Bumble's Bodacious Buffet

My Recipe in a Cookbook!

2011-08-31T08:33:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recently got married and her family and friends put together a cooking book for her. Yes, they made this gorgeous book. I was invited to participate as well and had the honour of having one of my recipe featured in the book. Chocolate Truffle Truffle looks so good in a book!

Sesame Chicken Soup

2011-08-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

Usually done without vermicelli noodles

As a child, this was my favourite soup. When my family first immigrated, this soup cut through Vancouver's chilly weather and reminded us of home. According to Chinese medicine, consuming lots of black sesames during pregnancy helps baby develop healthy pale skins. I am not sure about the validity of this claim, but might as well work it into my diets. Black sesame oil offers intense flavour and can be found in ethnic food store such as T&T.

This soup is gluten, dairy, egg, sugar, and soy free. It can also be paleo-friendly by removing rice wine and replacing it with simple chicken broth or plain water (just adjust seasonings accordingly). I usually use daikon, but you can also use any other root vegetables. The traditional soup uses no vegetable at all. The soup can be poured over cooked rice to make congee or minestrone. I added paleo-friendly vermicelli instead.

Note: Traditionally, this dish requires bone in chicken thigh. You need to cleave the the thighs into half pieces. But I find that the jagged bones can be problematic especially for children. I tested this recipe using boneless skinless chicken thigh. There was some difference, but it made it much easier to eat.

Ingredients: Serves 4
1 pound chicken thigh halved or boneless skinless chicken thighs
1½ cup daikon cubbed (optional)
1 cup carrot (optional)
3-4 slices of ginger
2 tablespoon black sesame oil
4 cup rice wine (replace with more chicken broth or water for paleo)
2 cup chicken broth or water
4 teaspoon white pepper
4 teaspoon salt
⅓ cup cilantro chopped

Instruction:
1. In a pot, heat sesame oil on high heat.
2. Add sliced ginger and sauté for 30 second
3. Add chicken pieces and cook until the outside of the chicken is cooked (you don't see anymore pink)
4. Add rice wine, chicken broth, and/or water.
5. Reduce heat to medium. Add the carrots and daikon. Then bring to boil
6. Reduce to simmer. With a spoon, remove excess sesame oil floating on the surface.
7. When the vegetables have softened, add white pepper, salt, and cilantro to taste. Serve!

Note: If you like to add vermicelli as well, delay adding the cilantro. Bring the soup back to a boil after seasoning and put the noodle in for 1 minute. Reduce heat and add the cilantro then.

Vermicelli

2011-08-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon this wonderfully delicious noodle that is completely friendly for paleolithic diet. This particular vermicelli noodle is made from two ingredients: green peas and water. It is easier to cook than any other types of noodle out there. You can cook this in boil water, broth, or soup and it only takes a minute to cook. You can eat it hot, as soup noodle, or cold in a salad.

The noodle is translucent and a little chewy. The noodle itself has no flavour but it picks up flavours from sauce or soup. This is particularly popular in Chinese hot pot, because it doesn't get soggy sitting inside hot boiling broth for a long time. I have been throwing them into any Chinese broth-y soups I make recently. Dennis doesn't like them though.

You can get this from T&T, the asian store in Granville Island, or other ethnic stores.

Greek Styled Lamb Lollipop

2011-08-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

Summer always comes with lots of BBQ party, and most BBQ sauce out there aren't paleo or allergy friendly. This is something very easy to prepare, and it goes great on a grill or in the oven. Lamb lollipop is also great finger food for children or at a party.

Most butcher would be more than happy to section a rack of lamb for you into lollipops. You can use either dried or fresh herbs, but remember that dried herbs are more potent, so adjust the amount accordingly. I actually prefer using dried basil, because fresh basil tend to be too moist for the meat.

Ingredient (serves 2-3):
A rack of lamb (sectioned into individual ribs)
3-4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 Tablespoon oregano (finely chopped)
1 Tablespoon basil (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon rosemary (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon thyme (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon chive (chopped for garnish later)
Salt and Pepper

Instruction: Pre-heat oven 400F or high heat on the grill
1. Combined garlic, oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, mustard, salt, pepper, olive oil in a bowl.
2. With your hand or a brush, rub the mixture onto each individual lolipop.
3. You can either let it marinate for 1-2 hours or cook it immediately
4. Bake or grill for 12-18 minutes or until the centre reaches 140F for rare. Flip them over about half way through the cooking process.
5. Sprinkle on chopped chive for garnishes.

Shrimp and Sausage Cioppino

2011-08-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

Doesn't look that good, but it's super delicious

This recipe belong to Giada on Food Network. It's rare to see elaborate recipes that is this hypoallergenic and paleo-friendly. Not every Food Network recipes work out but this one does, and it's super delicious.

The only uncommon ingredients is the spicy turkey sausages, which I found at Oyama at Granville Island. Four sausages are about 12 dollars, and twelve pawns is another 15 dollars. It yields 4 servings and takes half an hours to prepare. I cheated and used dried herbs instead of fresh ones (hence the ugly black color), but it tastes just as delicious. I cheated again with the chicken broth by using water, worked out fine as well. I am sure you can get away using frozen shrimp too. The soup tastes even better the next day.

Potato with Coriander Seed

2011-08-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

Half Eaten Potatoes

I was half way through eating these potato before I realize I should take a photo of it. These potatoes are great hot or cool, which makes it a great paleo-friendly carb for lunch boxes. They are super easy to make as well. You can use any type of potatoes. You can prepare it ahead of time. Coriander seed is pretty soft and can be crushed by hand, or coriander power works too.

Ingredients: serve 4
4 medium sized potato
½ medium sized onion (chopped)
¼ cup ginger (chopped)
1 tablespoon coriander seed (crushed)
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoon chives (chopped) Optional

Instruction:
1. Boil and cool potato whole ahead of time. Then, peel if necessary. Cut into bite size pieces.
2. In a large size pan, heat olive oil over medium heat
3. Put in onion and ginger and stir until onion is softened, about 5 minutes.
4. Put in potatoes and coriander seed. Cook until the edges of the potatoes are slightly browned and crispy.
5. Remove from heat and toss in the chives.

Blueberry Porridge

2011-08-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Breakfast is the most challenging meal for our non-egg Paleo diet. Most traditional breakfasts, Western or Asian, are not paleo friendly. Unless we are content eating breakfast like dinner (the mere thought of it makes me nauseated), I have to get very creative.

Christina recommended this coconut fruit porridge to us, and it is delicious. Then, I made a couple refinement to it to smooth out the consistency. This dish is super filling and high in healthy calories; half a bowl would be more than enough to satisfy my nutrition requirement for the morning.

This dish is good hot or cold, depend on your mood. You can also adjust the thickness by adding more water or nuts. You can also replace blueberry with other fruits.

Ingredients: Serves 2 for a very thick porridge
½ cup cashew
½ cup almond (Optional: adjust for preferred thickness)
½ cup coconut milk
½ cup water (adjust for preferred thickness)
½ cup blueberry (frozen ones for cold porridge)
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Instruction for hot porridge:
1. Soak cashew overnight in water.
2. In the morning, drain the cashew and add it to a blender.
3. Add the almond, coconut milk, water, and blueberry into the blender and blend until smooth.
4. Add more water or almond to the desire thickness
5. Pour the mixture into a pot and simmer on low heat, covered, and stir frequently until hot.
6. Add cinnamon and some fruit topping, and serve

If you want to make cold porridge, place the cashew in the fridge and use less almond. Add small amount of ice to the blender and use frozen fruits.

Note: don't make too much as the porridge is very filling. Leftover can be stored for the next morning.

Paleolithic Diet

2011-08-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

Look but don't touch

Dennis has embarked on the Paleolithic Diet as recommended by Christina Longo, our personal trainer. This diets restrict the consumption of sugar, carbohydrates, and legumes, meaning:

No carbohydrate except for root vegetables such as potato, yams, and squashes
No sugar (e.g. pastry, candy, honey, maple syrup) except for a serving of fruit
No legumes (beans of any kind)
No dairy, because lactose is a form of sugar
No beer, but a glass of dry wine is okay

Since Dennis is allergic to eggs, which is considered the backbone of this diet, he has to supplement his diet with additional vitamins of Omega-6, Magnesium, and Vitamin D. I am very skeptical of this diet (and pregnant women should never go on any diet), but coincidentally, my blood sugar is high. In order to prevent developing gestational diabetes, I have put myself on a strict exercise and sugar regiment, so my diet also looks something like the Paleolithic Diet, with the exception of legumes and dairy.

After two weeks into this diet, I noticed that a lot of my pregnancy related bloating and water retention have gone away, and Dennis has lost a couple of inches from his waist. However, I am not sure if the weight lost can be contributed to the diet or the fact that he is eating less, because of all the restriction. We will see.

Anyway, this diet is very difficult (and interesting) to cook for, but it's not that drastic a change from our usual diet. I will add "Paleo" as a search topic for this blog.

Zakkushi on 4th Ave

2011-07-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

Zakkushi is...a Japanese mystical creature of a restaurant. Squeezed between a pizza hut and a Greek restaurant, Zakkushi's building looked as if it was teleported from 1930 Japan. As out of place as it looks, I would walk right by and never notice its existence. When you finally find the restaurant, you would feel as if you just step into a mystical Japanese old fishing house in some mystical forest. Suddenly, the busy traffic on 4th Ave seem out of place; not that you would even notice it with their small windows and double entrance.

Then, the interior barely looked like a restaurant. It is tiny, seating no more than 20 people with 4 wooden table and wooden bar stools. Quaint doesn't began to describe it.

Food: 4.5/5

This is a place other chefs come to eat, to enjoy themselves, and to be inspired. I have spotted at least a dozen local celebrity chefs here, leaning back with saki in their hands. Their famous yakitori, charcoal grilled meats on bamboo sticks, are that good. There are three pages dedicated to the different meat with other creative ingredients, sauces, and flavours: bacon wrapped asparagus, cheese wrapped chicken, or simple grilled beef. There is something for everyone and you can get one of each without breaking the bank.

Fried Savoury Mochi

The rest of the menu offers delicious treasures as well. I haven't had anything there I did not like. Have you ever had mochi? Their grilled or fried stick rice treat is the perfect way to introduce yourself or others to this fantastic (and gluten free) Japanese delicacy. How about ochazuké? The beloved onigri?

Salmon Salad

If you are looking for a more typical Vancouver styled Japanese restaurant, you would be sorely disappointed. They don't serve California rolls, or any rolls for that matter. Zakkushi serves authentic Japanese fare: things Japanese people would eat on a regular basis. They do have a good selection of sashimi, but instead of chunks of raw fish on plate that Vancouverites are more used to. Their sashimi are thinner, beautifully plated, and delicately seasons. Drenching these in a soy sauce bath should be criminal.

Yakitori Don

On the other hand, they have plenty of dishes for the less adventurous. For example, their yakitori don is my favourite. It comes with a poached egg that you mesh into your rice with a spoon. The result is a soul healing bowl of deliciousness. Their beef stew is amazing as well.

They also have sweet mochi with ice cream for dessert.

Service: 2.5/5

Hearty Beef Stew

Zakkushi is usually staffed with 2.5 servers and 2 chefs. The half server is also a prep chef and a dish washer. The servers are also responsible for bartending, managing the huge line up at the door, and taking (more like refusing) reservation on the phone. This doesn't leave much time to serving. However, they manage to find time to keep your table clean, well watered, and deliver food at a timely fashion. However, other than that, you will need to wave a server down in order to get their attention outside their usual routine.

Ambience: 3/5

Onigri

The air inside any izakaya in Japan would be blue with smoke. Zakkushi offers the authentic izakaya ambience without lung cancer; something you can't get even in Japan. The restaurant uses dim warm light and the lack of window give makes you forget about your bad day at work and that expiring parking meter. It's almost romantic, if you don't mind the tight space between the tables, or bumping elbows with the guy next to you at the bar. Just pretend you are in Tokyo where it's this crowded. For lone diner, this is the perfect place to be.

Overall Experience: 3.5/5
Personally, I love this restaurant, but I can also see many people not liking it for the same reason I like it. People not not like it, because it deviate so far away from the norm of which we expect most Western restaurants. This place doesn't really offer the 3 course routine (appetizer, main course, then desert). we are more used to; Yakitori is eaten with hands and most dishes are tapas or for share. It doesn't carry many mainstream Japanese dishes that Vancouverites are familiar with. You may hate being turn away at the door without a reservation or having to wait even if you have one. However, you might enjoy this truly authentic Japanese experience.

Total: 13.5/5
I definitely recommend everyone to try it at least once. Zakkushi is worth checking out for its food and the unique set up.

0: inexcusably bad
1: bad
2: below average
2.5: average
3: above average
4: excellent
5: perfection

Second Trimester

2011-07-06T11:36:00.001-07:00

Sorry for being a terrible blogger... I got pregnant and suddenly anything other than plain rice became repulsive. Even a glimpse of food photo would send me running to the washroom.

Two days ago, I woke up with no pregnancy sickness! Looks like I am officially in my second trimester! WOOT!

I am back to blogging regularly, and I also plan to include a new subject of pregnancy and food (and later on, baby and food!).

Stay tuned!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tea Infused Salmon with Skordalia

2011-04-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

Not my best photo. It was taken late at night without much help
from lighting and the composition was all wrong too. (I was eager to eat it)

Rick Moonen was my favourite Top Chef Master of all time. I bought his book, Fish Without a Doubt when I was still in university. Being a sociology student, I bought the book purely based on its premise: eating sustainable seafood. The book offered caters to everyone from beginner chefs who can't tell one fish to another to advance chefs who want to find new ways to cook fish head.

Personally, I really admire Chef Rick's innovative ways of flavouring food and incorporating very unconventional spices and cooking technical. For example, he used lapsang souchong tea to marinate and flavour salmon. Lapsang souchong is a black tea with strong nasty smell that reminds me of tobacco and burnt wood. This tea is often consumed for medicinal use instead of pleasure. In fact, a whiff of this tea reminded me of acupuncture office in Taiwan.

For one of his recipe, Rick grounds up this tea in a spice grinder and rub it all over the salmon. Then, marinate it for an hour before sautéing it in butter. The result was a delicious, subtle smoky flavour which bought out the natural sweetness of the fish. It was phenomenal. Who would have thought this pungent tea would turn into a magical spice?

Anyway, we don't like butter. So after the first attempt, I replaced butter with grape seed oil, and it tasted just as good and without the grease and the guilt. Then, I tried baking it with olive oil instead of sautéing. It was just as tasty and even lower in calorie, but I lost the delicious crispy skin.

This opened up a new world of cooking for me. I am now trying various tea : rose, matcha, red tea, and etc. It's amazing! I will definitely be posting more of these delicious discovery in the future.

Next post: Skordalia - the way Yaya used to make it.

Holland America

2011-04-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

For our honeymoon, Dennis and I choose the Caribbean tour with Holland America's new ship, NieuwAmsterdam. We didn't do much on our trip: relaxing, sun tanning, and dinning with people at least twice of our age (or thrice).

Wasabi Soy Crusted Beef
Tenderloin from Tamarind

Manhattan, the main dinning hall, serves all three meals. The food... well... for food that had to be mass produced quickly and within budget it was pretty good. Objectively, it was rather disappointing for a cruise that boast to have the best foodie experience. Also, sharing table with other couple sounded good in theory but was super bad idea in reality.

South East Asian Spice Samplers
from Tamarind

Lido, the not-24hour buffet, was where Dennis and I ate most of our breakfast and lunch. Ironically, the buffet offered the variety, portion and ingredient control of all the restaurants. We were able to tailor our dish to make sure we got enough fibre and vitamin C, while keeping our calories in check.

Lobster Salad at Pinnacle

Tamarind was their high end dinning (and you have to extra) on the top deck, with view. They offer a wide range of Westernized Asian cuisine, everything from below average sushi to fancy pad thai, on fancy plates. I thought the concept of this restaurant was innovative by utilizing the knowledge and skills of their employees on board and the food was delicious. I would compare it to Red Door.

Pinnacle Grill

Canaeletto is their attempt at offering some Italian options on the cruise. Don't go there.

Pinnacle Grill is the best restaurant on board. In fact, it was so good that the restaurant was booked full within 12 hours of boarding. Therefore, as soon as you board and before you go to your room, head down there and make as many reservation as they are willing to give you. The food here was aaaaaamazing. The best steaks I had ever had and was top 10 for our friends from New York.

Then there is the special Le Cirque nights with special menu with wine pairing. Each dish was delicious and some were mind melting. I couldn't get enough of it, and, as I ate, I lamented that this restaurant was only on a cruise and I could not sample each dish (over and over again). Then there was the ambience. The restaurant reminded me of a cozy Jewelled box with crystal, velvet, and candle light: very French and very fancy. The staffs were super nice, personable, and seemed to be having as much as we were. A restaurant like this will do very well in Vancouver.

Tamarind Chocolate

Wine: If you are from Canada, their expensive wine list is still a discount. The wine masters were very knowledgeable. Befriend with them at the pinnacle bar to find out their secret stash of wine that are not on the wine list.

Wine Tasting was also worth going to. Even with some wine education, the chocolate wine paring session offered lots of information I didn't know.

Cooking Classes was also interesting, but if you are a Food Networkolic or a seasoned cook, these classes won't offer you anything new.

How Salt Is Made Traditionally

2011-04-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

Maison Côté

2011-04-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

For those who frequents the farmer's market, this should be nothing new. Maison Côté makes (locally) amazing lines of spice and herbs products, especially their flavoured salts. Their raspberry salt is ranked 54th on Vancouver's 1000 things you must eat before you die list. I'd probably bump it up a few rank though (It's amazing).

What is the point of buying flavoured salt when I can flavour my food separately? This is true for some of the mixed spice rubs and salt rubs. I can mix my own and control the salt, but the fruity salts are definitely great addition to any kitchen. The fruit salts, especially the blueberry salt, adds a bit of acidity and fruitiness to your salad when actual chunks of fruit are not appropriate. Raspberry salt is amazing in soups, such as the Short Rib Soup or the Mushroom Soup. I haven't completely figure out how the salt magically turns ordinary broth into five-star broth. Perhaps it's the acidity that cuts and balances the oil, but I haven't able to replicate the result with lemon juice. Hibiscus salt has also made its way into our lives. Hibiscus is a smoky palate cleanser and great addition in just about any heavy flavoured good. I like to use it in curry, lamb roast, and flat-boy chickens.

