Mooshmouse

Thanks guys. Hopefully, once the dust settles here and my oven is hooked up, I can attempt to replicate the epis at home with time enough for a second rise. I tore off one of the last couple of pieces this evening and ate it with some rose petal jelly. Yum.

Mona`s looks cool, must try it soon, thanks for the link. Have you been sarah ? Whats the food like ? Whats the belly dancer like ? Inquiring minds need to know. ← Though I'm not Sarah, I hope you don't mind if I chime in. A fairly large group of us (around 15 people, give or take) went to Mona's for Ian's birthday a couple of years ago. Had a great table reserved right by the stage/dance floor. Lots of ethnic Lebanese people there which I suppose speaks well for the calibre of the food and the entertainment. There was live music as well as a belly dancer and loads of other people on the dance floor, us included after a number of drinks were consumed. The food was, as Sarah mentioned, quite good and the portions were extremely generous; there certainly weren't any complaints from our table. One of my favourite things at Mona's was a lemony garlic sauce served as an accompaniment to our main dishes. Unbelievably good. A Google search yielded this recipe which shows that it's simply lemon juice, oil, a little salt and a whole truckload of garlic all blended together. 'Twas a good thing that all of us at the table liked it... we were slathering it on our food and our collective aroma would've been intolerable for any poor non-garlic lovers in our midst. And you can't forget about the psychic who offers readings on the weekends. In short, go and try it out. If worse comes to worse, you can always sweat the garlic off on the dance floor.

The Vancouver Courier Wednesday, October 5 edition Food, wine and pies for thought (Tim Pawsey)Proceeds from the purchase of Thanksgiving pies at Urban Fare directly benefit A Loving Spoonful 10% of Thanksgiving evening's sales from the inaugural A Taste of Yaletown "dine-o-rama" also goes to A Loving Spoonful Constellation Brands, "the world's largest beer, wine and spirits conglomerate... has launched a hostile $1.4-billion take-over [sic] attempt of Canada's Vincor." The Georgia Straight Thursday, October 6 edition China Syndrome – Steven Wong lists a few of his favourite Chinese restaurants Not just for pie anymore: discover how smashing pumpkins can be – Nick Smith reminds us that there's more to pumpkins than jack o'lanterns Uncorked: Wineries excel with grey matter and gold – "Six more new wines this week, and this time they’re from wineries we know and love: new vintages, new lines, newcomers from three old-timers." (Jurgen Gothe) Food of the Week: Salade de calamars – A gem of a lunchtime treat from Bistro Pastis (Angela Murrills) Drink of the Week: Flemish Strong Beer (Jurgen Gothe) Straight Goods: New kid on the block – Habit is slated to open at month's end on Main Street, and Abigail's Party takes the place of Tangerine in Kits (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: Turkey talk – Three options for a stress-free Thanksgiving meal (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: Can can – Shaw Cablesystems and Save-On-Foods head up the third annual We All Can fundraiser for local food banks (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: Fab fall feasts – Aqua Riva, Seasons in the Park and Horizons feature West Coast Feast menus until October 31 (Judith Lane) The Westender Thursday, October 6 edition (Lifestyles section) At 15, Cin Cin continues to justify its hot-spot status – Andrew Morrison "placates three years of [carnivoric] yearning" with a meat extravaganza at this highly-respected Robson Street restaurant Pizza and beer before goodbye – Profile of Gary Parkes, new chef at Marmalade Kitchen & Bar (Elaine Corden) Terminal City Thursday, October 6 edition Porter! Fetch Me A Stout!: Oh, my. A newsman covers a beer festival. Life is hard sometimes. – Ian King catalogues his favourite brews from the Vancouver Brewmasters' Festival

I have to give huge props to the Professional Course students who, after a long day in the classroom, help us out in almost every conceivable way: premeasuring and setting out a good chunk of our mise en place for each dish, cleaning up our work stations and keeping an eye on things that are simmering or baking while we're receiving further instruction from Chef Tony, imparting tidbits of wisdom that they've picked up during their own course of study, assisting us with proper techniques and offering loads of encouragement. I, for one, am very grateful for their presence in our class. Et puis, les photos. Fried Goat Cheese/Brie Salad with Pistachios Served with Ruffino Orvieto Classico 2004 Damn, this was one fine salad. There will definitely be repeats of this dish in my household. Seared Halibut with Gnocchi and Basil-White Wine Broth Served with Seila & Mosca Vermentino Di Sardegna 2003 And now for the breadmaking process. First rise Time constraints only allowed for one rise instead of two. All things considered, however, I think our inaugural baguettes/epis turned out pretty darn well. Before baking You can see one of my cooking partners about to slash into her baguette. The finished product

