jamiemaw

Thin paninis? We'll dip them in the chili and call them the Recount of Monte Cristo. Or depending on the outcome, just smoke 'em afterwards.

And Screech to a halt.

some nonpartisan recipes: IT'S A WONDERFUL PERCENTAGE DIP EXIT POLL OREO FREAKOUT FRIED ANCHORMEN MAKING- A-COMEBACK-ON-THE-MAP CARROT SOUP FOUR-YEAR SILVER LINING CAKE The recipes are real however! ← The Percentage Dip has made the cut, Gifted Gourmet. I think we'll make it with smoked rainbow trout. Although I have some braised hare ready--but that would make it the Bunny Dip I suppose. Thanks for that. And as for emotion? Well, I'm worried the food might start flying. So in addition to the Heineken Manouevre, we'll be invoking some other Food Safety measures too: nerf dinner rolls and absolutely no cube sugar. And just maybe, like the airlines, those sketchy plastic knives.

Canadian bacon starter, eh?

No doubt best eaten cold.

Katie, In case you missed it, the trial menu is: Kyoto Accord Sushi 2 Trillion Clams Chowder Registration Challenge Chili Peppery Greens with Flu Shot Vinairegret In Yer Face Boston Cream Pie (à la Ann Coulter) Baba au Rummy The last being a just dessert if ever there was one. Hope to see youon one of my frequent trips to your wonderful city. A Canadian loyalist, i'm forced to bunk in at The Four Seasons. Cheers aye, Jamie

A superb plan, Susan G! Doubt I'll be bringing any Massachusetts cod product in though--they ran out a while back. Think I'll substitute some gently smoked local sablefish--similar but more subtle than Alaska black cod. I'll also be using local Savoury clams--plumply gorgeous right now. This dish is certainly getting politically correct, but we'd better slow down before it ends up looking like a political decision. Libation advice?

Thanks for that Neil, but Friday might be too late to get it down to the preferred serving temperature of 1 degree Celsius. Signed, Anxious in Kitsilano.

You're pulling my leg, right? There's more than 1 species of celery? EDIT: Apprently, theres quite a few http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/NWREC/celery.html ← Leg-pulling? Us? But we felt we should at least try to preserve the authentic provenance of each ingredient--as a culinary journalist I feel a responsibility to protect my sources. So we'll likely being going with Massachusetts 'Clean Cut' celery versus 'Texas Vicar.' Otherwise it might end up a real rhubarb. Jamie

I have just noticed a stunning resemblance between Louis Prima and Dr. Bourdain. Or was it Stanley Tucci and Louis Prima? Anyway, Neil, did that keg of Heineken come through alright? Jamie

We mentioned Coors because it is so resolutely Republican (especially with Pete Coors running in Colorado this year), not just because it tastes like it's been through an elephant slowly. I know there are human rights issues, but elephants have feelings too. Is there a replacement beverage with a strong GOP connotation (besides Arnold Palmers and Jim Beam and water)? Our menu, so far: Kyoto Accord Sushi 2 Trillion Clams Chowder Registration Challenge Chili Peppery Greens with Flu Shot Vinairegret In Yer Face Boston Cream Pie (à la Ann Coulter) Baba au Rummy No luck getting a line on Massachusetts celery for the clam chowder though. Might be forced to use a local softwood. How very fitting. What's missing?

Butter or Marge?

As are the pints Suzanne. But in this case we had to reach back into the retro meaning of 'politically correct!'

I don't recall saying we'd import blue crabs. Beans maybe. No, we just wanted something geographically symbolic and suitably egalitarian--the chowder makes a lot of sense. We certainly had no intention of importing New England product--for god's sake the price of Atlantic lobsters has fluctuated as high as 1.25 flu shots this week!

Canada and the U.S. are the world’s two largest trading partners. As as a result we take a great deal of interest in the U.S. elections. On Tuesday evening, my fiancée and I will host a small (<20), casual dinner party here in Vancouver while we assist our American friends in their invigilation. A poblano-fuelled chili seems well matched to cooler autumn weather, but it also seems, well, pretty Texan. So as fair-minded Canucks, we think it only proper that we include a dish from Senator Kerry’s home state. But with the chili, Boston baked beans are out of the question—although we already have ample reserves of natural gas up here, supplies of Beano can be intermittent. So what do you think? Something crabby? And, by the way, if we serve Coors, are we pretty much obligated to counterpunch with Samuel Adams? And finally, to cover all the contingencies, should we introduce a beer from a battleground state? A Yuengling Chesterfield Ale perhaps? Your assistance with any protocols or nuances much appreciated. Jamie

One of the greatest pleasures I've taken in eGullet have been these very posts--from the wicked and deeply amusing keyboard of Mr. Keith Talent. His sentimental posts recall a sign I used to have above my other keyboard that said, "REQUESTS FREE, 'FEEELINGS' $50." I would like to modify one concern though: Let's face it, tofu is the gustatory equivalent of lurking. Or lip-synching. Although . . . Keith, many non-Canadian readers (there are a few out there, although that may not be the case on November 3rd), may not be completely familiar with the runaway success of Yves' Vegetarian De-Lites (although it's spreading like a herd of tofus in the States), nor that it is now engineered in many amusing but astonishingly realistic shapes: Pork chops, veal cutlets, foie gras de canard, even faux-Cornish game hens. But by far my favourite is their signature product (especially around Easter), called "Lack of Ram". Delicious. And right next door in the deli-case is the perfect accompaniment: tomato aspic with pimento. I'm pretty sure that's why Coop stockpiles the Calona Royal Red, for these three things make for a lusty and invigorating culinary marriage.

