Mooshmouse

Psssssst... wanna see my kiwis? There's a monumentally large kiwi vine at the back of our house; this photo only shows one small section since it spans over 20'. It grows at an exponential rate, reminiscent of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors, sending enormously long sections shooting out horizontally over the brick patio in search of something to grasp onto. We have to trim it frequently to keep it under control, but the effort is certainly worth it as the vine produces fruit rather prolifically.

I was quaffing Sleeman's Honey Brown Lager while cooking on Friday evening, but *Deborah* brought over an interesting bottle of wine for us to drink with dinner. Knowing that it would be included in the blog, she couldn't resist picking this one up when she saw the label. Woop Woop! Once we got over our giggle fit, we discovered that it was a reasonably good bottle of wine, especially when considering the price point. After the kids were tucked in for the night, we three settled in for Movie Night while nibbling on two Portuguese egg tarts each. Actually, I should say "scarfing down" since the egg tarts didn't last for very long. Gotta get me some more of those...

Mooshmouse. It's a nickname that Ian chose for me while we were dating, an offshoot of the cartoon character Mushmouse from the 1960s. He picked it for two reasons: (1) for the cuteness factor, and (2) because I'm a mushy (mooshy), ridiculously affectionate person at heart. Ian still calls me Moosh every now and again, and I ended up adopting it as an online screen name about 6 years ago. Hope that's not too anticlimactic, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

What a day! I've been with you in spirit, if not in blog. Renovation-related errands in the morning and an afternoon spent sequestered in the basement, sorting and packing. Thanks to you all for being so patient with me in spite of the fact that I've been at least half a step behind with my blog most of the time. It's so annoying when real life interferes with eGullet. Chicken Adobo is on the stove! While I'm waiting for the chicken to render, I'll post the last couple of photos from Friday's dinner. Mu Shu Pork Wrap before... And after. Sleeman's Honey Brown Lager. Cooking is thirsty work, you know. Noah just came running downstairs, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Something smells terrific! I can smell dinner cooking! Is it ready yet? I'm huuuunnnnnngggggggrrrryyyy!! Where's my dinner?!" So I'm off to check on the adobo. Can't keep him waiting!

Good heavens... I feel like I've been typing forever and I'm still not caught up! Friday night's dinner fixins. Only thing that's missing from this photo is the ginger. With *Deborah* and Noah's friend both joining us for dinner, I wanted to make something kid-friendly that was still full of flavour. The answer: Mu Shu Pork Wraps. The accoutrements: sliced water chestnuts, cilantro, shredded sui choy, green onions and bean sprouts. The meat: ground pork mixed with minced water chestnuts, minced garlic, grated ginger, soy sauce, pepper and a little worcestershire sauce. All mixed up and put on the barbecue. When I know that kids or those with sensitive palates won't be partaking of them, I also throw a little sriracha or sweet chili sauce in for good measure. Here's how the kids' plates turned out. The request was for rice with soy sauce instead of noodles – it's fragrant jasmine rice, by the way. Both kids ate like crazy; Noah's friend had polished off her entire dinner before Noah had made it 2/3 of the way through his.

