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Vancouver Spot Prawn Festival: five things you need to know about spot prawns

They love their spot prawns here…

So, today was the much-heralded Chefs’ Table Society Spot Prawn festival down on Fishermen’s Wharf. In its seventh year more than 2000 sustainable seafood fans poured into False Creek to dive into the new season of spot prawns. Sweeter than many other prawn varieties and much-loved by BC chefs, there are several spot prawn festivals and dinners (like this series at yummy Italian Campagnolo) across BC for the season. Try to get along to one of them because oh, those prawns are good!

Gotta get ‘em while they’re here

1. No one knows how long the season will be. I chatted with Chris Sporer, the Executive Director of the Pacific Prawn Fishermen’s Association, who told me that, “In 2009 the season lasted for 66 days and in 2012 it was just 44 days. The fishery is monitored to check the health of the stock and count the number of spawning prawns. When the threshold is reached, that’s it, season over.” This is what makes the BC Spot Prawn season one of the most sustainable there is.

2. Prawns change sex. Seriously. Spot prawns have a natural four-year life cycle. All prawns are born male but around aged two, they become female and then start to spawn in their last year, so every adult prawn you eat is a female.

Boil ‘em up for two minutes…

3. Commercially-fished BC Spot Prawns go through vigorous checks. Spot prawns are caught in traps which get dropped to the ocean floor – so there is no trawling. The traps stay on the bottom and the fishermen can only haul up once a day. The first check comes from the prawns themselves – the holes in the traps are fairly large, so first the smaller ones swim in, then the larger ones arrive and chase the little ones out. Once they are hauled in, because they are hand-sorted, any remaining young prawns are thrown back in the ocean and those that remained are checked against a size requirement.

Buy your prawns fresh off the boat – the queues were huge!

4. If you buy them fresh – off with their head! Yup, turns out that unless you want to cook and eat those prawns immediately, if you’re keeping spot prawns at home in the fridge, you need to take their heads off as soon as you get them home as they start decomposing and that affects the taste. I drove home from Fishermen’s Wharf with my bag of prawns jumping away on the floor next to me, raced upstairs, boiled them (heads on to get the best taste) for a minute and a half and then doused them in cold water to stop the cooking. Then I ate them dipped in aioli. Oh, yes please! So when you buy them from a fishmonger, make sure they’re live in a tank or already have the head off.

Just an hour from dock to table. That’s what I call fresh

5. Support sustainable fishing – ask where the prawns came from You can buy spot prawns from Washington State or Alaska – but nothing beats the taste of a fresh-off-the-boat BC spot prawn. And nothing feels better than knowing that you’re supporting one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world. Sure, the season’s short but that makes it all the sweeter… Ask questions and make sure you support the good guys!

Nothing tastes as good as sustainable seafood!

Everything you ever wanted to know about spot prawns from Organic Ocean

Life in Canada / Seafood / Vancouver — No Comments
8
May 13

Celebrating a BC Spot Prawn spring

Spot Prawn season begins…

I’ve never lived anywhere so ‘seasonal’ before; and I don’t just mean the weather, Vacouverites seem to live and breathe seasonality in their food. I noticed it first just before christmas, it was ‘pumpkin season’ and everywhere there was pumpkin pie, pumpkin latte, pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin ales… you get the picture. Then it was ‘egg nog season’ and again – ‘nog was to be found in absolutely everything. Then the arrival of the exotic King Crab… most recently there was halibut hysteria when, remarkably, even the big name supermarkets were proudly shouting about their fresh, seasonal, sustainable fish.

Spring morning on English Bay

I spoke to a friend Sophia about this and her theory is that because the weather is so fiercely seasonal, people are more in tune to eating what’s fresh. She may be right, you are in no doubt what time of year it is in Vancouver; in autumn, you crunch ankle-deep through a patchwork of colourful leaves, in winter you wilt under relentless torrential rain and grey, grey skies with snow-covered mountains appearing once in a while through the gloom, and now spring is here flowers are bursting from ever corner. I cannot wait to see what summer has up its sleeve. There’s also the matter that chefs here in Vancouver are rock stars, followed and adored by their foodie fans. And of course, these rock stars want the very best produce to create their masterpieces – which means sticking to the seasons.

