Keith Talent

Sorry to derail, but if I never pick another thing it will be too soon. One of my self admitted neuroses is an irrational hatred of gathering berries. As a child I was forced in contravention to UNICEF guidlines and the Geneva Convention to involuntary child labour. My mother (the source of most neuroses, or at least the semi-interesting ones) indulged her passion for saving money by using a free picking service, namely my brother and I to harvest every single freakin' crop grown within a hundred miles of Vancouver. For most of my friends summer holidays meant swimming, biking, watching Three's Company reruns etc. For me it was 8 weeks of "The Itinerant Experience". Blueberries (the worst), strawberries, raspberries (almost as bad as blueberries), apples, plums and later when the Cal-Ital trend took off, tomatoes for drying. Apples were the only semi-fun harvest, as ever sharp to save a buck my mom spotted a mini orchard growing on the grounds of Oakalla Prision, a high security jail on Royal Oak in Burnaby. Every year she'd march the the front gate, the unwilling labour moaning about the dangers of escaped convicts the whole time, and she'd announce to the jailer that she was a tax payer and had no intention of letting the crop fall to the ground, so they jailer would lock down the cons, and a middle aged soccer mom and two small boys would pick apples. No shit. Amazingly I still like apple sauce. Only I've discovered Presidents Choice glass 1 L. jars at Superstore for like 89 cents each. Ironiclly, my backyard is wild blueberry heaven, and I feel a little guilt about letting them go to waste. Fortunately, my kids will be tall enough to reach most of the berries this summer. Mmm, pancakes.

In a group of eight, including a couple of sugar high kids.

I went to the new New India Buffet in Richmond last night. On Number 3, Across from Ukrainian Tire and The ABC, in the space recently vacated by Knight & Day. (What an awesome block, what couln't you get there? Breakfast, new car battery and then over to Knight & Day for a classy lunch.) Too much food on the steam tables for the number of peopel inside. Quality was average, nothing particulary outstanding. The "Vegetable Pockets" were curious. My kid had one that she wasn't eating, I grabbed it and bit. Hmmm, tasted familiar. Didn't know Indians used sour cream, definately tasted of sour cream and not yougurt. Hmmm. Hold on, those are freaking deep fried perogies on an Indian Buffet. The other strange phenomena was I drank at least eight glasses of water before bed, yet to be slightly indelicate, didn't exit it from my system. I'm concerned if perhaps they forget to remove the silica gel from the chaffing dishes after unpacking? It'll be a good while before I go back.

I just phoned my Grandfather, it's CUT a rug, you can't bust a rug. And the GOOD meal part of your equasion makes things tougher.

Good one. I think you're the first one ever to get it.

Vancouverwaiter, You work at Joe Fortes, right? The clues are all there.

They're both awesome. Both have great food, both are super reasonably priced, both have great atmosphere but in spite of all that, they're different beasts. Hapa is where I'd go with friends for an "adult" night. Gyoza King is where I take my kids. Line up before six, sit on the floor, let the monsters try all sorts of new stuff. Neither "feel" like Vancouver. Hapa has a touch of "too cool for you", without being whereas Gyoza definately feels alien. I love the fact that the food at Gyoza is the same stuff you're used to eating at every other Japanese joint in the city, but it's good. Something like miso soup that is warm and salty and you drink out of habit can be a revelation at Gyoza. I love the slightly too loud super bad japanese pop interspersed with shitty local music too. Richard Marx and Joan Jett never sounded so good. We went to Japone a couple weeks ago. Living in Richmond I was hoping for it to be my new local. Sadly the food while really really good, was quite expensive (at least by the standards of the other two) and the portions were quite small, tiny in some cases. They really do seem to care about quality at Japone. I'll give it a second go in a couple months. Back to Gyoza King, or more accurately, the coffee shop next door. They were truly gracious and kind to me on outr last visit. I'm sorry I don't know the name of the place, but it is directly next door to the east. We were waiting for the opening at Gyoza two Saturday nights ago, when my girls need to use the washroom. Now three year olds aren't the best with patience, nor is their abilty to deny themselves instant satifaction of bodily wants particularly good. I took them next door and asked the girl if I could please borrow the washroom. She was happy to let us, although it clearly wasn't intended for public use. I really appreciated the gesture. I intended to go back after dinner for coffee's, but a plan was hatched to visit the Aquarium after dinner, (not by myself or wife, my kids spend a fair amount of tiome and energy in conspiracy) time was oif the essence, so we never got there. Check it out some time, maybe the coffee is horrible, I don't know, but the owner is a really nice person.

