chocomoo

Yep, I get them all the time from a few different places (4 out of 6 places are in Richmond): 1) Osaka supermarket in Yaohan Centre in Richmond; 2) The candy store upstairs in Yaohan Centre (I forget the name - it's something obvious that has the word "candy" in the name) - turn right at the top of the escalators, and walk towards the downwards escalators, then turn left at the Chinese herbal store - you'll see the candy store right away (let me know if this is confusing); 3) Izumi-ya on Alderbridge, near No. 3 Road in Richmond - turn in at the XS cargo entrance on Alderbridge; 4) The konbiniya on Robson Street in Vancouver - they have a small selection of KitKat, but I'm not sure if they have special KitKat (UPDATE: they only have 2 kinds: a milk one (white chocolate, the milk is from some special region of Japan that starts with "Naz...") and the adzuki one); 5) You might also find them at T&T (since T&T and Osaka are owned by the same people); 6) The candy store at Richmond Centre. I have no idea what the name is, but it's almost right across from the cinnamon bun place & it's close to Kin's Farm. The candy area is on the left side of the store. I would say that your best would be 2) the candy store upstairs in Yaohan. Keep in mind that the special flavours of KitKat and all other candies usually show up here at least a couple months after they debut in Japan. Also, there are certain flavours that are only available in Japan, such as the regional flavours. Good luck & let us know how your search goes! ALSO, upon seeing Vancouver's post, I would hasten to add that you must check the ingredients label to make sure that the chocolate is a product of Japan, not China. Japanese candy that's made in China tastes different (read: bad).

I think the number of abalones in a dish used varies according to the size of the abalone. Sometimes (depending on the generosity of the person payingfor the meal), diners have one abalone per person. When abalone is served by itself (and not as an ingredient of a larger dish), each diner is provided with a knife & fork, along with the serving vessel in which the abalone awaits. The Chinese (? I'm not sure if it's exclusively Chinese) way of sizing is thus: heads (of abalone; 1 abalone=1 head) per pound. Abalones served in restaurants are usually 3 or 4 heads big. Larger ones are 2 heads, but 1 head abalones are rarely (if ever) found on menus.

Hi Hiroyuki, A bit late coming in to this, but I just wanted to say that I am SO excited about your blog! You've been at the top of my wish-list of bloggers for a while! We have a Daiso here in Vancouver as well - it's 2 floors, and is situated in one of the many Chinese malls in Richmond (a part of the Greater Vancouver area - Richmond is kind of the new Chinatown). At the Richmond Daiso, everything is $2, not $1. I find that Daiso's products are superior to the products we can find at the dollar stores here. And Daiso really does have almost everything you can think of. I even found several different muddlers there! However, the food section (at ours) is not that great (and by that, I mean the snack section). I get my main supply of Japanese snacks from the Osaka supermarket (which used to be Yaohan), and supplement it with trips to a (mainly) Japanese candy store and 2 konbiniyas.

Just to clarify, Chicco Cafe is actually right next to Gyoza King (so between Nicola & Cardero). Apparently they were one of the first places in Vancouver to offer matcha lattes! I recommend the tiramisu parfait - I love the pieces of coffee-soaked cake in it Some of the other parfaits have additions like corn flakes, red beans, and creme caramel.

Might I also add the 2 Guus on Robson? The first one is actually on Thurlow, the 2nd one, Guu with Garlic, is further down Robson towards Hapa Izakaya. There's also Japanese-themed desserts at Chicco Oriente Cafe (near Gyoza King), which has ice cream parfaits (tiramisu, green tea, black sesame, red bean, creme caramel & the like), some Japanese-style cakes (Mont Blanc, earl grey chiffon cake, etc.), and serves Illy coffee. Nice afternoon "respite' from shopping

Oh NOOOO!! Where am I going to get buttery, flaky croissants to savour at work now? The only other choices close to me are Starbuck's & Caffe Artigiano (their almond croissant does not even come close to Senses). Just when I had discovered their milk chocolate passionfruit mousse cake... *sob* Well, I guess I have some stocking up to do today at lunchtime! I sincerely hope that they reopen another one close by soon...