I took a photo. You never want to forget your first time…

The Spot Prawn season began yesterday at precisely 12pm, I was lucky enough to get my first taste at Yew and I’m off to the Spot Prawn festival (seriously) at the weekend. It’s a four-to-eight week season and I intend to dive in head first and try them as many ways as possible. If living seasonally is the way to live in this town, count me in. I love the excitement and anticipation of enjoying something for a brief period of time. Now I know that when the last of the cherry blossom has fallen, it’s Spot Prawn season… I wonder what happens next.

Expat experience / Life in Canada — No Comments
4
Apr 13

In which I’m mostly flat…

Most of the time living here in Vancouver I feel like I’m on a great adventure. Every day brings a fresh discovery; I eat something I’ve never tried before, see birds I’ve never seen, meet new people – I love it. However, the problem with being so very far from home is that when things go wrong, you feel every single millimeter of the distance. I’m not OK at the moment. I’ve been flat on my back for the past week, can’t walk properly and it looks like I’ll be that way for a while more.

This has been my view for the past few days. I am BORED.

Being unwell when you’re by yourself is never much fun. Turns out being unwell when you’re by yourself AND thousands of miles from everyone you love really sucks. If I were just by myself, I could probably stick it out thanks to grocery delivery companies, Netflix and Skype, but I’m not alone; I have my dog and he needs to be walked. Right now, I feel like Blanche duBois in Streetcar, having to ‘depend on the kindness of strangers’. I know I’d be fine in Brighton, I’ve known my friends there so long that we’re family to each other, but I’ve only been here seven months and when it’s ‘new’ friends, you have to wonder just how far you can push asking for favours. I feel lucky that my neighbour Wendy is a sweetheart and so I don’t feel bad calling to ask for help and I’m even luckier in my friend Van who’s popped by after long days at work to take him out too.

The other thing with not being well is that your circle of health-support that you’ve spent years building isn’t there any more; Tom my acupuncture guy at the Anahata, the amazing William at the Treatment Rooms, even my doctor who’s known me for years… all at least 10 hours flight away in Brighton! I feel pretty blessed that months ago when I was creaking with pain, I checked local paper The Georgia Straight to find a massage therapist and discovered aces Nicole Van Damme who pointed me in the direction of top chiropractor Dr Jamie Hennessy. He’s been absolutely amazing – if you follow me on Twitter you’d know I’ve been banging on about how great he is for ages. You can spend months, years trying to find a great practitioner so the relief when I limped into his office with agonising sciatica – and then walked out half an hour later, was overwhelming.

Seriously. He wears this hat, like, all the time.

This new bit of grimness stems from falling in Quebec all those weeks ago. I’ve damaged a muscle and need to lie around, my leg elevated over my head, icing it every couple of hours for the next few days. I need to get the swelling and inflammation down or I could be in trouble. Jamie’s been brilliant, emailing me back – out of hours – offering advice and reassurance. When I go and see him at Back To Health (here’s the number – I totally recommend him T: 604-742-0011), I appreciate that he takes the time to explain exactly what the issue is, why it’s a problem and what the plan to fix it is. He’s straight with me and although I might occasionally yelp at some of the adjustments that he does, (and wonder why he seems to heh-heh-heh cackle as he does the most evil of them) I always feel better afterwards.

