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My recommendation would be to go to Les Amis and ask them to help you put together a cheese plate rather than go to the store with a preset list. That way you will be able to taste samples of the cheeses you buy and get some background about the cheeses from the staff.

Thank you, Andrew, that sounds very promising. Now back to our regularly scheduled program: "Wireless in Vancouver".

Have the details about Century been revealed anywhere around here? Enquiring minds want to know.

Right now things are pretty good on the Christmas party front. We have two parties each year, one we employees pay for ourselves and the official one. For the official one we usually go out to a restaurant, Le Gavroche last year, Villa del Lupo the previous. Villa del Lupo was especially fabulous. For the staff one we always used go to the Wedgewood in a private room and have a traditional turkey dinner, but last year we went to Caffe de Medici which was pretty good and not turkey (hurray). I'm trying to convince the organizers to quit spending money on buying us cheesy presents and use it for wine and food instead, but I'm not making any inroads. Particularly bad was the one years ago on a carol ship - awful buffet, horrible people getting plastered, cold, damp and no escape.

New owners in the West End location, I believe.

I wonder where Blue Mountain gets its statistics. All the stats I have seen suggest we are second after Quebec. And if you are looking at value rather than volume then Quebec spends a quite a lot more on wine per capita than BC. Not to suggest that spending more necessarily equates to drinking better, just noting there's a whole lot of stats out there and lots of ways to interpret them.

This should be a fun blog. Like the others, I am really looking forward to seeing some Filipino dishes. The cat? Hmmm.... I think she looks like a Tinkerbell

I can't help you with the melon, but thanks for reporting back. Your meal looks and sounds delicious!

I was actually quite fond of Random; the food and the people compensated for the tiny uncozy room. Is the Random crew setting up shop elsewhere or was that it for them? ← As far as I know, that was it for them. I was told the chef is working at a private club in Vancouver, not sure which one, and Josh is doing something else now apparently.

No inside news here, but I walked by on the way home and they claim to have a website: www.scuie.ca. I didn't find anything when I tried it. I did learn that scuie is supposedly the Italian version of tapas. I also walked by the Saltlik site on Alberni. The sign out front says they are hiring and will be open in September but the windows are still covered with brown paper so there is nothing to see.

wattacetti: A few suggestions from me: From your post it doesn't seem as though you'll be able to come to the market on Thursday morning for the truck farmers's market, which would be your best bet for produce, as mentioned upthread. Produce is generally a weak spot for the market, but look for day vendors and stay away from the big permanent vendors. Peaches are almost over, not sure what will be there, look for melons and plums from the Okanagan. Blackberries and blueberries as mentioned upthread are available. Look for corn, peppers, squash, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, green beans, swiss chard. Organic Connection, as mentioned, is worth checking out but not everthing is local. Also check out their cheese - they carry Moonstruck Cheese from Saltspring Island, which is not available from Oyama, also I think an organic goat cheese. Look for day vendors selling local hazelnuts and walnuts, may be a little early yet. Oyama you know all about. You will be surprised maybe at how few local cheeses there are, compared to Quebec, but Oyama carries some and, as mentioned, the Organic Connection does too. Too bad you can't go to les amis du fromage. Seafood - sockeye salmon's been mentioned but there is also good cod, petrale sole, halibut, local tuna - albacore. Go to Lobsterman (not in the market building but a little way away in on a side street, get a map and someone to show you the location or scope it out in advance here: Granville Island) for crab (crab and corn - a bit obvious maybe, but a good thing this time of year), mussels, clams, oysters (check out some local oysters), spot prawns. Meat, I don't know that much about. Peppyre knows her butchers so take her word on onglet. I've seen magret at Tenderland Meats fairly regularly. The mushroom guy may be around as mentioned, otherwise the Spice Market often carries fresh mushrooms. I saw nice looking fresh lobster mushrooms there last week, not cheap mind you. It is still a little early and dry for chanterelles I think. In terms of prepared stuff - Leslie's Stowe Raincoast Crisps are a very popular cracker-type item to serve with cheese. Can be bought at Dussa's cheese shop I'm pretty sure. Stock Market you already know about. Stock Market and Oyama are good places to ask about where to find other stuff you are looking for. I've overlapped a bit with others, but I hope this helps.

