Mooshmouse

Here's a link to photos from dinner at last night's Serious Foodie class which include: Vietnamese-Style Calamari Salad / Wine Pairing: Torres 2004 Viña Esmeralda (Moscatel-Gewürtztraminer) Pad Won Sen (Pad Thai) / Wine Pairing: Gehringer Brothers 2003 (?) Auxerrois Lime Coconut Soufflé

Mise en place, Wes, mise en place! 'Twas was a sad day in Mudville when I sat down at the communal table last night and realized that we only had one class left to go. I think we all heaved a bit of a collective sigh. We're going to go through withdrawal... what's Monday night going to be now without Chef Tony's comedic stylings, duck fat and all those BTUs? All the more incentive for us to sign up for the Advanced courses in the spring. Here are my photographic contributions from Monday night's class. Vietnamese-style Calamari Salad Wine Pairing: Torres 2004 Viña Esmeralda (Moscatel-Gewürtztraminer) The use of red grapefruit in both the dressing and the salad gave this dish a lovely freshness. Mine's buried under this mountain of squid. Dressing elements included ginger, sugar, cane vinegar, fish sauce, lime juice, grapefruit juice and one whole chopped red chili for heat. Pad Won Sen (Pad Thai) Wine Pairing: Gehringer Brothers 2003 (?) Auxerrois Cooking with this large a wok on such high BTUs was fantastic! Stirfrying the Pad Thai reminded me a lot of making Pancit Bihon (Guisado) for large family gatherings except about a thousand times faster and infinitely more gratifying. Many groups cooked their portions separately, whereas I just cooked the whole shebang all at once (in the proper order, of course). Ours also lacked a little kick – I took this photo before drizzling on sweet chili sauce – but I attribute that directly to the large amount of noodles that we used which instantly sucked up all the sauce and diluted the flavour considerably. Lime Coconut Soufflé As already mentioned by everyone else, the soufflés sat out for quite a bit after they had been removed by the oven, hence the collapse. It might not be the most photogenic of our desserts, but it was pretty damn tasty. Coconut and lime is always a winning flavour combination in my books.

Susan, I'm off to cooking class at the moment during which I'll check with Chef Tony whether or not he minds me posting the recipe. If he does, then I'll PM it to you once I'm home. Lemme tell you, though, it's a winner... lovely and creamy, very delicately flavoured. And Abra, you know that you're always more than welcome at any 'dinner of the moment' that might coincide with a visit up to Vancouver.

The Vancouver Courier Monday, November 7 edition Aww shucks, Joe Fortes turns 20 – "Next week 'Joe's' celebrates 20 years since shaking things up as downtown's definitive seafood chophouse and bar-at a time when even the mention of the word "bar," let alone building the city's grandest horseshoe emporium, could incur the ire of overzealous liquor law inquisitors." (Tim Pawsey) Tim Pawsey notes the opening of Ambrozia on Denman Street, the new venture of Stefan Mintchev, former F&B Director at the Sutton Place Hotel. Time to clean out your kitchen and donate extra or unused items to the Community Kitchens Equipment Drive. Wine of the Week – Palandri Cab. Sauv Merlot 2002 .

Oop... I knew we had forgotten to eat something on Saturday night!

