Altar Boyz

If you're looking for non-stop 90 minute fun, check out Altar Boyz, playing at the Arts Club Theatre until August 1st. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Think Backstreet Boys meets New Kids meets N Sync meets religious spoof.

For those of you acquainted with boy bands (you know who you are), you'll recognise many of the signature moves (although I'm not sure the usual Arts Club crowd got all of them). You'll be swooning even when the boys pledge celibacy to their loves.

Afternoon Tea

I think I can safely call myself an afternoon tea connoisseur since I've probably gone more times than anyone in the city. So far, I've been to the Secret Garden Tea Company, Bacchus at the Wedgewood Hotel, Fleuri in Sutton Place Hotel, the Teahouse (I don't think they have it anymore), and Provence Marinaside. Hands down Secret Garden is my favourite, not only because of the cozy atmosphere but also because of the quality of the mini offerings.

Sunday was at the lounge in the Shangri-La, a rather civilized affair with live music, elegant china, and attentive service. Food-wise, it was a bit of a disappointment: a couple of wraps (smoked salmon; cucumber) and tea sandwiches (curry lobster; chicken), along with nanaimo bars, lemon squares, coconut macaroons, and assorted scones. The scones were really good - nice and buttery and light - but the top sweet tier was rather ordinary. Oh well, the company was excellent and I can never say no to clotted cream.

Introducing Tea Party

Chloe Lan, along with Ginger Ngo, have started a company Tea Party which is "based around the art & craft of bookmaking and making friends." Sounds like my kind of business!

Here's the link to Chloe's whimsical story book Lila and Her Ever-So-Happy Expedition with yours truly doing the storytelling.

Salad Days

New Straight article on salads...

Click here.

A Post on Why My Life Sucks

Okay, so my life far from bites. In fact, maybe it's pretty darn good. I'm trying to decide between telling you about my dinner at the new Latitude on Main Street (inspired by tastes of the Americas and its wines) or the other night's event at Bishop's on 4th. Quite the dilemma, I know...

The dinner at Bishop's featured chef Andrea Carlson's CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) menu that was inspired by the fresh abundance from local producers like David Catzel from Glorious Organics Cooperative (Fraser Common Farm).  City Farm Boy, Wayde Teulen, was also there, talking about his gardens around the city (even a rooftop one in Yaletown) and the veggies that he harvests to sell at local farmers markets. He also thirty shares every year to people who get twenty bins of his farm crop over a twenty-three week growing period. 

The farmer gets his money at the beginning of the season for a change, and shareholders get to reap the bounty of his freshly-picked work. You get whatever vegetables are available and then you have to improvise in the kitchen to work with them.  

Our dinner was an example of what will be happening at Bishop's during July and August. Chef Carlson will be using CSA product to create fresh sheet menus, as well as a three-course early bird $38 option. The meal started with fresh carrots and peas (basically "nu," or as they were without anything else), plus some baked kale chips which were surprisingly crispy/salty/snack-like. I made some yesterday with some extra kale from farmers market and ate them in the afternoon as if they were potato chips.

What followed was standout course after standout course. I especially was impressed by a dish of seared ling cod and spotted prawn in tarragon butter sauce,  along with a saute of romaine and broad beans. The flavours were so sharp - just from letting the freshness of the ingredients basically speak for themselves. (The pic is of a chilled amaranth soup with a goat ricotta stuffed squash blossom) Great meal...

A Saturday

I woke up this morning and got an early start by walking to the West End Farmers Market (find your local one here) which opens at 9am. As I was walking through the West End on a damp Vancouver day, I remembered what I like about the neighbourhood, especially on the first day of summer. Front yards were overflowing with flowery abundance and people were strolling around with baskets laden down with lettuces, beans, and heritage tomatoes. 

I browsed the market and bought some Rathtrevor cheese from Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, some cherry tomatoes (I let a few explode in my mouth on my way back), kale, new potatoes, and arugula. I could have bought more but I always have to remember that I can only eat so much. I took some pics of the veg gardens in the park before I waved goodbye to the produce and the producers and left.

The Goddess of the Lo River

Look under featured interviews for my latest CBC Radio documentary on the Cantonese opera, The Goddess of the Lo River.

North by Northwest site

Raw Canvas

Some places are just really cool - Raw Canvas in Yaletown is one of them. It's a cafe slash lounge slash art studio slash great concept. I went there with some friends for a catch-up session yesterday and found myself liking the laid back vibe and the whimsical assortment of furniture. 

But the best part is that there's a painting area in the back. You buy the canvas, they provide all the supplies, and then you create away. I'm not saying that it will be a masterpiece (I saw a horrible one that involved a cat with wings?!) but you might have a good time mucking around with the paints and the brushes. 

CBC Letter Writing Club Piece

If you missed my piece on Regional Assembly of Text's letter writing club, follow the link below

to the CBC radio website. My piece is listed under "featured interviews":

North by Northwest (link fixed)

Can There Be a Life without Cheese and Cured Meat?

I would answer an emphatic no to that question - and so would the owners of Au Petit Chavignol, the cheese/charcuterie wine bar attached to the new Les Amis du Fromage shop on East Hastings. It's basically like Salt in concept, although I think I liked it better since the space felt warmer and less echo-y. A group of us shared a tasting plate of cheeses (a mascarpone and gorgonzola blend was amazing, as was a goat cheese soaked in red wine); a grand tasting platter of cheese, meat, and condiments; as well as a small fondue that came with bread cubes, cornichons, and silver onions. 

