48 Hours in Vancouver

Trip date: May 2016

Lauren, Aaron and I checked out of The Willows Inn May 2016 and hit the road for Canada. Well we actually went south for a bit to have breakfast at The Little Cheerful in Bellingham. Although the cafe was not really what I would consider cheerful, the hashbrowns that they are known for lived up to the hype. I got mine loaded with bacon and cheddar with an over-medium egg. When my breakfast first came the egg looked over hard, but when I broke into it is was perfect. Two minutes later the waiter came over with another egg, telling me the chef didn't like the look of that other one. I assured him it was great but also was very impressed with that gesture, this isn't a fancy dining spot! They only accept cash if you go.

We were heading to Vancouver for a couple of days to eat and drink delicious things. Aaron had never been, and it had been a few years since either Lauren or I had been, so we were off!

We tried to stop in at the Duty Free at the Peace Arch border but they were closed (it was a Tuesday afternoon) so we made the quick 5-minute hop over to the Truck Stop crossing and loaded up on scotch, gin, and wine. God forbid we have two nights in an Airbnb without provisions!

Once we arrived in the city we headed directly to Phnom Penh in Chinatown for lunch. Based on strong recommendations from one of Aaron's friends, we ordered their chicken wings, butter beef, and spring rolls. The latter was basically inedible but the wings and butter beef were absolutely delicious!

It was time to check into our Airbnb so we made our way to the West End and found the boutique that we were directed to pick up the keys at. Only problem was that the shopkeeper had given our keys to someone staying at another property. She was a bit of a ding dong and insisted that they would come back soon upon finding the keys didn't work. Why she couldn't just call them we never did find out. Luckily we didn't wait long and found our cool 3-bedroom apartment in the aptly named The Lauren building easily.

Our next challenge was parking, the area is zone parking only so we had to overnight a 10-minute walk away. Not really an issue except there were overnight parking charges we hadn't planned for and it was never very clear if parking 24-hours at this lot was allowed. We rolled the dice and my car was still there the next day so all was good.

A nap, some freshening up, an apero, and we were out to meet a friend and her husband at Bao Bei for drinks and dinner. This adorable restaurant has been around for years now but I had yet to go so was really looking forward to it.

Drinks at the bar were excellent! Interesting menu and lovely presentation. Our party of 5 then got lucky and were seated at the big table in the very back of the shotgun shaped space, allowing us some privacy to get loud (as we tend to do) and a view of the entire space.

We pretty much ordered the entire menu and it pretty much rocked! So many delicious items; some standouts for me were the pork belly buns, fried rice, and the Chinese donuts with dulce de leche!

We headed over to the newly opened Kissa Tanto just around the block. Owned by the folks from the Diamond, there was an obvious similarity as we ascended the staircase. The space is drop-dead gorgeous, we felt like we were in a formal cocktail bar aboard a luxury ship. The menu was a little odd but we each ordered a drink. When they arrived they were all pretty to look at, unfortunately not one of them were actually tasty. But the really disappointing part was when the waiter brought us our bill and made a comment like " was everything as delicious as usual?", we all just looked at him and looked at our ½ empty drinks, to which he did not catch on. Very unfortunate as the bar itself is lovely and I really wanted to love it.

Our friends headed home and we decided to stop in at the also fairly new Juniper bar. Now this was a great stop all around. Awesome menu of gins and gin-cocktails, coupled with a super friendly bartender; Martin. Martin gave us tastes of unfamiliar spirits and recommendations on other places around town. I would absolutely suggest a stop in at Juniper if you are in town!

We started our next day the way everyone should in Vancouver, dim sum! And there is no better place for dim sum than in Richmond. Chef Tony gets a lot of talk and for good reason, the place is crazy! Glitzy lighting, white tablecloths, and a huge screen presenting a slide show of dim sum offerings, it was like dim sum in Miami during the 80's!

Everything we had was good but only a few things really stood out for me; truffle pork and shrimp dumplings, Chinese donuts, and these absolutely amazing (both in flavor and color) bitter melon noodles.

