Beebs

Thanks, Anna N & Okanagancook!

Oh geez, I've just spent the better part of my working day re-reading the Larb thread instead of doing actual work. Went out on my lunch break & picked up the ingredients for pork larb tonight. Does anyone remember the title of the thread about ugly/ disastrous/ non-photogenic meals? It was inspired by the Dinner! threads and was I think the subtitle was "the other dinner thread" or some such. Couldn't find it with the search function. That thread (and the horrible meals at other peoples' homes - can't remember the title either) used to get me howling, they were hilarious!

The Onion Confit topic was what inspired me to join eGullet 10 yrs ago. I made my first onion confit in a crockpot, following Fifi's method. Wow - my whole apartment smelled of the most delicious slow-cooked onion for days!

Love this topic - makes me feel ambitious every summer! I've been meaning to try zucchini butter/jam ever since I read about it on one of Kerry Beal & Anna N's Manitoulin blogs. Haven't gotten around to it yet, sadly. And tooling around on Saveur, there's this zucchini crisp recipe. I'm intrigued, but perhaps not ambitious enough to make a sweet zucchini dessert (not counting loaf). Anyone tried it?

I thought I eradicated the little bastards last year, but they've popped up again! I think they came from a bag of infested walnuts from Costco, but spread to a couple other bags of nuts. Ended up throwing out a couple kilograms of buggy almonds, pecans, walnuts. One place I didn't expect to see moth larvae was in the plastic bag clippies (these things). They were hiding out in between the ridges - almost gagged when I found them. Also some under the top edge & lid of the plastic bins. Gak! Pantry pests must die in the fieriest of fiery depths of hell!!

It's gonna be hot, hot, hot in my neck of the woods this week. I've got cold sesame noodles and zaru soba on my mind!

Yum! Beet greens! Interestingly, I think they taste a lot like one of my favourite Asian greens - Chinese red spinach / yin choy / xian cai . But with the advantage of being easier to clean than red spinach. Sauteed with plenty of rough-chopped garlic, splash of water, cover the pan to steam a bit. I like the thick stems too, but I cook those bits quite soft.

Sometimes I'll put a pinch of sugar in wine vinaigrettes, especially if doesn't have much else in it. Takes out some of the edge.

Oooh, this topic is making me crave potato salad! I have a giant bunch of dill to use up, so I guess I will be making a very dilly potato salad this weekend.

They're a must-have for hot pot!

Oh my...that beautiful, beautiful marrow! Looks like an amazing trip so far! I'm not at all familiar with Russian & Georgian cuisine, so this is quite fascinating.

Welcome back - looking forward to more of your gorgeous photography!

Choy sum tastes a lot like rapini, but a bit milder and without the bitterness. I cook it just like rapini, Italian-style. Rapini isn't hard to find here, but it does seem to be getting pricier over the last several years. I don't know if that's due to trendiness or general increase in food price. Choy sum you can get anywhere here, and it's relatively inexpensive, especially in the Asian groceries. It's definitely not trendy here!

"Your cookbook shelf collapsed...."

I think it's not a bad idea for Deep Roots to limit their award winners. It would be a shame for visitors to go all the way there just to find that they can't buy any. We could have bought plenty more bottles, but, alas, running of room in our car. I didn't much care for Ruby Blues because I gravitate towards dry/off-dry wines, and I found their selections too sweet for my liking. I tasted their red and white Stilettos, and the sparkling rose. Too bad we missed the Syrian Family fund raiser - I've been following along on that. Bruno was just lovely - I wanted to scoop him up and take him home with me! We'll be back soon!

