Cure for Summer Cold

I featured Ogenki Sushi a couple of weekends ago (see New Saturday Ritual) and talked about how much I loved their sushi. Today was Ogenki Ramen time (it is the same restaurant with two entrances, one for sushi and one for ramens).

I had a nasty summer head cold today and I could not even stay at work all day. Driving home mid-day, I was craving something hot, healthy and spicy. 


And a Vegetarian Misu Ramen did the trick. This was a huge bowl packed with misu base, freshly made noodles, corn, carrots, bean sprouts, green onions, broccoli, spinach, Chinese greens, seaweeds and bamboo shoots. Add to this strong pepper and my cold was over within 4 hours of this natural medication.

Ogenki Ramen

4346 Main Street
Vancouver, BC 

www.ogenkisushi.com

Finding Street Food Vendors

Last week I asked "where are those street food vendors". Thanks to two resourceful followers, now I have both a website and an app to trace those vendors.

roaminghunger.com/yvr is a website that traces those vendors. But more impressive is the iphone app "Vancouver Street Food" that can locate the nearest vendor to your location, indicate if they are open and show their opening hours for the week.

Today's choice was Roaming Dragon - a pan Asian food vendor. Their selection is limited, but quiet unique. Surprisingly, none of the crew in the truck were Asians.

I ordered a Vietnamese inspired tofu sub - with carrots, daikon, cucumbers, cilantro and hot mustard (also comes with chicken karaage or pork).

The bread was excellent but the tofu was mediocre. According to my Vietnamese lunch partner in crime, "the pickles are supposed to be enough to break up the taste, not overwhelm it", referring to the abundance of pickles in the sandwich.

Also was commented that in authentic Vietnamese subs, the cucumbers are fresh and the daikon pickled. This sub had them reversed.

But the highlight of this vendor is their Lychee & Basil Lemonade. Deliciously basil flavoured lemonade with crushed lychee that you drink like bubble tea.

I would go back for the drink, but not for the food. Okay, time to check out the remaining 16 downtown street food vendors.

Let the summer lunch breaks roll...

Nutritional Dandelion Greens

One cup of dandelion greens provides 25 calories, 1.5 g protein, 5 g carbohydrate, 19 mg Vitamin C, 7,700 IU of vitamin A and 103 mg calcium. 

In Lebanon, you can pick those greens everywhere in the wilderness. Unfortunately, what grows in our yards here are false inedible ones.

Lebanese cook them, stuff them in pastry and bake them, or eat them as a salad; which is exactly what I did tonight.

I picked up a lemon from my indoor meyer lemon tree, chopped it over the dandelion leaves, sprinkled some salt, olive oil, and  you have one of the most nutritional salads you can choose.

To make the salad even more interesting, I used Sea to Sky Davie Street Salt. This is a pink salt comprising of sea salt with Lady Hanna Tea. More on this salt at seatoskyseasonings.com 

As to why it is called Davie Street Salt, well if you live in Vancouver, I am sure you will figure this out.

Weekend Lunch Pakistani Style

A favourite lunch hangout when shopping on Fraser Street. While the menu items may seem like ones you find in any Indian restaurant, the taste, spices and how things are prepared definitely have a uniqueness to them that, I am guessing, is how Pakistanis cook those dishes.

What I typically have at Al Watan is their Biryani. The menu has several Biryani options listed, but they typically cook one kind a day. However, whether it is chicken or lamb (I am yet to try the fish), it is always fresh, spicy, and colourful.

And I just love seeing all the cardamon and strands of saffron throughout the platter. Yum.

But what I most enjoy at Al Watan is their mango lassi. It is like you are drinking a milkshake - by far the best in town.

Join me there for lunch next weekend, it is well worth the trip up Fraser Street.

Al Watan

6084 Fraser Street

Vancouver, BC

604-324-6378

Saturday Shopping

9:24 am Checked Out @ London Drugs #53 (Victoria & 41st)

I love London Drugs. Pleasant roaming early morning while listening to oldies music from their speakers.

Where else can you buy father's day card, groceries, medication, little cute kitchen accessories, develop your pictures and check out the MacBook Air that I am lusting after these days all under one roof?


