Mooshmouse

With such an active forum, it’s high time to kick off the first installment of the Media Digest for the Vancouver, British Columbia and Western Canada forum. We’ll focus on food-related articles in publications with free online content: Vancouver Magazine, The Vancouver Courier, Georgia Straight, the Westender and Terminal City. Updates will be posted weekly, as articles are made available online. Vancouver Magazine May 2005 edition Diner: King Crocodile – Jamie Maw celebrates the 35-year career of Michel Jacob The Grill Report: Behind the White Linen Sheet – The latest juice from the restaurant biz The Vancouver Courier Wednesday, May 25 edition Burgers, bunwiches and Brix Homegrown Vera's faces off against American-born Fatburger on Denman Street Chefs Ray Henry and Damon Campbell launch Diva at the Met's new menu Recent renos at Brix give new meaning to al-fresco dining The Georgia Straight Thursday, May 19 edition Pleasures of the Flesh – Vegetarian Ron Yamauchi fills a protein void on a Vancouver steak crawl The new world of restaurant monosyllabism: O! No! – Jurgen Gothe takes a comedic stab at the latest trend in eatery monikers Uncorked: Sip a six-pack of wonder from the land down under – Jurgen Gothe profiles half-a-dozen new vintages from Rosemount and Lindemans Food of the Week: Farmhouse-table dining popular with singles at Saveur Brew of the Week: Bottled lime-infused Schweppes Gin & Tonic now available The Westender Thursday, May 19 edition The Drive is worth the drive to fill a hearty appetite - Whet your palate with international eats on Commercial Drive Terminal City Thursday, May 19 edition Down The Hatch – A new all-day vegetarian breakfast spot on Main Street

I think I'd have to submit dilis as a candidate. Tiny dried anchovies, usually served dipped in vineger with chilis and crushed garlic. I'm forbidden to either pan-fry or oven crisp these in the house, so I cook them outdoors using the barbecue's gas grill. He still swears that I'll kill every bird and small animal in a 5-mile radius with the smell. Bearing that in mind, my Canadian-born/half-Filipino preschooler loves them. Eats them like chips. And tries unsuccessfully to get Daddy to try them. Here's where a parent's food training comes back to bite you in the ass: "Daddy, you always say that we have to try everything at the table once. Come on Daddy, you'll think they're great!"

Félicitations Andrew!

Reverse Pocky is still available here; it was on the shelf during my last snack shopping trip two weeks ago.

Interesting. I've never heard of cottage pie, and the shepherd's pie I've eaten has always been made with beef. Perhaps it's a regional thing.

This thread has prompted me to remember a sauce that we had at Mona's Lebanese restaurant last year for Ian's birthday. To be quite honest, I can't remember the exact dish in question as there were about 10 platters on the table, but they brought us a small bowl full of a white sauce to spoon on top of our meat. After taking the first bite, we soon discovered that it was pretty much straight pureed garlic mixed with a bit of lemon and other spices for flavour. And, damn, was it ever good. I think we polished off about two more bowls of the sauce, and our entire table reeked by the end of the night. But it was more than worth it.

Deep-fried S'More Bars? Holy jumpin' cholesterol fix Batman... now that's showing some serious potential.

Forgot to mention the Strawberry Rhubarb kolachy that I tried last week... a lovely tart jammy filling. Mmmm. And the "Wonton" Soup with lemongrass broth. Keith explained that "wonton" was in quotes because they used Toianese dumplings as opposed to regular wonton. It was soooooooooo good. How sad am I. *Deborah* just reminded me of today's butter chicken kolachy. I'm going to pick some up before lunch.

I'll give a nod to Adelsheim Vineyards.

Smithereen... I love it! So that's where things go when they get blown up!

i read that they get a lot of their produce from an organic farm called Hazelmere. I think it is in Surrey, not sure of the address, apparently they are sometimes open to the public. ← Google is a wonderful thing. As noted in a local foodblog, VanEats, Hazelmere Organic Farms host a Saturday market at which they sell their seasonal organic produce and other organic goods. Open 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Hazelmere Organic Farms 1859 184th Street South Surrey 604-538-3018

CaliPoutine's visit to the turkey farm in last week's foodblog had me craving turkey burgers on Saturday night. Minced a few sundried tomatoes and mixed them into the burgers for some flavour. And Sunday night's dinner was from a restaurant: Pondok Indonesia to be specific. As with Chinese food, I always prefer having Indonesian food with a larger group of people so that we can sample a greater variety of dishes; however, the rijsttafel is always a good way to go when we're smaller in numbers. Starting at the top, there's Pangsit Goreng (crispy wonton stuffed with minced chicken & shrimp served with sweet and sour sauce), Rendang Sapi (spicy beef prepared with Indonesian herbs and coconut milk), Orak Arik (stirfried cabbage, carrots and either tofu or egg with garlic and herbs) and Ayam Panggang (barbecued chicken marinated with Indonesian style sauce). All menu descriptions are quoted from the restaurant's website. Tiger beer for Ian, mango cider for me and mango juice for Noah. P.S. Sending get-better-quickly wishes your way Susan!

Randi and Bennett, thanks for giving us a little slice of life at the opposite end of the country. And that photo of the devilled eggs is killing me... one of my long-repressed weaknesses... it's all I can do not to whip up a batch right now!

'Tis the season to go open-air market shopping. Just a note that the East Vancouver Farmer's Market opened for business on Saturday. Click here for more info.

