Traveling Cowboys: The ¡Perfecto! (Best) Margarita at Aroma Mexican Restaurant in Canmore, Alberta

¡Perfecto!

The problem with our line of work is that our palates are spoiled. We have the privilege and plenty of opportunities to eat the best and drink the fantastic wherever we go. The result is that our expectations are high. It also means that our standards are ever-increasing.

We do have our favourites, though. Ever-so-often, we have to circle back to what we refer to as "our people". They are our friends where to we travel. Visiting them, eating and drinking the best they have on offer is like wearing a familiar pair of comfortable shoes or sitting in a favourite chair. There is no pretence. It is the casual and a part of us.

This is how our love affair started with Margarita, until Laura at Aroma Mexican Restaurant in Canmore, Alberta made it enduring.

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A margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice, often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). Although it has become acceptable to serve a margarita in a wide variety of glass types, ranging from cocktail and wine glasses to pint glasses and even large schooners, the drink is traditionally served in the eponymous margarita glass, a stepped-diameter variant of a cocktail glass or champagne coupe.

There are various stories about the origins of the drink during the earlier parts of the last century. However, most people know its murdered cousin found at the typical all-inclusive Mexican hideaway or passed-off as a drink-of-choice for riotous partying Springbreak youngsters in warmer climate locations.

We've discovered that the real Margarita is a drink with character and a power that should not be underestimated. Laura at Aroma Mexican Restaurant in Canmore introduced us to her. Aroma is now our favourite place for our Margarita-time because we've not succeeded in duplicating their version. This spurred us into action. We had to find out more about the secrets behind their particular version that makes it so uniquely delicious.

Chef Jose Castillo and Laura Matamoros were both born in Mexico City and raised in the kitchen. In 2009 they introduced the Bow Valley to their authentic and traditional Mexican cuisine in the Bow Valley. The restaurant has a warm and cozy atmosphere. It emulates the intimacy felt around a Mexican’s family kitchen table. Jose, himself is behind the stove in the kitchen.

He offers a fusion of Indigenous and Spanish cuisine, traditional sauces, tortillas, and desserts. All are artisanal homemade and slow cooked from scratch for each order. It is worth the wait if you are lucky to get a seat during the busy times. We know Jose and Laura personally, so it is our weekly culinary gourmet trip to Mexico. There is always a special table reserved for us, the "familia".

Observations

Laura took us on an expedition of Margarita discovery without divulging a single secret. From that perspective, we failed in our quest to know how to make an excellent Aroma Margarita.

Instead, we journeyed through the traditional, the flavourful, the herby, the fruity, smokey and the savoury. Just as our faculties began to fail at number four (or was it six), Laura managed to wake us with the kick of a spicy Jalapeno signature Margarita. After that, it all became a blur!

Aroma is not a "fancy" restaurant. Jose and Laura succeeded in keeping it personal and homey with really good traditional, but refined food. If you take time to get to know them, you will find it quickly turns into a friendship. For us, it is a welcome friendship because it includes frequent rendezvous with the fabulous Margarita.

P.S. Some Margarita's are only available when Laura is in attendance, and you won't find it on the menu. She guards her recipes that closely ;-)

P.S.S. If you have the guts, ask for the Two Cowboys version. See what happens!

Hendrik van Wyk

Mexican Cowboy

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Photos

Order is Up!

Heaven

Laura

Mixing

The Perfect Time

Secrets!

Traveling Cowboys: Event Highlights for Canmore Uncorked 2017, Alberta, Canada - You Should've Been Here!

Canmore Uncorked Food Festival in the Mountains 2017

This is the second year that we collaborate with Canmore Uncorked (http://www.canmoreuncorked.com).

See the highlights of 12 days of food festivities in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta.

Because many of the business in Canmore support us as sponsors and patrons, we support them in return: http://www.travelingcowboys.com. If you want to see more about them, be a supporter of our cause or follow our travels, then please become a friend on Patreon. Subscribe to our channel on YouTube and read our Blog.

Hendrik van Wyk

Travelling Cowboy

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Here they are:

Highlights!

Launch Party!

Long Table Dinner

Wine Festival

Beer Festival

Whiskey and Spirit Festival

Progressive Amazing Dinner Tour Race

o-CNN: Lots of Talented Little Plates with Huge Flavour at Banff's Big Taste 2017 Food Festival in Banff, Alberta

Anything for a Party

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Food festivals are for the locals. Every community should embrace any and all opportunities for a culinary event. We don't have enough food festivals in Canada. We need more.

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There are so many communities cultivating and manufacturing unique produce across the diverse food production landscape of Canada. Wine, berries, bison, beef, barley, wheat, corn, truffle, lobster, maple are only a few that immediately comes to mind. The craft brewery scene is exploding. There are new entrants in every Province. Craft distilleries are not far behind.

Canada is not the first place that comes to mind for artisan food production when one considers the vast wintry expanse of our country. It is more a feature of a place like New Zealand. Yet, it is hard to choose where not to go for a gastronomic celebration any time of the year. We have Icewine festivals, maple festivals, bbq events, berry, tea, whisky, beer, lobster, scallop, salmon, and a mushroom festivals. There is even a vegetarian food festival if you must.

