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Everything posted by BCinBC
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eG Foodblog: jamiemaw - In the Belly of the Feast: Eating BC
BCinBC replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
I am no farmer, but apples, cherries, peaches... all are harvested only once a year too, no? Competition from other parts of the world as transportation became cheaper I could see as being a deterrent, tho. -
Wow that is quite the spread for a 2nd birthday. When I turned 2 I was probably revelling with Jello pudding. SdF is a very good choice, I really like their ribeye (and have raved about their fries enough). VanLee made a recent trip there, in the Cultural Centers thread. What about Saltlik? Is it open? Is it expensive? Has anyone gone? What up? ETA: Oh found Jamie's post HERE. They open Dec 9, maybe the perfect opportunity to head down there and let us all know how it is.
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eG Foodblog: jamiemaw - In the Belly of the Feast: Eating BC
BCinBC replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Looking forward Jamie, you certainly haven't left much room for trivial things like sleep in your schedule. Irishgirl, that is an interesting tidbit - how did / could fruit displace the cashiest of cash crops (tobacco)? I'm very curious now. -
Sean Sherwood: The Harry Hammer of steaks. ← I'm feeling a nostalgic sort of cloud swirling around...and I hear the voice..."I won't be undersold", but what the hell did he sell? Was it suits, or (keeping it on topic ) ...steaks? ← Any good Island kid will tell you that that is the voice of Mr Dodd, of Dodd's Furniture. He may be wearing green hulk makeup, or he may be a floating head on an animated astronaut background, but when it comes to furniture he just won't be undersold. It has also just occured to me that there may have been a used car salesman in Wash state that also used that catch phrase, in that case though I think he blew stuff up to get his point across. Crazy Someone. But Mr Sherwood is the first restauranteur, AFAIK, who will not be undersold.
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I read James' comment as the older generation tips less than the younger (our) generation - however you also have a point Fud. When I was at school, I'm sure I tipped less - though not much in terms of percentage points. I was definitely eating at cheaper estabishments because I couldn't afford eating out well. Cheap pasta (Chiantis) or sushi (Eatery at 3 AM), more emphasis on cheap beer (Fringe), etc. instead of 3 courses and wine, you know. But I still use the double-the-GST-plus-a-bit guide. Also nowadays I agree that if I'm comp'ed something, I'll still tip on the service of that item - even though it was most likely given to me as a result of some other screw up. (But not always, of course.) Re James' comment: remember when the tipping standard was 10%? Then it jumped to 15%. Now it seems like it's jumping again to 20%. (And read the other threads, in the States it's jumping from 20% to 25%.) Why is this? I could see why our parents generation would still tend to tip 10%, because that's what they're used to. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be chiding my grandkids for tipping 50%, whether that's the norm at the time or not. Autograts: I have mixed emotions about these. I agree that quite often it is difficult or impossible to go out with a "group" and get everyone to pay their fair share (worse when we were in school). Someone should do a sociological study on why people feel it is okay to cheapen up in a group situation - safety / being able to hide in numbers? And while I don't want a server to get screwed in this situation, I also want the option to tip whatever I feel is appropriate. I haven't seen too many places autograt around here, except in true group (ie 8+) situations at nice restos, but at Trotters it was 18% for a "group" of 4. The service was excellent and the percentage justifiable, but I still don't like being told that I have to tip a minimum percentage or they'll send the cops after me.
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I actually made an orange curd for cookie filling this weekend, for 13 dozen cookies (!?!) to exchange with fellow eGulleters. The curd turned out well, but the cookie itself (choc base, topped with pistachios and candied ginger) was a bit too cakey. I was trying to adapt and amalgamate a couple different recipes. Anyway, the "orange" curd is obviously fruit, but not in the jammy-sense.