Actually, I feel a bit better just writing this down too. OK, so I don’t have the circle that I had before, but if I think about it, I’m making a new one. And if moving here was a leap of faith then I suppose I need to apply that to living here too – trusting that things will work out and that strangers – and new friends – are kind. I guess that’s part of the expat experience, making that transition where you stop depending quite so much on ‘home’ and and start depending on those strangers who’ve become friends.

restaurants / Vancouver — No Comments
1
Apr 13

Homesickness hits: bring on the Balti Challenge

Being British seems to make most people assume that you are a raving tea addict. When I talk about the rare times I’m homesick, Canadians imagine that I am craving oceans of Earl Grey, that I am wistfully musing about a pot of PG Tips… but nothing could be further from the truth. Home, for me, tastes of curry – Balti, to be precise. A sag aloo Balti, fragrant with spices, with just the right hit of heat, eaten with a buttery, garlic-y naan bread. Heaven. But, guess what? Turns out that they don’t have Balti in Vancouver.

Ask a curry fan about the origins of the Balti and you’re asking for a l-o-n-g drawn out debate. Is it an Anglo-Indian dish? A Pakistani one? Or is it simply a type of curry named after the shallow handled dish that it’s served in? I think that it combines elements of all those things but one thing I’m sure of is that I’m missing them like mad.

Hands down the best bhaji I’ve eaten in my life

I was expecting the curry houses to be overflowing with fine Baltis; after all – Brits are everywhere here, one of the largest immigrant communities in fact – and Baltis are incredibly popular back home, but no, no Baltis at all. So I asked on Twitter if anyone knew of anywhere that might help and hurrah for the Palki restaurant who stepped up and offered to try to make my curry dream a reality.

Delighted, I headed off to Palki on Commercial Drive. Unlike many traditional British Indian restaurants, the Palki has a modern Zen-like feeling with plum-coloured walls, water features and a bright airy interior. While I was waiting for the balti to be prepared, I snacked on the best onion bhaji I’ve tasted since Naffees in Leeds in 1989. Crispy, spicy and not a doughy cake like so many are – these are reason enough to pay a visit.

Their first Balti attempt arrived and smelt heavenly – but the texture was wrong and it had too much heat. I tried to explain as best as I could what I was looking for to Sharath, the incredibly patient manager, and he disappeared off into the kitchen to discuss it with Chef Shiv Singh. Balti mark 2 arrived and although the texture was better, it was still missing something. I’ll be perfectly honest – I take my hat off to the team here for trying to create a dish that I haven’t eaten in almost 7 months, that they may not have experienced either! Chef Sigh is an experienced and talented chef from Uttar Pradesh and I love that he tried his best to whip up an Anglo-Indian creation, as explained by a British non-chef.

Yes!!

So – third time turned out to be the charm; not too spicy, not too hot, the perfect slow heat and texture – this was the food equivalent of Goldilocks’ ‘Just Right‘! I scooped up a judicious helping with the delicious garlic naan, and savoured the aromatic taste of home. If you’re craving a Balti, or fancy trying one, unless you can get a ticket back to Britain, this is absolutely your best bet. Sharath said that they’d be adding the Balti to their menu – I couldn’t be happier to have made a mark on the Vancouver food scene in a more spicy way.

Thanks so much to everyone for being such good sports and getting stuck into the Balti challenge – go see them & try for yourself.

I was a kind of annoying guest of Palki – who sends food back so much?! – but my views are 100% my own.

Palki Restaurant, 1130 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC V5L 3X2

Life in Canada / Vancouver — 3 Comments
22
Feb 13

Rainy days and Vitamin D: winter in Vancouver

Yesterday I felt like winter might almost be over. I saw my first crocus; a tiny pop of purple just around the corner from my apartment on English Bay. When I took Freddie out for his late-night walk I spotted daffodils, tightly wrapped in their buds, waiting for that warmer breath of spring air to tempt them to show off their nodding butter-yellow heads.

Purple shoots of spring

I went home with a smile on my face. I’d made it. Got through my first west coast winter, which had been so much harder than I’d imaged it could have been – and it was mostly all my own fault.

This was all I saw for most of January. Ouch.

