Ling

Great thread! Thanks Coop for singling out Burger Club. Hopefully we'll see even more of you Egulleters at our next meet on January 9th. (Have we decided on Feenie's?) My favorite dishes in the past year include the $25 Dine Out menu at West, where I had the foie gras and chicken liver parfait (with apple jelly and toasted brioche), some sort of stuffed chicken dish with chantrelles and wild rice, and an apple galette with sour cream ice-cream. I also very much enjoyed several dinners at Taka (my favorite thing to order is the sashimi sampler), a dinner at Ajisai (which included a delicious beef teriyaki roll, which I usually avoid. Unfortunately, my friend ordered this dish, so I only got to sample a piece. ) I had an awesome goat cheese and grilled asparagus omelette (with toasted multigrain Ecco il Pane bread) from Chef Bernard's up in Whistler, and a lovely dinner at the Bearfoot Bistro that included a good (but not spectacular) goat cheese and candied walnut salad, slices of rare venison and a potato cake for my main, and (my high point of the evening) the tiniest wild raspberries and blueberries with cream, served in buttery lace cookie baskets. Each berry was tiny enough to fit on a fork tine. The uni I had at Wabi Sabi stands out as well. My worst dining experiences this year included a dismal salad from the hotel restaurant (Portabello?) across from Chef Bernard's. It came topped with those cold, bland tiny shrimp that you get on your shrimp sunomono at an all-you-can-eat restaurant. The menu said that the salad included heirloom tomatoes, but I didn't get those. I had dinner at this small neighbourhood restaurant in the Steveston area called Tapenade (because I found a coupon for a free entree). The food there was pretty disappointing. Even the bread was bad--cold(!!!) slices that had a weird cake-like texture. The biggest disappointment was, perhaps surprisingly, Gotham Steakhouse. The ahi appetizer and the crab cake were OK, but my entree (filet mignon) was totally overcooked, as was my bf's (NY strip). We ordered our meat rare and both dishes came medium-well. My bf ate the sides instead of his steak. The sides (onion rings, this fried potato cake, and asparagus--all a la carte) were pretty ordinary as well. We were sorely disappointed because I had heard so much praise of this restaurant. In retrospect, I guess I should have complained. Did I mention we were seated in the bar area because the dining room was "booked" for the evening? (It was half empty when we got there, and still half empty when we left over 2 hours later). But overall, 2003 was a good year. I tried many things for the first time, like frog's legs (at Salade de Fruits) and rabbit (I cooked that).

I had Christmas dinner at my house today, and we're having Christmas dinner again at my aunt's house tomorrow. Today we had: -turkey, gravy, roast vegetables -Chinese sticky rice -sausage, sourdough, artichoke stuffing -creamed spinach -these little egg omelettes filled with ground meat -braised shitake mushrooms and veggies -enoki mushrooms, dried oyster, woodear, and dried beancurd dish -bok choy -truffles and chocolates -Christmas cookies, egg custard tarts, pecan tarts, chocolate biscuits -coffee sourcream cheesecake -croissant bread pudding I am about to burst....

I like all these dishes. I used to really dislike the dried salty shrimp paste that's steamed with fatty pork, but I love it now. Fermented bean curd mixed into my hot rice is another favorite.

I had some Indian rice pudding after my main dish of goat curry tonight. The goat curry was good, but the pudding wasn't...but I'm sure you could make a much better version. The pudding was too thin and runny for my tastes.

another option is an egg and a bit of soy flour

bread pudding (made with croissants), boubon pecan pie, some sort of cheesecake, some bar cookies, and 3-4 varieties of christmas cookies. fudge and peanut brittle if i have time. edit: oops, forgot i'm also making truffles. sugar overload...yummmmmmm

Make them the regular carb-y way, and take a carb blocker half an hour before eating. I've never tried a carb blocker though, so I'm not sure if they work. I've read that they work on starch carbs, but not sugar carbs.

I have my butter ready on the knife to spread the instant the toast pops up from the toaster. I like my butter hot, melted, and generous. I guess I must look funny with the knife poised, eyes steady on the toaster.

Thanks for the warning. I thought that maybe Showcase would have better quality food, judging from their buffet menu. Here's the link if anyone's interested: http://letsgofordinner.com/mainb.cfm?detail=82&area=2focus I especially like how you get to choose an entree.

I just looked at their brunch buffet menu and it looks terrific! Might have to cancel my reservations at Griffin's.

Btw: I cancelled my reservation at Bistro Pastis and made a reservation at Hermitage, since I thought it was a better deal. I looked at the regular menu at Hermitage, and Bistro Pastis is definitely more affordable, so I'll just go to Pastis sometime in the new year.

When it was Pastis, I was under the impression that it was a higher-class restaurant. I believe they did renovations and then reopened as Bistro Pastis, and changed some of their menu items to make it more casual. Now, they have a special each day (like bouillabaise--sp?) for 20 bucks at dinner.

