At this very moment, there is a steaming pile of blood and guts on my kitchen table. And I can’t wait to dig in. No, this isn’t a locally produced version of Fear Factor—this is my supper. The dish in question is boudin noir, a sausage made from pigs’ intestines and stuffed with cooked blood, […]
Simon Thibault
Posted inLifestyle
Stars in our backyard
Barry House 422-8324 | website How to give: Look to Metro Turning Point. Barry House provides shelter to women, children and pets. Barry House provides three meals a day and has space for 20 people a night. The belief is that once housing needs are met, other needs can be addressed. Bill Pratt, executive director […]
Posted inLifestyle
Tawaak Housing Association
6175 Lady Hammond Road, 455-2900 tawaakhousing.org. How to give: Contact Ida Vincent, the director of tenant relations at 455-2900, or via the website. Brian Dezagiacomo takes care of over 140 Aboriginal individuals and families, every day, every week, every year. Dezagiacomo is the executive director of the Tawaak Housing Association, a non-profit charitable organization that […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Spice must flow
Last September, Costas Halavrezos signed off for the last time as the host of CBC Radio’s Maritime Noon. After 23 years of radio in Halifax, he soon found himself in a bit of a predicament. “On the second day of my retirement, I was drumming my fingers, wondering what mischief I could get into,” he jokes. That […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Halifax’s Asian food golden age
Less than 10 years ago, Asian food in Halifax consisted of dishes tweaked for western palates. But in a city where Chinese food used to mean dishes drizzled with cornstarch-laden sauces, we now have places like JiXiang serving mouth-numbing Szechuan dishes such as ma po tofu or pork tongue salad. And it’s usually worth asking […]
Posted inArts + Music
Gypsophilia’s conversations and choruses
Gypsophilia may be based in Halifax, but its instruments are like palimpsests of another time and place: The guitars would be right at home among the best of France’s joueurs de manouche, the horns blaring their klezmer tunes in an Ashkenazy home, while the strings sing like plaintive Roma songs. So what do you do […]
Posted inArts + Music
Say what you are
Jordan Thomas is looking to the future. That future includes him and members of the Halifax Slam Team delivering poems and diatribes at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Toronto, running October 11 to 15. The present, however, is preoccupied by one thing: money. The team, consisting of team captain Thomas (AKA JPhat), as […]
Posted inArts + Music
HPX: Final Fantasy review
Owen Pallett walks onto the stage, and takes off his leather boots. He sits down to a grand piano and nods to the conductor. Strong, staccato bows stroke on violins, heralding the opening notes of “The Arctic Circle,” the first track off of Pallett’s 2006 album, He Poos Clouds. It’s odd to be at a Final Fantasy show where he, not his songs, are the raison d’être for the show. You don’t go to see a Final Fantasy show to hear perfect reproductions of album cuts. You go to see him transform songs that have pianos, choruses and synths,
Posted inArts + Music
Daily HPX picks: THURSDAY…must-see shows
Julie Fader The Seahorse Tavern, 1665 Argyle Street, 10pm, $10 Julie Fader never set out to be a professional musician. She wanted to go to NSCAD, but “chickened out on the move to Halifax.” Instead, she stuck around Ontario, eventually meeting Sarah Harmer and touring with her. Since then, the requests haven’t stopped for Fader’s […]
Posted inArts + Music
Daily HPX picks: FRIDAY…must-see shows
Final Fantasy w/Symphony Nova Scotia Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, 6101 University Avenue, 8pm, $29-$49 Owen Pallett is so excited and he just can’t hide it. The performer, who records under the moniker Final Fantasy, is performing with Symphony Nova Scotia this Friday at the Rebecca Cohn. Pallett is as excited as his fans about the nearly […]
Posted inArts + Music
Daily HPX picks: SATURDAY…must-see HPX shows
Attack in Black The Seahorse Tavern, 1665 Argyle Street, 11:40pm, $8 Attack in Black comes to Halifax in support of its 2009 album Years (By One Thousand Fingertips). The four-piece released it in March on Dine Alone Records (home to Arkells, Bedouin Soundclash, City and Colour and others). Hailing from Welland, Ontario, Attack in Black’s […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Friends in knead
Bread is one of the mainstays of the culinary world. Whether you call it baguette, naan, pain, brot, focaccia or pita, it is found in almost every culture in the world. Unfortunately for North Americans, bread is often an unnaturally soft leavened mass and not the chewy, golden domes and loaves of Europe. Last year, […]