Everyone told me that the rain and grey skies would be hard. “Take Vitamin D” urged locals, but I smiled to myself and thought well, maybe they needed supplements, but me, with my well-balanced diet? Surely not. And then came the endless days of non-stop torrential rain, serious rain – we think we have it bad in the UK, but London has around half the annual rainfall of Vancouver. HALF! And then there’s the weeks of the sun never really making an appearance thanks to late rising around 830am and early setting around 430pm and the low lying cloud covering any rays.

I felt tired all the time. Grumpy. Peevish. And then came the day when I didn’t want to get out of bed at all. I just lay there, scowling at the gloom and feeling utterly hopeless. I didn’t want to get up. What was the point? What was the point in anything?

My hero

Something about this dismal state of affairs rang a bell, I could remember reading up something about the symptoms of D3 deficiency. The exhaustion, the depression, yes – maybe this was a chemical imbalance, not me losing faith in life. I dragged myself out of bed to the nearest London Drugs (not being sarcastic – that is the name of a chain of Canadian chemists!) and bought a pack of liquid D3 and a multi-vitamin. Took a shot of both and went back to bed.

Ok, so there was less blood and I don’t have that fierce bob but you know what I mean…

Around six hours later something rather amazing happened. I felt like that scene in Pulp Fiction where Uma gets a shot of adrenaline to her heart. My eyes flew open, I felt flooded with energy, I felt happy and vital and alive again. And that is how it’s been ever since. I take my vits three times a week and even though Vancouver tricked me with it’s whole ‘oh look, it’s spring‘ thing yesterday (it’s beyond revolting again today), I feel fine. And more than that, I feel like I got through a rite of passage. Spring is on its way, the flowers are making their way through the cold hard earth and now, like all good Vancouverites, I know that I need regular shots of D3 to get my head back above ground too.

Yeah. So it turns out it’s *not* spring after all…

restaurants / Vancouver — No Comments
22
Feb 13

Campagnolo Vancouver: essential Italian comfort food

So… I fell off the wagon. And I’d been doing so well. I’ve stuck rigidly to Canadian-only wines (yes, Canada has great wines!) since I arrived in Vancouver in September and this week I fell face-first into a crisp Italian Soave. Oops. I wanted to soak up (hic) all those amazing new varietals from the Okanagan and confining myself to a strict BC-only wine list seemed to be the best (and most delicious) way to get a crash course in How To Drink Like A Canadian. So far I have discovered that:

- I adore Joie’s ‘Noble Blend’ but I often can’t find it/afford it

- When I want a cheap-ish bottle, Jackson Triggs is usually on special at the local wine shop and does the job

- Tinhorn Creek do some of the (few) reds that I genuinely love

- Wineries like ‘Wine O’Clock’ and ‘See Ya Later Ranch’ which have silly names make seriously good wine

- That (sorry!) I haven’t yet found one sparkling BC wine that I like (I have a get-out clause when it comes to drinking champagne and cava and no, I am not going to outline my reasons as they are ill-thought-out at best, so shhh!)

Crisp ceci with a minty-chilli salad

And I’m only five months in. So much more to discover! But then I went to Campagnolo and everything kind of slipped away…. I blame Katharine. I was having lunch with her and – bad behaviour-enabler that she so clearly is – when we pondered the possibility of matching Italian food to Italian grapes, all my good intentions slipped away. Before I knew it I found myself with a glass of Bertani, a silly grin on my face and a mountain of food in front of me.

As photos go, this isn’t great but even so it makes me want to lick the screen as the ragu was SO GOOD

I’ve been on such a seafood-eating trip since I arrived that I’ve barely tried any Italian food in Vancouver. In fact I fear I may becoming part-seal. But oh! I have missed Italian and they do it particularly well at Campagnolo. A salad of charred octopus along with a dish of crispy deep-fried ceci (chickpeas) spangled with mint and chilli made me realise I was in for a treat but nothing could have alerted me to the jaw-clanging brilliance of the pork ragu tagliatelle. A densely-flavourful sauce that spoke of long hours simmering on a stove, thick with ground pork and absurdly buttery, was sopped up by an eggy delicate home-made pasta. It was absolutely brilliant. We tried a few other things, but I couldn’t stop my fork snaking across the table mid-chew of something else, to get just one (more) last buttery meaty mouthful.

