Chef Metcalf

Either over infused or I just plain used too many lime leaves. Not sure. I think just a scant amount would be better. Now I'm trying to remember how many I put in there....I think about 10 for a 1/2 bottle of vodka...obviously too much. We enjoyed the lemon so much though that I don't think I'd bother with making another lime batch. Jayhay 50% alcohol by volume is 100 proof (or so they told me at the Government Liquor store). Smirnoff Triple Distilled, blue label. I purchased it at Park Royal but I'm sure it's in most of the LDB's. Let us know how it turns out!

Firstly, thanks to everyone for the tips on making lemoncello! I've just finished the first two batches, one lemon and one kaffir lime. I used 100 proof Smirnoff with zested organic lemons and kaffir lime leaves for the other batch. Not very happy with the kaffir lime. Quite a bitter taste, but the limoncello is wonderful. We taste tested it against the one we had in the fridge that was store bought and ours won, hands down! The store bought one almost tastes like it has some sort of weird sweetener in. Ahh, but the homemade one....lovely! I added the simple syrup while it was still warm as I like the cloudiness so thanks to Lindycat who posted that. And of course after it was frozen it's even cloudier. I see a few other Vancouverites here, perhaps a tasting is in order? Thanks again for all the info. Great thread. Here are a few before and after shots...

Balinese Chicken Use as many tablespoons of the super fine cut leaves as you have the patience to cut. The more the better. You can expand on this and add garlic or whatever, but just the pure kaffir flavour is fantastic. 6 T (minimum) finely minced kaffir lime leaves 1 chicken, cut up sweet chili sauce Remove the skin from the chicken and rub with peanut oil (evoo for European dishes, peanut oil for Asian). Sprinkle with kaffir and massage into the chicken. Leave it in the fridge to marinate for 1-24 hours. Then BBQ it. If it's too cold then bake it but it's much better BBQ'd. Baste it while BBQ'ing or baking with some extra peanut oil/kaffir mixture. Serve the sweet chili sauce on the side for dipping (try and find Cock brand, it's seems to be the best quality as some of the others have really crunchy indigestible chili's). Keywords: Easy, Chicken, Southeast Asian ( RG1197 )

Balinese Chicken Use as many tablespoons of the super fine cut leaves as you have the patience to cut. The more the better. You can expand on this and add garlic or whatever, but just the pure kaffir flavour is fantastic. 6 T (minimum) finely minced kaffir lime leaves 1 chicken, cut up sweet chili sauce Remove the skin from the chicken and rub with peanut oil (evoo for European dishes, peanut oil for Asian). Sprinkle with kaffir and massage into the chicken. Leave it in the fridge to marinate for 1-24 hours. Then BBQ it. If it's too cold then bake it but it's much better BBQ'd. Baste it while BBQ'ing or baking with some extra peanut oil/kaffir mixture. Serve the sweet chili sauce on the side for dipping (try and find Cock brand, it's seems to be the best quality as some of the others have really crunchy indigestible chili's). Keywords: Easy, Chicken, Southeast Asian ( RG1197 )

Thanks for sharing your life with us Torakris. It's brought back lots of memories for me from when I lived there. The rock and roll guys....I think they were called rockabillies? We used to see them at Yoyogi Park on Sundays. What a wild and loud scene that was! Numerous bands playing side by side which melded into one deafening roar. We'd always bring earplugs. cm

Thanks for sharing your info, BCinBC. Jamie, while you're in the gardening mood, you may want to head down to Whole Foods and buy one of the Uglyripe Heirloom Tomatoes. Eat and enjoy, but save some of the seeds for planting. At $8.80 kg they aren't cheap, but I'd take this any day over cardboard tomatoes. They remind me of the ones we used eat in the Okanagan at the fruit stand with a salt shaker....yes, they're that good. The skins are a little tough, but they may fair better in a BC summer than the ones available from Mexico at Whole Foods . The inside is so delicious, flavourful and juicy though, you probably won't care. It's quite a controversial little fruit too. Should make a lovely accompaniment with all your fresh herbs. cm

Chinatown has some great deals. Try Pender Seafood (fresh prawns, head off, $4.99lb). Asia Market for fresh herbs (I can pay $2.79 at Lonsdale Quay for good quality coconut milk or load up here for $1.29, ditto for fresh Thai herbs) and Rice World for rock bottom priced dry goods, rice etc. Dollar Meat Store, T & T and Chinatown Market for poultry and meat. I've never actually purchased any meat from these stores but it all looked ultra fresh and they do their own butchering. Lots of fresh produce stores, some better than others. It will probably shave about 60% off your food bill...compared to Yaletown's Urban Fare! Welcome...and happy shopping. cm

