Mooshmouse

Just what kind of party would that be?!

Japone. Oak at either 67th or 68th, on the northwest corner across from the Chevron station. Yes, you must be tired. Tired enough to consider chowing on black cod testes. That is all.

Must ... fight ... urge ... to make ... fun ... I'm just wondering how the hell they harvest the damn things! Anything like moth balls? ← Jeffy Boy and I figured that it'd be rather Bourdainesque to go out on a limb and actually eat this stuff. May as well do eGullet proud! When Hiroshi first told us about the tempura, we laughingly said that micro-chopsticks would be required to pick this stuff up. Shockingly, however, these things were humungous: about 2" or so in diameter! All four of us were absolutely dumbfounded when we saw them... what is this, fish on Viagra? Actually, it is fairly tasteless. All you have to do is get over that mental hurdle before putting it in your mouth. And that hurdle is a lot higher for some people than it is for others! In short, shirako tempura isn't my favourite food in the universe, but I would eat it again if someone put it in front of me. Chalk it up to another gastronomic adventure. This from the person who'd eat nothing but spaghetti and meatballs for one week straight as a kid...

Guilty as charged! There can never be enough love in the world for kolachies, especially the all-wonderful reuben. Warm bread. Good meat. Sauerkraut. Good meat and sauerkraut wrapped up in warm bread. How much better does it get than that! And their soups are outstanding as well; the beef stroganoff, laden with monster chunks of mushroom, is my favourite. If it's a sweet kolachy you're looking for, try the apricot. Delish. While I'm at it, here are the last three on my restaurant list aside from Friday's lunch at The Kolachy Shop with Arne and my son. To capitalize on our gift certificates from the Big Night's silent auction, we had a fabulous dinner at Japone on Saturday evening with Lemon Boy -- that's lemon curd and Jeffy Boy for the as-yet unindoctrinated. Casting the menus aside, we entrusted our appetites to the guidance of Hiroshi-san and he brought us dish after dish of wonderful food. Standout plates were the sablefish sashimi in a yuzu sauce, agedashi eggplant and the maple-glazed sablefish. And then there was the shirako tempura. What's shirako tempura, you might ask. Why, fish testicles, of course! Hiroshi brought us 3 pieces to try, just to watch the expressions on our faces as we ate. Ian and lemon curd wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole and chose to heckle from the sidelines as, emboldened by our Sapporo beer, Jeffy Boy and I met the culinary challenge. Surprisingly enough, the tempura was quite good. No fishy taste whatsoever and it had a texture comparable to foie gras or a thick creme anglaise... soft, creamy and quite rich. Fear Factor, look out. Jeffy Boy and I will take you all on! Ten dishes later, we rolled out of Japone and into La Belle Epoque on Cambie Street for dessert crepes that same evening. I had a cappuccino and a peanut butter crepe with a scoop of coconut gelato. Though the taste combination sounds rather blasphemous, the crepe was delicious. Sunday brunch with the girls at Seb's Market Cafe on Broadway, one block west of Fraser. Francois Godbout has done an excellent job in both the ambiance and food departments; I'd like to head back one evening for dinner and some live jazz. Brunch was a strawberry and camembert omelette with fruit salad, homestyle fried potatoes and thick-sliced multigrain toast with apricot preserves. Accompanied, of course, by a king-sized latte.

I'm happy to hear that your first dining experience at Baru was a good one! Sounds like you're on your way to becoming a regular. Just the mention of their ceviche is prompting me to make a return visit of my own in the not-too-distant future.

Beware. The Tim Tam Slam is insanely habit-forming. Once you've tried it, there's no going back... bwahahahaaa!

Here, here Derek. There's a time and place for unobtrusive service, but my decided preference is for a server whose great personality compliments their food and wine knowledge and makes my dining experience a happy one. And welcome!

West, by far. Darryl is an outstanding waiter and makes one of the best cappucinos in Vancouver, trained in his barista skills by none other than the crew at Caffe Artigiano. And Cru as well. We were fortunate enough to be in for an early pre-concert dinner on a Sunday evening and have Mark Taylor himself as our server. Phenomenal. Also second Deborah's mention of Pastis. John Blakely is the consummate host, and his service staff are excellent.

