mtigges
-
Posts
483 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by mtigges
-
-
I would love to go, but alas I will be at a real family dinner, rather than an eG family dinner.
-
gusto di quattro at the VERY bottom of lonsdale is perhaps the best, but I had such an aweful entree there once, I probably won't go back. The Cordon Bleu just off lonsdale on 2nd is kind of quaint and pretty good food, homey/country french, but nothing like la regalade. o/w it's somewhat barren here.
Maybe go a little further west to the mustache cafe if you like casual gourmet.
-
Glenn Valley farm coop will have some today at Lonsdale Quay. 10 - 3pm, and while you're there, come say hi. I'm the potter (although, I think I'll be one of two of us). I do normal stoneware, the other one does exquisite Korean celadon, amazing stuff.
-
There is a brewer in Salmon Arm BC producing excellent ales.
They are not available outside of BC though. I believe they use organic malts (from Canada Malting). They use hops grown on their own farm, spent grain feeds animals, and their waste water is used to irrigate the farm.
A very admirable operation.
Mark.
-
We were there Monday.
We started on the patio which is a really terrific patio, but it got a bit chilly half way through our drinks, so we moved to the bar.
I agree with your assesment of the room. The bar seats look uncomfortable, but we were there for about 3 hours, and no problem at all. The aesthetics of the room are quite nice.
We took a long time deciding on our food, but everyone was patient and pleasant. And, especially apologetic when my second martini had a fruit fly in it. Didn't bother me, being a brewer, I'm always picking them out of my glasses, but still not nice. Stearns made a nice joke about having corraled and taken care of him.
We had the calamari and the rooster drops from the appetizers. Both were great. The calamari is phenomally tender. My only beef is it should be served with a couple slices of bread to soak up the delicious sauce. The chicken was cooked perfectly, and delicious.
The reason we had a tough time deciding on our mains was that Michelle didn't know if she should commit to the challenge that she wanted to. Namely the 36 ounce "delmonico" ribeye. In the end she did. It is taken straight from wet pack, seasoned and grilled before finishing in a (probably) 375 convection oven. It was a great piece of meat, and it was definitely beefy. I would have appreciated it more delicately cooked so more of the steak was to the desired doneness, but I understand the impracticality of that. Part and parcel of ordering it was the experience of it, and while she agreed it wasn't the greatest steak she has had, she enjoyed it very much (and she finished it with only a couple tastes from me).
I had quail and the diver scallops. Both were excellent. As with the rooster drops the poultry was cooked perfectly. Just a hint of redness around the bone. Hopefully other diners won't be turned off by that.
To finish, Metro comp'd a dessert. A trio of rice pudding ice cream & rhubarb, chocolate icecream and a brownie kind of thing, and mango sorbet with apple, grape and mango. The comp was because Michelle was having a b'day. I'm not sure if Brian read here that it was a birthday dinner and made them aware or if they figured it out on their own, either way, it was very nice, and appreciated.
An excellent night, great food, the cooks were friendly and fun to watch and we left very satisfied.
Well done Chef Fowke.
Mark.
-
How was it SB? We're going Monday night for my wifes birthday.
Will you be at stoves Chef, or is Monday your day off. I'm also curious if we should sit at the bar or not.
-
I've harvested all the strawberries from my June bearing plant. The weather is now getting warmer and wonder if anything else will grow from this plant.
If not, what can I do to save this plant for next year? Is it possible?
sanrensho is correct. You can however put a light mulch over them in October. Especially if they're in containers. Straw is best.
-
"How is everyone doing with their vegetable/herb gardening?"
Very well thanks.
We're eating snap peas every night. The shelling peas are starting to plump up. They're about 90% for freezing, but we'll eat some soon.
Our basil sucks too ... I'm going to go get another plant or two.
We have about 140 garlic plants that are almost ready to harvest. We made a pesto from all the scapes and have been using it on EVERYTHING. it made about a litre of pesto. We also mode a pesto from excess arugula (walnuts instead of pine nuts), also very good.
The tomatos are coming along, and the hops have just started to generate bracteols.
I'm happy to report that my experiment of transplanting beet and parsnip seedlings seems to have worked. (Conventional advice is to not transplant for any root veg, but rather to thin when the leaves are around 3 inches). I transplanted the sprouts as early as I dared, and they seem normally healthy and generating good veg.
Our strawberries did not do well this year. Not sure why, but the farmers from glen valley reported the same thing, so might not be our fault. Onions are looking great ... bulbs are about 2" across on the biggest plants.
It looks beautifull out there now
[edited for formatting]
-
Alright. I insulted Torontonians, I apologize. Clearly this man inhabits his own city. It's named after him, and he's the mayor. What a douche.
-
-
Similar to the pesto, I made a lot of garlic scape pesto (same as basil just no parm) and have been adding it to everything. I really love it.
This was just to use up the scapes, we have so many in the garden there's no way we could use them all.
-
When I saw it, I figured he had to be from Toronto.
-
They're not of age. Aha ha ha.
Molson Canadian has another use if a "friend" left some behind. Braising bratwurst from Oyama with onions or sauerkraut.
-
most species of mint don't belong in the ground in a culinary garden. rather, put them in a pot, and make sure the pot is placed on concrete, or it will grow out the bottom and take over. contrary to what is said above, rhizomous mint is not very easy to get rid of. no rhizome is, it's not as bad as bamboo for sure, but don't put it in the ground.
