Mooshmouse

Third course being served! Nicola Valley Bison Carpaccio with pickled eggplant, grilled brioche and black truffle aioli Wine pairing: Red Rooster Pinot Gris 2004 Brilliantly lean meat. Pickled eggplant a novel and tasty substitute for caper(berries). Need I say anything about the black truffle aioli? Anything with black truffles in it is good in my books. Vanilla Rooiboos smoked Sockeye Salmon on Pemberton potato salad with pickled sea asparagus and cedar jelly Prior to this dinner, I wasn't a big fan of sea asparagus, but I'm certainly a believer now. Admittedly, the salmon was a shade on the salty side for me; however, the vanilla rooiboos and the sweetness of the cedar jelly certainly evened out the flavour balance. Fourth course at the pass! Chanterelle Mushroom, Sweet Corn and Moonstruck Cheese Co's White Moon tart Wine pairing: Quail's Gate Family Reserve Pinot Noir 2002 One of the benefits of having Ian accompany me to these dinners is that we're able to sample more than a bite of each dish. I started off with this dish and switched with Ian midway through... we're very exacting when it comes to splitting dishes in half. But I digress. Moonstruck is a group of fabulous organic cheesemakers, about 10 minutes down the road from our cabin on Salt Spring Island, and I was pleased to see their White Moon on the menu. This tart was, along with the beets, one of my favourite dishes of the evening. Light and flaky pastry crust. A fabulous interplay of flavours with each bite: the mushrooms' earthiness, the corn's sweetness, and the cheese's richness. Divine. Seared Halibut cheeks on wilted Arrowleaf spinach with local hazelnuts and brown butter There are few dishes using brown butter that I don't love. This was no exception. Fork-tender, melt-in-your-mouth halibut. Excellent. Edited because I inadvertently omitted the third course!

Fruit "coptail"... I love it! Whew. I've officially PhotoShopped the very last Aurora photo. Thank you all for your patient encouragement. It really does mean a lot to me.

Second course, coming right up. Okanagan goat cheese and Hazelmere Farm beet salad with chive blossom vinaigrette Wine pairing: Golden Mile Road 13 2004 Beets like none I've ever tasted before. Just the right amount of toothiness, wonderfully sweet with the vinaigrette offering an excellent flavour counterpoint. Jeff and Kurtis, what kind of cheese was this? It was delicious... I tried to stretch it out so that there was a little bite of cheese with each mouthful of beets. A dish that I just didn't want to see the end of.

A few words from the evening's key players as an intermezzo. editor@waiterblog – Andrew Morrison Chef Jeff Van Geest Farmer Gary King of Hazelmere Organic Farms

Bring on the first course! Smoked Sablefish Gougeres Delicately flavoured crème fraîche, not overpowered by the sablefish at all. Perfectly light pastry. What a treat.

Before dinner began, chef jeff graciously invited me into the kitchen to take a few photos of some of their exquisitely plated courses. Thanks so much to you, Chef, and the rest of your rockstar BOH crew for your kindness. I was, indeed, honoured.

Here are a few shots of the local peanut gallery. From left to right: Canucklehead, Zucchini Mama and Mr. Zucchini Mama. Starting at the left and working clockwise: Yummy, Yummy & PaoPao's non-eG Friend #1, Chocoholic, Yummy & PaoPao's non-eG Friend #2, PaoPao and Pez. Mr. and Mrs. Foodie in Vancouver Starting at the left and working clockwise: Canucklehead, *Deborah*, Vancitygirl, barolo, Ian and me. Starting at the left and working clockwise: Ling's non-eG best friend, Gary King of Hazelmere Farms, Mrs. editor@waiterblog, editor@waiterblog, gerald, lauraf and Ling. We're all just one big happy food-crazy family!

Ta ta ta taaaaaaaaaaaaa... ladies and gentlemen... we now present you with the much anticipated photos from Monday evening's A Taste of British Columbia! dinner at Aurora Bistro. The evening was hosted by Vancouver eGulleters chef jeff (Chef Jeff Van Geest) and kurtisk (Manager/Sommelier Kurtis Kolt), and they certainly did British Columbia proud. Editor@waiterblog, fellow eGulleter and Westender food columnist Andrew Morrison, organizes monthly dinners at various restaurants around town that are well-attended by the local eGullet crew. Monday night was no exception. True to form, it was almost like a big family gathering... the hellos and how-are-yous started as soon as Ian and I walked through the door. But we figured that we needed some libationary goodness to start the evening off right. All of Aurora's cocktails are named after neighbourhoods in Vancouver. This particular one is a Little India with white rum, triple sec and mango puree. Ian ordered it first, rather uncharacteristically so since he's usually not a fruity cocktail kind of guy, and I quickly followed suit after having a taste of his. *Deborah*'s drink was so pretty that we had to take a picture of it. A Chinatown with vodka, ginger beer, lime juice and a floating star anise. Very refreshing.