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Once again sorry for dragging this out, however I am finally at the end! Thursday, September 29, 2005 What can you say when you wake up to the last day of your French vacation? Au revoir, I guess. Or just keep quiet and enjoy a pain-au-chocolat. A light breakfast, though, as lunch plans are already on the table. One of the places I wanted to visit was Ferdinand Point’s* La Pyramide, as I mentioned to C the first night we got to Lyon. Unfortunately we ran out of time this trip, so she promised that we would visit next time. And in lieu of, lunch today would be at Maison Borie – on her. Ah, those overtly generous French. Maison Borie is apparently an up-and-comer; it does not yet appear in the Michelin guide (not that that means anything), but perhaps one day it will. The restaurant is in the style of an old house – the foyer is a nice place to sit and have an apéritif, and from there you can proceed into either the main dining room or the enclosed patio. We (S, C, their mother, N and I) sat down to a Champagne apéritif. However, after the initial taste, the three others exclaimed that the bottle was corked! (While N and I quietly sat sipping ours, totally oblivious to the “spoilage”. Champagne neophytes!) One of the bartenders quickly gathered up the glasses, and replaced them along with a new bottle. This one, the experts concluded, was adequate. !! While enjoying the apéritif, we also were served an amuse course of tuna mousse with dried lemon slices. The mousse had a distinctly fishy odour, which didn’t bother me so much but the girls decided it wasn’t for them. The lemons were almost excruciatingly sour (which again didn’t bother me, in fact I was quite intrigued as to how they concentrated so much flavour into the small slices). Following this we were seated on the patio. The girls decided to go with the “express menus” which really is 2 courses instead of 3; S took a dessert instead of an entrée, but the others went the entrée/principal route. Myself, I went for the three courses. Why would you not?? Being two months removed from this meal, my memory is a bit hazy, but IIRC my entrée was a heaping portion of foie mousse served atop a crouton which in turn is on top of a salad with a reduced balsamic dressing. Excellent, rich foie flavour and did I mention it was a huge portion? The salad was refreshing, and the balsamic added a nice acidic tang. N had the carrot velouté, which I tasted but cannot recall the details of. Sorry! My plat principal was a hachis parmentier (shepherd’s pie) variation, with duck confit as the base. Excellent dish! Not original in concept, but very well executed. The duck was moist and tasty, and the dish on the whole was seasoned very well. It was sauced with a grenache reduction, which was also expertly done. Obviously this was my favourite course. I can’t even remember what N had. Lunch was complemented by a Bordeaux, again no details. At this point, C and C’s mother had to return to work, and sadly it was goodbye time for them (or at least C). However S stayed with us to enjoy her dessert, which was the same as mine: a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and crème anglais, and café. (And profiteroles.) The cake was quite rich but of a reasonable portion (unlike the foie mousse, which was rich and huge). Also the presentation was unconventional with this one, though if you were to ask me to draw it I don’t think I could. IIRC it was served on a long rectangular plate with each component separated. Damn faulty memory. Anyway, they “made” me finish the bottle of wine so I took some time to savour the coffee. All in all it was a great meal, definitely superior to L’Ouest earlier in the trip. The Maison Borie lunch menu is 28 €, while the express is 23 €. Quite reasonable, given the quality of the food and service. Plus the venue is quite nice, the inside dining room could make for a very romantic dinner. After lunch, S took us down to the prefecture where they regularly have “exhibitions” on display on the outside gates. From June 6 to October 31, it happened to be for Les Toques Blanches Lyonnais. Very cool! (Well maybe only on this site.) The exhibition was basically composed of large posters/photos of food porn, along with the dish’s chefs, a bit of running commentary from a few of the chefs about food and it’s role in (French) life, and a bunch of recipe leaflets! I managed to pick up quite a few, including: * Soupe au potiron – Paul Bocuse * Jambonnette de volaille de Bresse au Château-Chalon – Richard Soibinet * Hachis parmentier ( !) de pigeon, émincé de poitrine rôtie, jus aux éclats de truffes – Gilbert Reboule * Soufflé glacé à la praline et crème anglaise à la pistache – Michel Pascual Hey that’s not a bad sounding meal! Me and Chef Bocuse Afterwards, we made a quick trip into Vienne to see C and S’s parents’ office – where the Mom had dug out a case of Orangina glasses for us to take home! All this as a result of me making a passing comment about the glasses, which were all over their houses (in Limonest, Vienne and Cavalaire). Now they sit proudly in our liquor and glassware cabinet. I have even used them since, for Orangina at home in Vancouver. It’s almost as good as having Orangina in Lyon. Almost. Our final stop before the airport would be the giant Carrefour, to load up on stuff to smuggle-I-mean-take home. Carrefour in Limonest One of the red wine aisles in the Carrefour You may not be able to tell from the exterior shot, but it truly is huge for a supermarket. They do sell other stuff like clothes, flatware, etc. But by any standard it is enormous. I picked up a couple bottles of Beaujolais, as well as some saucisson sec. Wish I had more time to explore! But that was it, it was time to speed off to the airport. On the drive over, a fierce rain storm hit. S remarked, “See, France is crying because you are leaving.” Ha, what a sweetheart. Anyway, so concludes our trip to the South of France. A great trip, lots of good memories (food-related and otherwise). Merci, au revoir, et à la prochaine! ----- *Follow this link to an amusing painting of Chef Point. For an excerpt from Kitchen Confidential by Chef Bourdain, click here.
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Brenda, I would take a pizza and a glass of wine from Earls over Romeo's any day.
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Where should I send people to dine Christmas Day?
