Saturday Night at Ms Moms house

M has four siblings. One of his brothers has a daughter and a son; M's sister has one daughter and two sons. Ms mom also has a homestay, and his sister has two homestays. To say the least, when their family gets together, she creates a mountain of food! Behold, a mountain of pasta!



My camera died before I could take other photos, but there was also soy, ginger, and garlic-marinated chicken thighs, garlic toast, and sticky ribs (mmmmm!).

I think I want spaghetti again for dinner tonight. It was so good!

Review: Kitanoya Guu with Otokamae

I am biased. I love Guu. Especially Kitanoya Guu with Otokamae in Gastown. I love almost everything on the menu - Salmon with seven friends, Ebi Mayo, Miso Black Cod, Yakiudon, Takoyaki, Brie Cheese, Okonomi-yaki, Kimchi Bibimbap. I love it all!

So it was more of a treat-yourself-out dinner than a "review" dinner that we had on Saturday. Unfortunately, we'd had a late lunch at Banana Leaf earlier that day, and were meeting some friends in Gastown for some pubbing later, so we ate a little lighter.



Izakaya is traditionally a drinking hole that also serves small dishes and tapas, targeted towards the busy businessmen or for more casual get togethers. It is only more recently that the izakaya has grown in size, and included a greater variety of foods.

Within the last eight years, you can say that Vancouver has had an "izakaya explosion" of sorts. From from the chain izakaya around downtown and Richmond to the yakitori-ya along Denman and Robson, the Gastown Guu location is still one of my favourites.



While some may argue that the constant yelling of orders between waiters and kitchen staff and bar staff is disruptive, some may also say that it adds to the unique ambience that izakayas offers.

Personally, it depends on the day. But I imagine that since izakayas have grown in square footage over time, modern-day izakayas are taking that traditional approach and just keeping it casual. I can tell you from experience in the restaurant kitchens that Guu is probably just a touch louder than your average kitchen, and the waiters here are a helluva lot nicer than the kitchen staff at other establishments.



On our visit last Saturday, we were delighted to find that pitchers of their Jump cocktails were on special, and so we ordered an ebi mayo, tai carpaccio salad, and halibut karaage to begin with. As usual, we enjoyed the tender, succulent prawns enveloped in crisp, hot batter so much, that we ordered another ebi mayo, plus a yakiudon. It was fantastic.

Again, I want to do a dinner here in March. I remember the set menu dinner I tried last summer was great value and a good variety of food.



Guu...means Guuuu'd!!


Kitanoya Guu with Otokamae

375 Water Street #105 [map]

Vancouver, BC

Tel: 604 685-8682

Healthy Bento!

I packed some healthy energy food for today. It started with me not wanting to bring the same old pasta and tomato sauce to work - so I looked in our "carb drawer" (yes, we have a carb drawer FULL of noodles, pastas, grains, and rice sheets. When we run out of one particular noodle, we kind of go crazy and stock it up again. They don't call them "filler foods" for nothing!). Perusing the carb drawer yielded some yummy buckwheat (soba) noodles!



Soba noodles are made from buckwheat grain and thus have more fiber and nutritional content in them than plain white or egg noodles. Plus, they have a nutty flavour and more texture to boot! They are called "soba" as they resemble a straw broom. I think the description is right on the money! Although, being that soba noodles are a little bit more expensive than regular noodles, I wouldn't exactly use them as a broom...



I packed a small container of zaru soba (cold soba) with an even smaller container of dipping sauce made from soy sauce and dashi (bonito fish stock granules dissolved in water). I didn't have any seaweed flakes or green onion, but if I did, I would have added them... I also packed some blanched and chilled edamame (soy beans), as well as some strawberries I had in the fridge. Lastly, I packed a container of tofu dessert. Yes, that's a lot of carbs, but the carbs are from healthy, fiber-rich sources, and the meal is low in fat and high in protein.

I think it deserves a prize! :p

For my other foodie photos, visit my flickr photoset "Food, Glorious Food!"

'Tis the Season to ReSeason!

(Okay, I'm sorry...I do know that the title was a little cheesey.)

We've had this old neglected cast iron pot sitting around since we've moved into together.



It belonged to Ms mother, and she had so many items, that she gave us one. Something tells me that she picked it up from a garage sale... :)

Cast iron is reknown for being a excellent conductor of heat and thus, a great surface for frying and cooking on. Furthermore, the pieces last lifetimes and, when treated right, can be made to be a great, non-toxic, "non-stick" surface.

The question for me was, how do I begin?

I'd watched Chef Michael Smith demonstrate how to season a cast iron pan on his show, Chef at Large, but my pot was a little rusty.

After some searching on the internet, I came across several articles and read them all through. The synopsis was that I had to remove the rust, heat the pot up to remove any moisture, then coat with animal fat and heat again to create a sticky layer of "season". Off I went...



I took a steel wool scouring pad and went to work. It took a fair amount of elbow grease, but that rust came right off! I rinsed well with hot water and set the pot and lid in the oven to dry at 300ºF.



After about half an hour or so, I removed the pot and lid from the oven carefully - it was hot (and heavy!) and placed them on a baking sheet.

Using an off-set spatula, a silicone basting brush, and some lard, I coated both the pot and lid inside and out with a layer of lard. It went back into the oven for about an hour, and repeated the process once.

It got smokey! Thank goodness it was warmer and drier that day! We closed all the bedroom doors, left the patio door and some windows open, and turned on the exhaust fan full blast.

In the end, the pot was all glistening and sticky and perfect. Ok, so it wasn't perfect. But it was nice and seasoned.



I used it the next morning to make breakfast (bacon and eggs) and the results were delicous! What a way to utilize natural products in the kitchen. (Can you say "green" cookware??)

Sources:
Cooking Monster
Wikihow
Cooking Louisiana

There are a few more photos on my flickr photoset "Seasoning Cast Iron".

FYI: Starbucks Freebie

I forgot to note that today and tomorrow, Starbucks is having a special promotion for those with registered Starbucks Cards - when you use your Starbucks card today, January 27 or tomorrow, the 28th, you can get a free portion of their oatmeal!



I just tried their plain oatmeal this morning when I ordered a small hazelnut latte to go - I swear I have the most common face or just blend in with all "Asian" looking women. The girl at the cash register, even though I've seen her probably two to three times a week since she's started, couldn't recognize me. I live upstairs!!!

...She has no problem remembering M though, she even gave him free coffee one time and said "don't worry about it! I know you come here all the time!"

Hello! M is usually with me, what's up with that?!?

Anyways, the oatmeal was good, although plain. I might try their Fruit medley flavour, or Nut medley flavour tomorrow. Today I just poured some of my latte into the nifty little "incubator bowl" that the oatmeal was served in, and enjoyed it on my way to work. Definately better than the instant packets I have at home, and creamier too.