It seems that everyone is trying to tap into the food festival craze and opportunity to market their place. Local tourism associations and marketers are clambering over each other to market their locations as the next undiscovered hot food destination of the year. They are all doing fantastic work and have our full support. We think that we need more culinary celebrations. We are encouraged by their efforts. Here is why.

Firstly, food festivals are good for the community. Any reason to celebrate is good for the morale of a group of people that share space, live and work together. It brings people closer. The best of these celebrations are when people come together around food and drink.

A festival brings the local residents together to interact with each other. With food festivals, participating businesses are more inclined to collaborate by sharing in activities, creating and making things together. People get to showcase the results of their hard work to visitors and to fellow citizens. Ultimately, a food festival is an opportunity for community members to engage by supporting each other in the most fundamental of production endeavours - making food. It is not surprising that the majority of attendees of these festivals are the people most vested in the event. The locals are the biggest supporters by far.

Secondly, it is good for the economy. Festivals create opportunities for markets (events within the event). Entrepreneurs and producers get access to an offset that goes beyond what they reach on a regular basis with their store or general distribution.

Food festivals encourage enterprise. If there is a market, then there are opportunities to deliver to the market's needs. New producers step in to fill these needs which mean more businesses. More food is produced locally. New products are innovated and tested. The increased competition serves to improve standards. Ultimately, the economy benefits because it encourages tourism and visitation to local communities. These both come with increased earnings and revenue. It is valuable income for the people of our farms, towns and cities.

Observations

It is with this worthy realisation of the benefits of food festivals that we attended Banff's Big Taste.

It is the most recent addition to the food festival calendar for the Bow Valley of Alberta. The first food festival event for us in 2017. Thankfully, the Banff Hospitality Collective stepped forward to give us an excuse to celebrate the talents of local chefs and the great produce of our Canadian food producers. Celebrate we did! Thank you!

Banff's Big Taste was our chance to sip, savour and experience Banff's exciting culinary scene all in one place, with some excellent pairings. This is not just a statement. It is a profound discovery. We found that the standard improved substantially over recent years to make Banff's culinary offerings rival the natural beauty of the setting. The Banff Hospitality Collective is raising the bar with new talent, new venues, locally sourced produce and innovative offerings like Canada's first craft distillery inside a three-story restaurant - Park Distillery.

The events included chefs dinners, the grand tasting hall that we featured in the video above, spirit seminars (the drinking kind) and the jolly nightlife of a cold winter mountain town full of young, affluent adventure seeking (mostly) Australians.

It was five days of deliciousness that gave us yet another reason to make a frequent stop in Banff in the New Year. We have our calendars marked for 2018!

Hendrik van Wyk
Festive Food Cowboy

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Photos

Relaxed Chef

Choices!

Alberta Pork

Angelic

Yes, Chef!

Two Cowboys on a Journey: Rocky Mountain Soap Co - Canmore, Alberta

Naturally Back to Nature

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I've never thought that I will ever be writing a blog entry about beauty products. Yes, for me soap is a beauty product. You will agree that these kinds of products are not really a hardened Western Alberta Cowboy's thing. At least not something on which I personally spend a lot of time (thinking). I do use cleaning products. Obviously. Just not thinking about it, much.

To keep life simple, I've been using the same soap and shaving cream for the last 25 years (no hair for shampoo, so I cannot comment on those). It is one less thing to think about in the morning. It also makes Fathers Day, Christmas and Birthdays really easy for those around me.

However, Karina and Cam at Rocky Mountain Soap Co. gave me something to think about when we filmed their profile. They mentioned the unnatural amount of chemical complexity that makes it into products like the ones I am using. These chemicals have never been proven for positive long-term effect on human physiology. Yet, they are considered "good" chemicals by many companies. This coming from a cut-throat snake oil peddling industry, where a lot of global brands are fighting for the next big thing in beauty and anti-aging. They do this with the next model on display for eternal youth and happiness. Yeah right!

Why have these ingredients in the first place? Is it really necessary?

If there was ever a human guinea pig for the long-term effects of the chemicals in a beauty or hygiene product, then I am it. It's been years with the same trusty brands. Maybe, I could have aged better if I stuck to more natural products. Maybe, I would have looked twenty-eight at forty-eight if I only knew of Rocky Mountain Soap Co.'s naturally simple and deliciously smelling soaps. They smell so good that you can eat them. (Don't do it. They are natural. Just not that natural.)

Rocky Mountain Soap is the darling of Alberta small business and an icon in the Bow Valley. Just see how many people write about them, and the prizes they've won.  Here is a husband and wife team from Canmore, that started with something simple, made it good, kept it good, and continued to make more of it because people simply liked it. How easy is that for a successful business recipe? If only it were this easy.

Impressions

When you visit the facilities of the company, it is quickly evident that this is not a "small business". There are some real business smarts that are going into the way this company is managed. Credit to Cam and Karina where credit is due.

