makanmakan
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Posts posted by makanmakan
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I was just steered over to this thread and I'm sooooo happy now! I just got back from Sayulita and had many an afternoon sitting by the beach sipping on micheladas. We planned to go to the same bar on our last day to ask them to teach us, but tragically, they were closed.
After reading the above (many thanks, Alchemist)...I just had a thought. I brought back a bag of Pico, packages of powdered chili, lime and salt......heaven on the rim, perhaps?!!
I'm off to pick up some cervesa and will be making these tonight. Too bad we can't get Bohemia here......
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Admin: Threads merged.
We just spent a week in Sayulita and spent long afternoons on the beach sipping on a new favourite discovery. Cervesa michelada. Now that the sun is getting warmer here, I know that we'll soon be craving for it.
We were planning on going there on our last day to ask them to teach us how to make it, but sadly, they were closed by the time we got there. Any pointers?? From what I can figure out, there's lime juice, worcestershire and some spices added to beer.
Me and my thirsty gullet thank you all!
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Wasn't Menudo a boy band in the 80's. Did you "have" them? What on earth is Menudo (besides the band - if you could call them that).
Help me understand.
Menudo is a tripe soup that's popular in Mexico. Apparently it's good for hangovers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menudo_Soup
I drove by a Mexican grocer on Kingsway, close to Joyce, called Los Guerreros. Anyone been???
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Looks like Moonshine in Gastown is now called Six Acres, seemingly the name derives from the fact that Gastown was originally only six acres in size.Nice to see that they now have a patio open perfect for those sunny days when you want a great bottle of beer or a glass of wine. They have a really sexy new beer from Spain Alhambra for $5.50 very tasty on a warm sunny afternoon
Cheers,
Stephen
The patio is indeed great news. When we were there, we overheard one of the guys jokingly say that they might change the name to "Prohibition". Thought that would've been good!
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I'm a huge fan of Bearfoot Bistro. As for the liveliness of the group, how about sitting in the bar/lounge area instead of the dining room? The menu is a little simpler and the game burger is a journey to heaven!
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We went to Chilos today too. Twice.
I had a beer, which came full of hot sauce, lime and salt. All that was missing was having it topped with ice, I guess they didn't want to freak the gringo too badly.
that's cervesa michelada!!!!!!!! we just spent a week in sayulita and sipped on those all afternoons with our ceviches while watching the surfers do their thing. oh...chilo's here we come!
i wonder how they'll feel about me bringing some sand to dig my toes into........
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After reading that menu this morning, I just had to suggest we go there. We were there pretty early and pretty much had the place to ourselves. What a fantastic room.....simply beautiful.
My first impression was of a very friendly gentleman at the door. After I gathered up my jaw from the ground (again, the room), we were seated at a very comfy booth. I had a Caprinha to start and my table mates had a glass of wine and a margarita. We were all happy. We started with the Ceasar salad and it was very good. The flatbread was also a very nice nibble along with the accompaniments. Now, my main dish stole my heart. I had the Beef Cheek and Short Ribs. Everything on my plate was a party in my mouth! I wasn't too hungry and ordered the half order and I found it a perfect size. My friends had the Chicken and one of the fish dishes. Both were very happy with their meals.
Our server was very sweet, super attentive and lovely. I hope that this is also the case when the room is full. I can't wait to get back there and try the other bites and coctails on the menu. The room is huge and yet warm and cozy and so inviting. Great job, guys.
I think this is my new favourite room in town.
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oohhhhhhhhh..........
I like it. Salty, sweet'n'spiced. Sounds naughty.
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If you can't make it to Lebeau, you can find their waffles in the bakery section at Capers.
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This brings me back to one of my favourite diving memories. A little wreck just off Victoria with the deck filled with swimming scallops. I spent a few minutes just hovering off the side of the deck pocking at the little creatures and watching them swim up and then float back down. I felt like I was a kid again, obsessing over a new discovery!
I have never tried them, but love scallops (including all the surrounding bits). How do they differ in flavour to the common scallop, say, found at T&T?
Me thinks that a hot pot is in order to dunk these little creatures into!
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Aside:
I just got 4 more rave (read: so excited they kept jumping up and down when talking to me) reviews on the donuts at Aurora. So if my sunday works out as planned I will be paying a visit to see what this hubub is all about. Personally I'm actually going for the duck bacon.
Why not both?
We started with the donuts, then had our breakfast mains. Yes, we are both piggies.
