peppyre

Wasn't their Gardenay line supposed to be restaurant quality soup? I personally wouldn't try it. I don't like canned soup at the worst of times and I won't go out of my to look for it.

I'm not much of a beer drinker, but Kokanee was the worst thing I ever put in my mouth. If I was at a party and that was all there was, I wouldn't drink. It's bat piss in its purest form.

Ooohhh..that's so sad. I wish I had known and I would have gone in for one last dinner. When I lived in that neighborhood it was a regular haunt. This is almost as sad as Habibi's changing hands

I'm fairly certain that my dad doesn't have any kind of humidity control in his cellar, but he's also on the North Shore and gets alot more rain than we do at lower levels. There is some serious insulation in the walls and the temperature is constant all year long. In fact, in the heat of the summer, my dad in I will hide in there because it's so nice and cool. The next time I'm over, I'll take pictures and ask more technical questions. i.e. How did you turn a shed into a state-of-the-art wine cellar that can hold a few thousand bottles?

Mid-August just popped into my head for no particular reason. I guess I was just thinking of the warmth factor the farther we get into summer. Well, I kind of have access to a place in Birch Bay and the beaches are pretty desserted there. I have also been know to drink on that beach without any repercussions, so that might be a good location. Just a thought......

Hmmm...could this be a mid-August adventure? My very first introduction to fresh crab was somewhat like this. My dad had a crab tank at my Grandma's place in Birch Bay and one night after the wine had started flowing, he decided to boil up a bunch of crabs. When I say a buch, I mean about 13 or 14. It was the best experience ever and one that I would like to do many more times in my life.

If the new Casa Talent is a house, can you look at building something on the property? My dad turned his shed into a wine cellar about 15 or so years ago and since then he's added on an outside section with walls and roof, the garage is overrun with barrels....we call it wine world. If you have any space outside, this may be an option and less expensive in the long run.

The claw alone is bigger the lobster I had a few weeks ago. I was wondering how you were going to wrestle that creature into a pot, I was sure it would be an exercise in futility. So, what's next...King crab....anyone....

My grandma taught me how to make shortbread at a very early age. I think I was 4 or 5 and by the time I was 7, my shortbread was just as good as hers. I also started cooking at about 5, not only cooking but taking something simple, like scrambled eggs, and pairing it with different herbs and spices to figure out what worked well and what didn't. My family should have known then. By the time I was a teenager I was cooking my own meals and developing my own recipes. In fact, I vaquely remember ever cooking from a recipe as kid. The only sad part, after my grandma passed away, I couldn't even look at shortbread, let alone make it, so now, 12 years later, I've forgotten alot of her technique and my shortbread never turns out. I think it's time to start practising again.

Tonight has been a very good food night. Very good indeed. Dinner tonight was pasta with Gorgonzola mushroom cream sauce.....oooohhhhh......The first taste was pure heaven. For dessert...my first fresh cherry of the season. I had shivers when I bit into it. I wish all nights were this good.

WOW!!! Lee, do let us know if you need any help with that sucker. I think it's the same size as a small dog. Wow....

Well...my mom still lives in North Delta and she comes into the city for most things. I would become friends with your car and venture into the city every couple of weeks for the good stuff. Of course, I will ask her if she has found anything good in the burbs.

Try them with Neil's Yard Stilton. OM MY GOD...Good!!!!!!

Ummm...I just finished and Pepper (my cat) helped me with the steak. Who knew that she would like a really rich red wine and shallot sauce It was quite cute watching her lick the sauce off her piece of steak and then inhaling the steak.

I finally have some more images of dinners that I can post. First is a dessert that I had one night about a month ago. Dinner didn't look so good but this one sure does: Waffles from Patiserie Lebeau with fresh strawberries. This was to compliment an omlette with mushrooms and shallots. Friday nights are my all-out-cooking or extravagant meal night. My last big venture before I had surgery on my hand was: Local spot prawns steaming in red wine and garlic A lovely small lobster from Granville Island and a slice of terrine from Oyama, also on Granville Island, Campari tomatoes, and a fresh baquette. It was heavenly. Tonight's friday night venture, Hanger steak with a red wine sauce and roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoe. Should be good.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!

