12) the ephemeral fog continues 

Many folks often think squid ink pasta or pasta with squid ink sauce is made exclusively with the ink sacs of squid. And, certainly, it can be. However, the vast majority of squid ink pasta and pasta with squid ink sauce is made from the ink sacs of cuttlefish. You also have cuttlefish ink to thank for the term, sepia, as it was once used as a natural dye of the same name. We made pasta with cuttlefish ink sauce and real squid Saturday and followed that up with a hot pot to watch the NFL playoff games with on Sunday. 

2) the ingredients for the sauce, including; 3) a jar of squid ink

4 & 5) G prepares the squid by removing the beak and separating the tentacles from the body

7) squid is ready (you can see the squid ink sac G harvested in the bowl; 8) adding in the ink at the last moment

9) it will quickly get very dark and earthy; 10) we pan fry the squid so you still have a little colour on top of the pasta

11) the yummy result

12 & 13) all our hot pot ingredients are prepared in the sushi boat

14) then it's just a matter of settling in (we did a pho and a tom yum broth)

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Vancouver is at its foggiest during the month of January, which, living as high as we do here, offers some very interesting morning views. The fog tends to creep down Coal Harbour from the east and as it settles leaves us with views of the northshore mountains and some of downtown's buildings eeriey floating above it all. It's very neat especially as the lights of the harbour facility turns the fog orange, as you can see.

1) looking north just before dawn from our condo to the northshore mountains - the tiny lights you see are the night lights on the Mt Seymour ski run; 2) looking west from our condo - you can see the Vancouver Sun building peeking out and above it to the right the night lights of Cypress Bowl ski runs

Last week we had a morning where to everyone's utter joy the sun appeared. I say joy as really it's been raining in Vancouver since November. If you're not a fan of such weather certainly avoid a visit to Vancouver from November through mid-February. It was a beautiful sunrise and I snapped a picture of it from my office window in Fairview.

3) let the sun shine! - that tiny 'mountain' you see on the horizon where the sun is rising is Mt Baker, the volcano that sits about 175km south and east of Vancouver, which is noted as being one of the snowiest places on earth

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1) the view from our hotel looking out on Central Park

After a very short stopover in Vancouver at the Fairmont, it was onwards again - me flying to London; G to Toronto. It was great to spend the holiday home after 2 years of being away and mom (and my sis) did an amazing job both decorating the houses and preparing meals. G and I reconnected in Toronto for a night at the Royal York (where we had a gorgeous 2-bedroom suite) and dinner with Lady Sarah and Sir Phil before flying down, with Blee, for a whirlwind eating tour of New York City through New Years Day.

2) our room at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport the night before flying out; 3) G and Blee explore the big suite at the Royal York in Toronto

4) one of the views from the corner suite - the CN Tower; 5) one of the two bathrooms, complete with wonky-functioning bidet

6) Blee takes a look out from the dining room at the Royal York suite; 7) the 'guest' bedroom

While in New York City we took up residence at the Parker Meridien. It was a nice place (waits for elevators and a lobby that was endlessly filled with people aside) centrally located to Times Square, Central Park and 5th Avenue shopping (me likes Saks Fifth Avenue and I left there short on cash but wealthy in new clothes). While in the big apple, among other things, we:

• wandered Soho and the Village and the Meatpacking district;
• toured little ltaly looking for the city's best pizza;
• visited the MOMA;
• visited the 9/11 Memorial;
• ventured down to Brooklyn to try its famous doughnut place, Dough;
• stumbled - happily - across Molly's delicious cupcake shop (the peanut butter cupcake is to-die-for);
• ate at Michelin-starred restaurants each night tackling the tasting menus the chefs put before us - the indian-inspired Junoon; the molecularly-inspired wd-50 and the modern-American-inspired Rouge Tomate - all were great though I give nods to Wiley Dufresne's wd-50 as I am molecularly-food-inclined and had, without a doubt, the best desserts ever thanks to his young and exceptionally talented pastry chef, Malcolm Livingston II (previoiusly of none other than Le Circle and Per Se). We also received a tour of the kitchen afterwards which was great and got to chat-up chef. 
  
