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...

Had a wonderful time at Maurya Indian Cuisine tonight with wonderful dining companions. Surprised that even closer to 7pm, this restaurant with excellent food and that had been honoured by Dine Out patrons two years running (they were Best Overall Menu and Best Appetizer in 2009) was less than half occupied. The in-restaurant menu was different from the initial menu posted on the Dine Out website (and there were reports of website hiccups later on, which made the menu inaccessible): Entree choices were trimmed, and the Goa Fish Curry is gone! But the helpful server asked the kitchen, and they made it available for me anyway. Dessert choices were dropped from three to two, with the Kesar Phirni off. Read the Gulab Jamun entry carefully as it differs from the typical offering (something about sitting on bread -- an oversight on my part meant I didn't catch that our party of four all ordered the ice cream, so we didn't get to see it at all). Anyway, for appetizers, ...

Stepped out tonight for my first Dine Out Vancouver 2010 dinner. Bit of a dud, it turned out, but maybe that's just my palate not used to French food. Anyway, it was Bistro Pastis (on West 4th, near Comic Land, which is participating in Free Comic Book Day on May 1st) tonight, with a dear foodie friend and very fine dining companion. On their Dine Out Vancouver page, Bistro Pastis offers a $28 menu , but once you get there you'll discover they are also offering a $38 menu. (My guess is the Dine Out website's too rigid to accomodate a second menu.) Same desserts on the $38 menu. Boo. You can also order additional sides for ~$5, selecting from what's typically available off their regular menu, with the addition of "famous" macaroni and cheese. We were intrigued by this and did end up asking for the macaroni and cheese. I could have sworn it was $5 on the menu but came out $6 on the bill. But with the bill ~$70 for both of us (including two mint teas a...

Hi Everyone! If you haven't been frozen-pizza-shopping at Superstore in the last few months, you may have completely missed out on what appeared to be a price war among frozen pizzas (or, Superstore struggling to clear out stock?). It was only recently, however, that things got really good for the consumer when Kraft Delissio pizza was, briefly, offered at a low $4.98 (and over 800 grams), not advertised in the weekly flyer. I suppose since they flew off the shelves like, er, "hot cakes", SuperStore quickly increased the price to almost $7 now. Still, it was really tasty stuff (my mom especially liked the Bruschetta). Things got even better this week when Save-On-Foods trumped them price-per-pound with Wild Mike's Ultimate Pizza . 15-inch , and $10 for two (2) , weighing in at up to 1.05 kg, and working out to a supposed savings of almost $4 per pizza off the regular price. I've tried the Pepperoni one so far, and although it looks horrid (meat ingredien...

For Dining Out for Life on March 25th, I picked two places to try: Emelle's Catering for breakfast, and Nook for dinner. My good friend Lynn who lives downtown recommended Nook as one of her favourite places quite a few months back, and I had been meaning to go for quite a while. I had reports of it being a terribly busy place, frequently with lineups and no reservations taken, so it was awfully kind of my dining companion to drive out for an early 5pm dinner. It didn't get really busy till closer to 6pm, and then the ~30 seat restaurant was full and had diners waiting at the door. (There isn't much room to wait, either, and in case you're out on a rainy day, bring your umbrella as the awnings outside aren't contiguous enough between stores to provide proper coverage against rain.) Our server took his time with us (ah, the advantages of having the restaurant to yourself!) and patiently satisfied my companion's curiosity about the restaurant (open only ...