Been back a week, but didn't get around to reporting back. We had a great time in Naramata/Penticton! The hot early summer weather was a real treat. Went to Rock Oven the night we arrived, Thursday. Only 3 other tables while we were there. Sat out on the patio, ordered a bottle of wine, I had the roast chicken, DH had the roast pork. Food was lovely, and it was nice to just take our time with the wine. Ended up staying quite late, as we started chatting up with the other guests there. Next day was a work day and finished off in Kelowna. A group of us went to Sandhill Winery for their Friday night happy hour - $5 wine & snacks & live music. Their wine is only decent, but it was a great lively atmosphere, really packed, good music. BNA Brew Co. for dinner & beers. None of us had been, but it was walking distance from Sandhill. Food was surprisingly very good! I had very tasty onion & goat cheese pizza & DH's boar ragu pasta was excellent. Good comments from the rest of the group too. Penticton farmers' market the next day, spent the whole morning wandering around. It's certainly gotten much bigger and busier since we were there a few years ago. Skipped a proper lunch in favour of snacking at the market. Dinner at Gasthaus fine dining side, as DH insisted on schnitzel over all the other options. Crazy old-school European kitschy space! We split a salad & appies, had schnitzels, split a dessert, bottle of wine. Food was good, but not excellent, large portions. Fun experience in a retro kind of way. The pub side was packed when we arrived, the dining room less so. Lake Breeze Patio with a group for lunch the day we went back to Vancouver. Got there early, just as they were opening, and there was a line up already. Food & wine was as excellent as expected. For wineries, we didn't visit too many, about half a dozen or so. We opted for smaller wineries that we hadn't been to before. Can't remember off the top of my head what we brought back. The white wines were very, very good - I understand last year was a great year for white wines. We brought home quite a bit more white than red or rose. Upper Bench Winery & Creamery - they haven't been around too long. Did a wine & cheese tasting, purchased a bunch of wine. We went back on our way back to Vancouver to pick up some cheese, which they kindly packed in a box with ice pack. Bench 1775 - loved it, you weren't kidding about the amazing view! Unfortunately, they weren't starting their food service till after we'd gone home, so we missed out on the patio. Very good wine, bought half a case. Gave Bruno the friendly labrador a few pats. Deep Roots - this is the winery I wanted to visit the most! Their Gamay was excellent, and a couple bottles went home with us, along with a half dozen or so others. I saw they won their wine award a few days ago - I'm really pleased they did! I just checked my receipt and I have 1 Syrah! Lake Breeze - I really liked their Semillon. Ruby Blues - Didn't like this winery. We went because a coworker asked if we could pick up a couple bottles for her if we happened to be in the area. The only one I liked was the gewurztraminer. Gray Monk - It was on the way back from a work visit and my coworker wanted to go. Picked up a couple bottles. Maple Leaf Distillery - this was a lot of fun, we had a great time with Jorg! We tasted a couple liqueurs down at the farmers market, but decided to head up to the distillery to check out a couple other items. Went home with cherry liqueur, maple liqueur, and prune brandy. Afterwards, Jorg introduced us to his feather friends - his pet pheasants & parrot. Thanks for all the recommendations, Okanagancook! I'm going to have a good 3 cases of wine & spirits to last us to the middle of summer!

Here's a fun list: http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/101-things-to-eat-and-drink-in-vancouver You can also tool around in here: http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/category/food

So many regional Chinese foods here! Shanghainese and Taiwanese come to mind. My (Taiwanese) in-laws, when they're in town, really like Corner 23 in the South Cambie area (4008 Cambie St). It's busy in there, lots of young people. They might be cash only, can't recall. Peaceful Restaurant is popular & busy and they have a few locations. Their website says Northern Chinese, but I think it's a mix of a few regions - Szechuan, Hunan, Northern.... They were featured on Diners, Drive-In, & Dives a few yrs ago. Lin's Chinese Cuisine on Broadway & Granville - Northern & Shanghai food. Get the xiao long bao if you're there - steamed dumplings with pork & soup. And definitely have dim sum when you're here! I haven't been to Dynasty in a long time though. Also, Floata is in Chinatown (near downtown) and Sun Sui Wah is up on Main & 25th. I haven't been to either of these in a while, but it's a good dim sum experience, as I recall. Forage is on Robson - local sustainable food, casual fine-dining. I've only been there once, but it was very good. Japanese is a good choice, lots of Japanese places in the West End, many of them catering to Japanese exchange students. Hmm....brew pubs/gastro pubs have exploded onto the Vancouver food & beer scene in the last few yrs. If craft beer is your thing, Alibi Room is in the downtown area (Rail Town). They don't brew their own beer, but have an immense beer menu, decent food. Happy eating & enjoy your visit here!

