maxmillan

Has anyone purchased butter puff pastry from La Baguetter Bakery yet? How much is the special order? Barolo, did you buy butter puff pastry from Gourmet Warehouse? Is it truly all butter? What is the weight and price? Thanks.

There was a stabbing this past weekend near that corner...hope that is not the reason for it's closing! Last time I ate there, they were out of pizza dough due to the high volume of pizza take-out orders they had to fulfill. In fact, they had only enough dough to make two small pizzas by the time I got there. I had called to make a reservation and they said I didn't need one but they wanted me to arrive by no later than 8pm as it was a slow night and they were hoping to close. I got there by 8pm but soon after, the restaurant was packed and the poor chef was frantically filling these unexpected orders. The lone waitress was very apologetic for my late order and was surprised at how busy it got. Seems like business is good. I would like to know why they are closed.

Canucklehead mentioned Hon's and I faintly recall seeing this stuff sold in the fridge section at Hon's in Chinatown. Going to check it out.

I usually get this as a complementary dessert at the better Chinese restaurants. However, are there any Hong Kong-type cafes that serves this as a menu item? Are there any restaurants in Vancouver that serves this without having to buy a banquet meal? I've posted a similar post in the China section but wanted to know if anyone knows where in the Lower Mainland can one buy really good instant black sesame drink powder? I've tried a few and most are not as good as the restaurants'. Thanks.

Almost bought the Savary blueberry pie from Stong's today and saw Kiwi Pie Company's pies in the freezer. The Checkerboard Crumble pie with apple, roasted pineapple and caramel is warming in the oven and my place smells soooo good. I also bought a mini New Zealand Minted Lamb and Butternut Squash pie. If all fares well, I'm back to try the berry pie and other savoury pies from the Kiwi Pie Company. BTW, the only Savary Island pies available at Stong's were Apple, which I believe is the best I've ever tasted, and the Blueberry, which is well worth it at this time of the year (it's a huge pie and no chintzing out on blueberries!)

I bought organic eggs, organic Avalon unsalted butter and concentrated beef stock at a much lower prices than Capers, Choices or Meinhardt. The cashier said the owner use to manage Meinhardt. That explains the similar grocery items and, thankfully, the lower prices. They had a St. Honore cake in their small dessert display counter which I was told is made with real cream so I'll have to check that out next .time I'm there. They are opened M - Sat from 9am to 7pm and Sun 11am to 6pm.

Yowza, I can get the same Savary Island Pies at Stong's? I'm definitely going there next time I'm working near Dunbar. My neighbour just gave me a slice of the lemon pie today which they got from Savary and I totally devoured it in seconds. Darn, I was hoping to save it for tomorrow. BTW, Savary Island Pie Company is in West Vancouver.

Mooshmouse, what torture! I'm restricted from sugar for a week and I see these wonderful pictures. Thanks for sharing.

As stated later on this thread, an appointment to visit his shop is advisable. However, I found a few hard to find things in his shop and he's very genial. He specializes in wedding cakes and sugar arts. A few years ago I took a sugar arts course at VCC and it was remarkably easy and very pretty. A couple of pastry chefs were taking the class as well. Dominque Jarry tought that course and he also teaches a wedding cake course. Both are good courses if you want to add that extra oomph in your dessert plating. Sorry, he doesn't have any pastries to buy in his shop.

Excuse me, 5 or 6 members are not the majority of this board. Let's keep discussing instead of pointing fingers. ← My apologies for generalizing However, my main point still stands.

I like John Bishop, I don't like R Feenie but I think we are hypocrites and elitists to slam them for doing what we would all do if offered the same money. Plus, as someone said above, maybe having the two chefs advertise for White Spot would improve the food. I also think this is genius marketing by pairing two good talents with White Spot. It may fail but it seems like the majority of this board are too discriminatory and judgemental to have thought of this. We'll have to wait and see how the general public responds to this.

I'm only interested in seeing the shows and vendors. I dislike lining up so I won't be eating anything. Is this worth the price of admission?

Located on 4025 MacDonald St in Vancouver, (25th and MacDonald.) The worker in the antique store, next door, said that the owner was the chef at Il Giardino. I asked if I could make a reservation today and they were totally booked until next week! They have take-out as well as lunches. They serve salads from $4.50 to $7.95, wraps, sandwiches, burgers, pasta, beef bourguignon, prime rib, lamb. Prices are $6.95 to 21.95, and kids menu for $5.95 The quantity and price seems very reasonable. They are opened from Tuesday to Saturday 11-3 and 5-9. If anyone is interested you should book well ahead of time 604-738-9883 It would be interesting to get feedback if anyone goes. My eating partner is in Chicago and I plan to go sometimes in the next two weeks.

