I got home late last night, after meandering through the thick fog that has been covering Vancouver for the past while. At times, it was so thick in certain areas that I could not see the lane lines!
I've always said that Canada should have "cats eyes" - the yellow reflector lights along lane lines. Our neighbours to the south have them, and they are helpful on dim nights or rainy days where you need a little extra help staying in your lane!
But no. Vancouver doesn't have them. Probably has something to do with snow ploughs digging up taxpayer money.
The boy made an assortment of goodies for dinner last night, some old (I'd been craving steamed eggs!) and some new (I told him stories of how I *hated* Chinese meat "cake" when I was little - it just tasted like old people food. But I didnt' mind his :).
He also made mapo tofu, which means pimply-old lady tofu. I'll be adding some sauteed mushrooms, bell peppers and eggplant to that for tonights' dinner. Can hardly wait.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Contest at Marxfoods.com!
I forgot to mention a contest that I found from Slashfood at Marxfood.com: You can enter to win truffles!
Simply leave a comment at the original posting, and twiddle your thumbs dreaming of truffles! :)
Simply leave a comment at the original posting, and twiddle your thumbs dreaming of truffles! :)
His and Hers Bentos
Another lunchtime favourite: bentos!
Although I don't have the skill or the craft to make elaborate, tasty and healthy bentos, I couldn't help but snap a photo of the lunches I packed for today for the beau and myself.
We have some lovely spicy, sweet and fragrant Carribean chicken drumsticks, herb-buttered mushrooms sauteed with onions and garlic, russet and red potato frites, topped with some creamy avocado. His and hers bentos? Well obviously the man has the triple helping of drumsticks on the left, while I have the two smaller boxes of food on the right.
This was a fairly cheap meal, considering we picked up the drumsticks at $0.99 / lb at Sunrise Market this weekend. We also picked up a pair of lovely avocados for $0.69/each. I snatched them up as I'd read that the price of avocadoes was going to soar this year. I'd also seen them advertised at chain supermarkets at the "sale" price of upwards of $1.25 each! So when I saw them at only 69 cents at Sunrise, I had to get them.
Have a good day everyone! It is the dawn of a new era - Obama was sworn in this morning and I listened to it at work.
Change is good.
More foodie photos at my flickr photoset, Food Glorious Food!
Although I don't have the skill or the craft to make elaborate, tasty and healthy bentos, I couldn't help but snap a photo of the lunches I packed for today for the beau and myself.
We have some lovely spicy, sweet and fragrant Carribean chicken drumsticks, herb-buttered mushrooms sauteed with onions and garlic, russet and red potato frites, topped with some creamy avocado. His and hers bentos? Well obviously the man has the triple helping of drumsticks on the left, while I have the two smaller boxes of food on the right.
This was a fairly cheap meal, considering we picked up the drumsticks at $0.99 / lb at Sunrise Market this weekend. We also picked up a pair of lovely avocados for $0.69/each. I snatched them up as I'd read that the price of avocadoes was going to soar this year. I'd also seen them advertised at chain supermarkets at the "sale" price of upwards of $1.25 each! So when I saw them at only 69 cents at Sunrise, I had to get them.
Have a good day everyone! It is the dawn of a new era - Obama was sworn in this morning and I listened to it at work.
Change is good.
More foodie photos at my flickr photoset, Food Glorious Food!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Review: The Ocean Club, There's a lot in a name.
I've heard good things about The Ocean Club, but never had the chance to try it until I attended a birthday party last week.
The restaurant accomodated our party of more than 20 quite nicely, and although not everyone showed up for dinner, everyone had at least a couple drinks or so.
A glance at their website shows a menu that looks inspired, however after ordering, all I can say is that although the food looked pretty, it didn't do much for the tastebuds.
We started out with the chicken drummettes, which, a couple days later after watching a KFC commercial, M remarked that KFC probably did those chicken wings better. I had to agree!
For entree, I had a seafood quinoa, after being told that the restaurant had run out of ahi tuna, sablefish, and swordfish. boo. The boy ordered mac n' cheese, which was served with braised short ribs. The entrees were just ok. The prawns and scallops were nicely done, but the salmon was dry and overdone. The quinoa was boring and just there. Those two things just put a big "minus" on the entire dish.
I do have to say that the veggies in the seafood quinoa were very tasty. There was an assortment of baby heirloom beets, baby carrots, and steamed gai lan and they were done to perfection.
The mac n' cheese was extremely rich. The braised short ribs were slathered with a syrupy glaze, and while tasting good, paired with the mac and cheese was just too heavy. The boy who never wastes a morsel of food (he's been known to finish off dining companions food for them), left almost half of his pasta in its ramekin.
Service was fantastic. The waitress was friendly and informative, and the waitstaff (although improvised - was that a bouncer who brought us our meals?) were helpful. The bartenders were really good - one of them remembered our drink orders hours later, and made it a priority to serve us at the bar.
The place turns into a club later in the night and it got quite packed, with a line-up outside. It was pretty loud in certain places, and quieter at different parts in the room.
So. Food was hit and miss and service was great. There's a lot in a name, I guess. Visit The Ocean Club *after* dinner, instead of before, and you won't be disappointed.
