two dinners in

One drawback to vacation (yes, there are drawbacks to vacations) is all the dining out. My regular eating habits get a little out of whack, too many snacks sneak in, and I enjoy wine all the more than I do at home. Also, I frankly get a little tired of being waited on. Sometimes I want to eat on my own schedule and not have to tip someone afterward. I swear, I am not cheap. I just like to cook for myself.

Well, for Conrad, too.

I didn't photograph Tuesday's dinner, though I perhaps should have. A tasty green pea and eggplant curry with some brown rice and a bit of a slaw on the side. It made for good lunch leftovers. Yesterday made it two vegan dinners in a row (and two slaws, though last night's was a little less sweet and featured a bit of radish). On an evening when the weather was cooling off and when Conrad was home with something like a cold coming on, a stewlike thing seemed best. Chili, then. Three beans (black, pinto, kidney), a generous amount of garlic, and chipotle (powdered and whole) to add a bit of smoky kick. Nothing too hot, mind you. Bowls of this made for a comforting dinner.


I turned to fowl tonight. Not a bad result, though not as good as I might like. Here's something you won't hear me say often: I liked how the mushrooms turned out. I tossed some halved trumpet mushrooms with olive oil and a few seasonings, then put them in a hot oven long enough that they got a bit crisp on the cut side. They were a nice side for the oven-braised chicken thighs along with some red chard (yes, the chard-love continues!) and some kabocha squash that I let scorch while trying to get some caramelization on it. Bad Peter, bad.



Ah well. We aren't hungry here tonight. Perhaps some fish tomorrow, I'm not sure. The approach of autumn means some other fun vegetables to start working with...

1000

I started this blog a little over five years ago, so on average, I've done 200 posts a year. Give or take. My audience is not large, I know. When Dad died in 2009, it got that little bit smaller. Since then, my interest in blogging has waned.

But I can't quite give it up. I'm not sure why. Vanity? Documentary? The pleasure of connecting however distantly and even anonymously? I thought I might get to 1000 entries then call it a day. I shan't do that. I like being able to lob my dining adventures out there, or my self-deprecating comments on my own self-obsession, or photos of lovely scenery I've enjoyed (usually with Conrad).

You, my few readers, are stuck with me a little while longer.

I promised an entry filling in the month+ gap during which I was too lazy to blog, so here we go.

After my birthday entry back in July, I flew out to join Conrad for a weekend in Los Angeles. A highlight of that weekend was getting to watch, for the first time, an ATP event. We saw Mardy Fish and Ryan Harrison play in a semi-final at the Farmers Classic at UCLA. Gorgeous weather, a match that had some compelling moments, and a great afternoon overall. Bonus points for shopping at the Penguin by Munsingwear store on the way back from the tennis.




Back in Chicago, I enjoyed a rare visit by Terraceites: Arjunna and Sonya.



There were meals at Yoshi's. Of course.


My sister came to town for the first time in years, and we were able to get her to a very good and indulgent dinner at one of our favourite places in Chicago, Topolobampo. I cannot speak in praise of sommelier Jill Gubesch often enough. Oh, and the food was pretty darn good.





Marie and I picked up my best friend, Todd, from Milwaukee, and once Allison joined us at Yoshi's that night, the four of us had a terrific bachelor party weekend that featured ComiCon and a Tiffany and Debbie Gibson concert. Yes, you read that right. Be jealous of me. That whole Saturday kicked serious ass.







Conrad and I joined teammates in Madison for an open water swim. He cheered, I swam (and came in second in my age group).



We continued to get to know our neighbour Jeff better. Good guy - a runner, but more importantly, someone who dines. We totally respect and appreciate that. We took him for a maiden voyage to Yoshi's. Of course.


I don't talk work on here, but oh heck. I will note that Val and I co-presented a well-received poster session at the Society of American Archivists conference in Chicago.



And then August came to a close, and Conrad and I made it to our second home, happily.

I won't resolve to do better with blogging, to be more regular. I will beg your indulgence. 1000 posts is a good milestone. But no, I'm not stopping. Care to join me as I press onward in my own particular way?

999 (knackered)

Look, I got up and was out running 7.5 miles (and I'm not even training!) by 6:30 this morning, then tackled my fear of heights to go on the gondola and chair lift at Grouse Mountain, then made myself pretty to head to the Club for a short swim followed by some food and some very good New Zealand Pinot.

I'm tired, I want to read a bit and collapse into sleep. Can you blame me? Blog entry 999 is therefore short, somewhat to the point, and rolled out in anticipation of whatever strikes my fancy in days ahead for post 1000.