Otherwise, these salts are lazy cook's dream come true. A spoonful of their perfectly portioned rubs would be great addition to your meal. They even have pairing suggestion right on the label.

Rib Soup with Garlic

2011-03-18T18:11:00.000-07:00

Spring is almost here in Vancouver. We seems to be stuck in rain-with-chance-of-sun weather, and kids (and Dennis) have started to leave their jacket at home. In other words, flu season is also here. I always make this soup during spring and fall for Dennis, when he is coming home in a wet rainy day. This is also a great low calorie, gluten free alternative to chicken noodle soup!

This is a pretty typical for Chinese home-cooking, and spare ribs or side ribs (same thing different names) are used for soup. The Western baby back rib are ribs closer to the spine, and they tend to be meatier. Whereas side ribs are closer to the belly and usually have more bones and fat. More bones make better broth and the fat makes the meat more tender after been boiled. Side ribs are also much cheaper than baby back ribs. If you have a reliable butcher, have him pick the leanest rack he has. Western butchers don't usually stock side ribs, however, and often it has to be special ordered in. However, Asian markets, such as T&T, would carry these.

Like baby back ribs, side ribs can also come with long bones, but we don't want that. Ask your butcher to cut them down to an inch to an inch and half strips. You can do it at home with a cleaver, but it's not fun. If your butcher is super nice, also have him separate each rib individually.

People also cook the soup with their local root vegetable, such as daikon or khohlrabi, to add additional flavour and texture. The vegetable is also great for soaking up the fat. However, just about any fibrous root vegetable would do. For this soup, I used carrot and even added a little bit of broccoli at the end.

There are a lot of variation to this soup. Its foundation is just ribs, salt, and water and everything else can be changed. Definitely have fun with it and experiment with your favourite ingredients. For the even lower calorie version of the soup, just slow boil ribs with tons of garlic (no salt, additional oil) in water, and then remove the fat after.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

1 strip side ribs (chopped into 1 inch pieces)

1½ - 2 bulbs garlic (yes lots)

½ onion (chopped)

1 large carrot (and/or other root vegetable) (chopped)

2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

4-5 cups cold water

finally chopped cilantro for garnish

Instruction:

1. In a medium size (4 quartz or bigger) pot at medium low heat, sauté onion and carrot for 5 minutes. Do not let them brown.

2. Add 4-5 cups of cold water, garlic, and the ribs. Increase the heat to medium high. Let it boil uncovered. Do not stir in the meantime.

3. When the water boils, lower the heat immediately to low. With a ladle, slowly scoop out the fat floating on the top.

4. Add lemon juice and salt. Then, garnish and serve!

If the soup taste blend to you, you can either add more salt or allow the soup to boil down for a bit. I always allow the soup to slowly simmer for two hours before serving.

Trainer's Tip from Christina

2011-02-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

Keeping on tract when traveling

Travel is amazing. You meet new people, visit exciting locations that expand your mind and inspire. Yet there is a downside. Between long hours sitting on airplanes, poor dietary options, and lack of sleep, we can be left feeling out of sorts and even a few pounds heavier! Here are 3 tips to help you arrive and depart feeling balanced, lean and focused on the experiences!

1. Request a special meal or be picky. Most airlines offer many options including raw (personal favorite), gluten or dairy free. Otherwise, buy a salad or raw vegetables to bring on the plane to subsidize what you pick and choose from what is offered.

2. Avoid caffeine, focusing on water to stay hydrated. This will help keep the energy drops that send us towards carbohydrate packed snacks at a minimum.

3. Take a walk. If you have a wait before departure or have a layover, take 15 to 30 min to briskly stroll the airport to get the blood flow going and burn a few calories.

Give these tips a try and make your next travel experience more enjoyable and healthier!

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

The Green Pan

2011-02-10T14:44:00.000-08:00

After my Frying Pan 101 posts, my future in-laws (they read my blog!) gave me a gift certificate for The Green Pan. So here is my first review of a fancy cookware.

Green pan is just as good as they have advertise and better. I cooked with it for a week, and I have enjoyed how quickly it heats up, retains the heat, and how evenly it cook even without oil. The best part is the cleaning. I managed to crust it with a thick layer of burnt maple syrup during a moment of inattention. Then I left it uncleaned for a day and half. Yet the crust came off under running water and a little encouragement by my hands. I did not need brushes or scrubs at all. Dennis who is not interested in the kitchen at all (but is usually stuck with the dishwashing duty) is singing praises for this lovely pan. Rarely does an environmentally friendly product cheaper, easier to use, and better. I have yet found it's flaws, but I will let you know.

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The Coast

2011-02-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

Coast is another gorgeous-yet-expensive-borderline-overpriced creation of Glowball Group. Unlike the others, Coast specializes in seafood: everything from fish and chips to sashimi with an artistic flair. The menu, food, ambience, and service scream the underlying philosophy behind the Glowball frienchise: food should not be simply concomsumed, it should be connoisseured, hedonistically and opulently.

Food: 4/5

Ahi Tuna

Let's start with the open concept oyster bar where chefs work tirelessly to clean, chuck, and plate raw oysters that are farmed or harvested locally. The menu lists oysters according by region using the same language as wine and its terrior to describe the flavours of each. Their sushi creations are pretty average for Vancouver standard, but this may be a good place to introduce your less adventurous friends to sushi. The content of each dish is listed in perfectly appetizing English and the beautiful Western plating and seductive ambience enhance them even more. Dennis loves their separate Raw section which is a marriage between sashimi and western carpaccio .

BC Cod

Then there is the grilled fish, which Coast has come pretty lose to perfecting. If $31 swordfish is a little on the dry side, the manager will take it off your bill and offer additional free dessert. The Big Fish and Whole Fish section offer dishes that would not break your calorie bank and can be hypoallergenic. Simple ask to replace mash potato with dairy-free sautéd vegetable.

However, not every dish is good, and consistency is an issue. Their poutine is terrible, fish and chips are below average, and the flatbreads are hard, dry, and slightly burnt. The "idea" pop-rock lolipops are rather ingenious, but its taste is pretty average.

On the other hand, you must try their unique fish cake, Manhattan Chowder, Lobster Bisque, and godly Molten Banana Lava Cake.

If you think something doesn't taste right or is prepared well, just wave down your waiter and they will go out of their way to please you.

This is definitely the best seafood place in Vancouver, if you don't consider the price.

Pop-Rock Lollipops

Service: 4/5
The service is pretty fantastic there. Its good to see that they are slowly adopting the secret service style earpiece for some of their servers (popular in Asia) for faster communication and increased efficiency. They know when to solicit your attention and when to serve discretely. The best part is some of the servers seem to be able to read faces and know when the customers are displeased. The service isn't perfect though; we did meet a black sheep one time who abruptly contradicted us about the quality of the flatbread. We don't like him...

Molten Banana Coconut Cake

Ambience: 4/5
This is so far the first restaurant that thoroughly thought of each and every aspect and detail of their decor. Every thing from the lights and the wall to the plate setting work are fashionable, clever, seductive and seamlessly. You will even find yourself marvelling over their ketchup bottle. There are enough dividers and changes in elevation to the restaurant seem not so crowded and noisy. Large oval tables are set below gorgeous chandelier for large groups. I have seen amazing office parties held here.

Overall: 3/5
Coast is really really expensive. We can only go sparingly. Above average wine list.

Total: 15/20
Also, if you like caesar (the drink), you HAVE TO order it. You won't regret it.

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We are back!

2011-02-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

Hello Folks, we just came back from our honeymoon this morning. I will churn out the next post by tomorrow morning.

Getting Married

2011-01-14T01:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the lack of blog postings. I am getting married!! I promise to post more soon!

Iki Mandala Bistro

2011-01-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

There are two Iki in the Kits area: The main one, Iki Japanese Bistro is near Broadway and the other one, Mandala Iki Asian Bistro is on 4th Ave. Unlike the stereotypical sushi houses, Iki offers more diverse menus, authentic dishes, and unique (and daring) creations. They were also one of the pioneering restaurants offering brown rices for their sushi.

Seaweed Salad

Mandala is the little sister of the Japanese one. It is not my favourite, but that's just a personal preference. Instead of specializing in one cuisine, Mandala does the opposite by offering a little bit of everything from every Asian cuisine: Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese. (The menu is not the same!) Do they make all these dishes well? No, they are average or above average, catering to Western palettes.

Veggy Pho

You might be inclined to think that their menu needs a Restaurant Makeover, but I actually enjoy bring wble to have a bowl of healthy pho while Dennis have his sushi rolls. Their pho is not super oily, salt, and full of MSG, and they even cook the bean sprouts before serving it. You will find it slightly under flavoured compared to the standard pho.

Like other Iki, this one is understaffed too. Sometimes, there are only one dude serving the lunch rush, but they still manage to keep the service and the quality of the food pretty consistent. He just has difficulty checking up on everyone regularly. However, once I got a hair in my food, and it was not reimbursed.

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Iki Japanese Bistro

2011-01-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

Volcano Roll

Iki Japanese Bistro on Broadway specializes in Japanese cuisine and creating unique dishes.

Iki's sushi rolls are noticeably better crafted than Mandala Iki or other average sushi restaurants. The rolls are compact, perfectly cut, and come with beautiful designs. The quality is always good and consistent. The specialty rolls such as, Spinach and Feta Roll, are pretty expensive ($7), but they were all thoughtfully out together. Especially try their Volcano Rolls which come with yam tempura fries and spiced miso sauce.

Edamame Hummus

If you are looking for something more healthy and calories conscious, Iki's also offers lots of delicious and affordable options on their daily menu such as the Power Sushi Bowl which has edamame, avocado, seaweed salad, cucumbers and other greens on a bed of brown rice for $9. My favourite is the Seared tuna, Salmon, Cashew with Chili Salad. It comes with tons of season greens and is full of flavour, fitting right into any low carb or gluten free diet.

If you are simply looking for bargain bento box deal, they have that too. The veggie box is especially delicious; they grill the tofu just right. Their lunch special is $9 while the dinner is $12.

Do not go here when you are in a rush. They are constantly understaffed, and it may take a while for you to get your orders. However, the lounge music, dark wood, leather seats make it pretty ideal for a long romantic date with style and within budget.

Dennis and I regularly visits this restaurant for their salads. You might run into us.

Turmeric Fused Olive Oil

2011-01-06T19:39:00.000-08:00

The oil drizzle on the plate is a combination of paprika and turmeric infused olive oil

You can use this method to make flavoured olive oil from just about any spices such as paprika, curry powder, even chilli pepper. Then, use it to season food into that flavour. For example, you can make turmeric flavoured roasted potato. If you had added turmeric powder directly to the potato, the spicy can be grainy, smoky, and burnt. With turmeric infused into the olive oil, the spice is incorporated into the food.
Here is a few ideas for applications:
- curry infused oil with pasta or rice
- salty chilli oil on steam chicken
- red paprika drizzle on cream soup.

Instruction:
1. In a small pan or pot, place 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder and 2 cups of olive oil
2. On the lowest heat seating, warm the olive oil for 20 minutes.
3. Place 2-3 coffee filter inside a strainer, and place it over a bowl (large enough to support the strainer).
4. Pour the oil into the coffee filter.
5. The left over grinds can be recycled back into cooking as regular spices.

Frying Pan 101: Good Non-stick Options

2011-01-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Part 1: What is a frying pan?
Part 2: Basic Metals
Part 3: Teflon

Sarah, a representative of DuPont, has commented on the previous Frying Pan 101 post with information regarding PFOA, a cancer causing chemical emitted from when Teflon is overheated. According to Consumer Report, the amount of PFOA emitted from the pan, in proper use at 400F, does not contribute much to your total PFOA exposure. Various products such as waterproof fabrics and electronic part also releases PFOA. Nevertheless, extra precaution and care are still necessary when using Teflon non-stick cookware: always use ventilation, don't put empty pans over high heat, discard pans that has been scratched or started flaking.

There are two non-stick options (that I am aware of) that are completely free of PFOA and PTFE and are environmentally sound.

Enamel Cast-Iron Skillet has enamel exterior and on the cooking surface. Enamel is a type of fused glass which is non-reactive, while the cast iron inside offers great heat retention. This would be the perfect frying pan for cooking up a thick piece of steak. The pan will not cool down when the steak first meet the surface, so it would brown evenly and perfectly. Enamel is non-reactive on the ion level, so food actually tasted better and the cookware won't have the left over food smell from the last use. This pan is also more durable than aluminum or copper, and it is safe in dishwasher and oven friendly. Because of it's (light) weight, enamel is especially ideal for water-based cooking and camping. However, because enamel is a type of glass. It can be prone to chipping and cracking. For example, a low quality enamel pot may crack, when you shock it with cold water after cooking. The glass will end up in your food and the rust from the steel will end up in your body. Also, low quality enamel may contain cadmium, which is harmful for your body (this is illegal in Canada, but not regulated in places like China). I would recommend Le Cresuset and Chantal offers high quality ones with lifetime warranties on their enameled cookware.

The Green Pan:
This is the new kid on the block. Green pan is an aluminum based pan with ceramic exterior. It is completely free of PFOA and PTFE, and its manufacturing process emits 50% less carbon dioxide. Aluminum has better thermal conductivity than a cast iron skillet, meaning it heats up faster. The non-stick quality of the green pan is so good that you can cook an egg on this pan without any oil, making it perfect for any low fat diet. It endure higher heat than Teflon pans, but it is not dishwasher safe. Teflon is a form of plastic/silicon and is actually a heat inhibitor. This is why it is recommended that people not fry or sear meat on Teflon pan. On the other hand, the green pan conducts heat super well and is oven friendly. I am not entirely sure about the differences between the different brands of the green pan, but look for Green Pan: The Original.

I would recommend having one of both pans. A larger size enamel cast iron would cook larger cooking projects and/or large quantity of food evenly and consistently. Then a smaller green pan for for smaller portion and lighter foods such as omelets and fish fillets.

Brown's Social House

2011-01-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

In this season of social outings, it's comforting to know there is a healthy port in the storm of unhealthy casual dining. Browns Social House offers a delicious low calorie, protein packed dinner option outside of the usual salad. Their "Healthy Social Bowls" featuring either blackened chicken, halibut or Tahitian tuna come with almond rice and a salad featuring walnuts, dates corn and soybeans. To make your meal less then 500 calories, amazing braised red cabbage with goat cheese is substituted for the rice to make the meal a "spa bowl".

I had the tuna and felt the dish was satisfyingly flavorful, light but very filling. Leaving room for a glass of 4$ Social white wine to complete a delicious meal. Steer the crew in the direction of Browns on a night out and keep your healthy eating happily on track!

Christine:
The Brown's Point Grey Location is a test kitchen for the other 7 social houses. They offers slightly different menu than the rest. While the consistency of the food is a wonky, the service is very good and they are more than happy to hear your comments about the restaurant and your food.

All of them are sports bars with above average price menu. Like Christina said, they offer a lot of healthy options and as well as unhealthy bar food. They also offer delicious brunch in the day time.

Taiwan: Fast Food

2011-01-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

This is why KFC cannot compete.

At Ji Guang Fried Chicken, you could get a combo of ribs, steam veggie, stew seaweed, cream of corn soup, salad, a bowl of rice, and a bubble tea - all beautifully plated on real plate wares for $6 CND.

I was invited to eat (for free!) at this fried chicken franchise. This supposedly fast food fried chicken joint has gorgeously interior design with chandelier and comfortable leather.

Next is Asir, another fast food chain (not franchise) with gorgeous interior design and discount gourmet fast food, situated within the Taichung city night market right next to the university. The service was impeccable and the wonderful staffs were high spirited, personable, and very humorous. The owner came to give as a two hour speech about his road from rag to rich, his amazingly delicious healthy food that did not contain any MSG or similar flavour enhancer, and the beauty of having a central kitchen. If you happen to visit Taichung, definitely visit this place.

This is the menu and also the order sheet. Fill it up and order it through the staff or pay for it directly at the cashier.

Real Thailand Restaurant

2011-01-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

Vancouver doesn't have much in terms of delicious authentic Thai food. In fact, Dennis grew up thinking Thai food is the atrocious peanut-oil-on-everything and refuse to eat at Thai restaurants until age 27, when we were living in London Ontario. Bangkok Pad Thai Restaurant changed his life forever. If you happened to visit London Ontario, it's worth checking out, along with Black Trumpet.

Anyway, Real Thailand Restaurant was in walking distance from our friend's house in Annex. It was, well, an average Thai restaurant in Ontario standard, since good Thai food could be found in any medium size or bigger Ontario city. However, it was way better than anything Vancouver has to offer.

Duck Curry

They had a wide range of dishes for every palate and three spice levels (well, maybe not spicy enough for the hardcore Thai food enthusiast). Their Pad Thai was done correctly with perfectly cooked rice noodles, served with egg, tofu, peanut, chicken, tiger shrimp, lemon juice and bean sprouts - not ketchup. Awesome!

My favourite was the duck in red curry with lychee, bamboo shoot, and grape tomato. I was not entirely sure if this was an authentic dish, but I was definitely impressed that the restaurant was daring enough to use exotic ingredients. I grew up with lychee and bamboo shoots and I loved them, but I know plenty of people who might prefer not to having these in a curry. In my opinion, this curry had complex flavours with the perfect balance of sweetness, spiciness, and smokiness and different contrasting textures. It was flavour country!

If you live in Annex, this restaurant is definitely worth checking out. For less than 20 dollars, I promised you would leave stuffed full and happy.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

Happy new year my beloved readers! Thank you for putting up with me for the last 14 months. I have learned a lot about cooking, wine, and blogging, and new year resolution is to get better at all three!

I hope to also put up more video in the future, cook through a cook book or two, and hold a coulee contest involving rewards. Maybe make a logo and some business card!

What would you like to me to blog about? Something new or more of a particular subject? What can I improve on?

Thank you so much for reading!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Seattle: The Whiskey Bar

2010-12-31T19:37:00.000-08:00

Jason. Ask for Jason, the no-none-sense-but-still-friendly-and-awesome bartender at The Whiskey Bar. First, he knew what The Godfather was. Second, the guy knew his alcohol. He was a sommelier of everything from beer to scotch. Vocabulary rolled off his tongue like music and the drinks matched his description (you would be surprised how many server/sommelier simply bull^&*$.)

