Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

My mom had a sudden craving for BBQ chicken and fairly dashed out to Walmart for their 2-for-$15 800g chicken promotion, only to find out that the Metrotown Walmart didn't carry them at all! So she went to Superstore for their 1 kg chickens and bought just one. It turns out the chicken is actually really rather decent. The main things I checked were the breast meat and whether the chicken was cooked through. They probably brined the chicken because the breast meat was really quite moist and tender. Often poultry that hasn't been brined before being roasted ends up with breast meat so dry you need a soft drink or gravy to help you choke it down. Whenever you buy one of these chickens from anywhere, I recommend you don't count on eating the whole thing at a picnic or other no-access-to-cooking space just in case some parts of the chicken turn out not-so-cooked. With this particular chicken however, only the deepest part of the thigh showed any sign of being very, very...

Thanksgiving Weekend, and I dragged my out-of-town friend to Seasons in the Park for dinner with a view. So many things wrong with that. First, the view. Yes it's there, but once it's dark out, the reflections on the window glass can obscure some of it. If you're not taking pictures, that's not a problem and there are the city lights and skyline to make for quite a nice view. Still, I'd recommend not going before sundown if a view is what you are after. Second, Thanksgiving dinner. You're not locked into the set menu with Thanksgiving turkey, but there's only so much they can do to the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner that what will end up being special is likely to be the appetizer and dessert. In short, before you go to any restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner, make sure it's not going to be about the food. About the view, the ambiance, the service -- sure. For turkey dinner, do your research first. Seasons served up a very traditional ...

Walked in to Cardero's shortly before the start of their happy hour. Basically there for a snack and a break in between my friend's sightseeing. Given the hour being firmly between lunch and dinner I didn't really think anyone would necessarily expect us to be there for either lunch or dinner. Restaurant was pretty quiet as expected, with maybe three tables occupied in total. Nevertheless we got a pretty condescending server who seemed to look down on us not ordering drinks (neither of us were drinkers) and ordering only lightly (no I wasn't there for either lunch or dinner). God knows what sort of attitude we'd have gotten if we arrived later and asked for the Happy Hour menu. Obviously that's for cheap people, right? In any case, the more attitude I get the less I'm inclined to order. And speaking of the Happy Hour menu, I saw an avocado salad (?) on it that wasn't on the regular menu so I asked about it. And got a pointed reply that it was onl...