This was a first for me: never seen cauliflower on a pizza before

The pizza crust was a trifle too thin for me but the cauliflower and sprout leaf topping was inspired. All garlicy and salty, it paired with the Soave perfectly. After I regretfully scooped up the last of the ragu sauce with a pizza crust and talked myself out of licking the plate, I discovered my new favourite dessert; a butter tart studded with toasted pine nuts, served with a splash of sweet milk. I think I’ve found my go-to comfort food restaurant. I can’t imagine any situation that won’t be immediately better after eating here.

Butter tart of pure wonder. Damn, this was delicious!

Upstairs, I’m told, they take delivery each week of two pigs, butcher them, and use everything in their creations that week. Charcuterie, sausages, and yes – that amazing ragu. Love this place. Food that’s good from nose to tail and definitely worth falling off the wagon for.

Thanks to Campagnolo for hosting me – as always, my views are 100% my own.

restaurants / Vancouver — 2 Comments
20
Feb 13

The Best Crab Cake In Canada

I’ve often said that one of the things that I love most about living in Canada is the culinary discovery of it all. Not one week goes by when I don’t try a new fish, fruit or vegetable or discover a new way of cooking – or sometimes – a whole new cuisine. After seeing (and eating) sablefish on all the Ocean Wise restaurant menus, I decided to try making it at home and cooked my very first marinated sablefish this week. It was gorgeous but so expensive! ‘Pay day fish’ @CarolynAli called it on Twitter, after giving me this fabulous recipe. so perhaps I’ll save it just for special occasions.

But there’s another West Coast sustainable speciality that I see everywhere and had never tried before; Dungeness Crab, but after a trip to Coast, I figure I’ll not even bother trying to cook one as they have spoiled me forever by making The World’s Best Crab Cake (a title previously held by a tiny restaurant in Cork. Sorry guys, it’s time to hand over the trophy).

Look at it! All gorgeous and mouth-watering

A confession: I’m never usually a crab fan; it’s not that I don’t like it, it’s more that I don’t love it, but I think I may have just been eating the Wrong Kind Of Crab. Turns out, I’m a West Coast girl all the way, as I was smitten after just one bite. So – what is a Dungeness Crab? They’re unique to the coastal waters of the pacific, they look just like a regular crab and Hiro Amano, Chef de Partie at Coast, told me that he thinks the Dungeness Crab is the “showcase fish for the crab family.” A little sweeter than say, king or snow crab, with an almost buttery flavour, this is just perfect on its own.

So why is this the World’s Best Crab Cake? Well, unlike most others this has almost no ‘filler’ at all. It’s 99% pure Dungeness Crab, bound together with a roasted-garlic aioli (no salt added) to enhance the natural sweetness and the smallest dash of panko to add a little crunch. It’s extraordinary. I went back a few days later just to have another taste as thoughts of its sweet juiciness had been swimming through my head. That second portion convinced me; this is just about as close to a perfect fish dish as anything I have ever tasted.

I’m sure there are a million things I can learn to cook with Dungeness Crab, but I shan’t ever bother replicating this. Go, eat it, but beware – just one bite may have you hooked.

I ate as a guest of COAST however, as always, my views are 100% my own.