Dennis: "I would like the hoppiest lager you have"
Jason: "No such thing exists in the United States. You must be from Canada."
Dennis: "Wow! Yes! What is the hoppiest, hoppiest thing you have?"
Jason: Handed Dennis a Leafer Madness.

And it was delicious. So was everything he recommended. When we asked for a non-smoky scotch, he recommended the Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban, and we asked for the smokiest scotch, he delivered a smoky, silky, and smooth elixir (I was too silly at this point to remember what it was).

This bar has an extensive and eclectic mix of drinks and personality. The bar is the perfect place to be sipping scotch (dark oak wood and black leather sofa). I will definitely revisit this lovely joint next time I am there. There is no food menu though. Go after Dinner.

Mini Tortilla Cup

2010-12-30T13:24:00.000-08:00

Please excuse the poor photo quality. I am doing an early spring cleaning of photos on my computer. This is a fun party (New Year Party!) snack idea. You can use store-bought tortilla sheets or make them from scratch to make it gluten free.

This is super easy to mass produce if you have a muffin pan. You can make dozens within 30 minutes. If you don't, any oven friendly bowl or cup would do.

I brushed garlic and herb olive oil inside the shell before baking to add extra flavour. You can fill the cup with salad, risotto, cous cous, or cubed shrimps, etc. If you bake the shell 5 minutes longer, it becomes waterproof. I tasted this with soy sauce and the shell held it for two days. This becomes an esthetic way to hold dressing or sauces. You don't have to do circles either, you can fold it up into squares or other shapes.

Instruction:
1. Preheat oven 375F
2. Press a small bowl, cups, cookie cutter, etc upside down onto the tortilla sheet.
3. Use a small pairing knife to cut along the rim of the cup to cut out small circles
4. Brush vegetable oil on the muffin pan, bowl, or cup.
5. Arrange the tortilla inside.
6. Bake for 10 minutes or until the shell has hardened.

Garlic and Herb Roast Lamb

2010-12-29T13:03:00.000-08:00

This was our first Christmas without Yaya, and everyone was having difficult time adjusting. I too missed her very much, and I decided that making her signature lamb would be the best way to remember her.

Yaya's lamb is stuff with garlic and herbs...in a rather unconventional way. Small incisions are made around the leg of lamb and each 'tunnel' or hole is stuffed with a sliver of garlic and copious amount of herbs. The end result looks like a dynamite. Then, the leg of lamb is slowly cooked all day until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender.

I have been trying to perfect the lamb for last 5 years. I have learned that cooking it longer (overnight) does not make the meat more tender. Nor is browning the surface of the lamb before roasting it. The trick is to simply roast it, bone-in and covered, for an afternoon and no longer. You should be able to simply lift the bone right off the meat without cutting or carving.

As I was preparing the lamb, I could picture Yaya going through the same motion and hear explaining the different herbs she was using.

Ingredients:

1 leg of lamb
2 bulb of garlic
2 tbs dried oregano
2 tbs dried basil
1 tbs parsley
2 tbs ground black pepper
1.5 tbs fluer de sel
2 tsp cayenne pepper

Instruction:
Preheat oven 350F
1. Mix all spices and herbs together
2. Cut the garlics into slivers
3. Insert a small pairing knife straight into the meat towards the bone. Twist the knife to widen the hole.
4. With a small spoon, scoop the herb mix into the hole. Use your finger to push the herb to the bottom. Repeat this a few times until there is about a teaspoon of herb inside. (It's not very scientific, so just fill it however you wish).
5. Then, Insert a sliver of garlic into the hole. If there is more room, fill it with more herbs and garlic.
6. Continue to make more incisions around the lamb about 1 inch to 1.5 inches apart and fill each with herbs and garlic. Make these holes towards the bone, like spokes on a wheel.
7. Rub the entire leg in olive oil, black pepper, and salt.
8. Place in a deep pan and cover tightly.
9. Roast for 5-6 hours.

Usually, Yaya would make orzo with the lamb, to soak up the lamb's natural juice and flavours. Btw, I am making a video of the prepping process. Stay tuned!

Taiwanese Engagement Ceremony: Part 6

2010-12-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

Introduction
The First Proposal
Preparation 1
Preparation 2
Engagement Ceremony

Engagement Reception takes place the night of the ceremony. In some ways, this is more important than the wedding reception. While the ceremony involves only immediate family and close friends, the entire village and every acquaintance are invited to the reception. My cousin's engagement reception total 600 people, and this was considered the norm in Southern Taiwan.

Engagement reception is hosted by the bride’s family. Bride and groom sit at the same table with the parents. Rest of seating is assigned according to seniority. Additional red pockets are given to the siblings of the brides now. In return, the bride’s family offers red pockets and cooked chicken thighs tied with red ribbon to each of groom’s friends and younger relatives. Young relative from the bride side will offer napkin or sanitary cloth for the groom’s party, and the groom’s family offers this young person another red pocket. Each helpers and chefs will be given a red pocket by the groom’s family.

A Whole Fish

Menu
The tables are round and seat 10 to 12 people each. The dinner consists of 8, 10, or 12 a la carte dishes (excluding desert), and each dishes have special symbolism of happiness, longevity, and fertility.

The norm is to start with the dragon-phoenix plate: a large cold platter of seafood and festive items, such as jellyfish, fried chicken feet (a.k.a phoenix claws), stewed seaweed, sliced beef, and lobster (a.k.a dragon shrimp). While there are no particular order in which dishes are served, the followings are some of the common dishes:

Shark Fin Soup

Shark's Fin Soup: Despite the environmental impact of eating shark fin, this continues to be a very popular, if not mandatory, dish, because this expensive delicacy represent wealth, and"face" is an important issue.

Lobster in Chinese is "Dragon Shrimp". Historically, citizens were forbidden to use and possess anything relating to dragon, as the symbolism for Emperor, the Chosen one. This was a crime punishable by death of the whole family and extended relatives by several degree removed. As a result, dragon has become an socially desirable and highly sought after symbol of status, class, luck, fortune, and all things that are good. In addition, red is very desirable and festive colour. Naturally, lobster, served whole, became a must-have item at any festive banquet.

No idea what this was. Do you?

Peking Duck, and Crab: Desired not only for its delicious taste, but also its beautiful red colour. These items are often served whole to signify plentifulness and completeness.

A pair of Quail or Squab: These birds represent peace and the pair represent the couple. This is to wish the couple a peaceful life together.

Silkie: Black chicken served whole in medicinal soup. These are delicious and very nutritious.

Beets: a red vegetarian
alternative

Vegetable with Sea Cucumber: This dish is usually served as a stew or soup. Sea cucumber represents good intention or good heart.

Fish is Served whole. Fish is homophonous to extra or remaining, symbolizing plentifulness.

Drinks: Tea is the standard, and juice and pops for cold beverages. Hennessy is the alcohol of choice, but wines are becoming increasingly popular.

Desserts: There are several popular choices for desserts. Sweet Red Bean Soup, Sweet Buns, Mochi cakes, or sweet riceball soup. Popular ingredients include lotus seeds, black sesame, peanuts, sugar, and other sweets. Each has different symbolism, generally involves happiness, unions, longevity, fertility, luck and etc.

Mochi with black sesame and peanut

Due to the amount of guests and courses, it takes a long time for the kitchen to process this amount of food, meaning the dinner usually takes hours to complete. In the mean time, the bride and groom with their parents (with alcohol or tea in hands) will go from table to table to thank the guests for coming. In return, the guests will offer words of well wishes and toast the couple. This is also the time to give out all the red pockets.

Red pockets are given to the siblings of the brides now. In return, the bride’s family offers red pockets and cooked chicken thighs tied with red ribbon to each of groom’s friends and younger relatives. The red boxes that carried groom's gifts are now replaced with gifts from the bride's family. Each helpers and chefs will be given a red pocket by the groom’s family.

The red pocket for the cost of the banquet is given to the bride's family at the end of the dinner, a long with red pocket for the go-between.

Wedding Announcement: A couple days after the engagement, bridal cakes are sent out with the wedding invitation.

Taiwanese Engagement Ceremony: Part 5

2010-12-26T14:17:00.000-08:00

Introduction
The First Proposal
Preparation 1
Preparation 2

The Engagement Day
For example sake, let's say this couple's auspicious time is on a Saturday at noon

Participants
Groom's side
The engagement party consists of the parents, grandparents, and other male relatives or friends for a total of 6, 8, or 12 people including the groom and excluding the go-between. The number of cars used to get to the bride’s house must be a even number, excluding 4, so 2, 6, or 8 cars are appropriate. Each car must not contain 4 people. Female relatives who are born in the year of the tiger cannot attend the ceremony, but they may join afterwards for the banquet. Tiger is consider too aggressive and very inauspicious for the bride.

Bride's side
The bride's family will be the host of the event and often the house would be packed with relatives and close friends. However, women born in the year of the tiger are not involved with the ceremony and only join afterwards for the banquet. While most guest's participation s are options, the bride's parents, grandparents, and siblings must be present.

The total number of guests at the ceremony is also important. The final number cannot contain the number 4 and has to be an even number. Multiples of dozens are the most encouraged. For some reason, 24 is an okay number.

Attire:
For the groom and groom's father: Business-Informal, suit, tie, suit pants, with formal shoes. Other men, business casual, would be the minimum; no jeans, runners, or hats. The trouser and jacket can be black, grey, dark blue, and stripes. For shirts and ties, avoid black, green, and light blue. Black shoes are fine. In comparison, less restrictions apply to women's attire, but full black attire should be avoided. Black shoes are fine.

The bride’s attire is important. Traditionally, a red and gold qipao would be worn. Modern brides have opted for extravagant Western gowns. From head to toe, the bride should be decorated in red and gold jewelry. A sense of balance and modesty must be achieved. For example, bride should not wear a short dress with long sleeves, which may make her look top heavy or, in another word, not grounded. Modesty is also important, but not in the conservative sense; her shoes must be close sole and close heels.

Departure: The groom’s family will first pray to their ancestor before leaving the house. The gifts are loaded into the car and ceremonial firecrackers are lit near their house to sound their departure. The party must arrive at the bride’s house at 11:00 am.

Traditional Ceremonial Cannon to
welcome the groom's party

Arrival: When the groom’s cars are about 100 meters away from the bride’s house, the bride’s family light the firecracker to welcome the groom’s arrival. The go-between gets out of the car first, and then everyone else except for the groom. The young adult or teen from the bride’s side will open the door for the groom last. Groom gives him a red pocket.

Entrance: In the same order, the party enters the bride’s house. The go-between introduces everyone, groom’s family first and in the order of seniority. Then, she will introduce the bride's family in order of seniority. The bride is not present at this time. She is hidden in her room with her friends, until the tea ceremony.

Gift Exchange: Grooms’ party, excluding the groom, parents, and grandparents, then carry the gifts into the house and present it to the bride’s parents one red box, excluding the jewelries, at a time. The go-between will introduce each item along with words of well wishes; afterwards, the items are placed respectfully in front of the ancestral table. The bride’s parents then give a red pocket to each person carrying the boxes. The go-between then presents the jewelries and then place them respectfully in front of the ancestral table.

The bride (me) flanked
by my aunt, mother, and
friend

Seating: Then, all the guests are lead to the main living room. The most senior member of the bride’s family then seats the groom’s party. There are two arrangement for seating. One seats the guests from right to left according to seniority; alternatively, if groom's parents are the most senior member of the party, the parents can be seated in the middle with others seating according to seniority on both sides. The groom, in the later case, seats on the right side of the parents. The bride's family and friends then seat facing the groom's party on the other side of the room, mirroring the seating arrangement of groom's party.

Tea Ceremony: A lucky woman prepares tea. The lucky woman is usually a close relative of the bride and the woman is considered by the family as the bringer of luck, good fortune, and other great things. Usually, this woman would be born in the year of the pig. The number of teacups must be the exact amount as the groom’s party. It cannot be any less or more. Teacups is brought to the bride in another room on serving trays. In the meantime, groom’s parents presents the family and the groom’s credential.

My mother acted as the lucky
woman for my ceremony

The bride then takes the stage. This is the first time the bride present herself, since the groom’s arrival. The bride offers the tea to groom’s party with both hands, starting with the most senior member of the groom's family. The lucky woman holds the ceremonial tray. The go-between must accompany the bride from person to person offering proverbs of well wishes and good fortune. Only the groom's party is offered tea.

The bride then retreats again to her room with the lucky woman, while the guests enjoy the tea. The guests roll up a red pocket and place it inside the teacup after the tea is finished. After, the bride appears again with the lucky woman to collect the tea cup. Each guests offers a phrase of well-wish has they hand the cup, with both hands, to the bride. The lucky woman will take the full tray back to the ancestral table or kitchen, while the bride remain in the room for the ring ceremony.

Conventionally, I
should be wearing
long qipao

Ring Ceremony: This is the key event for the engagement ceremony. This event should be performed at the exact time that was pre-determined by the astrological expert. For this example, it would be 12:00 PM. A couple minutes before the ring ceremony, the lucky woman lead the bride back to the main room. Bride will sit on a high chair with her foot on a small stool. The stool must be sturdy with rounded edges or simply round. Groom will remain standing for the entire duration of the ring ceremony.
First, the groom puts the ring on the middle finger of the left hand of the bride, first. Then the vice versa. When placing the ring, there should be no hesitation or backtracking. Traditionally, bride and grooms are instructed to curl their finger when the ring reaches the second knuckle to prevent the ring from going lower. The ring bearers then slide the ring on fully themselves. This is symbolizes the ring bearer’s sense of self and intention to not give themselves fully to their future spouse, or in another word, an announcement that their spouse does not own them. While this has become a part of the tradition, it is rather contradictory to the spirit of the event, so the go-between will often gives well wishes and compliments to the couple during the ring placement, as a distraction and a way to smooth things over.

Second, the mother of the groom place necklace on the bride and give her other gifts such as earring, hair pin, bracelet or such. Sometimes these can also be replaced with red pocket money of the equivalent amount. The mother of the brides then place necklace on the groom in similar fashion. This is an opportunity for the future mother-in-laws to show acceptance, love, and generosity for their future son and daughter.

Third, with the assistance of the go-between, the couple will individually address their respective future parents-in-laws and their older generations, if they are present, such as “mother” or “sister-in-law”. Societal role is part and parcel for the Chinese. Role calling, such as “boss” or “sister”, not only identify and solidifies ones role within the particular social structural or institution but it is also an important ritual of official acceptance and recognition. Since engagement is considered binding, the two families now become one.

Reverence for the ancestor: Incense and candle are lid for the ancestor. This ceremony is similar to the candle ceremony performed by mothers of the couple during a Western church wedding. This is a show of remembrance and reverence. The uncle of the bride will light the candle. The groom will give a red pocket to the bride to give to the wife of the uncle or an aunt. While these passing of cash inside a red envelope may seem tedious, the transaction is a form of interaction to signify that everyone is connected and everyone in the family has an unique and defined role. Four sets of incense must be lit, for the bride, groom, and their parents. With the go-between' assistance, they will announce the marriage and seek for the ancestor’s blessing and well-wishes. The placement of the incense on the alter also have a specific sequence and method. In short, it should be done according to seniority and there should be no hesitation when planting the incense in the ash pot. Hesitation indicates doubt, and according to superstition, the couple would be cursed with a failed marriage.

Sharing Food: Before heading to the reception, the guests enjoy small bowls of pink and white glutenous rice balls, similar size and consistency as tapioca balls in bubble tea, in sweet broth. This soup is prepared by an aunt of the bride, the go-between, or the lucky woman. Food sharing is a very important family activity. This soup represents sweetness, union, and fertility. On the side, the mother of the bride would discretely remove two longan from the box for the brides to eat. This to ensure the groom will never set eyes on other women.

Next post will be the engagement banquet

Taiwanese Engagement Ceremony: Part 4

2010-12-25T11:22:00.000-08:00

Introduction
The First Proposal
Preparation 1

Preparation 2
In addition to other gift, there are two extra set of gifts to represent the thoughtfulness of the groom’s family. However, these items are terribly impractical nowadays and are considered optional or replaced with cash.

Set 1: (6 or 12 cans of each) Abalone, scallops, shark fins, matsutake, escargot; and two pounds of black mushroom. Wealthy family would use fresh or dried products instead.

Set 2: Half of a pig (raw): symbolizes harvest and earnestness of the groom’s family. This can be replaced with western ham or a red pocket. For my cousin's ceremony, my grandmother cut off a slice of the pig and sear the surface of the meat. My cousin is then instructed to lick the blood of the half-raw pork for good luck.

Six live castrated male chicken: represent energy, prosperity (castrated chicken has vibrant and beautiful feathers) without the aggressive virility.
Six fresh fish: synonymously represent prosperity, plentifulness.

Red Pockets: Giving cash in red envelopes is the norm for gift giving practices in Taiwan. In this case, it is uses similar to tipping, but with more symbolism. The cash amount must be an even number and the number of bills (which also must be new bills) must also be even numbers. These numbers should not be four or add up to four.

Both families must prepare couple dozen red pockets for the ceremony. The giving and receiving of the red pockets must be done with both hands and a small bow and words of thanks or well wishes. For the larger amount, the receiver may politely refuse and the giver must then politely insist. This will go on three before the receiver politely accepts with a bow and words of thanks.

Proper giving and receiving pose

The items listed as "Gift" would require a larger sum of cash. For example, the gift for the go-between is well in the hundreds (CND). Items listed as "Tip" are usually within hundreds, depending on the seniority of the receiver. However, wealthier givers are expected to give more in accordance of their wealth.

Door Opening: (Tip) Groom gives a red pocket to the person who opens the car. This person is usually a young adult or teen of the bride’s family.
Candle Lighting: (Tip) Given to the bride’s aunt, after she light the ancestral candle brought over by the groom’s family.
Go-Between: (Gift) Given to the go-between anytime.
Bride’s Gift: Given to the bride to compensate for the make-up cost.

