raw kale chips! found in calgary, alberta!

i really didn't expect food success in calgary, alberta. me and paul brought a bunch of organic produce and snacks for our time here as we expected it to be expensive or non-existant. going to planet organic the other day proved us wrong!
we got kelp noodles like we love back home for $6.50! $1 cheaper than back home! and the produce appears to be cheaper! $1 cheaper too! like $2 romaine and $1.50 avocados? what is going on? i am excited there is a market for organic products in cowtown, alberta! though my main impression of the areas we have seen is that everyone here is living in EXCESS. there is oil money here! and no tax! people have more than one iphone and car... massive and new houses with new furniture. i wonder where the old stuff is?
in the town of didsbury, alberta (population 5000), the one coffee shop here serves soy and rice milk and has gluten-free options! and paul's mom found daiya cheese and coconut bliss ice cream at the grocery store here? i am so excited there is a market for it here! seemingly in the middle of nowhere!
anyways... i bought kale chips made by rhythm superfoods at the planet organic.

i haven't even seen this brand before! (**february 2012 update - i have now seen these in greens market in vancouver**) i think the store had 4 kinds of them for sale for $6.99 which is a nice price as i find if you buy them in vancouver, they are about $10 a bag. i got kool ranch but the bag i got tastes (or smells) a bit stale. paul said the flavour was 'trying too hard' which i agree. his kale chips are my favourite! he made some for this trip (and did some chards also) and they were AWESOME. only one of his nephews would try the "leaves from vancouver" though.
it was nice to make a raw lunch the other day using the kelp noodles and blending up tomatoes with a bit of lemon, a bunch of fresh basil, a few sprinkles of salt and oregano and a pour of olive oil, and then adding sundried tomatoes. i had mine on a bed of arugula and some other greens:

we have just a couple days left here and i hope we get a chance to check out gratitude cafe somehow, perhaps tomorrow?

we enjoyed some vegan goodness at the coup today for lunch which was fun. and the gratitude cafe is just a 6 minute drive from there. i'm curious about prepared raw food in calgary! the coup had a raw dessert but i wasn't too interested in it as it was agave-sweetened. 

i had the seaweed soba ($12) and some bites of everyone else's borsht and grilled pita sandwich things!