barolo

Tonight is butter chicken sausages from Oyama with sauteed spinach and reheated potato gratin. A few olives and radishes with wine while the food is being prepared and cooked. Apricots poached in Riesling for dessert. Tomorrow I'll braise a bison blade roast in red wine and beef stock all day then shred it and serve over polenta. I've got asparagus for a vinaigrette to start. A trip Les amis tomorrow for a cheese course and then the Island for salad ingredients. The rest of the poached apricots topped with a few raspberries for dessert.

Ducky, I'm sorry you had a terrible time! Had I just returned from a month in Europe maybe I'd be complaining about the food too, but alas, it is not so. Perhaps we were just so appreciative of having a long weekend away that we were not so exacting as you are. Regarding SOBO - I didn't have the fish tacos or the soba noodle salad so I can't really comment on them. I still believe what I had - garden salad and asparagus soup - was pretty good for takeout food and compared to the alternatives. Despite the Enroute thing I wasn't expecting any dancing Jesus - it's take out, it's Tofino. BC doesn't have any grand culinary traditions - SOBO's menu is "borrowed" from around the world, that should tell us something. I didn't eat seafood at any of the restaurants we dined at because I knew it would probably be disappointing. We only ate lunches out, the rest of the time we cooked for ourselves. We deliberately chose to stay somewhere with cooking facilities because we knew we'd do better cooking for ourselves, and we did - and of course it was more economical. So perhaps my expectations were lower, and my wallet was smaller, so I was happier with what I got. As for the question about why there is no great seafood restaurants to be found, I'm not from Tofino but I can make a few guesses: - many or most of the visitors don't want/appreciate simple well-prepared fresh fish and seafood and they are not willing to pay the price for it. The locals probably cook it themselves - There is not a deep culinary history or history of seafood restaurants to fall back on -The low population density in the environs makes restaurants a risky business, even crab shacks. - The town's economy is being transformed from a natural resource based one to a resort based one in a very accelerated manner and those employed in the former are not the naturals for the latter. Many of those who are moving to Tofino to work in the resorts find that they prefer to live closer to (or in) urban centres resulting in a high turnover of staff. - the fishery is premised on serving outside markets rather than feeding the locals - increasingly fishing licences in BC are held by Vancouverites, who lease them out. In other words Vancouver is the navel of the BC fishing industry, not any of the small towns of the coast. As for the prices of accommodation - we got a discount from the listed prices on our unit and I did not find it outrageous for what we got. I didn't even consider going in the summer though. I don't have enough points of comparison to assess how they rate on a global basis either. I'll be in Tuscany in September so I'll have to remember to check out the castle prices Now everyone can jump in and tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about.

Walnut oil and cauliflower would be a great match.

I share Zucchini Mama's preference when I'm alone. When I'm not alone I might be more inclined to sit at the bar, but so many of the seats are uncomfortable that I usually avoid them. However in the spirit of inquiry I think I'll check out the bar at Fiction soon.

I recently gathered up some family for a long weekend retreat in Tofino, catching the end of the shoulder season. Here's a quick report. We marshalled in Nanaimo on a Friday morning, gathered our gear (including the Rancilio of course), wine and food and headed out. We stayed in a brand new two bedroom villa at Pacific Sands on Cox Bay. These were superb accomodations - well appointed, private and spacious with a great view. On Friday we arrived in Tofino in time for lunch at SOBO - as reported now serving lunch out of the truck at the Botanical Gardens with options to eat indoors or out and wine and beer available. The gardens were looking great with the rhododendrons in full bloom and lots of birds bopping around. We elected to eat indoors as it was a little cool. Between us we sampled fish tacos, smoked salmon chowders, asparagus soups, cornbread, buckwheat soba noodle salad, and garden salads. The ingredients are fresh, the garden salad is nicely composed, flavours are light and balanced - very impressive for a take out operation. Prices are very reasonable. A couple of quibbles - too much dressing on the soba noodle salad, and eating out of cardboard, styrofoam or plastic with with plastic utensils just doesn't work for salads and soups of the quality being served here. Real street food like fish tacos works fine, but some of the other stuff doesn't fare so well. Dinners were cooked at the "villa". Roast chicken, potatoes and asparagus the first night, with Riesling. Crab and asparagus the second night with Champagne and Riesling. Lunch on Saturday was at the Long Beach Lodge, next door to Pacific Sands: carrot ginger soup, shrimp sandwich, bouillabaisse and Wild Goose Riesling in the "great room". Everything was good, if not outstanding, and the service was friendly and helpful. The room has great views of the beach, an eclectic mix of furniture and seating options - very comfortable and relaxing. On Sunday, it was back to SOBO for a quick lunch, on the patio this time - featuring polenta fries, fish tacos, garden salad, burritos and a flourless chocolate cake. Once again good and fresh. The cake comes on a real plate . One last walk on the beach and we headed for home.