That it is, stuck into the coffee gelato. Chalk it up to decorative artistic license perhaps?

Rather than going to the Aquarium as originally intended, Noah asked that we have a stay-at-home day instead. So, we kept ourselves more than busy around the Mouse house all morning: doing homework, painting, drag racing Noah's Hot Wheels, reading, going for a bike ride around the neighbourhood. Our cat, on the other hand, was not so busy. By the time we got back from our bike ride, Noah's stomach was demanding food. Lunch, therefore, was fast and simple. A bowl of pork and vegetable potstickers each. I buy frozen ones from Hon's Wun Tun House together with their dipping sauce. They're great for quick meals. The fact that Noah can eat his weight in potstickers makes my life that much easier. After his lunch, Noah polished off a snack-sized container of mandarin oranges. What is it with kids and these syrup-packed mandarin oranges anyway? I remember loving them too as a child. In deference to the evening meal that lay ahead of me, I passed on the oranges. But I couldn't resist sharing these with Noah later in the afternoon. At Thursday night's Cantonese dinner, eGulleter Yummy asked me to pass these on to Noah. At least he was generous enough to share them with Mommy. Everyone needs a little chocolate in their life!

Out of focus?! After all the alcohol-fuelled misadventures we've shared, you still underestimate my drinking prowess?! You are right about the smoke, however. Firefighters have been battling an out-of-control wildfire in Burns Bog since Sunday afternoon, a 4,000 hectare wildlife sanctuary located in North Delta (a suburb of Vancouver). The fire is being fuelled by a thick layer of highly flammable peat that makes up the bog's surface; as a result, clouds of smoke are billowing from the fire and spreading over the Greater Vancouver area. This morning's Vancouver Sun newspaper reports:

We're in the home stretch! Monday morning started out a little iffy, weatherwise. However, the sun didn't disappoint and blessed us with a beautiful evening for the Aurora dinner... you can just make out a few rays filtering through the clouds. Noah asked for toast, so toast it was. He buttered the bread and I took care of everything else. For my not-so-little guy, there was Saskatoon-berry jam on Oat and Honey bread, organic applesauce and smoked gouda cheese. I snuck some of Ian's Cinnamon-Raisin bread for my breakfast, along with some smoked gouda and a few grapes (of which Noah promptly ate half). Noah attends preschool three days a week, so we make his breakfasts together for the other four. As an aside, his school food program is pretty darn good. Breakfast fare can be anything from freshly baked muffins to french toast or cheesy scrambled eggs, always accompanied by a selection of fresh fruit. And lunches are quite varied: chicken vegetable stirfry with rice, vegetarian lasagna and beef stroganoff are among the items that are offered to the kids. No need for an intervention from Jamie Oliver!

Haven't seen you in forever and a day... we miss you too, girl! Kitchen odours notwithstanding, you should've dropped by as there were still a few of us there. The kalamari at Bouzyos is pretty damn good, I must admit. Hiro knows what he's talking about! Aurora dinner shots are next on deck.

Ask, and ye shall receive! Not such a tall order in our house, really. We usually go for gelato once every other week, more frequently than that in the summer. Vancouver is blessed with a plethora of excellent gelaterias: Mondo Gelato, Mario's Gelato, BC Gelato L'Arte de Gelato in West Vancouver to name a few of the best. We're lucky enough to have this one within walking distance on Commercial Drive. Noah had a kid-sized scoop of Raspberry. My Mom, the purist, had a split single scoop with Coffee and Chocolate. Ian, the Gelato Monster, had a double scoop with passionfruit on top and Reese's on the bottom. Scoop order is very important, you know. I also had a split single scoop... can you believe that this is the size of a single scoop?! Reese's on the bottom was a lock, but what to have with it? It was a toss-up between Mascarpone and Panna Cotta, with Panna Cotta winning out in the end.

Woot! You know it girl!

I cooked up a batch of Sesame Garlic Beans to go with the adobo. After quickly steaming the beans, throw in a few splashes of sesame oil, canola oil, a whole whack of minced garlic, sesame seeds and some chili flakes (unfortunately, I didn't have any chili peppers in the house or I would have used those instead). This is only one fraction of the chili flakes that I normally use as I knew that Noah would be eating the beans too. Et voila! Sunday night's dinner: Chicken Adobo over fragrant jasmine rice with Sesame Garlic Beans. Served with a bottle of Lang 2004 Farm Winery Reserve Riesling that we bought on our anniversary trip to the Okanagan in August.