We couldn't take Aaron to Vancouver without a stop at Granville Market, specifically Oyama meats for a delicious assortment of charcuterie (my favorites are the saucisson sec varieties). We also bought lovely tea from Granville Tea, and I got us a mixed box of macarons in flavors like champagne, tiger, and olive oil from Bon Macaron.

Martin from Juniper had told us about the Liberty Distillery at the market so we stopped in for a few tastes and an afternoon libation. Super nice folks and good gin and cocktails.

One last stop before leaving the area was made at Les Amis du Fromage for hard to get unpasteurized and raw milk imported cheese. Oh my, nothing is more delicious than tasting cheeses normally only found in Europe!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day so we took advantage of the sunshine and did a little drive and walking around Stanley Park. The views were picture perfect!

Aaron was really getting a grand tour and we were all a bit bushed so we headed back to our pad for a nap followed by aperos.

Dinner that night was at the Farmer's Apprentice. They have a 8-course meal for a bargain $55 that was absolutely fantastic! The space is a little drab but the service, vinyl records, and delicious food more than make up for that. We were all duly impressed with standouts for me being the salad (I know, right?), salmon, and the cheese course.  I'd highly recommend it!

Plus they serve little shards of cheese with the bill. Brilliant!

We retired home and made a better dent in our duty-free purchases.

Our breakfast the next morning was an ultimate smorgasbord; we had a boule of wheat bread from The Willows Inn which was still fresh and had incredible nutty flavor, along with this insane runny cheese, macarons from our shopping, and leftover loaded hash browns from our brunch in Bellingham. It was incredibly decadent!

Our big decision that day was if we were going to pack our ½ drunk bottles of duty-free booze home. We may or may not have also purchased some bottles of Havana Club 7 from the local liquor store. And we were going to be making a stop atduty-freee again on the way out. And each person is only allowed one liter. I voted to go for gold and we loaded it all in my trunk, half hidden by cheese and meat products. Sounds logical.

Our duty-free border stop resulted in some awesome Japanese whisky. We were fully over our limit by about six bottles. I pulled into a lane at the border and immediately regretted my choice as we saw pretty much every single car get their trunk checked and about 60% of those directed to the secondary screening area. Ugh. I was nervous, not about getting in trouble (I'm fairly good at talking my way out of situations) but of losing all our booze!

I pulled up to the border agent and one of his first questions was how we all knew each other. I immediately blushed and told him how we all met online on a foodie website years ago, and that I understood how absolutely geeky that was. My story, blushing, and nervous laughter caught him off guard and he laughed with us. He then asked which restaurants we all like on our visit to which we all started talking at once and gushing about dishes. He just laughed and waved us through. Booze safe and sound.

We stopped in the adorable towns of Bow and Edison on the way home. Had a homey lunch of grilled Beecher's Cheese sandwiches at Slough Food before buying baked goods next door at the Breadfarm. If you go, buy the seeded crackers. I think the seeds are actually crack.

And we all made it home safe and sound...

All Vancouver photos here.

Talking About Toronto

I had wanted to go to Toronto for such a long time, I'm not sure exactly why or what I thought the city was all about (a-boot?) but we finally had an excuse when Dayne's cousin got married there in June.

The first thing I found out about Toronto is that the price of hotels basically rivals those in New York! Unfortunately the reviews that go along with the hotel costs describe aging properties without any personality. We chose to stay at the Cambridge Suites which was where the families were staying and was within walking distance to the ceremony location. The hotel was good, right downtown and easy to jump on the subway or just walk around. All the rooms were suites which was also nice, having a separate living room makes it feel much bigger. The hotel was definitely on the older side but we were happy with it for the price.

The first night in town we grabbed a cab and headed to Rock Lobster for lobster rolls, lobster poutine, and oysters.  The food and atmosphere here are good, casual and a bit loud. Very fun spot if you are in the area, I wouldn't go out of your way for it though.

