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The Coast | News, events, restaurants, concerts and Burger Week for Halifax, Nova Scotia
Home of the Best of Halifax Reader's Choice Awards, the award-winning independent newspaper covers the Halifax news, politics, events, concerts, movies, restaurants, and nightlife scene.
I think people need to start taking more responsibility for their own health. So much emphasis is placed on the ‘failing health care system’, which yes, is overburdened, but whatever happened to personal accountability? Doctors might see you once or twice a year, how are they supposed to ‘fix’ what you don’t care about on…
OLD HORNY MEN OF HALIFAX. Stop hitting on me at my job! I work back of house, why do you come and seek me out? Leave me alone and let me work, stop poking your head in my workspace to “compliment” me. —a girl
It’s been four months since I moved away and I still miss Halifax every day. I miss the two dollar bin at Elsie’s, drunk strangers shouting at each other at Pizza Corner, that group of men always smoking outside the Sal Army on Gottingen, getting the front seat on the upper floor of the ferry…
The next time you stop by the Food Wolf, someone new may be dishing out your K-dogs. Co-owners Natalie Chavarie and Virgil Muir have decided to sell the popular food truck, which first hit HRM’s streets in 2013. “It was a really personal decision to work through,” says Chavarie. For her, the incentive for selling…
To the womanizing, sociopath doctor who works basically one week per month and cares for no one but himself: you’re old, getting fat and an unapologetic asshole. No one wants to be around you so stop searching for new friends. —That girl
Union dues, union dues Guess who has to do the work you didn’t pick and choose? Guess who has to redo the work you didn’t refuse? Yes we noticed you’re chronically late and always leave early always with a cheap excuse. You’re laziness and incompetence is astounding, and now you feel you should get that…
I see you all day everyday and night up there laying your poison, obscuring the suns energies, it can only be interpreted as spiritual warfare, you sons of bastards are going to pay on the other end for your treasonous campaign of fuckery… goyem of nova scotia please wake the fuck up! —looking for the…
Dear neighbours, I honestly don’t care that you smoke marijuana in your apartment. I do too on occasion. That’s not the issue. What’s got me bitching is that the current batch that you’ve got smells like you cut it with dog shit and rolled it in decaying salmon skin. Holy mother of god, it’s rank.…
Halifax Transit’s network redesign can finally shift into high gear. On Tuesday city council accepted—for the most part—staff’s recommendations on the Moving Forward Together (MFT) plan, while asking for an exterior consultant to report back in a year’s time on further refinements to planned route changes. The full redesign was already approved by council…
[Image-1] The police department has blown through nearly its entire overtime budget in the first two quarters of the fiscal year. Halifax Regional Police (HRP) confirm $2.25 million has been spent on overtime between April and October of this year. That leaves less than half a million in the department’s $2.7 million budget for the…
[Image-1] Think of it as a really, really, really expensive Christmas craft fair. On Wednesday proposals for 18 developments in the urban centre will be presented en masse to the public at two planning information meetings (held from 12-2pm and 6-8pm) in the Atlantica hotel. It’s a way for HRM’s planning department to tie off loose…
The teachers long service award is too generous. They should have something in the contract that it is the number of years of service multiplied by some dollar figure just like a travel allowance or a meal allowance. They should be getting a silver handshake not a gold one. Just discontinue the old system which…
To a certain premier and education minister: you suck. I hope this whole thing backfires and costs you your political careers. 🙂 #Students4Teachers —Current Student, Future Voter
To the short stylish brunette in the special water aisle at Sobeys—your eyes and smile are stunning. Confident stride with my favourite choice of carbonated beverage in hand. Hope to run into you in aisle 2 again soon —Scarved and smitten
To the finely-tuned fiddler that brightens the Market each weekend with his flawless playing. Thanks for your skill and your ceaseless, endearing smile; its as sweet as the treats I go to the market to seek. I must praise, also, the basey beau; good show good show! —Sweets and beats
To the guy sitting and texting on the tricep curl machine I wanted to use: I had no problem waiting for you for the first five minutes, but when you got up and walked to the other side of the gym, and I went for the machine, you came back out of nowhere and told…
Meeting you was a treat, getting to know you was a blur, falling in love with you was endless, and saying goodbye was bleak. You’re a unique and beautiful creature and will always be that way. Thanks for sharing a piece of your life with me. —#musicmakingman
