Random Notes

• Starbucks introduced their "Skinny Lattes" this week, made with skim milk and sugar free syrup. When Second Cup added the word "skinny" to their menu, I wasn't impressed, and the same applies to Starbucks - what is wrong with ordering a custom latte the old fashioned way? Moreover, they have added a "How nutritious is your latte?" quiz onto their website's front page. As if anyone ordering such a coffee is looking to boost their daily intake of vitamins with a hit of caffiene.
  
• Christopher Thrall is leaving his cushy position as the resident restaurant critic at Vue Weekly. In his last piece, he cites both dinner at PiccoLino and brunch at Bacon as some of his best meals in the city, period. I'm now interested in trying both.
  
• There's an interesting read over at Zagat: a round-up of quotations from restauranteurs and chefs about what they want to see more - and less - of in 2008. To Roland Passot, who dislikes the trend of blogging from non-food professionals, I say - no restaurant will ever please every diner, but to shy away from the opinion of the "common man" demonstrates a lack of respect for the everyday customer and an unwillingness to hear criticism from anyone who he may judge to be an untrained gourmand. I have lost any interest I may have had in visiting his establishment.
  
• I've been swept up in the fervor of the American primaries. It almost makes me want to run out and buy Season 7 of The West Wing in order to relive fictional election madness.
  
• The program for this year's International Week at the University of Alberta is up. Notably, Jeffrey Sachs, author of The End of Poverty, will be speaking on January 31st. See you there!
  
• The amount of anticipation for Catalyst's remount of Frankenstein next month is just incredible. Tickets are selling fast; get to Tix on the Square soon if you're planning to catch what some have been calling the best locally-produced show ever.
  
• It's now the end of the first week of January, and there still hasn't been any word from Teatro la Quindicina about their new season. I'm worried.