Going back. Part 2

Jeph is a whiz at posting seventy-leven-billion posts a night (now that I've given him a kick in the seat of his pants and reactivated his mighty blogging powers. Why do I feel like Zan and Jayna all rolled into one, now?). I'm not so amazing. I'm actually sort of neglecting the other blog to get some more content on here. Ah well, someone might see it and actually read it.

Another old food thing for you: a wonderful photo from the single best meal I ever had.



Let me set the stage....

In 2003 I started on tenure track at UIC Library. I had told Conrad that as a celebration of getting the position, I wanted to have a great dinner to celebrate. We were heading up to British Columbia for a two-week, whirlwind drive around the province, and I knew exactly where I wanted to dine: Sooke Harbour House. It was the end of March when I got the offer, but I e-mailed them right away and got a reservation for July 25, thus pinning down the dates of our travel.

We were going to dine with my close friends Kendall and Kevin. No, neither is gay. I've known Kendall since my first year of undergrad and Kevin was a close friend from Terrace who swam, got me through my first marathon, and shared a July birthday with me.



We ended up adding a last minute guest, Kevin's friend Sara. Even better - a good restaurant deserves fine company. The last minute change meant a 6:00 reservation rather than 7:30, but it was just as well: we lingered 4+ hours there over the courses.

Dinner was phenomenal. We stuck with BC wines throughout, enjoying a Venturi-Schulze white, a Quail's Gate Pinot Noir, and the Brandenburg No, 3 dessert wine from Venturi-Schulze. All were good, plus discussing the wines with the sommelier (who was delighted we were chancing some Vancouver Island wines he liked) was fun. The Brandenburg No. 3, when I sniffed it, struck me as scented with peppermint candy. Wonderful and unexpected and my own perception of the wine.

But the food was the star. The restaurant prides itself on mostly local products; if it doesn't grow locally, it doesn't go in the food. So, for example, I'd read that rhubarb was used as a souring agent in place of lemons. Wonderful idea.

Some of my other courses:

Sea lettuce and crab broth with wild rice and mushroom-stuffed nasturtium blossom.


Seared weathervane scallops with fingerling potatoes and chanterelle mushrooms.


The main course, pictured above: trap-caught sablefish marinated with miso and tamari, served in a lemon eucalyptus broth with sea asparagus, gooseneck barnacles, rutabaga slice, and red onion.

A logan berry tart with bing cherry ice cream for dessert.


A selection of local cheeses with a glass of armagnac, followed by coffee.


My birthday was around the corner. My friends and my wonderful man were with me. The weather was terrific, the meal was fantastic.

Is it any wonder why I'm sooooo fat?