Home away from home

I spent this past weekend at Whistler - not to play, unfortunately, but to work. Though I did get some beautiful shots of the mountains and of the village.

And I got to stay at The Sun Dial, a posh boutique hotel just off the Village Stroll, steps away from the Peak 2 Peak gondola.

The two-bedroom suite I shared with my colleague was just as big, if not bigger, than your standard Vancouver condo. It even had a fully equipped kitchen. I guess most people can't wait to leave their kitchens behind when they go out of town. I, on the other hand, have discovered that having a home away from home with a kitchen to putter around in makes me a happy camper.

Our kitchen at The Sun Dial featured this long, tall, marble-topped iron piece that doubles up beautifully as a work island and dining table. I'm not a fan of high chairs in restaurants (not for adults, anyway) but I think they add a cosy and companionable element at home when they're drawn up to an island like this.

Family and friends can sit and watch you cook, or help out by chopping veggies or grating cheese. The marble top can be wiped clean and set for dinner in seconds, and meals can be served straight from the stove. What a simple and beautiful solution for today's small spaces and busy lifestyles.




Home away from home




Climb every mountain

They don't call the 99 north of Vancouver the Sea to Sky Highway for nothing. It slices its way through the mountains, sometimes running along the water, other times through gorges, always with breath-taking views at every twist and turn. It only gets better as you go higher and higher and start catching glimpses of mountain lakes as clear as glass, rough and tumble rivers, and snowy peaks thrusting mightily to the sky.

Funny thing about mountains. As you leave the city behind and start climbing, everything shrinks to its proper proportion, including yourself, and you get a fresh new perspective of the world you live in.

I first noticed this phenomenon when I lived in North Vancouver a few years ago. Every day after work I would take the bus over the Lion's Gate Bridge, and I would watch as the buildings downtown got smaller and farther away. Going home up the mountain was almost like a mini-retreat I got to do every day: a time to get refreshed and energized for the next day of work in the busy world.




Climb every mountain




Mom always told me....

...that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  And nobody understands this principle better than the English.

A complete English breakfast will keep you going until dinner time.

I find it a wee bit ironic that I, a resident of British Columbia, had to go to Montreal to have a traditional English breakfast.   But every bite was definitely worth the journey.

Traditional English Breakfast at The Burgundy Lion in Montreal.  Clockwise from top left: scrambled eggs,  kippers, crumpets, tomato, mushrooms, sausages, bacon.  Centre: bowl of baked beans.




Mom always told me....




Funky building, downtown Vancouver




Funky building, downtown Vancouver




Reach out and ask someone

Reader's Digest asks readers, "Have you ever been enlightened by a conversation with a stranger?" Here's my answer.

Walking home from the bus stop late one evening, I passed by a young woman standing on the street corner. She stopped me and asked me where she could catch the next bus. I pointed out the stop up the street, but something in her face or in her voice made me look at her more closely and ask, "Are you okay?"

She said, "No," and burst into tears.

During the long wait for the next bus, we paced up and down the sidewalk as she told me her story. She was from another city and had just left her abusive boyfriend. She was staying with a friend and was on her way to see another friend who might be willing to loan her some cash. She was unemployed and didn't even have enough change for the bus fare.

I checked my purse but had only a few quarters myself. When the bus came, she managed to convince the driver to let her on, and I watched her ride away, wishing I could have helped her out with more than just some directions and a handful of coins. Then I realized that maybe I had given her something that she needed even more than money: a listening ear, a friendly voice, and a warm hand just when everything seemed cold, dark, and hopeless. I think about her a lot, and pray that wherever she is now, she's doing okay. 


Reach out and ask someone




On the eve of 9/11

Where were you the morning of September 11, 2001? No doubt you still remember exactly what you were doing when you learned about what was unfolding in New York City that day.

I was on my way to work, and on the bus I heard the first uneasy murmurs. Something about a plane crashing into a tower. I didn't know what kind of plane, which tower. At the time I was living in Langley, British Columbia: an area of long, green hills, fields, orchards, and horse-dotted paddocks. So, country bumpkin that I was, I imagined a crop duster flying into a water tower or grain silo.

Photo credit: www.andrewkelsall.com

When I got to downtown Vancouver I passed a man yelling into his phone, "Mom, I'm okay!  I'm not in New York!"  People clustered around TV monitors in shop windows and building lobbies, or around radios with the volume turned way up. And so I learned the awful truth: two commercial jets had crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Where my dad had bought my mom a watch years ago. Where a friend of mine had visited just months before, and wondered idly what would happen if a building of this magnitude had to be evacuated in the event of an emergency. Where two of my relatives - one on each side of the family - went to work everyday.

I didn't get any work done that day, nor any sleep that night. I don't suppose a lot of people did.