Working backwards... Dinner with Ian and Noah this evening at Pondok Indonesia on Commercial Drive. As with Chinese food, I always prefer dining at Pondok with a larger group of people so that we can sample a greater variety of dishes; however, the rijsttafel is always a good way to go when we're smaller in numbers. Ricetable #1 Starting at the top, there's Pangsit Goreng (crispy wonton stuffed with minced chicken & shrimp served with sweet and sour sauce), Rendang Sapi (spicy beef prepared with Indonesian herbs and coconut milk), Orak Arik (stirfried cabbage, carrots and either tofu or egg with garlic and herbs) and Ayam Panggang (barbecued chicken marinated with Indonesian style sauce). All menu descriptions are quoted from Pondok's website. Tiger beer for Ian, mango cider for me and mango juice for Noah. Saturday Afternoon Tea at The Fish House in Stanley Park. I'll post my photos and comments in the next day or two on the "Sweets And The City" thread. An impromptu dinner with Ian on Friday night at the Living Room Bistro on West 4th Avenue, where we were warmly greeted by fellow eGulleter easy (Erik Mathany). Why do people insist on lining up for a seat at Milestone's rather than choosing to dine at a neighbourhood restaurant just two doors away? It never ceases to amaze me. I ordered the prosciutto and sorrel wrapped Halibut with truffled mushroom risotto and olive oil poached tomatoes; Ian had the rosemary-dijon crusted Rack of Lamb with Provencal ratatouille, sweet potato-potato pave and mint herb jus. Admittedly, our minds were more focused on our "date night" conversation rather than the food. Nice flavours in both our dishes... I did find my halibut a shade oversalted, but perhaps my palate was off that evening. Friday lunch with Vancouver Lee, canucklehead and Ling at Dario's La Piazza Ristorante in the Italian Cultural Centre on West 12th Avenue. Talk about a little slice of Northern Italy. In the spirit of democratic eating, we ordered family style. Lee-Squared ordered a bowl of the daily soup special each: loaded with swiss chard and kale in a wonderfully flavoured clear broth... to me, highly reminiscent of soups that came out of my Mom's kitchen. Appetizers were prosciutto and a plate of the house antipasti which included kalamari, assorted olives, white beet pickles (no one could figure out what these wonderfully tasty things were), grilled zucchini and red bell peppers, salami and various types of pickled fish. Ling's taken care of the main course descriptions. Suffice it to say, copious quantities of delicious, wholly authentic Italian food. My very first visit to Kintaro for Wednesday lunch with Daddy-A, Yummy and canucklehead. We arrived 15 minutes early; five minutes after the doors opened at noon, the place was slammed with a lineup out the door and people doing the face-squish peering into the window. Sorry, no gratuitous crotch shot of Lee's spilled water; in its place, I offer up a photo of some very tasty gyoza and my bowl of ramen. Miso Ramen with an extra boiled egg Lovely broth, not too salty, but the noodles are the definite star of the show. Perfectly cooked with just the right amount of 'bite'. I like the fact that you can choose the level of fattiness for both the broth and the pork; mine was medium broth, light pork. As Lee said, a great lunch on a cool, cloudy afternoon.

Two more for the count: Cru and Fiction.

Andie, I'm impressed at your Asian vinegar selection... I so rarely see this in North American pantries. The best part about them is that they're relatively cheap, at least they are here in Canada. Vinegars. Good God, I'm Filipino and worship at the altar of vinegar. We regularly use it as a condiment. Apple cider, malt, sugar cane, coconut, palm, palm with garlic and chili peppers, white wine, red wine, three kinds of balsamic, rice, mango. And good old fashioned white... admittedly, I only use this for non-food related purposes. Yoiks. That makes fourteen. And then there's soy sauces. Dark Chinese, two kinds of light Japanese, soy sauce with calamansi, kecap manis. Five. Six if you count Maggi.

Lee, wait'll you try the white truffle chevre. There's no going back...

I love grilling weather! Spring Salmon in a Sherry/Soy/Butter Sauce In keeping with my latest craving for light, fresh food, we barbecued some Spring Salmon in a sauce made with sherry, soya sauce, garlic, pureed tomatoes and a generous dollop of butter. It sounds like an odd combination but, once the salmon was plated, we spooned up every last drop of the extra sauce I had set aside. Accompanied by grilled asparagus, zucchini and red and yellow bell peppers.

Beat'ya to it via PM. No bonus points for his occupation?

Chocolate. Salty, crunchy pretzels and peanuts. Caramel. Calories galore. Need I say more? Edited because I'm a PMSing dolt at cross-forum quotes.

I know exactly what you're talking about as the milk buns are very popular here in Vancouver and suburbs (including Richmond, of course). Same filling as the pineapple buns with the filling that browniebaker just described. Many Chinese bakeries sell them as does T&T Supermarket, which is usually where I get mine for convenience sake. I'll ask around and see if there's a specific Chinese name for them.

Honey Mustard Pretz In a word, meh. Not bad, just boring. I kept waiting for something to happen tastewise but nothing did, kind of like waiting for Godot. There was a bit of an initial tang, almost French's mustardesque, yet nothing after that but the taste of the pretz itself. Oh well. Win some, lose some. This one came out at a draw.

Sometimes simple is best, and comfort food is what I was craving last night. Tuna Melts with Gouda on OatNut Bread Sandwich making is a task that I gladly defer to my husband, though my son and I helped with the chopping. Grape soda for me, iced tea for Ian and Noah. And a big bunch of fridge-chilled grapes.

Sounds like someone was getting their money's worth for that new Roget's Thesaurus. I think their original name choice, the Superlative Lounge, was scuttled in favour of Marmalade Kitchen & Bar, the close second choice. "...marriage of the freshest and lusciousness of ingredients." Hmmm. "...taste, see and feel the sensation that is Marmalade." A sticky, sweet orange substance that I'm not that fond of on toast. Branding is so important with any new venture. I'm interested to see how a bar named after a breakfast condiment turns out.