Week 19: John's Breakfast and Lunch

John's Breakfast and Lunch is located at 2614 4 St NW, Calgary, Alberta

https://www.facebook.com/johnsbreakfastyyc/

John's Breakfast and Lunch looks fairly nondescript from the outside and cozy and bright on the inside! There are a few tables on an outside patio but the fall morning chill drove us indoors. The serving staff are super welcoming and we were fortunate to find a seat next to the window, street-side. 

The Menu has a full offering of omelettes, eggs benedict, french toast and traditional breakfasts.  Bill chose a benny and I opted for the vegetarian omelette. The portions were generous and the vegetables in the omelette were fresh and not heavily oiled.  Often one of the downsides of a vegetable omelette is the vegetables are precooked and have gotten a bit soggy and tasteless.  Not so at John's!  The restaurant had a steady flow of customers and the atmosphere was relaxed! We would definitely go back and next time I'll try the French Toast.

My next post will be #20. We have circled back to restaurants on the blog a couple of times. Once was a return to The Holy Grill on 10th Ave. SW and the other was OEB on 1st Ave. NE. I'm starting to feel a bit "breakfasted out". We have really enjoyed exploring the Calgary breakfast options and have also enjoyed experiencing new styles and the way restaurants source their food products.  It's encouraging to know that local producers are supported as well as healthy eating choices. Evolution at work! I've yet to decide on a new direction for the blog and look forward to seeing what emerges!

The Book

This week I'm reading Lars Kepler's The Rabbit Hunter. Lars Kepler is the pseudonym of husband and wife team Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril. This is the 5th novel in this series that I've read and am loving this one. Investigator Joona Linna is serving time in prison and is          

temporarily released to search for the killer of a high ranking member of the Swedish government. Joona soon concludes that what Security Police thought was a political assassin is, in fact, a serial killer!

While working to create a profile and motive, two more people are killed and Joona discovers there are eight more people on the killer's list.  The killer leaves a cryptic nursery rhyme at each scene and no other clues. When the third victim is identified, all the rules of the investigation change!

Week 18: Galaxie Diner

The Galaxie Diner is located at 1413 - 11 St. SW in Calgary's Beltline.  It's easy to miss because it's tucked between two shops kitty corner from a Good Earth coffee shop.

The menu is quite unique as is the interior design of the Galaxie Diner.    It's an "old school" diner with the design emulating a renovated street car from the '50s.  The space is small and cozy and the chef cooks behind the counter.  We were seated in one of the 6 or 7 booths.  There are a few counter seats and very little space between. Each table has a wall jukebox.  They aren't operational but it was fun to look through the music selections.  

Bill ordered the Montreal Smoked Meat Omelette and I ordered the Breakfast Burrito.  Both were delicious and had lots of fresh tasting ingredients.  We always swap tastes and agreed that everything on our plates was excellent!

We go out for breakfast at least once a week so are getting pretty seasoned and probably a bit more discerning from when we started this project looking for cool and tasty places to eat breakfast in Calgary (or wherever we happen to be).  The Galaxie Diner fits into my top five.  The environment was so relaxed and retro that when we left the Diner, I half-expected to find the rest of the city transported back to the fifties!  The restaurant is not far from Shelf Life Books on 4th St. SW where we always find something interesting to purchase.  It always feels good to support an independent book store as there are not that many left in Calgary.

                                                 

And now the books!     

I've read a few books over the summer, mostly novels, and reread Eckhart Tolle's Power of Now. And by the way, I highly recommend it even if you've read it before. It remains one of the most profound discourses on the eternal space we inhabit from moment to moment. If I had the self-discipline, I'd read it at least once a year.

I now have 3 books that I'm looking forward to digging into.  The first is Reader Come Home, The Reading Brain in a Digital World by Maryanne Wolf (author of Proust and the Squid) , Birds by the Shore by Jennifer Ackerman and Lars Kepler's The Rabbit Hunter.  

I hope everyone enjoyed a great summer, good food and great reads!