Spa / Vancouver — 5 Comments
8
Feb 13

Vancouver Hammam Heaven at the Miraj Spa

One of my favourite spas in the world is La Mosquée in Paris, it’s in (as the name suggests) the Mosque on the left bank and is a series of beautiful marble-tiled rooms, each hotter than the next, where you steam and soak, take an icy-cold plunge and then steam and soak some more. It’s a traditional cultural ritual and I found it surprisingly reassuring to be in a room of (mostly half-naked) women of all ages, shapes and sizes. However, it can be a baffling experience; there are no instructions. You get handed slips of paper which you exchange for a ‘gommage‘ (a body scrub) or massage but there’s no real system of how or when that happens. And although, yes, I wound up with a soaking wet towel and shredded wet paper slips (you’re meant to leave them in your locker till you need them) and was a tad alarmed by the brutal scrubbing I got from an elderly Arab lady (which I genuinely feared would leave me nipple-less), I really enjoyed my afternoon there.

You can’t take photos in La Mosquée – but here’s its entrance just to give you a sense of how exotic & gorgeous it is

So when I got chatting with Surinder, the owner of Vancouver’s Miraj spa, I was delighted to find out that her spa was based on her own experiences at La Mosqueé. I went to check it out one rainy day last week. It was cold and grey and miserable outside. I stomped down to West 6th Avenue in my rubber boots feeling like I’d never get warm again. I left feeling like I had an all-body halo glow and positively skipped off down the road. What happened in between? All good stuff… however, it’s definitely a more North American version; instead of a shared hammam space, this is a solo adventure into spa-ing.

The Miraj experience starts by showering and then slipping into a cotton kimono. I had a hamman guide, Adria, who took me into the incredibly hot steam room (120 degrees Celcius) and explained things to me. I lay on the cool marble and felt my achy muscles melt in the intense heat. Candlelight flickered in the steam and as I began to sweat, I felt myself relax. After 20 minutes, Adria came back to collect me for my black soap gommage. I took off my now-soaking kimono and laid on top of it as Adria scrubbed my body with exfoliation mitts. This is definitely the bit where any shy people might feel a bit weird, but Adria was so matter of fact that I suspect even the most body-non-confident person would feel relaxed in her company.

Lie back and enjoy the gommage…

I turned over for more scrubbing, then stood up and was sluiced off with warm water. My skin felt as smooth as the marble I’d been lying on. I’d booked in for the basic hammam, gommage and 15-minute Orientale massage. Next visit, I’ll book for something longer as after all that heat I bet I could get a great deep tissue massage. The 15 minutes really felt like just a soothing application of oil.

Then rest and take tea on the silky cushions

Then curl up on the silky cushions and sip tea

Massage over, I put on a fresh cotton robe and headed to the lounge area to sip a glass of sweet mint tea and nibble on a cake. I’d love to do this with a girlfriend and you can book the hammams for two. Sunday is couples day so if you want to take your parter along, that’s the time to do it. I flicked through a glossy magazine and felt a million miles from the cold, wet, cross girl who’d stomped in an hour or so earlier. Miraj recently opened in the Shangri La hotel in Toronto and I’m definitely checking that out when I finally make it over there, but in the meanwhile, I feel happy that I’ve found a piece of my beloved Paris, right here in Vancouver.

Thanks to Miraj for hosting me – as always my views are 100% my own.

restaurants / Vancouver — No Comments
31
Jan 13

Hawksworth: just a year old and already a Canadian classic

If you ask any foodie in Vancouver for their top five restaurant picks, it’s likely that Hawksworth will be on every list. One of Vancouver’s most ritzy restaurants, Hawksworth is in the deliciously decadent Rosewood Hotel Georgia. I first ate there just over a year ago, a few months after it had first opened, that meal was inspirational. Deft touches of molecular gastronomy, everything beautifully-considered and oh! deep, rich flavours and exciting food combinations. Chef David Hawksworth and his team deservedly scooped a brace of ‘Best New‘, ‘Most Exciting‘, ‘Most Fabulous Opening‘ awards after that first year. But a year on, what next?