[Image-1] On Monday morning a recalled Nova Scotia legislature will begin the first steps to forcing a new collective agreement on teachers and taking away their right to strike. At the same time, outside Province House, angry crowds will join in a protest against the Liberal government’s battle with the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU).…
After a Monday away from the classroom, Nova Scotian students are allowed to go back to school starting Tuesday. The decision was announced by Education minister Karen Casey on Monday afternoon during the second legislative meeting of the day. Premier Stephen McNeil had called for an emergency legislative assembly on Monday morning to quickly pass…
[Image-1] Instead of locking out unionized teachers, the Liberal government has decided to lock out Nova Scotia’s students. All public schools in the province will be closed starting Monday, December 5. Education minister Karen Casey made the unprecedented announcement at a press conference held Saturday morning. The province says the planned work-to-rule action by the…
Did you vent well? First, (I quote your racism, as a matter of fact I should say your ignorance) “people from here” have neurons, you know those things in the brain. Obviously you are THE perfect exception from here. Second, no I did not steal your parking spot. You did not have your signal light…
If you’re a 30-something female, how do you go about meeting a decent dude these days? I’m an open-minded, decent looking gal with a good job, my own place, awesome friends, and a really supportive and loving family. I’m not looking for Prince Charming, just a solid dude that has his head on straight. I…
I was worried, about a family member’s health, and getting frustrated at the process involved in filling out an online application. Even though you were also having your own problems, you noticed mine, and asked if I was okay. When I ran into another complication with drop down menus that weren’t working, felt totally overwhelmed…
Dear Andrew, You were the dreamy hitch hiker we picked up headed to Liverpool. I hope you had a great weekend with your friend, and that marine bio school is going well. Hope to see you again soon. —The girl in the back seat
From the guy with the 5 o’clock shadow to the dude rockin’ the Billy Gibbons, your sexy whiskers make my lady parts beep 🙂 —Beard Lover
Been waiting since March 5, 2016 for a neurologist AND mental health practitioner for stroke patient. Finally get an appointment with mental health and get to office and find the doc called in sick. Come back in a month which is the earliest we can get you in. Two days before Christmas. Cast-iron receptionist without…
Students across Nova Scotia are walking the walk. On Friday, students from about 25 schools—including Dartmouth High School, Halifax West High School and Citadel High School—participated in a walk-out in support of their teachers’ labour battle against the Department of Education. According to a release from the Students for Teachers Facebook group, the goal of…
1. You make way too much money to complain about your job. 2. Your self entitled attitudes are not appreciated. 3. Try actually working for a living, sitting around shoving free food in your face, isn’t accomplishing anything. 4.When I think about where our tax dollars go it makes me sick. 5. The entire world…
no one respects you where you work. You do all the hardest, most disgusting jobs and sing to yourself while doing them. Your boss and one particular co worker are sleazy a-holes who make you feel *worthless* Just remember when you finally reach your little home after a day out in cold, facing a hard…
A “single seat couch.” Isn’t that what we call a chair? —Relaxing In My Armcouch
[Image-1] I’m in no way interested in settling down at the moment, but I’m also not interested in sleeping around or dating multiple people at once. Why is it so hard to find people in this city who feel the same? I understand that monogamy isn’t the only thing out there and I absolutely respect…
Today i got to see what happens when two millennials get together to make a baby. It was the afternoon of Black Friday and the store was packed. Their child was out of control. Wherever they went in the store, the child was in the way. Some parents don’t want to take responsibility for their kids.…
You typically drive the bus number one spring garden and you always greet every single passenger who boards your bus with a warm “Hello!” You always make me smile when you ask, ” Do you want a souvenir?” as you refer to the bus transfers. You have helped to restore my faith in humanity. Every…
The province is amending its Accessibility Act after receiving criticism from advocates and Nova Scotians with disabilities. The legislation is supposed to fulfill a promise made by the Liberal government “ensuring that all Nova Scotians have the ability to participate fully in their communities.” But when the act was brought forward, some people in the…
Hope you didn’t have ‘rubber ferry tub toy’ on your wish list this year. Plans for bathtub toys shaped like Halifax Transit ferries are dead in the water. The transit authority was toying with the idea of selling the keepsakes to residents and tourists for five or six bucks a pop, and issued a…