I just spent 20 minutes on their website drooling over all the different kinds of chocolate bars that they make... The "Dream" (dark chocolate bar - passion fruit puree & Thai coconut milk in white chocolate ganache), "Love Potion" (dark chocolate bar - roasted banana, dark rum & lime in chocolate ganache), and "The Sporting Life" (dark chocolate bar - double chocolate stout in chocolate ganache with salted pretzel) look especially intriguing.

While at Le Regalade for lunch the other day, a lady at a neighbouring table lamented about the lack of good oeufs en meurette in Vancouver. Brigitte (one of the owners), advised her that Chez Jules, in Gastown, has wonderful oeufs en meurette. So, hie thee to Chez Jules!! And back to La Regalade, my boyfriend and I ordered the mushroom omelette & crab quiche as appetizers, and they were both REALLY good. Really big portions, as usual - no need to order any mains. The mushroom omelette had thickly sliced mushrooms and there was green onion mixed into the egg. The crab quiche had big chunks of crab and a nice crumbly crust.

I think so - are they all lined up in a row & you have to rip off each bun? They're more white than yellow though. Yep, they're really soft. I love that Chinese bakeries rehydrate raisins. We just popped the tapioca pudding in the toaster oven - good as new! 2 of my auntie's actually make really good baked tapioca pudding, but not with the flaky crust on the top. Speaking of flaky crust, Mega Bakery (the Taiwanese bakery at Continental Centre) has a new type of swiss roll - it's a normal swiss roll with a flaky crust wrapped around it. It doesn't look that appealing, but we did score some of that crust in our bag of "cake toasts". This particular batch of cake toast wasn't that good though - it wasn't baked long enough and some of the pieces were still slightly moist but crunchy at the same time - gross. My mom rebaked the toasts in the oven and they were a bit better.

That's the name! I knew there was chocolate in the name! It's at 1553 Robson Street.

Gourmet Warehouse, Cookshop @ City Square, Stock Market ← And maybe the Ming Wo on Pender? ← You could also try "Hot Chocolate" on Robson. I don't remember the exact name, actually, but it's near Hapa Izakaya.

We're thinking of going to Le Coq au Vin on our first night there (Wednesday). What's the dress code there? Do we need to bring nice clothes? Also, would we need reservations for any other restaurants? Because we'll be going to 3 different parks, it'll be hard to gauge what time we'll be leaving the parks those days.

Thought I'd mention King Wah Bakery again here as I had a REALLY delicious baked tapioca pudding from there If anybody has ever had the baked tapioca pudding at Kirin, this was way better. The pastry crust on the top was so buttery... The pudding itself was a tad sweet, but oh well! Unfortunately for BCinBC, there's a red bean filling hidden inside. However, for the rest of us who like red bean, the filling was great - it doesn't taste like commercially-made red bean filling (which can sometimes taste artificial) and actually has some red bean bits in it. Anyway, King Wah is on E. 41st & Victoria. Another exciting discovery I made lately is the "pai bao" (row buns??) at Osaka supermarket (at Yaohan). They're basically soft milk buns that're attached to each other, all lined up (hence the "row" part of the name - the buns are thin & long). We like the kind with raisins in them. Osaka's pai bao are denser & (I think) more buttery than all the other bakeries' pai baos that we've tried. Even better than Michelle's & Anna's. They're like $1.25 per pack (containing 5 baos, I think?). By the way, Anna's Cake House on W. 41st has closed (a while ago). Random question: why do all chicken tarts ALWAYS contain blubbery chicken skin in the filling?

^Thanks Anne! At least I know we can stick to the International Drive area. I haven't come up with a list of any great restaurants other than Le Coq au Vin. If nobody comes up with suggestions for noodle bars, maybe we'll go there instead. What's the dress code like? No flip-flops and shorts, I guess...

I have no idea if there is an answer to this question, but are there any noodle bars in Orlando? One of my friends has been craving a good fix of noodles lately (he lives in Missouri, so...) and 4 of us will be spending a week in Florida (mostly Orlando) at the end of March. Can anyone suggest a restaurant that can satisfy his craving?

So, where exactly is Xixon? I'm going to be in Miami for a couple of days (April 1 & 2) and would like to try this little deli. My cousin actually lives in Coral Gables, so we might be there on April 2. If we don't make it there, at least my cousin can check it out!