But Coop, you always struck me as a Highly Trained Professional. Full after a bowl of soup? Even if it is a half-gallon, filled with things that go bump in the night and cheaper than gasoline, I think it's time we got you back in shape. To paraphrase A.J. Liebling's famous statement about Proust, if you ate a proper lunch, you might write longer posts. FYI, herewith Liebling's legendary quotation about Proust, cast in a larger essay about the true purpose of appetite. For anyone wishing to read more, Barbara-jo has reasonably priced copies of Liebling's work, including the recently published Just Enough Liebling, which also contains many of his war dispatches, New York curiousities and boxing features: "The Proust madeleine phenomenon is now as firmly established in folklore as Newton's apple or Wart's steam kettle. The man ate a tea biscuit, the taste evoked memories, he wrote a book. This is capable of expression by the formula TMB, for Taste > Memory > Book. Some time ago, when I began to read a book called The Food of France, by Waverley Root, I had an inverse experience: BMT, for Book > Memory > Taste. Happily, the tastes that The Food of France re-created for me-small birds, stewed rabbit, stuffed tripe, Côte Rôtie, and Tavel-were more robust than that of the madeleine, which Larousse defines as "a light cake made with sugar, flour, lemon juice, brandy, and eggs." (The quantity of brandy in a madeleine would not furnish a gnat with an alcohol rub.) In the light of what Proust wrote with so mild a stimulus, it is the world's loss that he did not have a heartier appetite. On a dozen Gardiners Island oysters, a bowl of clam chowder, a peck of steamers, some bay scallops, three sautéed soft-shelled crabs, a few cars of fresh-picked corn, a thin swordfish steak of generous area, a pair of lobsters, and a Long Island duck, he might have written a masterpiece." And now back to our regularly scheduled posting . . .

I've often felt a pressing urgency to make a friend of pho.

Coop, montrachet rports it to be on Denman. Perhaps its within staggering distance of Kintaro. I agree with your synoptic of Kintaro, but I'd also be interested to hear from our Japanese-Canadian friends. Ever had the 'Forest Fire' ramen there? Only available weekends because the chef contends that "I lose money on every bowl." Perhaps a double-header? J. [edited--crossed with montrachet--sounds like its right nearby]

A year ago I began posting on eGullet. Since that time I’ve learnt: • A great deal, especially about how people interpret what they eat, and the collaboratives necessary to bring it to table. • That, despite still-sizeable differences in the what and how underscoring global dining cultures, there are rapidly increasing similarities and convergences. (As extreme examples, take Las Vegas, a city of little indigenous culinary provenance besides buffeterias and meat leathers that now sponsors a hybridized dining dynamic--a greatest hits list--of brand extension that is so remarkable as to be perversely admirable. And Beijing, where a panoply of international restaurants has grown up where few others dared to go just a decade ago.) • Where to eat in foreign cities. • That culinary friendships are to be valued highly. (As one long-distance example, Andy Lynes visited Vancouver and the Okanagan this summer as a result of meeting on these boards. He’s already crafted several articles about our food, wine and restaurant culture, and I daresay I’ll return the favour shortly. There are many other examples of the kindness of strangers, both to and fro.) • That the smaller the potatoes, the bigger the knives, and • That occasionally, culinary minutiae can look an awful lot like train-spotting. • That most people are honest and generous. • That people who endevour to disguise themselves and their motives the most, also have the most to hide. • That if meals are the hinges of our days, surely good manners--and not a little humour—are their lubricants. • That we’re in this together. I’d be very interested to know your thoughts—about what the experience has meant to you. Have you been forced to give up golf? Spend less time with the family? And, more specifically, do you think that certain restaurants benefit from the anticipatory buzz? Or laudatory experiences as annotated here? Conversely, do certain establishments suffer from a thread gone sour on their food and service program? Have you learnt much about specific (and new) food and beverage products? Looking forward to your comments, Jamie

Love those Japanese-Italian fusion places. Sort of like the new Tojo's/Vij's co-venture that's being touted: Yakisari.

Jason, If meals are the hinges of the day, good manners are the lubricant that keeps them smoothly pinned. Your commentary in Slammed should be pinned as well--as required reading for all members: new and old, culinary professional or not. Thank you, Jamie

You raise an interesting point vandan. How could two restaurants, owned by the same (extended) Huynh family, serving essentially the same menu, taste so different? Sure, the West broadway location appealed to a slightly more upmarket, slightly younger crowd, and let's assume the rent was more expensive. But to me, the food just never quite tasted as good. I think my fiancee nailed it when she said, "The pans [in the Chinatown location] just have more soul." And, indeed, I too prefer to eat at restaurants that are open. Nice one. Jamie

Socratic dialogue? Although we have an abundance of hemlock up here, could you really endorse a guy who ordered it for his last meal? Sorry Gary, but in these parts, when a big Pacific storm rolls over the coast we're much more favourably disposed to Nietzsche--someone we can really sink our teeth into when it's dark outside too. Besides, shouldn't we cast the net wider and ask the question as to precisely when Greater Vancouver displaced the Bay Area as the west coast's pre-eminent culinary destination? I'd warrant that it was about three years ago, six months after the tech-wreck but while we were still more than 30% happier to see you.

To correct Jamie - Yakitori means grilled chicken ( or other bird ) - not the steaks at Kobe. Zakkushi is the most authentic yakitori place I think I've been to outside of Japan, maybe the only yakitori place I'd consider yakitori outside of Japan. Andrew ← I'll be sure to use the irony smilie next time, Andrew! It was exactly my point that Kobe wasn't "authentic". But they did serve "chicken yakitori"; few of us could afford the wagyu beef. What I actually said was: My name is Dr. Tom Celica and I approve this message.