Linda, thank you for sharing your stories and your encouragement on our parenting choices. Your anecdote about the Filipina nurses in Houston reminds me of my Aunt's move to Canada. The youngest of my Mom's four siblings, she was the first of our family to immigrate here, having been recruited as an RN to Winnipeg, Manitoba during a nursing shortage in the late sixties. Just imagine leaving 35ºC/95ºF weather and stepping off a plane in a foreign country, not knowing a soul, -40ºC/-40ºF in the dead of winter with only a spring coat and open-toed shoes to keep you warm. Respect. The sausage that you spoke of sounds very much like longanisa hamonado which is a sweet pork sausage. This version of the recipe calls for two to three days of curing. You should be able to find a Filipino store in Houston that carries it; if not, they're likely available for online ordering from a U.S. distributor. Good company always makes good food taste even better, and eGullet has been a great way of expanding our circle of dining friends. Thank you, Susan, for your kind words. My pleasure Jake. I'm glad to have been of help and doubly happy to know that you've taken a liking to Filipino cuisine! When you do get around to sampling something new, please let me know what you think. One of my fondest memories from my university days was of the Honours Seminar class that I took in junior year. It was three hours long, twice a week, a real killer after a full slate of morning classes. Our seminar prof was a wonderfully wise, eloquent Scotsman with a real soft spots for his students. He brought a kettle to class, and we brought our mugs. At the class's midway point, we'd take a break to relax our brains for a while over a cup of tea. There were about six, maybe eight of us in the class, and we each took turns bringing snacks for everyone, our prof included. Hot cross buns at Easter, perhaps some of the amazing cinnamon buns from the Student Union Building. It was such a simple gesture on the part of our prof, but one that I'll never forget.

Much to my chagrin, I realized that it had been two days since I'd had my last cup of coffee. Friday afternoon's weather was too warm for me to drink my usual cappuccino, so I dropped by Prado Cafe and ordered an iced latte instead (half-sweet caramel for a little extra sugar boost). I love coffee for the taste, not the caffeine, and usually have only one double-shot espresso drink a day, sometimes even more infrequently than that. When I got home, this is what greeted me. FEED ME NOW!!! Dang. If that's not the hairy eyeball, then I don't know what is. Clearly, one hungry cat. A couple of pages back, Feedbag asked me what I feed Shadow. All-natural, premium dry cat food twice daily with a serving of premium wet food every third feeding. The portions I give her are well within regular parameters, and I'm pretty strict about sticking to her morning and late afternoon feeding times. Because she's part Norwegian Forest Cat, her genes are the primary reason for her size: males can weigh up to 22 lbs, and females are slightly smaller than that. In Shadow's case, emphasis is on "slightly".

Partway through our meal, Canucklehead mentioned that he was driving up to Michele Cake Shop in Kerrisdale right after lunch. He'd heard that Michele's mango cakes were on sale for 20% off and figured this was the perfect opportunity to try one. I jumped at his invitation to come along, not for the mango cake but for the chance to sample their pasteis de nata or Portuguese egg tarts which I'd been told are out of this world. And now for some gratuitous bakeshop photos. Oooh, baybee, I love me my baked goods. Target acquisition complete for Canucklehead. Mango cake is, indeed, delicious... I picked one up a couple of weeks ago for my Mom's birthday. And mission accomplished for me too. Lo and behold, Michele's phenomenal Pasteis de Nata. Divine. One of the best egg tarts I've ever had. Light, flaky, buttery pastry... I resisted the urge to massage my carotid arteries every time I took a bite. After Canucklehead dropped me back off downtown, I took the scenic route home and snapped a few photos of the seawall and English Bay. Though it was overcast when I woke up on Friday, the skies had cleared nicely by late morning and it turned into another flip-flops day. Looking south along the seawall towards the Burrard Street bridge. Northern view of English Bay and the North Shore mountains. A closeup of the Inukshuk, Vancouver's symbol for the 2010 Olympics.

Banchan – Starting at the top left, there's kimchi, shredded seaweed, spicy pickled daikon, soybean sprouts and potatoes marinated in sesame oil. Of the side dishes that we were served, my least favourite is the shredded seaweed (although I do love nori) with my preferences leaning towards the soybean sprouts and the spicy pickled daikon. Another Korean side dish that I absolutely love is marun myolchi: sweetened deep-fried dried anchovies. Sounds disgusting, I know, but they're so addictive! Marco_Polo offers a recipe in this thread. All of this washed down with a Coke. There's something about drinking Coke whenever I eat Asian food, especially Chinese; I find that it helps to cut the grease, salt and MSG. Pepsi or any other form of pop won't do. It's gotta be Coke.

