Monday, September 04, 2006

FOOD.

I'm still obsessed with food, and I'm sure I will be for the next six months. I am in the process of being reaquainted with the awesomeness that is food in Vancouver. On Thursday night, went to Kwong Chow, the place where I first hung out with Moolz. I was craving calamari one night and he said he knew the best place ever to get it. Kwong Chow calamari is so piping hot, crispy and seasoned with jalapenos and green onion.. and I put some in my Hong Kong style congee... ahhhhhhHHHHhhhhhhh... I think it was the most tastetacular experience I ever had. Plus their iced coffee, iced tea and iced coffee tea with condensed milk is superb. Will most likely go back for squab and that awesome watercress and pork dish I used to order by delivery when I lived on Commercial.

It's Labor Day Weekend!

Friday noon, went to Havanas on Commercial for a jug of white sangria, some smoked scallop tapas, and a plate of sausages, homestyle hashbrowns and overeasy eggs on toast. Actually, I ordered the tapas but I forgot how tiny tapas are in the western world. So I helped Moolz eat his hashbrowns and they were the best I've ever had... lemony and spicy, and great dipped in hollondaise, with egg yolk drizzled on top. That afternoon, Moolz and Ben stocked up on some very interesting beer, including a Belgian one I was quite partial to, called Framboise, by Morte Subite. It's light amber in colour, but tastes like it should be ruby red.



Friday night, went shopping with Wy. We didn't buy anything, but.... we went to Kalypso, that Greek restaurant on Robson with the dude in white costume who stands in front advertising. We waited 40 minutes for food, which is pretty ridiculous, considering we ordered 2 simple souvlaki dishes. They were a little overcooked too. Last time I went, the restaurant was packed and they had bellydancing performances. But it seems to have gone downhill since that time, so I don't recommend eating there. But it was great to taste lamb souvlaki, lemon potato, greek salad, tzatziki sauce and that zesty rice again. Then we stopped at Dragonball bubbletea (one of the best places to get bbtea in Van). I gotta remember to order the GREEN preserved mango, mixed with regular mango, for the ultimate Moolztacular Taste Sensation (I ordered half powder half real mango by mistake.. a bit too sweet).

Saturday morning, had some awesome congee made by Moolz, and later, some hummus, goatcheese and garlic butter on toast. Then we went to Tokyo Lounge, which has little to do with food at all! We got a little crazy for Kris's bday, and Moolz opened for Scumfrog.











Last week, Don had taken me to Gecko, and while the music was great (dark electro), the crowd had been sparse and still a little barstarrish. The vibe and crowd at Tokyo Lounge were most excellent and gave me renewed hope re: having fun at Vancouver clubs. The music for the most part was very danceable! There was a bongo drummer in the crowd, and his rhythm was so precise that for the first half of Scumfrog's set, i thought he was mixing in a drumming record.

After 5 hours sleep, we woke up for a marathon of grocery shopping, for Hotpot / Sangria night. The first people showed up at 4pm and the last few dawdlers left around 2am, which made for a decent ten hours of consumption. I made a pitcher of red sangria using two red bottles of wine (one Korean raspberry wine which I brought home with me, and one Australian), fresh squeezed orange juice, fresh squeezed lime juice, guava pineapple juice, and a touch of 7up. I chopped up grapes, peaches, mango, papaya, lemon, lime, and apple, and let them soak overnight in the sangria. The result was mindblowingly delicious and very, very fruity.



Next, Moolz made some white sangria, using white wine (Riesling), with vodka, white grape juice, apple juice, bit of soda. and squeezed orange juice, plus pineapples, golden kiwis, starfruit, lemon and apples. It looked particulary cool when half the fruit floated to the top, and half sank.



Various new sangria forms were made throughout the night, including mixing the red and white sangria together to form pretty blush sangria, as well as this vodka grape sangria I made by pouring half a mickey of vodka into Julian's leftover fruit. It looks pretty, but apparently didn't go down very easily.



Hotpot consisted of spinach, watercress, radish, thinly sliced lamb, beef and pork, fishballs, udon, prawns, bundled noodles, tofu, wontons, XO sauce and chili oil. We feasted, watched TV, had some delish keylime pie and apple pie that Sera brought, watched more TV, digested, turned on the hotpot for round 2, and then the boys polished off two more jugs of sangria.



I had planned to make some cheese and salami pizza pinwheels, and salmon-wrapped creamcheese hors d'ouevres, but time was tight. So I made crab dip, a cheese platter (with cheddar, swiss, and this AMAZING smoked gouda), smoked salmon on its own and sliced garlic sausage served with baguettes and triscuits. It was all quite labour-intensive, and made me bow down in reverence to all Martha Stewart types out there. Today is a lazy day though, and we are snacking on the leftovers.

3 Comments:

Blogger Michelle said...

south of nunavut lol

11:03 PM  
Blogger dreamblog said...

I simply laugh as I guttinously eat Galbi by the bowl, club in a non-threatening environment at M2, eat Mexican food and other ethnic varieties unknown to Daeguers in Itaewon, and sip at the many smoothy stands in downtown Sanbon in the sun-filled non-rainy Korean Autumn!

Heheheheh.

5:12 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, can I get your sangria recipe by chance? I was hoping to make some and was looking for a reliable recipe... Msg me on cv perhaps? Thanks a tonne!

3:45 PM  

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