You do need to be careful about preserving things in oil - botulism is a risk with garlic, mushrooms etc. It can be done, just follow proper procedures. Here's a link: Preservation of vegetables in oil and vinegar

Wow, that is pretty fast. But the high end grocery business seems to be pretty dynamic in Vancouver right now. I believe there's an Urban Fare going in at the base of the Shangri La building at Geogia and Thurlow.

These little glass topped aluminum tins from Lee Valley tools might work.

No I was out of time so I used the President's Choice product. Next time I'm at Gourmet Warehouse I'll check it out and report here if someone else hasn't beaten me to it. Thanks, that's a good lead.

I don't know Neil, Vera's makes a pretty good lamb burger, maybe you do need to stage an invasion . No yam fries though so you've still got an edge.

Good issue, but I'm disappointed that the article about John Bishop didn't mention his new association with White Spot . I heard that Rob Feenie was pushing White Spot to consider a sous vide installation but John didn't support it . Seriously, it is a good issue.

barolo, sorry I didn't see this sooner. Head on over to the Gourmet Warehouse - you'll find it in the fridge/freezer. ← Great, thank you.

Thanks Choux. I do know it isn't all that hard to make puff pastry. For the record I did find President's Choice Butter Puff Pastry; however it is not made 100% with butter. It also contains hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil margarine.

Enthuze on Denman across from the library, opening in May. Looks like some kind of take out place that will also sell housewares. From the website: An urban retreat where the time-challenged and flavour-starved rediscover the joy of delicous food at a fair price.

Raincity Grill is the first place that comes to mind. You can read their entire wine list from the website: Raincity Grill . They do flights and have a big BC wine list.

Thanks for that insight. Given a choice of insanely expensive restaurant food driving a gastropub revolution or keeping our unimpressive pub grub along with good, cheap restaurants, I'll stick with what we have. Luckily good beer is available in restaurants here.

Was someone recently exclaiming on the virtues of the Kiwi Pie Company? If so you might want to know that they've opened new storefront at 542 Robson according to today's Georgia Straight: Kiwi Pie Company

Is this the pub in the base of the Terminal City club? I went once, a few years ago, and was not inspired to return. Perhaps the food has improved. The Crow and Gate is the pub that I look forward to visiting. In the summer you can sit outside in the garden and then take a quick drive to Hazelwood Herb Farm. edited to add: You beat me to it Lee, but yes it is open to the public.

And Neil's in the centrefold!

Sloping Hills Farm in Nanaimo has Berkshire. You could try calling them to see if anyone on the mainland is carrying their pork. Here's a Link with contact information.

I just whipped down to Granville Island over lunch on the#50 and noticed that Barbara Jo's is moving into the old Edie Hats place in the Netloft on Granville Island. At least I assume she's moving and not opening another store. Yay!

Thanks peppyre, I did try La Baguette but they only do it as a special order minimum 5 kilos, which is too much for me. Looks like President's Choice might work and I'm considering sharing an order from La Baguette with a couple of friends in the future.

Great thanks! I'll check out the local stores.

OK, not looking good so far: President's Choice (from website): puff pastry in prepared products (doesn't specify if it is make with butter), but no puff pastry sold separately La Baguette: made with vegetable shortening; special order for butter, minumum 5 kilos These stores do not carry it: Whole Foods, Capers, Urban Fare, Choices. Looks like I better brush up on my pastry skills unless someone has more suggestions.

Thanks for the leads, Ling and Chocoholic. I'll report back.