Beebs

Les Amis du Fromage is probably your best bet. There is also that dairy place in the Granville Island Public Market - I think it's called The Milkman?? You may find something at Meinhardt's, a gourmet food store.

Cooked rice & cooled rice. Extra firm tofu, crumbled. There is some extra water content in tofu, though.

I much prefer the flat cabbages to the standard round green ones. Leaves are crisper and sweeter, without the slight starchiness that green cabbages sometime have. Though I don't like it as much for longer braises and soups - they tend to get a bit more mushy with long cooking.

Does napa cabbage count? Leaves from a young napa dipped in ssamjang is a nice snack. I'd say we buy about 1 head of either green, napa, or Taiwanese cabbage once every 1.5 weeks or so. Less frequently red and savoy cabbages. Most heads weighing over 1 lb. A lot of cabbage, indeed!

I've been making Japanese izakaya style salt cabbage lately and oh wow is this ever fast, easy and delicious. I used this recipe https://sudachirecipes.com/izakaya-salted-cabbage/ as a starting point, but I've needed to adjust the seasonings a bit. It calls for just the plain green cabbage, but I've had a lot of Taiwanese (flat) cabbage on hand recently, so been using that.

Shaobing with a fried cruller tucked in and hot soy milk is hands down my favourite breakfast in the world. 🥰 What fat did you use for your roux?

Pineapple fried rice?

It's been ages since I've made yakiudon/yakisoba - time to change that! That recipe has A LOT of toasted sesame oil. And I'd use worcestershire sauce instead of rice vinegar & brown sugar. I have 5 types of soy sauce in my pantry right now. Kimlan brand dark & light/regular, Kimlan soy paste, Kikkoman regular, and LKK seasoned sweet soy. I use Kimlan because that's what my Chinese mom said to use - she's usually right.

I've tried that IKEA At Home meatball recipe. While it's a tasty enough meatball, I wouldn't say it tastes like the actual IKEA meatball. The texture is a lot different - IKEA meatballs are way more homogenous. It was a fun little project though!

Lobster roll. Marshmallow fluff. American Thanksgiving dinner! I've tried most of the individual components that make up "traditional" American Thanksgiving (except sweet potato pie, oyster dressing, and cornbread dressing not from a box), just not all of them together at an actual American Thanksgiving Day dinner. From what I've been told, Canadian Thanksgiving doesn't even compare, it's vastly inferior to the American version. This is on my bucket list!

Mine's a red cap, too. Oddly, it's a bottle that I got from a German imports store in Vancouver that I've been refilling from a large bottle also with a red cap. My small bottle has a German label, no English. Maggi's great in fried rice, use instead of soy sauce, especially if it's minimalist fried rice.

I've started using MSG a couple years ago. I feel like it cuts down on me adding extra salt and soy sauce for a dish that's missing something. Only using a couple pinches, a little goes a long way. It tastes a bit metallic when I accidentally add too much. It's a game-changer for stir fried greens! And fried rice. Showing some love for chicken powder. I've got both Knorr and Lee Kum Kee chicken powders in my pantry. And Maggi Sauce - "liquid MSG" - I've been using this all my life. Can't eat boiled or fried eggs without it.

It's been several years since I was in Singapore, but I loved it there and plan on returning in the near future! Here's one for flatbreads: Roti prata vs. Roti canai vs. Paratha vs. Roti. My understanding is that roti prata/canai are Singaporean/Malay names for this type of buttery, layered, griddled flatbreads with origins in India/South Asia. Indian paratha is also layered. Indian roti is not layered and less rich than paratha. (I might be wrong, so feel free to correct.) Then there's murtabak, which has a filling inside.... I ate mostly roti prata/canai while there. So delicious, dipped in curry gravy!

Their tasting menu was fantastic! I'm not vegetarian, but very impressed with how creative they were with non-meat ingredients. The area where Acorn is (Mount Pleasant) is very vibrant and has tons of interesting eating/drinking options, boutiques and specialty stores.

I second Granville Island: Tap & Barrel Bridges is casual gastropub food, and while it's not the most exciting food, the location is great and gorgeous view if the weather cooperates. Good local craft beer selection. Dockside at the GI Hotel is fine dining and also has their own craft beer. Haven't been there in a long while, so I can't speak for the food. Great views. Granville Island Brewery and Liberty Distillery are also on GI. (Local craft beer is a big thing here and there are tons of small local breweries everywhere in the city and almost every restaurant carries a selection. If you're into beer, that is!) Also highly recommend checking out the Asian cuisine scenery here, especially Chinese and Japanese. If you like dimsum - Victoria Chinese Restaurant is in downtown right by Burrard Station. Also Kirin Mandarin is in the same area. If you're willing to travel further away from the downtown area and go to East Van, Pelican Seafood Restaurant has very good dimsum and dinner. Pink Pearl Chinese Seafood is close by. I was here for dimsum recently and it was excellent, so delicious. Haven't had their dinner in a long while though. For Japanese food - Minami (Yaletown) and Miku (downtown) are both highly rated for Japanese fine dining. I haven't been to either. Robson Street, the part that's closer to Denman St/West End, is loaded with casual Japanese (ramen, izakaya) and Korean eats (KBBQ, sweet treats). Very lively, younger crowd. Expect line ups at peak hours. If you're in Chinatown, Phnom Penh Restaurant has incredible Cambodian & Vietnamese food. The fried chicken wings, butter beef, Cambodian dry noodles are my favourites! Very busy, expect line ups. Newtown Bakery - Chinese baked goods. The steamed buns with meat fillings are so good. Lots of choices in this city! Let us know how where you end up - enjoy your visit here!