Matthew Good misses the good ol’ days, it seems, nostalgically naming his upcoming coast-to-coast tour (complete with a Halifax stop) I Miss The New Wave: A Beautiful Midnight Revisited. It’ll be fascinating to see the Vancouver alt-rocker take the Matthew Good Band’s 1999 record and turn it into a one-man show, though his doing so…
10 The Coast’s Doughball Sunday A VIP bake sale full of festive treats makes this afternoon a dessert lover’s dream. 9 Sable Island’s Birthday Party Thursday The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is throwing a party to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Sable Island becoming a nationally-protected site. The fete is complete with cake and…
It’s been a good year to be in Wintersleep. The band members spent 2016 headlining Gridlock festival, dropping an album that was also totally jaw-dropping (more on that in a second) and, now, will be celebrating all those wins with a big show at The Marquee. Hitting the stage January 14 and 15 with their…
Though it might have been a while since you’ve grooved to a dirty-south-style jam by T.I., the wait for shimmying, shaking, or Whatever You Like is officially over: The Atlanta-born-and-based emcee is heading north of the border to party it up in Halifax on January 31. Hitting the Exhibition Park Stage, fans are about $50…
[Image-1] Solving a homicide is, to some degree, quite simple. You just need to find the hand that pulled the trigger. Understanding why that person picked up a gun in the first place isn’t so cut and dry. As Halifax reflects on what’s been a violent 2016, the police department and the municipality are trying…
[Image-1] An MSVU student is hoping to alleviate the high cost of dignity this holiday season for disadvantaged women and trans people. Aiden Quinn, 23, is raising money to make care packages filled with things like tampons, clean underwear, wet wipes and other personal care items. Around Christmas time, he’ll be donating them to Adsum…
[Image-1] It’s foolhardy to make decisions without the proper advice, which is one reason councillor Richard Zurawski wants to create a science advisory committee for HRM. “When you start talking about the politics and the decisions without a science council, you’re stabbing in the dark,” says the councillor for Timberlea-Beechville-Clayton Park-Wedgewood. Zurawski broached the idea…
So you’ve got your typical holiday binge slate—Charlie Brown, Rudolph, Frosty, all the Dunder-Mifflin holiday party episodes of The Office, a month’s worth of Simpsons Christmas (“Shove this up your stocking!”) and splicing together various movies from their multiple cable viewings. And Garfield the Cat, that greedy, pasta-loving, lazy-yet-innovative feline, isn’t really having a moment…
I’m sitting in my room, a sheet of yellow paper resting on my lap with the list of things I need to pack before I go home to Nigeria. I can hear my roommate in her own room, conversing softly in Japanese with her friend over Skype. Unlike me, she won’t be going home for…
It feels like we’re all in the same boat here. The family gets together for the holidays and immediately chucks all social cues and conventions out of the window. Prodding personal questions? Snide passive-aggressive remarks? Blunt non-sequiturs? Rude comments about your weight/parenting abilities/marital/occupational status? Any discussion whatsoever of the oppressive garbage fire that is today’s…
[Image-1] If you don’t ride your bike and live in a condo building with limited bike parking outside: store your bike inside, please. It would be nice for the people who commute daily to have that easy access bike parking and not have to carry bikes up stairs every day. And if you keep your…
What kind of Idiot at the HRM decided to require a password that includes a number, a capital and a character to sign up for email notification of the parking ban? It is not highly classified material nor is it worth a fortune. I hate effin passwords —Dan-da-man
Thank you to the guy who stopped to help put my chain back onto the gear of my bike. I would have sat there in the cold for an hour attempting to do it myself. I owe you a great deal for your kindness—and causing you to have grease-stained hands! I was about to offer…
Ingredients 1 oz lemon juice 1 oz cardamom French toast syrup 1 oz Amber rum 1 oz spiced rum blackberries rosemary Method Mix ingredients over ice and garnish with fresh rosemary and blackberries. The Middle Spoon 1563 Barrington Street Related Stories
There’s nothing blatantly festive about Quality Street, it’s actually available year-round though for some reason it tastes like a certain time of year. But these days it’s as common a Christmas ornament as a poinsettia, decorating office front desks and grandmothers’ coffee tables, a perfect afterthought gift and guaranteed conversation starter. So as an ode…
Ingredients half-strip of bacon beef tenderloin, cut 1/8-inch thick in a 2-inch rough square 1 small nugget of blue cheese (Blue Harbour Urban Blue) Method Lay your bacon strip down, then place the beef on top. Take the small nugget of blue cheese and place it on top of the beef. Roll the bacon and…