Inspired by a recent pasta-making class as part of our Serious Foodie cooking course, a group of us invaded BCinBC's kitchen on Saturday evening to try our hand at tortellini stuffing: *Deborah*, canucklehead and me and Mr. Mooshmouse. Armed with bagloads of goodies, ingredients and recipes for three fillings and three sauces together with a whole lotta wine, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. First thing's first however. Can't make pasta unless you're sufficiently fueled. With the exception of one bottle, all the wines that we drank that evening were from British Columbia. Tasting notes are completely non-existent; from what I remember, this Salt Spring Island wine was rather fresh with lots of green apple. Our first antipasti plate. Starting at 12:00 and working clockwise, there's mortadella, another cold meat of unknown provenance (Lee, help me out here!), wild boar saucisson from BCinBC's recent trip to France, paté, water crackers, stuffed chile peppers and roasted red pepper dip. As you can see, we don't mess around with the antipasti. These tasty nibbles and the sliced meats were all courtesy of canucklehead. When he says he’ll bring appetizers, he means it! Bottle number one didn't last very long, so we cracked open a Tinhorn Creek 2003 Pinot Noir before breaking out the eggs and flour. Here's *Deborah* putting some muscle into her kneading. And me setting my happy little dough ball to rest. We thought this looked a lot like some kind of foodie "shells" game. Dough still resting? What a perfect opportunity to open a third bottle of wine! This one came recommended by fellow eGulleter James Kendal: a Ribera Del Duero - Corona de Castilla Estilo 03. Time to rock and roll and crank out that pasta. The sheets ended up being so long that everyone had to get in on the act; some rolled pasta and others cooked the various sauces. Once we were done, there was pasta hanging on the back of almost every chair in the dining nook. Lo and behold, the finished products from five sets of pasta-folding hands. First batch was squash and mascarpone tortellini, pictured here with our fourth bottle of wine, an Inniskillen 1998 Estate Bottled Dark Horse Vineyards Meritage. Second batch of tortelloni was a takeoff on Rob Feenie's crab ravioli recipe from his Iron Chef win. Alas, however, lump crabmeat was nowhere to be found on Saturday afternoon, so I picked up tiger prawns as a substitute. Filling ingredients included Japanese mayo, shallots, ginger and garlic. Much to my chagrin, I realized halfway through the second batch that I was supposed to be folding inny bellybuttons rather than bishop's mitres... the third batch was much more photogenic. Here's BCinBC tossing up a spicy caesar salad while all the pasta action took place. Last but not least, the final batch of ricotta/peccorino romano tortellini. There was one irregularly sliced section of dough left, so I decided to make the mother of all tortelloni as you'll see on the lower left. BCinBC didn't actually cook it, though, which left me to wonder if he was going to shellac it and use it as a souvenir of our pasta extravaganza. Over 200 tortellini later, it was obscenely late by the time we finally sat down to eat. Thankfully, we weren't falling-down hypoglycemic as a result of our ongoing snacking. Dinner is served! We plated each course separately with a break in between to toss the pasta in warm sauce. Spicy Caesar Salad with homemade pesto croutons Fresh Pesto and Ham Breads, courtesy of Mrs. BCinBC Squash/Mascarpone Tortellini in a Sage/Noisette Browned Butter Prawn Tortelloni with Vodka/Lemon/Cream Sauce Quails' Gate 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Ricotta/Peccorino Romano Tortellini in (canucklehead's) Bolognese Sauce Urp. There were six very full stomachs at the end of this pasta journey. However, we managed to save a last little bit of space for *Deborah*'s beautiful pear tart served with thyme sauce anglaise. The tart tasted just as good as it looked. I had brought along a bottle of champagne to accompany dessert, but we had all consumed until we could consume no more. What a phenomenal evening! The cooking process was just as much fun as the eating, made even more enjoyable by great company. Thanks so much to Mr. and Mrs. BCinBC for opening their home, their kitchen and their wine cellar to us! And thanks too to my cooking companions – canucklehead, *Deborah* and my sweet husband – for contributing your culinary talents. I wonder what kind of food we'll tackle next time...

Remember that there's also a smaller New Town on Cambie Street near the Park Theatre... saves a trek into Chinatown and the resulting parking mambo.

'"Have you seen... the man they call Raveen..." Now there's a flashback.

Lo and behold, Marlen: harissa. North African chile paste.

I curse all those people who invented mini Halloween candy bars! The only good thing about them is that three mini-bars are remotely acceptable versus three of the full-sized alternative. And then I have posts like this to contend with on our local Vancouver forum: Tell me, just how am I supposed to exercise that much willpower at this time of the month?

