Mooshmouse

Although the Dinner! thread is one of my favourite discussions on eGullet, I haven't been able to work up the nerve to make a post of my own until tonight. The prospect of putting my plebian food efforts against all this collective brilliance has been daunting to say the least! Weekend dinners are an important time at our house. During the week, we do try to cook together as often as possible but make an extra special effort to include our preschooler in dinner preparations when we're home on Saturdays and Sundays. He helps with the mise en place, washing and plating cut veggies as well as the odd bit of chopping like taking the ends off of green beans. And he's great at washing dishes... repeat the mantra son... washing dishes is fun, washing dishes is fun... Tonight's dinner was a simple one-pot meal of rustic, tomatoey chicken stew with mushrooms, zucchini, parsley and black olives. Lots of garlic and spanish onions. Sprinkled with more parsley and served over white rice. Yummy. Perfect for banishing the winter chill.

Actually, you're right on that one; my typing speed is kinda scary, actually. Mind you, I need to have some way of keeping pace with my verbal diarrhea. Edited because I have to remember not to use the smilies as punctuation.

She's one french fry short of a Happy Meal. He's one beer short of a six-pack. She's two slices short of a loaf. He's one egg short of a dozen. I've got a bone to pick with you. You're such a bonehead. Wake up and smell the coffee.

There's Fritz on the southwest corner of Davie at Granville, right by Blenz Coffee. It has a whole pile of great flavoured mayos for that European fry experience and also serves poutine.

If someone does something stupid: He's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. An unenthusiastic party pooper: You're such a wet noodle!

That it does. Bols does one, as does Pernod (called Soho). Apparently there's also a third one called Kwai Feh.

But that could be the next new thing. Who needs chocolate jimmies when you could use a crunchy cricket or earwig to top off your sundae! Is rambutan not readily available in New York?

Availability of good raw materials could be a problem. I've always thought that most other citrus fruits are superior to starfruit, but I enjoy high-quality fresh starfruit available in rural Malaysia. Here, mediocre-to-poor starfruit is something like $2 apiece (not be weight). Mangosteen is a great fruit. I used to think it imported poorly until I found very good ones being sold in Beijing this past summer. Now, I wonder what the problem is, but I've never had a good one in the US. ← You're absolutely right. Kimchi and ice cream should not mix, nor should curry. Unless something really piques my curiosity at La Casa Gelato, I have little to no desire to sample the more bizarre gelato flavours that they offer. Why wreck a good thing? Then I'd have to start talking about gelato as a newly intolerable food in the thread currently running on the General Food Topics forum. Also right on the second count. A lot of the tropical fruit found in North America is rather insipid and bland, not having had the benefit of tree ripening to achieve optimum sweetness. I was going to suggest other "exotic" fruits such as custard apple/sugar apple (atis in the Philippines), rambutan, lychee, star apple, or santol; however, it's hardly worth it if you aren't able to distill their true flavours.

On ambience alone, I'd choose Bacchus. I'd say that Bacchus offers a fairly classic breakfast, but nothing beats dining in two comfy club chairs in front of the fireplace. My thoughts as a parent is to have breakfast out as opposed to in. Heck, I get to eat breakfast in my pajamas 7 days a week, so I always milk the opportunity to have a luxe brunch out!

Ice cream. Gelato. Sorbetto. Isn't that kind of like a holy trinity?! There's a place here in Vancouver that Martha Stewart visited during a pre-jail stopover: La Casa Gelato. Of its 500+ flavours, it usually has 208 available for purchase each day. Not the best gelato in town -- that title goes to Mondo Gelato, IMHO, which also has an outlet in Rome -- but certainly the most original flavours. Basil and pernod, pear and gorgonzola, pink cactus fruit (I've always wondered if they mean dragonfruit), curry, ginger, ginger chocolate, garlic, balsamic vinegar, Jack Daniels, lavender, chili pepper and dark chocolate, kimchi and chanterelle. The list goes on and on. Mondo Gelato's guava flavour ranks as one of my favourites; its fragrance alone makes my mouth water. And Amato Gelato's mango/guava and mango/coconut are excellent combinations. In thinking about Filipino ice cream flavours, I came up with langka (jackfruit), macapuno (young coconut), pinipig (toasted rice), mangosteen and ube (purple yam). What about starfruit? Or a kalamansi sorbetto as a palate cleanser? Wish I could sample the fruits of your labours. Happy inventing! Edited because gelato cravings apparently cause minor fits of incoherence.

This is reminiscent of a topic I started a few months back: Things I love... that other people hate!

Then you'll fit in around here just fine. What would this world be without coffee, food and wineaholics. Welcome to the madhouse Alistair! One quick note: I tried clicking on the weblink that you provided for The Elysian Room but couldn't access your site. Internet be damned... I'll just have to stop by for a cuppa! And you're just up the hill from my husband's office. He's our family's true coffee nut and I'll have to send him up your way. Joie

What about the McLennan Creek Organic Goat Dairy in Abbotsford? I have some relatives that live in Mission who stop by here every now and again. Maybe you'll only have to come into Vancouver for every other cheese run.

Gauging by the name of this product, I'd hazard a guess that it's produced by Filipinos. It could certainly be Hispanic/Latino produced as well, but I can certainly attest that Filipinos love their "chicharon". My caucasian husband always rolls his eyes whenever I eat it dipped in cane vinegar, crushed garlic, chilis, salt and pepper. Have never seen this chicken version but will certainly keep my eyes peeled for it. You'd be able to find pork chicharon in any Filipino store, either plain, spicy or in various flavours. Yummy. Now I have to go and track me down a bag!

Google.ca is a good thing! Found you these links for South Alder Farms in Aldergrove and Driediger Farms in Langley. Both are fairly close to Abbotsford and will hopefully have what you're looking for. I also tracked down a couple of farms on Vancouver Island, but why make the trek over if you can find gooseberries close to home.

