Saturday Night Date At....

... A&W

 

Yes, dates at A&W are becoming a regular occurrence these days (Read East Van Wacky Date). Why not when you can be in a clean place, have your food fast, yet know that you are eating meat from cows raised with no hormones or steroids.

  

And you can tell that this is good meat by the taste of those burgers. Tonight I opted for the Buddy Burgers (well, few of them) along with the poutine (not bad at all).

  

I love my dates at A&W (and next time I have to remember to order the Root Beer).

  

A&W

2033 East Hastings

Vancouver, BC

aw.ca

KoKo

Koko restaurant has been around since 1982. I have not heard of it until it was recommended to me today. And I tried.

So what did I think?

Not sure what to think. It is a nice location and has the Japanese booth set up which is very cozy and comfortable.

The raw fish dishes were just average - I have had better salmon sashimi and tuna tataki in less expensive restaurants.

On the other hand, the cooked food was good (Maybe I should start thinking of Japanese restaurants in a cooked/uncooked food categories).

The best I had today was the beef teriyaki roll. Salty, but exceptional.

Koko 

2053 East Hastings
Vancouver, BC

Wacky Snack

It's Thursday. I am hungry mid-day. I have a mini bowl of Jamaican rice leftover and a quarter of kidney beans can.

First, I thought I will just mix all and heat up (I don't have a microwave so all is heated in a pan).

So far boring... But a hole in the middle filled with an egg and a sprinkle of blue cheese made all the difference.

Delicious snack - love Wacky Thursdays.

Thank You Again

My Dear Lovely Neighbour,

There is nothing more comforting than coming home at the end of a long day knowing you are serving a lovely dinner.

Whether simple or fancy, your food is always inventive, new, healthy and delicious.

Even though for some dishes, I am better at taking their pictures than remembering their names or what goes in it.

But the best waits till last, a white and creamy favourite dessert to send me to bed sleepy and content.

Thank you again My Dear Lovely Neighbour.

I Really Like Bob Who Likes Thai Food

It took me more than a year to try Bob Likes Thai Food (Read Like Bob Who Likes Thai Food) and here I am back two weeks later.

Eating with a charming company allowed me to try a variety of platters.

Including Bob's delicious Milk Thai Iced Tea that, according to the server, is the same as is sold on the streets of Thailand.

Bob's chicken satay are very similar to other ones tried elsewhere.

But what came with it was unique and much fresher than tasted elsewhere.

Time to try Bob's Pad Thai.

Exceptional with generous amounts of shrimps and fried tofu and light on the egg.

And a repeat performance of the Eggplant Pad Ka Pow.

Now that the standards have been sampled, time to venture to the new.

Massaman Beef Curry with coconut milk and tamarind and five spices.

A good one.

I will be back to sample the rest.

Bob Likes Thai Food

1521 West Broadway

Vancouver, BC

www.boblikesthaifood.com

A Jamaican Night

Following the successful Indonesian meal from The World's Best Recipes (Read Indonesian for Few Days), I turned the pages to reach Jamaica.

I went for simple, low spice recipes and made two complementing dishes.

A baked chicken that marinated for hours in a butter lime garlic marinade.

Cilantro covered and baked slowly. Very tasty.

Along side was a rice with beans and a bit of coconut milk.

It included peppers and onions. I did experiment and cooked the whole rice with all the vegetables directly in the rice cooker. Success!

Email somervillekitchenwindow@gmail.com for recipes.

A Party

somerville kitchen hosted a party tonight.

Five different ethnic backgrounds and three species gathered around the fire for a very pleasant evening.

Wine flowed as a Lebanese mezza spread was sampled.

The meat kabobs were perfectly grilled on the fireplace (best grilled meat ever).

And all topped with a Trafiq chocolate decadent cake for dessert.

A good life!

My Dear Lovely Neighbour Goes Clay

My Dear Lovely Neighbour invited me for the inauguration of her clay pot.

Chicken braised slowly with an abundance of Indian spices that will clear any illness. Served with a thick sauce made from the pot's gravy along with pancakes.

The simplicity of the chicken matched the simplicity of the salad.

These grilled sweet peppers and shallots were served over spinach leaves and no dressing - an amazing simple combo.

The least I could do is bring over a couple of the delicious Trafiq tartlets.

 

A Perfect Friday Night Recipe

This simple recipe is from the Saskatchewan Homemakers' Kitchen, one of my favourite for simple old fashioned original recipes. This is called Surprise Casserole.

Cook half a macaroni package and set aside. Brown 0.5 lb ground beef with one chopped onion. Open the cans of the two secret ingredients.

Arrange in a baking dish, in layers, macaroni, beef and corn (2 layers). Pour over the can of tomato soup (I ended up mixing all together). Sprinkle with half cup of your favourite grated cheese and bake in a 350 oven for 45 minutes.

 

Wacky Dinner on Wacky Thursday

Replacement Chef and Wacky Thursday met tonight for a deliciously fun dinner.

 

It was difficult figuring out what dinner will be.

Can of bean opened.

Perogies started boiling.

What is dinner dare I ask?

Things got weirder when onions were fried with green peas.

By now I figured out the dinner components.

But I had no clue how the green, white and red were to come together.

But they did in one of the most fun, tasty meals I have been served in a while.

 Thank you Replacement Chef