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.

my Valentine

A very Happy Valentine's Day to my wonderful SB. There are many reasons why I love him:

He makes faces for the camera.

He wears the special ties I buy him and lets me make sure the tie is tied properly and the collar is straight.



He's so darn cute when I catch him semi-unaware.

He puts up with me. And that, friends, is no small thing!

8+ years of this wonderful man. Yes, you can be jealous. Just don't try to steal him away, please!

Valentine's comes early

6+ years of work in restaurants, and subsequent years of dining, have taught me some important things:

• waitstaff are people and deserve politeness from me.
• problems in the kitchen should not be blamed on the front of the house, and the reverse is true.
• complaining about a problem a week later does not give the restaurant an opportunity to address it.
• a good attitude on my part goes a long way to making a meal good.

But the most important thing I've learned is this:

Avoid restaurants on Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. The two worst days of the year for dining out. All the cheap you-know-whats show up and want everything at the lowest price possible. Restaurants, apprising the opportunities at making money, usually produce uninspired food designed at getting as much table turnover as possible. Our dinner at Bin 36 last Valentine's - when we were living in a downtown hotel because of the fire in our building - that left us disinclined to return there for a meal; we've been back only once since then.

We spent yesterday shopping in Evanston and then came home to do laundry and have a quiet night in. I made up thin cut pork chops, we ate quickly and simply. We were content, however, in having had an exceptional night on Friday the 13th, dining at Yoshi's. Picture it: the two of us at a back table instead of the bar. Looking pretty. A bit of champagne, then a bottle of a Minervois. Oysters, a starter course each, steak au poivre each, then a shared dessert. Another glass of red wine each. We left the camera at home because you can't hold hands while fiddling with camera settings. A fine night, a leisurely dinner of terrific food and wine, and we're ever so glad we missed the Saturday Valentine's crush.

As for photos, our friend Gil, dining at the bar with his wife Rakhael, kindly snapped some shots and sent them our way. See? We look hot! And happy. Because, you know, we are (yes, I'm a smug married). Valentine's Day came early for us, but over 7 years after we started dating, we think we're doing a good job of keeping the Valentine's spirit constant.

so that was Valentine's Day

It's not that I go all out and try to do a super duper Valentine's Day, but it was kind of a letdown this year. Blame the week we've had, blame the dining experience. We hardly suffered, but it's telling that I came home from dinner, got into bed, and read until I turned out the light.

We really should have known better, in a way. I worked in a restaurant for years, and I can tell you that from the operational side of things, it's a lousy day to have to work. All couples. Specials and special menus. Gimmicks for food (food tinted pink or red, chocolate everything). Customers who don't normally dine out so fancily (!!), so they don't know their obligations as diners (and I can tell you, the customer has a responsibility for his or her dining experience as well).

Wow, I sound bitter.

Anyway, we opted for Bin 36, a place we like and have gone to a number of times. We had some gift cards to use, so it made sense. Wine, cheese, some good food, easy to get to on the way home from work.

The first odd thing to me was the table. Close to the entry, in the area I think of as the cafe area, though I know there's no such thing. Instead of being in the area beyond the bar that's a little more serene and has windows overlooking Dearborn (not a great view, but world watching, at least), I had traffic constantly passing behind me. I could have asked for another table, I know.

Conrad arrived. He was fine at that point, but the week had taken its toll. By the time we were on the first glass of the flight and he'd opened the gift I got him,
he was beginning to check out mentally. Tired, weary, stressed out, he was - sorry to say - poor dinner company. He knows it, he's sorry for it, but there it is.

We each had the Pinot Noir flight, which included a rosé cava, a white Pinot Nero, and two delicious reds. That was good. They also paired decently with the food, which we did enjoy:

My appetizer of Crispy Duck Hash and Sunnyside Up Egg (bitter green salad, pepitas, duck cracklins’, lemon vinaigrette).

Conrad's Oysters on the 1/2 Shell (champagne mignonette).

We both had the same entrée, the Pan Seared Atlantic Monkfish (braised black kale, cipollini onions, smoked ham hocks, pork jus).I asked for another piece of bread to mop up the sauce. Pork products rock!

And then it was time for dessert. The waiter brought menus, and we asked instead for the cheese list. Bin 36, you see, is known for its selection - we were either going to order a flight of cheeses of their design, or put together our own. No cheeses that night, we were told. And that kind of killed it there. Conrad couldn't muster enough energy to be interested in dessert, not even the chocolate. We gave our regrets to the waiter, but didn't tell him we'd be walking up to Whole Foods to buy some cheese and a bottle of wine there to take home.

I think the entire meal was done inside an hour, but I didn't time it. There was the faint feeling of rushing us through that we felt after the fact. When next I want to dine at Bin 36, I think I'll check first that there will be cheeses at the least, and fuss over the table if it's not too busy.

So, that was Valentine's Day. An unfortunately (if understandably) listless boy friend and a restaurant experience that left us (me especially) feeling not all that romantic. Maybe it's better to say that it was simply dinner out on a Thursday night and that the simple soup and salad I put together last night was our romantic meal together for the week.