• tried the infamous (and famously `secret`) Burger Joint in the Parker Meridien;
  
• walked the new High Line 
  

8 & 9) our suite at the Parker Meridien, NYC

10) our bedroom; 11) know this guy? he's actually made from gingerbread and sat in the lobby of the hotel

At Junoon, we had the 6-course tasting menu which comprised:

• Lotus root 3 ways – fried, pickled and pureed with hibiscus gel and cilantro powder
• “Sag paneer” – poached paneer gnocchi with spiced spinach puree and Omani lemon crisp
• Kari patta shrimp – marinated with curry leaves, green chilies and cilantro served with pickled vegetables
• Poussin jugalbandi – poussin breast stuffed with minced chicken and coconut in a rich sauce served with naan
• Lal mas – Rajasthani lamb curry with black cardamom, clove and chili served with pulao rice and kachumbar salad
• Trio of desserts – ras malai, shrikhand, date fig gateau

Dinner with a cocktail, bottle of wine, tax and tip will run you US$145 per person

13) first stop on the eating tour - Junoon

14) the lotus root*; 15) and a very inventive, modern take on sag paneer

16) the shrimp dish, which was the best of the bunch ... VERY spicy

17) Junoon's "Spice Room" downstairs, oh how I wished I could step inside to take in the smell; 18) the open kitchen at work (nothing better than table seating near a kitchen me thinks!)

19) the poussin*; 20) and finally the lamb curry*

21) the trio of desserts ... the spiced cake was the best but Indian desserts, sad to say much like Chinese ones, not so good*

22) heading back uptown afterwards; 23) a stop at Mario Batali's "Eataly" market

24) G explores Eataly; 25) see those shrimp in top right corner ... they were nearly 10 inches long!

26) skating anyone?; 27) we did the - yawn - requisite romp in Times Square ... I dunno, perhaps I've been blessed to travel greatly but this did nothing for me and I thought both Hong Kong and Tokyo have far more vibrant public squares (Times Square was all rather, well, sad)

At wd-50 we had chef's 12-course tasting menu which comprised:

• Nigiri, salsify, seaweed, sesame
• Sweet shrimp, 'pine needles’, chestnut, cranberry
• Pho gras
• Bone marrow, potato, pomegranate, red onion
• Veal brisket, za’atar, apple, mustard
• Crab toast, saffron, kaffir-yogurt, arare
• Black bass, squash, cherry, juniper, couscous²
• Squab, tomato hummus, pickled turnips, tzatziki
• Flat iron, mushroom jerky, grape, verjus
• Coconut, cucumber, chartreuse
• Yuzu milk ice, hazelnut, jackfruit, basil
• S’mores, bitter cocoa, meringue, black current
• White chocolate, gjetost

Dinner with a cocktail, bottle of wine, tax and tip will run you US$250 per person.

 

28) wd-50 signpost; 29) our wondrous pinot noir

 

30) the nigiri; 31) the shrimp (so-so) but my, those 'pine needles' were truly a work of art

32) a very interesting take on 'pho' ... sort of deconstructed ... it was good but needed to be much hotter; 33) the 'bone marrow' ... what was interesting here was the 'bone' had been made of potato

34) the veal brisket was amazing - done sous vide - though I thought the mustard (particularly the large mustard crisp you see) overpowered*; 35) the crab toast*

36) the black bass; 37) the squab

38) the steak was very good (Tapas Molecular Bar in Tokyo has this beat hands down) and the mushroom jerky was fabulous

 

39) this palette cleanser was the most inventive creation I've yet seen, stunningly creative as it arrives as a sort-of creme brule that you 'crack' open to reveal the little secrets underneath ... a true standout and worth the US$250 alone*

40) ... that was until the S'mores arrived ... it was, in a word, breathtaking and astonishing (okay, that's two words); 41) again, we had seats right at the open kitchen

