Make It Green

Any guesses? 

This is a Romer's Make It Green burger. 

Romer's offers the option of any burger being served on lettuce instead of a bun.

A perfect discovery on initial diet days; specially given how filling their brioche bun can be.

Romer's Burger Bar

1039 Mainland Street

Vancouver, BC

romersburgerbar.com

 

Recycled Apna Bhaa

I opened my fridge the next day to three leftovers containers from last night's Apna Bhaa dinner (Read Apna Bhaa).

Eating leftovers on Sunday is boring. But recycling leftovers is not.

Without putting much thought into what I was doing, I poured the contents of two containers into a large frying pan and heated up.

Once it started to sizzle, I added the leftover rice and fried all together.

And a flavourful spontaneous biryani was served.

 

Apna Bhaa

It is very difficult to describe Apna Bhaa.

It is a store of Indian sweets, but has 3 tables for people to sit and eat at.

It also has a menu of Indian food with some not so common names that seem to be cooked for you when you order in the small kitchen behind the store.

It also has deep freezer with trinkets on it. Oh the discoveries.

The sweets look fresh and tasty, with lots of white and creamy elements.

Sensibility takes over and I just order three menu items that seemed interesting but not sure what they are.

 
Next time I think I will go for the sweets.

 

Iftar

Iftar is the meal Muslims share at sunset after a day of fasting during Ramadan.

I fondly remember being invited to my Muslims' friends homes for delicious Iftars as a kid.

Decades later, I had an official invite to an Iftar. I was counting the nights.

With Muslims part of different cultural backgrounds, what you eat at Iftar will vary by country.

However, they all share some dates to start, a salad of sort, lots of fresh made food and sweets to munch on. This Iftar was of an Indian flavour.

I should have taken better notes to describe the delicacies of this Iftar. 

But rather than telling you what I ate, I will stick to telling you how delicious the food was, how welcoming our hostess was and what a wonderful ritual I shared in.

Thank you and Happy Ramadan.

Wacky Traveller

Few times a year I go to Regina for work and, I have to admit, it is one of the most pleasant business trips I take. I have my full day at home, leave at 6:00 pm to the airport and I am there at 11:00 pm. I have a meeting with a great client in the morning and I am home by early afternoon the next day.

The only challenging part of the trip is dinner - options are non-existent at 11:00 pm in Regina. The solution, though, is easy - pack up dinner!

Now that I am used to the ritual, the dinners packed are getting more interesting. Tonight was a plate of rice and chicken, along with fresh cucumbers and green peppers.

A white and creamy dessert may not survive the trip, but a healthier option does.

The next trip is in the fall, wonder what will be on the menu then.

 

Best of Yaletown

Yaletown L'Antipasto is one of three restaurants worth the trip to Yaletown for. And if you like Italian food, it is THE restaurant to eat at in Yaletown.

Family owned and ran, I was impressed that the owner, a year later (Read  L'Antiopasto), clearly remembered me. 

Two favourites from the last visit- the cheese and carpaccio - were a must. Too bad this was a mid-week business lunch where I had to go back and work. Otherwise, 2 platters of each of those, some bread and a bottle of wine would have made for a wonderful time on their cute patio.

To try something new, the risotto alla pescatora was highly (and appropriately) recommended. 

And you can tell this is a place of generousity and class in how the bill is presented.

Yaletown L'Antipasto

1127 Mainland

Vancouver, BC

 www.yaletownlantipasto.com

Still the Best Thai in Town

I've been to Sawasdee Thai Restaurant at least half a dozen times over the past few years.

It continues to impress. Welcoming staff, efficient service, quality food and varied menu is what brings me back (not to mention it is within a convenient location to somerville kitchen).

The Pad Thai is excellent. Last time I tried it with Tamarind sauce which was exceptional and I thought it was better than any tomato based Pad Thai I have had. But that was elsewhere. 

Tonight I tried Sawasdee''s tomato Pad Thai for the first time. It was exceptional.

The other item I never miss out on at Sawadee's is Cho Muang.

Those are purple dumplings with a very unique texture, filling, flavours and colour.

Oh there are so many delicious dishes on the menu that one has to visit Sawasdee every week for a year to cover it all.

Not a bad idea, eh?

Sawasdee Thai

4250 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

sawasdeethairestaurant.com

 

Club Picnic

Almost a year later, somerville kitchen cookbook club celebrated with a summer picnic.

Our rules are that the host of the month makes something from the book they are featuring while the rest bring only a cookbook to discuss. But for the summer picnic, everyone brought both a book and a dish from the book making for a lovely pot luck picnic. 

See all the fun we have at somerville kitchen cookbook club? If interested in joining, contact me at somervillekitchenwindow@gmail.com - guys get priority.

Remember Toast Now™

Toast Now™ , a year later, decided to harass somerville kitchen to be a partner in its venture. With partnerships in Ukraine, Japan and US, Canada is proving to be difficult to crack.

The shredded cheese/carrot and Japanese fish cake toast is said to be the rave in Sapporo, Japan.

Mayonnaise, cold fish cake, shredded cheese and carrots, are basically it.

"But we are not in Sapporo", I said. 

That opened the door to try a BC special (supposedly they are talking to potential partners in Peachland, BC).

The magic hands worked very quickly to demonstrate a localized version of Toast Now™ meat (US) and fish (Japan) focused inventions - a vegetarian goat cheese sandwich.

What's so special about this??

Well, while partnership negotiations went nowhere, tasty sandwiches were had and a special rice pudding Peachland fruit combo was a treat bonus.