The Ocean Club
100 Park Royal #105 (East of Park Royal on Taylor Way)
West Vancouver
Tel: (604) 926-2326
Fax: (604) 926-2386
The restaurant accomodated our party of more than 20 quite nicely, and although not everyone showed up for dinner, everyone had at least a couple drinks or so.
A glance at their website shows a menu that looks inspired, however after ordering, all I can say is that although the food looked pretty, it didn't do much for the tastebuds.
We started out with the chicken drummettes, which, a couple days later after watching a KFC commercial, M remarked that KFC probably did those chicken wings better. I had to agree!
For entree, I had a seafood quinoa, after being told that the restaurant had run out of ahi tuna, sablefish, and swordfish. boo. The boy ordered mac n' cheese, which was served with braised short ribs. The entrees were just ok. The prawns and scallops were nicely done, but the salmon was dry and overdone. The quinoa was boring and just there. Those two things just put a big "minus" on the entire dish.
I do have to say that the veggies in the seafood quinoa were very tasty. There was an assortment of baby heirloom beets, baby carrots, and steamed gai lan and they were done to perfection.
The mac n' cheese was extremely rich. The braised short ribs were slathered with a syrupy glaze, and while tasting good, paired with the mac and cheese was just too heavy. The boy who never wastes a morsel of food (he's been known to finish off dining companions food for them), left almost half of his pasta in its ramekin.
Service was fantastic. The waitress was friendly and informative, and the waitstaff (although improvised - was that a bouncer who brought us our meals?) were helpful. The bartenders were really good - one of them remembered our drink orders hours later, and made it a priority to serve us at the bar.
The place turns into a club later in the night and it got quite packed, with a line-up outside. It was pretty loud in certain places, and quieter at different parts in the room.
So. Food was hit and miss and service was great. There's a lot in a name, I guess. Visit The Ocean Club *after* dinner, instead of before, and you won't be disappointed.
100 Park Royal #105 (East of Park Royal on Taylor Way)
West Vancouver
Tel: (604) 926-2326
Fax: (604) 926-2386
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Lunchtime & Recipe: Jerk Chicken!
Happy New Year everyone!
Welcome to the new blog. 'Tis the food blog that I should have started eons ago. I'm just now moving some old entries over here, and hopefully it should be updated somewhat regularly since I do cook several times a week, and eat at new restaurants now and then.
For lunch today? Jerk chicken!
I grew to love Jerk chicken after trying it a couple times at Carribean festivals, Jamaican restaurants, but noticed that not one really satisfied all the quadrants of salty, sweet, spicy, and umami for me.
Thus, this recipe was born. We tried it once while camping as well, and used the marinade on chicken as well as salmon - it was SO good.
Ingredients
-2 T soy sauce
-2 T molasses
-1/4 cup lime juice
-1 T ginger, grated or finely chopped
-2-5 cloves of garlic, minced
-1/2 onion, finely chopped
-2-8 chilis or jalapenos, your choice - I used 6 chilis for mine
-1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
-1/4 t nutmeg
-1/2 t cinnamon
-1/2 t allspice
-6 to 8 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in
Method
In a bag or large glass container, mix together the marinade ingredients.
Marinate your chicken in the marinade overnight, turning occasionally. I use chicken thighs because they are forgiving, and because they have so much flavour! Plus they're cheap. :)
Grilling is the way to go, but since my barbeque is out of commission, I took it indoors and panfried the thighs in batches for about 2-3 minutes on each side on medium heat, then transferred them to a foil-lined pan where they mingled with each other in a 375ºF oven. By the time I removed them 25 minutes later, they were happy little fellows.
Jerk chicken. Spicy, sweet, finger-licking good! Served over brown rice with thyme-buttered vegetables, M enjoyed every last piece.
Welcome to the new blog. 'Tis the food blog that I should have started eons ago. I'm just now moving some old entries over here, and hopefully it should be updated somewhat regularly since I do cook several times a week, and eat at new restaurants now and then.
For lunch today? Jerk chicken!
I grew to love Jerk chicken after trying it a couple times at Carribean festivals, Jamaican restaurants, but noticed that not one really satisfied all the quadrants of salty, sweet, spicy, and umami for me.
Thus, this recipe was born. We tried it once while camping as well, and used the marinade on chicken as well as salmon - it was SO good.
Ingredients
-2 T soy sauce
-2 T molasses
-1/4 cup lime juice
-1 T ginger, grated or finely chopped
-2-5 cloves of garlic, minced
-1/2 onion, finely chopped
-2-8 chilis or jalapenos, your choice - I used 6 chilis for mine
-1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
-1/4 t nutmeg
-1/2 t cinnamon
-1/2 t allspice
-6 to 8 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in
Method
In a bag or large glass container, mix together the marinade ingredients.
Marinate your chicken in the marinade overnight, turning occasionally. I use chicken thighs because they are forgiving, and because they have so much flavour! Plus they're cheap. :)
Grilling is the way to go, but since my barbeque is out of commission, I took it indoors and panfried the thighs in batches for about 2-3 minutes on each side on medium heat, then transferred them to a foil-lined pan where they mingled with each other in a 375ºF oven. By the time I removed them 25 minutes later, they were happy little fellows.
Jerk chicken. Spicy, sweet, finger-licking good! Served over brown rice with thyme-buttered vegetables, M enjoyed every last piece.
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