BCinBC replied to a topic in Western Canada: Dining
Some might argue that Chinese on Christmas day is indeed traditional! (And not just Chinese people.) Being yet another day to bring in dough, I would think that very few Chinese restos are not open on the 25th. However checking is always good, as some might only open for dim sum and not dinner service. Sun Sui Wah is a great idea for family-style dining, or Kirin at City Hall if you want to go even more upscale. Links: Sun Sui Wah, Kirin. -
This morning was all about the wine. A gentleman from CedarCreek (unfortunately I've forgotten his name) was on Global, to celebrate being named Winery of the Year by the Canadian Wine Awards and Wine Access magazine. Meanwhile A-Channel had James Nevison and Kenji Hodgson on promoting their book Had A Glass, which outlines the best (ITO) wines for the upcoming year available for under $20 in BC. A good companion book for VanMag's upcoming (I assume) 2nd annual wine awards issue?
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What we didn't see was the bucket of Parkay, and the shot of Chris mixing up the Marge-tini. "I can't believe it's not butter!" Holy crap I watch too much TV.
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Hmmm. That CC has a "test kitchen" behind it on Ash. Perhaps we can get them to give us the entire test kitchen for a group rate so we don't scare the other patrons ← On the other hand...just think of the marketing opportunity: "if it makes these food snobs THIS happy, just imagine what this burger can do for you!" ← Here's the ad that just ran in my head. Picture if you will... VanLee cast as an executive who is berating his minions in the board room. Minion 1 played by Canucklehead leans over to Minion 2 played by Deborah. CANUCKLEHEAD Geez, someone could really use a good [sound FX] doing! cookoo! [/sound FX]. DEBORAH Or maybe just a good Burgasm! Cut to V, C and D walking down Broadway and entering Cactus Club. Seated by a lovely hostess. Order and receive food - everyone is obviously starting to shed their office stresses. V takes a bite of his burger, goes into Burgasm routine, pauses to wink at the camera, returns to Burgasm. Cut to Meg Ryan staring at V, then turning to waitress and saying: MEG I'll have what he's having. And starwipe... and scene!
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Hey Ling - I have, in an emergency situation. It did make me less hungry, but I don't recall anything special. Nowadays I'd choose a sandwich from Koni over the other options.
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Thanks Winegeek, it's been so long can't remember and the actual website isn't much help yet either.
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Neil or anyone, correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the Dine Out website offer online reservations? I seem to recall some pull-downs etc when searching for resto availabilities. I don't think a credit card is required tho. About personal (human) service: Similar to Canucklehead's post, during Dine Out last year, we managed to get squeezed into Lumiere one night - the hostess took my number, said she'd see what she could do moving folks around, and called me back to confirm success. I don't think this would be available through Opentable. I understand that the high-demand resto that is already full does not have to squeeze in more guests (and may not want to), but it was a rather nice gesture on Lumiere's part and we ended up having a great meal at the bar.
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Thanks Matt - and Mr Bradley - for the photos, some good peeks behind the scenes. All the courses look good, but 3 (lobster terrine), 5 (signature RF), 7 (boudin blanc), and 11 (cannoli) look extra special good. Odd.
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Thanks for the report Gail, I too felt like a little window had opened up for me to peek inside. Great work. The quenelle / truffle / lobster dish sounded the most intriguing to me, I would love to see a photo if there are any out there. (Not that I can see a bunch of cameras coming out at an event like this, but on the off chance...) Eric must have been quite disappointed, but lucky you - not to mention Ms Saunders.
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Ha ha, our server was similar when I asked. I had to ask her to ask the kitchen if they knew anything about it, which is how I found out that they had just changed over the patties. Incidentally, they are supposedly also turning over their wine menu. They were out of selection I asked for, and a couple others. At this point our server decided to recommend a wine to us, choosing one that she had just told us they were out of. Ah ha. I have had very good service at the Park Royal CC tho, so I'm chalking it up to the server not the system.
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^ Like I said Makan, you may have already eaten the "Turbo" burger. They changed the all of their beef patties last week. I'm pretty sure I had the Turbo on Friday night, and you ate there after me. Mine looked just like Canucklehead's:
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I believe the "Turbo" is already the new burger, so Makan^2 and Chef Metcalf may have been eating what they thought were regular burgers, and which were in fact regular burgers, but were also Turbo burgers. Anyone still with me? After seeing the photo, I had to stop by CC on Friday night. I asked about the test burger, our waitress said she didn't know what I was talking about, I asked her to ask the kitchen, the kitchen reported that they had just (as of Friday or Thursday) changed the burgers. My burger was juicy, cooked medium and served on a whole wheat bun. It was a very good burger. Being non-commital as I am, I can't say it was the Best Burger I've Ever Had in BC, but yes it was very good. If you want a cheap but meaningful beef dosage, it's a good way to go. N had the pasta "Alfredo" which had mushrooms and tomatoes - not very "Alfredo" but tasted great. And not just regular button mushrooms. As CM said, the won ton soup was on the Broadway Features menu too, further leading me to believe that the new menu roll-out is already underway. PS: Fries excellent!
