Hugh

Kaz has live Sea Urchin(Uni) and the chef says he is going to carry it as often as possible. It is incredibly good. Definitely worth a visit.

Golden Boy is definitely my favourite so far. Seems to work the best in a greater variety of dishes and I think it makes a far better nuoc cham than the squid brand. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any real Viet brands yet, so I'm going to wait and see and maybe scrounge up some Tra Chang.

When button mushrooms are cheap at the grocery store I like to buy a few pounds and turn them into Duxelles, so I've got them in the fridge for breakfast. This morning the Duxelles made into scrambled eggs with Pecarino Romano and shredded scallion.

I was perusing the fish sauce section of one of the local super markets and they had Rufina Patis from the Phillipines. Any opinion on how this compares to Thai fish sauce? It seems to be free of the chemical nastiness in the Three Crab brand.

I think I will definitely have to try both the 3 crabs and Flying Lion even if they are produced outside of Vietnam. My wife is Japanese and considers the use of any type of Chinese soy sauce in Japanese cooking to be an offense worthy of a lynching. I would imagine that there are Vietnamese and Thai cooks who feel the same way about their respective fish sauces.

Recently, I have been trying different kinds of fish sauce to see how much of a difference it makes. When I talk to people who use it every day their opinion on the best fish sauce seems to be an almost religious matter, like the choice of operating system. I started with the very cheap, Lucky (less than a dollar Canadian) have tried the baby brand (don't know the real name, just has the fat smiling baby on the front holding the bottle of sauce), working through a bottle of Thai stuff that has a squid on it (very salty) and am going to try the 3 crab brand next (5 dollars a bottle!) There appears to be several other brands on the market and I am wondering which one is preferred out there on eGullet?

Go to Stage. Eat the Goat Cheese Cake. Be Happy. (It's guaranteed to work.)

I had no idea that there was candied rutabaga in the fruit mix. It's almost bizarre...

Thanks, that's awesome. I'm coming over from the Island and my father is demanding that I make fruit cake this Christmas season.

Does anyone know where I might find some quality candied fruits in Vancouver for making Christmas cake? (Too lazy to make my own...)

Choux Choux is everything I expected and much more. I couldn't hold back and decided to try as many things as I thought my tongue could handle in a lunch sitting. In the pan are three kinds of sausage. An herb sausage, a chicken, cilantro, and chili sausage, and a totally unbelievable black truffle sausage. Run down as soon as you can and get some before they're all gone. I never thought sausages could be so divine. On the plate was some duck and orange salami that is very different and really tasty. Some foie gras mousse with black truffles (it's even better than it sounds) and the smoked beef with some Sbrinz cheese that was outrageously inexpensive. All of it, except for the cheese of course, was made in-house, and I know I'll be making weekly pilgrimages there at the very minimum.

This evening my girlfriend and I made it into Oh-Sho Yakiniku (915 Fort St.) for the Yakiniku they serve on Saturday and Sunday nights. The food was fantastic and and it's a really fun to eat with a little grill on the table (a shichirin) and the ability to eat at your own pace. The meal. Starters -Miso Soup -Takowasa - a great little octopus and wasabi salad that was very delicious - Shishamo - whole little fish that are very similar to capelin, they arrived cooked, but we found that if you put them on the shichirin for a bit longer and crisped the skin a bit more the texture was much better. Meat -kalbi -fillet - both the kalbi and the fillet had great marinades, we found the yakiniku sauce was almost unnecessary -liver - excellent with the misochili paste -tongue - absolutely fantastic, beautiful mouth filling flavour A plate of veggies was also included to grill, including slices of squash that were very tasty. Dessert We had two different ice creams. One maccha flavoured, which was excellent, and the most surprising and delicious taste of the evening was a maple and kinako (fine soybean flour) ice cream that I thought was totally amazing. They also offer a number of other things to put on the grill, including marinaded and spiced seafoods and chicken. It's a restaurant that definitely has the potential for repeat visits, and it would be a lot of fun for larger groups of people.

I overheard at Ottavio's this weekend that Choux Choux has opened their doors as of Friday. Has any one been?

In Kelowna, a deli that I think is much better than Illichmans, is the Mediterranean Market. If you just feel like heading to the beach, stop in and buy one of their subs( filled with capicolli, some other spiced meat I was never able to identify, jalapeno havarti, and a spicy mustard), or buy buns and ingredients of your own. They were a tradition when I was kid, and hopefully they've managed to uphold the quality. At lunch time everyday there would be huge line ups of people waiting to order one of their sandwiches. The dining room and kitchen at the Hotel Eldorado have recentely been rennovated I've heard, and a fresh chef has been brought in. I've heard from a couple of parties that the food has improved greatly in quality and is bordering on fantastic. Being right on the lake, there dock/patio is awesome. If your looking for something a little more casual, the fellow who opened the Baan Thai in Victoria has moved to Kelowna and opened the Siam Orchid right downtown by the movie theatre. It's a local favourite, but since your coming from Vancouver, its probably not worth the visit. The Woodfire Bakery on Highway 97 going through Kelowna used to be a great place for breakfast or an early lunch. Fantastic fresh baked bread and soups. The ownership has changed a couple of times though I think, and it may not be what is used to be. I second the motion for Mission Hill Winery, I remember when it was just another little winery, what they've done there is absolutely incredible, and seems to defy the sordid atmosphere in the little town that surrounds it . Definately, worth a wine tour if not a meal. In Vernon on saturday's they have, or used to have, a farmers market that all the organic farmers would bring the produce and meats too. If you're staying at someones house there and have a kitchen to return to it might be a fun aside.

I do believe both the ownership and the chef have changed at the Fireside Grill fairly recently, which would probably explain the improvement in the food.