Easily the most glamorous room in town

After a glittering opening, expectations are high but all those ‘Best New...’ awards can’t be won when you’re no longer the new kid on the block. I went back recently for dinner; less showy than that first meal, I feel like Hawksworth has taken a mature direction. The new kid grew up fast. My sense is that instead of concentrating on culinary fireworks, which dazzle then fade away, what’s happening over at Hawksworth looks set to become a Canadian classic. What do I mean? Well, their angus beef tenderloin was hands-down the most delicious I’d tasted. No molecular gastronomy flashes, no glitz, just meltingly-soft with a purity of flavour that left me wishing I could eat it every single Sunday as a roast for the rest of my life.

Simple, beautiful, perfect

There’s an authority to the food at Hawksworth, nothing feels try-hard. The desert menu seems to be the place that Chef is allowing his more mischievous side to come out – chocolate, lime and avocado appear together along with a vanilla custard ‘buddha’s hand’ with pink grapefruit and sesame.

It’s kind of refreshing, in a city that seems to pop its collective cork over every new opening, to walk past Hawksworth and see a busy room on almost any night in the week. The smart set haven’t moved on. Hawksworth was one of the most exciting places to eat in Vancouver when it opened, and for my money, it absolutely still is. So cheers, here’s to a new Canadian classic.

I ate as a guest of Hawksworth, however, my views are 100% my own.

restaurants / Things to do / Vancouver — 1 Comment
16
Jan 13

Vancouver Dine Out Festival 2013

Grab your cutlery…

One of my big reasons for moving to Vancouver was its amazing food scene. Seriously. The dining scene in this town is phenomenal. I adore the care and passion that goes into creating menus here; chefs are excited about sustainable seafood, the farm-to-table food movement is alive and well, and the 100-mile diet (the idea that you eat only food from a 100-mile radius to cut down on food miles) began here.

Every January the city holds a Dine Out festival with over 200 restaurants onboard offering special menus across three price points. This is great for so many reasons; it galvanises a post-holidays city into getting out and spending again, many hotels partner up to offer discount rates to encourage visitors in the slow season and – best of all – it means that everyone can try somewhere and something new at an affordable price.

Sustainable local snapper. 100% delicious at Coast.

I got to have a sneak peek of the Glowbal Group‘s Dine Out offerings at a dine-around at Coast (one of my new absolute favourite places to eat), Black and Blue and Society. I’m going to try to find room in my already-packed-with-way-too-many-restaurants schedule (I admit it, I went a little crazy booking reservations) to go back and have a full portion of the juicy, tender grilled B.C. snapper and the next time the rain and clouds get too much I am off to Black and Blue for the most comforting, carb-packed ‘Blue Ribbon’ cottage pie which, frankly, oozed butter in the most cheering way. I would post a photo of it, but I INHALED the whole pie it was so damn good. Then thought – ‘hey – wasn’t I meant to take a shot of that?’ Sorry.

I wish this didn’t make me want to lick the screen

One problem: I may have to leave town to avoid camping out at Glowbal Grill and eating ALL the Peanut Butter bars – kind of like a millionaire’s shortbread, but with the cunning idea of replacing the heavy shortbread with a light sweet rice cake and the caramel with a whipped wedge of peanut butter. I’m sorry to report I may have scared my dining companions with my whimpers of delight. So, SO good… But there – that’s the point of the Dine Out festival – find new favourites… click on the site, read the menus, make a reservation and try something new.

I ate as a guest of the Glowbal Group – my views are 100% my own.

Dine Out Vancouver: Book something delicious NOW!

Posts Tagged: Vancouver

Vancouver Spot Prawn Festival: five things you need to know about spot prawns

Celebrating a BC Spot Prawn spring

In which I’m mostly flat…

Homesickness hits: bring on the Balti Challenge

Rainy days and Vitamin D: winter in Vancouver

Campagnolo Vancouver: essential Italian comfort food

The Best Crab Cake In Canada

Vancouver Hammam Heaven at the Miraj Spa

Hawksworth: just a year old and already a Canadian classic

Vancouver Dine Out Festival 2013

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Posts Tagged: Vancouver

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