At Rouge Tomate we had the chef`s tasting menu which consisted of:

• Cauliflower panna cotta - american sturgeon caviar, lemon, chive
• Lightly cured hamachi - winter citrus, baby beet, dill, fresh horseradish
• Celery root chestnut soup - Hudson Valley foie gras, celery hearts, black truffle
• Maine lobster en sous vide - fennel, leek, saffron, meyer lemon
• Black winter truffle risotto - carnaroli rice, wild mushroom, parmesan, squid Ink
• Slow cooked bison short rib - sunchoke, Anson Mills farro, baby root vegetable, crispy shallot, red wine jus
• Heirloom citrus entremet - orange scented chiffon cake, blood orange, pixie mandarin, olive oil gelato

Dinner with a cocktail, bottle of champagne, tax and tip will run you US$350 per person (though this was on New Year’s Eve).

42) such a cute amuse ... a panna cotta with caviar*; 43) the hamachi (still doesn't beat what you can find in Honolulu or Tokyo - or Las Vegas for that matter - though)*

44) the maginificent risotto ... our waiter just kept shaving a black truffle the size of a golf ball on to the dish

45) the short rib; 46) G's martini

47) the palette cleanser; 48) a citrus inspired dessert*

 49) moi discussing wine selections with G ... we opted for a French champagne made with all 7 varietals of the grapes normally used for champagne making ... very different - quite earthy on the nose and robust to start but with a disappointing finish*; 50) the restaurant

 

51) G gets ready to dance*

52) here are G, moi and Blee hamming it up at one of the installations at MOMA; 53) hanging out at the MOMA

54) walking the Belt Line; 55) the new WTC going up

56) the 9/11 Memorial site

 

57) Burger Joint in our hotel; 58) endlessly long lines into the 'secret' place

59 & 60) inside the tiny place

61) here's the burger they make - good, but com'on really!

62, 63 & 64) out in Brooklyn for Dough and their blood orange doughnut

65 & 66) our first - and we thought best - pizza stop - Joe's

67 & 68) second runner up was John's which is just around the corner

69, 70 & 71) and around the corner again is Bleecker - also good but not as good at Joe's we thought ... it was offical at this point, we're pizza-ed out

72) so, to compensate, we stop in at Molly's for cupcakes!; 73) G admires the Brooklyn Bridge

74) near our hotel was the famous "LOVE" statue which was always full of tourists; 75) wandering Central Park

76 & 77) breakfast at the Brooklyn Diner and my Western omelet and polenta cakes

 

78) G's corn beef hash; 79) of course, we visit Bryant Park!

80) ... and to all, a very merry New Year! ... and a special thank you to Blee for sharing some of her pictures with me, marked with an *

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1) G looks for the xmas tree in Pioneer Square

G and I flew down to Portland Friday to enjoy a few days holidaying together before heading out separately tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with family - G flying to Toronto; me to London. We will re-connect in Toronto next Friday for but a single night staying at The Royal York to join Lady Sarah and Sir Phil for dinner at Canoe before flying down to New York City to ring in the New Year, with Blee joining us! Yay!

We continue to adore Portland and continue to eye condominiums there as, gosh, it's a great place. Fabulous food, weird people, amazing coffee, and best of all, no tax. What better reason to have a home-away-from-home?! We're holed up at our usual haunt, The Nines and have made a point of trying several of Portland's restaurants, including Chef Isabel's self-styled Isabel in the Pearl District (amazing!); the highly rated Andina for Peruian food (sadly, terribly over-rated); Clyde Common (outstanding and highly recommended); and the Nine's own restaurant, Urban Farmer.  We also enjoyed spending many hours exploring the Portland Art Museum (loving, in particular Sang-Ah Choi's whimsical works); the Pearl District and even ventured all the way up to Tazo-tea founder's Steven Smith's new venture this morning ... only to find it .... closed .... despite what his website claims. Grrrrrr! There was shopping at Macy's (open 24 hours); a rather dull Nordstrom's; strolls through a (frankly) sad Old Town Chinatown, and (too) many happy hours (another bonus feature of Portland), especially loving Brasserie Montmatre last night for truffled frites, frog's legs, oysters and Kir Violette (champagne cocktails served with Creme de Violette).

