Mooshmouse

The Vancouver Courier Friday, February 10 edition New Gastown spot will have diners Curious – Opening growing pains aside, Tim Pawsey finds that the small plates at Curious are worthy of a second visit. Pub fare at the Park Royal "Village" location of Steamworks still continues to please a year after opening. The latest incarnations of Kitsilano's Café d'Lite and Banana Leaf add some spice to the West Broadway dining scene. It's business as usual at Manuel Ferreira's Senova while sister restaurant Le Gavroche is on the mend.

The Vancouver Courier Wednesday, February 8 edition Heat up your Valentine's with raclette – Tim Pawsey discovers that "cheese, even the stinky kind, is believed to release the same rush of hormones as sex." Winery of the week: Parri Estate The Georgia Straight Thursday, February 9 edition Best Eating: Home-cooked ways to soothe the soul – Angela Murrills goes in search of comfort food to restore body and mind. Dining: Sugar-free chocolate ain't what it used to be – Georgia Straight staffers taste test sugar-free treats from three local chocolatiers. Uncorked: Catch some Okanagan Zs—Zweigelt, that is – Jurgen Gothe samples four BC wineries' take on Austria's most popular red-wine grape. Food of the Week: Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House (Angela Murrills) Drink of the Week: Invent your own drink – Skyy berry-flavoured vodka (Jurgen Gothe) Straight Goods: Italian dalliance – Jurgen Gothe hosts Tuscany, the upcoming Victoria Symphony fundraiser, from June 4 to 14. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: For food lovers – Zin Restaurant offers an Aphrodisiac Tasting Menu to spice up Valentine's Day dining. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Move fast – Slow Food Vancouver is looking for volunteers to assist with festivities celebrating National Terra Madre Day on March 12. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Cheese it – Les Amis du Fromage have space still available in the April 24 and 25 instalments of their Cheese and Wine 101 class. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: French fling – Dine in Gallic style and enter to win the Trip to France Passport Program courtesy of Select Wines. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Soups Cross culture dogs – Sample Misa Timura's Japadogs at her hot-dog cart on Burrard and Smithe. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Shelf stalkers – There are bargains to be had at your local BC Liquor Store as they clear out seriously discounted older stock to make way for the new. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Prep school – DinnerWorks makes short work of your weekly meals at a reasonable price. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) The Westender Thursday, February 9 edition (Lifestyles section) Cru gives new life to old standards – Andrew Morrison gives a thumbs up to Cru's fresh take on the tried and true. The Globe and Mail Friday, February 10 edition My foodie Valentine – Alexandra Gill lists "a selection of popular and lesser-known erotic foods" and the restaurants that are serving them.

Further info on Sean Sherwood's soon-to-be-open Century is available in Wednesday's edition of The Daily CityFood.

Add my name to the mix of those who prefer the Fleur de Cao/Valrhona cookies to the Sparkle cookies. I, too, had the opportunity to sample both a couple of weeks ago at the Thomas Haas store in North Vancouver. The Valrhona cookies had a deep richness that was missing from the Sparkle cookies. Additionally, the former were soft and chewy, whereas the latter were more dry and a touch on the mealy side. *Deborah* and I were served two fresh-from-the-oven Sparkle cookies after our DOV meal at Diva. The flavour was certainly better but, IMHO, still not nearly as good as the Fleur de Cao.

It was Friday night for us, actually. Sorry we missed you!

The Vancouver Courier Saturday, February 4 edition French wines trying to regain foothold – Sopexa tries to woo the educated British Columbian wine palates back to the fruits of the French vine. (Tim Pawsey)

Chips made with British Columbia Blue potatoes?

Aw, why not? Last week, I stopped into Ho Yuen Kee, a Cantonese restaurant on Fraser Street, and sampled a few things on their late-night snacks menu. The best dish by far was something they called deep-fried "silverfish". Smaller than a smelt... my guess would be grunions. Nonetheless, they were lightly battered and deep-fried with minced garlic and thinly sliced chilies. Served liberally salted. Outrageously delicious. Give me two plates of those silverfish and a few Tsing Tao... I'd be set for the night. We now return you to your regularly scheduled brainstorming session.

