jamiemaw

Biodegradable. A sustainable choice.

Katie, I'm sure that you have studied the Okanagan and Vancouver threads, however there are more OK Valley nuggets buried here. Quail's Gate would be an elegant venue both for your wedding and reception. Mission Hill (you'll find a link above in the blog) offers a number of different on-site venues, both indoors and out, however they do not 'do' wedding ceremonies on site - great reception facilities though. Cheers, Jamie

Based on Maxmillan's excellent suggestion, here are the proposed categories. May I also propose a Gold, Silver, and Bronze in each? Let the impassioned discussion begin . . . First Annual British Columbia Paper Plates Awards Sommelier of the Year Award Premier Crew Awards – Best Service - Five Awardees Best Bartender Best New – Informal in 2005 Best New - Fine Dining in 2005 Best New Restaurant Design Best Producer/Supplier of the Year Food/Wine Book of the Year Best Casual Chain Best Bar/Lounge Best Hotel Dining Room Lifetime Culinary Achievement Award Best of the Americas Best South East Asian Best Indian Best Casual Chinese Best Chinese Fine Dining Best Casual Japanese Best Japanese Best Bistro or Brasserie Best Formal French Best Casual Italian Best Italian Best Other European Editor’s Choice - Wildcard Best North Shore Best of the 'Burbs Best Whistler Best of Vancouver Island Best of the Okanagan Valley Best Barbecue Best Steakhouse Best Small Plates Best Last Course Best Regional Best Seafood Restaurant Chef of the Year Restaurant of the Year

Well actually I am surprised at how many people see the Straight as anything more than an entertainment weekly, but that is a reflection on me, I suppose. I would guess that the vast majority who pick up the Straight are looking for the reviews and entertainment listings (surely not the ads for the sweetest transexual in the West End). The juxtaposition of advertising with content in many Vancouver periodicals is chuckle inducing - found art indeed. ← That might have something to do with my age. Once upon a time, the Straight was the default alt-voice in this city. Ir contained a lot of deeply probing investigative reporting, and famously fomented the Tom Campbell/Gastown riot. It also broke a lot of environmental stories 0 remeber Bob Hunter? Is the front end just token lip service now? As far as food writing is concerned, I think Angela Murrills is one of the most literate culinary journalists in the country. That being said, I wouldn'y envy anyone having to ride shotgun with a readers' poll.

IIRC, Spectra Group's Red Door on Granville Street, was nominated as Golden Plates 2006 Best Asian. ← Ethnic cleansing?

A balanced overview, barolo. Perhaps (in addition to the guffaw factor) what interested observers find most offensive about some readers' polls is the pre-selling of self-congratulatory ('Thanks Vancouver for Voting Us No. 1!') advertising to 'award winners' before they are announced to the public. Given the Straight's supposed hipness quotient and investigative, vox populi political writing, do you think it might seem to some observers an abbrogation of integrity? Or merely - like most found art - just a funny kind of self-exposure? They're far from the only guilty party though in this egg and chicken exercise; I can assure you that any self-respecting editor holds his nose while the ad department cracks the yolks. I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago when a friend pointed out an incisive cover feature in the Straight that spoke to the unaffordability of Vancouver real estate. No big news there. But he made a cryptic remark about how helpful the article was - it prevented the colourful condo ads from bumping into each other. (He also pointed out that the Straight's slick new West Broadway offices look every bit as attractive as those aspirational ads.) Readers' polls--which might well reflect a periodical's demographic--are notoriously unhelpful because of their small sample size: note the number of 'ties'. Also note that periodicals rarely announce the number of total ballots counted, or votes within each category. They might also be prone to ballot stuffing; a few years ago a downtown French restaurant nearly won 'Best Chinese' in our own readers' poll. Thank a proprietor who got a little overzealous with the photocopier. I don't like most readers' polls for many reasons - not least being that you'd have to offer up one of those condos as a prize in order to harvest an appropriately large sample size. Otherwise, aren't they just a recycling problem? Kinda makes you wish the Colbert Report did food. Just to be clear, this isn't something just the Straight dreamt up - we do it, the West Ender does too. In fact readers' polls are extant all over this continent; often they tend to dig down to a denominator that might not be as food-savvy as the more silent majority, the one a little too busy to fill out forms enabled to sell someone else's ads back to them. This year the Straight buffed up their coverage with some credible food and wine commentators discussing their opinions over lunch - and achieving a consensus. The winners seemed interesting choices, but some might wonder about the credibilty-seep of intermingling the two polls. Perhaps ironically, the lunch was convened at a bistro called Shanghai. Amazing what Macdonald's french fries can do to your hip. Jamie

