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If you're doing it on a stone and finishing it in the oven, anyway, then what's the point of doing it on the grill at all? Do you still get a smoky or "grilled" flavour if the pizza isn't cooked directly on the grill? ← What I was actually attempting to make was an approximation of a Neapolitan pizza. I have tried many ways short of building a brick oven and this was the best result so far. Yes it still tastes "grilled" since it is exposed to the smoke from the BBQ's interior. The stone gets quite hot and does char the pizza (as you can see from the pics) but buffers the heat enough so it doesn't burn before the top is cooked. I could have just served it straight from the BBQ as the top was fully cooked and it had some nice colour already, but I preferred it darker - so I finished it off in in the oven broiler.

Here's a pizza that I made a few days ago: Prawn, Artichoke Hearts and Nori. The Dough is Lehman's No Knead Pizza Dough. (I doubled the salt as I find the original recipe a bit bland) The toppings are simple: Crushed/Strained tomatoes (Passata in a bottle - Italissima brand) Fresh Mozza Regular Mozza Frozen Prawns Onions - sliced thin Nori shredded on top Garlic (crushed and added to the sauce) seasoned with salt I preheated one of my old (and cracked) pizza stones on the grill (a propane Weber Q120) for about 20-30mins. Slid the pizza on and cooked it for approx 4 mins. In the meantime, I fired up the (upper) broiler in my gas oven. I pulled the pizza from the grill and finished it off under the broiler for some more colour on top. I think it tuned out well. It had that char on the bottom of the crust - perhaps slightly too much char at some spots. I'll try 30secs to 1 min less time on the stone next time (see upskirt photo below) and good colour on top. The crust was crunchy and tender/chewy. (I actually made two - one without nori). Pics:

JN&Z on Commercial Dr (near 1st) is very good (they supply some of the wine and salumi restaurants around town). I haven't seen duck, but I'm sure they are open to custom work.

If you are fairly handy with computers, you can reuse an old PC power supply to power the fan. You can even leave it in the case and extend the the wires with easily sourced extenders.

I love his pate de fruits and croissants. FYI - He will be opening a second location adjacent to Lumiere in Kitsilano.

I saw them on sale yesterday at T&T. Tofu Shirataki at $1.99/bag.

In our kitchen reno we used Ikea cabinetry. I am please with how they work for the most part except for the Akurum Pull Out Cabinets and (can't find it on their online catalog) the Corner Cabinet with the pullout carousel. In the case of the our 2ft wide tall cabinet, we have to do this dance going from one side to the other to get pantry items. It probably works better if the cabinets are narrower. The pullout coner carousel ends up rubbing up against the cabinet carcass itself. I can see it wearing down over time...and stuff just falls off and gets trapped in the far corner. If I had to do it all over......

No experience making it, but I bet it is quite involved. Is buying it still an option? Have you searched for Rice Paper (not the kind you use for Vietnamese Spring Rolls? Like this (though this one is made from potato starch): http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/product.asp?p...hcd2=1241624076

Oh yes: the Tiki room at the Waldorf! I love that place. ← And, given that it's Vancouver, if you talk it over with the cooks there, you'll probably do a pretty good meal. (Drinking first, mind you!) ← Brilliant idea! That should be a blast. I haven't been since the velour lounge scene was in full schwing.

I would give the big Bosa Foods a call to see if they have it. I think I may have seen it there in the coolers in the back.

There a not-so-common Filipino dish called Pancit Butong which uses strips of young coconut meat instead of noodles. It's a real treat.

I'm surprised. I thought (correct me if I'm wrong) that the crabs (Alaskan King or Russian King) were always frozen upon arrival back at the harbor from where the boats originate, and that they have to be kept frozen until end-user purchase. John S. ← We can buy them fresh and alive here. It's King Crab season as we speak and they are going for about $9/lb right now. The best way to do cook it is to boil it in a huge pot of water...probably outside on a propane burner.

Do you mean a duck carved tableside then served multi-course?...I guess Beng Sheng discussed above (which used to be Renfrew Dim Sum where the did this) and Luxe (in Langely). I'd love to know of any others.

Did you happen to notice Peking Duck being carved tableside? (Renfrew Dim Sum at this location used to do it.)

In Richmond: Sea Harbour, Shanghai River, Kirin and Sun Sui Wah are solid choices. Shanghai River looks the fanciest of the lot IMO. I would love to find a place that does Beijing Imperial Cuisine here (eg Tan Jia). I don't know of any, personally.

Here are pics of the old "Xiang" menu: ...no noodles... (though I may be missing the last page which I think had their lunch specials for the Ginger Beef and Chow Mein crowd.

On Garlic Stems - you have to wonder...do they just throw this stuff out? Is it even from the garlic with which we are familiar? Anyway...I always pick some up whenever I see it at T&T - it's almost always from China. I should try making this dish at home using readily available chinese bacon. On tsquare's "No noodles?" question...you know, I don't remember seeing noodles on the menu. Looking at the pictures sort of confirms this...am I missing a few pages from my pics? I don't remember them having noodles in their old menu either. Could this be the only Chinese restaurant that does not serve noodles? The menu is pretty uncompromising - which is one of the things that makes this place special. On the Alvin/Xiang history...I think some others will know more than me. I'll just take a Wild Assed Guess: that the kitchen of the old Xiang came from the old Crystal Hunan. Then perhaps the management from Crystal came back as partners (or brought in new partners) and then renovated and changed the name to Alvin (perhaps after their pet chipmunk). I managed to catch the transition - I dined at The Xiang, then a few weeks (maybe 3-4 weeks?) later I dined there again when it was renovated and named Alvin Garden. I actually posted on some forums that I thought it had closed - when someone posted that I was incorrect...I drove out almost immediately to confirm. The room changed, but the food was as good as ever. That's all I know.

I didn't attend this wonderful looking meal, but I thought I'd contribute some pics a meal I had at Xiang/Alvin a while ago: The Menu: The Smoked Duck (it's very good...but not exemplary): And a less blurry picture of the Tofu Skin and Celery dish: And my personal fave dish there the Hunan Bacon and Garlic Stem (why we don't see garlic stem on more menus is beyond me! I love this stuff.): Thanks for this great (and epic) report Peter.

You can everything at T&T. Cafe du Monde in the yellow can is probably the most commonly used coffee and Longevity brand condensed milk is the most commonly used milk. East Vancouver has many good Vietnamese spots (centered along Kingsway with a number on Hastings and Main St). Drive east along Kingsway and you will find scores of Pho, and Ca Phe places (and Vietnamese grocery stores). Main St also has a couple of good spots for Pho and Vietnamese coffee (Au Petit Cafe is a popular recommendation).

Pacojet?

Has she tried dessert tofu or egg tofu?

DC Duby in Canada: http://www.dcduby.com/elements/

Another couple quickies for me - -boiled fingerling or young potatoes, butter and sea salt. -canned sardines in olive oil on top of steaming rice, a bit of salt and a squeeze of lemon to taste.

Fresh white rice from a rice cooker with shake-on furikake.

Traditional HC is not browned. The roasted version in rare and probably shouldn't be called Hainan Chicken. Prima Taste (the chain from Singapore) makes it as do a number of stalls in Singapore...they all seem to call it "roasted Hainan Chicken'" or similar. I definitely prefer the white poached version for the exact reasons you gave.