2) marinated char-grilled chicken lettuce wraps at Isabel; 3) moi at Isabel on Friday night

4) we had an excellent Oregon State Pinot Noir; 5) Ahi Wonton crisps topped with seared ahi, avocado,
sweet soy & wasabi cream

6) Blue cheese walnut salad, mixed greens, balsamic vinaigrette, blue cheese crumbles, walnuts & grilled bread; 7) Carnitas bowl, tender carnitas served on a bed of steamed brown rice,
black beans, plantains, cilantro lime sauce, avocado sauce & tomato corn salsa

8) G wanders the Pearl District; 9) and Macy's

10) our suite at The Nines

11) horsing around outside the Portland Art Museum; 12) here's the entrance to the Museum

13) the perspective here is interesting as this bowl of fruit is actually some 1.5 metres round!; 14) Sang-Ah Choi's brilliant "Holly-a-saurs", a perfect take on what Christmas has come to in the west

15) Choi's "Tree of Life"; 16) each tile is hand done and incorporates much of one of my favourite things, anime!

17) YUCA RELLENA - yuca croquetas stuffed with mozzarella and cotija cheese, served over huancaí sauce; 18) DE PESCADO "5 ELEMENTOS" - a preparation of fresh fish in leche de tigre

19) PALTA RELLENA DE CANGREJO avocado stuffed with crab, topped with a poached prawn; 20) PIMIENTO PIQUILLO RELLENO sweet piquillo peppers stuffed with quinoa, cheese and Serrano ham (this was delicious!)

21) the view of Pioneer Square at night from our hotel

22 & 23) enjoying happy hour at the Urban Farmer with oysters, a cheese plate and oh-my-gawd so-good whiskey cocktail

25) thence onward to Brasserie Montmartre; 26) returning last night feeling oh-so-happy!

27) at 7AM this morning Macy's was empty so we took time to tour Santaland; 28) Santa Brent, wanna sit on my lap? (wink)

29) the rosemary biscuit with sausage and salsa at Clyde Common this afternoon; 30) roasted potato soup, bacon marmalade, pecorino tartufo, horseradish, crème fraîche

31) open faced pastrami, pepper slaw, herbed brioche, fried egg

Wherever you may find yourself today and tomorrow, G and I wish you a warm and wondrous holiday season!

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1) the holiday platter is presented table-side

Last night G and I enjoyed a first of what will be a few holiday dinners. Knowing we're both shortly travelling to and fro we chose to spend yesterday cooking. A boutique wine store here had brought in a load of many smaller champagne house bottles, houses that are not Veuves or Moets but are tinnier family run operations that produce smaller batches, at reasonable prices too boot. We had bought a couple of these a while back and enjoyed one with dinner last night. Dinner included:

• turkey alla Gordon Ramsay;
  
• potato pave (these are delicious but do involve a lot of work, not difficult work, but fussy);
  
• a regular-style stuffing that we then incorporated into an apricot and pistachio, pork and chorizo stuffing; 
• frenched beans alla almondine.

2) for the paves, collect up russet potatoes, butter (a lot of butter!), salt & pepper and cream; 3) you basically are making a layer scalloped potato dipping the slices into the cream each time

4) once done layering, wrap and bake for an hour and a half, then weight it down overnight in the fridge; 5) unmold the pave and then cut into squares

6 & 7) then panfry before serving in, yes, more butter

8) brine your turkey overnight; 9) prepare a garlic/lemon butter and put half in under the turkey's skin over breasts and thighs

10) fill cavity with lemon, bay, onion and garlic; 11) rub rest of butter on outside of bird and then roast on high for 15 mins or so to brown

12) turn down heat, cover breast in bacon and roast for 30min per each kg; 13) done!

