prasantrin

Actually, I think Victoria Seafood has the best seafood items, but that's all. Most of the stuff I order is pork-based, so VS is actually in last place on my list of dim sum rankings. I haven't been there this year, though. I'll check when we go. I don't really like xiaolongbao, but I'm always willing to try them!

You can also add protein powders (whey or isolate--pure, not those flavoured mixes) to different things to help with protein consumption. Pretty much anything can be pureed, so you could take her favourite foods and just puree them if she's willing to eat them like that.

According to Marion Warhaft in the Winnipeg Free Press, Noodle Express in the Dynasty Building on King Street now has dim sum. It will have to go on my list (like my list isn't long enough as it is...).

Bonfire Bistro is a place I've been meaning to try for years. We dropped by for lunch today to try the wood-burning oven pizza. I had the Daily Special Vegetarian Pizza (artichoke hearts, red peppers, and spinach) and my mother had the Daily Special Meat Pizza (I remember some kind of sausage and maybe red peppers and one other thing on it). The crust was reminiscent of frozen pizza from the supermarket. When I was younger, whenever I made frozen pizza I'd bake it on higher heat so it would crisp, but it would result in a very brown crust (almost burnt but without that charcoal flavour). This pizza crust was exactly like that. The toppings were also overcooked--quite dark, without even chewy goodness to the cheese. My mother thinks the pizza was pre-cooked, then reheated. Given its state, it wouldn't suprise me if that were true, so perhaps I should have ordered the custom made pizza (I tried, but they didn't have anchovies, and it's hard to have an olive, caper, and anchovy pizza without anchovies). Regardless, I don't think I'll be going back, at least not under my own volition. We also had side caesar salads--tasteless, but at least the lettuce was fresh.

It looks like a Hong Kong-style bakery will be opening up in my 'hood! It will be located next to Sun Fortune at 2077 Pembina Hwy. I can't remember the name, though, and there was no indication of an opening date (they're hiring staff now).

Thanks! I did some research and the dishes are part of the Puls line. I found the dish used for the mussels (it's an egg cup!), but not the escolar one, yet. It's all handmade (and that explains, in part, the high price!), so it's possible some of the pieces were custom made for the restaurant. Now I want to go to the restaurant so I can handle the dishes myself. And eat the food, of course!

While I can't answer your question, I would write a letter to the editor regarding the points you mentioned. They may print a correction or addendum.

yellow truffle--Were you seated on the floor completely (as in a traditional tatami room), or were you on the floor and your legs were in a "dug out" area under the table? It almost looks as though everyone is sitting in regular chairs, but I can't imagine putting regular chairs in a tatami room. Do you know very much about the serving pieces? Were they custom made for the restaurant? I'd love to have a set of the dishes containing the escolar (I'd love to have most of the dishes, actually!). (small point--the staff were wearing yukata, not kimono.)

I haven't heard anything! We were just at Young's a couple of days ago, and didn't see any notices or anything. My mother's comment was, "But that's weird! It's so close!" Maybe we'll go by again and ask what's up. As an aside, the "new" Young's is nicer than the old Young's, but it's well on its way to looking just like the old one, especially in terms of cleanliness.

We went to Kam Ho today for my first dim sum of the season. We (OK, I) ordered far too much food--hum sui gok, char siu bao, har gau, sticky lotus rice, char siu cheung fan, the crueller wrapped in cheung fan, and wonton soup. The cheung fan is really well made--very soft, and not too thick or too thin. The bao is soft and fluffy, but not too fluffy, but the char siu could use more flavour. Everything else was great EXCEPT the greasiness of the fried items. I think their ham sui gok is my favourite in Winnipeg in terms of flavour and the quality of the casing (really excellent), but I think their oil is too old, so it, and the crueller), were very greasy and much darker in colour than usual. I liked the colouring, but not the greasiness. Maybe they're waiting to change the oil till after their holidays (they'll be on holidays the last two weeks of August). Oh, the har gau could have had more flavour, but the shrimp were meaty and juicy. I think Victoria Seafood still outclasses Kam Ho with seafood items, though (haven't been there this year, yet). ETA: Prices, as I remember them: Small (ex. char siu bao)= 2.40 Medium (ex. har gau)= 3.00 Large (ex. everything else I ordered except soup)= 3.80 Extra Large (ex. wonton soup)= 4.95

Kam Ho is going on holidays for two weeks at the end of August, and will re-open September 3.