Needless to say, I left in a cheese coma.

Miku

I really have no excuse not to have gone yet considering that Miku Aburi Sushi Gourmet Cuisine is a short walk from where I live. Opened by the Tora Corporation, a Japanese family restaurant group, Miku has their sights set on differentiating themselves from the rest of the sushi pack in the city.  In other words, the menu is on the higher end and is more exacting with ingredients and the overall quality of dishes.

Yesterday was a patio party and the launch of a new menu. Particularly popular was their aburi salmon oshi sushi (pictured above), which is basically flame seared (aburi) pressed sushi with sockeye salmon in between and atop the rice. The aburi technique is used in many of Miku's signature dishes and lends a nice smokiness to the flavours.

Especially exciting was the announcement of Miku's soon-to-be Ocean Wise accreditation which is probably especially significant to them after some initial bad press about its seafood sourcing.

I'll have to go back another time - the summer Zen lunch taster menu at $18 looks like it might be an affordable introduction.

Back from Vegas!

Back from Vegas tonight!

Here's a link to my Straight article on Hakka food in Vancouver:

Hakkasan 

Mehndi Party

I'm entranced by my hands this morning after getting them painted with henna last night at my friend's mehndi party. The night was a kaleidoscope of colours and elaborately patterned fabrics - and a banquet of good food. 

Perfect Vancouver Day

Yesterday, as all my Vancouver readers will agree, was the perfect Vancouver day. It's the kind of day when we want to keep strangers out of town so they don't get any ideas abut making the city more crowded than it is. The city has such crystal clarity when it's sunny and carefree.

We headed to Kits Beach for a stroll along the beach (gawking at the volleyballers along the way) to Granville Island. It seemed that everybody was out, especially at the third annual Spot Prawn Festival put on by the Chefs' Table Society. If you don't know much about spot prawns, they're the wild, local, and sustainable alternative to tiger or non-local, farmed options on the marketplace. At Falsecreek Fisherman's wharf, chefs like Quang Dang of C Restaurant and Jeff Van Geest of Diva at the Met were hard at work preparing dishes that incorporated the ingredient of the day. 

Sadly, the event was such a success that I couldn't even fathom braving the enormous line-up. The initial plan was to eat at Go Fish and then sample some spot prawns but alas, no such luck. In any case, I was pretty stuffed after sharing a halibut fish 'n' chips, and was happy just to bask in the sun and catch-up (while still enviously watching people around me eat their spot prawns).

My afternoon was at Fleuri in the Sutton Place Hotel where I attended a bridal shower afternoon tea in one of their elegant private rooms. The bottom tier of our tea consisted of smoked salmon pinwheels, croissants stuffed with egg salad, bread rounds with chicken salad, and cucumber and watercress sandwiches. The middle tier had strawberry whipped cream chocolate eclairs, chocolate French macaroons, and lemon layered cake. And finally, the top tier was raisin scones (which I gorged on with plenty of clotted cream and strawberry jam) and strawberry and custard chocolate tarts.

Sigh... a very good day. 

Tulips and other miscellany

It's an absolutely gorgeous day out there. Despite the agonies of my allergies, I decided that I would still allow Spring (and its pollen) to enter my home. There was no point complaining and trying to escape from the inevitable.

On Tuesday, I bought a bunch of yellow tulips that were all closed up, with only a hint of colour to them. This afternoon, they're basking in their full, wide open glory and I feel cheery just looking at them. I've often said that the droopiness of tulips annoys me but recently I've come to see it in another way. I like how they're always changing, craning their "heads" to get a better look at the light and motioning towards another possibility. They're my friends right now (I'll be sad when I have to say goodbye) and make me feel slightly better about not having a glorious deck to pot plants and tend herbs. 

The first photo is from a letter that I was working on at the Letter Writing Club at Main Street's Regional Assembly of Text. I'm doing a piece on the club, and after last night's experience, I'm almost loathe to give them more exposure since I want to make sure there's room for me next meeting. If you haven't visited the shop, it's absolutely mini-charming (my new expression for the day meaning charmingly small). Every first Thursday of the month, letter writers claim a typewriter of their choice, grab some free stationary (plus a cookie and a cup of tea), and type away to their loved ones (or to those they wish to stalk the old fashioned way). There's something about the mechanical, more permanent, inky quality of writing on a typewriter that makes the writing process much more enjoyable. And especially with old machines, you have to punch down your letters like you really mean those consonants.

People around me, all of whom probably text and IM and Facebook and Twitter on a regular, second to second basis, suddenly seemed awkward and sweet in their inability to master this rudimentary technology. There were exclamations of dismay when they pressed the wrong key, or worse, when a sentence went strangely yet happily awry. I liked the free flow (or not so free flow, based on my typing!) of thoughts and the fact that I couldn't edit myself as much as I would like. Mistakes became serendipitous - sometimes telling. Unbidden fears, hopes, and anxieties emerged and I felt a slowness and intimacy that I had forgotten that I could inhabit.

If you can find a typewriter gathering dust somewhere in your basement or attic, take it out and think of who you haven't written to in a long, long, long time. Even if you've emailed her recently, you might find yourself with more to say once you're faced with blank paper and a typewriter...