DARK CHILI BELGIAN HOT CHOCOLATE This waterfront chocolate-maker and cafe swears by its real Belgian hot chocolate, which comes in a slew of flavours—like dark and white chocolate, peanut butter, mint, even strawberry. Whether you’re piling it high with add-ons (whipped cream is free, marshmallow is $1) or drinking it straight-up, a sugar coma is…
Ingredients 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped 1 tbsp cocoa 1 tsp cinnamon ½ tsp nutmeg ½ tsp cayenne 3 cups milk 2 cups heavy cream 2 tsp vanilla 8 eggs, separated 1/3 cup sugar XO Patron Cafe Whipped meringue top or cookies (ratio of 2 g sugar to 1 g egg white) 290 g of…
Quarrelsome Yeti Weird and wonderful, creepy and cute, Geordan Moore’s whack wrap can make the most boring of gifts (not that you would) extraordinary. Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market, 1209 Marginal Road; Halifax Crafters Winter Market, Dec 2-4 Dartmouth Clothing Company The witty Dartmouth lovers at Dartmouth Clothing Co. put an extra layer of nostalgia on…
Ingredients 6 large egg whites (room temperature) 1¾ cup caster sugar 2 tsp corn flour 1 tsp vinegar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tbsp boiling water Method Preheat oven to 110°C. Place egg whites in the bowl of a metal or glass mixing bowl (ensuring bowl and whisk are perfectly clean). Whisk until soft peaks form…
Oh Dina! Christmas flower crown $46.90 (also check out Christmas DIY crown kit!) ohdinaflowercrowns.etsy.com Breast Friends Broad City sweatshirt Big Pony, 2168 Gottingen Street $60 Field Kit candle Made in the Maritimes 5527 Young Street and 1595 Bedford Highway fieldkit.etsy.com $12/$16 Power Promotional Concepts pin Kept, 75 King Street and Bodega Boutique, 104 Portland Street $6…
Ingredients 2 dashes Jerry Thomas Decanter bitters (can use Angostura in a pinch) ¼ oz Cynar ½ oz Del Maguey Vida 1 2/3 oz Plantation pineapple rum Method Combine all ingredients in a chilled mixing glass. Fill mixing glass with ice and stir for 18 to 25 seconds until you reach the proper dilution and…
Ingredients split chicken wings, 20 pieces salt flour (corn starch for gluten-free) white pepper sesame seeds green onion, chopped Sauce ½ clove garlic 2 tbsp tamari 1 tbsp mirin (rice wine) 1 tbsp sake 2 tsp brown sugar Method Salt chicken wings and leave them at room temperature for 15 minutes. Then put wings in…
Ingredients 2 packages instant yeast ¼ cup warm water 3 ¾ cups all purpose flour ½ cup sugar ¼ cup butter, at room temperature ½ tsp salt 3 egg yolks 1 cup buttermilk 1 tsp vanilla bean paste/extract ½ cup-ish raspberry jam or whatever you want to fill with sugar for dusting Method In a…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sagittarius (Nov 22-Dec 21) A journalist dared composer John Cage to “summarize himself in a nutshell.” Cage said, “Get yourself out of whatever cage you find yourself in.” He might have added, “Avoid the nutshells that anyone tries to put you in.” This is always fun work to attend to, of course, but…
Ingredients 1½ oz Nova Scotia Spirit Co. Fisherman’s Helper white rum ½ oz Chambord 1 oz fresh Lime ½ oz simple syrup ½ oz black currant Method Shake on ice, strain, garnish with a lime twist. Durty Nelly’s 1660 Argyle Street
Ingredients 2 cups heavy cream 3 large strips of lemon zest 5 egg yolks 1/3 cup white sugar 1.5 oz cream sherry extra sugar for caramelizing Method In a medium pot over medium-high heat, combine the cream and lemon zest and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down to minimum and let the lemon…
McNeil v Mi’kmaq I would like to thank The Coast for publishing the article by Robin Tress, and suggest premier Steven McNeil should resign as minister of aboriginal affairs (“Colonization over reconciliation in Alton Gas fight,” Voice of the City, November 17). With the Sipekne’katik First Nation going to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia…
Q My boyfriend of almost two years is wonderful, and we have had very few issues. But there is one thing that has almost been a dealbreaker. He fiddles with his penis almost constantly—in front of me and in front of our roommates. I’ve confronted him about it a number of times. He said he…
Animation with Love Festival December 2-4, 7pm Carbon Arc Cinema 1747 Summer Street The Animation with Love Festival is expanding this year, showcasing three times as many animated films as previous years. Now in its sixth year, the weekend-long event brings together animators, artists and film-lovers at Carbon Arc Cinema, located inside the Museum of Natural…
Bluenose-Ability Film Festival December 1-3 Halifax Central Library 5419 Spring Garden Road free baff.ca If the Atlantic Film Festival left you hungry for more local films, your wait is over. The second annual Bluenose-Ability Film Festival is taking place at the Halifax Central Library from December 1 to 3. The festival is Canada’s only disability film…
