Beebs

Craving serious carbs & salt. Last night I had a huuuge bowl of spaghetti carbonara, with loads of bacon. Also slices of baguette smeared with gorgonzola cheese. Chased it all down with a sidecar cocktail.

You can also try upscale Japanese restaurants, like Tojo's (avoid the average mom-and-pop sushi places, though!). I recently had some fabulous ones at Zest on W 16th, and have also had them at Shijo's on W 4th. Japanese restaurants may not offer fresh oysters every day, so it's a good idea to call ahead.

My fiance used to hate steak (he's from Alberta, where they have great beef!), because his mum cooked it to shoe leather consistency - well well well done! The only way he could choke it down was to douse it in steak sauce, and for years that's how he thought steak was supposed to taste like. I introduced him to a properly cooked, juicy, medium-rare piece of striploin, no bottled sauce. Now it's one of his favourite meals!

I tasted the rowanberry - hmmm...can't really tell, unfortunately! The bar has a layer of almond paste or marzipan, so the chocolate tasted mostly of almond. Although I could tell that there's a bit of a berry-fruity flavour in it, I wasn't able to distinguish that it was rowanberry.

Not a chocoholic, but couldn't resist this deal! Went by after work and got: -Plum Brandy -Cinnamon Apple Honey -Saffron Rice -Tomato & Liquid Olives -Rowan Berry -Elderflower (it's got another name, but can't remember what) I also have a half-nibbled bar of Bacon Bits at home...mmmm, bacon!

Yeah, I've found that with Caffe Artigiano too - great cappucinos, but the drip coffee is so incredibly bitter & acidic that I can't finish a cup. And I like my coffee strong! I haven't tried the coffee at 49th Parallel, their offshoot on W 4th Ave, but does anyone know how it compares to Artigiano?

And we were. Exactly one week later. With another pho friend who confirmed the worthiness of the pho tai. And did I mention it has cilantro ← I scanned up - thread but didn't notice if your experience includes Au Petit Cafe. Is Kim Phung better? Admittedly the REAL reason I go to Au Petit is for the bhan mi, but the pho isn't bad either. ← A cousin told me a story about a funny incident at Au Petit Cafe. She and a friend went to have bahn mi there, only to be told by the owner that they'd run out for the day. It was still fairly early in the day, 11am or so, so they thought it was odd that they'd run out so quickly. So they asked the owner if he'd run out of the buns (they were planning to have another dish that came with the bun). He said no, they still had buns. They said, "Oh ok, great, so you CAN make bahn mi! We don't mind waiting!" To which the owner replied, "No, because my daughter is the one who slices the buns. She can only slice so many buns in a day because her wrist gets tired and she can't slice anymore!" The cousin & her friend were too floored to reply!

I used to work in a tea shop and they taught us this decaf technique. Caffeine in tealeaves is released only within the first 45 - 60 seconds. So tea that is brewed for a longer time doesn't necessarily mean it has higher caffeine content - it's just stronger, darker. But this technique doesn't work well with low quality teas, flavoured/scented teas, or teabags because of the flavour loss. I've also heard that this is similar to some types of coffee decaffeination....?

I love garbage disposals! I live in an apartment, and because we don't have a composting program, a disposal is a godsend. I use mine daily, so it doesn't usually have funky smells lingering. I clean it out by tossing in a few citrus peels once a week or so and grinding those up.

Not to worry, if they deliver to Kits, you will see a review the next time the pie jones strikes ← You bet they deliver to Kits! That's where I've been for the last nine years. Ermm, there might be a Kits-area gathering for Minerva's sampling in the works here somewhere . . . . But I think there's an egullet disclaimer statement needed. ← Ack! All this talk of Minerva's pizza - I'm seriously craving one right now and I've just had one last week! Hmm...their phone number IS on speed dial on my cell.... "I would like a medium with green peppers, pepperoni, and anchovies, and a side of baked spaghetti...."

Minerva's is my standby too, and I've had it for as long as I can remember! Since we live in their neighbourhood, it's take-out for us. I think it's their pizza sauce - it has a special something-something that I haven't found in any other pizza.

Came across this hilarious website... http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine/ According to Death by Caffeine, it takes 28.95 cups of Starbucks Grande Coffee, or 276.96 cans of Coca Cola Classic, or 411.85 squares of baking chocolate to kill me off. How much caffeine can you take??? (Not sure if I've posted this in the proper forum...feel free to move it!)

Chicken feet Duck feet Fish heads Jelly fish Not many non-Chinese folk I know can stomach these....

