Sour Grapes

Students were, perhaps unsurprisingly, few.

“This exciting weekend is for those interested in practising Mandarin in an immersion setting. All classes take place in the target language under the guidance of experienced instructors. Lunches, a dinner and socio-cultural activities are part of the program. Classes are offered at all levels, but some previous knowledge of French is required. The weekend begins Saturday at 10:00 am and ends Sunday at 3:30 pm. The $250 fee includes tuition and some meals. For more details, please view www.languages.ubc.ca or call us at 604-822-0800.”

The Asian Culinary Forum that I posted about earlier took place a few weeks back in San Francisco. Wow it was fabulous, and I love San Francisco, perhaps even more than I love Vancouver. Here is a quick description of what went on:
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You just never know what you’ll find at Granville island on a Tuesday afternoon… overpriced produce to be sure, but wild matsutake for 6$ a lb???? The very nice guy selling them said that they were so delicate he usually served them in broth, or sliced them thinly and served them raw. I did the former, making a light broth out of a chicken leg, some ginger, and scallion, then cooked the sliced mushrooms until they reduced in volume by about half (test the texture as you cook them, you’ll know when they’re done) added a small dash of soy and a few green onion bits… they were subtle… earthy but not musty, grassy and a bit floral in flavour… like the forest in the morning. A fabulous find.

Kimbab (or kimbap/pap/pab…) are Korean-ified sushi rolls. B-bye puritan raw tuna, hello pickled raddish, lettuce, omlette, kimchi, spam, cheese, etc… Basically anything you’d find tasty if you were Korean… I had the kimchi roll (5$) and the tuna roll (5$) each would have been a decent lunch for one person with the included miso soup. I took them to go and munched at them all day… plus if you throw a piece or two in the miso soup the next morning before you heat it up it’s kind of like kimbap congee for breakfast!!
This icing on the cake has got to be the name of the shop… 833 Bidwell @ Robson (604-633-3911), just next to the hardware store. They also do conventional sushi.

Here’s a great little movie from MGM, via Sky Full of Bacon… I’ll say no more, just follow the link.

I don’t have a picture of this but if you go here (to the Liberty Wine website) it’s the same bottle except in a rosée tint.

To be honest this wine was revolting. I asked the guy at the cash whether it was any good and he said “Yeah, it is” with a nice positive lilt. Well, it might be good for something other than drinking but if you want something that resembles “wine” then you may want to look elsewhere. I’ve had better made-in-China wine … actually this tastes like it came from China, it has that same musty + rank aftertaste, mixed with puckering acidity and a foul dash of tannin. All this for $12.99. I reckon it’s worth about $5.99, perhaps as a Massingill stand in.

Fool that I am, when the shop boy gave the bottle his approval I went and bought a second one, so at some point I’ll either be able to try this wine again *shudder*, or inflict it on an unsuspecting host, or try and return it to Liberty in outrage. In truth I should know better than to buy ANYTHING under a $20 price point at Liberty.

So far going to Crystal Mall is the closest I’ve come to returning to mainland China since moving to Vancouver. The char woman manning the cash at the Ba Shu food court stall didn’t even try and speak english with me…. ahhh the nostalgic value of having “MAI SHENME??” (”BUY WHAT?”) bellowed at you.. brings a tear to my round-round-eye.

In any case, Crystal City is worth the wander if you’re bored or craving some PRC food (fried egg with tomato? beef roll? assorted noodle soups?) but at Ba Shu the liang pi (cold starch sheets, usually dressed with vinegar and chili and soy and a few other things) was pretty bland and the dan dan mian was so terribly cloying with sesame paste that it was a struggle to eat. Something else wasn’t right with it but I couldn’t put my finger on it until a middle aged woman (also a dan dan eater) came up to the counter to complain that her dan dan wasn’t mala (spicy and numbing). Indeed this dan dan had a bit of chile oil on the top but was only mildly spicy and in no way numbing.

I wanted to get some beef rolled in flaky pancake (rou si chuan bing …if I’m not mistaken) but was told it would take a 15 minute wait … so I wandered off downstairs to the food market which is pretty cool as well. Check out the tofu vendor and the frozen dumpling vendor, what a selection!!

Coming up next weekend in San Francisco is the first ever Asian Culinary Forum with a host of interesting classes, discussion groups, and foodie celebrities.
Brainchild of Andrea Nguyen and Thy Tran it promises to be a fun time so if you have a foodie interest in things asian get on Expedia (or preferably a site with better prices) and book that last minute flight to San Fran.
Either way make sure to check out their site and, even if you can’t come, send them a note of encouragement!

See you there…. I’m hellbent on having Madhur Jaffrey sign my body so any pointers people can offer me in that respect are welcome.

I’d spotted this place on my exploratory trip to Commercial Drive two weeks ago and had been having a bit of a craving ever since. See I have a special place in my heart for Bo Kho, a Vietnamese tomato based beef stew, often seasoned with star anise or spices resembling chinese 5 spice mix. It always seemed more appropriate to have this during a Montreal winter than a (no less delicious but somewhat) thin brothed pho.

In any case, I’m happy to report that Paris Bakery does a bang up job. The meat is tender (yes white people, there is a bit of fat and tendon in there, don’t worry you can eat around it), the sauce is nicely rich, not too fatty, and redolent (foodie word) of the nice warming spices. The whole thing comes with a nice crusty Viet roll (instead of rice noodles, but you might be able to get a sub if you wanted).

Paris Bakery also makes bahn mi (Viet sandwiches) which I neglected to try, assorted rolls, and some steamed rice sheet dishes. The salad rolls were ok but not spectacular, and no where near as satisfying as the stew. Do however on all counts get yourself an iced coffee as they do a good one here.

I should have taken a picture of the menuboard… but here’s an outside shot of the place instead… doesn’t it look cool? I think the owners took over an old Italian bakery and (thankfully) were too lazy to renovate it.

1403 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC V5L 3X8, Canada - (604) 251-6366‎
Google Map

(ps. I was looking for other blogs with posts relating to Paris Bakery but couldn’t find any… if you have one let me know, I’d like to link to it :))