We learned later that my family members were both safe - for different reasons, they were both late coming in to work that Monday morning. But a client of my father's was in New York on business that week, and on September 11 he was assigned to work in an office in one of the towers. He was never heard from again.

I saw a documentary on television last year, all about the World Trade Centre, from its inception by the Rockefeller brothers, through the saga of its construction, and the charming and breath-taking sidebar story of Philippe Petit's epic walk across a tightrope strung between the towers, 400 meters above the street...to that fateful morning when the towers came crashing down. I wept during that part.

I thank God my family was kept safe during that horrible time. I get worried now, when I see the words "bomb" and "New York" in the same headline - as they did a few months ago. I pray, especially at this time of year, for the people who never came home from work that day, and for their families.

I think there is much need for healing and forgiveness. I don't think building a mosque near the 9/11 site is the most appropriate way to do it. And I definitely don't think that any Koran-burning is called for, either.

I know there are no easy answers. Maybe in the end we will all understand each other, and maybe then we will stop putting each other through so much fear and pain.

In the meantime, we do what we can, and we carry on.




On the eve of 9/11




Farewell, Summer: Hello, Hot Suppers!

So the bad news is, summer is practically over. Goodbye, blazing hot sun and long golden afternoons. Our blueberry bush is bare, and the first of the leaves are starting to turn.

Sunset in Vancouver

The good news is, with the onset of early twilights, crisp evenings, and rainwashed skies, hot meals are suddenly palatable again. Hello, comfort food!


I'm reading a book called Chow: a fascinating, heart-warming, and mouth-watering combination of history, family, and food. Author Janice Wong shares her parents' recipes for simple and delicious Chinese dishes that any home cook can put together quite easily.

Thanks to this book I'm starting to realize that nobody does comfort food like the Chinese.... succulent roast chicken, chewy-tender noodles, plump dumplings, dim sum treats that are meant to delight the heart as well as tickle the palette.

This chicken rice recipe from Chow is simple and hearty, reminiscent of the arroz caldo of my childhood, with the tasty addition of Chinese sausage. Perfect for dinner on a cold day after a hard day's work.

Chicken Rice/Gai Fun

adapted from Chow: Memories of Food and Family by Janice Wong

4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup long-grain rice
2 lop cheung (Chinese sausage), cut into six pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, for stir-frying
2 green onions, sliced

3 whole slices of ginger (you can leave the skin on)

Marinade for chicken:
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoons sherry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar


Stir the marinade ingredients together in a bowl and mix in the chicken. Marinate for at least one hour (overnight is best).


Pour the rice into a medium-sized pot with a tight-fitting lid. (When choosing the pot, keep in mind that the volume of rice will double in size when cooked.) Wash the rice with cold running water. Swish your fingers through the rice and pour off the cloudy water. Do this at least three times, until the water runs clear. Add 1 and 1/4 cups of cold water and let the rice stand for half an hour. Wong advises that this step will ensure that the rice cooks evenly.


Cook the rice over high heat, uncovered, for about two minutes, until the water comes to a rolling boil. 


Lower the heat to medium, put the lid on the pot, and continue cooking the rice until the water and bubbles disappear, and the surface of the rice is pocked with small holes.

Lop cheung

While the rice is cooking, heat the cooking oil in a wok or skillet and stir-fry the chicken for three minutes. Reduce the heat, cover, and cook for five minutes more. If needed, add a bit of water at the end to deglaze.

Pour the chicken, gravy, and the sausage slices over the pocked rice. Cover and simmer for twenty minutes. Mix thoroughly and sprinkle with green onions before serving.

Don't forget your vegetables: serve with steamed gai lan, bok choi, or spinach.

A sprinkling of green onion adds brightness and flavour.




Farewell, Summer: Hello, Hot Suppers!




TaiwanFest 2010

The last party on Granville Street before it resumes function as a normal street again. Watch out for the buses starting tomorrow, September 7.

Puppet Show

Can't stay they didn't warn you....

We decided to forego the stinky tofu and had the Popcorn Chicken as an appetizer.

These deep-fried squids were exceptionally good: crisp and light on the outside, sweet and tender on the inside.

Main course: Taiwanese sausage on a "bun" of sticky rice.

Dessert, anyone?




TaiwanFest 2010




Thrifty Buttermilk Pancakes

I woke up this morning craving buttermilk pancakes. The fact that I had no buttermilk in the fridge didn't faze me. The thrifty cook can easily make her own buttermilk - see the recipe below for the instructions.

Thrifty Buttermilk Pancakes

Timesaver tip: If you use a 2-cup measuring cup, you can mix the rest of the ingredients right in, and save yourself a whole lot of clean-up.

Place 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup and top up with milk to make 1 cup. Give it a stir, and in 5 minutes - presto, you have buttermilk.

