Market Day

My eldest son has graduated, which means I see him even less than I did before. I'm not sad about it ... I understand that it's a part of life and he's starting his own life. But I do miss spending time with him.

So I was pretty happy when he and I made plans to go to the Wednesday Farmer's Market. "Let's go get inspired and cook," he said to me. And so we did.

I really like the Farmer's Market. Local people, local food, and it's a fun place to hang out. It's no Portland Market, but it's the best we've got. The new location for the Wednesday Market (it was a Nat Bailey Stadium until construction for the Olympic Curling Rink pushed it out) is at Thornton Park, across the street from the bus depot and right under the Main Street Skytrain station. Yes, it's a bit of dodgy area, but the skuzzy factor is no big deal during the day.

Fresh at the market this week, strawberries, raspberries, cherries. Inspiration for dessert was simple. Dinner ... well we found a baker that had some fresh pasta, a pork producer for some farmer's sausage, some tomatoes (HUGE!), cheese and a terrific chocolate pecan loaf.

The cherries with the chocolate were a shoe-in for dessert. So the strawberries found their way into a salad, along with the cheese, baby greens, fennel and red onion.

My son took the tomatoes and told me he was going to make a sauce. "Concassé," he said, and in a few minutes he had the tomatoes peeled, shallots and garlic brunoise-d and he began assembling a delicious smelling sauce. 2 parts tomatoes, 1 part chicken stock and 1 part wine. I was so proud!

The pasta was completed with the farmer's sausage, some fresh basil and some parmesan cheese.

Dessert was simple. The cherries were pitted and put into a pan with some sugar and water. Once soft I pureéd them, strained out the skin and added some ginger liqueur. The sauce was put down on the plate first, a slice of chocolate loaf next, and then topped with some fresh cherries.

Dinner was wonderful. The food was great, I was sharing it with my wife and both my sons, I'd spent some great time with son #1, and son #2 did the dishes.

However shopping local comes with a hefty price-tag. The little pile of groceries we gathered set us back $50. Such is the dilemna in this era of factory foods. But do yourself a favour and splurge on a market meal with your family. The meal will be worth it, and you'll pass on some worthwhile values. Change comes a generation at a time.

101 Things to Cook on Your Grill (Not Including Burgers) - Part 2

Lemons

It started over at Urban Diner, and a brief mention of smoked lemonade. As I was planning on smoking some ribs for Canada Day, some lemons were purchased, and an experiment began.

As you can see in the picture above, the colour looks really good. That was after 3 hours at 225C using cherry as the smoke wood. The fruit was very loose at this point, so sqeezing them to get the juice was a piece of cake. As a side benefit, some of the lemon juice from the top rack in the smoker dripped onto the ribs on the lower rack producing an unexpected citrus note in the ribs. Something to remember for next time.

The lemonade was a simple 1:1:1 ration for water sugar and the smoked lemon juice, although if I did it again I'd reduce the amount of sugar. The result? Very interesting. My wife didn't like it at all, my son thought enough of it to take it to work with him where he said it received rave reviews.

For me, I'm not sure what I think. I don't hate it. I've had several glasses, some spiked (gin & vodka so far) and some not. I think what I'm trying to deal with is that the smokiness is not at all a flavour I would have associated with lemon juice. It would be like taking a big gulp of milk and having it taste like... oh I don't know ... cheese?

But I'm glad I did it, if for no other reason than to see the look on guests faces when I ask them if they'd like a glass of smoked lemonade.

A Tale of Two Picnics

I love Portland, OR. I cannot think of another city that has its combination of atmosphere, entertainment and love of food. We often visit for the Oregon Brewer's Festival, but last month we made the trek to watch the Vancouver Whitecaps take on the Portland Timbers in USL1 soccer action.

We lost the game 2-0.

Fortunately for us, the food more than made up for the loss. But rather than visit Portland's exceptional restaurant scene (which we did the first night) we made our way to the Portland Farmer's Market at PSU and gathered some tasty tidbits for a picnic, riverside in Tom McCall Park.

On the menu: pate from Chop, frommage frais from Monteillet, fresh strawberries and a loaf of bread from Delphina's. The wine you see was not procured from the market. Rather it was from Vino Paradiso, who have the brilliant offer of 1/2 price bottles for anything from their by-the-glass list. This Spanish white was bright and fresh and a perfect addition to the picnic.



I mention the wine for several reasons:

1. It was excellent.
2. The concept of off-sales for 1/2 price is brilliant!
3. While enjoying the wine in a public park, we were not bothered by police or anyone for that matter. I understand the law is the law. But sometimes our liquor laws in BC are so puritan.

The second picnic? On our last day in Portland, we dropped by Kenny & Zukes Deli for some of their famous pastrami & corned beef. "Zuke" is Nick Zukin, a friend of mine from my eGullet days. I've shown him the best of Vancouver, he's shared his Portland favorites with me. These are the sorts of friends you want to keep around.

