Author: Mel Priestley
Mel Priestley is a consulting astrologer and writer based in Edmonton, Alberta. She has been studying astrology for many years and completed the Fundamentals of Natal Astrology Certificate at Kepler College in 2021. She has been a professional freelance writer for over 15 years and has written extensively about wine, food, theatre and now, astrology. She currently serves on the executive committee of the Edmonton Astrological Society and is also co-lead of OPA’s Canadian satellite.
Recipe: golden rutabaga & parsnip soup with mushrooms & microgreens
This earthy soup could also be called “Early Spring at the Farmer’s Market.” It features two overlooked root vegetables that are among the last of the previous season’s veggies still available at market stalls in […]
Starting Seeds Indoors & Cold Stratification
Though it still seems early in the year, gardening season is well underway in Edmonton. Last Sunday I bought a number of seeds from the annual Seedy Sunday, mainly from Harmonic Herbs—a 15-acre farm up near Barrhead. I […]
Journalism: Living in a Dying Industry
Ninety staff fired across the country, 35 of which were right here in Edmonton: in light of the most recent spate of Postmedia cuts at the end of January, how is the next generation of […]
Cold frame gardening in Edmonton
The earth is damp and aromatic with the rich scent of early spring. The day is unseasonably (unreasonably) warm—11 degrees at the very beginning of March—and that warmth is predicted to hold steady through the […]
Book review: Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th edition
If there’s one book I recommend all wine enthusiasts possess—no matter their level of knowledge or interest in wine—it’s the Oxford Companion to Wine (OCW). Yes, it’s an encyclopedia: bloody heavy and astonishingly comprehensive. It’s […]
Vancouver Island wine & spirits
The thing about being an editor for an alt weekly paper while maintaining a full-time day job is that it’s really difficult – okay, almost impossible – to get enough ahead on your writing that […]
Digging through the archives: Edmonton’s liquor history
A couple weeks ago I holed up in Edmonton’s municipal archives to see what I could dig up on the city’s booze history. It culminated in this week’s Vue Weekly cover: an annotated timeline of […]
Recipe: Extreme Green Soup
If you are low on vitamins or just need a quick hit of veggies (and seriously, who doesn’t), this is the soup for you. It’s totally unlike your average plain, boring vegetable soup: loaded with […]
Cocktail Recipe: Alberta Premium Rye Whisky Smash
It looks like any of those other cheap bottles of whisky commonly lurking within your uncle/dad/grandpa’s liquor cabinet. Until very recently I completely overlooked Alberta Premium, assuming it was no different from Canadian Club, Gibson’s, […]
Is Edmonton’s Wine Industry Lazy & Entitled? (Northern Lands Fest)
I knew it would piss off a lot of people. My most recent cover story in Vue was about the Northern Lands Canadian Wine Festival, which is a super exciting event happening this weekend and […]
Recipe: Faux-roccan Lamb & Chickpea Stew
A rock-hard tube of frozen ground lamb: not a common (or overly appealing) ingredient in my house; previously I’d only used it successfully in homemade ravioli. But a decent working knowledge of foreign cuisine is […]
The Definitive Ranking of Wine Gadgets
Wine aerators are the worst. No other wine gadget has been able to pique my involuntary hate reflex as much as these things. (And yes, I do seem to be on a bit of a […]