Go is a war-like strategy game popular in Korea and China played with black and white stones on a 19×19 grid—it is not Chinese checkers. The game is at the heart of Christian DeWolf’s Snapback Volume 1: Fuseki, along with Felix and his gang of Go fanatic friends at their Annapolis Valley High School. Shortly,…
[Image-1] When government biologists in Canada want to learn where caribou are, they put radio-tracking collars on some animals and monitor their movements. This gives them a rough idea of where herds are and where they travel, but it doesn’t tell them much about a caribou population’s history—travel routes before their habitat was degraded or…
Ingredients 1 recipe Duck Confit (below) ¼ cup minced onions 1 tablespoon minced parsley 3 tbsp orange zest 3 tbsp pickled capers, minced 10 garlic cloves, reserved from the confit 1 tbsp cognac ½ stick (4 tablespoons) butter ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper ¼ tsp salt 2 tbsp fat reserved from the confit Duck…
Maria Doering spends her life in the “and” between body and soul. Crafting mixed-media pieces that combine printmaking, portraiture and fabric, she constructs canvases that explore that space, too. “Everything that makes us who we are, not just anatomical but on a whole level, including language and character traits and intangible stuff: I’m trying to…
Ingredients 1 oz JD Shore spiced rum 6 oz hot apple cider cinnamon stick sugar Method Rim your glass or mug with sugar and top with rum and hot cider. Add a cinnamon stick, or sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg, for garnish. Party tip: For larger parties or family gatherings, mix one bottle of JD…
Two Brown Girls in Halifax Wednesday, December 7, 7pm Doors: $20 Advance: $15 Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, 1675 Lower Water Street Thanks to an initiative by Isabelle Ofume and Shaya Ishaq, the popular podcast Two Brown Girls (2BG) is recording live in Halifax next week. Hosts Zeba Blay and Fariha Roisin dig into pop…
1 Turkey Yes, turkey sandwiches with gravy-soaked bread are delicious, but butter aficionado Emma Adamski (the baker behind Manual Food & Drink Co.) suggests you amp it up with a pot pie. Her go-to is to transform turkey stock into a rich velouté with a little white wine, root vegetables and some herbs. Load up…
Ingredients 3 large Granny Smith apples 18 sucker sticks 1½ cups caramel baking bits or caramel chews 1 tablespoon heavy cream Optional toppings: Crushed nuts, crushed cookies, sprinkles Method Method Peel apples. Using a melon baller, scoop out apple balls and insert the sucker stick into the apple. Be careful not to puncture the stick…
I am Chandelier. This is my machine. And so we are introduced to Aaron Collier’s musical persona and Nation’s puppet master of sorts. Nation is created by Collier along with Richie Wilcox, Nick Bottomley and Matt Miller. Collier conducts from his DJ table, backed by a 30-foot wide projection screen with immersive videos of landscapes…
For Rachel Blair-Johns, owner of Dartmouth’s Ment Jewellery, a piece begins to take shape long before she begins molding metal in her home studio. Her minimalist architectural collars, studs and midi-rings rest in her imagination first, next to childhood memories and visions of Incan empires. “I’ve always been inspired by ruins. As a little girl,…
Tracey Jones-Grant wants her home to be decorated with ornaments that reflect her as a person of African descent, but such things can be difficult to find in stores. After seeing the steep prices of Africentric angel tree-toppers online, Jones-Grant decided to create her own and about two years ago, she started making them. She…
The industrious elves in Quiet Parade are putting out a Christmas EP, Christmas Through the Fog, on December 2, and celebrating this fact with a release show December 3 (7:30pm doors, 8pm start at the Timber Lounge, 2712 Agricola Street. $7. With guest Norma MacDonald). You may be only three advent doors in, but the…
If you were one of the lucky people at the Rebecca Cohn at last night’s Gord Downie concert then you know how powerful it was. The Tragically Hip frontperson performed a special concert in Halifax of his album Secret Path, a 10-song album based on the story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Indigenous child who…
In the comedy events section of The Coast every week something is listed that DOESN’T EXIST. People in the comedy community have e-mailed the listings e-mail and talked directly to writers and editors about this AND IT STILL FUCKING HAPPENS. All they do is tell us to submit the correct listings and they’ll fix it…
Shannon MacGregor and Sandy McInnis were sitting on a beach when they made the decision to open a shop together. It sounds like a whimsical way to go into business, but MacGregor, the designer and maker behind Earth Goddess Jewellery, and McInnis, who has a background in management and merchandising, had a solid foundation to…
[Image-1] Negotiations for a new collective agreement between the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) and the province have broken off. The two sides had met this week with a conciliator to try and stave off a strike. A work stoppage could now happen as early as December 5, though what form that will take has…