Yes, they did cook the kalbi for us. Big pieces indeed, so each table is provided with a pair of clean kitchen scissors used to snip them into more bite-sized morsels. We also used the scissors to portion out a few of the side dishes, a photo of which I'm going to post next. And, even though I have fairly small hands, the thin metal chopsticks aren't my favourite either. Michael, how'd your first week back at teaching go? Thanks easternsun! The extra time I take when plating Noah's meals definitely comes in handy when presenting a food that he might find questionable. He's far more likely to eat something that he's unsure about if it at least looks good! The photos that I'm about to post of English Bay were taken especially with you and Jensen in mind. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Whew. We're finally back from an activity-filled family Saturday. Prince Noah safely escorted his fair Princess back to her castle where we had a busy afternoon: eating lunch, hiking through the woods to pick huckleberries and blackberries and now lounging in the hot tub. Childhood... what a life. Ian and I are privileged to be along for the ride. From there, we met another couple and their four-year-old daughter for Greek food (featuring, oddly enough, live Latin music). And home again at last. Before I get ahead of myself, I was rather disappointed to notice that I had forgotten to upload a couple of photos from Thursday's Cantonese extravaganza. Such an elaborate place setting. Sauteed Pea Tips with Garlic And now down to business. Yesterday, there was a smaller gathering of the Lunch Mafia at Jang Mo Jib. Despite our herculean meal only the night before, Yummy and Canucklehead were up to the challenge of a sizeable Korean lunch. It's a good thing we showed up. Apparently, they'd been waiting for us. The place was packed when we arrived; this photo was taken at the tail end of the lunch rush. We started things off with cold barley tea. According to Canucklehead, that's a ginseng root pictured on our spoon and chopsticks. Gook Mahn Doo – Pan-fried dumplings Japchae – Sweet-potato noodles with marinated vegetables Kalbi – Grilled beef short ribs Dol Sot Bibimbap – Preserved vegetables and homemade hot chili paste on steamed rice in a hot stone bowl

Happy Saturday everyone. God bless children who sleep in!! Noah and his girlfriend (the love of his four-year-old life, really) were born three weeks apart and have been inseparable ever since. To say that the kids have been as good as gold would be a massive understatement. They ate like mad last night, played until the last possible second and then fell asleep about 2 seconds after their heads hit the pillow at 9:45 p.m. Best part of the whole sleepover is the fact that they both slept in until 9:30 a.m. today, which meant that Ian and I did too... whoohoo!!! As I type, they're both colouring quietly in the dining room. In the words of my Aussie-British girlfriend, "Bless their little cotton socks." Here's the two little angels washing their grapes for breakfast. The fruits of their labours were added to this. Red seedless grapes, sliced Granny Smith apples and apricot jam on Olafson's Oat and Nut with Honey toast. If you're wondering whether or not I plate Noah's food like this in non-blog life, the answer is yes. I've done so since he was old enough to notice. My philosophy: I wouldn't want to eat unattractively presented food, so why would he? I had something a little simpler. 2% cottage cheese with sliced grapes. Bear in mind that Ian's bowl was at least twice the size of mine. We're now off to pick up some paint samples -- yes, renovation decisions have still been taking place behind the scenes -- and drive the Princess back to her castle where lunch awaits. Still to come: yesterday's Korean lunch and movie night at the Mouse house.

Ditto to your entire post Brian. Dinner photos and comments are posted in my Foodblog for this week. Props to you Lee -- you're a phenomenal host!