Generally, I try new restaurants when I hear good reviews from food critics in the newspapers or from friends and from eGullet. But I find that it's not always the same experience that these critics describe it to be. A critic may describe the ambience in great detail (which I don't care for) and let that bias their opinion about the actual food (example Ch'i). Others may describe a restaurant to be a good value, when to me, it is not. Some are just not good critics of Asian food in general. Who would you recommend as a good Vancouver food critic?

Wow, what beautiful marshmallows, Wendy. Did you dip them in powder first before piping the outlines? I wonder if the chocolate was able to stick onto the marshmallows if it had powder on top. I made the strawberry marshmallows again and this time substituted in 1/2 cup dark corn syrup and the rest light corn syrup and got a nicer color. The marshmallows had a deeper pink color. There was no difference in taste.

Have you considered publishing the recipes with the profit going towards running eGullet? (Similar to Allrecipes.com?)

I resorted to brushing canola oil on my foil and with a bit of effort the marshmallows came off unscathed. Question: Can I use a darker corn syrup? Or should I use a proportion of dark and light corn syrup? Plus, Wendy DeBord, above, mentions to cut within 1/2 an hour after cooling if using a cookie cutter. Why would that make it easier to cut than if I wait the suggested 10-12 hours? BTW, everyone loved the marshmallows, even those that don't regularly eat sweets.

My sister made a lemon meringue pie (from a package) and made a meringue with egg whites. She baked this at 350F for 20 minutes. While it was cooling on the counter the meringue started sweating. I make my meringue from scratch but use a blowtorch for caramelizing the meringue and never have this problem. She wants to bake the meringue instead of using a blowtorch so what can she do to avoid meringue sweat?

I hope this gets answered soon...whew, a 10-page thread! I attempted nightscotscman's strawberry marshmallows and it turned out perfect. Going to use my co-workers as tasters. Thanks for the recipe. Can I use a Silpat instead of oiling the foil wrap? Would it work if I wet the pan wtih water and sprinkle potato/sugar powder on it? I used a pizza cutter dipped in the potato/sugar powder and found it worked better than oiling a knife. I know it was mentioned to use Pam. I wanted to get away from using oil if possible. I find the 50/50 potato starch/powder sugar tastes starchy. Has anyone found another proportion or other powder that I can use that tastes great? Thanks for any help to my above questions.

UBC Marketplace, underground is where a lot of students eat. Cheap cheap cheap. One particular place in the corner is Chinese food with three toppings of your choice on top of rice or noodles (no extra charge.) ZenCcafe in Kits for eggs benedict, yummy and filling. Or that place across Zen Cafe, Kingshead Pub.

Incendio (Gastown or W. 5th) is good but I don't know if they deliver. Martini on Broadway has very good pizza but I don't know if they have thin crust.

I use to work at the factory near Grandview Hwy and they did everything from scratch 3 years ago. When I started they were on the verge of new management, even hiring a Swiss pastry chef to run the bakery. It sounds like they're going the "American" way. I get the Modern Baking magazine from the states and a lot of bakeries are heading towards pre-made items. I always thought BG is used for scouting dates, esp the Kits location.

I ate a lot of different HCB this month and Terra Bread wins but mostly for texture. It was large and the most expensive of the lot. I would like it if it was a little sweeter with more spice. I liked Urban Fare's HCB but it was a tad too sweet. Third place is Uprising but they should go easy on the apricot topping, most of it came off on the plastic wrapping. La Baguetter L'Achelotte was a bit dry but the sweetness and spice is well balanced. I made a bread pudding with the ones I bought from Safeway (BTW, they have two different kinds.) Uprising Bread's HCB had something small and crunchy in it. I thought it was bugs at first but it looked like some sort of seed pod. Anyone know what this is? You may be happy to know the HCB from Terra's will be available until March 31. Thanks for all your suggestions. Hopefully I can get to Savoury Island Pie Company before this is over.

Guangzhou or Guangchou or Kwangchou is the name of the capital city of Kwangtung or Guangdong Province, the southeast Chinese province that abuts on Hong Kong. Toysan, Hoisaan, Taishan, Toisan is the county of Guangdong province that is about west and southwest of Macau. This is t6he hjome district of 95% of all the Chinese in North America, and elsewhere, prior to the late 1960s. By your transliteration of "doong" you are Toysanese. ← Looks like we caught another one! The cooker you described sounds very interesting, Max. Any chance of a picture? It sure beats steaming up the whole house, althought that's good in the winter when the air is so dry. ← My mom seemed amused when I asked that she show me how to make "doong." Come June, I will see how she makes it and try to include a picture of my mommy squatting by her homemade stove under the porch. Hopefully, she'll be wearing her hand-crocheted vest for added Toysan authenticity!