Across the Board Game Café at 211 Bannatyne Ave. (at Main St.) is a unique style of restaurant in Winnipeg’s Exchange District. This is their second location and an absolutely beautiful room with soaring ceilings, chandeliers and two walls of windows. Cheerfully adorning a number of walls are bookshelves full of games, old and new from all over the world.

On the evening we visited, one of the concept’s owners’ Olaf Pytllik was our Game Master. He spoke about how the cafe came to be and that the over 1,000 games on display were once housed in his basement. He also told us about the current board game business and how the game that we were playing was an award winner the previous year.

But to the food!

My husband and I both selected noodle bowls and think that we ordered mistakenly. The noodle bowls were actually soup but were on the entree section not the soup section of the menu. We do often have a hearty soup for our dinner. This one was quite light and indeed we still had the munchies shortly after finishing it.

Others in our party ordered more successfully with two siblings selecting Italian Sausage Alfredo which I salivated over when it arrived at the table. It was composed of a crumbled Italian sausage tossed with spinach, sundried tomatoes and sautéed mushrooms in a creamy alfredo sauce.

Another pair selected the generous Summer Salad

and a German Bratwurst Platter. The hit were the pretzels and a couple more of them were requested for dessert.

The good news about eating light at dinner was being able to order from their specialty snack items. I make nuts and bolts at home on a regular basis as they provide our nutritional quota of oats.

Across the Board’s version had less garlic and Worcestershire sauce than mine but still were very enjoyable by the handful as we played the night away.

Across the Board Game Café is co-owned by Olaf Pytllik and Clinton Skibitzky. They are open Thursday-Sunday 11 am – 10 pm and Friday and Saturday 11 am – 12 midnight. They are closed Mondays. There is an all day menu including a kids section available. They are wheelchair accessible.

Kath’s quote: “It is impossible to win gracefully at chess. No man has yet said “Mate!” in a voice which failed to sound to his opponent bitter, boastful and malicious.” A.A. Milne

Love never fails.

I missed the sunrise to ensure that I was well rested for the wedding day.

We enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast at Rooster.

These are random pics as I strolled around in Centro.

Soon I was off with Sister #3 to Castille d’ Maya where the wedding party was getting ready. We needed  to get our eyelashes affixed.

J1 was to be one of the Masters of Ceremonies and I the officiate so we arrived at Zama early to get a feel for what was ahead. Here is a recounting of that special day. The Wedding

Here are some more of the pics that were not in the original post:

These beautiful people enjoyed the day too:

Our beautiful niece and her handsome beau.

Our beautiful Daughter #1.

My dear friend and mother of the bride.

Kath’s quote: “Don’t forget your wife’s name. That will mess up the love”. – Erin, age 8

Love never fails.

The Winnipeg dining scene has recently changed with government permission granted for “brew pubs” in the city. A brew pub can brew beer on site as well as offer up lunch and dinner for a full chef-directed kitchen. Winnipeg now boasts three such establishments and recently we visited “One Great City” at 1596 Ness Ave.

We live just across the Assiniboine River from the Polo Park area and we decided to walk on a beautiful summer evening. Upon arrival we were both hungry and thirsty and looking forward to the visit. The first order of business was our thirst and we chose a beer “flight” so we could taste 4 of the 6 beers which were premise-brewed.

One Great City has an extensive “Sammy” (sandwich) section and we both ordered from there.

My husband chose a Falafel wrapped in a pita with a side of roasted Brussel sprouts. The latter were stellar with extra crunch from toasted walnuts and apples, creaminess from the queso fresco and extra flavour from bacon. Doesn’t bacon make everything taste better?

First I spied chicken and waffles-a selection which is spreading like a wild fire on local menus. I decided instead for the chicken but requested that the bread be skipped which I guess means it was no longer a sammy. The lightly fried chicken thighs were accompanied by lettuce and buttermilk ranch dressing, as well as bread & butter pickles and a fiery jalapeno relish.

The chicken was served with a petite beet salad. I appreciated the creamy ricotta, spritely spring mix but was especially delighted by toasted pistachios and apple fennel vinaigrette. In fact was so tasty that I could easily have eaten a second one.

The facility is bright and spacious and you can walk past both the beer tanks and the open kitchen en route to your table. The service was attentive and prompt and it looked as if there were loads of staff members to take care of us. One Great City had us feeling patriotic about our urban location because as their name reminds us, we live in one great city!

One Great City is owned by Jon Burge and Tim Hudek. Lunch and Dinner Menus are available. They are open daily from 11:30 am until 12 pm and are wheelchair accessible.

Kath’s quote:  “Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!”- Martin Luther.

Love never fails.