The Vancouver Courier Friday, February 3 edition Meatheads fight for burger glory – Tim Pawsey lets his belt out a notch or two after his judging panel stint for Vera's Burger Shack's "Build a Better Burger Contest." The Georgia Straight Thursday, January 26 edition Best Eating: Persian cuisine is ancient comfort food – At Arian Persian Cuisine on West 4th Avenue, Angela Murrills finds that "sampling Iranian fare for the first time is like travelling in an unknown country, sans map." Uncorked: A few tips for living in Zin (and Chard, and Syrah) – It's game, sets matched for Jurgen Gothe in his approach to tasting the newest wines. Food of the Week: Fleuri Restaurant (Angela Murrills) Drink of the Week: The pre-prohibition beer (Jurgen Gothe) Straight Goods: Survivor – Global features the BC-centric episode of The Next Great Chef on Friday, February 3 at 8:00 p.m. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Naughty, naughty – Kelly Boyd of Bad Girl Chocolates hosts a chocolate-making class at The Roundhouse on Wednesday, Feburary 8. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Go to market – The White Rock off-season Farmers’ Market is being held this Saturday (February 5), from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Elks Hall (1469 George Street). (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Bhaji and Bhangra – This year's Bollywood Meets Hollywood: the Sequel takes place next Thursday (February 9) at Azure Lounge (Plaza of Nations). Proceeds to benefit UNICEF’s efforts in Mozambique. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Burger battle – Dan Noble's Thai Me Up wins Vera's Burger Shack's first "Build A Better Burger" contest. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Soups to nuts – Galloway's Specialty Foods opens a new 10,000 sq. ft. location on Alderbridge Way in Richmond. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Wine on – Wet your whistle at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival which features events from February 27 to March 5 at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre and numerous restaurants around town. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) The Westender Thursday, February 2 edition (Lifestyles section) In a food democracy, there's just no accounting for taste – Andrew Morrison mulls over the results of the WestEnder's Best of the City poll with mixed emotions. Marquis Wine Cellars – A brief writeup of this oenophile's paradise on Davie Street. Pass the Cheez Whiz and syrup – Profile of Brandon Adams, owner of Tango's Gourmet Meats, a specialty meat shop and delicatessen. Best takeout Hon's – 25 years of impulse dining. The Globe and Mail Friday, February 3 edition Retro dining with Dad – Alexandra Gill's search for food nostalgia with her paternal unit turns up unhurried "down-home" food at Diner and postmodern healthy diner fare at the Templeton.

If making ice cream isn't your thing, I believe that Amato Gelato (Mario's) on East 1st Avenue has both ginger and pumpkin flavours available.

Wow, congratulations in advance, Jeff! The room, post reno, is gorgeous. Understated simplicity that improves upon but doesn't compromise the spirit of their original space. And BOH is still as strong as ever. Had a meal there two weeks ago and was more than impressed.

Thought it might be useful to have one central thread where we can post news on sales and bargain-priced items available in the Lower Mainland. I'll start off with this quote from today's issue of The Daily Cityfood (Dine & Dash).

Awwwww! Happy second day Joe! Big ups to Mrs. TFA for a job well done and to you, too, TFA for being a first-class labour coach.

Managed to track down a non-blurry closeup of the bottle in question. Two greater understatements could not be found... the wine definitely enhanced our lively discussion at the kids' table, all right! Why apologize for that?

She is, Steve, and it does!

First and foremost, Abra, let me say what a huge amount of fun I had showing you around our little corner of the culinary universe! Two more wonderful people could not be found, and it was a real treat to get to know both you and Shel a little better. Let me shed some light on the dishes that we sampled at Josephine's. Starting at the very top and working clockwise: We start with Lechon Paksiw, a sweet/savoury stew of roasted pork slow-cooked in a mixture of vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaves, peppercorns, sugar, salt and lechon sauce. Next comes the ubiquitous steamed rice followed by sliced Crispy Pata, pork hock that’s first boiled with onion, garlic, peppercorns, salt and bay leaf and then deep-fried so that the exterior is deliciously crispy while the meat remains tender. This is served with a cane vinegar dipping sauce infused with garlic and chilies, a popular condiment in the Philippines (visible in the top right of the photo). At the forefront of the photo is Pritong Isda-Tilapia or deep-fried tilapia, also served with the previously mentioned vinegar dipping sauce. Moving on, there's Pinakbet, braised okra, long beans and squash with shrimps and shrimp paste. Finally, there's Lumpiang Prito or deep-fried spring rolls filled with fresh vegetables and shrimp; these are served with a sweet chili dipping sauce. Oh, can't forget my favourite ethnic pop ever: Zesto Calamansi Soda. Ironically, this isn't the full extent of our lunch. We also had: Sinigang na Bangus (milkfish in a sour tamarind-based soup with water spinach, tomatoes and onions); Pancit Palabok (wide rice noodles with tofu and egg sauce, topped with sliced hard-boiled egg, crushed chicharon or fried pork rinds, and chopped green onion); Bistek (thinly-sliced flank steak sautéed with onions); and Kaldereta ng Baka (tomato-based beef stew with potatoes). Good heavens. I haven't had Crispy Pata in eons and I was in heaven with my first bite. From the top, there's Ginataang Bilo Bilo, a warm coconut-milk based dessert soup/stew, and the purple colour comes from ube or purple yam. Other ingredients include langka (jackfruit), camote (sweet potato), saba (plantain banana) and sago (tapioca) pearls. Next are slices of Cassava Cake made from grated cassava, condensed and evaporated milk, coconut milk and cream, eggs and macapuno or young coconut. Last but certainly not least is Biko, sweet black sticky rice cooked with coconut milk and palm sugar. Lest I forget, here's a link to additional photos from our Chinese New Year feast at Sea Harbour. And a shot of your favourite cappuccino from the Elysian Room. Finally, I leave you with one of your most vivid memories from your trip to Vancouver: a full-frontal view of canucklehead resplendent in all his phone-spotlight glory. Just one more piece of evidence that we Vancouver eGulleters are totally certifiable! Can't wait to dine with you and some of your south-of-the-border compatriots in the not-too-distant future.