My little gastronaut in training will be 3 1/2 in January, and we've been fairly fortunate thus far with his eating habits. He loves sushi and will eat tobiko (flying fish roe) by the spoonful. All sorts of cheese: brie, smoked gouda, camembert, you name it. Dill pickles. Tofu. Crab meat, smoked oysters, smoked salmon jerky and "Indian Candy" (sweet smoked salmon sticks). Prosciutto and garlicky italian salami. Lemons (what is it with kids and lemons?). Pate. Hummus and baba ghanoush. Salad. Steak, barbecued ribs, chicken satay. But the kicker has to be small dried anchovies... pops 'em in his mouth one after the other like potato chips. However, after all that, he hates peanut butter. Go figure.

Ah yes. Empty food value white bread, butter, processed cheese slice on one piece of bread, strawberry jam on the other slice. Trailer trash heaven... yummy.

Welcome to the madhouse Derek! Hope you're ready to spend lots of your waking life here with the rest of the inmates. Joie

Susan, Yetty, Judith, Percy (hope I got everyone): thanks for such a warm welcome! Yes, my avatar is a photo of my little gastronaut in training... he's such a great kid... most of the time. And good heavens. Wendy and Percy, your photos make me want to eat dinner all over again. Two evenings ago, I organized a potluck Christmas party for five couples and our kids. Dessert was my department, so I packed sugar cookies and chocolates in gift bags for the kids and baked two apple apricot crumbles for the moms and dads. Didn't get a photo of the plated product with vanilla ice cream, but I'll be sure to post a photo when I dig into the leftovers. And I figured that tonight would be a good evening to have soup since my son and I are currently nursing colds. Beef udon soup with cabbage, broccoli stems, bean sprouts and onions.

Back in my "radio days" I worked with the man who wrote that jingle. His name is Tony Antonias, and he was one of the most brilliant copy-writers I worked with. Very old-school, but could write a dozen 30 second ads in the time it took me to do 1. It was Tony you heard whistling that jingle. ← Damn you both! You have committed the criminal act of DSI: Deadly Song Implant. Now I'll have, "Dollar forty-nine day Woodwards, dollar forty-nine day Tuesday" playing in my head for the rest of the evening! Oh, my siblings and I did this, too! It was called the "Malt Stop" and was located under the escalators. I still remember how delicious it tasted...... ← I lived on hot dogs and malts from both the Malt Stop and Willie Woozle in elementary school. Now, as a guilty pleasure, I pull up to the Wendy's drive-thru window and order a Frosty which seems to be the closest thing I can find to a malt these days.

I'm with you Arne. A little hazy about the food floors themselves, but I remember loving the drive up the ramp to the rooftop parkade at the New West store. And lunch at Woodwards, always lunch: fish and chips with cubes of jello for dessert. Not just any jello. Red or orange jello topped by a dollop of "whipped cream" that you could remove in once piece with your fingers.

Though my last dining experience there was in May, I thought I'd chime in and say that I've enjoyed each one of my meals at Baru. I'd call it a restaurant as opposed to a bar. If it is, indeed, a bar, then it serves damn fine food! As a restaurant, their cocktails are, indeed, tasty. Can't comment on whether or not it's authentic Colombian, but I believe there's a little bit of something thrown in from all over Central and South America. I have a weakness for seafood, so I'm partial to their ceviches (don't ask me to choose just one), salmon tiradito and chorizo clams. Also their plantain-crusted halibut. As mentioned by "T", go on a weeknight if you're looking for a quiet dinner sans a plethora of chatty hipsters.

Moosh: Please share recipes?! ← Better late than never! I've paraphrased this recipe for Italian Tomato Soupstew from a book entitled Simmering Suppers - Classic & Creative One-Pot Meals From Harrowsmith Kitchens. Ingredients: 4 fresh tomatoes, chopped 1 lb. Italian sausage, cut into bite-sized pieces 14 oz. Italian tomato sauce (when pressed for time, use 14-oz. can Italian sauce) 7 cups beef stock 1 c chopped onion 1 clove garlic, minced 1 c sliced carrots 1 tsp. basil 1 tsp. oregano 2 c sliced zucchini 1 c fresh mushrooms 1 green pepper, diced, seeds removed 1/4 c chopped fresh parsley 1 1/2 c sliced dill pickles 2 c tortellini, raviolini or your favourite stuffed pasta Combine tomatoes, sausage, tomato sauce, beef stock, chopped onion, minced garlic, sliced carrots, basil and oregano into a large pot. Simmer 30 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer an additional hour, adding more water as required to cook tortellini. If using fresh pasta, reserve and add separately 20 minutes before end of cook time. All the chopping makes it rather labour intensive, but the end product is delicious!

