Oat Cake

Looking for any ideas as to what food-stuffs I can take to Europe which represent our fantastic West Coast culinary output. I have already bought the required and demanded smoked salmon (Spring: Chinook)- European palates can't really handle Sockeye without regular exposure! - half a litre of high-grade Maple Syrup (by way of Quebec of course) and several boxes of Lesley Stowe's Raincoast Crisps. Aside from all those, I somewhat flummoxed what else to take within weight and legal limitations...i.e. no dairy, no wine (it weighs too much) and no meat products. Any serious but light-weight ideas? Oat Cake

Not Westside or strictly Downtown, but our favourite place for brunch is Raincity Grill. Both their crab & smoked salmon bennies are outstanding: really generous portions of crab & salmon and the Hollandaise is first-rate too. Their brunch menu certainly extends beyond bennies though and I think they do both omelettes and pancakes but as all we ever order there are bennies... The Fish House is another place we enjoy going to for brunch and they make a good omelette - shrimp & brie if I remember correctly - and you can have a brisk walk in the park beforehand or afterwards to burn off those Hollandaise calories! Oat Cake P.S. I have a great recipe for "Light Hollandaise" which uses less butter and is easier to make than regular Hollandaise....it's a lot more stable and you can chill it (great over freshly steamed asparagus) and even freeze it - strange but true! PM me if you'd like the recipe.

Treacle Plum Duff

Of course, that's true but the familiarity factor may be more to do - in certain categories - with "brand awareness"/reputation rather than having eaten there...hence, the naming of Lumiere and Tojos to mention just two. I found it vaguely curious that 2 of the writers did, however, extoll the virtues of La Regalade which was not listed....

Does anyone take these lists seriously? I mean where was West? The HUH'S?! for me were: Milestone's for best appetizers and salads; and The Cannery for best seafood and most romantic spot - gimme a break on both counts.

Anyone know of any place that sells something approximating real Creme Fraiche - as sold fairly widely in Europe north of the Pyrenees and West of the Alps? I have tried making my own but the results have been pretty lacklustre. It is, at best, a satisfactory impersonation but nothing approaching the real thing. Where do our professional chefs get theirs? Oh, and on a similar note, any recommendations for "Normandy Butter" local equivalents?

Whole Foods in West Van carry Rose Water in the herbs & spices aisle. It costs $4.19 for 3 oz. Don't think they have Lavender Water but maybe you could make your own by infusing culinary-suitable dried lavender - Capers sells this loose so you can buy as little or as much as you think you need. You'll have to experiment with the quantity to suit your own tastes but, as a rough guide, when I make lavender ice cream, I use between 1 and 1.5 teaspoons to 2 cups of cream.

Forgive my bafflement, but why would such a policy be a problem here? (If memory serves me correctly, certain NYC restaurants also ask for a credit card in case of a "no show".) Whilst I realize it involves extra admin on the part of the resto if they actually have to process a "no show" penalty, surely it's better than absolutely nothing - particularly at peak times? To state the blindin' obvious, restaurants are a business not some sort of pseudo-charity. By way of an analogy, if you book theatre tickets to be collected at the box office and then don't pick them up, surprisingly you still have to pay for 'em. As Jeffy Boy expressed, surely the vast majority of decent diners would have no problem with leaving a credit card number. If diners have to cancel for unexpected reasons, then it also motivates those who wouldn't bother otherwise to call and let the resto know - and in a timely manner - rather than just think they can get away with the "my grandmother's second cousin's hamster's brother ate my car keys" school of excuses. Oh well, enough already! I've a Burns' Night supper to attend to and yes, I HAVE taken all my invited guests' credit card numbers.......

I couldn't agree more! I've just made a new batch using Meyer Lemons, which IMO produce particularly heavenly curd. Aside from dolloping it on hot buttered toast at breakast this morning, I've used some of it whipped into home-made vanilla icecream and then I'll be making my favourite lemon-curd based dessert which is hot lemon curd souffles, which are great to eat on miserable winter nights - a burst of sunshine in every spoonful.

My all-time favourite is Souffled Macaroni Cheese - lighter than the traditional versions and totally moreish. It makes a great weeknight supper, which we often enjoy with a simple tomato salad and a glass (or two) of dry white wine. Souffled Macaroni recipe