Out of curiousity, what restaurant pays less attention to my order and the care that's put into the preparation of my food when I don't order the Opus One vertical? Thanks in advance.

The best part of the website is the banner on the right proclaiming it "CANADA'S BEST TOURISM BUSINESS: The Tourism Industry Association of Canada has named Capilano Suspension Bridge Canada's Best Tourism Business - Single Unit." Well, no shit. All the clipjoint proprietors gather for their yearly convention and every single delegate at the convention wants to ask the bridge people how the hell to they rationalize the exhorbitant entry fee to their customers, and the best part, get the customers to pay it. Bravo, I guess. I can see the Italian delegation sitting around a hotel bar, wondering how some stupid rope bridge over a very average chasm that takes all of ten minutes to see in intricate detail can charge more than twice as much as a world heritage site of unparalleled historical import and prurient titilation that you could literally spend hours exploring without getting bored. Colliseum or suspension bridge? Hmm, it's a toss up. And "Treetop Adventures" looks suspiciously like a multilevel back deck. Maybe I should think about adding a deck walk to Talent-Land. Explore indigenous flora and fauna RIGHT AT GROUND LEVEL! Capilano Suspension Bridge

Based on your recommendation, I've been going to Prata Man on a somewhat regular basis for lunch. Laksa and Roti, to go. Probably the unhealthiest lunch you can have not sitting next to a giant plastic Mayor McCheese. So stupidly good though. I think the Laksa has an inferior broth to the one at Yaohan, but conatins more/better chicken and shrimp. Plus parking doesn't make you hate every last motherf*&cking person on earth. So that's a win. Today I went to a place Ling recommended I try next door to Vogue at the Soviets do Southwestern architecturely styled mall at Sexsmith and Cambie. The place is called "Traditional Taiwanese Restaurant", exhibiting a level of originality people say Asians don't have. Cheap and delicious. I had Taipei Stupid Noodles, which I ordered the first time based on the name alone. They're a fettucine sized wheat noodle in a sweet and hot chili sauce. Also got a side of spicy wonton, which are pretty much what the name implies. Every restaurant in the mall is cheap and good. My wife and mine project of eating in every restaurant in there is coming along nicely. The only problem is everything is so good you want to go back again and again rather than trying the new places.

Hate to bang on, but the Capilano Suspension Bridge has got me baffled. Here is a list of the most spectacular tourist sites that I've seen, lets play the old Sesame Street game of figuring which one doesn't belong. Eiffel Tower Top: 10,40 € Empire State Building (18-61) $12.00 (USD) Capilano Suspension Bridge $21.95 The Colosseum Rome (With the Forum next door being free) : 5 € Forbidden City Beijing : 60 Yuan ($10 CDN)

Get out. There is no way it costs 21.95 to walk across that bridge. Okay, maybe it does cost a hundred bucks to take a family of four across, but there is no way anyone pays that and doesn't leave feeling severly ripped. That is perhaps the worst example of cost vs. entertainment value ratio I've ever heard of. I'm missing the boat here. If rich Albertans and Yanks will squander that much money to see that, I should definately be running some sort of tourist attracation in my yard. I'm calling it the "Talent family Canadian Experience". My wife is going to be curious when I come home tonight dressed as John A. MacDonald. She's going to be pissed when I bring her Emily Carr costume out of the trunk. Attractions will include; Pet a real live Canadian cat! Play "real" street hockey in the cul-de-sac with the neighbourhood hooligans, (watch for high sticks!) Visit an authentic minuture coastal longhouse made entirely of Duplo. See authentic Canadian wild bush children up close, (tantrums on the hour). Enjoy the uniquely Canadian snack of "Chicken Chips", try "All Dressed" on the VIP package. Discover how 21st century Canadian families lived using the emerging science of "garbage anthropology". Bonus package, ancient Indian spa treatment. Soak in the reinvigorating waters of the authentic native hottub (assuming of course natives had electricity and pump technology). On Weekends we'll have the Mysteries of the Prairie, come discover what suprises lay in the long grass of the backyard when mowed. You get to keep whatever you find, assuming of course my kids don't claim prior title. All this for only $18.95! For an extra buck I'll tell you all about the Capilano Suspension Bridge. See you soon jschyun.