Last night we had family from out of town come for dinner. Being from Calgary, they requested fresh seafood. We stared out with hor d'oeuvres... Prawn Cakes with Cilantro dipping sauce and Seared Ahi Tuna with Wasabi Aioli on Sesame Wontons For dinner we had Butter Poached Lobster and Scallops topped with Shrimp and Pinot Gris Beurre Blanc (because you can never get enough butter ). We then moved onto Amaretto Espresso Truffles and Chocolate Dipped Strawberries followed by a French and BC Cheese Plate with Fig Jam, Pecan Fruit Bread and Physalis. And of course we had to have a nice 10 year old tawny to go with it. I have a picture of the cheese plate but it won't upload. I hate it when that happens. I keep getting this error message "The image upload failed, please contact the eG Forums team". I don't know why the first will load and then not another. Guess I'm a techno-peasant. percyn I vaguely remember trying it with water too and having about the same amount of luck (losing a third of the final product). Anybody else have any bright ideas on making your wontons burst proof? cm

percyn It looks like the first batch of raviolis is fried. I don't have food and wine magazine this month but is the recipe similar to gyoza where the dumpling is fried and then steamed? How did they taste? They certainly look good. I've used the ravioli wrappers in the past but found about a third of them would open up in the simmering water, thus losing the contents. I used an eggwash to seal them too. Any tips? cm

I said I would post the tax, duty and brokerage fees for shipments to Canada. I paid about $21.00...and that's on top of the cost of the beans. Service was great and the product is about the quality that I would get at any of the stores in Vancouver...for about 75% less than I normally pay. Gotta like that. cm

Vancouver, I asked today when I was at Park Royal. The name of the store in the Market area is Prima Italian (it beside the bakery that's just across from Extra Foods or Supervalue as the signage still calls it years after the switch over). She is going to try and order shiso with her next live herb order, but doesn't know if they are available right now. When she calls me I'll post the outcome here. I don't think they'll be available till May or June though and they couldn't be planted outside till late May anyway...unless our early spring comes back and stays. If anyone wants to order herb seeds through a Canadian source, Richters has great variety and lots of exotic, hard to find herbs. Although I didn't see shiso in there, they seem to have everything else. cm

Sorry Vancouver....I should have added that the organic maket at the Quay doesn't start up until May or so. cm

Last year I purchased some from the Italian Deli (sorry, don't know the name) in the market area of Park Royal (3" pots). I also found some Thai Basil plants at the organic market outside of Lonsdale Quay and I think he also had shiso. It was around May/June so you may have to wait awhile. I'll ask for you next time I'm at Park Royal. One of my neighbours also picked some up at the Van Dusen plant sale. Purple and green varieties were available. Right now I have a friend who is trying to get some Kaffir Lime cuttings going in his greenhouse for me. If we have any luck, I'll pass one onto you. cm

Oh my god! That pork looks absolutely fantastic Arne! Food porn at it's best. On my list of favourite meals consumed is one we had at Kypriaki Norte at Whistler. Kike, the owner, had a smoker outside on the patio and brought us a little sampling of his salmon, which was.....to die for. We raved about it and he told us to stick around because the pork would be ready in two hours or so. Many glasses of wine later we were eating the most wonderful smoked pork. Honestly one of the best things I've ever tasted. What time should all 50 of the Vancouver egulleters come over for a sample prior to the Adessa dinner? Really enjoyed reading your blog Arne. You've done a great job! CM

Sound's like you gave it your best shot given "the ingredients " you received. I'm curious Chef Koo...what were the other chef's given for black box ingredients? cm

We just returned from Mexico and while out to dinner one night in PV the table next to us ordered a Caesar salad and we watched in fascination as a very talented waiter went through the whole tableside procedure which I hadn't seen anyone do in years. The highlight was when he cracked the eggs between two spoons, magically removing the egg white and dropping the egg yolks into the bowl to incorporate with the rest of the ingredients. I mentioned to our group that Caesar salad had originated in Mexico, when a chef was short on ingredients...and they though I was making it up! cm

lol

Pepprye......of course there is. I'll vote Morris number one for "quote oh the night". Come on...compared to the rest of the chatter, it's refreshing! That should anwer your other question too. Le miraré! Adios!

Are we related?

The Black Bear in Lynn Valley They have a interesting menu and the food quality is great.

Thanks for sharing your FG night. It was a fantastic literary and visual presentation! What was your address? cm

823 Denman between haro and robson 604.685.1136 Su-Th 1730 to midnight F Sa to0100 ← Domo Arigato...transfattyacid san

PS No one mentioned Tobin James. Is it really bad wine? Is it from Pasa Robles? We thought it was fantastic! We ordered it off the menu in a little french type bistro place in Scottsdale (just up and over the street from the loud Mexican tourist place...I think ...where we ran away too after the Mexican place). Oh shit, too long ago! Does the winery name ring a bell? Or did we just write it down wrong? I'm sure it was from PR and it was excellent quality. One fine Zinfandel! cm

That's excellent news Rose. It's a fairly big market up here for red wines and marketed the right way, and at the right price (especially now that the Canadian $ is stronger), it could be a much easier sell than two years ago. Thanks to everyone for the wealth of recommendations, I've printed them all out and we will be looking for them the next time we are in the States (or hopefully our long awaited trip to Pasa Robles). I found the EOS...Petite Sirah today in Vancouver (although they had reduced it at month end which usually means that it will be discontinued). We'll let it rest, open it and report back. I think I've tried it before though. Didn't it used to have a purple funky label, and now has just a giant EOS? Thanks so much for the input. cm

It sounds like authentic Japanese yakitori street food....and this is a good thing. What's the address? Sound's like it's close to our other favourite, Gyoza King. Do tell, transfatty? cm