This sounds weird, but I like 'em steamed or boiled briefly so they're still bright green and crunchy, then just eating them as is. Ok, maybe with a little coarse salt.... They're tasty sauteed with sliced lap cheung (Chinese dried sausage).

Here's another vote for homemade! I like how tiramisu isn't too fiddly or requires a lot of precision to make. I've been using Anna Olson's recipe. But for eating out, I'm partial to the tiramisu at Dario's La Piazza; they're located at the Italian Cultural Centre on Slocan.

Thanks. So the other one you are referring to is a drink, and this one is more like a savory soup? Sounds similar to congee without the rice. Is there a name for it, so I can try ordering it sometime? Yet another reason to choose unadultered, unsweetened soy milk! (I keep some simple syrup around for when I want to drink it sweetened.) ← Yes, it is definately more soup-like than drink-like (you eat it with a spoon). You can usually find it in Shanghai & northern Chinese restaurants (this forum has a bunch of recommendations). It's normally just listed as "salty soy milk" or some such on the menus. Unfortunately, it's usually only available at lunch on weekends only!

I never grew up with soy milk and probably didn't try it until I was in college. I still prefer the straight stuff (sweetened or unsweetened), so perhaps it's imprinted in my DNA. Is the hot soy sweetened or unsweetened? Never thought of drinking it this way. ← You can have it both ways. I prefer sweetened, since unsweetened is a bit bland. There's also the salty kind, which takes a little getting used to. You get hot unsweetened soy, add a bit of soy sauce, sesame oil, hot chili oil, and a good splash of vinegar. The vinegar curdles the soy and thickens it. Garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro, chopped mustard pickles, those little dried shrimp or pork floss. This is also a breakfast dish. Looks like vomit, but tastes heavenly!

The folks at Cassis Bistro just opened up a food-to-go joint at the Oakridge Center food court, Lunchbox Bistro. They've got several hot entrees (organic braised beef, free range butter chicken, a couple others) and 3 cold salads. Everything is available as either a bowl or a wrap, around $7-$9. I had the Moroccan Couscous Salad in a wrap, and for a joint in a fast food court, it was pretty good! Sure beats oily fries and limp sandwiches. They've been there for about a week. Nice to have something tasty and relatively healthy while Xmas shopping!

Mainstream soy brands (So Nice, etc) are meant to be milk substitutes and have been doctored up to taste as close to milk as possible. The Chinese brands are meant to be taste like soy, and be drunk as is. Personally, I can't stand the mainstream stuff and love the beany flavour of real, Chinese soy. But then again, that's what I had as a kid! Hot soy and Chinese fried donuts are just about the best breakfast in the world - yum!

I love how high-quality leaves can resteep! Bitterness in teas is from the tannins in the leaves. There's only a limited amount of tannins, so once they've been released in the first steep or a long steep, that's it. The leaves do not need to rest between steepings. Although they shouldn't be let to dry out before resteeping. Traditional gaiwan (and yixing teapot) sets come with a little decanter/pitcher thing(sorry I don't know what they're called!) plus the cups. You'd steep the tea for the proper number of minutes, then pour it into the decanter, then serve it in the cups. Otherwise, you could also try using water that is slightly cooler (below boiling), around 70 C. Tannins take longer to leach out in cooler water, so the resulting tea will taste less bitter. Short of digging out the leaves, there's not a whole lot you can do for oversteeped tea in the gaiwan, other than diluting with more water.

I don't know about Revitaliser, but the Swiffer is great for picking up smaller harder-to-see crumbs & dust (you can see all the crud on the cloth). And it's awesome for hair (I use it in the bathroom regularly too). Big huge crumbs don't really get picked up. The Swiffer Wet is less effective for picking up crumbs though.

The Swiffer is a godsend. I use the dry one to pick up crumbs, and the wet one for everything else. Sure beats lugging a mop & bucket!

At Chen's, ask for the dim sum menu as these items aren't listed on their regular dinner menu. Such a pity that Cantonese dim sum isn't available at night....*sigh*

All-you-can-eat sushi joints. Not exactly Tojo's, but if we're talking quantity over quality...... Tomokazu, Sui Sha Ya, and Shabusen come to mind.

Where can you buy fresh durian in Vancouver? I need names, addresses, please. Where are they from? ← I've seen them at T&T supermarket (http://www.tnt-supermarket.com/), and I'm sure you can get them in Chinatown. A number of the Asian supermarkets in Richmond and Burnaby also carry durians. Frozen ones are almost always available, and fresh ones from time to time. Anyone know when durians in season? Or are they year round?