Viola da gamba
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Posts posted by Viola da gamba
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Because it's Easter & we haven't been having to work, I've been making pancakes - a different variety each day. This morning's were pear & cinnamon - with the obligatory unsalted butter and maple syrup - and lots of coffee - delicious (and a great way to use up slightly old pears).
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Actually I'm angling for someone to mail me some - any takers?
I always found it impossible to do either - but hey - I'm sure some people have better self-control than I. -
I called my sons "Sprouts" until they were more the size of the Green Giant.
Oh - hey - I'd forgotten that one (I try not to think of sprouts as food). I still get that one from my Dad.
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I believe that can take you past Howe and Georgia where you can pop into Sen5es for one of their muffins or other baked goodness. Warning: do NOT try their croissants.
Oh man, Sen5es breakfast - for me, it was the brioche that did me in (found the croissants a little too greasy) - breakfast was always a double americano, 2 brioches, and one of the CYONI organic juice things (usually grapefruit). Perfect - not cheap, but perfect. And you can always get one of the Valrhona chocolate chip cookies (better than the sparkle cookies IMHO) for later, if you have the self-control (to get just one and to keep it for later). They also do some mighty fine soups at lunch.
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Thanks for saving my technophobe self!
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I haven't worked out how to do the links yet (sorry) - but see Mr. Maw's thread concerning "Nu" restaurant - it's about waterfront restaurants to be opening soon, and there's a lot of discussion re: what's going to be going in there.
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Wednesday. Made the Pasta pie with meat crust I saw a lady make on Ciao America.
We've been eating that pasta pie for a while (there's only two of us) - man it's good. Cheap & cheerful Italian red went very well. And hey - now we have a freezer full of the left over tomato sauce!
Before the pasta pie, we made the Ragu alla Nonna from Ciao America - also very good, although we probably wouldn't use chicken in it again.
In between - miscellaneous scratch food - a lot of stir fry, some pasta with whatever cheese & veg are handy - and soup. We cook at home way more than we eat out - at least partly because of where we live.
Looking forward to Friday - we're going to be doing grilled asparagus and halibut cheeks marinated in a ginger/lime/chilli mixture, and a roast butternut squash & roast garlic risotto - hooray for weekends and the end (or beginning, as it were) of leftovers!
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My father always called me "sausage" - no idea why - still does occasionally when he's feeling silly.
A friend called my niece "cookie-bum" for a while - again - no idea why.
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I think it's OK to have Angels & Demons if you also have Foucault's Pendulum (and have read the former once, and the latter, a half-dozen times) *raises hand*
Can I replace the former with Crichton's Timeline - cause I just finished the latter for the umpteenth time and am feeling damned erudite as a result - populism be damned
Looking at the Golden Plate awards, they do encapsulate a time when my friends & I were (a) poor and (b) developing our taste for what we liked in terms of food, cuisine, wine, etc., etc. (and now also © when I lived in Vancouver, but that's a whole other story) - so I agree that they are probably not a true example of what's best in the city, generally - but I still think they have a place (and as bad as Cobbs is, it's still a step up from Wonderbread). But surely anything that gets people thinking about food in the terms of *best* or *most worth visiting* is better than merely sticking to what you know? No?
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yup - that's it. Shame they moved the old trail - the walkway through the bush was great - and it was fun going each year and seeing how much more the old bits of corduroy trail had decomposed, how much more "organic" the bits of old housing had become, etc. Still miss it though - it's been a couple of years since I've been back to the Coast - Nanaimo, while home, just ain't the same
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After reading this whole thread for the first time yesterday I was inspired at the usually-grim Marriott breakfast buffett this AM and made a peanut butter, bacon, pickled jalepeno, and banana sandwich on whole grain bread. It was fabulous and my ignorant colleagues didn't know what they were missing.
Apart from the peanut butter (not a fan except in cookies) that sounds really good!
My Dad reminded me of another one - but I think this may be uniquely English public school (or uniquely my Dad - can't quite decide which) - Sensodyne toothpaste (the pink stuff) between two pieces of squishy white bread - whole wheat will do in a pinch, but for the full experience it's gotta be white. I knew the food could be bad at English schools, but this takes the cake. While I know I used to eat the stuff, putting it between slices of bread seems a bit weird.