Oh yeah. One more bag of snacks. Noah had a few of these. He loves almost anything that's ketchup flavoured. Not as extreme as his Dad, though: as a kid, Ian used to put ketchup on his rice and his salad. Chicken Adobo was on deck for Sunday night. I had invited my Mom over for dinner too and figured that some Filipino comfort food was in order. There are lots of different recipes for Chicken Adobo. Some involve marinating the chicken overnight so that it soaks up more vinegar... I prefer this method. Some involve frying the chicken before simmering. When I'm pressed for time, however, I use this recipe from PinoyCook.net. Damn, I love a recipe that calls for an entire head of garlic! The key to good adobo is good vinegar. None of this generic white supermarket crap: I find that cane vinegar works well. You may be wondering about the China Lily soy sauce. It's not very authentic, but it's a lot sweeter than most dark soy on the market which means that I don't have to dial back on the soy sauce measurement that's called for in any particular recipe. And it does add a nice flavour rather than just pure saltiness. After placing the chicken in my trusty Le Creuset dutch oven, add the vinegar, garlic and peppercorns and bring everything to a simmer over medium-high heat. Alas, our neighbourhood butcher had run out of chicken thighs, so I settled for some chicken breast to go with the drumsticks. Once the vinegar has come to a simmer, turn the chicken over. Add the onions (I had forgotten the bay leaf from the previous step) and cook uncovered until the vinegar is completely absorbed by the chicken. When it's quite dry, turn the heat down to medium and give it a good stir, waiting until the chicken starts to render fat. Then turn the heat back up to medium-high and fry the chicken until it's golden brown. After removing any extra fat, add the soy sauce (I skipped the potatoes called for in this recipe), turn the heat down to medium/medium-low and simmer for at least 20 minutes. Check the liquid level now and again while the chicken is simmering and add a little water (1/4 c or less) if it dries up before the cooking time has elapsed. Although adobo is traditionally quite dry once it's cooked, I prefer to have a little more sauce for spooning atop my rice.

Now. Where was I. Sunday afternoon. Wait. Saturday night first. We didn't have any dessert at Bouzyos, so Ian and I went foraging for something else to eat after Noah had gone to bed. A bottle each of Sleeman's Honey Brown Lager and some finger food to accompany it. I had the last of the rice crackers and a handful of mango gummies. Ian demolished all of these without saving even one for me: the kutsinta that I had picked up earlier in the week. They're made with rice flour and brown sugar, traditionally topped with fresh grated coconut. Okay. Now back to Sunday. The treats from Prado Cafe kept us going until lunchtime when Noah, Ian and I made short work of all the leftovers in the fridge: japchae, two Gook Mahn Doo (the dumplings) and a couple of pieces of kalbi from Friday as well as the last of the Mu Shu Pork Wraps. Over the course of the afternoon, we also mowed through a few snacks to fill in any empty spaces.

That's hoisin sauce drizzled over the Mu Shu Pork Wrap. It's a recipe that I've adapted from a barbecue book at the cabin; rather than having exact proportions of anything, it's turned into "a little of this and a little of that". However, roughly speaking, I use proportions based on 1 lb of ground pork and increase it from there. 1 lb ground pork 1 egg 1 T soy sauce 2 T minced water chestnuts 1-3 cloves of garlic, to taste Worcestershire sauce, sriracha/sweet chili sauce and/or pepper, to taste Bread crumbs if required (though I rarely need them) Shape into logs -- 1 lb should make 6 logs -- and either barbecue or grill them in the oven. Easy! That's what I should've been doing. Joie was busy falling asleep on the sofa instead.

I've been eating sparingly throughout the day to keep my stomach primed for tonight's A Taste of British Columbia! dinner at Aurora Bistro. Ian will be home shortly to pick me up; however, I just wanted to sneak in a long overdue reply to one of Nancy's questions from way back when. Vancouver and the Lower Mainland have fantastic Farmers' Markets; my only lament is that I haven't had the time to show you one this week as part of this blog. Nonetheless, there's plenty of info and a few photos too in the Vancouver forum's Farmers Markets thread if you're interested. Clear the way... I'm off to eat!

