Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Hi Everyone! I became curious about Korean seafood pancakes  from an article in the Vancouver Sun about dining out for less than $25. The restaurant cited was Ap Gu Jung on Robson Street On the online menu was something else even more interesting -- sea snails! I managed to find two friends to dine out, and ordered the kimchi seafood pancake to start as an appetizer. It was very reddish and a tad spicy, but not really hot-spicy at all. One of my fellow diners said she had seafood pancakes at other Korean restaurants before, and this one was very different. Not bad per se, just different. It was about 8 inches wide, too soft to pick up, and soggy enough that the seafood goodies (which ended up near the middle, sitting underneath a dish of soy (?) sauce with chilli) tended to tear free if you didn't support the wedge as you pulled it out. There was evidence of searing as some surfaces were crunchy-crusty. As for the contents of the pancake, strangely enough what I notice...

There's a nice article about being realistic in dating and marriage expectations in the March 2010 issue of Chatelaine, which interviews Lori Gottlieb . Here's an excerpt from her book, Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough .   I've always mentally deducted points when deciding whether to date someone. If, for example, I wanted someone smart, funny and cute, but he turned out to be smart, funny, cute and nerdy, I'd forget that I got the "smart, funny and cute" and focus instead on the nerdy. I'd focus on the disappointing aspects instead of feeling lucky to have found the positive ones.   That's what entitlement can do.

Went to SIP Resto-Lounge with a couple of wonderful dining buddies last night for Dine Out Vancouver 2010 (this all-too-short event officially ends Thursday night, May 6th, 2010). Our reservation was for a rather late-ish 8pm, and the busyness was just starting to pick up, especially shortly after our very own  Canucks were crushed by the Blackhawks 5-2. That said, I was a bit surprised that the sports bar setup and inflated jalepeno decor for Cinco de Mayo hadn't attracted more attention. One of the attributes of SIP is that it uses alcohol in every dish. This is a bit understated on the website (" Executive Chef Mike Carter takes pride in not only using the finest ingredients, but also with a carefully selected array of liquors, wines and beers found in all of SIP’s Inventive Plates. This results in exclusive flavor profiles born from the kitchen. ") and as I don't drink at all, I was hard pressed to identify it on our orders. Your mileage may vary. Wi...