14) G makes his fabulous homemade bread stuffing; 15) the ingredients for the pork stuffing

16) mix well together; 17) then line sage leaves on aluminum foil

18) make a layer of pork mixture and lay on sage, then 19) add stuffing and lay chorizo in middle

20) add another layer of pork and then roll into a log and bake in oven; 21) once done, let rest and then cut into medallions

22) meanwhile, prepare your gravy using the onion, bacon, bay and lemon from the turkey adding in cider, wine and broth; 23) reduce by half and thicken

24) get the drinks ready; 25) our new dining room chairs finally arrived! - we had them custom made overseas and waited months for them!

26) table is set and let the eating commence!

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1) on the road south from Meadow Lake, SK

It's cold in Northern Saskatchewan, bitter cold, cold-as-a-witches-tit. Dayime temperatures while I was there hovered around -25C (without windchill) [that's daytime; nighttime temperatures fall from there] and I remain dumbfounded that Saskatchewanians stay put and live through such temperatures all winter long. I would so be fleeing south! And then I get to thinking of Canada's early settlers, the traders, who worked their way Up Here (as the magazine that covers life in Canada's far, far north is so appropriately called) not to mention Saskatchewan's aboriginal peoples - largely Dene and Cree - who have lived here for centuries without the modern conveniences of heat, gasoline, modern highways, etc. that we are so utterly reliant upon. It is, in a word, stunning. 

It is severe yet serene as well with skies that go on forever, and, presumbably when it's not snowing, sightings of the Northern Lights.

2 & 3) heading north from Calgary on Central Mountain Air

 

 4) arriving in Lloydminster; 5) whose Main Street literally straddles two provinces - Alberta and Saskatchewan (you've no idea the challenges that creates in terms of social service provisions like education and healthcare)

 

 6) awaking to (more) snow one morning; 7) driving north, ever north

 

8) if you should ever find yourself in Meadow Lake, do try Eatery on Main (it's great!); 9) here's downtown!

 

10) one of the joys of life up here, filling up with petrol in -35C temperatures - priceless!; 11) members of the group we met gave us balloon gifts

 

12) so, it's been a trip to the surreal of Saskatchewan ....

 

13) ... from the sublime of Palm Springs

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Greetings from Palm Springs, which is sort of like walking straight into 1963 - very surreal. Anyhow, while Palm Springs is nice and all, I am actually wishing I was in London to celebrate my neice, P's, birthday. Happy Birthday girl; you look fabulous!

1) the beautiful neice with my beautiful mother at a get-together in London a week ago

Before you go on about how tough it must be hanging around Palm Springs, I do note that I must fly to Calgary Monday morning and from there onwards, further north, to Lloydminster, Saskatchewan only to then transfer to a car and drive even further north towards the Northwest Territory border, to visit a very small aboriginal community for a day .... in December!  ...and, did I mention it's currently -30C there?! And has been snowing a week. Talk about going from the sublime to the surreal in a matter of a day or two eh!

ps. I miss the nine o'clock cannon ... G will get that reference even though he's in Seattle tonight.

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I woke up on the weekend with one thought in mind: cookies. That was odd indeed beacuse 1) I don't particularly like sweets or desserts; and 2) I'm not a baker nor do I particularly enjoy baking, and, if given a choice, I would certainly opt out of baking 9 times out of 10. But for whatever weird reason, not so this weekend and so I set to baking umpteen dozen cookies to eat over the Christmas holidays.  Below are the fresh-out-of-the-oven shots of the five varieties I made.

1) 'Thimble' cookies (though I used the end of a fondue fork instead); 2) pecan balls (my favourite)

3) cardamom shortbread (just so-so for me, not enough spice me thinks); 4) cherry and currant shortbread (delicious also but dame candied cherries are not fun to chop!)

5) chocolate 'crinkles' (yummy and more akin to a brownie than a cookie)

I'm now up to my ying-yang in cookies but thankful I've gotten this out of my system for this year!