Tea Ceremony Tip: After each guest has drunk the tea served by the bride, the guests must place a red pocket inside their cups. Groom’s parents must place more money inside the cup than other people.
Banquet Cost: Additional money to compensate for the banquet. Isn’t engagement hosted and paid for by the bride’s family? Yes, but since groom’s family is here to seek the hands of their daughter in marriage. The feeling of indebtedness is considered inappropriate and others may deem the groom’s family as stingy. Additional money shows the family’s generosity and thoughtfulness. This is sort of like an Alpha dominance show off in the most polite and discrete way.
Gifts for the sibling: Given to the siblings of the bride.
Helpers’ Tips: Tip to thank everyone who helped putting the event together. This includes chef, servers, hostess, and even the person who offer washcloth or wash basin before the meal.
Mothers’ Gift: Given by the groom’s mother to the bride as a show of kindness and inclusiveness. Same is done by bride’s mother to the groom. This is optional, but prior coordination is necessary, because if one mother gives, the other mother must do the same and match the cash amount.
Big and Small “Dowries”: This is explained in the last post.

There is no rule regarding how much money exactly each red pocket should contain. This is determined by the family’s economic ability and comfort level, and also the seniority of the receivers. Young children, on average, receives $10-15 dollars, young adults around $60, and such. (Money giving is not really about the money, but they represents, for everyone to see, a sense of recognition-interaction and the idea of giving-receiving between people forming the basis of relationships amongst each member of the family. From my experience, “tips” are usually $15 or more. While the exact amount does not matter, it is considered very important for the groom’s family to show that they are generous and earnest.

Additional red pockets should be prepared and given to the go-between, to give to the bride’s parents in case of any hiccup or deficiency in the gifts.

One of my red box was replaced with
antiques representing good lucks
and fertility

Bride's family
The bride’s family will also prepare gifts mirroring each and every gifts and red pockets they receive.

The groom's gifts all come in red boxes or cuensheng. The bride's family needs to prepare enough gifts to fill all those red boxes. Cleverly, the gifts are often domestic appliances and items the couples can use after their marriage, such as rice cooker, blenders, pillows, bathrobes, rice, etc. During the banquet, the bride's family will remove the gifts from the red boxes and replace them with their gifts. These will either return with the groom after the ceremony or go with the bride on the day of the wedding.
Engagement ring and necklace for the groom, prepared by the mother of the bride. Nowadays, engagement ring for the groom is chosen by the bride herself.
A set of clothing and accessories for the grooms from head to toe. With prior co-ordination through the go-between, there should be a gift responding each gift the groom's family brought ot the bride. This can also be replaced with cash in red pocket envelope.
Red pockets for groom's siblings and the go-between. My mother gave red pockets to every single guests at the ceremony. The cash amount was determined by seniority and role at the ceremony.

Next post, we will go into the actual ceremony.

Taiwanese Engagement Ceremony: Part 3

2010-12-24T14:31:00.000-08:00

Introduction
The First Proposal
Preparation 1
For the groom’s family, there are three main categories of gift they most prepare. Each gift has functional or symbolic role. If certain traditional gifts are not practical, it can be replaced with a red pocket, cash placed within an auspicious red envelope, of the same value. The name of the replaced item need to be clearly written on the envelope. For the sake of good organization and communication, the family also need to make a list of all the gifts and red pockets. The list is also written on lucky red pepper to be handed over to the bride’s family as well.

However, there are also a huge list of things that are insulting or inauspicious. Nothing should be presented in 4 or things synonymous with inauspicious words. Nothing should be wrapped in black, blue, green, or white. Black, white, and blue are colors for funeral, while green represent infidelity. Sharp things such as knife, fans, and scissors should be avoided, as it represents severing a relationship. Clocks, picture frames, books, straw sandal, and handkerchiefs all have ominous meaning. While red may be a luck color, pen with red ink can be offensive and names should never be written with red inks.

(From left) Heirloom necklace from the groom's
mother, engagement ring, big and small dowries,
a set of pure gold ceremonial jewellery all prepared
by the groom's family.

Set 1: The numbers of gifts and how the gifts are presented matters. Traditionally, the gifts are placed into 6 or 12 cuensheng or specialty red wooden crate.

Small and Big “Doweries”: Dowry is actually the wrong translation, but it is widely use. The proper translation would be bride price. The combined amount of the two dowries should represent the nominal amount of the bride’s worth to the groom’s family. This amount is divided into two separate amount. Each should contain consecutive number such as $8800 or $6600 while avoiding “4” or numbers that adds up to 4. For a middle class family, the big dowery is usually $120,000 CND and the small one is $36,000 CND before value adjustment. The smaller dowery should only contain a fraction compared to the large one. Nowadays, family do not “sell” their daughter, and bride price is always politely refused. Thus, the presentation of large dowry has become symbolic. However, this would not sit well with the groom’s family (face saving), so therefore a smaller amount (a.k.a small dowry) is given as a gesture to thank the bride’s parents for raising their daughter so well and their generosity to allowing their son to marry her. The bride's family will graciously accept the small dowry. The go-between must help the two sides come to a pre-arranged agreement, so the bride's parents do not intentionally or unintentionally pocket the big dowry, causing family drama for the few decades.
Engagement Ring: gold ring or diamond ring prepared by the mother of the groom. Nowadays, the groom himself will prepare this ring. This is the same ring as the Western engagement ring.
Gold Jewellery: 2 gold necklaces, 2 bracelets or jade bracelets, a pair of earrings, adding up to 6 or 12 items. None of these items has to be purchase new. Family heirlooms are often used. These will be worn by the bride for the whole day to show respect for the groom’s family. Please take care to use valuable or at least sentimental jewellery. My mother, after 30 years, still bitterly complains about the cheap (rusting) bronze jewellery she received from her in-law. In Taiwan, fashionable bridal sets are commonly sold in jewellery shops by weight of the gold (no tax). The shop also rent out fashionable jewellery box for the ceremony.
Clothing and accessories for
Clothing: These are personal items for the bride. There most be 6 or 12 of these items as well. If the item have pockets, such as pants or purse, a red pocket with small amount of cash must be placed inside as well. These items can be purse, wallets, shoes, belts, jackets, watch, bracelets, earrings, hat, cosmetics, sawing kit, scarf, socks, etc
Boutonniere: One for each ‘elderly’ person (same generation as the parents or higher) at the event.
Ancestral Offerings: Two sets of prayer incense, candles, firecrackers, and paper money (celestial money for burning). At my cousin's engagement, the groom also brought enough ceremonial food offering that cover the entire offering table. These are for the bride’s ancestors to inform them of this potential union and to show reverence.
The Four Sweets: Two sets of winter melon candy, rock sugar, oval kumquat jam, and sweet mandarin cake. Each item is chosen because they synonymously symbolize sweetness, union, and auspiciousness. Sweetness symbolizes the young couple and their future together.
Gifts of Fertility: Red dates, peanuts (optional), longan, lotus seed. These symbolizes fertility.
Rice and Sugar: 12 pounds of glutinous rice and 2 bags of brown (red) sugar. This is for the bride’s family to make rice balls for the engagement event. It symbolizes harmony and union.
Longans: Fresh longan symbolizes prosperity, happiness, union, fertility. It also symbolizes the eyes of the groom. The mother of the bride would discretely remove two longan from the box for the brides to eat. This to ensure the groom will never set eyes on other women.
Alcohol Set 1: Rice whiskey, rice wines, and pots for the wine. This tradition is slowly becoming obsolete. Now this is replaced with red pocket.
Vermicelli: (Uncooked) This represents destiny, longevity and well wishes
Alcohol Set 2: A dozen of two dozen bottles of something expensive and flashy. Nowadays, brandy, specifically Hennessy, is used. This is to wish the bride’s family well all year round.
Cakes and cookies: 1 Large (in surface area) and thin specialty cookie or cake with net weight of 1 pound. Western gourmet petite desserts, enough for all the guests. 6 or 12 traditional rice crackers. These synonymously represent great and good groom.
Modern bridal gifts in red boxes
Bridal Cakes Speciality Pastry: Actually, this is not given at the ceremony. Within a week after the ceremony, the go-between will ask the bride's parents how many bridal cakes they would like to receive from the groom's family. The go-between euphoniously asking how many guests bride's family would like to invite to the wedding, which the groom's family is paying for. Bridal cakes are the traditional form of announcement of marriage and invitation to the wedding feast. The number of cakes given to each guest is established according to a rigid etiquette, on the basis of seniority and degree of intimacy. If cost of the wedding is a concern, the groom's family will then bargain through the go-between the number of cakes, hoping to keep down the number of guests and thus the cost. Eventually, a number will be agreed upon and cakes would be sent. For my cousin, no actual cakes were exchanged (even though the conversation bargaining about the cake still occurred), but through that bargaining, the parents agreed at an amount groom's family is comfortable spending and the bride's family will cover the rest.

Taiwanese Engagement Ceremony: Part 2

2010-12-23T23:37:00.000-08:00

A go-between carrying the bazi of the couple

Introduction

The First Proposal
When the groom’s parents identified a likely bride-to-be, they would first appoint a go-between, who acts as a buffer between the two families - a role similar to that of a real estate agent today. Considering the amount of money invested in this event by the two families, the go-between who plays the broker, agent, event planner, and other serious responsibilities. The groom’s family would first send the go-between, often an elderly well respected woman (not born in the year of the tiger), to present gifts to the bride’s parents and to sound out their feelings about the match. If the proposal was well-received, the go-between would obtain the bride’s Bazi, a formal document made by an astrological expert using the date and hours of the bride’s birth and the birthdays of her parents.

Ancestral alter

The groom’s family would place this document on the ancestral alter for three days to a week. If no inauspicious omens, such as quarrels between the parents or a loss of property, took place within that time, the parents would give this document along with their son’s bazi to another astrological expert to confirm that the two are a good match. If the expert deems ‘horoscope’ to be favorable, the parents will give the son’s bazi to the go-between to give to the bride’s family, who would go through the same process.

Only after both outcomes were favorable, would the two families arrange to meet. The date and time of the meeting and when important rituals would be performed are very crucial. Again, an astrological expert would be consulted on the most auspicious date and time. For more traditional families, a fengshui expert would also be consulted regarding the seating location, direction and arrangement.

Note 1: In the past, if the astrological expert deemed the bazi to be unfavourable, the engagement would be cancelled and no marriage would happen. Nowadays, people no longer believe in the superstition and simply bring the bazi to different astrological experts until one gives a flavourable (desirable) outcome.

Note 2: You are not suppose to take photos or video of the ancestral alter.

More on preparation on the next post

Taiwanese Engagement Ceremony: Part 1

2010-12-22T22:00:00.000-08:00

Being in a mix-culture relationship has its unique rewards and challenges. Forget about the little girl's fantasy of happy bride in her perfect dress and riding off into the sunset with the perfect man in a white carriage decorated with roses. Wedding is a war zone, and your goal is walk carefully on the military demarcation line without stepping on any land mines. Make one mistake and prepare to hear about it for the next 30 years.

My parents didn't wait until the wedding to throw down the gauntlets. They wanted a traditional engagement ceremony, and my father refuse to recognize Western style engagement in Japan. World War III ensued and the responsibility to organize this event fell onto me.

This was an event that should be co-ordinated by parents and middle woman. Normally, brides don't organize their own ceremony. However, the engagement ceremony in its purest form was economically, culturally, and logistically impossible for us (and you will see why). I had to reinvent the ceremony and create one that was within our limitation without offending any cultural sensibility.

During my research, I found very little English resource on the internet at all regarding Engagement Ceremony. Even though this is not exactly food related, I hope these next few post will shed some light on this rare tradition and help future couples plan their own.

Introduction
The traditions of engagement and wedding ceremony can be traced back to 402-211 B.C China. Three venerable texts, The Book of Rites, The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial and the Baihu Tona outline the Three Covenant and the Six Rites that were considered necessary elements of a marriage union. The full ritual is rather complicated and has undergone many changes and simplification since its creations. Each regions also adapted different variations according to their geological, political, and cultural needs.

What remains constant were these main objectives:

Joining and enhancing the two families and ensuring succession with numerous descendants
Reverence to parents and ancestors
Omen to encourages fertility and wealth
Financial, and social obligations contracted by both families at the betrothal
Extensive gift giving etiquette
The bride’s incorporation into her husband’s family

Nowadays, more couples in Northwestern Taiwan are opting to skip the engagement ceremony all together for a more romantic Western style engagement idealized in movies. In contrast, the marriage of daughters are a huge deal for the southerners. Huge and extravagant engagement and wedding ceremonies are very common. Relatives and neighbors compete to host the best and biggest engagement for their daughters and weddings for their sons. For a middle class family, the engagement event would cost, on average, $55,000CND after value adjustment, for the bride’s family. The groom’s family then would feel obliged to upstage that for a total of $75,000CND between the two events. However, at least ⅔ of these amount are cash, which are reinvested in the couple’s first house.

In the West, marriage is the union of two individuals. For Taiwanese, marriage is the union between two families. Thus, the most important parties in the engagement event are the parents of the bride and groom. A generation or two ago, marriages were arranged by the parents of the bride and groom, who may have never met each other.

The engagement "involved an exchange of gifts which, rather than being merely ceremonial, was an integral part of the contract being made between the two families. This was especially so because the girl's family, losing her to another lineage forever, sought compensation that included a cash bride's price. Whatever arrangements were finally negotiated therefore reflected the worth of the girl and her family. So important was this step that, to all intents and purposes, its completion constituted the de facto completion of the marriage. Even if death intervened during the engagement period, which might last a year or longer, it would probably be necessary for the girl, if she survived her fiancé, to join the lineage that had contracted for her services. Conversely, the boy would probably need to complete the ceremony so that his deceased partner's soul could have a secure place within his family's ancestral cult, though this would not prevent him from marrying a second, living bride." (Joachim 1986, 164)

Splitz Grill

2010-12-21T20:48:00.000-08:00

Rated the best burger place in Vancouver by Vancouverites, does Splitz Grill live up to its expectation? Vancouver isn't really known for having good burgers nor are the health-conscious Vancouverites known for eating a lot of burgers. The competition is pretty slim, and the consumers are apathetic . Being on the "wedding diet" for over a year, I am not exactly the burger expert either.

The Lengendary Splitz Burger 2/3lb

However, Splitz Grill definitely did not disappoint my high expectation, and their burgers were worth every calorie. Dennis was in heaven, moaning and groaning over each sinful bite. He called his 2/3 pound classic burger "Gastronomical Behemoth" along with numerous other creative and lovely adjectives. If the burger had feelings, it would blush. Their house special BBQ sauce was to die for and made us slightly euphoric.

A cross section of the same burger

However, the lamb burger wasn't as amazing, and I would recommend skipping it altogether. The fries weren't phenomenal either, and if you are watching your calories, skip this too.

If you happened to try other burgers, let me know what you think. I love Main Street.

Poultry Nesting Doll Project: Step 6

2010-12-20T14:20:00.000-08:00

How much food can 25 people eat?

Time to cook the turducken. It's pretty simple. Oven preheat to 350F, drizzle the turducken with whiskey, and bake for 6 hours, covered. Then, another half an hour uncovered. Because the bird(s) had no bone, it cooked a lot faster than you would think it does.

Anyway, I douse the bird with Canadian whiskey (Scotch was too expensive). Then, we put it in the oven and start prepping for the rest of the feast. Occasionally, I would moisten it with a turkey baster. Turducken also releases a lot of liquid which needs to be removed regularly to avoid overflow.

We made salad, salad dressing, pasta with meat sauce, and bacon gravy. Yes, gravy made from bacon fat.

We actually miscalculate the internal temperature of the bird and removed the foil too early, burning the surface of the breast. I would suggest sticking the meat thermometer straight down from the centre of the chest. It needs to register 160F. If you don't have a meat thermometer, you can also make a small cut in the centre to see if the juice is clear. If there is blood, it needed to be cooked longer. Remember to re-cover it, so you don't burn the surface like we did. Also, convection oven would be ideal.

Do you hate carving turkey? Trying to get around the bones and making sure everyone has equal amount of portion? You sure will love carving turducken. Without a single bone, the bird yields lovely slices (with stuffing included!) without a fight. You can cuts right through, oozing moisture everywhere.

From top: turkey, stuffing, duck, stuffing, chicken, stuffing, duck swimming in delicious meat juice.

And it was delicious! The meat was moist and each bite offered different wonderful flavours. Writing about it make me salivate! We ended up only having 15 people. Even though the bird was meant to feed 30 people, 15 people cleaned up the entire bird and fought over the last pieces. Considering the bird was 27 pound, that means everyone had at least 1.8 pounds of meat.

My guests continued to mentioned that it was a phenomenal experience and wished for another turducken for Christmas. For me, I will never eat turkey on its own again. It has to be turducken.

Frying Pan 101: Teflon

2010-12-19T14:27:00.000-08:00

Part 1: What is a frying pan?
Part 2: Basic Metals

Sprayed-on PTFE $14.99

Teflon and PTFE
The world has a love and hate relationship with Teflon or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Stainless steel pans are given a layer (or more) of this magical chemical, and suddenly there are no more burns, stick-on, and crust. Thanks to China, PTFE products are widely available for very cheap. Is Teflon the kitchen god's answer the prayers of millions of busy mothers and lazy chefs? No, not at all.

Baked-on PTFE $39.95

When PTFE is heated above 500F (260C), it decomposes, and the by-product is scientifically proven to be lethal for birds and causes mild poisoning for human. DuPont, the producer of Teflon, recommends that people do not keep their birds in the kitchen for this reason. Does this mean everyone should throw out all their pans containing PTFE? No. Although Teflon releases detectable carcinogen and toxin over 392F (200C). Although like mercury, these toxin will stay in your body for a long time, long term proper use of Teflon pan has not been directly link to any health risk.

Don't use metal utensil on the pan and avoid putting it in the dishwater: Once the pan is scratched, it releases toxins into the food and especially sauces. Metal utensil will directly damage the surface, while dishwashing will slowly wear it out.
Put oil in early: most oil (except for avocado and safflower oil) will smoke and become unusable before the pan reaches 500F. Do not heat dry or empty Teflon pan for more than a minute.
Only use Teflon pan on low or medium heat.
Couples planning to have children or pregnent women should avoid using Teflon pan.

All-Clad Baked-on PTFE $127.95

If you are an attentive careful chef (unlike me), are not a bird owner, and are not planning to have children, then PTFE based pan may be right for you. However, you should still do your research before buying your frying pans. Pans that are not manufactured properly can cause a bigger problem than the above studies suggest. Super cheap Teflon pans are made by spraying PTFE onto the stainless steel pan - these comes off very easily just from regular use. You want pan that has baked on PTFE onto the cooking surface during the manufacturing process which is more durable and longer lasting. You can easily discern the quality by the colour of the screws used to secure the handles of the pans . If it is black, PTFE was sprayed on. If it is clear metal colour, then it was baked on, before the handle was screwed on.