Beverage course, followed by a rapid succession of dishes. Braised Pork Belly Stirfried Beef Tenderloin with Broccoli Pork with Chayote and Preserved Vegetables... my second favourite dish of the night. Hand-shredded Five Spice Chicken... to diverge from the dishes for a moment, I give you eGulleter Yummy's demonstration of how to remove the brain from a chicken head. No, she didn't actually eat it; the dissection was for entertainment purposes only. My first serving of the main dishes. Fried Rice with Dried Scallop, Egg White and Chopped Scallions Mango Pudding... admittedly, it was a bit too gelatinous for me... not the best mango pudding I've ever had. That honour is reserved for the pudding at Shanghai Chinese Bistro which is located downtown on Alberni Street. Rich, smooth, with strips of fresh mango throughout. Heaven. Was that ten courses? I lost count after the first three. Regardless, it was a wonderful dinner... just the right amount of food. Canucklehead explained that Cantonese cuisine is founded on the freshness of its ingredients and clean, simple flavours -- certainly a refreshing change from the more heavily flavoured and salted Shanghainese fare that's so prevalent here in the Lower Mainland (translate: Vancouver and its suburbs). Huge thanks to you, Lee, for being the consummate host. The happy and well-fed crew Back row, left to right: Steve and Debbie Drucker, me, Canucklehead and Mrs. BCinBC Front row, left to right: *Deborah*, PaoPao with his wife Yummy and BCinBC It was great meeting the Druckers, and I hope that they take many memories of happy dining experiences back home with them to Atlanta. Y'all come back soon now, you hear!

Nine of us gathered for dinner at the Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant in Richmond, a suburb just across the Fraser River from Vancouver. It was a send-off of sorts for Atlantan eGulleter Steve Drucker and his wife Debbie as it was the last night of their one-week visit to Vancouver. Vancouver eGulleter Canucklehead was our culinary tour guide for the evening and took us through 10 courses of wonderful Cantonese food. We started with a plate of cold appetizers. Starting just above the orchid and working clockwise, there's deboned goose feet in a sesame-oil marinade, poached pork belly, vegetarian tofu wrap and spiced beef with sesame-oil-marinated jellyfish in the centre. Of all the cold appetizers, my favourite was the spiced beef. Surprisingly, however, I really enjoyed the deboned goose feet -- even more so than the jellyfish. BCinBC disagrees with me, though; check out his thoughts on our dinner in the "Chinese in Vancouver, Have at it" thread. Next up were 2 pounds of blanched BC spot prawns served with a chili soy dip. Following the spot prawns, our server brought this to our table. After the contents came to a boil, he removed the lid and unveiled the goodness therein. The kabocha squash was beautifully sweet, and the texture of the black bean sauce was richly enhanced by the squash chunks that had melted into it. Brilliant. My favourite dish of the evening.

One day a week, my Mom comes over to spend some quality time with her grandson, thus giving me a day off to catch up on errands and housework or simply relax. Today is that day... well, at least part of the day as Noah has a friend coming for a sleepover this evening. Cereal this morning for me and Noah. A mix of Crispix and Rice Krispies topped with raisins, sultana raisins, dried papaya, dried cranberries and dried pineapple. Juice too. My Mom's not big on cereal, so I offered her something else. Warm buttered pandesal, herbed havarti cheese and a plum together with some hot chocolate. Noah ended up eating half her plum, and they also split the last peach. Back after lunch with pics from last night's Cantonese extravaganza. I'll leave you with one photo to whet your appetite. Crab and Kabocha Squash in Black Bean Sauce. The best dish of the night.