White varietals that we've enjoyed with Chinese dinners include riesling, gewürztraminer, pinot gris/grigio. As for reds, we've had success with pinot noir, zinfandel and, depending on the dishes served, cabernet sauvignon (thought the latter does tend to be heavy-handed). If you're just starting out on the path of wine appreciation, you'll likely have more success with (translate: enjoyment from) a white-wine pairing. Good luck Tepee!

Keith, I was wondering how long it would take you to pipe up in this thread. Here are a couple of my Foodblog photos showing lunch at The Kolachy Shop. The second one shows a tuna salad kolachy, one of Keith's rotating weekly specials; however, I'm partial to their mushroom pesto, reuben and butter chicken. And, yes, they freeze brilliantly.

Damn. House of Selassie was on my "To Eat At" list, and I've been meaning to get there for some time now. Oh well. I snoozed, I lost.

Such a benevolent, self-sacrificing daughter you are.

And if you do hit The Drive, my picks would be Stella's, Latin Quarter for tapas, Bouzyos for Greek, Pondok Indonesia if the concert finishes earlyish or Marcello's. Edited for improprieties in capitalization.

I strolled through the Nat Bailey market with canucklehead today and picked up two loaves of Chris's bread: three cheese roasted garlic and pesto roasted tomato. Breakfast tomorrow... mmmmm. Two baskets of raspberries and one medium-sized bin of strawberries from Bekkman's; Noah's already demolished half a basket of raspberries on his own. Wish I could've picked up some gem squash but, alas, my beautiful new oven has yet to be hooked up. And how could I escape without picking up some treats from Bad Girl Chocolates to fuel this evening's unpacking: candied ginger and dark chocolate for Ian, a couple of peanut butter cups, the pumpkin pie truffle of the week and some raw sugar caramels... I'm sure I've forgotten one or two in there somewhere. Also sampled the peanut butter and jam. All you PB&J lovers out there, take note. You just can't go wrong with dark chocolate and PB&J.

So that's what these things are: bamboo roots. A friend of ours gave some of these to Noah a couple of weeks back... here I was thinking that they're pine cones. Great stuff so far you two. As Daddy_A has already pointed out regarding the time difference, it's fantastic having 24/7 blog posts, especially for those of us who are insomniacs. Blog on!

Hey... I resemble that remark. And, for the record, I go by "joy". French-speaking friends call me "zhwa" (yes, with the umlaut over the 'a'). Members of my family call me "joey" and it still gets my goat. Substitute teachers even called me "joyce" and "josie". That being said, I love Joie's first release Chard and their Year One Noble Blend. According to Michael Dinn, the future brings more new adventures in winemaking.

You dirty bums, you wait until I'm out of town and then go get this?!? I demand a revisit! ← Honest, Brian, we had a commemorative bite of schnitzel in your honour. Mind you, we have little sympathy as you weren't exactly suffering in the south of France. Fear not. We shall scale the lofty heights of Mt. Schnitzel again one day soon.

True dat. Thanks for the note on my behalf, Arne. The past few days have been a complete clusterf*%k. I have cable internet access as of this evening (arrrrgh Shaw! ) but no home desktop set up yet... I'm logged on through the temporary use of Ian's laptop. Ergo, I hope to have everyone's photos colour-corrected, formatted and e-mailed to you by Thursday at some point, but no promises. That being said, I rhapsodized profusely in class about how cathartic the bread baking process was after a weekend of moving. Very therapeutic. I was marginally petrified, having baked biscuits and various and sundry cakes/cupcakes/banana loaves from scratch but never bread. However, my fears were quickly assuaged once I started kneading and I got to vent all my moving frustrations by kneading bread dough for five minutes. In Chef Tony's words, "Bake a loaf of bread a week and you'll add five years to your life." And you'll have to take my word on this, but I baked the epis of my dreams. Chalk it up to beginner's luck. Photos to come as soon as is humanly possible here in box heaven. Stay tuned.

Pacific Vocational Institute which merged with BCIT in 1986... I still remember their television and radio ads.

