional steps and aging, cheese curds are quickly cut up and sold within hours of starting the cheese-making process.
If you want to get your hands on a bag straight from the source, you can buy them directly at the on-site shop, or visit their booth at the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market on Saturdays. Once they run out, they run out.
For the full experience, including their unique texture and squeaky sound, eat them fresh on the day you buy them. If you don’t have time to eat them right away, you can store them in the fridge for a few days, though the texture will quickly change. Once they’re more than a few days old, you can still use them for other kitchen things, like topping a hot bowl of chili or adding some cheesy goodness to an omelette.