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My Uncle Norm passed away last Thursday evening/early Friday morning at the ripe old age of eighty-seven. Passing away is part of life and I know people who knew Uncle Norm are saddened - I would hope not because he died (that is part of life) but more because he's gone and they'll miss him. A subtle distinction yes; but an important one nonetheless (and one westerners, in general, could do a better job grasping). That aside...

I am not a seer, or a wizard or anything of that sort; honest. But, I do believe I have a gift, shall we call it. I heard that my Uncle Norm passed away via an email my mom sent and which I read on Sunday afternoon. Nothing untoward there. However, this is where we do cross a line. Last Friday morning I woke up and related to G a dream I had through Thursday night/early Friday morning. A dream that, like near all my dreams (even since childhood), was utterly lifelike. Like I truly was there, in person, in the flesh. In that dream I was visiting my cousin Dale. Dale is the oldest of my many cousins. In the dream Dale met me at his door and was a wizened old man - looking like a cross between Yoda and Gollum; carrying a crooked stick and wearing little but a white loin cloth. We chatted, though now, on Monday night near on 4 days later, I cannot recall what we talked about which is a shame.

That is the dream I conveyed to G Friday morning upon awakening.

Where this becomes strange/creepy/fascinating (take your pick) is that Dale is the son of my Uncle Norm (who died the evening I dreamt this). Dale is also dead, having passed away about a year ago now after complications living a life with multiple sclerosis. Coincidence? Fate? Prescience? Again you can take your pick.

G joked that if is it prescience I should do better foretelling the lottery numbers. But I don't think it works that way. I do not find it creepy as I have no belief in ghosts. Rather I continue to subscribe to an utter belief in what Jung coined (and Joseph Campbell perhaps best catalogued) a collective unconscious.

I do wonder though if it was me reaching out to them or if they, rather, were reaching out to me. It does set one to wonder indeed....

Regardless, may both Dale and Uncle North enjoy their next adventures till we meet again.

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Despite the prevanence of American football on Canadian airwaves, did you know that football was first introduced to North America in Canada by the British Army garrison in Montreal? Did you also know that Canada has its own unique football league - called the Canadian Football League (CFL). The game played here is a tad different than its newer American counterpart - to name but a few differences:  there are only 3 downs; the field is both longer and wider; the end zones deeper; motion is allowed on the scrimmage line at the snap; there is a 3 minute warning.

The championship game, called the Grey Cup (named after Governor General, Albert, the Early Grey) is traditionally held on the last Sunday in November. Yesterday's game between the Toronto Argonaults (which, incidentally, were founded in 1873, and is the oldest existing professional sports team in all of North America) and the Calgary Stampeders was the game's 100th. Yes, 100th. After the Stanley Cup (1892), the Grey Cup is the oldest trophy in professional sports. It has been stolen and held for ransom, been broken several times and survived a fire. It has history indeed.

Traditionally Canadians host Grey Cup parties to watch the game and we used the evening to do just that ... though for just the two of us - with beef rouladen and homemade egg noodles on the menu.

1) flank steak; 2) onions, dijion, dill pickles, s&p and smokey bacon

3) to make the rouladens, roll the ingredients inside and tie off; 4) here they are

5) sear the beef and then, 6) braise in good red wine and beef broth for about an hour

7) while you can make noodles tout suite in a KitchenAide, it's nice to also do it the old fashioned way; 8) flour, salt and a couple eggs in a well

9 & 10) mix with fork gradually incorporating flour then knead with hand

11) the final noodle product dries on the rack; 12) once beef is done, set aside, reduce broth and make a gravy

13) perfect for a Grey Cup Game (served with a Californian pinot noir)

14) we also recently bought a Soda Stream to make home made sodas (so far we've made lemon rosemary and lemongrass/ginger - delicious!) and, 15) our new Butterly Stool arrived, designed in the 1940s by Sori Yanagi, who sadly passed away in 2011

The Argonaults won by the way and I won the $20 family pool, which I kindly donated to my nephew.

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