As one of the perpetrators in question, I'd like to let you in on a not-so-secret. The Vancouver eGullet forum is particularly chatty and a good chunk of its members are notorious for regularly straying off topic; however, we always manage to return to the issue at hand. Remember, many of us have already met, and we consider each other friends rather than just fellow board posters. If the chat is bothersome, then just filter through. You'll quickly return to relevant discussion. I believe that Arne made similar mention of this local phenomenon in another thread, but I can't remember which one. And as for Vietnamese iced coffee? Like a good number of Filipinos, I was raised in a household where sweet coffee served with evaporated milk was the norm. Please try to restrain your disgust. Granted, my tastes have since changed and I certainly enjoy a good cappuccino or espresso as much as the next person. But sweet coffee will always have a somewhat nostalgic element for me, and it's nice to return to the tastes of your childhood once in a while. If that puts me and the country of Vietnam outside the circle of coffee cognoscenti, then so be it. Now. Someone please pass me a steaming bowl of pho chased with a glass of iced coffee.

Moosh: Please share recipes?! ← I'd be glad to oblige later this evening when I'm not child wrangling and my little gastronaut is tucked safely in bed.

If I have to wait in my car with my hazard lights on at the east end of the Georgia Viaduct and drive you to Bosa myself, then I guess that's what it's gonna take! Conversely, I could always just buy you what you need and bring it to yoga class. If Illy is what the lady wants, then Illy is what she shall get... one way or another.

Not to mention their lamb tagine. Absolutely killer good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Over the Georgia Viaduct and keep going straight/east along Venables Street. Follow Venables until it forms a T with another street: Victoria Drive. Hang a left and go north along Victoria Drive for about 3 or 4 blocks. You'll see Bosa on your right hand/east side. Presto.

Nobody, but nobody, forgets Fresgo's beef dip. It's a bad cholesterol nightmare that keeps reliving itself throughout the course of your hangover. On another note, unlike the typical Asian, my alcohol tolerance level is through the roof. Just ask Ian. In my dancin' youth, it was far, far too expensive to try to get hammered at a nightclub. But good grief Arne. Not only am I stalking your restaurant escapades, but we very well may have tripped the light fantastic at the same clubs. I, too, remember both Did's and Sharkey's. In fact, Sharkey's was the meeting point for two groups of us late one night many, many years ago. After connecting there, we ditched the idea in favour of another venue and all piled into our cars to leave. Only one group of us made it there, however. The other group was stuck in an aging Volvo station wagon trying to pull out of the parking lot when the U-joint broke, thus leaving the drive shaft in the middle of the road. Needless to say, there was no pizza for them that evening.

Hmmm. Not even a clue about the first meal that I cooked for my husband. But I certainly remember the first meal that he ever prepared for me. Ironically, it was breakfast. More than 11 years ago now and we had already been friends for about 3 years. On the morning of a work-related meeting, we had originally planned to meet at a local greasy spoon for breakfast before the meeting. But, since his condo was close to the meeting venue, he volunteered to make me breakfast instead. And what a breakfast it was. Very simple, but oh-so-artfully presented. A platter of fresh summer fruit and berries, either whole or sliced, all perfectly layered and fanned out like a rainbow. A selection of oven-warmed breakfast pastries, muffins and croissants. Freshly squeezed orange juice. And a brilliantly brewed pot of coffee. All this from just a friend. I was absolutely floored. And I've never looked at him the same way again. What a guy.

Hmmm. If you're looking for food up until about 1:30 to 2:00 a.m., there's quite a list to choose from. Wild Rice, Brix, Fiction, Bin 941, Lucy Mae Brown, Shanghai Chinese Bistro (spicy wontons are great for staving off a hangover), The Alibi Room, Subeez, Cin Cin, Green Hut and Gyoza King to name a few. After that hour, well, there's the Fresgo Inn, Bread Garden or The Vineyard. Dang. Who, in a drunken stupor, hasn't ingested either a mushroom burger or beef dip at Fresgos? Ah, memories.

What about Rinconcito Salvadoran Restaurant at 2062 Commercial Drive? This pupuseria has been on my "To Eat" list for quite some time. Have you tried the Cookshop in City Square? As far as what's missing in Vancouver from my perspective, I'd have to say a Filipino restaurant along the lines of Cendrillon in New York. More upscale and featuring something other than the homecooked offerings at cafeteria-style "turo-turo" eateries which seem to be the only type available in this city. Also, so common in the U.S. but sadly absent here, a mid-range restaurant that I can take my 3 1/2-year-old gastronaut in training to which serves good quality food and dishes other than fried food for kids. Aside from ethnic restaurants, White Spot and Milestones just aren't cutting it on the "family dining" front. In fact, the term "family restaurant" almost invariably implies bland and boring food. Sad.

I'm a soup and stewaholic. If I listed all my favourites, I'd likely be typing until Christmastime. Tortilla soup with sour cream and lots of extra avocados. Mediterranean Beef Stew with garlic stuffed and kalamata olives. And Italian Tomato Soupstew... basically everything except the kitchen sink. It includes tortellini, italian sausage, loads of fresh veggies, and dill pickles of all things. Sounds bizarre but it's absolutely amazing. hathor, this is one of the funniest damn things I've ever read! I was just discussing congee with someone the other day. Some people order it at dim sum or eat it on a rainy night. Me, I can only consume the stuff when I'm sick -- that's when my Mom used to make it for me as a kid. Otherwise, you nailed it: the devil's runny earwax. I might just have to use this for a future sigline! Thanks for sharing this pam. I've been looking for a good chicken stew recipe for quite sometime now and I'll be sure to give this a try!