Now the plan was to have a big breakfast before the drive home ... but we were full from the day before, an affliction we often suffer in Portland. So the plan changed, and we took 1/2 a pound each of pastrami & corned beef to have later with some baguette on the drive home.

The scenery wasn't as pretty as Portland. But the Washington State DOT has several very serviceable rest stops. Concrete picnic tables, clean washrooms, and FREE coffee. You can even get some home made cookies for a buck from some friendly volunteers.

The meat was awesome. The pastrami was almost as good as mine (insert knowing wink here) but the corned beef was perfect. All we needed was some saurkraut and we'd be set.

Epic Fail

It was one of those ideas that sounded great at first.

My son and I had spent the afternoon shopping for his grad suit, and were passing through Commercial Drive on our way home.

"Dolce Amore?" he asked. Not one to pass up on ice cream I agreed. On the way, we passed a frites place that also served the infamous deep-fried Mars bar. That was when the idea took form.

If ice cream was good, and the deep-fried Mars bar was (supposedly) good, the two together would be ...

Really dissappointing. Doughy, chewy and tasteless, the Mars bar ruined a perfectly good bowl of ice cream.

Some things you just shouldn't mess with.

Makin' Bacon

This past weekend was our annual Luau & Pig Fest. And as often is the case when I'm cooking for this meat extravaganza I squeeze in some extra cooking for personal use. Hell, if the smokers are up and running you may as well put them to good use.

I was presented with these four beauties by fellow smoker and meat guru Neil. He and Dave (friend and co-worker) have been experimenting with various forms of charcuterie. Dave's venison sausage is legendary, as is his chorizo. What I was presented with were four coppas (essentially, the nape of a pig's neck) that had been curing for just shy of 2 weeks. These were bacons in the making.

After some nifty trussing by yours truly, they were put in the smoker over some maple and apple wood. 2 hours at 140F, and then another 2 hours at 220F.

The finished product smelled even better than it looks.

Taste test: a lot like ham, but very very smokey.

Fajitas - Vietnamese Style

I love Vietnamese food. But I'll be honest, it's focused for the most part around phô and banh mi. I've had the odd dish of lemongrass chicken, and the delicious Vietnamese coffee served with condensed milk ... but for me that's been more than enough to know I like this cuisine.

I'd been reading about something call "Bò 7 món" ... literally, beef 7 ways. It's a series of beef dishes served with the usual assortment of been sprouts, Thai basil and other sliced and julienned veggies. Curious, I called my friend (and personal Asian food expert) Lee to try this specialty out at Song Huong.

Song Huong is typical of most Vietnamese restaurants in Vancouver. Low on decor, high on freshness. Neither of us had enough time to tackle 7 dishes at lunch ... nor the time we'd need for the post-meal nap. So, we opted for the slightly less daunting "Bò 3 món." It's essentially the same dish, but without the raw beef or the soup course found in the 7.

Along with the veggies, herbs, pickles and sauces, you're also presented with a plate of vermicelli, rice paper wraps and a bowl of hot water. You dip the rice paper in the water to make it pliable, place some of the beef and vegetables on the paper and then wrap it up fajita style. Really excellent all round, and with all those veggies, it HAS to be healthy, right?

Regardless of the nutrition factor, this is a really outstanding dish. Everything was really fresh and served nice and hot. Think of it as a great first date meal, or even a night out with the kids. Nothing is too "out there" and the whole "make your own meal" thing is always a good idea in my book.


Whether you order the 3 or 7 course meal, it's a flat $24.95. It's enough for 3 normal people, or 2 if you happen to eat like me and Lee. To be honest, I took home 6 of the ground beef rolls and a mess of veggies & herbs. They made a terrific snack with a Pinto Gris the next night while watching the Canucks.

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Song Huong Restaurant
1613 Nanaimo Street
Vancouver, BC V5L 4T9

(604) 251-1151

Nothing Faux-ny Here

A morning espresso and a pain au chocolat. I'm not sure if I enjoy anything more to start my day. It's probably the first thing I eat when visiting Paris. And while there are many many establishments throughout Metro Vancouver that serve excellent coffee, very few have the ambiance you get in a French café. There's nothing inherently bad with that. After all, we're not Paris. But when you're looking for a relaxing way to start the day, the French have it figured out.

Truth be told, it really has little to do with the food itself. It's more about the routine. The familiar face behind the counter, your favorite table, the music wafting through the room as the world rushes by.

And when you find such a place, there's a bit of reluctance whetheror not to share it with anyone. You may have friends that would appreciate your discovery, but there's also the fear that your secret hideaway will become the new "in" spot, leaving no space, and no ambience for you.

Fortunately, I'm the sharing type.

And so I present to you the Café at Les Faux Bourgeois. The café is an addition to the recently opened Les Faux Bourgeois restaurant which sits on a strange little triangle of park, just off the intersection of Kingsway & Fraser.

It's very tiny, with table seating for 8 or so, and counter seating for 3. As you can see by the menu the offerings are limited, but what is offered is top notch. My pain au chocolat was devoured before I thought to photgraph it.

Now, if someone would put in a boules court in the little park across the street ...