I figured out the deal with PayPal, at least in my case. It isn't a problem with PayPal, per se, but with my credit card company. They block any "unusual activity" as part of their fraud protection program, and too many consecutive online purchases (especially from PayPal) qualify as "unusual activity" in my case. If you get a message saying you've exceeded your limit for your PayPal account, call your credit card company and explain the situation. They'll unblock your card and let you continue with the purchase.

Did anyone notice the article in the New York Times a week or so ago about fried milk? One of the recipes was for garlic fried milk, based on "the snack found in Hong Kong sweet shops." The article, by the way, was written by Ya-Roo Yang, aka Bond Girl! (I think Bond Girl, but I could be wrong.)

What about beer? I think it goes better with falafel than wine, and even Pabst and Coors are labelled "vegan friendly".

I think a simple fruit salad is a fine idea, especially if it's hot. Falafel, to me, requires a simple dessert. You could also do a simple strudel using phyllo (if you have some handy, or if you want to make some) spiced like baklava to suit the main course better.

It won't let me do it that way, either. It seems there's a daily limit, so I have to wait until the amount is actually posted to my credit card before I can use it again. I paid for one event, then was blocked for a couple of days, now I just paid for a second event, and tried to pay for another (first via PayPal, then via the not using a PayPal account option), but was blocked again. I guess I'll have to try again tomorrow.

If you have a Thai market in your neighbourhood (or at least in your city), it would be a good place to start! I like watermelon seeds because you don't have to peel them to eat them (at least the really thin ones).

Awesome! This combined with Daniel's report will be the main source of my food research for my Spain trip (whenever that happens)! Questions--how did you decide which places at which to dine, particularly when choosing the smaller places? Did you mostly rely on research, or did you ever just wing it? Assuming you were travelling with your mother and sister at the beginning, did they let you plan all the food stuff, or did either of them have any preferences? I'm going to have to check if AMEX Japan has R&C certificates. I've been transferring all my points to a Delta account, but who wants to fly Delta? I'd much rather eat the points than fly with them!

Rob--I don't recall you discussing menu changes too much, but at first you might want to consider limiting your menu to a few of the most popular dishes. Then as you become more accustomed to the work (and working hours), you can slowly add back the dishes you removed, and/or add new ones that reflect your style better. Keeping things simple, at least at first, will help you maintain at least a little part of your sanity when it gets crazy busy.

My mother and I dropped by the FortWhyte Farms Market today. There wasn't much there--just some mixed greens, spinach, radishes...a couple of other things I can't remember. It's a nice little space (indoors), and in a few weeks they'll have more, but they had a slow start this year, they said. They also had whole chickens for sale, as well as honey produced on the farms (we bought some earlier at the gift shop--a large bottle on sale for $8!). Prices are a little high (it was $4 for 1 bag of spinach which I think was either 1/2 lb or 1 lb), but I appreciate the work they're doing. Open only Tuesdays and Thursdays 12-6, and it's located before entering the Centre, so you don't need to pay admission to go to the Market.

Awesome! Thanks so much for all the work you put in! How'd you do it? I think I need to learn that skill!

Not sure what kind of criticism you're looking for, but I would start with a good spellcheck and proper formatting. If it's difficult to read, no one will read it (which could be why you haven't received very many replies yet).

