Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Gave this place a go for lunch with a couple of friends. They ordered pad thai, one fried rice. I asked the server for what might be "weird" or "interesting" on the menu and she suggested a not-on-the-menu yellow curry with noodles and chicken. All three items together were just over $60 after tax and BEFORE tip. Presentation is lacklustre. Dishes are plain, as if done with the minimum number of ingredients. Maybe this makes them "authentic", but if you have to spend $20 on a plate, get something more interesting than food court quality food. And in a food court you wouldn't have to pay tip programmed at a minimum of 15%. I would have given them 2/5 for mediocre food but price and tip pushed this experience even lower. Menus are all online and you scan the QR code at the table. If you don't have data on your phone, you can try connecting to the wifi from (no joke) the Sutton Place Hotel across the street. There's conference room wifi with a

Here's a trick to get instantly ready noodles that you can toast to desired crispiness. No boiling! No frying! (Slide 1) We start with soft tortilla shells. Use any brand you like. I often buy Casa Mendosa plain tortillas from the Real Canadian Superstore when they go on sale since they are really quite versatile. I do find that they are on the "barely cooked" side of paleness so I do like to toast them slightly no matter how I use them. If you have big shells, you can have longer noodles! Cut the tortilla shell into noodles. Ideally you have something like a hand-crank noodle maker  or spaghetti roller , but if you don't you can still get fairly even-width noodles. (Slide 2) Start by rolling up the shell. Then cut the cross section into the desired noodle widths. Make sure your knife is sharp since the act of cutting will compress them and they can become fragile enough where they fold. (Slide 3) Once cut, gently unfurl them, and you have ready-to-eat noodles. I l

Have you had a hamburger where they used a "brioche" bun? It was really tender and pillowy, and unlike firmer buns it didn't squeeze the burger out of the bun when you bit into it? If you like that kind of bun, you can fake it with plain bagels from the supermarket and one easy trick involving a skillet. I have had the best results from No Name Brand plain bagels from the Real Canadian Superstore but you can try it with any supermarket bagel to soften them up. Even if you aren't going for a brioche effect, it's a nice way to soften up old bagels without outright toasting them. When you put a bagel in the toaster, it toasts both sides and can come out like crispy, dry, toast. That's not what we're after of course, but you may also have noticed that the inside becomes softer, at least while it's warm. Same with slices of bread, except normally it's less noticeable because the slices are so thin. So what we're going to do is just toast one side o