The Vancouver Courier Wednesday, September 28 edition Worthwhile wines get Chile reception – Tim Pawsey highlights a few on the long list of noteworthy wines offered at last week’s Taste of Chile The Georgia Straight Thursday, September 29 edition Best Eating: Thrifty Fifty – Angela Murrills tallies the results of a challenge to three local chefs… cook a three-course dinner for six on a $50-dollar budget Braised Lamb Stew with Rosemary Dumplings Barbecued Tri Tip Steak Uncorked: Barrelling through B.C.’s best newbies – Jurgen Gothe tastes his way through a sampling of our province’s newest vintages Food of the Week: Santa Barbara Market – Prosciutto ends are a frugal find (Angela Murrills) Drink of the Week: Nanaimo’s Fat Cat Brewery – Bunny’s Black and Tan (Jurgen Gothe) Straight Goods: Dining Doldrums – A Taste of Yaletown (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: Italian lessons for diners – The Italian Cultural Centre’s Flavours of Italy series combines language lessons and cultural activities (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: Thinking, drinking pink – Sales of pink O Riedel crystal glasses benefit the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (Judith Lane) Straight Goods: Crocodile Cheers – Le Crocodile’s Chef Michel Jacob receives top honours in the culinary-arts category of the 2005 Vancouver Arts Awards. (Judith Lane) The Westender Thursday, September 29 edition (Lifestyles section) The Templeton an oasis of cool amidst Granville squalor – Andrew Morrison finds “a place that shouldn't be a glint in a sidelong glance, but rather a marshalling point for urban breakfasters seeking quality food and a casual, caffeinated atmosphere.” Death by electric chai, or or foie gras: Foodie Q&A – Profile of Chef Ian Reynolds of Abigail’s Party Terminal City Thursday, September 29 edition Get Yer Papaya-Ya’s [sic] Out: Jennifer Flye lets the cat out of the bag and divulges her secret Kitsilano Thai haunt

You might try PMing Sean Sherwood as Fiction does use marrow spoons in serving one of their appetizers.

Stopped in at Chocolate Arts today and they have a fairly good selection of Valrhona, Cacao Berry and Scharffenberger. Dolt that I am, however, I didn't check for cocoa. Not sure about how they stack up for baking, but my decided preference is for Cacao Berry over Valrhona in a straight side-by-side taste test.

Drew, have your friend try Michael's arts and crafts store as they probably stock a huge array of styrofoam and dry foam forms.

Zakkushi is open until midnight from Sunday through Thursday and until 1:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

So far, so great Percy! You're certainly living up to the gold standard that you've set in your Dinner! and Breakfast! posts. I can't wait to see how the rest of your week unfolds. Keep up the fantastic blogging.

Though it's in Burnaby, a short drive just outside of Vancouver proper, one restaurant that I find notably absent from these "Best Of" lists is The Pear Tree. It's well worth the trip down Hastings to dine from the kitchen of Chef Scott Jaeger, Canada's representative at the upcoming 2007 Bocuse d'Or. Intimate and relaxed, outstanding service from Stephanie Jaeger and her FOH crew.

Chef Marco Ropke is teaching the Pastry, Baking and Chocolate Classes. Click here to access his website.

We will be covering pie doughs and basic pastry in the Serious Foodie class; however, NWCAV does offer specific Pastry, Baking and Chocolate segments as part of the Serious Amateur series. These can be taken individually and cover the following topics: Fine Pastries with Autumn Fruits (October 18 & 19) - $180 Fine Pastries with Chocolate (October 25 & 26) - $180 Holiday Cookies (November 15 & 16) - $180 Holiday Baking (December 6 & 7) - $196 Valentine's Chocolate Workshop ("5 days of intensive chocolate ecstasy", February 6-10) - $450 If you or anyone else is interested, Marla at NWCAV would be happy to give you more specific information on each particular course. Give her a call at 604-876-7653.

Overlooked this first article somehow as it was lurking outside of the Courier's Dining section The Vancouver Courier Wednesday, August 31 edition City’s oldest coffee shop tastes like Italy – “In a neighbourhood known for Italian cafes, the Calabria is an institution. It’s the oldest Italian coffee shop in the city and has been written up in numerous guidebooks.” (Cheryl Chan) The Vancouver Courier Monday, September 26 edition Salmon and wine summit goes swimmingly – “The British Columbia Wine Institute and B.C. Salmon Marketing Council co-pro teamed leading VQA producers with Vancouver's best chefs to highlight how well B.C. wines go with wild salmon.” (Tim Pawsey)