For something new on the east side, there's La Cucina del Diavolo. Offering "wickedly good home made [sic] sins for your belly", the cafe is located at 1701 Powell Street in the space formerly occupied by the ARC Cafe. The November 3 edition of Dine & Dash (click) dishes that it's the baby of Lela Selmo and Colin Macdonald, two recent pastry school graduates. Sounds like it's high time for another desserting expedition.

The Vancouver Courier Thursday, November 3 edition He who sips the Piper – “The folks at Piper Heidsieck… have no shortage of tricks up their sleeve to keep champagne's third biggest exported brand fresh.” (Tim Pawsey) Tim Pawsey lists “the cream of the crop” from the second annual “Best of B.C.” release this Saturday at BCLDB specialty stores. The Georgia Straight Thursday, November 3 edition Best Eating: Forgotten food – Nick Smith undertakes “a field study of Filipino cuisine” which is largely missing from Vancouver’s dining radar. Best Eating: Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the kitchen… – “Boots on? Loins girded? Join [Angela Murrills] on a subcutaneous dive into th[e] mysterious world [of innards].” Uncorked: Some of B.C.’s best comes in small lots –Jurgen Gothe finds himself taken in by the siren song of Sandhill’s Small Lots wines. Food of the Week: T’s Cold and Flu tea blend (Judith Lane) Drink of the Week: Tetley’s English Ale (Jurgen Gothe) Straight Goods: Portuguese, please – Manuel Ferreira serves up “cuisine of the sun” at his days-old Senova. (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: In the drink – Proceeds from Shooting Stars’ Undercover brown-bag event support the foundation’s AIDS agencies. (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: The nose knows – “Serious spirit tasters can sniff and sip upward of four dozen Scotches and chase them with half as many brews at Hopscotch on Friday, November 4.” (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: Girly gig – Bistro Pastis hosts Pinot Envy, “a swish and sassy girls-only wine, food, and fashion soirée” on November 9 with proceeds benefiting the Canadian Breast Cancer Association. (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: Diner daze – Heather Clark’s Diner offers “[h]igh energy, smarts, and smiles coupled with good [fairly priced] food. (Judith Lane) The Westender Thursday, November 3 edition (Lifestyles section) Great Yaletown dining, without the pretension – Andrew Morrison finds in Diner a “down-tempo [option for Yaletown residents] close to home; [a place] where the food is good, the drinks are cheap, and the attitude meter stays stuck at zero.” Terminal City Sadly, Vancouver's alternative newsweekly suspended publication on October 31. Last week’s October 27 edition was “probably” the final one. Click here for more information.

Zuke, are you thinking about Bon Appétit, the mini-opera that's based on an episode of Julia Child's show on how to make a chocolate cake?