I thought the restaurants weren't taking reservations yet, but my friend told me that they were so I called right away. I have reservations for Quattro, Bistro Pastis, and Bacchus. What do you think of my choices? I decided to drop C Restaurant from my list after reading some negative reviews on Chowhound. I made a reservation for my parents at C Restaurant though, since my mom loves seafood. They seem to be very busy too--especially if you want a table with a view. I'm not quite sure about Quattro...is Il Giardino, or La Terrazza a better choice? If you are considering Bacchus, I would call immediately because they were already quite booked by the time I called.

Is this Rose's rugelach recipe the one that's good? http://www.epicurious.com/run/recipe/view?...gelach&x=12&y=7

I heard their sandwiches are good. Is smoked meat like corned beef? I only had corned beef once when I was a kid, and I remember I hated it.....

I've seen the complete brunch buffet menus for Fleuri and Griffins. (Griffins looks to be the better of the two. ) Cafe Pacifica only has a vague description of what they're offering posted online. Prices, if anyone's interested: Fleuri $41 Griffins $42 Cafe Pacifica $43 Both Fleuri and Griffins offer turkey, prime rib, smoked fish, and seafood. Fleuri has an omelette and french toast station, cooked to order. Griffins has dungeoness crab legs and what appears to be a bigger selection of desserts. So...I think I'll book a reservation at Griffins, and perhaps try the Chocoholic buffet at Fleuri too!

Last year, I went to West and Fleuri for the Dine Out promotion. The dinner at West was phenomenal, while Fleuri was a bit of a disappointment. Nonetheless, I'm really excited about this year's Dine Out. The menus look great! There are some excellent deals on the $15 menus too. Take a look: http://www.tourismvancouver.com/docs/visit...eout/index.html My top choices right now are: $25 1. Bacchus 2. C Restaurant 3. Bistro Pastis (I also think that Hermitage, Gothams, Il Giardino, Quattro and Elixir are good choices. West doesn't have a menu up yet.) $15 1. Zachary's 2. Boulevard Cafe 3. Shark Club (Might just try one of these places b/c the deals are so irresistable.) Where are you thinking of going?

Has anyone had the brunch buffet at Fleuri? Their Sunday buffet price is 41 dollars this month. How is their Chocoholic buffet? Any other buffets you'd recommend? (Like Griffin's? Cafe Pacifica?) Just looking to stuff myself with huge amounts of food this holiday season. TIA.

Every dim sum restaurant I've been in had chicken feet. I love it, especially when it's spicy. You could always ask a waiter to bring you a dish of it from the kitchen if you don't see it being wheeled by in one of the dim sum carts. I've also seen both cooked and raw chicken feet at many of the Chinese bbq places.

Wow...I live in Vancouver and I'm just wondering when is this market/restaurant expected to open?

Speaking of which, sometimes my creme brulee turns out, and sometimes it refuses to set up and is a soupy mess no matter how long I bake it. Then the cream starts breaking up and I'm left with sweet water with chunks of cream in it. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Am I putting too much water in the water bath (halfway up the side of the pan)?

I've always loved gingerbread and the big gingerbread house sounds like an awesome idea. Even if some of the kids don't like eating gingerbread, I'm sure everyone will appreciate looking at it.

I can't wait to see the pics from your Thanksgiving table.

I skipped some classes and went to Terra today, since I had to get my pants hemmed on W. 4th anyway. This is what I bought: -the Belgian chocolate brownie (topped with walnuts and macadamia nuts) -grape bread -apple foccacia -herb and cheese foccacia -1 fig and anise dinner roll Of course, it was impossible for my to eat it ALL especially since I had a really huge breakfast. I managed to finish the brownie and the apple foccacia in the store, and then I picked at everything else for the next hour. I think everyone in Terra got a kick out of me sitting at the table with such a generous assortment of food. A lot of ppl came up to me and told me what their favorite bread/bakery item was. My definite favorite of the bunch was the apple foccacia. It is about the size of a small pancake, topped with slices of baked apple and brushed with an apple glaze. It had some sort of herb on it...I think it was thyme. It was crispy and delicious--not very sweet. Wish I could eat this everyday! My 2nd favorite was the herb and cheese foccacia. I liked the coarse salt, but some ppl might find this bread a little salty. My bf ate my leftovers and said that it was the best foccacia he's had. My 3rd favorite was the grape bread. It also had pine nuts and walnuts, and it's sprinkled with icing sugar. This was different....and good. I didn't quite enjoy the fig and anise as much as I thought I would have. It tasted too licorice-y to me. I normally like anise as part of the flavoring for slow-braised meats, but the flavor was a little too strong for me in the bread. The bread itself was good. Nice crust. A little dark, but I like it like that. My least favorite was the brownie. It was cakey and not very fudgey. I wasn't very impressed.

I had several of Terra's offerings today. My favorite was the apple foccacia...omigod it was sooo delicious. Check the Terra thread for all the yummy details.