*Insert yawn emoticon here* Good day all. Morning weather report from the Mouse house: cool and overcast, about 15ºC/59ºF. After a long stretch of warm, sunny days, I knew the weather was changing when the wind kicked up yesterday afternoon. Sure enough, the clouds started rolling in from the west; this was my driver's eye view of Thursday's evening sky while on my way to dinner. Cross my fingers. Weather Guy is calling for sunny breaks by this afternoon. However, no worries. I'll just have to go in search of some comfort food today. While Noah's puttering around upstairs, I'll sneak in a few minutes to post yesterday's lunch photos before fixing breakfast. Lunch date with a girlfriend yesterday. What better place to relax on a sunny afternoon than the patio of the venerable Hamilton Street Grill. The Chef/Owner of HSG is none other than Vancouver eGulleter nwyles, Mack Daddy of Hanger Steak and Warm Gingerbread Pudding (served with pumpkin and ginger gelato... the gingerbread, not the steak). Since hosting the "Waiting For Bourdain Big Night" event, Chef Neil and his restaurant have been elevated to cult status among local eGulleters due in large part to these two particular dishes. This gingerbread photo couldn't even come close to doing the taste justice. Delicate exterior crust with just the right amount of toothiness, giving way to moist gingerbread goodness. Drizzled with caramel sauce. The pumpkin gelato with its rich cinnamon and nutmeg flavours is my favourite of the two. Alas, no such fare for us as my girlfriend had requested a healthy lunch. So, salad it was. This was her Grilled Chicken Caesar... she's a self-confessed "plain" eater. And I ordered a Pear and Stilton Salad, one of my favourite HSG dishes. All washed down with a cranberry and soda. However, there was one somewhat sinful menu item that caught my girlfriend's eye: Yam Fries served with chipotle mayo. Jamie Maw noted in the Vancouver forum's "Eyes On The Fries, HSG Takes Honours" thread that Neil's yam fries were recently lauded in a Vancouver Sun Food Section cover article as being the best in Vancouver. Since the article was published, Neil has had an insane run on these fries... people even double-parking outside his restaurant and dashing in for an order to go. In his own words, Just another reason why HSG has become the de facto equivalent of Cheers for the Vancouver forum members. If ever you dine at the Hamilton Street Grill, just ask for Chef Huggy Bear. My beautiful boy is calling and I must run. Have a great morning everyone!

To offer a little assistance mamacat, Pan-O-Pan is in the mini-No-Man's-Land block of E. Broadway that's in between Kingsway and Main, on the north side of the street. Same block as the Our Town Cafe. Painted in the window is a cartoon picture of a centaur carrying a pan pipe. Wouldn't want you to miss it, Sarah!

I'm with you Nancy. It's all about the Spike.

Let's see. The thin, tiny spring rolls filled with pork are called lumpia shanghai. Laing is the dish with pork and gabi (taro) leaves simmered in coconut milk; the link I've provided shows a photo of a variation using beef. Spicy, chili-laden food usually has its origins in the Bicol region, so my guess on the pork and red chilis would be a dish called Bicol Express. Filipino cuisine is a true representation of "fusion" cooking. The indigenous people of the Philippines incorporated influences from settlers, traders and colonizers of various ethnic backgrounds into their own regional delicacies: Chinese, Malaysian, Spanish, American and Arabic to name a few. This article gives a concise rundown of many traditional Filipino dishes, their origins and their regional variations. That being said, Asian- and Hispanic-influenced dishes are popular among Filipinos, and home cooking isn't strictly limited to Filipino fare. Admittedly, I don't cook it all that often myself for two primary reasons: (1) it often involves a lot of chopping and is quite labour intensive, and (2) many dishes require long braising or simmering times. With a hungry preschooler wanting to help me in the kitchen, I generally end up cooking quick and practical dishes. Thus, to address your question in a roundabout way, the amount of traditional Filipino food that's cooked at home depends largely upon the household.

Ohhh I'm in love ← He's got the complete package: cute, charming, loves to help with the cooking and even does dishes. Gotta start training him young! Thanks Dejah. So many kids subsist (and I do mean subsist) on nothing more than processed food, a fate I didn't want for my son. Our household rule is that Noah must try everything on the table once; by try, I mean chew and swallow one bite. If he doesn't like it after that, then fair enough. But if a food that he doesn't like happens to appear on the table another day, he has to try it then too. That's how Noah developed an appreciation for roasted asparagus and roasted cauliflower: through repeated attempts. And I always remember to thank him for trying. As a result of our persistent efforts to expose Noah to a broad spectrum of tastes, he has a fairly adventurous palate. He loves dilis (tiny dried anchovies) and eats them like potato chips. He enjoys things with strong flavours like baba ghanoush and odd things for kids to like such as tobiko (flying fish roe) and lattes. We can take him out for almost any kind of ethnic food -- Greek, Thai, Indonesian, Japanese -- and have him share the dishes we order for ourselves rather than ordering him something special. I'm prepared for the day that childhood pickiness sets in, but I'm hoping that it'll be a long time coming.