The Mouse family has been doing a lot of dining out over the past month, largely due to the fact that our stovetop wasn't hooked up until a week-and-a-half after we moved in and that our kitchen still isn't 100% finished. Working backwards for my last three meals, there's: Pho Thy on Victoria Drive at 39th with the usual suspects on Wednesday for bahn mi and pho (excuse the lack of diacritical marks). Their mixed-meat bahn mi was excellent, very well stuffed. Excellent bread with just the right balance of crunch and doughiness. And I was pleasantly surprised by the clear, light sweetness of the soup broth. Best part of lunch? Getting the bill: lunch for 5 people was $39, and all of us were absolutely stuffed. Blue Water Café with *Deborah* on Tuesday evening for dinner before Turandot. We took advantage of the Early Prix Fixe menu, excellent dining value at $35. Sipped on a cocktail while awaiting my dining partner, the name of which I've since forgotten. As a first course, I ordered the Green Pea Soup with double-smoked bacon, parmesan cream and morel mushroom/duck liver crostini. A little bit on the salty side for me, but still a nice way to warm my stomach on a rainy evening. *Deborah* and I both had the Free Range Chicken Breast as a main course; it was served with chanterelles mushrooms, sweet corn and artichoke hearts over mashed potatoes and bathed in an anchovy/red pepper sauce. Perfectly crisped chicken skin, nice flavour balance in the sauce. Wine pairing for the main dish was a Mt. Boucherie Summit Reserve Pinot Noir. Admittedly, not my favourite wine... a bit thin in my estimation for the earthiness of this dish. However, dessert was certainly the pièce-de-résistance: Mocha Praline Parfait served frozen with espresso anglaise. My, oh my. Chocolately, espresso-y, creamy goodness. After our first bite, we had to pause and unstick our eyeballs which had rolled to the backs of our heads. A pity that we had to rush through dessert so that we could get to the opera on time. I'll be ordering the parfait again, that's for darn sure. And Tuesday lunch with canucklehead at Stella's. Ordered a few shared plates: Cobb Salad (one of the only acceptable ways to serve iceburg lettuce), "Cheater" Sushi (five morsels for $5 is a steal... ahi tuna, pickled ginger, wasabi and sushi rice loosely piled atop nori and drizzled with a sake/soy reduction), a cornet of Belgian Fries and Fire-grilled Jerk Chicken Skewers served with pineapple salsa and sweet-potato crisps. Of all the small plates, the chicken skewers was the only disappointment for me. Chicken was dry and overcooked, and the salsa lacked punch especially in comparison to the version that we had made at Monday night's Serious Foodie class. Nonetheless, Stella's has always been fairly reliable for me, a place on The Drive where I can drop in for consistently good, reasonably priced food.

Wow, that's beautiful. Thanks for the photo Paradasia.

Wow, Irwin, I'm a believer!

God bless you, Brooks, for reminding me of pimento cheese. There is nary an ounce of southerner in either me or my Mom, yet she used to make these sandwiches for me when I was a kid. Always on white bread. Preferably with the crusts cut off until I developed a taste for such things. Accompanied by either Campbell's Tomato or Chicken Noodle. Hmmmm. Methinks it's time to break into the memory bank and whip up a batch of pimento cheese for my own brood.

Now that Noah's art classes are no longer of the "Parent And Me" ilk, I find myself with about 30 minutes to stroll through the Granville Island Market each week. It didn't take me long to rediscover the unadulterated bliss that is a Lee's honey-dip doughnut. I ponied up to the counter one morning to find that they had just pulled a fresh batch out of the oven. Nirvana! The other week, I tried one of their coconut-cream-filled numbers and it was even better than I could have expected. As I discovered just last weekend, Aurora's little five-spice doughnuts are among the newest of my favourite things. The plum syrup for dipping really hits a home run.

It's a cold and rainy night, so comfort food was in order. A family cooking session produced spaghettini with bolognese sauce and a few added 'goodies' courtesy of my 4-year-old who chopped up a whole whack of mushrooms and orange and yellow peppers as his contribution to the mise en place... not to mention the fact that he volunteered to wash the dishes. No photos this evening. We were waaaaaaay too hungry.

The lead story in the November 2 edition of Dine & Dash focuses on the expansion of the Ocean Wise Seafood Conservation Program, an initiative spearheaded by the Vancouver Aquarium and C Restaurant. Further details are available on the Ocean Wise Canada website, a link to which is noted above. Edited to give deserved props to C Restaurant.

I know that I like some pretty unusual food combinations, Wes. But this? This seals the deal for me, my friend: you are, indeed, certifiably nuts.

Whoa. Andrea. Your photos, particularly the first and second ones, have taken us to an all-new high... or low, such as the case may be.

Oh, pshaw. When doesn't a woman need chocolate?! I went to see Turandot last night with a fellow eGer... perhaps that was serendipitous foreshadowing of your pending blog. Looking forward to your week ahead!

West's current dinner menu (click) still features braised oxtail as a main course.

You got it, Wes! Isn't that tantamount to breakfast nirvana for you?! As noted by Deborah, just the smell of those truffled scrambled eggs is nothing short of divine. I took a big whiff just before my first bite and damn near fell off of the banquette.