Kale & Nori's West Coast Recipe Series

Photos from last Thursday's Kale & Nori event at the BC Liquor Store on Bute and Alberni. Thanks to Lauren Mote and Jonathan Chovancek for your tasty treats and sumptuous cocktails. Details will come shortly:

If Meals Won Medals: Vancouver cuisine as explored by the New York Times

Yesterday the New York Times published an article about Vancouver's dining scene. When these articles get published (like Condé Nast Traveler magazine claiming that the best Chinese food in the world can be found in Vancouver), the local media laps it up while Vancouverites use it as an excuse to justify their smugness. However, this article (so far) has flown under the radar, and I think it summarizes what Vancouver cuisine is all about:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/dining/03note.html?pagewanted=1

What is Vancouver cuisine?

Indian... sushi... shawarma... sushi... as seen on Commercial Drive.

I was reading a great post on the Ethnic Eats blog where there was an attempt to answer the following question:

"What is Canadian cuisine?"

I responded:

"I’ve thought about that question before and I’ve always thought that Canada’s identity is too regional to truly have a national cuisine. I mean, there isn’t one cuisine that represents Canadians as a whole (Tim Horton’s, Ketchup Chips, and Kraft Dinner doesn’t count!). There are food items that are unique to Canada (butter tarts, apparently), but it’s not really a cuisine.

However, when you think about each province or region – there is certainly Canadian cuisine at a regional level, whether it be the salmon of coastal BC, or Alberta beef…. the Ukrainian delicacies of the Prairies… the Saskatoon-berries of Saskatchewan, the seal-flipper pies and cod tongues of Newfoundland, or the Digby scallops and lobster of Nova Scotia. This doesn’t even cover the indigenous game meat of the arctic territories, which is practically foreign to the rest of Canada. You’ve already covered Quebec, and Ontario can claim Tim Horton’s. ;)"

(Can you tell I took one too many cultural geography classes at UBC? Ha!)

But seriously, it got me thinking, if Canadian cuisine is a hodgepodge of regional ingredients and ethnic dishes from the immigrant settlers, how can we define Vancouver cuisine? What would we choose?

Sushi and Starbucks?

Oooh, speaking of which, the Vancouver Sun published an article back in 2004 (as seen here in this defunct blog) comparing the amount of sushi restaurants in Vancouver to the amount of Starbucks. Starbucks gave sushi a good run for its money, but sushi ultimately dominates.

Getting back on track, is Vancouver cuisine smoked salmon?

A Japadog?

Spot prawns?

Dollar pizza?

Maybe it's a dinner using the 100 mile diet philosophy, which you can get from Bishop's or the Rain City Grill.

Whatever it is, Vancouver Magazine published the Best Things to Eat and Drink in Vancouver 2009 which gives great insight into local cuisine.

How would you define Vancouver cuisine?

Autumn hits Vancouver

So we're a few days into autumn and while the weather's been gloriously sunny (and even hot - 28 degrees Celsius a few days ago), it has definitely cooled down to the 15 Celsius range, and the leaves are starting to change colour and drop from the trees. There's a cool wind blowing today, although it's still spectacular. I don't think it has rained since the Labour day weekend.

Just a quick update - work has been insane for me and I've been doing overtime, so I haven't been updating my blog as I typically would. I have, however, been updating my Twitter and Fourspace accounts.

Weekends have taken me back to the Richmond Night Market, to Section 3, the Elephant and Castle pub and the old Alibi Room out in Gastown. We even managed back on the second weekend of September to do a spontaneous picnic of Nando's chicken and beach fire at Spanish Banks - quite nice! Last weekend did a road trip out to La Conner, Bellingham's Fairhaven, Chuckanut Drive, Deception Pass State Park and Whidbey Island's Coupeville. Will have to post a proper post with photos in the near future, as Washington state's always a great day-trip destination from Vancouver.

And totally random, but today I had a bad craving for Lebanese food so wandered around the block to Nuba Cafe. It's definitely a local fav. Can highly recommend the lamb kofta pita - it's served with fresh mint, lettuce, pickled cabbage, but the lamb kofta is particularly nice and well-spiced. Have it with the hot sauce and you'll be sad you didn't order two!

So craving Lebanese food in Vancouver? Go to Nuba. The Nuba Cafe is on Seymour south of Davie near Yaletown. It's a small space but you can take it to go, which is what I've always done. Healthy, tasty, and a cool local business.

Fresh local produce at Richmond Country Farms

I recently purchased a new car which means I can finally now drive on a whim out to the country. This is great timing because early September means that the local farmer's markets are full of local produce, especially fresh stonefruit from the Okanagan Valley. While there are countless farmer's markets in and around Vancouver, my favourite is possibly Richmond Country Farms.

Located on an acreage out at Hwy 99 and Steveston Hwy, Richmond Country Farms has been a childhood tradition of mine. They're not only an onsite farm (where they grow their own vegetables, like corn, cabbage, and squash), but they're also a great supporter of local farms in and around BC. Their store consists of a permanent indoor structure but most of their local produce is sold outside in gigantic wooden crates. And it's precisely right now when I like to visit, because they definitely have the best selection of Okanagan fruit that I've seen.

On Monday after work I quickly drove down Richmond's No 6. Road - a country road full of U-pick blueberry farms - and found myself down at Steveston Highway, and decided to pay Richmond Country Farms a visit.