Throwing in a few photos of my own to cover courses that canucklehead had missed. Sea Harbour cold-cut platter Starting at the top and working clockwise, this plate includes poached pork belly, poached pork belly, vegetarian tofu wrap, spiced beef, deboned goose feet in a sesame-oil marinade and sesame-oil-marinated jellyfish (centre). Dungeness crab and kabocha squash in black-bean sauce hotpot Pilfered this photo and the previous one from my September foodblog as I was too busy eating to take pictures. Now that's some crab meat! Sea Harbour hand-shredded five-spice boneless chicken Another shot from my blog. Steamed live fish with a chili-soy dipping sauce Here's the beginning of the Great Fish Eye Debacle, otherwise known as How Two Asians Can Gross Out Their Tablemates. Go, Brian, go! Serving of the stewed lamb belly in casserole with vegetable Fried rice with dried scallops, egg whites and scallions Sea Harbour baked barbecue pork bun And here's what really did the kids' table in... Brian's now-infamous bottle of Dai Chuang Winery "biological project" dry red wine. WTF is biological project wine?! Standout dishes for me were the crab hotpot, pork with chayote and the fried rice. Never thought I'd be extolling the virtues of fried rice, but this was starch nirvana. Another great meal was had by all... and a slightly more raucous evening was had by the riff-raff at the kids' table! Thanks to all of you who came out for contributing to a wonderful evening.

Aha. We're not alone in our assessment of the veal cheeks. *Deborah* and I have just returned home from our DOV dinner at Diva. Girls' night out necessitated cocktails to start: a "Fruity Cowboy" for *Deborah* (something-Vaquero which I can't remember for the life of me) and a Lychee for me (vodka, lychee liqueur, chambord and white cranberry). We had ringside seats overlooking the pass, and the kitchen was seamless in its execution all night long. Following our stomachs' lead, we both ordered the Fraser Valley Duck Terrine as our appetizer. The terrine was certainly well flavoured, but I found the black pepper gastrique to be a bit on the sweet side and used it very sparingly as an accompaniment. I enjoyed the light, refreshing tartness of the pickled vegetable salad; the inclusion of shaved fennel added an interesting flavour note. If forced to choose, though, I'd take Mistral's Pâté en Crépine any day. I know, I know, apples to oranges... chalk it up to personal taste. We, too, couldn't resist the Seared Scallops add-on. They were perfectly cooked but, sadly, were undersalted. The entire dish was, to me, a bit on the bland side with the pineapple-coconut foam adding little in the way of flavour. However, as noted by Lord Balthazar, what was missing from the scallops in the way of salt certainly was added to the Veal Cheeks in spades. The meat itself was melt-in-your-mouth tender, but the jus suffered from what we guessed to be oversalted stock. *Deborah* and I were grateful for our 1/2 litre of 2003 Yalumba "Y" Series Shiraz to refresh our palates. After a leisurely interlude to sip our wine, we both finished our meals with the Warm Upside-down Chocolate Soufflé. Wonderful. Smooth, rich, dark-chocolate goodness. 100% Valrhona we were told, though I'm not sure what percentage of chocolate was used (my guess would be either Manjari or Guanaja). As we were finishing off our wine, our server was kind enough to bring us a little treat from the kitchen: two warm-from-the-oven Sparkle Cookies garnished with two raspberries. A lovely gesture on his part. Service this evening was nothing short of stellar. Friendly, sincere, knowledgeable, attentive without being obsequious. We chatted with our server (I believe his name was Hamid) who mentioned that they were expecting to do roughly 2 turns tthis evening (180 seats). He also noted that they were beginning to experience a second-week slowdown, fully expected as diners began to tire of the DOV hamster wheel after their second or third meal out. Overall, I give full marks to Diva for service and ambience. Foodwise, dessert was lovely, but I'd say that the other three courses were good, just not great. Surprisingly, I'd give the nod to my first DOV dinner at Brix for both starter and main. Having dined at Diva on a number of other occasions, I'd have to say that tonight's dinner directly correlates with my other non-DOV dining experiences. Not to say that I won't be back, but there are certainly other restaurants in my regular dining rotation that I'd choose first.