It is a well-run business with amazingly simple and natural products. Yes, I know they have good soap, and if it were only about soap, then Rocky Mountain Soap Co. would probably have been just another soap business in a touristy town. It is so fashionable to have these nowadays that you can find them right next to the curio and the corner coffee shop. The other two fashionable touristy businesses.

If you've been in businesses and worked with as many companies as I have, in as many countries as I've been, you can recognise a success the moment you walk in the door. Everything is labelled, planned, structured, measured, evaluated, improved, reviewed, right down to the environmentally friendly cornstarch popcorn they use for packaging shipments for their online clientele. You can eat the packaging. Trust me on it. It doesn't taste like much, but it is edible (Only the popcorn. Not the stamps).

Rocky Mountain Soap Company is a success because it does a few simple things really well. It has great simple products. It is a well-managed business. And, it is in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Right here in Canmore. Cam mentioned that the business can probably do better in a cheaper and more business friendly location that Canmore, but it is the community and the lifestyle that keeps them here.

Canmore is better off because they are here.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with Rocky Mountain Soap Co. I am proud to say that I am a convert. I am now shaving with Rocky Mountain Soap Co goodness. And, I smell really, really nice.

Hendrik van Wyk
The Clean Cowboy

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Photos

Canmore Karina Cam

Where it All Happens

Bath Bombs!

Fresh

Travel Toner

Not Food

o-CNN: Cowboy News Network - Canmore Uncorked, Whisky and SpiritsFestival

This Is A Grown-up Event

Who would have guessed that you can get so much class and talent into one room for one evening?
Yes, you can indeed. You should have been at the Canmore Uncorked Whisky and Spirits Festival to see, taste and experience it all. Another amazing event for 2016's festivities took place, and we were there for your sake. And what a lovely sake this one was ;-)

We are talking about celebrating the drinks of men, and the talent of Master Distillers from near and far away. There were Whisky, Scotch, Vodka, Gin, Scotch, Rum, Sake. Did I mention Scotch?

The Corner Stone Theatre was the classy venue for this year's grown-ups' event. It certainly is a place familiar with talent considering its one-of-a-kind flexibility for weddings, meetings, conferences or special events like hosting the best whiskies and spirits you can get into one room on a Friday evening in Canmore, Alberta.

We've really travelled this year with tastes from the motherland of distilling (Scotland) to Banff. Yes, Banff has a distillery now. Who would have guessed? So is Turner Valley and some strong contenders from Calgary and Quebec.

Highwood Distillers from High River keeps reminding everyone that they were first (in the world of Alberta) to legally muster the nectar of the gods at the Foothills of the mighty Rocky Mountains. Their Vodka-like Whisky is see-through, with a strong foundation of Oak and Alberta grains. Maybe they know someone upstairs that we don't. It all depends on the serving temperature. Apparently.

Tasting their elixir will revive any old rumrunner gene you may still done in your Alberta veins. The old folk from the turn of the last century will encourage you to question your commitment to oil, and applaud you for joining the new old gold of Alberta distillation, that made this Province famous in the first place. Remember we were distilling in this part of the world long before we were pumping oil. Sign me up for diversification of this economy. Fire up the stills!

Eau Claire Distillery from Turner Valley tempted us again with the long awaited upcoming 2018 release of their first Whisky. Every time we see these folks we remind them that we want to be on the ballot for that auction. I hear it will cost you your right pinky to have a seat at the the table for the first bottle out of those casks.

Enjoy our video. We certainly had fun filming it all. Andrew Nickerson (CEO, Canmore Business and Tourism) and his team found their rhythm. Keep playing the beautiful music of food and drink festival, and the world will follow you to Canmore.

Glad to be part of it.

Hendrik van Wyk
Did I mention Scotch?

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Pictures

The Man! 

Quebec!

Heaven in a Glass

Where they Invented It

A Hard Day's Nigh

Ladies Attended Too

o-CNN: Cowboy News Network - Canmore Uncorked, Long Table Dinner

Many Many Courses Later...

The weather was good. The mountains were beautiful. The sweet aroma of roast pork filled the air as the guests arrived for the pinnacle event of the Canmore Uncorked Festival: The Long Table Dinner. 

You couldn't have asked for a better venue, weather or company at this years dinner. Not one seat was empty. A hundred and fifty guests were treated to more courses than they can remember. Remembering appeared to be the main challenge this year while the wine flowed, the beer was crisp, and the waiters were galloping plates of delicious edible creations to an enormous table in the middle of the road, in downtown Canmore.

The event is usually sold out long before the tickets go on sale. Yes, you heard it right. You need a local to scalp you tickets for this one. 

Canmore Uncorked is about talent, dishes, and superb beverages. The long table dinner never disappoints. Set your watch and calendar for 2017's dinner reservations, and make sure you befriend a Canmorian (or, as some old timers refer to us: "Canmorons") to secure your ticket. Without this treasured relationship, you will be exactly where you are this year. A spectator!

You should be here...

Hendrik

Still Recovering Long Table Dinner Chef (Yes, I made the Gelato for your desert...), and roaming Cowboy News Network Reporter

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Photos

Three Amigos

Looong Table

Just One More Please

Delicious 

See the Wine

Did Someone Say: Gelato?!