Mmmmm....crack donuts....
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We finally made it to Aurora Bistro for dinner! I've had a reso before but had to cancel due to a nasty flu.
We had a fabulous time with friends, delicious food and fantastic wines. My only sad moment of the night was realizing that the braised short ribs I was waiting all this time for was now off the menu. *sob*
We had the pan fried oysters (yum), a fantastic duck (which saved the disappointment of no short ribs), gnocchi (pillows of love, as Chef Tony from NCAW calls them), and perfectly grilled flat iron steak. Sadly, we were way too stuffed to have dessert...next time.
The wines were perfectly paired, thanks to Kurtis.
Nice to finally meet Chef Jeff and the infamous Kurtis. Thanks for a fabulous night.
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We visited El Pulgarcito today. A little Salvadorean cafe on Hastings, close to Nanaimo.
We had a snack of Pupusas, Tostadas and a Torta. Pretty good, simple and tasty. Not to mention cheap! One thing I did take note of was that the pupusas weren't greasy at all as the Rinconcitos ones can tend to be.
Check it out!
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Speaking of cinnamon buns, has anyone had a really gooey, yeasty cinnamon bun? The best one I've had was somewhere in the Okanagan.
I've tried Solly's, Grounds for (I think) Coffee, and all sorts in between.
Thanks.
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No can do for us as we'll be in Mexico, feasting on fish tacos and cervacas!
We did try to go to Burgers Etc. today as I haven't been yet, but they're closed at 2 on Mondays. Sigh...next time.
Have a fun burger club night, y'all!
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I've just waddled home from a ridiculously huge dinner at Imperial Court Beijing Cuisine Restaurant. We had a set dinner that was meant for 10 people....there were 7 of us.
Highlights were definitely the courses of King Crab. I wish I had a camera with me to take pics of the crab before it met it's fate. The first course of the crab was the legs steamed with garlic. So sweet and delicate. Second was the body deep fried with chili and garlic. Third was the yee mein with the sauce from the steamed legs. Then the final course was a lightly curried fried rice with a cream sauce on top done in the crab shell. The other highlight was the crispy skinned chicken, crispy skin, very juicy meat.
We also had a snake soup as a course. Interesting indeed. Very delicate and tender meat, with fungus, and little bits of dried orange peel. It was alright....the orange peel flavour is not my favourite.
Other courses were a cold plate (jelly fish, smoked fish, pork hock, bean curd skin), pea tips with dried scallops (yum), prawns with sugar snap peas, and a gai lan with wannabe abalone (thinly sliced mushrooms).
I now need a lesson on how to pace myself on these types of meals. *groan*
Oh my, sounds delicious! Any hint on the cost of a set for 10? TIA
I managed a quick glance at the bill before my dad took care of it (thanks dad!) and if I remember correctly, it was a little under $400. The crab was somewhere around $8.80 a pound, I think.
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I've just waddled home from a ridiculously huge dinner at Imperial Court Beijing Cuisine Restaurant. We had a set dinner that was meant for 10 people....there were 7 of us.
Highlights were definitely the courses of King Crab. I wish I had a camera with me to take pics of the crab before it met it's fate. The first course of the crab was the legs steamed with garlic. So sweet and delicate. Second was the body deep fried with chili and garlic. Third was the yee mein with the sauce from the steamed legs. Then the final course was a lightly curried fried rice with a cream sauce on top done in the crab shell. The other highlight was the crispy skinned chicken, crispy skin, very juicy meat.
We also had a snake soup as a course. Interesting indeed. Very delicate and tender meat, with fungus, and little bits of dried orange peel. It was alright....the orange peel flavour is not my favourite.
Other courses were a cold plate (jelly fish, smoked fish, pork hock, bean curd skin), pea tips with dried scallops (yum), prawns with sugar snap peas, and a gai lan with wannabe abalone (thinly sliced mushrooms).
I now need a lesson on how to pace myself on these types of meals. *groan*
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Anyone know what’s happening with Chiyoda on Alberni? Is the closing temporary or permanent?
I hope it is a temporary close, otherwise, my friends and I be utterly devestated.
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I had the best burger that ever last night! I'm talking about a "When Harry Met Sally" moment on my bar stool.
We were at the Bearfoot Bistro's Champagne Bar
We were sitting to your left at Bearfoot - two women with curly hair. We had amazing pheasant parpadelle, but watched you receive your burger and wished we had ordered it!