Your Best Options:

Swiss Diamond $114.99

With the rising notoriety with Teflon, a lot of manufacturer avoid mentioning it in the product descriptions and instead focus on other qualities to confuse shoppers. For example, Calphalon sells their PTFE based product as "Anodized Aluminum Nonstick Cookware" without mentioning PTFE anywhere on the products, labels, or advertisements. Pure anodized aluminum cookware does exit, but this metal is not non-stick. Calphalon does bake PTFE onto the cooking surface of ALL their non-stick cookware to make them non-stick. All-Clad is even trickier. They claim their non-stick product is PFOA-Free. PFOA is a very toxic chemical that can be found in some low-grade Teflon cookware. They painfully avoided mentioning the fact that their non-stick surface is still baked-on PTFE, and same health restrictions do apply. However, to their credit, they have taken extra precaution to make sure their non-stick cookware can withstand more heat before it releases toxin, making All-Clad non-stick frying pan the second safest PTFE product on the market. Swiss wins by using mixing diamond (or titanium) with their PTFE (euphoniously named "nano-composite"), but it is not oven safe (plastic handle).

Environmentally and healthy non-stick frying pans do exist, but that's for the next post. Stay tuned!

Poultry Nesting Dolls Project: Step 5

2010-12-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

Market Meat helped me put together a turducken for Thanksgiving. We used a duck breast, a chicken, another duck, and then the turkey. All the birds were professionally brined and deboned. We used cranberry Apple Walnut sauce, spicy sausage, breading, tons of herbs, premium olive oil to stuff the bird(s).

If you are interested in putting one together for Christmas, Market Meat would be more than happy to help you. This Turducken with labour cost me $300 after tax. All you have to do is put it into the oven. It will comfortably feed 25-30 normal people. In my case, it only fed 15 people, but some of us ate like vacuums.

Jack O´Shea Choosing Beef

2010-12-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

This is a very well produced short video about how to choose beef and why different parts of beef requires different cooking methods and doneness.

Ciao Bella

2010-12-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

Linguini alla Toni

Good Italian food is hard to find in Vancouver. Restaurants (and patrons) seemed to have deconstructed the cuisine into various categories in which each restaurant specializes in. For example, I have yet found great pizza in the same restaurant that serves great ravioli.

After the fall of our beloved Trattoria, my family's odyssey for a good Italian food has begun again. Ciao Bella is located in the heart of downtown by Robson and Denman; we were drawn there by its 50% off pasta lunch specials and free parking.

Food (3/5):

Penne alla Miditerranea (not on sale)

The 6 of us all ordered pasta and they were all good, well portioned, and satisfying, especially for $8. In fact, it would be hard to find deal this good anywhere downtown or west of Vancouver. However, I would not pay the usual price for these dishes, because there are other Italian restaurants that offer better pasta at the same price or lower, such as Bella Roma. The appertizer soup and salad were very ordinary and the pasta was boring. The food lacked any rusticity or complexity that I loved about Italian food, and I can probably cook better at home. Maybe we were all cursed by the ghost of Trattoria, but none of us eager to give the restaurant a second chance.
The only dish that stood out was Spaghetti alla Zambrotta was probably the best. I liked the spicy sausages and zesty fresh tomato sauce. If I have to eat here again, I would most likely order this dish again.

Spaghetti alla Zambrotta

Service (2.5/5):
For lunch, there was only one waitress on staff. She seemed almost dismayed when the six of us entered the restaurant and almost frowned when we decided to sit inside away from the patio where other customers. It was hard to blame her disgruntled attitude, since she was holding down the fort alone and playing superwoman. She was probably underpaid too. Although she was visibly unhappy, she served us adequately: take our orders, explained the dishes, served the food, and filled the glass all timely and efficiently. In cases like this, I blame the management.

Linguini alla Pesto

Ambience (3/5)
I think their small patio area under the sheds of the trees on the side street is their main (tourist) attraction. If I was a tourist in Vancouver on a sunny day in the summer, that patio plus cheap pasta would seem irresistible. There are live piano music at night from Wednesday to Sunday. However, the interior space during the day time was as depressing as that poor waitress. I am sure it's very nice at dinner time though.

Overall Experience: (2.5/5)
The wine list was pretty lacklustre, and I was pretty sure their desserts were proprietary. The whole experience was very ordinary and unmemorable. I even dragged blogging about it.

Total: 11/20
I didn't feel ripped off like when I was at Gramercy Grill. I believe I got exactly what I paid for, but I was disappointed that this place was supposedly for fine dinning. If Ciao Bella wants to survive the increasing competitive restaurant market in vancouver, they are in need of a Restaurant Makeover, and a menu and management overhaul.

Dragon Ball Teahouse

2010-12-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

My brother, Andy, is a self-proclaimed bubble tea expert and he used to drink two or three bubble teas a day, driving hours just to try out new places. Bubble tea flows in his veins... He believes Dragon Ball Teahouse has the best bubble tea in town and my friends all agreed independent of his review.

The little tea shop is busy all year round and packed like a clown car. Despite the traffic, the place is always clean, the staffs are always nice, and their efficiency rivals that of Starbucks. However, order your drinks to go, because the busy King Edward Street offers more quiet and ambience than inside the store.

The most importantly, the quality of their tapioca balls are always perfectly cooked: not too soft, chewy, or grainy. The tea base is fresh (like coffee, tea only stay fresh for a few hours) and offers the delicate balance of tea's natural bitterness and sweetness.

The drink is $3.5 with pearls $0.5 comes to $4.0, which is the industry standard. You will likely spend more money on gas travelling to this store then 4 dollars, but it's well worth it and you will keep coming back.

Frying Pan 101: Basic Metals

2010-12-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

Frying Pan: Part 1

Stainless Steel

Stainless Steel $16.99

What is the differences between the $8 dollar frying pan at dollar stores and the super expensive pans at places like Cookworks?

Stainless steel has one of the worst thermal conductivity. It takes a long time for the pan to heat up, and the heat is not distributed evenly. As a result, a piece of fish would easily get stuck on the bottom of the pan and the fish will not cook evenly. However, stainless steel is super durable and resist to rust, dent, and other abuses. It is dishwasher safe. Also, notice the black plastic handle in the right picture? This pan is not oven friendly. Unlike stock pots where the differences between pots are smaller, I do not recommend people who desire to cook up the perfect piece of steak or fish to invest in these cheap skillets.

All-Clad $97.00

The premium cookware manufactures, such as All-Clad, uses All-clad uses cladding aluminum or copper technique for their stainless steel products. These usually have a thin stainless layer on the cooking surface and a thick core of aluminum to provide structure and good thermal conductivity. Sometimes a thin layer of copper inside or outside of the pan that provides additional diffusion and the "look" of a copper pan (at a higher price). These pans heats up faster, retains heat better, have great heat distribution, and are sometimes (but no always) dishwasher safe. In addition, their handles stay cool (as long as it is not in direct fire), unlike the ikea ones (which suck).

Copper

Mauviel Copper $209

Copper has the best thermal conductivity. A copper pan takes seconds to heat up, requires less heat to cook, and heats evenly. In a perfect world, all my cookware would be made with copper, including my dishwashing robot, but copper is prohibitively expensive. Buying copper cookware is similar to buying a beautiful expensive shirt that is dry cleaning only. They make you feel sexy! These cookware requires a lot of your love and attention. They need to be handled with care, hand cleaned with special cleanser, and polished regularly. Pure copper frying pans are pretty rare nowadays. The more popular models all have a layer of stainless steel for the cooking surface for better durability. Is it worth the money? Totally, specially for the bigger pans, if you can afford it.

Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron $22.99

Cast Iron
Traditionally, frying pans were made of cast iron, which is super heavy and super durable (a weapon in its own right! Bring with you to camping!). They heats evenly (slowly) and maintain very high temperature making it ideal for searing and browning meat. Food reacts differently to iron than to stainless steel or aluminum. Old school chefs often prefer using these to achieve true flavours in traditional cuisines. However, iron is prone to corrosion by acid and rust by water. Not only is it not dishwasher safe, it also requires regular maintenance of applying seasoning (a layer of fat and carbon). On the other hand, you never need to really wash it. Since scrubbing and soap would damage the pan, a gentle rinse with a soft cloth would do. Remaining layer of oil will protect the pan. In Taiwan, restaurants never wash their 200 year old cast iron wok with anything but water, in order to maintain the traditional flavour of their heritage dishes.

Carbon Steel Blue Pan $23.71

Carbon Steel
Carbon steel pans are made from tempered steel. The metal is hammered and flatten into super dense and high strength sheets. This type of pans is heat resistant (aka. does not conduct heat well), which is ideal for specific culinary applications where different parts of the metal can be kept at different temperature. Carbon steel is a popular metal for woks, crepe pans, and griddles. Like cast iron, it needs to be seasoned before and after use and never wash it with soap. Don't use it to cook steaks.

Next part: Teflon pans

The Down Under...

2010-12-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard of "Two Buck Chuck"? The famous (or infamous) wines sell for $1.99 per bottle that happened to be very popular with teenagers and the breakfast club, a like.

The clever Bronco Wine Company mass produce different grape varieties in the hot, dry, central valley of California, ferment in large batches, and then bottled in large factory assembly line. They have both reds and white: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, shiraz, pinot grigio, and more.

Is it good? It is definitely better than what you would imagine a wine of $1.99 would taste like. In fact, it's extreme value shiraz won many awards.

During the 2007-2008 economic crisis, Australians had more wine than they can possibly sell. Many wineries, good and bad, had to contemplate dumping their wine, good or bad, in order to save storage cost. Bronco Wine Company waltz in and bought all their chardonnay at a couple dollars per TON. With the US:Aussie currency rate at that time, they were pretty much committing robbery. They dumped all the chardonnay, regardless where, what, or how the wine came from, into tankers, shipped to California where they are bottled and labelled in the large factory assembly line. The company sold these for $2.99 and $7.99 in Canada, per bottle. They gave it the cheeky (economically and geographically appropriate) name, "Down Under".

Is it good? I bought a bottle and tried it out. It was actually not bad for $7.99. I had worse that cost more. There wasn't any (at all) distinctive nuances. It was pretty much a generic white wine (a.k.a it is white and it is a wine.) A perfect thirst clenching wine for people who just want to drink without thinking too much.

FBC: Hot Sauce and ESB

2010-12-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

Frat-boy Chicken Series:

FBC: BBQ and Honey Larger

FBC: Lemon Pepper and Hefeweizen

FBC: Lemon Grass Chili and Asian Beer

FBC: Chocolate Mole & Irish Cream Ale

This is the lazy version of Frat Boy Chicken utilizing ingredients that are readily available in every bachelors' kitchen: beer and hot sauce. The prep time takes no more than 5 minutes, and the chicken would be ready by the first intermission of Hockey Night in Canada, and the cleaning up only involves putting aluminum foil in a garbage bag.

Any hot sauce will do really. The spicy sauces would lose some of its potency as the chicken roast. The regular hot wing sauce was reduced to tangy flavour with a small kick after 50 minutes. I would recommend against using any sweeter sauces because it clashes with the bitterness in beer.

For the beer, I used Granville Island Extra Special Bitter. It is a limited release for the fall/winter season and is sold out everyday. Dennis had the store speed dial in when they get more shipment. When cooking with bitter beer, stay away from sweet food.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 cup hot sauce
1 TBSP rock or sea salt (roughly grounded)
3 TBSP grounded pepper
½ cup olive oil
1½ cup Extra Special Bitter Beer

Instruction:
1. Preset the oven to convection 425F.
2. Clean the chicken, pat dry with paper towel.
3. Mix salt, black pepper, and olive oil in a bowl. Brush the mixture onto the chicken.
4. Pour 1 cup of beer into the can. Prop the chicken onto the can and arrange the legs so the chicken is well-balanced and sits straight up.
5. Bake it for 10 minutes.
6. Lower the oven temperature to 300F
7. Take the chicken out. Brush it with a generous amount of hot sauce.
8. Put the chicken back in the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the chicken's internal temperature reaches 160F. Glaze it with hot sauce if desired.
9. Enjoy the rest of the beer while you wait for your roast!
10. Once it is ready, leave it to cool for 15 minutes before carving. This will help the moisture in the chicken to settle.

Poultry Nesting Doll Project: Step 4

2010-12-08T16:01:00.000-08:00

This method of deboning turkey is specifically for keeping the turkey completely intact, just without bones. This was done for our Poultry Nesting Doll Project. The father of Market Meat's owner, Zul, deboned this turkey for us. He had 50 years of experience as a butcher. He is such a wonderful man, skilled butcher, and a knowledgeable chef. That day, he not only taught me how to debone turkey but also plenty of foodie tipbits.

Spine is out

Unfortunately, the video was cut short, because my low budget camera ran out of memory. Hopefully I will have the chance to film the entire process in the future. (I have already bought a bigger memory card). Here are some additional photos I took after my camera refused to film any further.

Taking out a rib

After the video ended, he pulled out the spine (like a piece of string!) right out of the turkey. Then he efficiently worked on taking out the collar bones, wishing bone, and the arm bones. Then he remove each rib and random bones one by one, rolling the turkey inside out like the sleeve of a jacket.

At this point, the turkey was completely turned inside out, as he carefully worked on the breast bone. He explained that this was the most difficult part of the operation, because there were very little meat between the centre of the breast bone and the skin. One false move, he would break the skin.

Done! The only bones that were left were the legs and wing bones, which were purposely left in. The turkey was still intact with only two opening: the front and back. The whole process took only 8 minutes for our master butcher.

The finished product

Christmas Market

2010-12-07T08:28:00.000-08:00

After an explosion that slowed its opening, the Vancouver Christmas Market, an authentic outdoor German Christmas market village at The Plaza at Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Downtown. They are open daily 11:00am to 9:00pm from Nov 28 through Dec 24, 2010.

Cranberry and Pecan baked apple

This Christmas Market isn't your typical fair. There are lots of different entertainment and delicious traditional food and drink that not only are delicious but also wow you. I went with Peter from eat-rotic.com who took these awesome pictures When I walked in, I was greeted with soft sweet prezels that was bigger than my face, and then the smell of cooked apple with chocolate. The baked apple stand was packed with people, including my friends going back for their second apple. There were more flavours I can remember: cranberry, pecan, black forest, maple, classic... The black forest apple with gooey chocolate inside and outside was my favourite.

Next, the gluehwine, a hot fermented juice, was a rather deceptive drink. It was nice to have something nice and warm to hold and sip as we walked, but this delicious alcohol didn't hit us until we had our third cup.

My favourite was the pig on a spit by the pull pork stand. The glistening pig smells sooo gooooood. I wanted to walk up and take a bite out of it.

Have I mentioned the baked potatoes yet? You have to try baked potato with made by a cute Irish couple with their special oven specifically designed to bake potatoes. The pulled pork with caramelized onion, Dijon mustard, and sauerkraut baked potato is the best. I can never get potato this creamy at home.

Taiwan 2010: WHM

2010-12-06T23:16:00.000-08:00

Day 4, we had the pleasure to meet with the president of the largest dumpling restaurant chain in Taiwan and China, 五花馬水餃館, literally translated as Five Flower Horse or Spotted Horse. Its name were taken from a famous Li Bai poem: 將進酒 Bring in the Wine. This elegant poem talked about feasting with lords and kings, and each table was named after a famous Three Kingdom historical character. They are famous for their handmade dumplings, noodle, and Chinese pancakes from scratch.

After the meeting, I dragged my parents to one of the restaurants for dinner. I was expecting a fancy restaurant with ornate traditional decor... nope! Ironically, the restaurant is just a fast food dinner with fluorescent lights, oily table, and dirty washroom. Customers order by writing an order sheet and walk it up to the front to pay and order. Everything except for the actual dishes were self-serve. However, the restaurant was packed with people with a line up in front of the door!

People were drawn there by the free all-you-can-eat corn soup. Do you know any restaurants that gives away free all-you-can-eat food and use it as one of their selling point? The soup is not bad at all. It was thick, creamy, full of flavour, and comforting. Dishes range from $1-3 CND are well portioned, and the boiled dumplings cheap and delicious - a rare combination. The dough were perfect and there was generous amount of fillings. In fact, I ate all the dumplings before I remember to take photos! Nom nom nom...

In addition to the free soup and dumpling, we ordered steam vegetables, tea eggs, noodle soup, and green onion pancakes. I wish North American would take a note on restaurant like this, offering delicious greens and calorie conscious dishes cheaply and conveniently. On the other hand, there wasn't anything healthy about the big bowl of oily and salty noodle soup with stewed minced pork, but it was sinfully delicious.

This is probably why international fast food chains, such as MacDonald and KFC, don't do well in Taiwan. There are so many competing fast food places like this that offers Taiwan-centric menu with classy historic and literary themes and a more nutritionally balanced dishes. MacDonald can maybe compete better if it starts offering all-you-can-eat fries.

I look forward to bringing Dennis there. He would love the Three Kingdom theme tables and all the awesome poems on the wall. It would also be a great place to introduce him to magic of boil dumplings.

Update: Fire Closed Down 5 Restaurants

2010-12-05T21:31:00.000-08:00

A massive fire set fire to 5 restaurants on Broadway and Cambie on December 1st. The fire originated from Japa Bistro

A massive fire originated from the communal attic above Japa Bistro. Without fire stop, the fire quickly spread to other 4 restaurants causing severe structure damage to both Japa Bistro and Sha Lin Noodle House, and smoke damage to the other three restaurants: RO Sushi, Gold Train Express, and Lucky Noodle. These restaurants would have to throw out ALL their food and condiments and wipe the entire place down, before they are allowed to be open again.

Dennis, being his usual cynical self, mentioned that Japa Bistro's business has been very poor prior to the fire and wondered if this was an insurance related fire. I don't think so, but I do hope Sha Lin Noodle House have insurance, and I look forward to eating there again when they reopen.

Restaurant Horror Story

2010-12-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

What (if any) should or should not be recycled from one customer to another?