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Different spot
The spot I am talking about is by the cement factory, across the road you have Albion turn off, opposite side, the same side of the cement factory, going to tofino, you have some residences, you have to go through the houses, a old trail head starts there, there is no stairs or any kind of constructed path, just oh natural.
We are talking about serious path here.
Half moon bay and the first white settlement on the coast is about 2 hours from the beach, it takes about eight hours to hike to long beach and I am talking about the most difficult ocean front rock climbing and you can only go on a long low tide, there are many 9 foot jumps across life threatening crags. It was an old native community many moons ago. It is also one of the best fishing spots for commercial and sports fishing out of the bay.
A good stream and yes lots of bears and animals about, it is a great place to squat.
steve
Okay - now I think I know the one you mean - the cement factory reference helped
I agree - very beautiful & great fishing - sadly inaccessible for family trips since my dad's knee replacement. -
When I was at the Whales tale ten years ago, some of my staff where squatting (camping) on one of the most beautiful beaches on the coast, not long beach, a little like Tonquin park beach in Tofuno, it was just outside of Uke, the road going to Albion, used to be a trail head near there, it was like 20 min hard hike to the beach,
I remember that beach - most amazing palm kelp if you went to the left. Last time we were in Ucluelet, the stairs down were still iffy, and there were both bears and wolves in the area - have the stairs been replaced or the wildlife moved on?
With both clams & mussels, we always used to go to pick clams from and around the clam beds off Shack Islands in Nanaimo (this is before they were stripped in the early 90's - I think they've probably rejuvenated by now, but I wouldn't want to bet on it) - we never got sick, but then we only ever went in late February - mid-March, at low tide, and only took the clams from the gravel, not the sand. THe mussels we'd only take from the lowest possible point on the rocks - which tended to restrict things. We were also careful because, apparently, once you pick a mussel that's pretty well game over, as they can't reattach themselves to rocks - so we tended to be more into the clams.
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There was a restaurant in Vancouver a few (okay - about 10) years ago called Lola's - it was in a very funky building - very high ceilings, beautiful seating, rich, royal blue velvet curtains, lovely bar, etc. (I'm not sure if it's still a restaurant or not). The food, if I recall correctly, was wonderful, and the surroundings were gracious. The staff were all young (same age as me & my friends, roughly), and were all tattooed & pierced - I don't remember anything inappropriate a la blood, gore, racism, naked women or any huge gaping holes - and we thought it really added to the ambience - particularly because the music was also very cool and laid back (at the end of an evening, the wait staff appeared to *spontaneously* start snapping along with "Fever"). The service was also top-notch. I think this is a long-winded way of saying I agree - I don't think tattoos or piercings will necessarily detract from an experience - even a high-end experience - if everything else is done right and if there's nothing overtly anti-social (and I know I'm stepping into a PC minefield here, but I can't think how else to put it) about either the art or the piercings. Context is key.
I'm female, 35, and am one of the few women I know with neither tattoos nor piercings.
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Hooray for Daddy-A - man those pictures of spring remind me how much 6 degrees of latitude (give or take) can make - while the weather's been good here, we're still only just getting shoots & buds - although the pussy willows are well out.
Blog on!
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Interestingly, halibut becomes less popular up here once salmon comes into season again - at which point one starts questioning the freshness - generally happens in about May - now whether that's a myth, or whether it's because all of the halibut is being shipped south where there is a better price for it, I couldn't tell you.
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not a stupid question at all - I was talking to our local supplier and she was telling me (a) price and (b) that they would be starting to get it in soon (like over the next couple of weeks) so to keep an eye out - so I suppose my last post may have been a little misleading - I can't currently buy halibut for that, but I will be able to do so soon. Sorry for any misunderstanding.
Reviewing your post, that may not have answered the question - yes, the halibut season is (just) open.
Edited to add - according to local sources, the season actually opened Feb. 27
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it's around $6 a pound (unless you're getting halibut cheeks, in which case double that) up here - but then it doesn't have to travel as far
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Julio Gonzalez-Perini's cooking makes my teeth sweat and I would make a pretty strenuous case that Villa del Lupo might be the most under-rated, or under-appreciated, restaurant in the province.