S.A. lurking somewhere in your background, Jamie? ← Nothing like a convivial morning banger. Although, as you pointed out, they can lead to false nocturnal alarms. But yes, I believe I visited. Not entirely sure as I was unconcious most of the time: biltong-hard rugby pitches, harder men, hardest of all - the boozers. I'm pretty sure that I (involuntarily) donated blood, though. Go 'Boks.

Thanks Jamie. I like this approach - no possibility of it being taken seriously! Into the file straightaway. Thanks. ← No worries - I haven't been taken seriously since I was three. Looking forward to the printed version - and the reaction of the combined 2% of Swedes and Canadians attending breakfast. Better add a starter of Wors'doeuvres, though.

Greetings from the far side of the Commonwealth, Gerhard. Innkeeper's Monthly suggests that these April 1st dishes are "guaranteed to ensure repeat trade". I've taken the liberty of suggesting some local twists: • Blackened Group (in the style of Basil Fawlty) - a certifiable morning classic and nifty homage to the iconic innkeeper • Regional Haggis complemented with Mrs. H. S. Ball's • Seasonal Meat Leathers with Wilderness Sea Foam • Neap Tide Chef's Surprise - today only: Fermented Whale • Sandbars • Pickled Guest (Yup - thank the honour bar) • Braised Limb of Strandloper I too am not much of a baker; best left to people who measure and that sort of thing. But here's a recipe for Gloria's Irish Soda Bread [photos on Post 80] well-suited to the morning meal. Even I haven't figured out how to make a complete bollocks of it quite yet: In a large mixing bowl, combine 5 cups graham flour 2 cups white flour ½ cup wheat germ ½ cup sugar 5 tsp baking soda 5 tsp salt 1 litre buttermilk Up to half ½ litre milk Blend dry ingredients thoroughly. Add buttermilk and mix with a rubber spatula, adding additional milk until dry spots have disappeared and dough takes on a mud-like consistency. Add dates or other dried fruit such as cranberries or currants to one loaf. Place dough in loaf in lightly buttered loaf pans. Place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. Bake for 65 minutes in a convected oven, about 10 minutes longer in a standard oven, or until a wooden skewer comes out cleanly. Cool on a wire rack for one hour. Makes two loaves and great toast.

Rather more comfortable than the reverse, I'm sure.

Boy rescued, burger postponed.

Tomorrow night they threaten the city's most expensive burger. Encore une fois?

You may want to [note: language pack not required] light the way to your Potlatch with oolichan candles, Abra. Potlatch was an early form of aspirational dining - there was a definite connotation of keeping up with the Jones or in this case with the orcas, ravens and spirit bears.

Shhh. People in Manhattan aspire to as well.

I share your pain, Daniel. On the other hand I no longer lay the buggy whip on the carriage horses, preferring life's new twists. At a seminar recently, I asked a group of night-time whinies (business nabobs by day) what they would think if they knew in advance that one-in-twenty decisions they made tomorrow would be dead wrong. "A good day?" replied one. In closing, I can only add that it's time to dispense with both the effete and wine that smells like them.

Did you check out the barbequed salmon recipe? Dammit, I hate living so far inland! ← Check out this Potlatch in Manhattan Salmon Recipe. [Menu - Scroll] Anthro 401; afterward I will surely aspire to stand.