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I have been drifting between Global and A-Channel news in the mornings lately (and not just because of Astrid Braunschmidt, the younger, more Canadian Nigella. Really) and A-Channel seems to feature a local Island chef just about every morning. Today they did a segment on the Culinary Arts program at Malispina College, which sadly I missed for fear of being late for work. The segments are quite "rustic" (as RF would call them) in comparison to the gloss of Global, but some are interesting nonetheless. Anyone else watching this on the Island?
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Lucy, I don't think it can be overstated that your photos are just beautiful. I am almost crying looking at that charcuterie. May I ask, what makes that andouillette particularly Beajoulaise, or that pate en croute for that matter? Is it a specific recipe, or just an indicator of the regionality of the ingredients themselves? So sad that I didn't get to experience Les Halles, but I suppose one of the nice things about a first trip is making notes of what you want to do on your second trip. Cheers!
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Awesome, thanks for the heads up Arne. Breaking down meat, learning to properly cut and fillet, sausages... All the things I asked for in my course evaluation sheet. [Mr Burns] Excellent. [/Mr Burns] It doesn't say you need a boning knife, but it does say to bring a !!bench scraper?!?! So now I have to go out an buy one of those too. I actually have some very fond memories of hanging around the butcher department at my Dad's old store, and I am really looking forward to this installment. Side note on boning knife: Have you seen the Global one pictured in Lucy's latest blog? The little nub at the top of the handle to keep you from slipping right onto the blade... freaky.
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In my childhood house, we used to have an extra tap in the sink that dispensed almost-boiling water (like 85C or something). I can't remember the brand name, but if you google "boiling water tap" you get some results. I have seen those other appliances that you talked about, but IMO that's a waste of energy to constantly keep water at or close to 100C when you're only drawing from it, what, even every hour or so? I don't know the actual power draw of those units, but that is my gut feeling. I also agree with phaelon56 - fresh cold water boiled is a different product than boiled "stale" water. So if quality is a consideration, and your kettle is inefficient, go buy a new super fancy one* for $50 and fill it only with enough water you need each time you make tea. Then it will only take a minute or two to boil the water each time. *I have seen ones that change from blue to red when the water has boiled, very 50's-concept-of-the-future if you know what I mean.
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Why must everyone always talk about "the best"?? I feel like Rob in High Fidelity, trying to put together even a top 5 would be impossible. As such, I must add this disclaimer: This list is not all encompasing. Standout sandwich 2005 - meatball bahn mi at Tiem Bahn Dong - the bread totally makes the sandwich, though the tiny amount of dough it will cost you helps out quite a bit. There are many really good bahn mis out there, but the bread at TBD plain and simply rules (okay so that bread is "the best"). Standout appetizer / small plate 2005 - smoked tuna carpaccio at Cru paired with the Chianti it was paired with Mooshmouse's photo from the Cru special events threadHonorable mention: truffled scrambled eggs at Fiction. Non-local honorable mention: salade Lyonnaise at Cafe du Soleil, Lyon for the confit gizzards alone. (See photo, beside fork.) Oh that reminds me, the butter lettuce salad at Cru was also pretty great (want an example of perfect vinaigrette?).Standout main 2005 - more thought required, I'll get back to ya. Maybe the crab with squash at Sea Harbour? Hmm... Standout dessert 2005 - (non-local but best overall) triple chocolate mousse on a hazlenut cracker at Les Santons, Grimaud: Truly righteous chocolate mousse-age, with not-too-shabby vanilla ice cream and pretty f-n-A creme Anglais too(Local) currently a tie of chocolate souffles, Cru and Diner. Still awaiting the opportunity to do a head-to-head. How many hints can a man drop and still not get any offers? Don't answer that. Honorable mention the GBP at HSG. How can a steakhouse be best known for their dessert (and truthfully, I think more people go for the GBP than the hanger)? If it is that good. Standout coffee 2005 - large Salt Spring from Tsawassen Quay, recently served to me by a super cute barista very early in the morning. Okay so I haven't been to the Elysian Room yet this year (and maybe 3WC and Hopkin are cute too), so take this vote with whatever you want. Another disclaimer: I also haven't been to Aurora yet (duck proscuitto), nor C (and that scallop I keep hearing about), etc...