One of my quests this summer is to find a good wood-burning oven pizza, so I'll be visiting Italian restaurants to find it. First stop, Pizzeria Gusto. Nice space, but very similar to other spaces done by the same design team (I assume it's the same design team as Siam and Ivory, because there are many similar elements--meant to make each place distinct, but really creating something more like a housing development effect). We went for a late lunch, so the space was maybe 1/4 full, but I can imagine the place being quite loud when more people are around. The lunch menu is quite limited--a few salads, appetizers, several pizzas, some panini, and desserts. There's certainly enough variety at lunch without overwhelming the diner. I ordered my favourite--Pizza Napoletana--pizza with tomoatoes, mozzarella, basil, anchovies and capers. I think it had dollops of ricotta on it, too. I was hoping for some good olives, but no such luck. My mother had the lamb panino--lamb, arugula (?) and thinly sliced cheese (provolone?). When the server took our order, she also poured water, but there was only enough in the jug for one glass. She said she'd be back shortly with more, but we waited, and waited, and waited. Since it was past the lunch rush, being busy with other customers could not be used as an excuse. Another staff member was pouring water for another table, so I assumed he would come over and poor water for us, as well. No such luck. I guess they work in stations at this restaurant. I tried to catch our server's eye more than once (as she cleared and set tables that were maybe 10 feet from us, or as she was doing stuff at the bar maybe 20 feet from us), but she wasn't very aware of what was happening at the tables in her station (like me caressing my empty water glass). I was finally able to ask for water when she brought us our orders, but it pissed me off that I should have had to have asked at all. Now the food. My mother's panino looked filling. There was a substantial amount of lamb (possibly sliced from a roast) that looked moist, though rather plain (I didn’t notice any ground pepper or herbs on it), and there was a good amount of arugula, as well. The bread was lightly toasted, but I couldn't tell if the sandwich had been grilled. The cheese wasn't melted, so I would assume the bread was grilled separately rather than as part of the sandwich. I didn't try it, but my mother said the lamb was, in fact, moist, but not flavourful. It didn't have a bad flavour, it just didn't have any flavour. She really liked the bread, though, and said it was even better than the Italian bread we usually buy (I think they use ciabatta, but I don’t know if it’s house-made or not). I was a little disappointed with the looks of my pizza. The toppings looked right—light tomato sauce with chunks of (canned) roma tomatoes, blobs of melted mozzarella (as opposed to the even spreading of North American-style pizza). But the crust, which is most important to me, looked like a regular North American-style thin pizza crust. The rim of the crust was perfectly formed, and it didn’t have those bubbles and crusty bits that I come to expect from Neapolitan wood-burning oven pizza (like the picture here). The texture also was not quite what I expected—a bit of crisp when you bite into it, but with some chewiness (not to be confused with toughness) is what I like. This almost had it, but was a little too much like NA-style pizza. I liked the flavour of the pizza, though. The tomatoes are most important, in my opinion, and if the sauce had been cooked, it had only been slightly cooked, which left a very fresh flavour. The anchovies could have been distributed a bit better, but I was happy to be able to taste them, and there was a good amount of fried capers. The ricotta was fine—I would have been OK without it, and it made the pizza a bit soggy by the time I started eating the second half. I asked for chile-infused olive oil, which I love with Neapoletan-style pizza. They didn’t have that exactly, but I was given some olive oil that had been infused with cloves of garlic, some chile, and I think sun-dried tomatoes. It wasn’t really spicy, but my mother also added some to her lamb panino, and she said it made the sandwich much better. With my pizza, by the way, came a fork/pizza cutter. It was a waste of space. The cutter was sharp enough, but the fork sometimes got in the way of cutting, and the fork was pretty much useless on its own unless you always eat with your fork facing downwards. Verdict? Service was friendly, but it definitely could improve in terms of the actual service. I’d go back for the food, but I think it’s a bit of a waste (or gimmick) to have a wood-burning oven, but to not produce a good Neapolitan-style pizza crust.

Well according to some, what is generally practised in Japan is irrelevent to this discussion. One must look only at sushi chefs (I assume those of a particular reputation, not any old ordinary sushi chef) and sushi "connoisseurs" for opinions of any weight (I'm not quite sure what qualifies Trevor Corson as a sushi connoisseur since his "expertise" seems to come from studying Buddhism in Japan, trailing sushi-chefs-in-training at a sushi school in California, and his appointing himself as a "sushi concierge"). I suppose statements attempting to "demystify" the eating style of a particular culture are necessary to help outsiders feel some sort of superiority due to their "inside knowledge" (which apparently often surpasses the knowledge of people of that culture). However would books be sold without those little gems?

You might not have been paying attention here, either, because I posted the same thing a month ago (see a few posts up).