A tribal ritual that I aspire to.

I don't look that hot in Blahniks anymore; I find them quite slippery on the rugby pitch, especially during the inclement months, even if an attractive pair of sling-backs makes for a useful swinging weapon in the scrum. My well-sculpted muffin top does no favours for my low-cut Diesels, either. I can, however, recognize a BoBo at 50 paces. Ina qualifies. But Giada has a more attractive forehead. Not incidentally, while a BoBo might be caught dead in a Whole Foods, he would never be taken alive.

Want a job? Outstanding. May you long luxe simply.

Interesting fashion analogies upthread. Just as Ralph and Calvin have cashed in on the aspirations of redesigning the lives of the chattering classes, and only then clothing them in offshore cotton, I was wondering who their gastronimic equivalent mught be. Certainly the New Martha is spinning a more accessible web post her prison break. But which purveyors really understand both the needs and aspitations of the BMW-Bourgeoisie? Who has applied their public brand most cleverly?

It's important to realize that this event, which currently numbers a coalition of Friends for Life and Loving Spoonful, and has also coalesced 193 restaurants, is a volunteer organization. Loving Spoonful receives alsmost 10% of its annual income from this source. It behooves anyone with an interest in the needs of the societies involved, and the food service industry, to volunteer their time and invite more restaurants to the party. Now we all have a whole year, less a day, to do precisely that. PS: Remember that $1 from each pour of Stella goes to the collective today!

Here’s the flip side of the little Le Cirque story, up thread. I’d just finished writing a column about Casual Fine Dining concept chains such as Earls and Cactus Club. Many of them have been incubated in Western Canada and are done well: Value-laden wine lists, organic ingredients, well – if simply – prepared food, and outstanding service training. My angle was that several of these concepts had recently hired some of the top chefs in Canada as their development heads. For many of us, especially for families, these concepts represent a cheerful default with relatively healthy food - and they are sound value. The newer stores are decorated within an inch of their wives. But it had never occurred to me that these restaurants, which are high-revenue chains after all, might represent an aspirational target for certain diners. Behold. A couple of relatively new eG members, who declared themselves as younger Chinese-Canadians, registered long and thoughtful posts about how one chain, Cactus Club, represented an aspiration, because of the modulated Caucasian menu (albeit now with Asian references), the attractive young crowd and servers, the colourful cocktails and the attractive décor. For them, the experience was a step away (and perhaps up) from some of the things that we aspire to: round eights of family bent over steamed whole fish with black bean sauce, or weekend dim sum. There was in their posts, if I’m not mistaken, a plea to escape their own traditions if just for a few hours, into this new but accepting environment that refracted who they wanted to become. For several reasons - not least the seeming cross-over of our aspirations - I was touched by the honesty of their collective message; unfortunately, for reasons I don’t understand ('wandering' - hardly), in a kind of misinterpreted ethnic cleansing, those wonderful posts were, without discussion, taken down. I did not sanction this event. I do, however, hope that those same members find this thread, and regift their thoughts as they'd be inarguably salient here.

Only that you are impossibly sweet and unassuming, and that you spoil us with your thoughts. Thank you.

Well, I wouldn't turn my nose up at either. And to clarify: just because I love it doesn't mean I own a lot of it. ← A Lada it is then! After that big 1* (or is it a single-Starr?) review today, perhaps you'll be in good company. Anyway, that whole scene reminds that validation remains the dark side of aspiration.

Jamie, I caught the tail end of a show that you might like to watch. What I saw was very interesting, and relative to postings you have made. Cost/loss/profit factor enlightening. ← Thanks cayenne! Amazing coincidence in that Michael and I scrummed on some story ideas one warm summer night, and his earlier CC show and this one with Michael Noble were amongst them. I appreciate the heads up, Jamie 'You Get What You Pay For' with repeats on FNC this Saturday and Sunday, 6:30pm and noon repectively.