Though I posted a photo of today's breakfast, I'm still missing details on the latter part of yesterday's dining. After the lunchtime feast, I stopped in at a Filipino store right next door to pick up a dozen of these. Pandesal, still warm, fresh from the oven. The literal translation of pandesal is "bread of salt"; however, I've always found this odd since the rolls are slightly sweet. It's one of Noah's favourite things to eat, so, for his drive-time snack, I brought him a buttered roll and some dried Philippine mangoes. We started on dinner prep upon arriving home since I wanted to let the dry-rubbed pork tenderloin rest for a while before throwing it on the barbecue. Noah took it upon himself to wash the dishes (and the counters and the cupboards with all the splashing) while I took care of the meat. Once Ian got home with the rest of the dinner groceries, we uncorked a bottle of 2003 Yalumba Y Series Shiraz to fuel our food prep. Here's the "Before" photos. Soba has an affinity for Mrs. Dash, and our family has one for Spike. The asparagus and peppers were marinated in olive oil and Spike (whoops... forgot the garlic). And that's leftover sweet Chilliwack corn from two nights ago. The Grill Master at work. Man. Meat. Fire. It's gotta be a primal thing. Here's the requisite "During" photo. Voila, the finished product; Ian plated while I was finishing off last night's pre-dinner blogging stint. The only thing missing from this photo is the applesauce. Dinner time. My Mom's looking after Noah this evening while Ian logs some renovation time and I head off to a Cantonese dinner in Richmond with a group of 10 eGulleters, including two who are here visiting from Atlanta. Wow. From the Philippines to Canton province... a veritable tour of Asia. Bring on the food!

An enormous thank you to everyone who has offered their kind words of encouragement. It's a huge relief to know that my ramblings on Filipino food and life in general aren't falling on deaf ears... or perhaps that should be blind eyes. At any rate, I'm grateful for all your comments. There are Filipino restaurants in Vancouver, most of them small cafeteria-style eateries. It's all a matter of knowing where to look. Josephine's is located on the east side of Main Street between East 10th and 11th. And there's Galing-Galing on the north side of West Broadway, a few storefronts east of Fir Street (same block as Bin 942). Though Galing-Galing is no longer attached to Goldilocks on the southwest corner of Broadway and Fir, Goldilocks still does serve Filipino food in addition to selling a huge variety of baked goods; however, I do find them to be somewhat overpriced relative to their portion sizes. And Rhea, the restaurant you're thinking of on Fraser Street is Aling Ening (4245 Fraser Street, to be precise). You should come into town one day and we can eat like Filipina rock stars! As for a Filipino dish I don't like? My knee-jerk reaction would be Goto Lugaw or beef tripe congee. There's something about the texture of tripe that I absolutely cannot handle. Oh yes. Balut. But that almost goes without saying. Good question Rona. Though I've had carioca before (rice balls fried in syrup), it was home cooked and not from a restaurant. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it in any of my Filipino restaurant dining experiences.

Thanks Jake! I'll help you out by putting names to those dishes once I'm back from lunch. There was, indeed, bangus in the sinigang. It's one of my childhood favourites too... my mouth is watering right now just thinking about its tartness. Time to pry my fingers off the keyboard and get me some sunshine and sustenance. More later!

Whoops. One ingredient that I inadvertently omitted is the bilo bilo: dumplings made from glutinous rice flour. Right you are Laksa. I believe they're virtually identical dishes. It's one of my favourite merienda foods on a chilly winter afternoon. Yes, Soba, Pakbet is the Ilocano name for this dish. Use of patis is also a regional variant, and garlic is definitely on the ingredient list. The okra pods have always been whole in any version I've ever eaten. It can also be made as a strictly vegetarian dish without any pork or, in this case, shrimp.