Didn't I just say that?

Richard, a Google search produced the website for a Filipino store in Los Angeles called Tatak Pilipino that sells all manner of goods from the Philippines. As you can see from the main page of their kitchenware section, they used to sell traditional clay pots. Unfortunately, it seems that they no longer have them listed as part of their online inventory. However, there are 1-800 Customer Service numbers provided; perhaps you could give them a call and see if they either have any in stock at their store or could special order a set of palayok for you. Good luck!

you beat me to it! we just drove by. i think it's called the red burrito, and the side note said something about your neighborhood burrito and taco joint. ← After driving by on many a late night and seeing people inside working like fiends, I noticed that The Red Burrito finally opened its doors for business on Friday (southeast corner of Commercial and 1st). If you're thinking of heading over to The Drive to check it out, bear in mind that traffic is a bit of a clusterf*%k on Commercial south of East 2nd due to major roadwork.

The Vancouver Courier Friday, January 27 edition Whisky a go go with Feenie's food – Eric Pateman teamed up with Andrew Starritt of Caskstrength "to explore some serious collectible and extravagant single malts matched with Rob Feenie's exquisite plates at [Edible BC's] recent "Whisky Wednesday" dinner".

The Globe and Mail Friday, January 27 edition Welcome the Year of the Dog – Alexandra Gill lists a few lesser-known options for Chinese New Year dining. Good wine and good company – Raise a glass at the Sonoma Wine Affair on February 1 to benefit Arts Umbrella, and support Les Dames d'Escoffier's scholarship fund for female chefs on February 3 by participating in the Fork and Glass event at the Vancouver Club. (Alexandra Gill)

While continuing my jaunt through the digital photo archives, I dug up these pictures from one of several meals that *Deborah* and I have had at Hapa Izakaya. Once Abra organizes the snapshots from her recent Vancouver holiday, she'll post a rather comprehensive pictorial of our dinner at Hapa last Saturday night. In the meantime, here's a small sampling of four menu items. Kabocha and Walnut "Salad" A delicate, lightly spiced puree of Japanese pumpkin. Spread onto melba toast together with the whipped cream, its sweet goodness melts in your mouth. Miso-marinated Sablefish Perfectly cooked fish that flakes apart at the touch of a chopstick. My memory for menu descriptions is about slim to none at the moment. Suffice it to say, this is diced albacore tuna topped with diced avocado and tobiko, accompanied by beautiful, crisp nori to be used as your primary dining implement for this dish. Fresh, clean and wonderful. Salmon Yukke Raw sockeye salmon bathed in a spicy-sweet soy-chili sauce. A bit too much sauce for my liking; however, the daikon strands act as a rather refreshing palate cleanser between bites.

The Vancouver Courier Wednesday, January 25 edition New Main Street joint Habit forming – Tim Pawsey checks out SoMa's newest spot for a casual nibble. James Cluer kicks off the spring session of Wine & Spirit Education Trust courses this week, a collaborative effort of his Fine Vintage Ltd. and UBC's Continuing Education department. The Georgia Straight Thursday, January 26 edition Best Eating: New Year a feast of symbols – Angela Murrills discovers that, even as it evolves, the Chinese New Year banquet is steeped in family traditions. Uncorked: Aurora's wine list hits province's top notes – Aurora Bistro's BC-centric wine cellar is well stocked with "adventuresome domestic labels that are at the forefront of British Columbia’s booming wine scene." (Jurgen Gothe) Drink of the Week: Marie Brizard Watermelon Liquor (Jurgen Gothe) Straight Goods: Mediterranean escape – If you're in the mood for Portuguese food, Senova lets you personalize a three-course meal from the à-la-carte menu for $30 throughout the year. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Growing shamrocks – Sean Heather stays busy with the upcoming openings of Limerick Junction and a cheese-and-wine-tasting bar in Blood Alley. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Double happiness – Catch the Chinese New Year festivities on Granville Island while stocking up on bison meat courtesy of the folks at Hanson Bison Ranch. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Sip 'n' spit – Arts Umbrella hosts the 2006 Sonoma Wine Affair at the Pan Pacific Hotel on Wednesday, February 1. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Sweet eats – Morton's, the Steakhouse serves up high fashion and gourmet treats at its First Thursday event on February 2. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Canada's best – Anton Fercher's Chapeau Canada Les Grands Chefs paints "an iconic portrait of Canadian chefs". (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) Straight Goods: Wine on – Wet your whistle at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival which features events from February 27 to March 5 at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre and numerous restaurants around town. (Judith Lane and Angela Murrills) The Westender Thursday, January 26 edition (Lifestyles section) Foodie Q&A: Dinner goes better with a few laughs – Profile of Stephen Wong, food-and-wine writer/consultant and cookbook author.