Recent Non-Work Personal Experiences
I tried my first creme brulee experience. Needless to say it was a bit of a disaster courtesy of my friends’ malfunctioning oven. It should be cleaned but then again it probably doesn’t help that this oven is probably older than most of the posters on the board here. They basically stayed liquidy even after refridgeration and I had to leave after cooking them a simple lime cilantro chicken breast dinner for the night. They did manage to sort it out themselves by further cooking it and it worked out pretty damn well in their opinion; but at least I had some success in prepping a french toast creme brulee for their morning after.
Problem was that with the mini-torch that I lent to them (which I had to because their broiler sucks and the beforementioned mishap) goes to show that mini-torches suck in general. Might as well get a regular propane torch which is a multi tasker as well with lasting longer since work has it anyways.
I decided to go on a little culinary adventure only to be disappointed with the variety that Vancouver has to offer, or perhaps I’m just not looking in the right places. If you’re ever in the BC Lower Mainland (of Canada) http://dinehere.ca/ is a fairly good site for reviews of restaurants by just people although problem is sometimes it’s hard to filter through the bullshit and what’s just actually good. However back to the topic at hand I just see too many restaurants with the same selection as my workplace’s selection. I moved from my crappy little small town to get away from pub food but instead I go into a sort of upper-middle class monotony of selection for food. Then again this is a pretty pacific northwest oriented area so I guess it is to be expected but not nearly EXACTLY the same. This once again falls in line with perhaps I’m looking in the wrong place.
The weird thing is that the only interesting food that I’ve been finding is vegetarian of all things. Perhaps it’s just the culture of Vancouver, the boringness of eating mix greens and ceaser salads at most restaurants or perhaps that with vegetarian you have to be a bit different in order to succeed; the food is pretty good if only to eat for the sake of difference. One that I frequented the most is The NAAM which is a 24 hour vegtarian place :looney: so at least I know of one place that isn’t fucking Denny’s that is open for 24 hours. However tonight was a bit different.
I wanted some good pizza so I went to this place called Urban Grain Pizza which has some overinflated reviews on how great it is due to it’s grain crust. I went there, kind of disappointed because it was just another pizza by the slice place. I could have ordered a full one but after seeing it; it seemed a bit cheap. So I walked around and ended up at a smallcafe called Cafe Plato. I loved the place because it just reminded me of the studio when I studied art; exposed wood beams; really old 50’s style doors and just everything that looked very warehouse like. I ended up asking the cashier of they’d recommend any restaurant and they pointed me towards Cafe De Solei; another vegetarian restaurant. It was alright, tried out a sun dried tomato pate for starters and ate a veggie curry which was very light on the sauce (kind of a minus) but the place looked nice; open and pretty damn huge for a cafe setting. It got busy by the time I left which is always a good sign because it means high turnover for food and therefore fresh food.
Work Related Experiences
Dine Out Vancouver is over now. I’m on hot apps now, so basically a fry cook. It’s good although a jerky type of station. Not so smooth plating is sort of a nightmare at times but hopefully during this slow time post D.O.V. will get me accustomed to working a station that has a bit more stress and responsiblity than cold apps. I heard by the time summer hits (which I’ll be in school) hot apps and cold apps will be MONSTERS of the kitchen getting hit with so many bills you’re swimming in them. I just hope one day I’ll get fast and efficient enough to earn my stripes of surviving a busy day.
I burned myself pretty damn well while trying to burn a brulee during D.O.V. I finished off the brulee while the hot sugar molded to the contours of my pinky and just stuck there…it blistered no soon after and became a marvelous popcorn kernel sized wound after it broke. Funnily enough I didn’t flinch or shy away for the next time I did a brulee because I heeded Bourdain’s words…you have to respect food and not be afraid of it…otherwise it’ll get you. This burn isn’t a deterrent but a reminder not to make the same mistake twice. Here’s hoping I won’t get fucked over another time.
Tried someone else’s borrowed Global knife at work and man are those things nice. Light, sharp and comfortable I like them. I’mma going to e-bay some later tonight… Also had a oil spill from the deep fryer TWICE in one week. A nightmare to clean up as well with having to clean all the particulate matter in the oil once it’settled. The first time was no problem but the second time it was due to the bottom part of the fryer not being pushed all the way in and therefore just hitting the top of the draining receptacle and splashing oil all over the floor. Basically 1/3 of a fryer’s oil all over the floor…close was a bit off that night but it only too an extra 15 minutes.
Internet Ramblings
I managed to go to the Vancouver Food Industry show and was a bit disappointed into thinking that it was the equivalent of Eat Vancouver but it was still neat to see and meet all the suppliers as a representative of the restaurant I work with. A lot of people had dollar signs in their eyes when they saw my name badge with the place I work with. They did have an Iron Chef competition which was great to see however a lot of the plating was pretty poor in comparison to a more controlled environment with a lot of people commenting how the dishes looked like shit. I thought it looked alright and here are some pics of them.
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/6053/1003269js1.jpg
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/7664/1003270lx3.jpg
However one of the more interesting booths is http://findmycraving.com/index.php which helps you find what you are craving right then and there. A little bit more comprehensive than dinehere with an actual link to the menu items which is an awesome bonus. Problem is; really limited amount of restaurants registered as of now.
Foodie Books I’m Reading
I hit the book warehouse and threw money into the wind on some great deals on books at the book warehouse which is basically a clearance place. I won’t hide the fact that I do like Jamie Oliver although most rational people think he’s a bit of a flake but whatever. I’m sure Cook with Jamie will cover obvious things that were relayed in other books but whatever. I’m familiar with his way of communicating so that’ll be it. The other book I got was Tapas which looks nice…a total definition of food porn for the eyes with a picture accompanying eacn and every recipe in pure glossy money shotting. It’d be a nice little easy introduction to Spanish starters (which seems to be gaining ground here) with some of these recipes in this book.
OC
