peppyre

After a jaunt out to Chilliwack yesterday, my mom and I came home with 3 seed bulbs of the Russian garlic. I now can't wait for July and harvest season!! If anyone is interested in planting some, Minter's Country Garden store is selling it right now, but this is planting season for it.

When my dad was undergoing radiation treatment, we had to do everything we could to keep his caloric intake up. My dad has an insane metabolism (that didn't inherit) and is a skinny-minny to begin with. Since his treatment was on his neck, it meant serious mouth sores and eating anything that he needed to chew became near impossible. That and losing all his taste buds meant he never wanted to eat. As he said "Everything tastes like dirt!" I made lots of pasta with cream sauce, real cream, lots of butter, and then a little more butter. Lots of oatmeal with sugar and cream. Basically, all foods that we eat in moderation, that's what he ate all the time. We all became proficient in soup making. He would buy a chicken, roast it, then throw it in the stock pot and boil it for at least a day. Tortellini soup was a big hit with him. Creamed soups, again with cream and butter, were very good too. I wish you all the best.

Oh binky, please share recipes for Mince!! My mom and I make it quite frequently, but never stray from my grandma's recipe. I would love more. I'm looking forward to another foray in Scotland. Now, I expect to see some black puddin'.

Good work Joie!! I am now very depressed that I missed the dinner last night. Damn move!! It's all your fault too Can't wait for more. So..uh...what was on the menu for breakfast this morning?

Toshi's will most certainly do an omakase dinner, in fact, one of my first meals there, there was a group beside me at the bar that was enjoying a meal like that. I was little envious of some of the dishes coming out of the kitchen too. Be forewarned, Toshi's is very very small and very very busy!! But soooo worth it.

You brat!! You lied to all of us. This should be fun. I can't wait to see photographic evidence of you using your kitchen. I actually think it's time you weighed that cat of yours. I think she may surpass my giant. Good luck! It's going to be one busy week for you.

I finally made it to Vera's last week. I was moving and it was late, but I have to say it was one of the best burgers that I've ever had. I will definitely be back. Saturday evening, after moving furniture all day and then having to stop and go to the airport and pick up my Grandma, we were both starving and I suggested Stella's. We had the endive salad with blue cheese and a cranberry dressing. Fantastic. The duck duo, we both really enjoyed the crispy duck confit and both found the sausage to be a little salty and not as good. We also had the tandoori beef skewers. They were good, but I don't know if I would order them again. I am just so happy that I can take my 81 year old grandmother to Stella's and know that she really enjoyed it. Today for lunch I stopped at Falconetti's after a wander through the new 'hood. I had a chorizo. Wow! It was fantastic. There wasn't much fat at all and it had the right amount of spice. The buns that they use are really tasty as well. I will be back for more.

The party was fantastic!! I actually have a ton of pictures that I haven't been able to upload from her computer. (my question about that was never answered either) I only have internet at work until tomorrow but I will try and get the menu and pictures for everyone later in the week. I'll just say, the duck that I made was outstanding!

I don't think the red runners are ready yet. Maybe next week. I know my mom's are still pretty small and it seems that every year they are the late bloomers.

Fresh Wild Sockeye salmon is in season and personally I think is a must. I did see fresh broad beans at several farmer's markets last week, so they are in season right now. Onglet is a little harder to find. I can't even get it from my butcher and he gets all sorts of bizarre items for me (24 pigs trotters anyone). I think pea shoots may be done for the season, but personally, another must is the Spice Market for exotic spices, fruits and veggies. If you've ever wanted fresh wasabi, they've got it. Have fun. But, be forewarned, Granville Island can be a little nutty on a sunny evening.

Well, after all this talk of Siren Song meals, I went to Hawker's on my way home from work and dinner tonight will be my Siren Song.

Actually, I just happened to buy a very large crab to eat myself, which usually I can do, but that particular evening I had absolutely no appetite. I think I had about a pound leftover and well, I just threw it in the freezer. Living on the West Coast, it's rare that I get bad seafood. I'm very picky and if it's pre-cooked, as this was, I have to know the exact time, where, and how it was stored. I bought a coho salmon the day before this and I asked them when and where it was caught. A little taken aback by that, but I like fresh seafood as everyone should. I think I may make it into a dip of some sort now that it's been frozen, still not sure what to do though.