So teeth sweat is a good thing
I agree, though - I've never had a bad meal there - and the service has always been excellent.Over-rated - it's been said before, but I'll say it again - Anton's in Burnaby.
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Actually, the Publik is just down the road from Boston Pizza. Go past the BP, through the set of lights at the Superstore and it is on your right (at the intersection of Hwy 16 and Hwy 97). I just phoned and confirmed that they are open for lunch. I'm not sure what their lunch menu looks like but I'm sure that it will be better than anything else you can get at that end of town while driving through.
I was very sad to see the Goode News Cafe shut down also.
They served great homemade soups and an interesting array of salads and sandwiches.Wow - talk about assistance above & beyond - many thanks. As to the Goode News (thanks for the name recollection - d'oh!) - any word on the proprietors starting again? We were so sad to see it replaced by a snowboard shop...
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A Publik opened recently in Prince George. It is located alongside the new casino here in town and seems to be doing pretty well....so far. Prince George residents love to flock to any new restaurant/pub that opens up in town. We have so few to go to that we get all excited when something new comes along.
Hey - good to see someone else from the North end of the province! So - how accessible is Publik? We'll be driving through PG en route to points south and invariably want to stop for lunch - and Boston Pizza just ain't really cutting it - and the demise of that little coffee place up by UNB - we don't really know where to go - so - is that a yes?
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I stopped counting at 4 typos ... *Deborah* would make a year's salary with this one!
A.
I still haven't decided if they mean "renascent" or "renaissance" - both seem equally stupid, but whatever.
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Thanks again for all the recommendations. Still looking for the right pad. Can anyone recommend any place to stop for lunch on the drive from Nanaimo to Tofino?
Soooo looking forward to it. I'm humming a mix of Madonna's " Holiday" to the tune of Chicago's "Saturday in the Park". The excitement is confusing me.
I loathe Madonna...
Depends on the weather - if it's nice, and you're into picnicking (sp? that looks wrong) - you might want to stop at McLean's specialty foods in Nanaimo's old city quarter (if you're into English cheese) or even Thrifty's by the Longwood Brew Pub (better at French cheese, IMO) and pick up lunch fixings - there's a small but not bad LDB outlet by the Thrifty's - then the revamped "rest stop" at Taylor Arm (far end of Sproat Lake) is surprisingly nice (and not just because composting toilets crack me up) - particularly now they've rerouted the highway so you aren't sitting right by the road. Otherwise, we don't tend to stop until we get to the West Coast. Unless you want a list of possibles in Nanaimo? I'm nowhere near as good at food places after leaving the boundaries of Nanoose (the Rocking Horse Pub, while off the beaten track, used to do excellent food) - let me know if you're interested in Nanaimo lunch-wise.
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If any of you out there can think of situations where your income goes down when you pay more attention to doing your job exactly to the customer's satisfaction, I'd love to hear about them. Please.
Happens quite a lot as a lawyer - and we're paid by the hour, so it's really noticeable. Those tend to be the clients where you have to "paper" everything from here to next week because you just KNOW that there's going to be a complaint to the relevant law society, despite doing everything according to instructions (and often getting exactly the result predicted or even requested). In some ways, and please don't flame me for this, I think there's a few similarities in being a chef/lawyer - non-industry people always figure they know how to do what they're paying you for better - or their friends do - and they'll tell you so at length - i.e. "my friend said you could sue for defamation, so why didn't you tell me about that option?" followed by a complaint to the law society that you failed to properly represent/pursue their interests. Is it too much of a stretch to suggest that this is comparable (okay - feel free to start with the lawyer jokes now - I know I asked for it
).Sorry - end of moaning.
Truth be told: Where've you eaten lately? (Part 1)
in Western Canada: Dining
Posted · Edited by Viola da gamba (log)
Welcome to your new fish addiction
One of my favourite pieces of fish - we have some marinating at home in a ginger/lime/chilli mixture that are going on the barbecue tonight - whatever the bloody weather 
- to eat with the leftover roasted squash/roasted garlic/bacon risotto. Hooray!