-
I just harvested two delicious strawberries.
-
-
my basil is doing fine, and my tomatoes as well. The tomatoes have been in for a week, and the basil since the weekend, they show no sign of stress. Cucumbers on the other hand ... I think I put too much compost around them. We have a very warm back yard though.
edited to add:
Our rosemary died over winter, as did our bay tree. However, a girl I work with on a whim sprouted pomegranite in the office from some fruit she bought at the grocer, I put one in the ground last september. It appeared to have died, nothing but a stalk with no branches, but it's budding beautifully now.
-
3 varieties of tomatoes (sungold, roma, <something else can't remember>).
carrots,
peas (snow and shell)
beets,
parsnip
leeks
onions (walla walla & red)
herbs (basil, et. al.)
garlic (about 140 heads)
hops (for the beer making, all cascade, I ripped out my fuggles plant last year)
strawberries,
raspberries
potatoes (fingerling)
cucumber (field)
salad (mostly arugala)
That's what's growing now, we just ripped out all the brasica (kale and cabbage) that we grew over the winter, the buds and leaves are delicious in late winter and early spring.
All this is in a pretty small lot of a half duplex in North Van.
-
Head has two main effects on aroma and flavour. Foam helps allow the aroma of the beer to present itself. It also carries some of the bitterness compounds that are perceived. So, a slow pour may affect the beer by reducing both of those perceptions. (NB notice the use of effect and affect - sorry, pet peeve of mine.)
If the point is to make it seem like it came from an engine, at least in the carbonation aspects, it seems kind of silly to order a pils in that fashion.
Personally it sounds pretentious to me. Just because he's a serious afficionado does not mean he is not misguided.
-
Every Thursday (for the most part) at Dix there is a cask beer served up, 5pm - [when it's empty].
Also Sundays at the Whip there is a cask. http://thewhiprestaurant.com/events.php (that page currently holds the schedule of upcoming casks).
For taps of BC craft beers besides those mentioned, try The Raven in Deep Cove, NV.
-
I purchased some of the namibian charcoal, but compressed into briquettes. Lot's of ash. I got some lump charcoal this after noon from whole foods. Much cheaper price - I'm pretty sure it's lump. So, maybe I'll start with the briquettes, and then add a couple hunks of the lump every now and then.
Thanks for all the advice.
We had some really nice New Yorks last night, tossed some sweet potatoes right into the coals, and made a pouch for some green beens, mushrooms and onion. All very delicious. It didn't take long to hook me.
Mark.
-
I'm a potter ... I have gloves that allow me to handle 900 C pots. I can pick up the grate
And I bought the fancy grill with the table and integrated charcoal storage bin, it came wit the thermometer.So, one more question, do you pour the charcoal into the baskets without removing the cooking grill? I'm not sure I'd be able to get them through, kind of small little openings in the flip up sides. Plus I'd be kind of worried about ash flying onto the bird.
Thanks, Mark.
-
I just bought a new weber grill. I have no experience cooking with charcoal. I'm planning on indirect grilling a chicken today. My question is, the book that I'm trying to learn from, by Raichlen, says that after an hour I'll need to add more "fresh coals". It's not clear to me if this means toss some more charcoal into each basket or start up a new batch in the chimney starter, and then pour those into the baskets.
Advice please? Dropping unlit charcoal into the baskets is easier, but will likely cause some acrid smoke and drop the temperature. Lighting new coals means having to remove the grill grate to pour them in to the baskets. Kind of a pain!
Thanks in advance.
Mark.
-
My Tacoma is filled from gas from wherever, but it's only been driven 20K since I bought it in 2001. It's a tool. My main mode of transportation is bicycle.
With regard to food, as I said above I am a hypocrit ... I don't buy BC avacado's - obviously, and that's the point behind the Bordeaux comment. But there IS an alternative to French wine. I'm not a wine afficianado, I much prefer beer. I do not purchase much imported beer. Instead I tend to purchase from local breweries (lately howe sounds excellent bitter). The vast percentage of my beer consumption is home made (it's much more difficult to make good home made wine though, so I won't advocate doing so for wine). I grow much of my own food, my wife makes our soap.
The point is that if you look at your life you can make intelligent decisions. And IMO buying beef from the southern hemisphere and wine from France seems ludicrous. And is it not possible to live without Foie Gras?? I love it too, but like my truck, it gets extremely low use in my life.
If your beef (sorry, couldn't resist) is with the efficiency of the transport of Albertan product (and it's a legitimate beef) then lobby for more train use. That's how my malt gets here from Canadian Malting.
Really the issue is deeper anyways. If Uruguayan farmers could get the same price in Uruguay we wouldn't have it here. If we refuse to buy it, they suffer. It's a complex world, and there many problems, but rationalizing away your impact will only compound them.
Personally I buy virtually all my beef from Blue Goose CC in North Van (conviently located along my cycling route).
Sorry to the mod for continuing further astray from the main topic.
pair Sable fish with wine?
in Wine
Posted
I absolutely LOVE sablefish, but can't offer any intelligent contribution regarding wine pairing.
Sorry, for going off topic, but I wanted to relay that planked sablefish (I used cedar, but I suspect alder or cherry might be even better) is unbelievable.
I marinated in a vermouth soy brine for about a day and then in a medium grill (~400 IIRC) for about 20 minutes or so (it was still underdone could have used longer). I actually thought it would overpower it, but nope, it was amazing. Try it.