Mee Goreng and a Spring Roll from Hawker's. The craving hits a couple times a month. I absolutely love it and I always end up ordering the same thing but with varying degrees of heat. Funny, Kedah House didn't dispel the Mee Goreng craving.

She will be spending a considerable amount of time and the Bullseye glass factory and her husband will have to amuse himself and the dogs. The last time I was there with her, we spent 3 hours at the factory. It's located at around SE 33rd, near Powell, so the outskirts aren't that much trouble. I think they're getting better at navigating the city as this will be trip #3 in a very short period of time.

I'm surprised that location stayed open as long as it did. The Cambie and 18th location closed almost a year ago now, and it was a larger store with a pretty decent selection. The Granville one had very little in the way of selection and if there were more that 5 people in the store you couldn't move around.

I'm just as shocked as you that I actually have leftovers. So, now what do I do and is it too late for the pound that's left. It was cooked early Monday morning. I had some last night and it was still fine, so tonight I would like to either finish it up or make something that can be frozen. The crab came from about a 3lb Dungeness, there are lots of big chunks of meat left. Please help with this strange new dilema.

My grandma used to make all of her stock in the pressure cooker, in fact, she would throw in a whole chicken along with the veggies and anything else, and the end result would be dog food and marvelous stock. She used to cook it so long that the chicken bones crumbled and were put into the dog's food. (That was always my job). My mom also uses her pressure cooker for stock but doesn't cook it as long as my grandma used to. It works very very well for home use.

Are there any more taco trucks in the Portland area and does anyone have more detailed directions form downtown? My mom and her husband will be back in Portland for a few days in September and I know her husband would love this.

If you want sweet corn, go to the Farmers Market in Steveston (The store where the strawberry festival is held, on Steveston Hwy and just off the exit off the 99) Best corn I've had in years. They grow it on their farm and it's picked daily, sometimes a couple times a day. I had some on Sat and was just blown away by how good it was.

There is also the fact that our delicate western immune systems aren't capable of fighting off bacteria that is found in other countries. If someone has spent their life eating partially cooked chicken, they will have built up their tolerance for whatever may be lurking in the raw meat. Whereas, our systems are inundated with anti-bacterial items every day and we very rarely come into contact with bacteria/germs.

Wow!! Now that's a bad review. I wonder when she visited, and if it was right after or the day they opened.

Is there an oversaturation of good butchers in the Vancouver market?.....Dear God NO!!! I have one butcher that still can't deliver what I would like them too. For 20 years I have been pining for a traditional butcher that dry ages meat (at a cost that the average person can afford), a butcher that makes their own sausages, salamis, cures, something like what I grew up with. I was spoiled, as learned as I got older and started to buy meat on my own. If you decide to come to Vancouver and open up shop, let me know. I would certainly be interested. Especially if you are going to be dry aging, or at least purchasing top quality meat. Can I just say that I would love to go into a butcher shop and not have a side of meat pulled out from the walk-in in a cryovac bag. The last time I saw a shop actually hanging their meat was Ye Auld Scottish Larder which is long gone and that was 4 years ago, a few months before they closed.

That I definitely want to see. Hmmm...the next eGullet even "Who Can Puke First!" Lee, I can't believe that you had lousy donuts. When I was there last year, I managed to get a bag that had just come out of the fryer and they were heavenly. What you had sounds just terrible. I have to admit, that the only thing that I can bear to eat at the PNE now is the fresh corn.

I made one the other night that was fantastic. Thinly slice garlic, shallots, red wine....reduce, throw in 2 garden fresh tomatoes diced, dried thai pepper, fresh corn, prawns, red pepper, capers, and fresh basil. Tossed with capellini, it was light and flavourful. Sprinkle with Parmesan and it was wonderful meal.

I have to say that I find any portion in any restaurant in the States to be entirely too much for one person to eat. When I was in Portland in May, my mom and I ordered a shrimp salad, thinking it would be just a small portion, nice for the two of us to split along with some asparagus and crawfish. This sald was obscene. I wish I had had my camera with me. It was an entire iceberg lettuce and about 2 pounds of shrimp, with about a cup of dressing ladled onto it. All of our meals there were like this. One dinner was split between the two of us, the dogs and then we had lunch for the drive home. There are restaurants in Vancouver that have massive portions, but they are still about half the size of what I see when I cross the border.