Vancouver became completely smoke-free a few years ago and at first there was absolute outrage from pup owners in the smaller communities. The felt that they would loose all of their business, in fact, many nightclubs and bars in the city felt the same way. I was still smoking at the time and it was annoying to go outside to smoke if you were at a bar or a nightclub, but everyone here got used to it pretty fast. I don't think many businesses suffered and now it's just normal to walk in to a bar and not smell smoke. What's better, after a night of clubbing, you don't come home smelling like you've been in a locked room smoking for 12 hours straight. Granted, our weather is nothing like Montreal's and I sure as hell would not want to trudge outside to have a cigarette in Dec, but people will adapt. After 6 months, you won't even remember what it was like before.

Oooohhh Yay! So when can we expect this (I hope) new book?

I do wonder how one can tell if ones sense of taste or smell has changed--unless it was a very dramatic change because how would one quantitate it? If one's taste/smell had degraded and you tasted a new wine, it would just be lacking in aroma to your senses. Someone else with a stronger sense of smell/taste might think otherwise... The example of your mom is at least is quantitated against other professionals so that would seem to give some independent measure. Without outside comparison though, I don't know how someone could say their taste has not changed--be it from smoking, age, illness, etc. (Keeping the above caveat regarding large differences in taste or smell still in place). ← Taste I think is very different. My taste may very well have changed or not, it's hard to tell since when I started smoking I hadn't really developed a palate at all. As for my sense of smell, as I said, I am hyper-sensitive and if anything my sense of smell has become much more acute since I quit smoking. I have very severe reactions to certain fragrances or smells in general (like orange peel, and I love oranges) and half the time the people around me can't smell a thing. My mom's husband said he did notice a difference with the taste of food after he quit smoking, but my theory is he is just able to smell things now.

I also didn't notice a change when I quit smoking and neither did my mom. My mom is in the wine industry and is known for her nose, even when she was smoking a pack a day. I have always been hyper-sensitive to scents and there was absolutely no change in from what I experienced when I was a heavy smoker. From experience, my answer, no, there isn't a change.

He grew up in England, but actually he's Scottish. But yeah, FOX will milk the "British but rude" thing as far as they can. In the opening credits they mentioned something about him being raised on the streets of Glasgow...I'm sorry, but anybody raised on the streets of Glasgow has a very very thick burr that NEVER goes away. (Family members and friends that have been in Canada for 30-40 years still have it) It seems to me that FOX is trying to portray him as this street wise thug from the inner city. He's a very good chef and he's a perfectionist. I can understand the abuse when you are watching somone butcher something that you created. I would be the same. I did enjoy the first episode, and I had a great laugh. I'm looking forward to the next one.

The one thing that I found to be just over the top was the chef's jacket being slammed onto the meat hook after she was sent home. Talk about needless drama. I'm not sure how I feel about this show yet. I'm not a fan of reality tv, but this is a man I think i would want to work for....well, maybe only once.

Walking past a local wine shop the other day, a woman, standing in the doorway, looking around, hollers out to the clerk "Do you sell any wine?" It's a freakin' wine store!! That's all they sell, and their shelves, windows and displays are lined with bottle after bottle of WINE! For the past 10 years I have been doing tastings for my mom and I have heard so many ridiculous things that you start to block them out after a while.

Having been to several events catered by Pan-O-Pan, I have to say that I am not a fan. The owner Marta, is a dear dear woman, but I don't think the food is that inventive or good. As far as I'm concerned, if you're catering several events for the same group of people every few months, come up with a new menu. At 4 different events we've had exactly the same items. So, personally, I don't think it's that great.

I found the easiest solution to this problem...live alone. The first guy that I ever lived with used to finish off my gin. I would buy a bottle of gin to have a nice G & t when I got home from work only to discover that the lush had polished off the entire bottle and was passed out in bed. Needless to say, that didn't last very long.