This week, according to the City Food website. Official opening party, by invitation, on September 1.

I can't choose one: 1. My parents. My mother, especially for her use of fresh herbs and knife skills. She could turn even the most humble vegetable into a work of art. My father for the bounty of his garden, the trips to hunt mushrooms or wild asparagus, or to find new farm markets. My appreciation of great ingredients comes largely from him. 2. Gourmet magazine. I read it from a very young age and it exposed me to the broader world of food and wine - London and Paris and much more. It was the spark for daydreams and inspiration for explorations. 3. My long ago boyfriend who introduced me to sushi almost 25 years ago and encouraged my culinary explorations beyond my euro-centric origins.

In the same family: Banana Guard These are available in a cookware store near me and are very popular gag gift items.

West End Market today: tomatoes from Klippers Organic Acres and Snowy Mountain Orchards, plums from Snowy Mountain, peaches from Ritson Family Orchards, Bad Girl chocolates (poor Arne, how are you getting your fix?), leeks, broccoli and pattypan squash from Langley Organic Growers, green, yellow and purple beans from ??, raspberries from ??, cheese from Little Qualicum, sausages from Jay Springs Lamb. There were beautiful melons but I have too much fruit already. Then I zipped over on the ferry to Granville Island for some garlic from the garlic guy, a JJ Bean coffee, a short jaunt to les amis for more cheese, dropped in to see Barbara Jo's new shop, a batard from Patisserie Lebeau, fish tacos at Go Fish, back on the ferry and home by 1:30!

Barbara Jo's on 2nd is now open but still filling shelves. She has an awesome line-up of events for the fall: Barbara Jo's events. Also Patisserie Lebeau is opening a wholesale waffle facility and you will soon be able to buy their waffles in Capers and other stores.

Here's a link to the review: Lolita's I stopped by yesterday for a beer and beef taquitos - they are off to a good start.

Here's one: Stoney Paradise

Granville Island Public Market is not a farmers' market, nor does it claim to be. I'll disagree with Arne in that I don't think they are adding a few local farmers for authenticity. They supplement their supermarket-style produce vendors with day-vendors who provide seasonal products. They also host a farmers' truck market on Thursdays outside the east end of the Public Market. It would be nice if there were more farmers and local vendors on Granville Island on a regular basis, but I suspect that there is a shortage of farmers able to invest the time and energy. As an alternative to the East Van Market, if you are staying downtown it is a relatively short walk to the West End Farmers' Market (a smaller sibling of the East Van one with a few less vendors, but many of the same ones). I posted a few photos on the farmers' markets thread a couple of weeks ago: West End Farmers' Market . It's held on Saturdays from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm. You can continue with a short walk down to the foot passenger ferry to Granville Island and you can stop at an excellent wine store, Marquis Wine Cellars, along the way to Granville Island, if you are interested in such things.

Alexandra Gill gives a big thumbs-up to Lolita's in today's Globe, including the fish tacos. I planned to stop by to check it out earlier this week, but they were cash only and I didn't have enough with me. Sounds like a good addition to this dining-challenged neighbourhood. She also has a response to some of the comments here (and perhaps elsewhere) about reviewing a restaurant when it first opens. And finally, she has a side bar on Stoney Paradise tomatoes. According to CityFood, Nu will open next week with the official opening party on September 1.

Perfect. Thanks tfa.

Wow, that is an impressive list. Thank you for compiling and sharing it.

Yes, Karole. First the pressure of crovacking can be manipulated to change texture, intensify flavour by imbuing marinades more quickly, or simply (and this is the application for large scale catering and three ring binder restaurants) allowing almost perfect consistency with intensive flavouring. Here's an explanatory article that examines the many applications of sous vide cookery and its apostles. ← I like this Slate article too: The Slowest Food . It is a little more straighforward and less focussed on personalities.

← Yes, I do worry about this.

I agree that the Joe Fortes experience was instructive. And since I know next to nothing about restaurant operations and costing, I couldn't develop an argument to the contrary even if I wanted to. I will be interested to see how this sous vide revolution plays out in Vancouver. I think West is the only place I've had something cooked sous vide, or at least it's the only place that was explicit about it. Is sous vide being used relatively widely now in upper end restaurants here?