I used to work at Vietnam Taste in London Ontario, a chain restaurant owned by three Chinese men, run by Chinese employees. Ironically, the restaurant serves delicious, "authentic", and soul healing Vietnamese food.

I worked there for 9 months for $6.00 per hours, under the table (paid in cash) without benefits. Why? Because I loved the food, I wanted to learn how they run the restaurant, and most importantly I wanted their recipes - my inner foodie compelled me. I had learned a lot in my short time there, made friends, and brushed up on my Chinese. I am thankful for my experience and don't regret working there, but there were a couple problems that left me with a big moral dilemma.

The first thing I learned was the recycling of bean sprouts, basil, pepper, and lime. The leftovers are returned to the vat of water with other bean sprouts, in room temperature. While that may seen like a perfectly innocent practice of not wasting food, I was instructed to recycle anyway even if the plate may have been sneezed on or have discarded food (such as shrimp shells or other food customers picked up). However, this was a rather common practice in pho restaurants everywhere. Gold Train Express chain in Vancouver definitely do this. Regardless, I kept my eyes on my goal and worked on.

The second thing I learned was why most Asian restaurants had bad service. It was not that the servers were lazy, incompetent, or inattentive. It was not that the servers were overworked (which they were). I was explicitly told not to be attentive (such as offering them water, refilling their water glass, or bring them their bills). This was a conscious decision by the management to keep the quality of service consistent. If customers did not expect good service, they were less likely to complain about bad service. Anyway, not my business and I wanted the recipes.

What made me quit was the HOW coconut smoothie was made. The restaurant served fresh coconut juice right out of the coconut. The coconut was cracked open and served directly with a straw. (This was possibly the cleanest and healthiest thing on the menu) I was instructed to put the empty coconut shell in the fridge. Being totally clueless, I originally thought the empty coconuts were stored to prevent it going sour and stinking up the restaurant. One day, a customer, who was visibly sick and congested, spit something nasty and yellow into his empty coconut shell. Instinctively, I threw it into the garbage after. The manager's father (who worked in the kitchen) picked it up from the trash, split it open, scrap out the spit with his unwashed hand over running cold water, scraped out the coconut meat with a spoon, wrapped it, and placed it in the smoothie fridge. When I inquired about it, the old man defended that this was the only source of coconut meat for the smoothie, and it was his favourite drink. He insisted that I made a smoothie for him out of that batch and drank the whole content in front of me. "See, nothing wrong!" I gave my one week notice the next day. I spent the week secretly documenting this coconut smoothie making processes so I could submit it to the health authority.

However, I did not end up reporting them. There was a 69 year old woman who worked in the kitchen 90 hours a week, paid mostly in cash, because they didn't want to pay her overtime. She shared her life story with me before I left. She came from an impoverished village where her children and grandchildren lived. She saved every penny she earned for them. The other two men who worked there were working there illegally. Even my manager was poor and struggle to provide his new born son. Their behaviour was the product of lack of education and cultural ignorance. The restaurant would be shut down and they would all be out of work and sent back to China if I report them. I could not decide if I should ruin the livelihood of these people and their loved ones to prevent a potential health crisis in London Ontario. I moved back to Vancouver and misplaced the photos.

Few days ago, after two years, I found the incriminating photos on a hard drive, stirring up the horrendous memories of the coconut smoothie. I felt consumers, at least, have the right to be informed. You can decide for yourself, if you still want to eat there. I did, even after I learned about the smoothie; I skipped on the drinks and never touched the bean sprouts, the fish sauce, fish dishes, sweet sour dishes, etc. It wasn't much different from McDonalds, otherwise.

I did learned the recipes btw. Ironically, now that I knew how to make the food, I would never make it for anyone I care about. What made their pho broth so delicious? Chicken powder + MSG + sugar + salt + broth. Everything that tasted good had copious amount of sugar, salt, and MSG. Pad Tai was made with ketchup and MSG. Also, nothing was fresh: they were frozen, refrigerated for weeks, or recycled.

Frying Pan 101: Part 1

2010-12-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

Frying Pan

There are an overwhelming selection of pans out there on the market. Unlike stock pots, frying pans have more complex science behind it. No single pan is ideal for every use. This guide will help you choose the right frying pan for the right job.

What is a frying pan?

Sauté Pan is not a Frying Pan

Frying pans or skillets are a flat bottomed pan with relatively low sides that flares outwards which help with evaporation and steam dissipation. It's slope sides make it easy to flip food and slide it out onto a plate when done. Frying pans are specifically designed for high heat cooking, such as frying, searing, browning. However, they are also useful for caramelizing and reducing sauce.

In comparison, sauté pans are not frying pans, because its vertical sides are designed to reduce splatter and keep in moist heat, making it perfect for sautéing, braising, and panfrying.

Weight and Thickness
Some pans come with an added metal layer on the bottom and/or is super heavy compared to other ones of the same size. Does it mean that its poorer in quality? No. Lighter pans are usually preferred for light sautéing (it's easier to flip and toss food). Heavier pans maintain its temperature better when cold food is added, making it ideal for cooking bigger items or searing meat. Maintaining high heat is essential to ensure meat don't stick to the bottom.

Next post, we will examine pans made from different materials.

Tomato Basil Soup

2010-12-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

This warm and hearty tomato basil soup is creamy and full of flavours but low in calories and super easy to make. It is also vegan and hypoallergenic, containing only canned tomato, basil, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil.

Why canned tomato instead of fresh ones? In the winter, tomatoes in markets through out Vancouver are imported, and they tend to be more blend and not fresh, because they are not grown in their best season. Canned tomatoes, especially the whole ones, are canned when tomatoes are the most ripe and delicious; tomatoes' own acidity keep them that way in the can. However, in the autumn, i would make these out of fresh tomatoes, with a different recipes.

For this recipes, you will need a blender or a hand-held blender, to emulsify the olive oil into the soup. To emulsify is to blend or whip the soup at high speed while slowly drizzle the olive oil in. The result is a deliciously creamy soup without the cream!

Ingredient:
(serves 2)
1 large canned whole tomato (796ml)
2 tbsp garlic and herb infused olive oil
3-4 large basil leaves
salt and pepper

Instruction:
1. Pour the entire content of the canned tomato into a pot
2. Use your hand to squeeze and gently break the tomatoes. Do this while the tomatoes are submerged in the liquid, so they do not spit juice everywhere. Hands are the best and most gentle way to break the tomatoes.
3. Put basil into the pot and heat on low heat for 30 minutes or until the liquid thickens. (about ⅓ of the liquid should be reduced)
4. Remove from heat, blend the soup in a blender or with a hand-held blender. With the blender on, slowly drizzle the olive oil in to emulsify it.
5. Taste and season according to your preference.

You can also add additional spices and herbs at the end. The soup is acidic, so sweet or bitter spices are the best. I like a little bit of cayenne, cumin, and nutmegs.

Garlic and Herb Infused Olive Oil

2010-11-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

This is the first of my flavoured olive oil series. Flavoured olive oils are usually pretty expensive. Why not make your own? You can create your own unique flavours. This versatile oil also simplifies cooking and shortens cooking time in the future. You can drizzle on any food before you roast it, emulsify it in soups, drizzle it on cooked vegetable, or use it as a salad dressing.

You can make as much or as little as you want. Once it cools down, it can be stored in room temperature, covered or in a squeeze bottle.

Ingredients:
1 litter medium or low grade olive oil
8 cloves garlic
1 spring thyme
1 spring rosemarry

Instruction:
1. Place all ingredients in a pan or pot on the lowest heat possible
2. Heat for at least 20 minutes, never let the herbs or the garlic brown.
3. Strain in a sieve and let it cool.

Poultry Nesting Doll Project: Step 3

2010-11-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

This method of deboning is specifically for keeping the duck in one whole piece.

In this case, it was done for Poultry Nesting Dolls Project. Spencer from Market Meat deboned this duck in 12 minutes. iMovie was a little wonky and I can't seems to remove some of the background sounds... very sorry about that.

Trainer's Tip from Christina

2010-11-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hopefully I have piqued some interest with my last blog post and have gotten some thinking about the primal lifestyle. It focuses on eating whole, natural foods (lean meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds), getting lots of quality sleep and training smart.

I have personally seen great results on many different levels. Huge gains in terms of body composition and training performance, as well as improved digestion and reduced sugar cravings.

Being a busy Personal Trainer, I tend to have a few set "go-to" recipes; stewed tomatoes, peppers with extra lean ground beef or chicken breast stir-fried with almond butter, spinach, onion and carrots.
Lately, I have been tapping my creative powers and having a lot of fun experimenting with different recipes to keep "paleo" eating interesting.

My favorite thus far has been my hybrid of a Double Down and Australian style hamburger. The Double Down is a KFC creation that sandwiches two chicken fillets around bacon, cheese and special sauce, sans bun. An Australian burger is a beef patty topped with sliced beets, fried egg, cheese, bacon and pineapple ring. Right now you are probably grossed out or confused. How could something inspired by these two things be healthy and delicious?
Allow me to educate.

I made two thin patties using extra lean ground beef, olive oil, onions and garlic. I grilled these and stacked on sliced beets, spinach, tomato, pineapple and a fried egg. On the side, I had a mixed salad with spinach, carrots and peppers to get some more foliage. It was amazingly satisfying meal packed with lean protein and vegetables.

All in all, the Primal Aussie Double Down was a fantastic success and will be added to my paleo menu, especially when I have company to impress! Get creative in the kitchen and see what delicious primal meals you can create.

For information regarding personal training services in Vancouver, please contact Christina Longo at longoc@live.com or 778 846 4185

Update: Dinesty

2010-11-26T16:24:00.000-08:00

Dinesty has kindly informed me that they are no longer a "Cash-Only" business. They now accept both debit and credit card.

Gyundon Ya

2010-11-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

Need something warm and comforting (but really fast and cheap!) for lunch? Look no further than your friendly neighbour Gyundon Ya. Well, they only have one store now at the busy corner of Robson and Richards, but I expect this successful 'fast food' joint will soon spread to other commercial areas and cafeterias around Vancouver.

Chicken with combo

Gyundon means sweet-shoyu marinated beef on rice. Gyundon Ya serves exactly that, delicious protein (beef, short ribs, or chicken) with teriyaki-like sauce on rice with sides of miso soup and salad. This little 'restaurant' has two rows of bars with stool, seating no more than 20 people. Two to three Japanese waitress with identical squeakily voice and overly feminism demure. It feels like Tokyo!

Beef with combo

For 5-8 dollars, Gyundon Ya offers well-portioned, nutritious, and well-balanced lunch for busy Vancouverites on breaks. I have tried everything on the menu, and my favourites are actually the short ribs and then the chicken. Unlike other Japanese restaurants, their miso soup is not overly salt or grainy. Warm and delicious - perfect for this cold weather.

If you happen to be in the area, definitely check it out. It's unlikely you will find a delicious, well- balanced meal for $5 dollars anywhere else in Downtown.

Btw, they serve coke in the vintage glass bottle.

Lady Gaga's Real-Meat Dress

2010-11-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

Every year at VMA, Lady Gaga does or wears something totally crazy. This one is pretty phenomenal. Real meat sawn together with meat tendons, not strings. Even the shoes is made of meat and animal bone. (The shoes looked pretty good if it wasn't made of meat).

My questions are:
1. HOW did they saw the dress together?
2. How did it smell? Were there maggots?
3. What animal did she use?
4. Is there a layer of something sanitary between her skin and her outfit?

Maybe her designed was inspired by this monster Turducken Good way to get publicity too though. Even the foodies are blogging about her now.

Taiwan 2010: Tea

2010-11-23T13:20:00.000-08:00

While China provides a more diverse and larger quantity of tea, Taiwan has a much higher regulation, specialization, and technology for tea viticulture. The differences in quality are night and day. Although Taiwan has only been cultivating tea since mid 19th century, the industry has grown rapidly with its economy and consumer demand. Now, Taiwan is known for its tea like French with wine. Japan is the only country that produce even higher quality tea, but the terroir is completely different.

Bubble tea is second from the right

With better regulation and quality control, consumers do not have to worry about issues such as residual pesticide and impurity on the tea leaves. Also, it is less likely that buyers would be scammed or cheated at the retail level.

The most famous Taiwanese tea is the Oolong, grown high in the mountain. Teas are harvested 2-3 times a year depending on the weather. Taiwan's climate varies drastically from year to year, quality of tea may differ from season to season, and good vintages are highly sought after. Although Taiwan is small, it is geographically varied, like Italy, with high, steep mountains rising quickly from low-lying coastal plains. The terroir result in differences in appearance, aroma and flavour of the tea grown around Taiwan. Premium teas have been cultivated at ever higher elevations to produce a unique sweet taste that fetches ever higher price.

Instead of sugary pop drinks often associated with diabetic epidemics in North America, Taiwanese convenience store refrigerators are filled with variations of tea based drinks in bottles, cans, and tetra packs. Dennis's favourite is the organic rose tea 90cal per liter, cane sugar free, for $2.

Bubble Tea
Bubble Tea is sweetened tea based drink with small tapioca balls. It is invented in Taichung Taiwan - by a small tea shop on the same block as my childhood apartment building. Lots of other Asians have attempted claiming their country have invented it, mainly South Korea and China. Sorry dudes, I have the first hand account dating back to 1980s. I am pretty sure a significant percentage of my body is made out of bubble tea. That small tea shop is now a huge tea house chain around Taiwan and China, like Starbucks.

However, there are a lot of super refined sugar in the tea and as well as in the tapioca balls. Acquiring a taste for sugar, the popularity of this drink is beginning to be associated with health problems in the younger generation.

Poultry Nesting Dolls Project: Step 2

2010-11-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Brining

This deboning method is specifically for keeping the chicken in one piece. This is done for the Poultry Nesting Doll Project. Spencer from Market Meat deboned this entire chicken within 11 minutes.

I am beginning to love Youtubing. It's an exhilarating experience.

Why “Cash Only”?

2010-11-19T14:44:00.000-08:00

Authentic Chinese restaurants around Vancouver often only accept cash, which would seem like an economically unsound practice in our credit-card-centric world. This is such a prevalent practice in Vancouver that I would often judge the authenticity of an unfamiliar Chinese restaurant its “cash-only” sign. (Well, also the “No-MSG” sign would indicate an inauthentic Chinese restaurant)

So why would these restaurants go out of the way to inconvenience their customers? Why does it seem like a common practice amongst authentic Chinese restaurants?

The Cuisine
Unlike Western cuisine where chefs are encouraged to create new and beautiful dishes, Chinese cuisine is rather rigid, and each dish has an idealistic and specific taste and texture. Customers expect the same Kong Bao Chicken from restaurant to restaurant. If one restaurant prepares the dishes better and closer to the expected ideal, the customers will go to that restaurant next time. With an universal and standard taste for the cuisine, it also becomes easy to determine which restaurants have the better value. In addition, unaware or unappreciative of Vancouver’s tipping culture, Chinese customers usually do not tip or tip very poorly.

As a result, Chinese restaurants have to compete with each other like fast food burger joints. They have a very small profit margin compares to Western restaurants, and they must find creative ways to cut cost.

Transaction Costs
The highest are credit cards, which charge vendors a couple percentage for using it. Debit machines also charge a fixed amount each month and as well as per transaction.

Tax 'Benefits'
One of the benefit of cash transaction is that restaurants do not necessarily have to declare this income. It is dishonest and illegal, but there are no paper trail. Restaurants not only can lie about the income, but also pocket the sales tax they charge their customers. This is probably super racist: my fellow countrymen view tax evasion with a sense of pride and entitlement.

Labour Laws
Then restaurants decided to pay their staff ‘under the table’ by cash. . Restaurants do not have to pay tax nor spend money of employee benefits by hiring mostly young people with language barrier and borderline indentured workers with or without proper working visa from China. They can also force workers to work overtime without having to compensate them properly. A woman I knew worked 90 hours a week being paid 8 dollars per hour, cash - business as usual, it seems.

Does it really mean ALL Chinese restaurants that only accept cash do all these unethical or illegal things? 99% Yes. Fortunately, the head of Canadian Tax Revenue Agency is a Chinese guy, and he is doing very well cracking down on these practices. Hopefully, we will see labour improvements in the near future. For now, you must judge for yourself if these issues matter to you when you choose restaurants.

Poultry Nesting Dolls Project: Step 1

2010-11-18T22:46:00.000-08:00

Just a quick reminder that Poultry Nesting Doll Dinner is this Sunday at Craig's common room. Please check our facebook event page for more detail. This is a semi-public event (a.k.a. you must be invited by someone who is invited) and here is a $20 cover charge per person. If you don't use facebook, please phone me, Craig, or the friend who invited you. Proceed will go to the Food Bank. We can't forget about other's hunger in our moments of gluttony. Plenty of food and drinks will be provided, but feel free to bring something too!

Also, big thanks to Market Meat for teaching me and helping us put the birds together. Above is my video of the brining process. Enjoy!

My New Toy

2010-11-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

Few years ago Dennis got me an expensive Blentec Blender - you know, the one from the "Will It Blend" youtube series. This machine was a beast - crushing things with a motor loud enough to shake the house. As with every electronic appliance that had the misfortune of having me as an owner, it finally died after a few years of abuse and misuse. "It Will Blend" was my motto. Most notably, I tried to blend mochi (condense dough of glutenous rice), and the blender was never the same ever again. Will-It-Blend Blender will not blend mochi.

Important Lesson: Don't use your blender as a food processor and vice versa. Blender is for grinding liquid such as juice and soup while food processor are for dry stuff such as nuts and dough.

Dennis got me a new (and more practical) toy for our anniversary: Cuisinart Duet Blender and Food Processor. It has separate blender and food processor attachment and additional blades for different chopping and shredding function. It's also cheap enough if I somehow killed it again, it has a three year warranty or we can just buy another one. This is the perfect solution for my little kitchen - and it doesn't shake the house when I make smoothie in the morning.

Roasted Leg of Lamb

2010-11-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

By the way, Food Network's website is a great place to get accurate and delicious recipes.

In one drunken midnight sometime ago, I saw Pitchin' In with Lynn Crawford and that episode where she visited a sheep rancher in Ontario. She made Hay Roasted Leg of Lamb with Ratatuille and Parmeasan Zuchinni Frites for the rancher's family and a festive-loving greek guy. The hay was used as 'bedding' for the lamb in the roasting pan. Since lambs ate hay for their entire life, the beautiful smoky and earth aroma of the hay was eagerly absorbed by the meat. Ingenious!