Night!

Labour Day dinner

And I should stress, that's LaboUr Day, not Labor Day...

;-)

No cooking for me today. We've had travel back from the Sunshine Coast to contend with plus some other errands, and - frankly - I wanted to get in to one of our favourite Vancouver restaurants. That it's an easy walk for us is a bonus. That we can sit at the bar usually is another bonus. Just past 6:00, we wandered down to Campagnolo and parked ourselves there, Marie sitting between Conrad and me.




Pizzas. We never eat pizza in Chicago. Well, almost never, not unless work provides it for "free". Pizzas it was. I got a little cranky with the idea of sharing the mushroom pizza (cremini are just button mushrooms with brown caps, people, don't try to fool me), but quickly got over it. A bottle of La Frenz Viognier in front of us, some water, and some food - I was content.

Specifics:

• Marinated olives
• Salad of tomatoes with lomo (Conrad's appetizer, shared with Marie, though I had a couple of tomato pieces when the ham was eaten)
• Summer vegetable salad with the cutest tiny speckled cucumbers you've ever seen!

• Mushroom pizza
• Smoked salmon pizza with creme fraiche (too lazy to figure out how to type diacritics in the browser, sorry)
• Pizza Romana - tomato sauce, olives, garlic cloves, anchovies. This last one was mine.

Ah, we ate well. We chatted cheerily. We sipped. We watched the traffic behind the bar and made up our own running commentary on what must be going on elsewhere in the restaurant. We left without dessert and came home to sit on the balcony with a bottle of a Summerhill Merlot that Allison had given me (ahhhh, deliciously lush) and some cheese and chocolate.

sunset, Sunshine Coast

Not much a post, I admit. Well, not much text anyway. A bunch of pretty photos to share instead.

Conrad and I had dinner up the coast last night, catching up with my stepmother, Bella, and my brother Carlos over a meal at Daphne Restaurant in Sechelt. After we'd finished, they headed home to Madeira Park, and Conrad and I continued south to our B&B in Davis Bay. It's a lovely little stretch of the highway there, along the water front. Beach, a pier, some small motels and B&Bs, a view across to Parksville on Vancouver Island. I rather like the place and wish we'd had a couple of night there. Ah well.

Anyway, as we drove toward the B&B, we could see that the colours of sunset were becoming more and more intense. I asked Conrad to pull over short of the B&B so that we could be sure to get some photos as the sun went down. We were not, assuredly, the only people to have that idea.

I don't wish to live on the Sunshine Coast, but evenings like last night make me wish I could visit a lot more often.

ling cod

Yes, yes, this is an overdue post. I'll catch up on things later, I promise. It is, after all, vacation time. Conrad and I have a week ahead in Vancouver, and I should be able to squeeze out an entry or two in that time.

OK, given my recent history, maybe I shouldn't promise.

No matter: an entry for tonight at least. We're all post-dinner and relaxing on a fine Saturday night on the west coast. Much walking today, and some much-needed napping behind us, too. Vacation truly is when I get caught up on my sleep. We were home from shopping/errands/lunch at 2ish, and somewhere in between that and dinner there were a good two hours of dozing. Heaven!

Also nice? Ling cod. It's a fish I can't recall seeing on Chicago menus, nor in stores in Chicago. A shame, really. It's a lovely fish. On rare occasion we would catch them while staying with Grandma on the Sunshine Coast. Rock cod were more common, and though Marie says that we considered them garbage fish, my recollection is that they were a special catch. The flesh of the fish is often bluish, and not in an unappealing way. A diet of crabs, supposedly, and that just makes them sound more delicious somehow.

We'd had a couple of errands on and around Granville Island today, and I was determined to look for dinner items there. With over a week in town and fine weather in the forecast, not using the balcony would be a crime. After a good brunch at Edible Canada, we browsed the market, and I came upon the fish. I'd seen some halibut cheeks earlier, but no, this was a better option.

Some quick shopping later, and we had some cheese and bread and quince paste for before dinner, chocolates for dessert, and the fixings for a meal. I sauteed the fish, covering it to aid the cooking of the thick pieces. Alongside were some little nugget potatoes, corn "cobettes", and gai lan. I made up a quick batch of Szechuan butter to use for a sauce.

We sat outside and talked of wedding plans and past meals and travel we've enjoyed. A happy trio with a big plate of food. I hope to pick up more of that Church and State Merlot later this week.

More photos are already up on Flickr. For now, I'll grab a book and wind the post-cod evening down contentedly....