When the buttermilk is ready, add 1 cup of sifted flour, half a cup at a time. Mix with a fork. Along with the second half-cup, add 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Finally, add an egg and 1 tablespoon of melted butter. The batter will be a bit thick and gloppy at first, but as soon as you add the baking soda, it will start to bubble and lighten up. Mix well but don't overbeat.

Heat up a small non-stick pan and add a drop or two of oil or a teensy pat of butter. Pour in enough batter to make the size of pancake that you want. I try to keep my pancakes medium-sized so they are easy to flip.

Once bubbles start to form on the surface, take a peek underneath and if there are nice, golden-brown patches, flip it over to cook the other side.

Serve with your favourite breakfast sides, or enjoy them on their own, drizzled with maple syrup.




Thrifty Buttermilk Pancakes




The BEST Smoked Meat Sandwich

Introducing my annual Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich. I only have it once a year because I gotta have it in Montreal and it's gotta be from Schwartz's....one of the two places in the world I will line up to eat at. Also because if I have it more frequently, I will probably die an untimely death (albeit with a smile on my face).

I always order the medium (this refers not to size of sandwich, but to fattiness of meat), with a dill pickle and a Black Cherry pop.

Boulevard St-Laurent

When I went to Schwartz's this summer with my mom and grandpa (he of the misplaced balls), we had the option of dining inside or outside. We just happened to be there during a giant sidewalk sale and street party taking place on St. Laurent from Sherbrooke all the way up to Mont Royal, so all the restaurants and cafes along that stretch had outdoor dining all set up. Schwartz's not only had tables and chairs outside under a huge awning, they also had a meat-steaming and slicing table, so for the first time I was able to see how my favourite sandwich is assembled.

In the end, however, we opted to eat inside like we always do. Part of the Schwartz's experience, after all, is waiting outside the door until the waiter lets you in; then, eating your sandwich crowded in at their narrow tables with complete strangers asking you to pass the salt and ketchup, everyone trying to pretend we're not all listening to each other's conversations.

Schwartz's recently celebrated its 80th year in business. It's become so much a part of the fabric of Montreal life that it's inspired a book and now, a musical. I can't remember how my family discovered it, but I do remember that my mom first lined up outside it, ankle-deep in snow, the winter my sister got married. At that time I refused to go. Little did I know what I was missing.

You can purchase entire Schwartz's smoked briskets - their front window is literally stacked with them - and many's the time I've flown back to Vancouver with a brisket safely stowed in my suitcase. But I've come to realize that the best way to enjoy this delectable meat is right in the restaurant, freshly sliced and nestled between slices of rye bread spread with yellow mustard. Pass the pickles, please.




The BEST Smoked Meat Sandwich




I'm back!

I'm working on a photo essay from my trip, which was an interesting mix of city and country. In the meantime here's a little collage to say hello. I love Queen Anne's Lace... so delicate and pretty. It's not too common here in British Columbia, but back east the roadsides are frothy with it.




I'm back!




Taking a blog break

Instead of a computer screen, this is what I'm going to be gazing at for the next two weeks.  

Enjoy the rest of the summer, and see you back here in September!




Taking a blog break




Coffee and Me: Our 10th Anniversary

This month it'll be ten years since I first went to Italy. My sister and I went to Rome with her boyfriend (now her husband) to meet his family. It was, as Anne of Green Gables would have said, an epoch in my life. Not only did I get to see the Eternal City, I also got introduced to, and fell in love with, coffee the Italian way. And as is usually the case with me and food, there's a story behind it.

We'll call this one, "Filipino Canadian West Coast Bumpkin Meets Sleek, Smart, Sophisticated Italian."

Our first morning in Rome, we woke to sunshine, fresh breezes blowing into the apartment, and the table set for breakfast. At my place I found a large mug, and directly in front of me, the cutest little coffee pot I ever did see.

On the table there was also a pitcher of steamed milk. So I thought, "Oh, they must have their morning coffee just like the South Americans do. Lots of hot milk."

So I poured milk into my mug, added all the coffee there was in the pot, and - after an eye-popping first sip - two or three spoonfuls of sugar.

A few minutes later, my sister's future father-in-law joined us at the table. The first thing he did was reach for the (empty) coffeepot.

Uh-oh.

He held the coffeepot expectantly over his cup, which I now ntoiced was way smaller than mine - smaller, even, than a demitasse. When nothing came out of the spout, he frowned a bit and tilted it a bit more. Then he looked over at me, and then from my guilt-stricken, embarrassed face, to my coffee cup. He didn't look annoyed, he looked amazed.

He said, "You like coffee."

By this time his younger son, Francesco, was in fits of laughter. All throughout the day he kept grinning at me, making owl-eyes and remarks about how I was going to sleep that night.

I slept excellently well, thank you very much.

After I got over my faux pas, I never enjoyed a cup of coffee more. Unknowingly I had made myself a cappuccino, minus the foam. The flavour was unlike any coffee I had ever had: rich and strong, but not bitter.

