peppyre

Bravo Neil! You said it better than I ever could.

I have to agree that's it nice to have a dissenting voice in the city, but if you are going to give a restaurant a bad review, give the restaurant a bad review. Don't focus on words that have been posted on a website. That's really my only beef.

Well, she has certainly piqued the interest of this group. I will say this about my dinner at Rare, it was wonderful. There were a few issues with timing, but that is what I expect if I am going to a restaurant on their first night open. Or even if I'm going on the 2nd night. I don't think that it's fair for her to give a review of any kind when she admits that it's their 2nd day open to the public. She spent more time lambasting this place than she did on the food. That's just bad journalism. I did not have the beef cheeks, as much I wanted them, they were not a part of the tasting menu that evening. What I did have I found to be on par, well actually better, than the meal I had at Lumiere and pretty darn close the last meal that I had at West. This is still a very new restaurant and I think that in the months to come, it will get even better. I hope Brian, that you don't take any of these reviews too seriously, good and bad, and just continue to do what you do. As for the Mia Stainsby review, my mom was even talking about it this morning and is looking forward to eating at Rare.

Is this the building beside the Delta Museum with the Olde English Towne theme? ← Yes. So very sad. That was a standard stop for our family. Anyone know what happened? Did the family that owns it just retire, or were there other circumstances involved.

Brian, how was it doing a dinner like this when you've only been open for 2 weeks? The food looks fantastic. (And that was a Watermelon Radish, not a relish.)

If anyone would like a blow by blow, feel free to PM me.

Not good is the understatement of the year. Horrific is more appropriate. I don't even think I could brave it if Al was in the kitchen. Don't go!

My advice would be to wait a few more months when it's in season and then you will be able to find at many fish markets. Particularly on Granville Island.

attenpt to shave a small piece of prime rib with my very sharp serrated knife. who knew the pinky had that much fat. 8 stitches later the freezing is just now wearing off. worst part; it was one of my med studennts that sutured me. right, she's been on her ER rotation for 2 weeks and has sutured 4 people, give her the cut requires an assist. i finally just told her to pass me a glove and i assisted with my own freakin sutures. the only positive, i didn't bleed on the prime rib

Le Gavroche, Hermitage, and an obvious one, the Prow in the Pan Pacific, Earl's Tin Palace (the flagship in North Van), Red Robin (Sooooomany bad bad memories), The Keg, The Old Surrey Inn, Harte house has definitely been around for more than 20 years. My grandparents used to take me there when I was a kid. Porto Fino in Delta (it may be closed now, those restaurants on Scott Road are now a moving target) I know there are many more, but I've only had 1/2 of my coffee this morning.

Blueberry pie will be out of the oven in a few minutes. I have a feeling there will be an enormous amount of food consumed this week. I spent the weekend and the latter part of last week eating salads.

Yeah, Sam is pretty cute. As we say, he gorgeous....that's it He's my mom's cat and quite honestly, my cat can't stand him. He's too silly for her. As for the bottle, well, men tend to adore my mother. She's gorgeous, with a personality to match. Let's just say that "Sir" Pol Roger was a wee bit smitten

I would first start with a very large campari, straight up, maybe with some ice, depends on if it's in the freezer or not. Then I would proceed to open either the most expensive bottle of wine I have or something else relatively expensive. If it was really really bad, I wouldn't cook. It would be Thai food from the restaurant down the street, as hot as I can possible handle it. I would then proceed to finish the bottle of wine and any chocolate that was in the house. And maybe some more wine......

No need to apologise for the wine Brian. I think it enhanced the experience. Of course, that could have been the unidentified 4 grams per litre, but that's OK. Could you imagine what would have happened had the other table had a bottle as well. Oh, I forgot to add, my Dad and BIL drank the bottle that my BIL brought back from Beijing. My father's response to this wine "It wasn't bad. Drinkable." I think the bottle you had may have been blown. damn fingers.....

Since it's been 6 months and I've had time to forget quite a bit, I figured it was a good time for an update. I've had a helluva time uploading all these photos into imageGullet and gave up many times. But finally, they are there. I'll start with dinner one that was held on her actual birthday. It was her choice, whatever she wanted. The menu: Fresh Crab Shrimp Salad with Thousand Island Dressing This is sans dressing, to be added later, but what a great dressing. I've never made Thousand Island before, and I have to say, it was damn tasty. The crab was wonderfully sweet and Sam agreed We drank a very special bottle of Champagne: The feast! My mom was very patient and waited for me to take the picture, her husband on the other hand, was shaking his head laughing at me. He thinks this is all very weird. But wait...there's more to come.

The kid's table may have been noisy, but it was all the fault of that what....oh..that wine. It was great night of food and friends. I think the highlight for me was the pork and chayote. It was very tasty and olives were a nice surprise. The crab was very good, but I think I wore more of the sauce than I actually tasted. The pork buns were truly ethereal. The dough was soft and silky and the pork was thankfully not that bright red you normally find a BBQ pork bun. They were still just as good cold a few hours later (thanks for the midnight snack Arne. I think we all inhaled them) The cod was very good, very fresh (obviously) with a delicate hint of soy. Very nice. It was a great night. Next up, the "Dance Dance Revolution" competition, featuring BCinBC vs Keith Talent.

My grandmother always told me to eat my porridge because "It'll put hair on chest." That also went for soup and tea. Just what a little girl wants to aspire to have....a hairy chest.

All I can say about the guy taking the cookie "Welcome to Commercial Drive!" If it's weirdness you're looking for, you found the right place. Abra, it was wonderful meeting both of you last week, and I am so glad I was on holiday. That deep fried pork hock....OH...My....GoD!!!!! It was incredible, especially with the vinegar. Deep fried pork fat, how can you go wrong. I'm glad you had a great time and I look forward to your next visit

Yes Ling, as a matter of fact I have..... Tada! The icing was a good inch thick and tasted kind of like "butter substitute" mixed with wax and a sugar product, while the cake was reminiscent of...well...packing popcorn comes to mind.

Depending on the loaf that I am making, I split my wet and dry ingredients. Depending on the humidity, you may or may not need all of the flour and you may or may not need all of your liquid. The more you play with the dough and start to learn the feel of it in different stages, the easier making bread will be. As for steam, I used to always add ice and water to a pan at the bottom of my oven that had been preheating. Once you put your loaf in, quickly add cold stuff and very very quickly close your oven door to trap all the steam. It used to make perfect loaves everytime. (Of course, I haven't made bread in 5 years due to low cabinets. I got tired of hitting my forehead evertime I started kneading. [i'm really tall [)

As I said upthread, the fruit itself is at Fujiya, they are $5.95 each. 1 orange sized piece of fruit. That same bottle of juice that you purchased at GI is $7.95 at Fujiya. I was there on the weekend, checking to see if the price had come down, which of course, it hadn't. Edited because my damn fingers won't work.

And you found them where?!!

There is always a chance of having one bottle that is off. Depending on the wine or the region or the type of cork used, it could be more than one. I'm never surprised when I have a "corked" bottle (that musty smell and taste). Watery sounds like it could be a cork issue. I certainly wouldn't expect the rest of the bottles to be blown.

Fujiya has fresh Yuzu in right now. $5.95 each and the very very small bottle of juice is $7.95.

Never ever again will I think that it's a good idea to peel a butternut squash with a chef's knife, in the dark with a migraine. WTF was I thinking. Even as I was peeling and right before the knife slipped into my thumb, I was thinking that this really wasn't the smartest thing to do. For a cut that didn't really bleed alot, damn is it ever deep. Of course, next migraine, I'll probably think it's a good idea to debone a chicken....in the dark....