9:42 am Checked Out @ Breka Bakery & Cafe (6533 Fraser Street)

A hidden secret on Fraser Street. Open and busy 24 hours a day, with breads, cookies, baked sweets, cakes, pizzas, and the list goes on.

While I always buy their sweets, I have never tried their breads. So today I picked up a caraway light rye bread. Can't wait to try it.



9:50 am Checked Out @ Fraser Delicatessen (6579 Fraser Street)

Owned by the sweetest young German woman and her mother, this place is a combination of a German grocery store and deli.

Today's discoveries included the Schlaff und Nerven Tee, German mustard, ginger cookies and a selection of meats and cheeses. And the sweet owner gave me a dark chocolate bar as a thank you for shopping.

10:23 am Checked Out @ La Petite France (2655 Arbutus Street)

Running an errand across the street, I could not resist the charm of this place. The smell of baking and the french chatter from the kitchen add to the charm.

Hungry for a snack, I tried the salmon brioche. I should have accepted the offer to warm it up - that swiss cheese they used in it would have melted amazingly. Next time.

10:52 am Checked Out @ Choices (2627 West 16th Avenue)

Choices was never my first choice of supermarket, but I don't hate it as I do Safeway or IGA.

It was close by. Pricey, but organic and Canadian owned, why not see what they have. The find: dandelions.



11:01 am Checked Out @ Sweet Obsession (2611 West 16th Avenue)

Right next door to Choices, how can one resist.

While I find them expensive and will take an Anita Cake over them any time, they do come in handy when stuck for an unexpected need for a nicely and freshly made cake.

And one can always have a treat for the road...


11:30 am Checked Out @ Shaktea (3702 Main Street)

No Saturday shopping outing is complete without Shaktea.

I blogged about Shaktea lots (see label on the side) but I have never talked about their loose teas. Simply an amazing variety and best quality. Detailed instructions on water temperature, steeping time, amount of tea to use result in a beautiful cup of tea in your own jardin.


12:19 pm Checked Out @ Buy-Low Foods (6095 Fraser Street)

And you thought I will forget my favourite Buy-Low.

The best meats outside specialty butchers are at this Buy-Low location - they must have a really good butcher.

Small corner store feel (yet packed with stuff), helpful service to the car, free parking, I just love shopping at this Buy-Low.

Eat Your Vegetables... And Carbs

I found this vegetarian lasagna recipe in the Montreal newspaper La Presse over 15 years ago. 

I still have the newspaper clipping and have been making it since then. It is, by far, the best vegetarian lasagna recipe I have come across - easy to make, can be prepared a day ahead, and freezes well.

It is literally packed with vegetables. A cooked mix of onions, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, and mushrooms is first prepared.

The spices are limited to fresh herbs (I used rosemary and thyme from le jardin today), salt, pepper, garlic and lemon zest.

The 2 cheeses and white sauce produce a fantastic looking and tasting platter - perfect for a dinner party.

Original cut-out recipe below. If you are small font and/or French reading challenged, just email a request to eshmun@shaw.ca and I will send it to you (in French, English, Arabic or German).

Wonderful Chocolates for Wonderful

Tucked on a side street off Hastings street downtown, just south of the new conference centre is a wonderful cozy chocolate cafe called Mink.

You can lounge around enjoying quality coffees and hot chocolates that are served with a tiny chocolate bar to melt in your hot beverage, unique baked goods and a chocolate fondue bar- decadence at its best.

The chocolate cafe also sells a variety of chocolates and, according to their website, they ship them worldwide.

The $6.25 chocolate bars are worth every cent. All are hand crafted in Vancouver.

And with 72 flavours to choose from including ganache filled, organic, dark, milk, white and solid chocolates, your information processing mechanisms must be top notch to choose what matches your mood that day.

But my favourite gifting from Mink is there artisan bonbons. 

The image on top of each is designed to let you know what flavour each is. And if you cannot tell, no paper is provided with the flavours, you just have to check them online.



They sure make a special gift for special wonderful ones in your lives.

Mink

863 West Hastings Street

Vancouver, BC

http://www.minkchocolates.com/