They had 3 haywagons full of local corn - people digging through all the ears for the nicest pieces. The corn is often a bargain, usually several ears (3? 4? 5?) for $1. Not only that, but the corn is some of the sweetest you'll ever taste.

There were wooden crates of prune plums, crabapples, Macintosh apples, Walla Walla onions, red onions, Gala apples, golden plums, red plums, apricots, nectarines, white peaches, roma tomatoes - all from the Okanagan.

I then noticed these beautifully fragrant crates full of white (more like pale yellow) peppers, but also these deep purple peppers which were grown in Cache Creek. They were so beautiful, I picked some up to make stuffed peppers with.

There were local green beans, jalapenos, field cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, English peas, zucchinis, and some beautiful acorn squash that they grow right on site. An aside - after tasting those green beans with dinner later that day, I doubt I'll be able to buy them from regular grocery stores ever again!

But local cherries? Richmond blueberries? They had it. Eggplants, bittermelon, watermelon, okra, and tunips? Locally-grown herbs, green onions, garlic? They had that too. Not to mention mushrooms, and pearl onions, and crates of things you rarely see, like locally-grown turban squash!

I spent a good half hour browsing through the dozens of wooden crates and picked up 3 shopping bags worth of fruit and vegetables. After taxes it came to $10.80. Ten dollars! How can you go wrong with that? (You can't!) This is certainly a great feeling on the wallet, but knowing you're supporting local farmers and enjoying the best tasting produce in the region, that's possibly the best feeling of all.

Richmond Country Farms is located at 12900 Steveston Highway, immediately east when you get off the Steveston Hwy exit from Hwy 99 (just north of the Massey tunnel). It's open 7 days a week from 9am until 8:30pm from April until December 23.

For more information, visit http://www.countryfarms.ca/

Richmond Night Market - one month left!

Last night, after several pitchers of Granville Island honey lager at the Pirate Pub downtown, a bunch of us decided it would be a great idea to head out to the Richmond Night Market. Being the last weekend of August and a gorgeous evening at that, it seemed appropriate enough. After all, we had spent the last few weeks talking about going and we weren't going to let the end of summer slip us by.

This year the Richmond Night Market is going under the new name of "Summer Night Market". A bit confusing since the old Richmond Night Market's website is still live despite being obsolete, and the old name is still what people are searching for. Nevertheless, Richmond's Summer Night Market, though under new management, offers the same thing at the same place at the same times:

- rows of Asian street food vendors
- stalls of cheap merchandise
- permeating smells of BBQ meat
- bright lights
- large crowds
- over-flowing garbage cans

The Richmond Summer Night Market has been a summer tradition of mine since the late 90's. Back then it was held at Richmond's Lansdowne Mall parking lot, with only a handful of vendors selling things like bubble tea and Asian stationery. It kept on expanding, however, and outgrew its location, eventually finding a semi-permanent home behind a warehouse north of Bridgeport Road's big box sprawl. Mention "it's just north of Ikea" and only then do locals begin to understand where it is.

The Night Market is best described as this surreal, frenzied, mish mash of cheap trinkets and rows upon rows of Asian street food, all in a night carnival kind of atmosphere. While not parallel to the epic night markets in Asia, it's about as close as it gets to Hong Kong night markets here in North America. Set your expectations accordingly.

I typically drive if I'm going to the Richmond Night Market. It's often less than a 20 minute drive from downtown Vancouver. Park for free on the streets by Ikea and walk 15+ minutes, or pay $5 in the Sear's lot to be closest. This year since the opening of the Canada Line, it probably makes as much sense to take the train to Bridgeport station and then transfer onto whatever bus that takes you to the Ikea at Bridgeport & Sweden Way.

Just walking to the Night Market is an event in itself. You end up walking behind the long-closed big box stores and trample through the brambles over railroad tracks before following the crowds through the darkness to a warehouse where you can hear music and lights coming from behind. It's all so mysterious and exciting, and not unlike a rave.

As far as I'm concerned, the only reason you go to the Night Market is for the food. The merchandise vendors come secondary. We're not talking about high end knock-offs, but cheap plastic trinkets, Sanrio-esque stationery, Vietnamese and Canto-pop DVD's, Samurai swords, "magic" bras and panties, and doggie outfits. This is a generalization, I assure you, but you get the idea. It makes for great entertainment moreso than great shopping.

So, for me, it always come down to the food. I wouldn't come here expecting gourmet foodie delicacies, but cheap and tasty Asian street food typically unavailable in this environment elsewhere in Vancouver. There's usually a decent variety, from BBQ meat and seafood on skewers to noodles, to the more traditional Cantonese style dumplings, to exotic desserts. It's all so very festive and half the fun is going around with a group of friends and trying new things together.

Highlights of our night:

Pork siu mai
Shrimp gyoza
Japanese scallop & octopus cakes
Spicy, crispy, deep fried chicken
Sesame red bean cakes
Spicy halal lamb
Deep-fried ice cream

While we arrived with only one hour to go, we managed to stuff ourselves silly. Next time, however, we'll be coming back earlier, and with an empty stomach.

Richmond's Summer Night Market is open Fridays and Saturdays from 7pm until midnight, and Sundays from 7pm until 11pm. It closes for the season on October 4, 2009.

For more information, visit: http://www.summernightmarket.com/