Where do you get hay? According to Peter, you can ask farmers in south of Richmond for free. According to Tom, manager at Caper's Wholefood on 4th Ave, you can order clean, organic hay through their produce department. Unfortunately, I did not have time to order them or find them last minute, so I decided to use the vegetable scrapings (garlic stem, onion skins, carrot peels, and etc) for the "bed" for the lamb.

Garlic Spinach Swirl inside the lamb

My awesome butcher at Market Meat deboned the leg of lamb for me and even chopped the bone into small pieces for my sauce. I follow the recipe to the 'T" and it tasted amazing. I am so happy to have discovered this recipe. It's dairy, egg, and sugar free. However, I used my own ratatouille recipe instead of hers and I skipped the deep fried parmeasan zuchinni frites. People also commented that the sauce added moisture to the lamb, but it did not really add to the flavor. It's also needed tons of butter which I did not appreciate. I can safely say that you can skip on the sauce all together.

Recipe from Food Network
Serves 6

3 handfuls hay, soaked in water
2 cups white wine
1 leg of lamb, deboned and butterflied, reserve the bones for sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons anchovies, finely chopped
1 lemon, zest and juiced
2 tablespoons capers, chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 shallots, finely diced
8 cups baby spinach
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Butcher twine

Instruction:

Preheat oven to 450F.
In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, anchovies, lemon, capers, mustard and herbs together to form a loose paste.
In a large sauté pan over medium high heat add the butter and shallots. Cook until shallots are soft then add the spinach in batches and sauté until wilted and season with salt and pepper. Remove from pan and cool on a plate.
Season the lamb on both sides with salt and pepper and rub both sides with the marinade.
Lay the lamb leg out and place the spinach on the inside surface in an even layer. Roll the lamb into a cylinder. Take about six 12” pieces of butcher’s twine and tie the leg together making sure you pull twine taut.
Heat olive oil in a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add lamb to skillet; cook until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes.
Take a large deep roasting tray, and line the base with hay about 2 inches thick. Moisten hay with wine. Lay the leg onto the hay, and cover with the rest of the hay. Place a lid on top of the roasting tray or cover well twice with foil. It must be completely sealed.
Bake for about 15 minutes and then lower heat to 350F. Continue to roast lamb until thermometer inserted into thickest part registers to 135-140F about 55 minutes, depending on the size of the leg.
Transfer lamb to platter and let rest for 20 minutes.

The Godfather

2010-11-14T11:11:00.000-08:00

The Godfather - one part Scotch and one part Amaretto on the rock. It tastes good, looks good, and sounds good. This is a great drink to get to not only enjoy, but also impress your friends. This is also a great way to finish up that bottle of Islay Scotch you can't stomach otherwise.

Personally, I like my Godfather as two part Scotch and one part Amaretto with two rocks (two cubes of ice) without the straw.

Peter, who is probably cursing Dennis under his breath for introducing this drink, ruining his pocketbook and liver, can attest to the awesomeness of this drink.

La Terrazza

2010-11-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

For Dennis and my 10 year anniversary, we wanted a restaurant that was super fancy, romantic, delicious, and possibly overpriced (splurge a little for our special occasion). La Terrazza, an Italian restaurant tugged away on the edge of Yaletown, was our final choice. We have never been their before, but the menu on their website looked irresistible. La Terrazza did not disappoint.

Food: (3.75/5)
The warm, fluffy bread (free!) with olive baked in came bundled up like a little baby. As we unwrapped this delicious present, we were greeted with an explosion of the mouth-watering-freshly-baked-bread-with-olive scent. The bread came with an olive oil dip with garlic salt. This combination makes the bread particularly savory but perfectly suited for an Italian restaurant. (3.5)

Gnocchi

Dennis, the gnocchi expert, ordered their Gnocchi Alla Margarita($15). The handmade potato dumplings tasted like clouds... The texture was perfect. Its fresh tomato basil sauce was elegant, delicious, but missing that extra-something to make it extraordinary (4). I ordered Carpaccio Al Bosco ($15.88) with black truffle vinaigrette, asiago, and herb pita. The carpaccio eaten on its own was delicious, but nothing special, but when I ate it with the warm pita bread, the truffle scent was intensified and the carpaccio became something quite incredible. This is not your ordinary beef carpaccio (4/5).

Carpaccio

For main course, Dennis ordered Spaghettini Carbonara Al'aragosta. Dennis loved the crispy pancetta, the perfectly cooked lobster pieces, perfectly cooked pasta, and the creamy parmesan sauce. It reminded him of Lamb Pappardelle from the fallen Trattoria. This pasta's flavours were a little too subtle though (4). I got the Agnello, oven roasted rack of lamb in grainy mustard, mint consomme, and fontina potato gratinato. The lamb was perfectly cooked, tender, and moist. The flavour of the sauce was very subtle and light; I was expecting something more substantial with lamb. The fontina potato gratin was absolutely delicious! (3.5)

Spaghettini Carbonara Al'aragsta

For dessert, dennis and I shared La Creazione, a warm white chocolate cheesecake, wrapped in layers of phyllo with sour cherries. It was beautiful and delicious, but Dennis did not like it. He found the flavour of the cheesecake too subtle and overpowered by the sour cherry (3).

We believe the chef runs an disciplined and organized kitchen with other skilled chefs. Every single items was prepared to perfection and perfectly consistent and executed. The executive chef knows his/her gastronomy and manipulating and maximizing simple scents and flavours. With that said, Dennis and I tend to like heavy, in-you-face flavours, and the flavours are too subtle and "feminine" for us.

La Creazione

Service (3/5):
Our server was an odd duck. He is an older Italian gentlemen with the arrogance of French waiter. If I want to be snubbed, I would go to a French restaurant. We were served well: glass and wine were filled regularly, food arrived timely and together, but his service was intrusive and abrupt. Maybe he was having a bad day. He was completely blown away when I ordered an d'Asti to go with my dessert without consulting the wine menu, and then suddenly he became a lot friendlier. Maybe he initially thought I was just a Chinese tourist without any appreciation for fine Italian cuisine.

D'Asti

Ambience (4):
The restaurant, tugged away on the edge of Yaletown, has the most beautiful and romantic dining room in Vancouver. I felt like a princess in an enchanted Italian castle with an opulent lounge, timeless dark oak decor, and beautiful frescoed walls. Wine cellars lined the walls displaying expensive and rare wine collections. The light was dim, warm, and cozy. The music was Italian style electronics - cool, casual, and not annoying. This is like the perfect restaurant to bring your girlfriend to - to pop the big question. Just tugged her in the corner beside the fireplace surrounded by wine cellars or into the private wine cellar room or beside the window facing a beautiful garden, or... I can go on forever.

Overall Experience (3.5/5):
Their wine list was even more extensive and impressive (and expensive) than Cin Cin's. Cin Cin may have a book, they had an encyclopedia. I ordered one of the cheapest bottle on the menu: a 2006 Carmere for $55. It was beautiful, smooth, fruit forward and perfect for our dishes. However, as I was enjoying my Muscato D'asti in this fancy glass, the edge of the glass was chipped and cut my lips. It was an unpleasant surprise, but I understand things like this happens can happen in any restaurant, even though the server should have checked. The drink was taken off our bill, but I was expecting them to do more.

Total: 14.5/20
Dennis and I would love to go back and try the rest of the menu. We do appreciate subtle and elegant dishes sometimes. Hopefully, we will get a different waiter next time. La Terrazza is better than Cin Cin in terms of consistency and execution of the food, but Brix is superior than both.

Patisserie Colette

2010-11-10T17:18:00.000-08:00

Patisserie Colette is undoubtedly the most beautiful bakery cafes I have ever seen in Taiwan. Its imposing, white stand-alone building, surrounded by a grass lawn in Taichung's premium real estate area, is an eye catcher. The gorgeous interior has a cute pink and white color theme, highlighted with sihoulettes of flowers, butterflies and rabbits.

Let me tell you a story about the owner and the store. Tatjana Yeh went to baking school in Paris and worked for renowned bakeries such as Carton and The Ritz in Paris, and Toronto's famous Rahier. Her father is a wealthy doctor, and he bought that expensive piece of property and funded all the construction and reno. Her start-up cost was technically zero. Unfortunately, so was the profit. Her beautifully crafted pastries failed to catch on. Is it the price? $120 ($4 CND) Danish pastries are way to expensive in Taiwan. Or is it because her original French-style desserts are not suitable for Taiwanese palette? Or both?

Stepping into the stores, I felt I stuck out like a sore thumb in my jeans and T-shirt, even though there were no other customers. The cafe was ultra feminine, chic, and way to fancy for my dress code. This could be why its business has been so bad - Taiwanese didn't really like dressing up.

I ordered a simple hot chocolate. The milk tasted thin, the chocolate tasted thin too, and there was no foam to speak of. This was possibly made with powder chocolate or syrup, much inferior than Starbucks. I have expected real melted chocolate from cafe of this caliber. At least my father's latte came with good foam and even latte art on the foam. My father asked "How do you drink this?" Looked like people didn't know how to appreciate it either.

You can tell that this store and its beautiful products are labour of love from their owners. However, the type of clientele this cafe attracts is rather few and far in between in Taiwan. Also, the drink manu needs improvement. What a shame.

Royal Football Cake!

Downgrade for Trattoria

2010-11-10T08:28:00.000-08:00

Trattoria has been downgraded from one of my favourite restaurants. Its marks have been deducted too. The quality of their food just keeps slipping. Right now, Cin Cin and Brix has the best review at 15/20. The search for THE restaurant continues....

Motomachi Shokudo

2010-11-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

Motomachi Shokudo is a hole-in-the-wall, hidden (quite literally) gem of Vancouver, evident by the long line-up in front of the store and around the corner.

Tokyo-style ramen: pork-based broth with shoyu (soy sauce), shio (salt), or miso flavours, is in full rage in Vancouver. Raman houses have higher stores-per-square-foot density than Starbucks around Robson and Damen Downtown and Benkei Raman is working on its 6th store.

Ramen is not generally healthy. It's salty, oily, and packed with carb'licious noodles and low quality meat. Motomachi Shokudo distinguish itself with organic ingredients and even organic chicken and fish based broth - no MSG. The ramen gets its delicious flavours from the fresh and high quality ingredients.

Shoyu Ramen

In addition to the low-fat, pure goodness flavours, my favourite soup is the innovative Bamboo Charcoal Miso Dark Miso Ramen. Selling bowls of grayish liquid with yellow noodles to Westerners?! Yes and it's a revelation! In Japan, bamboo charcoal is considered healthy, cleansing, and common used for sweets. Its beautiful smoky flavour adds complexity to the chicken and miso broth.

This is (so far) definitely my favourite ramen house. Nothing like a big bowl of deliciousness at $8-10 that you won't regret later.

Japanese Style Cold Ramen

Whiskies 101

2010-11-08T15:25:00.000-08:00

This is very expensive, but is it good?

This is an in-depth guide about Whiskies. For the abridged version, see Scotch Cheat Sheet.

What is whiskey?
Whiskies are spirits (distilled alcohol) made from grains, where as Brandies are spirits made from fruits. Traditionally, whiskies were made with barley, but nowadays, maize and rye are just as common.

Unlike fruits, grains don't naturally contains the sugar needed to create alcohol. The starch in the grain must be converted into sugar before fermentation (yeast convert sugar into alcohol).

Here is the production of malt whiskey:

Step 1: the grain is soaked in the 'steep', regularly changed water, for 48 hours to encourage the seeds to release its natural enzymes to convert the stored starch into sugar (which the seed can use to grow).

Step 2: the wet barley grain is then spread on the malting floor, a temperature and humidity controlled space or warehouse, and and regularly and gently turned. Alternatively, it can be placed into the (more space conscious and less labour intensive) rotating Saladin boxes. This encourages the barley, which at this point is called the green malt, to germinate and create sugar.

Step 3: Before the barley sprouts, they are dried, usually kiln, to stop the growth. In scotch, peat is used to smoke the barley to add flavours. At this point, the barley is called malt.

Step 4: Malt is grinded into grist and then mixed in hot water in a mashed-tun. This process completely the sugar conversion process. This sweet beer-like liquid is called a wort. Wort is then placed in fermentation tanks called wash-backs. Here, the yeast converts the sugar into alcohol.

Step 5: The alcohol is then distilled either through pot-still or patent-still. The product of patent stills is usually flavorless, like vodka, The premium whiskey, such as scotch, usually uses pot-still which leaves more impurity (a.k.a flavour and nuances). This distilled alcohol is called British Plain Spirit, not scotch whiskey yet.

Step 6: In ordered to be called Scotch whiskey, the alcohol must go through maturation for three years, usually in oak cask. Traditionally, scotch uses freshly emptied sherry casks, but used Bourbon casks are now widely used. The casks gives the most obvious flavour differences between different whiskey. As amateurs, this is usually (the only) what we tastes.

Here is the production of grain whiskey: This is the more economical way of churning out cheap whiskey.

Step 1: Grind the grain (maize or any grain really) into flour.

Step 2: Cook it in a pressure cooker to release the starch.

Step 3: A little bit of malted barley is added for the enzyme and allow to ferment. The fermented product would be weaker than the wort in malt whiskey.

Step 4: The industrial strength patent-still will distill it to whatever alcoholic strength you want. This product is pungent but very smooth.

Step 5: In order to be called Scotch whiskey, it still has to be fermented for at least 3 years, effectively making it palatable.

Alternatively, grain whiskey is blended with malt whiskey. In fact, most whiskies are made this way. Standard Blend is usually not much more than three years old with varying quality and proportions of grains and malts. Deluxe Blend usually have more and better malt, the more expensive component of the two. It will also age-able for longer and stated on the bottle as 8, 12, 17 years old.

Change of Heart

2010-11-08T07:37:00.001-08:00

It's daylight savings and I am up at 5:30am, sigh. Call me flaky, but the gloomy Vancouver Weather was getting to me. I didn't need more rain on my blog, so I changed it to a sunny day!

Spooky Pumpkin Risotto

2010-11-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

Deliciously Evil

This is a Restaurant City inspired dish. By putting the risotto into the pumpkin, it absorbs the flavours of the pumpkin and the pumpkin keeps it warm. I did not use any butter or cream to make this dish. You can replace the potatoes into other vegetables. For example, you can add saffron or cinnamon for the additional orange color. I kept my risotto white for the photo.

For the pumpkin, I had my pumpkin carving kit and as well as the food scalping tool I brought back from Taiwan.

The dish icon in the game

Ingredients:
1 liter Fish, chicken, or vegetable stock
1 cup White wine
150g Arborio Rice
2 cup Pumpkin meat (cubed)
1 cup Purple potato (cubed)
1 cup Sweet potato (cubed)
1 cup Grated Parmesan
1 shallot (minced)
2 garlic (minced)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp thyme
Salt and pepper

Paprika used for the eyes

Instructions:
1. Carve the pumpkin. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Rub the inside of the pumpkin with olive oil and tiny bit of salt and pepper.
3. With the lid close, place the pumpkin on the middle rack inside the oven for 30 minutes. When the time is up, remove from oven, set aside, with the lid on.
4. Boil water in a small pot. Boil pumpkin, potatoes, and yams until its done. Blench and set aside.
5. Put stock in a pot over high heat
6. Put a pot or large sauce pan on medium heat. Sauté shallot for 5 minutes, make sure it does not brown
7. Add garlic, sauté for 30 second.
8. Add rice and stir
9. Add white wine and let it reduce
10. Increase the heat of the pan to medium high. Stir frequently and thoroughly, making sure the rice don't burn onto the sides.

Close look of the stuff inside

11. When the rice looks a little dry (thick and harder to stir), add boiling stock to the dish. Increase the heat of the pan briefly when stock is added to maintain the boil and then lower it back down to medium high.
12. Repeat this until the rice is at a desired doneness, about 15-20 minutes
13. Reduce heat and add thyme. Stir.
14. Add in the cooked pumpkin, potatos, and yams. Stir carefully to incorporate.
15. Remove from heat. Add parmesan and season to taste.
16. Scoop the risotto into the pumpkin

Trainer's Tip from Christina

2010-11-04T03:11:00.000-07:00

“Going Primal….grrrrr”

This week, I will discuss the book I am currently reading, The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. The focus of the book is not a weight loss or “diet” as in quick fix. It's a lifestyle program with an evolutionary slant, using the example of historical and contemporary hunter-gatherers as a model towards a healthier, happier and simpler lifestyle. The diet section will be familiar to anyone who has read about "paleolithic"-type diets. It focuses on eating meats, seafood, eggs, nuts, abundant vegetables, and fruit; organic and local when possible. He also suggests avoiding grains, legumes, dairy, all processed food, and reducing carbohydrate to less than 150 grams per day. These dietary suggestions appeal to me because they focus on real food .I also like that Mark is not all or nothing, making it accessible to everyone and emphasizing that any changes will bring benefits and hopefully lead to further lifestyle adjustments. He tries to create a plan that will be sustainable in the long run, by staying positive and allowing for indulgences. I have been eating “Primal” for the past few weeks, making my overall week about 85-95% on point. Although my diet was very clean to begin with (I have always emphasized whole vegetables and fruits, lean protein and nuts in my daily regime), there were a few points that I have adjusted to encouraging results. For me, I needed to increase my protein intake, remove soy from my diet, and cut out all grains including my breakfast stand by oatmeal. Here is a sample before and after of my eating habits.

Before
½ cup old fashioned oatmealSliced banana ¼ cup sliced almonds

¼ cup almonds Apple

Pita pit small chicken pita, whole wheat with hummus and tzatziki, lots of vegetables

1/3 cup almonds

Café misto with soy milk

Homemade peanut sauce stir-fry with carrots, onion, peppers and chicken, ½ cup brown rice or soba noodles

Treat: beer, wine or dark chocolate

After
Fruit salad-berries, pear and grapefruit (Low GI)

Hemp hearts, almonds or hard-boiled egg

1/3 cup almonds

Coffee with 1-2 tbs heavy whipping cream

Spinach salad with mandarin, beets, green peppers, sliced lean steak 4 oz, hemp hearts
Apple, More almonds or egg

Homemade almond butter sauce stir-fry with spinach, carrots, onion, peppers and chicken

Treat: Beer, Wine or Dark Chocolate

The biggest point for me was that I noticed my cravings for carbohydrates (on my rest day, Whole Foods muffins call to me) have completely disappeared. I turned to fruit and vegetables to provide my carbohydrates and keep my body satiated with lots of protein and healthy fats.
.
Another point I have noticed is an increase in my recovery time after my training. I am currently working very hard on a Cross Fit program that is slamming me every session. Each session, my strength is increasing and my energy levels are staying high through-out the day.