Thank you, Okanagancook, this is great - I'm saving your post to take with me! I'll definitely check out some of your suggestions. I'm going to try for Lake Breeze, probably Sunday before we head back to Vancouver. I think we'll skip Raudz for now, especially if they don't do resos. I don't want to drive all the way to Kelowna just to find we can't get in. Bad Tattoo & Cannery are on my list now. There may be a group dinner one of the nights with folks staying out in Kelowna, so perhaps I'll give Gasthaus a stab, since it's midway between Kelowna & Penticton. I'm looking forward to checking out some of the wineries - Bench 1775 & Deep Roots are now on my list too. Poplar Grove is gorgeous and I like their wine. Haven't tried Vanilla Pod yet, but I've heard mixed reviews and a bit pricey. Snacks are a good idea. DH has given me specific instructions to limit our wines to 1 box only, but 1 box is pretty vague - could be 1 per type of wine! So many places to try, so little time! Will report back.

Resurrecting this ancient thread - there must be something new since 7 yrs ago! So what's new in the Penticton/Naramata/Kelowna area? I'm heading there this weekend, staying in the Naramata region again and I've got 3 dinners & maybe 1 lunch to think about. We're arriving in Naramata Thursday evening, so I'm thinking dinner at the Rock Oven at the Naramata Inn would be good to start. The last time we were there, it was still the Cobblestone Wine Bar and it was very, very good. Rock Oven reopened last summer, after the Inn was taken over by new operators. Has anyone tried the new restaurant? Also on my list is Theo's, Greek restaurant in Penticton. We've been there a couple times and have always had a good time there, great food. Lake Breeze Winery is a possibility for lunch. Ate there about 2-3 yrs ago - is it still excellent? Gasthaus in Peachland - German/Austrian fare. Never been there - is it worth going? What else should is good? RauDZ? Disappointing review upthread, but decent reviews elsewhere on the interwebs. Hoping Okanagancook can chime in!

The raspberry cordial from Anne of Green Gables? (I've never made it, but if I had all your raspberries, that's the first thing I'd make!)

Dcarch, they're so devilishly cute!!

Do cranberries count? Also seaweed (although technically seawater plant....). Water chestnuts, which most of us have probably eaten before. I've never cooked a fresh water chestnut, even though I can get them easily enough. They're a real pain to peel, as a recall from watching my mom prep them. What are some good ways to feature fresh water chestnuts? Water caltrops - I've had them only once ever, as a child. They are freakish black double-horned nut thingies that look like bats. Mom boiled them. I remember they smelled pretty funky and were difficult to peel open. I have seen them from time to time in the Chinese markets, but I've not had the nerve to attempt cooking them. http://www.thehongkongcookery.com/2014/09/boiled-water-caltrop.html

What?! No rice pudding love since 2013?? I don't make a lot of pudding-type desserts - I've only made rice pudding maybe 3 times ever. But I want to change that. I like rice pudding cold or lukewarm, slightly on the sweeter side, teensy dash of cinnamon, and less thick. Hubby likes Kozy Shack. I'd like to try making that black rice pudding with coconut milk, too, for something different. And also Indian rice pudding (kheer). Never made either before, so any tips, suggestions, would be great. Will browse through the rest of this topic later tonight. So...what's everyone doing for rice pudding these days?

Perhaps try googling Mongolian beef? And to add to Lisa Shock's suggestion - black pepper steak or Chinese pepper steak?