We were wondering about you two! You looked familiar and when you whipped out your camera, I had an inkling you were a fellow egulleter (plus I think we met at a burger club). That parpadelle sounded very good as well.
That sounds like a worthwhile burger club expedition to me...
Well, we're going again next weekend, so in the name of research, I will have to try it again. Just to make sure!
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A sign was finally put up today on the front doors of H Mart on the corner of Robson and Seymour.
Grand opening on March 6 11am!
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I had the best burger that ever last night! I'm talking about a "When Harry Met Sally" moment on my bar stool.
We were at the Bearfoot Bistro's Champagne Bar and shared their game burger. The patty was mix of Kobe beef, sterling silver striploin, caribou, venison, buffalo and lamb, and it was at least an inch thick! Sitting in between a thin ciabatta bun, slightly toasted, a smear of caramelized onion relish, gruyere (i think) cheese, and a lovely bacon. When I picked my half up, I gave it a little squeeze and a good amount of juices oozed, yes, oozed. It was perfectly slightly pink in the middle. Oh, the buger Gods blessed me last night! It was served with crisp frites, a few gerkhins, little dishes of ketchup and aioli.
Dead tasty!! The patty was moist, juices oozed down my fingers and the flavour was a touch gamey and just plain delicious!
Oh yeah, the oysters and the french onion soup were amazing as well.
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Regarding the dry aging of steaks, the ones we used were dry aged for 2 days, i believe. One way to do it at home is to place the steaks on racks with a dish underneath to catch the drippings and let sit for 2-3 days. If you have a big enough fridge, you can hang the steaks with hooks. The steaks ended up looking very dark, but when sliced into, raw, it was still very red inside but not dripping with juices/blood. I'll be trying this in the next couple of days...wish me luck!
As for the list of shopping spots, most are already well spoken of here. Here's the list.
East Indian
Punjab food centre
Fruiticana
Italian
Bosa foods
Santa Barbara
Cioffis
Il Grotta
Scardillo grocery
European
European specialty's imports
Chinese/Asian/South-East Asian
Chinatown
T & T
South Seas Imports
Garway Market (SE Asian/Phillipino)
Japanese
Fujiya
Middle-Eastern & Greek
Parthenon Importers
African
African General Market
Latin American
Los Dos Amigos Market
Brazil Food Products
Los Gierreros Mexican Foods
Other
Nile & Spice Reggae Cafe
Oyama Sausage Co.
Galloway's
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This week's class was my favourite so far! We made....
Risotto with squash, pine nuts, tomatoes and arugula. So so good! I ended up making it the next night for dinner and was able to wing it without the recipe!
We sauteed the "yummies" separately to preserve the flavours. In chef's words, so the flavours don't homogenize all together.
And here is the finished product!
My favourite quote from chef was as he was demo-ing how the texture of risotto should be....."when i push it, it oozes....oooooh, that's a nice feeling!"
Next up was the fun part of the night! Gnocci!!!! Or as chef calls them, "pillows of love"!!!
Here is our batch of gnocchi before it got annointed in the hot water.
Then we made steak saltimboca. Ooooh, I will never make steak without dry aging it ever again! Now it all makes sense as to why I can ever replicate a good hunk of meat at home! Chef dry aged the steaks for us and we did the rest.
And after making the red wine reduction..... You can see Lee's hands digging into his steak in the background!
To wrap up my favourite menu with, chocolate/tequila/cayenne souffle! Oooh, chocolate goodness! I took a picture with my friend's souffle which rose wayyy higher than mine!
I learnt a ton from this class and can't wait to try the gnocchi and dry aging at home. I also discovered something interesting on Monday night. Lee, my other friend and I tasted each other's dishes and were quite surprised that all of ours were different! We were all in different groups and even though we had the same base recipes and ingredients, the end results were not.
Can't wait till the next class....pasta and baguettes!
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a little slow on posting here, but here are some pics from the last couple of classes!
as greg posted above, we made little amoeba shaped pizzas.
and a 'lil lamb stew over some mashed yams. you can see the yam mash peeking out in the middle!
sorry, unfortunately, i forgot to take pics of the lemon tarts. it kinda jumped into my mouth before i had a chance to click a pic!
Mexican in Vancouver
in Western Canada: Dining
Posted
Thanks muchly, Vancouver and Flowbee. Yes, I have found a place on Commercial, just next to Federico's Supper Club, that carries a lot of Mexican products. They also have Jamaica, which is great for summer coctails!!
I will check those other places out though.