So if you are looking to clean up your already conscious lifestyle or are starting from scratch, Mark offers excellent “primal” points to ponder. As with any “lifestyle” or diet literature, read, think critically, do some of your own research and focus on the overall message.

What I take from this book, which has been my personal philosophy for a long time, is to fuel your body with clean, whole and natural foods and keep space for those quality indulgences that make you smile. Allowing you to attain the results you want within a healthy, satisfying lifestyle.

Stock Pots 101

2010-11-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

Mauviel Cuprinox $614

So which pot out there is the best for the job?

Peter asked me what pots were good for boiling. I had no idea, so I did some research. When it comes to cooking that requires the boiling of a significant quality of water, such as cooking pasta, stock, soup, and poaching, a stock pot is used.

A good pot would be good thermal conductivity and durability. Copper provides the best thermal conductivity of all the pots. It transfer heat quickly and efficiently. A good copper pot would have thick copper with a thin tin lining to prevent copper from reacting with acidic food. However, copper is a very expensive metal and these pots are prohibitory expensive. It is not dishwasher safe. Well, you can put it in the dishwasher, but I would want the $600 pot to last 60 years (and they do usually come with life-time warranty).

Anodized Aluminum $69.99

The second best metal for conductivity is aluminum. However, aluminum does leak into food, and can be easily corroded by acidic food. Although there are no solid scientific evidence linking aluminum to diseases such as Alzheimer, the internet prank emails worked and aluminum cookware has become unpopular. If you have old, light weight, light colored pots at home that seems to boil water super fast, that is quite possibly an old aluminum pot! Nowadays, anodized aluminum is rapidly gaining popularity. It is a specially processed aluminum which reduces (not prevent) the leaching of metal into the food. Affordability meets conductivity! It is not dishwasher safe (corrosion promotes metal leaching) and the pot is no longer safe to use if there are damages.

Stainless Steel $19.99

Stainless steel cookware is the most widely use and possibly the cheapest too. It is super sturdy, can withstand lots of abuse, and is dishwasher safe. When in doubt, you can't go wrong with stainless steel. I have super old (and cheap) stainless steel pots that continues to work well today. However, they are the inferior product for thermal conductivity. It takes much longer heating anything in stainless steal and has a hard time maintaining the boil when food is place in the water. For example, pasta which then will tend to stick to each other and won't give you that firm (Q'ey) texture.

All-Clad Copper Core $361

Premium cookware, such as All-clad uses cladding aluminum or copper technique for their products. These usually have a thin stainless layer on the cooking surface and a thick core of aluminum to provide structure and heat diffusion. Sometimes a thin layer of copper inside or outside of the pot that provides additional diffusion and the "look" of a copper pot. This provides much of the functionality of tinned-copper pots and the durability of the stainless steel at a lower price.

Le Cresuset Enamel $74.95

The new thing in the culinary world is enamel over steel. Enamel is a type of fused glass which is non-reactive, while the stainless steel inside offers better thermal conductivity. Enameled cookware is lighter than most cookware of the same size and cheaper. It is more durable than aluminum or copper, and it is safe in dishwasher. Enamel is non-reactive on the ion level, so food actually tasted better and the cookware won't have the left over food smell from the last use. Because of it's (light) weight, enamel is especially ideal for water-based cooking and camping. However, because enamel is a type of glass. It can be prone to chipping and cracking. For example, a low quality enamel pot may crack, when you shock it with cold water after cooking. The glass will end up in your food and the rust from the steel will end up in your body. Also, low quality enamel may contain cadmium, which is harmful for your body (this is illegal in Canada, but not regulated in places like China). I would recommend Le Cresuset and Chantal offers high quality ones with those 25-lifetime warranty on their enameled cookware.

Copper and aluminum still have better thermal conductivity then enamel, but enamel is an upgrade from your ordinary stainless steel and cheaper than cladded cookware. And enamel is possibly the healthiest of them all! The choice is yours!

P.S. A lot of rice cooker nowadays are already using enamel over steel. I have one of these and it sure is amazingly easy to clean.

Karuisawa

2010-11-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

2 story high ceiling (the floor is a gorgeous fountain)

In Lost in Translation, Charlotte and Bob went to a hot pot restaurant and hated it. They didn't get why they had to cook the food themselves. Hot Pot is traditionally a New Year fair; it's warm and delicious. I love it. Now, there are hot pot restaurants everywhere in Taiwan and Japan. I suppose it's a nostalgia thing, but now people can have it every day and very cheaply. There is trend in Taiwan for restaurants to spend millions on decoré even though their food ordinary. People love it, maybe the ambience made the food taste better.

Karuisawa 輕井澤 is a Japanese hot pot chain in Taiwan. The restaurant is gorgeous inside out, and yet the price is still competitive. My parents made a reservation for this place a week before I arrived in Taiwan, yet there was a 20 minute wait to get seated. You would think that waiting time like this would be unacceptable for restaurant of this caliber. No, my parents felt their choice of restaurant was validated by its popularity (in the form of long line up and bad service).

That's the pound under the ceiling

The sauce and condiment were at an elegant buffet table (self serve). The waitress (with poker face) quickly took our order and set up or table with pots and broth (on high heat). The food, pre-cut or sliced, vegetables and meat slowly filled our table. Now you cook it yourself! For the broth, mine was kombu soy, seafood for my mother, and chinese medicine booster for my dad added subtle flavour for whatever food you cook inside of it. The main flavour came from the dips and sauces they provide on the side. My childhood favourite was satay sauce. However, chili, peanut butter, vinaigrette, raw eggs, and miso were equally popular choices.
Again, the food wasn't anything fantastic. It was the ambience of the restaurant that is the major celling point. Now, would you eat at a restaurant with ordinary food with extraordinary ambience for a couple dollars more? People seemed to say yes.

The Original Glenmorangie

2010-11-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

Variety: Malt Barley
Specification: The Original Single Malt
Producer: Glenmorangie
Year: N/A, 10 years
Region: Highland, Scotland
Price: $70

Appearance: clear, medium gold
Nose: clean, medium+ intensity, smoke, peat, cereal, marmalade, wood
Palate: clean, dry, warm, medium body (for scotch), medium+ intensity, woody, sweet, sherry, medium length.

This is why "The Original" single malt isn't necessarily the best scotch. This particular scotch is lacking the complexity that a $70 dollar scotch should have. I would not recommend this particular scotch, but Glenmorangie does produce other excellent scotch.

Quality: Acceptable - Good (too expensive)

Scotch Cheat Sheet

2010-11-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

They are all scotches, all different. Can you tell which is which?

I am in the process of writing up this whiskies 101. The task is rather daunting, but I am eager to post something about scotch right now.

Scotch is made in Scotland. Each individual scotch distillery has their own unique styles, but there are four main regional styles, because within these regions, the distillery tend to share certain common characteristics. Instead of chasing after brand names (which Scotch companies spends millions every year promoting), look at the finer fonts:

Single Malts: Meaning scotch is made from only one distillery and often aged for a considerable time before release. Does this mean it's better? No, but it is sure more expensive. Why? Blending allows more consistency from year to year. It is very possible to get bad single malt whiskey. Exceptionally old whiskies are often single malt though, and they are usually pretty darn good! Single Malts has become somewhat a catch phrase in scotch like single origin coffee.

Speyside: Scotches from here are very elegant and highly sought after, either as blends or single malts. This area has the highest density of Scotch production in Scotland. The popular Glenlivet and Glenfiddich come from here.

Highland and Island is the most north of the regions. The region produces intensely flavoured malts with a nice floral and honey notes. Whiskey from this region can be just as good as Speyside, but different. The beautiful Glenmorangie is made from here.

Lowland is the most south of the regions. This produces the lightest style of whisky. This is not very common on the international market, because its often used for blending.

Islay is an island south west of scotland. Scotch from this place is a different beast. They are super flavourful: smokey, seaweed, iodine, and tar. (This is due to the delay marine in their peat). This is not something I would recommend to new scotch drinker. Joe and Tracy bought a bottle of this and couldn't enjoy it.

Age: as indicated on the bottle, is the youngest component in the scotch aged in a barrel. The high the age, the woodier the scotch, often with a hint of sherry or bourbon.

Color of the Scotch: I believe that's partially the color of the barrel. However, to ensure consistency, most scotch uses caramel for coloring. Organic, non colored scotch is available in the market, which I will blog about later.

Hope this helps.

Carving Pumpkin 101

2010-10-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

Kitty

Most of you have learned to carve pumpkin in school at a very young age, but I had never seen a pumpkin until I immigrated to Canada. Until yesterday, I was saying pumpkin like a little kid: "pumkin". This post is for my friends and family back home who has never carved a pumpkin.

Step 1: With a long knife cut off the top of the pumpkin to make a lid. The knife is inserted into the pumpkin at an angle before making its way around the top. How big should this lid be is up to the individual and your design.

Step 2: Use a spoon or your bare hands, scrape out all the seeds and stringy stuff in the middle. Do not use water to clean the inside of the pumpkin. It will cause it to rot and mold. Use a paper towel to dry the inside.

Step 3: With a pen or sharpy, draw on your design and plan your carving path. You can draw your patter on a piece of paper and use a pen to hollow out small dots on the pattern. Then, trace the dots onto the pumpkin. In North America, carving kits are very popular and they come with these drawings.

Step 4: Using a small carving tool to carve out the outlines. Then with your fingers to push out the carved out pieces

Step 5: Light your candle(s) and then place it in! Then put it outside during the night to scare your neighbor!

Cous Cous Fruit Salad

2010-10-30T22:45:00.000-07:00

Couscous salad inside a little fishbowl shot glass

This is my October entry for Royal Food Joust by the Leftover Queen: Cous Cous Fruit Salad. This is my favourite immune booster dish for the cold-autumn and approaching winter. For this dish, I used ingredients in its purest and freshest form. Raw minced garlic, zested lemon, juice of orange, and poached sweet potato. The flavours are intensified by the its citrus, red wine vinegar dressing with a kick of spice and a hint of agave. The mix of fruits: papaya, mango, strawberry added not only the much needed Vitamin C for the winter, but also a layer of texture and flavours to contrast the citrus in the dressing. Fish, too, was marinated in cayenne pepper and orange juice.

I love acidic food. It is great for your digestive system, and makes great appetizer, or cleanses your palate after a meal. If you don't like acidic food, add a couple tablespoons of cashew cream or real cream into the salad dressing. This is a dish inspired by the second set of Boot Camp by Walter Messiah. I started making this dish during my black box cook-off. Afterwards, I refined it with each dinner I hosted at home. My parents loved it, even my cream-loving-citrus-hating mother. This salad (ie. without the fish) is completely vegan, cane sugar, and soy free. If you take out the couscous too, it would also be gluten free! Yet, it is still full of flavour and nutrients.

Ingredient:
(serves 4)

4 Pieces of Halibut
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 Orange
1 cup Israelis Couscous
½ Papaya (cubed)
½ Mango (cubed)
2 cloves Garlic (minced)
1 Large Tomato (cubed only the skin)
½ Red Onion (minced)
½ Bunch cilantro (chopped)
1 Lime or lemon (zested)
¼ cup Red Wine Vinegar
1 tbs Agave Syrup
1 large Sweet Potato (cubed)
1 tbs cashew cream (or cream) (optional)

Instruction:
1. Pre heat oven 400F
2. Sprinkle cayenne pepper on the meat side of the halibut. Juice half of the orange and marinate the halibut it in.
3. Bring water to boil. Add in sweet potato. Once it is cooked, blench, drizzle on the cashew cream cream, and set aside
3. Boil water to boil. Add in the couscous. Cover, lower the heat to low. Once it is cooked, about 30-40 minutes, blench, set aside
4. Mix in Papaya, mango, garlic, tomato, onion, red wine vinegar, brown sugar, lime zest, cayenne pepper, olive oil, cilantro, juice from the other half of the orange in a bowl, set aside. When it is ready to be served, combined it with sweet potato and couscous.
5. Over high heat, put olive oil in a pan. When the olive is slightly smoking, sear the halibuts meat side down for a minute. Put the pan in the oven for 5 minutes.

Goldfish Pacific Kitchen

2010-10-28T23:44:00.000-07:00

A Posh and Seductive Restaurant

Goldfish Pacific Kitchen is the third restaurant in our Taste of Yaletown adventure. We have chosen this restaurant for its Asian fusion food. The table setting even comes with chopsticks! I brought my parents and Andy for this excursion. For $35, we were pretty pleased with our food, but it did not impressed my father's refined palette. He felt that Trattoria was the best Western restaurant in Vancouver (before they change chef). The poor guy missed their Beef Capriccio. Anyway, I believe my family will never go back to Goldfish ever again, and the search for a better restaurant to bring my parents continues.

Crab Tempura

Food: 3/5
We ordered everything on the tasting menu and a couple more. The appetizers were all above average, satisfying, delicious, but left you wanting more. Dennis quite enjoyed his beautifully plated King Crab Tempura. High quality seafood and tempura better taste so differently from the cheap common version, but there was only one piece. The Tuna Poke was a plate of fresh premium seafood with subtle flavours. My father polish the entire plate before I had a chance to snap a photo. He nodded his head and say "not bad": (which means pretty good). Green Papaya Salad was also okay but came with undercooked rice noodles, yuck!

Braised Short Rib

On the regular menu, the braised short rib was moist, soft, and full of flavours. It was possibly the best short rib I have had in Vancouver. My father explained that this style of short rib is distinctively Taiwanese 台塑牛排. Of course, they had better in Taiwan, but for Vancouver standard, it was damn good.

Bison Flat Steak

Now the main courses, all the fish was perfectly cooked. Salmon came with a delicious cream sauce. The Bison Flat Iron was well cooked but the dressing and the sauce were pretty ordinary. Dennis was unimpressed with his prawn pasta. The prawn was rubbery and the pasta was plain. The worst part was Andy's Lemon Grass Chicken. The chicken was fine, but the rice underneath was dry and tough. Never serve bad rice to a Chinese... More on this later.

The desserts were super disappointing. The creme brulé lacked flavour, and the cheesecake tasted like toothpaste. The best was the lava cake, but it wasn't anything special.

Lemon Grass Chicken

Service: 3.5/5
Service was good and consistent throughout the dinner. Food was served quickly and arrived all at the same time. Glass was filled up consistently. It was everything you would expect out of a dinner service.

Ambience: 4/5
It was posh, sexy, with seductive music. A place I would like to come back with my girlfriends in cocktail dresses and high heels. This place is meant for gorgeously posh people come to meet other equally gorgeous posh people. Although my family was underdressed, in sweat pants and T-shirts, it's private booth hid us comfortably while we people watch.

Overall Experience: 2.5/5
They had Tantalus in glasses! The wine list was not extensive, but it was well chosen with something for each dish and more. So why the low mark? When Dennis mentioned the tough dried rice on Andy's plate, the server acknowledged it and showed her concerns. However, that was it though. No replacement rice or further follow up. Pretty fail right there.

Total: 13/20. It's always a shame when a restuarant looks better than it tasted. We enjoyed the food at $35 dollar, but we definitely won't be going back to pay the full price.

Simply Thai

2010-10-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

Chicken Satay, Cho Muag, and Tod Mun

For Taste of Yaletown, my friends and I went to Simply Thai Restaurant. It was highly recommended by Jayna, my hair and makeup stylist for my wedding. She used to work at Simply Thai. Although she strongly disliked the management, she couldn't help but to continue to go back for its food even after she quit.

Bird Nests

Good Thai food is hard to come by in Vancouver. Strangely, the good Thai foods I ever had were all in Ontario. I was eager to try this place out; maybe Vancouver had finally broken its curse of bad Thai food. Craig lived in Thailand for an extended period of time, and he was the Thai food specialist at our table. We all agreed that this is probably one of the best Thai restaurants in Vancouver, but it still pales in comparison to ones in Ontario and, not surprisingly, disappointing comparing to food in Thailand.

Pad Thai

Food: 3/5
Between the $25 and $35 set menu, pretty much everything on the regular menu were on the list. Everything was tasty, but nothing special, except for Cho Muag, the pink flower looking thing. It is pink sweet dumpling dough with exotic flavours I couldn't identify. For $25, the food is standard; well, substandard for Criag who added more spicy sauce onto every bite.

For $35, the food was above average, but we weren't as impressed as we were with Brix the day before. Thai risotto was a pleasant surprise though. By using coconut cream, this vegan dish was packed with delicious flavour and health benefit. It was not actual arborio rice used in traditional risotto, I believe it was regular Thai rice soaked in delicious sauce. I gotta try making this at home too!

Thai Risotto

The dessert was another disappointment. The mango berry cheese cake was good, but nothing special and I had better fried banana at Banana Leaf.

Service: (2.5/5)
I believe the lady manager/boss served us. The restaurant was slightly understaffed (maybe this was where the poor management came in). Food was quite slow, and there were some mix-ups. Water glass were often empty. Wine was slow, and Criag had to ask for his spicy sauce 3 times. It didn't really ruin our time there, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

Massaman Curry

Ambience: (3.25/5)
The place was causal, bright, clean, and well spaced. It exuded warmth and comfort in its simple decor. I felt comfortable in the restaurant; in fact, we stayed quite long after the meal to relax and chat. No music though.

Overall (2.25/5)
Whoever designed the wine list really loves red wine. The wine list was expansive and expensive; it was a book! Lot of 3 or 4 digit priced red wines that didn't necessarily go with their food, but the collection was definitely impressive. The boss lady didn't know much about her wine. She was trying to describe a Sauvignon Blanc as sweet and dry... I didn't appreciate the BSing. Instead, I ordered a glass of chardonnay, which was still off-dry. Slightly sweet wine helps with the spicy food, but it wasn't very pleasant on its own. In short, the by-the-glass list may need some adjustment.

Total: 11/20
I don't think we were too hard to please. Would I go back? Probably... to give it a second chance. Yaletown is pretty far though (and expensive).