Now Jamie. Was this a Freudian slip?!

Sambuca, without a doubt. During my corporate days, one employer of mine had a penchant for splurging on elaborate business dinners. Don't get me wrong -- the dinners started well and the food was fabulous, but they always ended horribly. He'd order an assortment of hors d'oeuvres for the table, after which you were expected to order a minimum of 3 courses on your own. Always accompanied by copious quantities of wine and followed by the richest desserts in the house, of course. After ensuring that we'd all stuffied ourselves silly, he'd invariably end each meal with a round of flaming sambuca shots, replete with coffee beans. One or two sambuca lovers in the group would sip the shots. I, the diehard licorice hater, would toss it straight down to dispose of that horrific liquid as quickly as possible. Needless to say, an overly rich meal followed by a taste that I loathe always made me feel green for the rest of the evening. To this day, my palms sweat a little and I get that sick feeling in the back of my throat if I catch even a tiny whiff of sambuca.

Viognier is my latest and greatest. La Frenz Viognier 2003 (Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia) and Yalumba Y Series Viognier 2003 and 2004 (Barossa Valley, Australia) are the current favourites. I'm also quite fond of Pierre Sparr Riesling Reserve 2001 (Alsace, France) and Tinhorn Creek Gewürztraminer 2000 (Okanagan Valley, British Columbia).

Doesn't sound odd to me... my mouth is still watering after reading your post!

My vote is for pasta amatriciana. Mmmm... pancetta is my friend, as is bacon when pancetta is absent from my fridge. For that same reason, I also love carbonara... that is, when my arteries can handle it. However, along the lines of simple is good, I absolutely adore linguine alla vongole. Either red or white sauce, I'm not fussy that way since it's really all about the clams. Atkins be damned!

Here are links to a couple of different recipes for a Filipino eggplant dish called Rellenong Talong, which is essentially stuffed grilled eggplant. One version uses minced chicken or beef, whereas another version uses pork. In the pork recipe, note that patis is fish sauce. Yummy!

Sounds like Thursday's are wash day at the Moosh household. ← When you put it that way, we at the mouse house don't mind doing the wash any day of the week!

The Tomahawk for late brunch today after an errand-filled morning. Yukon bacon, two scrambled eggs, hashbrowns and multi-grain toast. Grease and coffee, a holy panacea. Milestone's on Thursday for a quick pre-grocery-shopping dinner. Yes, yes, I know, Milestone's... let's just say it's convenient and Noah enjoys eating there. Hey, it beats Boston Pizza! For Ian, an entree-sized California Spring Salad with goat cheese, chopped apple, spanish onions, and spicy glazed pecans, washed down with two pints of Stella Artois. For me, Shanghai Noodle Stirfry with shitake mushrooms, red peppers, gai lan and honey five-spice grilled chicken, washed down with a couple of bellinis. Soupspoons on West 4th last week with a girlfriend for a Christmas shopping intermezzo. A steaming bowl of Chicken Lemongrass soup and half an Italian Panini with prosciutto, tomato, swiss cheese, garlic and basil. And a light meal at Umami a while back on a night that montrachet was seated at an adjoining table. Our dinner closely mirrored the one that KnifeSkills recently enjoyed: Albacore Tuna Spring Rolls with a nori and shiso wrap, Maple Soy Marinated Sablefish and Tiramisu with matcha cake and azuki-infused marscapone. Started with a glass of the La Frenz Viognier followed by a glass of the Wishing Tree Shiraz. What a wonderful haven on a rainy night.

Ooof. How could I forget Hamburger Mary's, Davie Street's other late-night bastion of all foods conducive to the absorption of alcohol. Who says you have to go to Denny's to get all-day breakfast?!