In my experience, at the airport, no. Via auto is another completely different story. I wouldn't risk bringing any foodstuff across the border into the US in a private vehicle. If you declare it, I guarantee there is a 99.9999% chance you'll have to trash it, if you don't declare it, chances are slim they will find it, and if they do you plead ignorance that it was in the car, not ignorance of the law. ("We were having a picnic, and I thought my wife said she threw the rest out, because we clearly understand the laws regarding the importantion of banned foodstuffs.") But do you really want to ruin your vacation over cheese? I'd recommend scrapping the cheese if your are driving back into the states.

So, who wants to come up with a recipe using all ten items? Bonus points for using raw ingredients.

Anyone else interested in this? Apparently there's a 12 part TV series that accompanies. I'm curious in spite of self-important statements like, "it is the only product that is as complex as a human being." Really? What about cats, they're more complex than wine. Airline seat pricing policy is every bit as complex as wine. Tax code is more complex than wine, easily. The neutral zone trap is almost as compex as wine. Ikea furniture is as complex as wine. He also says wine is, "the sole guardian of Western civilisation.” Okay, screw it, maybe I don't want to see this. For someone who claims to hate the snobbery of wine, he certainly makes some pretty sweeping grand statements. And someone please tell wine to deal with bin Laden, he's in a cave in Pakistan. Save us wine. Yahoo movie info Article from yesterdays Globe & Mail Info from official Cannes site

If anyone wants me prior to a Canucks home game, you'll know where to find me. That looks realy really good, thanks.

A joint? In Vancouver? Bull. Seriously though, why? I try not to be too judgemental, but a joint? Like in grade nine? Fair enough, I'm not so far removed from my youth that I don't remeber the hunger inducing aspect, although the craving was usually for Doritos and KFC, rather than tuna tartare served in a sea urchin shell, but whatever. And we wonder why the rest of the country makes fun of us.

Sticking on topic isn't one of our strengths here on the YVR board. Feel free to drag the corpse of the thread where ever you'd like to take it.

Okay, now my curiousity is piqued. Do elaborate DameD.

Very interested in seeing the menu for Chambar.

Being the petty consumate nitpicker, I've gotta observe that I beleive those were two different episodes, or at least took place in Spain rather than Portugal.

See, that article comes far closer to "underground dining" rather some some catered picnic or dinner party that smells like teen spirit. If anyone knew of a chef operating on the sly here in Vancouver, I'd like to know about it. Really though it just sounds like most third world restaurants, I've never been to Cuba, but I hear this type of thing is very popular there. I ate at the (unjustifiably) famous Li Family Restaurant in Beijing recently. It comes as close as anything to the intent of the concept. Dining in his house, served by family, although he has commercialized the venture to a large extent recently.

Exactly, this is what you get when image obsessed Gen-X grows up. The attempt to imbibe a traditional activity with underground street cred. Kinda sad really. No suprise that it comes out of Seattle. And for no other raason than to be more politically correct than you (as in you the reader, not you the poster who originally began the thread,) Gypsy is a (semi) racial slur. Romany is the preferred term. And spending a little time in the south of Europe will make you question if maybe your whole liberal worldview is a social construct and a lie, because everyone turns into Archie Bunker eventually muttering "F'ing Gypsys" under there breath at least once while there. And if this whole "too cool for you, hyper exclusive dining thing" is going to get pulled off, maybe we could go to work on the high end "Eye's Wide Shut" orgy thing next. Who's got a mansion in the country and knows fifty 25 year old dancers that are adventurous and willing?

The author seemed to add maybe a little more subterfuge and intrigue than was required, perhaps because otherwise all you're left with is the concept of hiring a chef to cook a meal for you in a private residence. I think he's (she?) saw the orgy scene in "Eye's Wide Shut" once too many times. No secret knocks, or covert disguises required.

Worst donut ever? That's kinda harsh. Anyone who would eat those little white powdery donuts from Safeway that isn't interned in an Iraqi prison and forced to consume them at the request of their sadistic jailers has absolutely no moral authority to pontificate on a donuts merits. Period. The whole appeal to KK is that it's new. Once the novelty wears off, it's just another shitty fast food stand. And Tim Hortons isn't anything to brag about. If stale dry fried in Etobicoke and shipped out west is your bag, then you are welcome to it. I think the bigger issue is the overimportance people put on donuts, and the unreasonable levels of deliciousness they expect them to have. You can only make fried dough taste so good before you hit the point of diminishing returns.