Radhika

While Conrad is out of town, Van and I had a nice little dinner out in South Pasadena.  I didn't get photos of the whole meal, but I did get a shot or two of Van,

and I did photograph the pakora (which they called vegetable tempura),

but not the rest.  It was nice to try Radhika, though.  We had some rogan josh and some baby back ribs that I liked.  I think the meat could have been more tender, but all in all, a good meal.  Worth going back!

a quick word before I leave the country

So yes, we're at O'Hare, awaiting a flight to Vancouver. A few fun-filled days there of buying new furniture and redecorating the condo. No, I mean that. I'm altogether excited over it all.

A few quick things to catch all four of you readers up on things...

There was baking to be had this weekend: three batches of scones in all, plus individual Black Magic Chocolate Cakes. The former were tasty, the latter, even better than that.



Four of the cakes went with us to Rachel's for Saturday dinner. I tell you, that Rachel can put together a fine meal, thanks in part to Peachy, her consultant, and Vikram Vij, cookbook author. A rare treat to have someone cook for us, and we had an exceptional time of it.



And then we made it two meals in a row with breakfast at Nancy's. A working breakfast, you know - that Aruba presentation isn't going to write itself!

Frank lives! Gone from the Smelts for far too long, and we've not seen him since the morning after the wedding. But there he was on Sunday at Yoshi's, enjoying a VERY packed bar with us. Too packed for me to comfortably take photos until the crowds thinned in time for dessert.

Alright, a quick check-in as promised. Internet access in Vancouver will be spotty in among the work starting to put the condo together. But you four are used to my long silences by now, I know. And thank you for that.

cleanse, day 2

Dinner number two on the cleanse, and I learned afterward from MG that I should have gone with brown basmati instead of white. Ah well, no sense making a fuss over things. In principle, it was a meal to meet the intention of the cleanse.

I learned this recipe at the restaurant years back from Megan. It actually makes a lovely side dish for lamb, I find, and perhaps for some chicken or fish preparations. On its own, it fills a roti quite nicely, or sits with rice well, too.

The curry starts with sesame seeds, mustard seeds, and cumin seeds. These are sauteed in oil until the mustard seeds just start to pop. At this point I added turmeric, salt, and cayenne and sauteed the spices a little more. Next came chopped onion, and once that had softened a bit I added cubes of eggplant. Not too large, mind you. The eggplant gets sauteed with the mix to coat it well and begin cooking, and then water is added. In fact, I added water a few times so that it was never too soupy but always had a nice nit of liquid for braising the eggplant to tenderness. Near the end of that process I added the frozen peas and let them cook to tenderness. Yes, frozen - it's April, for goodness' sake!

As for the rice, little adornment - I added some green cardamom pods when I cooked it for a bit of scent, but that's it.



In other times, I might have used some yogurt with this as a garnish, and perhaps a homemade chutney. Not last night. Still, it made for a satisfying dinner, and one that gives me some leftovers for a couple of days ahead.

why yes, this IS a blog entry

Oh gosh, I know, I know. Let's not count the months. Let's just talk food.
I have just re-read Todd's excellent, mouthwatering, truly delightful account of the dinner he and Michael had at Posh. I'm floored. Not simply because my best friend should have been writing a blog on his food adventures for some time now given his narrative, no. TK had quite a meal, and I can't compete.

But blogging is not competition, or not in my opinion. Our meal tonight can't measure up, but at least I can honour his meal (and ours) a little by once aGAIN turning to the blog.

Conrad and I are in Vancouver for a few days. Wedding planning, that sort of thing. Escaping the recent snow in Chicago, enduring the typical winter rains back west. Loving it. Much coffee consumed. I promise, we've been in the pool, too.

Our Valentine's date night was at the same place as last year, in fact: the Terminal City Club, in its dining room, 1892. We put on suits, hopped in a cab, and headed downtown in pouring rain. I'd seen the special menu beforehand, and I had a few ideas in mind as to what I thought might make for a nice night.

A few points before I describe the food:

• it's good to be back in a place in Vancouver where we are recognized and welcomed back. That's part of the reason we love Safari Cafe in the mornings, so.
• with the exception of special events, photography is not permitted in the club. A shame, because the food is often plated quite nicely.
• we rejected the special menu.

That last one was tough. Halibut cheeks? Oh my, yes, please. But we were lukewarm on the red meat options, and there weren't swap-outs possible. Also, Conrad is a huge chocolate freak, but I merely like it, and it wasn't my mood tonight. The table next to us (whom we overheard all too well, sometimes amusingly so) did have the special menu, and the chocolate desserts looked gorgeous. Tellingly, however, they couldn't finish them.