Naptime for Noah, blog time for Mom. Knowing that we had a long Sunday ahead of us, Ian and I figured that first thing in the morning would be the only opportunity we had for anything resembling a break. So, the three of us trooped on down to Prado Cafe on The Drive where we met a friend and her daughter for coffee and a treat. I have two favourite coffee shops in town: The Elysian Room, located close to Ian's office and owned by Vancouver eGer hopkin, and Prado Cafe. Because it's in our neighbourhood, however, I end up at Prado 8 times out of 10 just for the sake of convenience. That's Amy York behind the bar; after a lengthy stint as manager for JJ Bean just down the street, she struck out on her own and opened Prado earlier this year. It has a clean, minimalist aesthetic and friendly, talented baristi who really give a damn about the shots that they pull. The second photo, which I actually took on Friday, doesn't accurately reflect the number of people at Prado on Sunday morning. It was slammed, both inside and out. Ian's pretty good at the obnoxious hover, though, so we managed to shoehorn 3 adults and 2 kids into a corner table. Amy's got a real knack for baking; all of the baked goods sold at Prado are made in house. She loves to experiment with new recipes, and I often get to taste-test the treats that emerge from her oven. Ian had a decaf Americano (I mean really... decaf?!) and this Cranberry Sweet Ginger muffin. He used to drink 6-8 cups of drip coffee a day but had to reign in his caffeine consumption after he finally figured out that it was starting to affect his mood. I opted for a Cappuccino and what Amy and crew have dubbed a Flat White Cookie. It's a riff on a meringue, made with almonds, egg whites and coconut. When Prado first opened, Kid O by Intelligentisia was their bean of choice. Within the past month, however, they've switched over to an Organic Fair Trade Espresso by 49th Parallel Roasters, a new venture of local eGulleter vin and the rest of the award-winning folks at Caffe Artigiano. If you're at all curious about the espresso's flavour profile, it's a custom blend of Timor, Peru, Guatemala and Venezuela (decaf is Peruvian).

Stew. Perfect on a cool autumn evening. And ratatouille, another of our family's favourites. Here's a recipe courtesy of epicurious.com.

Neither did I, actually, until a few years ago. Ian, Noah and I were visiting a farm on Vancouver Island with the rest of Ian's family for their annual Pumpkin Festival. Their Haunted Hay Ride took us past large expanses of beautiful vines; upon closer inspection, we saw, to our great surprise, that they yielded kiwi fruit. Who'da thunk it? I can't believe it either! This whole week has been a blur... but a huge blast too! Hmmm. More ways to use sampaloc. A Google search for tamarind recipes yielded one that you might be able to modify for your stuffed pasta recipe: Salmon with Tamarind Sauce. The permutations are endless, really. Cook the salmon as directed and use it to stuff the pasta, stuff the pasta with a simply prepared salmon and drizzle it with the sauce... time to get creative Nancy! I also managed to track down a recipe for Champoy which is a Filipino tamarind-based confection. These are still a favourite candy of mine and can usually be purchased at any Filipino store. And there's also this list of tamarind recipes on epicurean.com. Hope I've been of some help! Success! It'd be great to meet you when you finally do return to our fair city.

It had been a long Saturday. Ian, Noah and I were all a little tired, and cooking was the farthest thing from my mind. So we drove back to our neck of the woods to meet some friends and their daughter for Greek food at Bouzyos Taverna on Commercial Drive, about 5 minutes away from home. I collapsed into the nearest chair and requested an IV drip of sangria straightaway. Homous, tzatziki and a basket of warm pita bread soon followed, accompanied by a bowl of Greek salad. The portion sizes at Bouzyos are monumentally large, so we ordered an appetizer platter for two and a meat platter to split between four adults and two children. Spanakopita, Keftedes (Greek meatballs) hiding in the background, Dolmathes and Kalamari. Starting at the left, there's Lemon Roast Chicken, Ribs and Kleftiko (roast lamb) accompanied by rice and potatoes. It was just the right amount of food, and we all went home feeling comfortably full. However, Noah and his friend didn't want to leave without listening to the musicians perform: a duo playing Latin music. At a Greek restaurant. Go figure.

Ian placated himself with press-pot coffee on Saturday morning. I, on the other hand, grabbed a cappuccino to go at Prado en route to the Princess's castle. Once we arrived at our friends' home, my husband, the Sandwich Man, took it upon himself to make everyone lunch. You must understand, however, that Ian has distilled his sandwich-making process down to an exact formula. Dijon mustard on the first slice of bread. No butter (damn it). Meat atop the mustard since mustard enhances the taste of meat. Always start building with the meat side. Cheese atop the meat. Savoury begets savoury. Apparently, Swiss cheese is the best for sandwiches. Onions atop the cheese. Tomato atop the onions. Now we're building the salad side. Either pickles or cucumber atop the onions. One or the other as there's no room for both. Lettuce or sprouts atop the pickles/cucumber. Mayonnaise on the second piece of bread that's placed atop the lettuce/sprouts. Thus spake the Sandwich Man. And heaven forbid that anyone contravene the Divine Order of Sandwich Making... otherwise, it just doesn't taste right. Behold, the finished product: a black-forest ham sandwich. Not nearly as glorious as the ones he makes at home, but tasty nonetheless. After an activity-filled afternoon, we needed a starch hit to tide us over until dinner. Homemade popcorn popped in a glass-lidded skillet. I sprinkled mine with seasoning salt.