I had many cups of espresso - with or without milk - throughout those two weeks in Rome, and as you've probably guessed, I went home with my very own little Bialetti, a set of pretty little espresso cups, dainty as a child's tea-set, and a package or two of my host's coffee of choice, Lavazza, which happily I've been able to find in Canada.

I'm onto my second Bialetti now. (These little wonders are also available in Canada. In Vancouver, check out The Gourmet Warehouse or Bosa.) Small, quiet, unassuming, and amazingly efficient, it's my best friend in the morning. Sometimes I have quick shots of espresso, sometimes I add it to hot milk. The first sip always takes me back to breakfast in Italy, to the cat on the sunny balcony and the wind in the cypress trees. In a strange sort of way it wakes me up and slows me down at the same time...the secret of life, I think, that the Italians have learned and perfected, and the rest of us can only imitate.




Coffee and Me: Our 10th Anniversary




Sometimes the best meal is the simplest

Try this next time you come home tired and hungry: your favourite sausage and sliced sweet onions, grilled, fried or roasted in your toaster oven. Serve with a dollop of dijon mustard, a dinner roll, and - if you have it - an ice-cold beer.




Sometimes the best meal is the simplest




Pan-roasted Salmon and Asparagus with Garlic Aioli

Here's a deceptively delicious summer meal with a wow factor that's inversely proportional to the simplicity of the prep. Here's what makes it work:
Make the aioli in advance and keep it well-chilled in the fridge.
Get the asparagus spears ready by peeling or snapping off the woody ends.
Have some appies and drinks ready, and as your guests schmooze, heat up your frying pan. The main course will be ready to serve in 15 minutes.

For the aioli:
2 egg yolks
1 large garlic clove, crushed to a pulp with a good pinch of coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard (I've used yellow and dijon; they both work)
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of half a lemon

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, garlic pulp, and mustard. Drizzle in a tiny bit of olive oil and whisk until the mixture emulsifies. Add the rest of the olive oil a drizzle at a time, whisking constantly, until thick. Add the lemon juice and stir well. Scrape the aioli into a pretty serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and stow in the fridge until ready to use.

For the salmon and asparagus:

6 salmon steaks, about an inch thick

24-30 spears of asparagus

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of olive oil

salt and pepper

You will need a large frying pan with a lid. Place the olive oil in the pan over over medium-high heat.  Season the salmon steaks with salt and pepper and sear them on both sides, about a minute or two on each side.  Remove them to a plate.  Put the butter into the pan to melt and mix with the oil.  Place the asparagus spears into the pan with a good sprinkling of salt and shake everything around so the spears get coated with the butter and oil.  Place the salmon steaks on top of the asparagus. Cover the pan tightly with the lid. Cook for 5 minutes, then remove the lid and turn the steaks over. You might also want to roll over the asparagus spears so that they cook evenly. Don't worry if they start turning brown in spots. Put the lid back on for 3 more minutes or until the asparagus is tender but not mushy and the steaks are cooked through.

Serve immediately with the garlic aioli. 


Pan-roasted Salmon and Asparagus with Garlic Aioli




Urban Jungle series

What do Rome, Kansas City, and Vancouver have in common? They all have beautiful fountains. But I must say I like how the fountains of Vancouver are an organic part of the urban landscape. They flow down walls and steps, ripple gently into pools, and shimmer in the ever-changing light. Some of them are so unobtrusive, you almost walk into them before you notice they're there. The water is the main feature here, and the architectural lines are clean, straight, and simple rather than elaborate and ornate.




Urban Jungle series




Still Life with Egg




Still Life with Egg




Salt of the Earth

I could spend all day at the Gourmet Warehouse. Last weekend, when I took my sister there, we very nearly did. Wandering happily up and down the aisles, we lost all track of time, touching, looking, tasting, and exclaiming over things like toast tattoos, brownie popsicle moulds, and racks upon racks of baking tins, kitchen gadgets, beautifully shaped white tableware, spices, and salt (see above).

What better way to spend a Saturday?

When it came time to check out, we had to do some serious editing of our shopping cart. But we still managed to haul away quite a lot of loot...in matching stylish Gourmet Warehouse totes, of course.

Maria's Purchases
1 espresso cup with saucer and spoon
1 sugar bowl
1 oil and vinegar pitcher set (which I will use for coffee cream and maple syrup)
2 egg cups
2 bags MaxiMixed Roots Chips
1 baking tray with rack for my toaster oven
1 tin smoked sweet paprika
1 ice cream scoop

Cookie's Purchases
1 egg cup
1 espresso cup with saucer and spoon
1 set cookie cutters
1 bag Valrona dark chocolate chips
6 Weck mini-tulip jelly jars 


Salt of the Earth