Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Got an e-mail today from Canada-based GUSTO Worldwide Media -- There's a casting call ! Here's the blurb: CALLING ALL TALENTED COOKS! Gusto Worldwide Media is thrilled to be moving forward with a number of original cooking series and are looking for Canada’s next culinary superstars. Whether you’re a professional chef, inspired home cook or a passionate foodie, it’s time to show off your skills and personality! Gusto Worldwide Media will be producing shows non-stop throughout 2017 and are in search of all kinds of talent in a variety of categories: bakers, globally inspired cooks and/or a fun personality who could host a dinner-party show. We want to hear from you if: • You’re a foodie. • You know how to cook. Like really, really cook. • You have a BIG, fun personality. • You specialize in global cuisine (e.g. Korean, Cantonese, Szechuan, Greek, Caribbean, Lebanese, Moroccan, Turkish, etc.). • Baking is your life. Culinary hopefuls are encouraged to submit a one- t...

Accepted an impromptu invitation today to try Motomachi Shokudo. They have a variety of soup bases, including an intriguing Bamboo-Charcoal. You get a pretty big bowl with lots of soup, so the volume you get is sort of comparable to a big bowl of pho. Pork tender but not melt-in-your-mouth tender. Still, overall, you get a rich and tasty soup, a generous amount of pork,and some interesting flavours to mix it up, including a tender boiled egg and seaweed. As for the bamboo-charcoal, it definitely made the broth charcoal black, but in flavour I didn't get anything too special. Might be a nostalgia thing. For $1.10 extra you can get extra noodle, and there's definitely enough soup to support more noodle. The soup alone will be filling but you could always super-size for $1.10. Pretty small and cozy spot. We got in just at 6pm on a Friday and close to 7pm it still hadn't filled to any sort of lineup so for small parties a walk-in to the communal table is probably do...

The menu at Earls on Kingsway near Metrotown has changed since I was last there about a year ago  and I still can't get a decent meal there. Vegetarian Burger ($13) Brown rice and mushroom vegetarian patty, aged cheddar, sauteed onions, vine ripened tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, mayonnaise, and mustard on a freshly baked brioche bun. Tender bun was the only good thing here. Patty tasted like salt. It was salty. No other flavour. Total waste of time especially for $13. TIP: Unless you want your burger to taste like pickle, remove the pickle right away. TIP: Might also want to try distributing the onion more evenly inside if it's not too caked into the cheese. Pot of Tea ($3.75) Service was also fail. At the time I placed my order, I asked for the hot water in my teapot to be topped up. The server did not take my pot. Neither did they take my pot when my order came. I honestly don't remember our table being checked on until the server came to clear our dishes an...