A late lunch at Vol Au Vent

It was a day like this, today. I did all my chores this morning, and wandered down to Vol au Vent with an armful of magazines to pass onto Nanna, and a fresh one, barely a month old...to savour with my lunch, on the patio. I had a crab cake and a mixed green salad. They were both fresh and delicious, as usual...but I wanted something else. I had passed by the dessert counter on my way in with my cache of magazines, and I noticed the most perfect little tartlettes. They were my favorite, apple, and I know from experience, that they are made without any sugar. I ordered one with some whipped cream on the side, and a coffee. The apples were lightly browned, set on a flaky, buttery puff pastry, with exactly the right amount of cinnamon. It was dry enough I could have picked it up and eaten it without the aid of a knife and fork, but I didn't. The act of cutting it up into perfect little pieces, enabled me to shovel on some whipped cream!
Happy Spring! Vive le Vol au Vent!

Welcome... Aunty Social!!

I have a friend. A good friend, a dear friend, that I have known since grade 8. We bonded over a hatred of exercise. We were in the same P.E. class, and took turn writing notes to excuse us from taking P.E. by signing each other's mother's name. We were also in the same physics class, and shared a mutual friend...The P-Man.
We are opposites in most every way. She likes the country, I prefer the city. She cares nothing for fashion, I have been known to spend a whole pay cheque on a dress. She listens to Dr John and old bands like Canned Heat, I listen to Aretha Franklin and Justin Timberlake. She likes camping, I like the Four Seasons. The one thing we have in common is food. We have travelled together, and eaten in many restaurants along the way. She won't eat crap, and neither will I. We are also both good cooks. We have cooked and eaten with each other for many years now.
I remember having dinner at a house she was renting, way back in the day. The table was set up in the living room, and consisted of four stacks of books for legs, and a 2 by 4 ft piece of wood, emblazoned with a stylized black and white image of Frank Zappa. We sat on the floor, atop a very gold shag carpet. I also remember the meal consisting of at least 3 courses...and it was damn good. Even though we live in different towns, we still manage to get together for a meal every once in awhile. The last time was a great New Years Eve Feast at Vol au Vent...and I even managed to cook enough food for a proper breakfast the next morning.

I noticed last week that she has become a follower of this blog. I respect her opinion, as I do her cooking.

Welcome, old friend...

Simple Food

One of my jobs at Delitalia is to make sandwiches. By far, one of our most popular creations is called a 'Classic Caprese'. It consists of a small baguette, basil pesto, sliced cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and fresh basil. Simple ingredients. The most exotic is the buffalo Mozzarella. If you have never had it, treat yourself and buy a small ball. It is soft and creamy, and luscious. It bears almost no relation to the Canadian version, that is firmer, and to me, lacks flavour. We lightly grill these on the panini press until the cheese melts, and YUM...heaven on a bun!

I have had 2 months in a row, where I have gained a little over 2 pounds. This does NOT make me happy. I have decided to get out my little Weight Watchers daily tracker, and start writing down what I am eating. I suppose I could get all huffy, and shake my fist at the sky and scream, " WHY ME "... but I am getting better at not deluding myself . When I first went back to weight watchers almost 3 years ago, I couldn't believe how much I weighed! Then when I started losing weight, I couldn't believe that, either. Now I know what works for me...and believe me...I have been slacking. I have been tracking for a week now, and have been a tad hungry, AND crabby! Work has been a bit of a food challenge as well. I am surrounded by fresh baked croissants and foccaccia bread, and hot pasta with sausage, and pizzas and cookies...YIKES! When you have to write down everything you eat...the food choices you make take a bit more thought. I think I did quite well this week. I stopped my nibbling, and my croissant eating. I got to know my little vegetable friends again, and with the exception of last night's Chambar, 3 glasses of wine, and a chocolate dessert...I know that I know how to do this.

I can even have a scaled down Classic Caprese panini when I go back to work on Friday! There is absolutely nothing wrong with simple healthy ingredients, eaten in moderation. I know that too...

Nester's Market...Woodward's Food Floor

I worked until 4:30 yesterday. I had to meet the P-Man for dinner in Vancouver at 7 pm. I hopped on the 351 bus, hopped off at the River Rock Casino, hopped onto the Canada Line, and rode it all the way down to Waterfront Station! I have been meaning to go into the new Woodward's complex in Gastown to check out the Nester's Market. The interesting thing about this market, is that the owners have been given permission to produce some of the old Woodward's Brand products.

My mom was a BIG Woodward's Food Floor shopper. In fact, when the Sevenoaks Mall opened in Abbotsford, Woodwards was an anchor tenant, and they put in a DRIVE THROUGH where you could pick up your groceries. I always liked grocery shopping, and that drive through just made it better. My mom always had a big car, and in the late 70's, she had a fire engine red, 1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible. We used to cruise into that drive through, she would pop the trunk that was the size of a small compact car, and the little grocery kid would fill that trunk with all the groceries. That will always be my memory of Woodward's.

So yesterday...I am not sure what I was expecting...but I walked through the whole store, and did not see one Woodward's product from the past...EXCEPT for this little display of peanut butter. They did have some very cool old posters on the wall. Mostly old Woodward's ads from the 1940's and 1950's. When I got to the till to pay for my loaf of bread, I asked the cashier to tell me about the Woodward's brand products. She stared at me like I was a crazy person, and in the end, asked me if I would like her to call a manager! I had a horrible waking dream that I had just turned 90 years old, and was inquiring about an antique washboard...so I gave her the money and left. I wonder if it is true that this place still does $1.49 Day, on Tuesdays? I'm not going to even ask.

Night at Chambar...Dine out Vancouver

I think this picture is Hilarious!! It's a window display at the Dirty Apron Cooking School on Beatty St. in Vancouver. I saw it on my way up to Chambar restaurant. The P-Man and I were meeting some friends for dinner.

I had never been to Chambar. I had only been to it's sister restaurant, Medina.

We were eating out as part of Vancouver's annual Dine out celebration of local restaurants. It sounded like a great deal. Three courses for $38. We ended up spending a little over $160 after drinks...not including tip. I won't get into what I ate, because it was not that good. It was well presented, in a nice looking space, but I left feeling like I had never eaten. The only way I can describe it is that the food lacked substance. There were a lot of ingredients to each dish, but together, they didn't seem to work. Compared to some of the delicious things I have blogged about, that cost a fraction of the price, and delivered an eleven on a 1 to 10 taste scale, Chambar just didn't do it for me.

Perhaps the cooking school window is right. Save your marriage AND your money by learning to cook!