Some lengthy deliberation and negotiation, and Conrad and I had decided:

• a bottle of Bruno Paillard Champagne Brut Premiere Cuvée. This opened up so delightfully as we went along, progressing from a fruity, lemony start to toasty apple notes later. Splendid.

• baked oysters with spinach and gouda for Conrad
• celeriac veloute with wild mushrooms for me

• a shared Bibb lettuce salad with a light gogonzola dressing

• seared ahi tuna with a crab and potato hash and a lemongrass cream sauce for Conrad
• pan seared sablefish with spotted prawns and maitake miso broth for me

• a trio of cheeses with a glass of a Rioja for Conrad and a glass of the Joie Noble Blend for me

• two raspberry and two cassis truffles.

There's the outline, now the commentary...

I didn't taste Conrad's oysters, but to judge by how meticulous he was at cleaning out each half shell, I'd say they were good. My soup? Delicious. A certain meatiness from the mushrooms, and I gleefully swabbed out the last bits with some of the bread provided.

The salad was fine. I mean, look, we wanted greens, we wanted simple. We got it. I just wish the little slivers of apple and celery had had more flavour.

My fish kicked serious butt on his. Beet greens, tempura mushrooms, the unctuous sablefish? So much better than his nice but a little overcooked tuna.

The cheeses were fine, but the wines with them were each rather lovely. I think Conrad's richly fragrant red might have been the winner.

Oh, the truffles, the truffles...

A fine night, and a leisurely pace. The meal of the trip, though it's up aGAINst boil in a bag from ViJ's and last night's fun sushi with random service at Zipang.



What will tomorrow bring?

And that, friends, brings me back to blogging. For tonight. Happy Valentine's Day, what remains of it. I have the love of Conrad, and I revel in what I share with friends and family whom I love so dearly as well. And, it must be said, in the very good meals I get to enjoy time and aGAIN.

dining out in Vancouver

After my name, the word "Food" is the most important in the name of this blog. So then, images of dining in Vancouver this week:

Dinner at La Brasserie on Monday night:
Alsatian onion tart (appetizer shared by the table)
truffled poutine (appetizer shared by the table)
cheeses (appetizer shared by the table)
rabbit with spaetzle (my dinner)
halbut (Conrad's dinner)


Lunch on Wednesday from the market on Granville Island:
perogies and cabbage roll


Dinner at Campagnolo on Wednesday night, sitting at the bar in back:
Victoria Gin martini
Chef's choice pizza (artichoke heart, chanterelle, cheese)


Dinner at ViJ's Thursday night (an atypical USian Thanksgiving meal)
Venturi-Schulze Schönburger 2007
Punjabi Heart Attack (in the spoons) with quinoa salad (appetizer shared by the table)
deviled eggs and bell pepper fritters (appetizer shared by the table)
jackfruit in masala (appetizer shared by the table)
pork tenderloin and baby back ribs (Conrad's dinner)
kheer (my dessert)
kulfi (Conrad's dessert)
(no good shots of the venison, alas)

So far so good with a few meals more to go! Rest assured, we may be in Canada this week, but we are keeping the tradition of much eating for Thanksgiving going.

date night: Vancouver

Our last night in Vancouver, Sunday night. Date night for me and Conrad. A day together of driving around shopping/sightseeing. A meal where we could dine well, drink well, and just enjoy each other's company. So of course, we pick what is pretty much our favourite restaurant in Vancouver: ViJ's.

Not familiar with it? Imagine Rick Bayless had an Indian restaurant instead of Frontera. Refined Indian cuisine, no buffets, west coast ingredients incorporated into the mix. Decent wine list. No reservations.

Oops.

We got there at 5:25, just before the first seating. Too late. The line stretched past the sister restaurant and toward Granville. We knew we had a wait on our hands.

Our friend Brian recommends going over to West for a cocktail, and, in fact, you can leave your name and wander off. I didn't feel well enough dressed to try West, though, and anyway, we did get a seat in the bar area (one seat - I let Conrad sit down most of the time). A glass of wine each, waitresses bringing around hot salty snacks. Not a difficult wait. We sipped slowly, then sought guidance on a nice bottle of wine, settling on a LaFrenz red we hadn't had before. Opened it, got started sipping that slowly, and BINGO! A table!



The previous time Conrad and I had been in ViJ's we did a similar thing to this visit: here is the wine, now build food around it. My only caveat - no lamb lollipops. I've had them before, and they're fine, but I wanted something different. The waitress brought over the wine director (whom we'd talked to the time before) and we were off and running.

Appetizers:

• Lamb, beef, and paneer samosas
• Yam, paneer, and cabbage kofta in pureed lentil curry (Brussels sprouts underneath there)

I loved the kofta especially, though I think it was only a moderate success with the wine.