I bought a special flavour of the Morinaga caramels over the weekend: chestnut. The chestnut flavour is subtle, but you can taste it - the ingredients actually list chestnut paste as an ingredient. If you like chestnut flavour, I would recommend this! Also, the wait is over! The Puccho caramel and apple flavours have finally arrived in Vancouver!! I bought both flavours right away but haven't had a chance to try it yet. I also bought a prettily-packaged small box of Morinaga "opera" chocolates on Sunday. The box had a ringed hologram pattern on it (shiiinyyyy...) and the chocolates themselves are apparently dusted with gold powder. There are 3 layers to the chocolate. All I can tell is that the bottom layer has some crunchy/flaky hazelnut bits mixed in.

That's the only flavour that hasn't appealed to me so far. Years ago, we tried a mocha yogourt that came in fancy clear containers that had pedestals, and it didn't taste good at all... It basically tasted like sour coffee

I really like the yuzu Hi-Chu. I tried the blueberry one too, but it's not that special and not blueberry-y enough.

Yay! I'm so glad you like it! I made a new convert out of my friend's mom recently. She was visiting from Shanghai (she used to live here), and apparently the yogourt there is pret-ty bad (really sugary and really high fat content).

I tried some mint crunchy M&Ms lately. I think they might be an Asia- & Australia-only limited edition product However, I did buy them here in Vancouver at a Japanese candy store (Chinese owner), so they might be available in other countries. They're quite good! More minty than I thought they would be, and they come in pretty shades of green (the candy shell is mint-flavoured, not the chocolate).

Those thermal cookers are GREAT! They're called "jee moh boh"s in Cantonese, literally "child mother pots" because you put the pot ("child") into the thermal sleeve ("mother"). We use them to make soup, congee, and braises. We still use our pressure cooker to make soup sometimes though. I have an unfortunate story about pressure cookers Once, the valve on our pressure cooker was cracked. My parents had put the soup on as usual and went grocery shopping. Home alone, I was quietly watching tv when I heard a weird sound coming from the kitchen. I tentatively walked to the kitchen...and was greeted with the sight of soup spraying EVERYWHERE from the tiny broken valve! I had NO idea what to do, so I donned some oven gloves and put the spewing soup into the sink. Meanwhile, the soup was shooting out like a geyser onto the ceiling, the floor, the window (which was in front of the sink), the curtains, and my clothes. When I finally figured that I had to open that arm thing on the pot, the soup was everywhere...

I love Liberty yogourt In fact, I just finished eating some of the wild blackberry Mediterranean kind for breakfast! The lemon flavour is THE best, in my humble opinion. I've tried most of the other flavours that are available in Vancouver but I still like lemon the most. I haven't seen the dulce de leche here yet though. The vanilla one is also very good. While it still doesn't compare to the yogourt I had in Greece, it's still way better than some of the other brands out there. You can find Liberty yogourt at select Safeways, Choices, and a lot of other places.

I love Garden brand wafers - the hazelnut one is a recent favourite of mine. The wafer is nice & light and not too sweet. I like to peel apart the layers and eat them separately (I like to eat food in layers when I can, it's just more fun). I remember when there only used to be the chocolate, strawberry & lemon flavours. Now they even have durian flavour! I won't be trying that any time soon I love Horlicks candy! The original is better than the chocolate-flavoured one. I haven't had Ovaltine in a LONGGG time. Leung Uncle, I forgot to wish you and everyone else here "Boh boh goh sing"! I think the festivities in my house have finally ended! Whew, that was a lot of eating. We still have lots of "goh" and "wu ha" though! And lots of candied lotus seeds and coconut. I prefer the triangular pieces of coconut to the strips (the colour really throws me off).

Consumers have to be very careful these days when purchasing "fat choi". There have been many cases of fake fat choi these days. A family friend's son broke out in hives after he ate some recently and had to go to the emergency room. Apparently the way to tell if it's real fat choi is to look at the colour when it's soaking - the fungus should be a reddish-brown colour. We just used the last of our fat choi in a similar dish to Leung Uncle on Sunday - ours had dried oysters, fat choi, and pork tongue (the Cantonese word for tongue ("lei") is also related to fortune). On a related topic, there are a few different kinds of dried oysters. They are dried to different degrees of dryness - I like the large, less dry ones, which are much more flavourful and softer. I think they're more expensive though - my relatives bring them over from Hong Kong. However, I don't know what the difference between the light-coloured oysters & darker reddish-coloured ones is.