(we loved the wine, I should add)

Dinner:

• Rajasthani style goat curry with lightly spiced vegetables
• Beef tenderloin with ginger, onion, and date chutney on mung bean and sesame seed rice pilaf with ground fennel curry

The beef was marvelous on its own. The sweetness of the chutney was just right. The goat? Best dish with the wine, in fact. I was pleased.

Conrad and I ate very very well. No dessert - we were well-contented. I took a cup of chai, and then next thing we know the wine director has brought us two small glasses of a sweet sparkling wine. Cheers! We shook his hand gratefully when we left, and you know we've got our eye on another meal there next trip west!

Sherri cooks

Actually, Sherri's sister Amrit did most of the cooking. Sherri hosted and did some cooking - multi-tasking!

Conrad and I have a rule: if someone takes the time to cook for us, that is a priority social engagement. Even if we're feeling totally run down and only want to hole up at home, the promise of home cooked food gets us out. Based on that, we were only too glad to show up at Sherri's direct from the airport on our way home from Salmon Arm.

Ah, Facebook. I used to mock it, now I'm bound to it. I use it so much, and it has rewarded me with renewed friendships with people from my past. I knew Sherri way back in the day in Terrace, but hadn't heard from her in years. Now, thanks to Facebook, we're in touch again, and I've had the pleasure of dining out with her in Vancouver and cooking for her here. A few nights ago she returned the favour. Mostly it was her sister Amrit cooking the (forgive spelling errors on these) pork and beef keema, dal, saag paneer, and cumin-scented rice. I can't recall the name of the dessert, but she made that, too, using vermicelli, milk, some pistachios.

How was it? Fantastic! I'm a fan of Mexican food most of all, but I dearly love Indian foods of all sorts, and to watch it being made and enjoy the company (including Amrit's husband Raj and their daughter) and then the food itself (oh, plus a jolly good amount of wine) was a rare treat.

In short, we'll be making sure to keep Sherri well-entertained at our place and elsewhere in hopes of another such evening. A fun night from start to finish, and Conrad and I were in excellent spirits when we left.

last night of vacation = ViJ's for dinner

Why do I feel frantic? Packing to go home, doing laundry as I pack, so I can't finish packing. Blogging. Conrad is cool as aloe on sunburn because he doesn't come back to Chicago until Sunday. I'm jealous. I feel frantic.

What a relaxing and somehow accomplished vacation. I have so many more photos to blog, but for now, an entry on our last dinner together this trip. We made it up to ViJ's
and really did our darnedest to have a fine meal. Not too difficult a task, really.

I've long loved this restaurant. It reminds me of Frontera Grill in that the kitchen takes what is generally regarded as a low-brow cuisine and elevates it extraordinarily well. Plus, no reservations. We were the first ones in line, right at about 5;10, for the 5:30 opening, and as a result we snagged a nice table for two in a front window. After a day in which we'd had lunch with a friend, swam, shopped a bit, and walked a bit, it was a great capper. And Conrad (my talented, handsome man - I joke, he's not actually got the spoon on his nose, just caught midwave)
was the company I craved.

We consulted with the sommelier and settled on a bottle of the Le Vieux Pin 2005 Belle Pinot Noir. In the end, it was fine - it paired especially well with the shrimp appetizer and the pork - but it wasn't a wine we'd want to drink without food. Good, but maybe not one we'll shop for soon. On to the food!

Dungeness crab with coconut, cilantro and candied beets. An amuse bouche that we paid for! But tasty, certainly.

BC spot prawns in coconut masala on grilled kale. You know how you have a dish and everything is great but one component really stands out much to your delight? Grilled kale. Brilliant! Plus, this went very nicely with the wine, something we shared with the sommelier.

Paneer, eggplant, and green beans in tamarind curry. Nice contrast to the sweeter prawns.

Eggplant and papaya curry with black chickpeas and roasted almonds. Great to have the crunch of the almonds for added texture and meatiness. The roasted vegetables on the left side were curious - I'm not sure how they related to the curry, though they were fine in and of themselves.



A dish of grilled pork tenderloin and back ribs in fennel seed, ginger, and coconut curry with roasted cashews. It had a wonderful sauce that carried the rich and satisfying aftertaste of butter. It, too, went well with the wine, and we ate every last scrap. Yes, we ate carbs tonight. I'm on holiday - cut me some slack!

No dessert for us (though we have chocolate here at home to nibble on). We each had another glass of wine to finish, the Bodegas Benegas Malbec for Conrad and the Nine North Rock and Vine Cabernet Sauvignon for me. No, shockingly, not BC wines (we've killed ten bottle of BC wines in our few days here, and I have 2L of BC wine to pack and bring home!), but look, I'm happy, so that's fine, right?