After dinner we headed to The Miller Tavern, not owned by us and not a tavern per say. But this should be a must-not-miss on any cocktail loving person's stop. It's a gorgeous bar and they are doing really unusually flavored cocktails, like my Cobble Hill with bourbon, dry vermouth, Montenegro and cucumber. We also got to try their brown butter popcorn bourbon... YUM!

We didn't have much planned as far as sightseeing goes, in fact we found it a bit strange upon reading up on the city that there are only a handful of real "tourist" things to see/do. We were advised to enjoy the neighborhoods, which would have been great, except that the weather was unseasonably cold, dumping rain at times, making leisurely strolls a no-go.

We did check out the Lawrence Market, I'm always happy to wander market stalls in any city, and had a traditional peameal bacon sandwich from the Carousel Bakery.

 We decided to brave the weather after lunch and took the subway to the stop for Casa Loma, and then walked up the hill to the castle. We weren't particularly interested in touring the old mansion but since the weather wasn't cooperating with us we thought "why not?". But once we were there, and saw that the entrance fee was over $20 each, we decided to ditch the plan and head back downtown.

 
We found a cute little cafe right by our hotel called the Gaberdine, which is a good stop if you are needing a late lunch or snack.

That night, after meeting a friend who we hadn't seen since she lived in Paris, for a much too short catch-up, we headed to The Harbord Room to meet up with Darcy O'Neil and Lauren Mote, who was doing an evening of Bittered Sling cocktails. Another spot I would highly recommend, the food all looked and smelled delicious and the cocktails were lovely!

That night Dayne's parents arrived and we all met up for a decadent dinner at Cafe Boulud. Toronto seems to be the 2nd stop for many New York chef's. The restaurant is in the Four Seasons and if you are looking for a nice dinner, you can't go wrong booking here.

One day we rented a car and drove to Niagara Falls.  You can't get more touristy than this and we loved it! The falls are truly spectacular, the size of them almost unbelievable. We bought our tickets to the Maid of the Mist, donned our complimentary rain ponchos and set sail. Oh my god!! So much fun! We got drenched even with the poncho. The boat takes you so close, you wonder how they don't get sucked into the powerful pull of the water. If you go to Niagara and don't do this tour you are missing out!

 

The town itself is nothing but wax museums and chain restaurants, nothing to see there. But just strolling along the falls after the boat ride was so enjoyable!

We didn't have time to stop, but on the drive back we went through Niagara on the Lake which is super picturesque with scores of bike trails and wineries, lots of icewine. Next time...

We got back in town and made a quick stop at BYOB, an absolute must for all things cocktail, like Bittered Sling bitters, antique bar carts, glasses, etc. It's like the Barkeeper of Toronto!

That night we had an amazing dinner at Momofuko Shoto. 10 courses of amazing food, made in front of us by a team of 6 chefs, each serving us their particular dish. The restaurant only serves at 17 each seating, with only 2 seatings per night, all seats are bar style around the open kitchen.

A stunning meal, I'd do it again in a heartbeat! And after dinner we went downstairs to Nikai, their cocktail bar. The Momofuku building is really interesting, a cube with 3 floors, 3 restaurants and the bar.

On our last day the weather brightened up, it was sunny, warm and clear. We went to our friend's house for a relaxing catch-up brunch with her and herAb family in their back yard. After brunch Dayne and I headed to Rogers Center for a Toronto Blue Jays game. A perfect afternoon for baseball and Canadian beer (skip the food here though, ugh!)

We had a great time at the wedding, getting a chance to see many family members that we haven't seen since our wedding. Toronto wasn't as exciting as I thought it would have been but I'd happily go back to do a bit more eating and drinking!

Toronto photos here.

Cocktail Camp

I think it's only fitting to relive a little Tales on Tour Vancouver today being Mardi Gras!
Upon checking in at registration we all sat with sponsored St Germain cocktails and went through our goodie bags. It's a bit like Christmas with everyone shouting "look!" and "cool"! The lounge provided cocktails and punch for hours on end, we researched all of it.

"Cocktail Camp" phrase coined by Jen B.

Unlike last year, which was just one day of seminars, this year's conference expanded by a day to include some fantastic tasting rooms and Spirited Dinners.
Hendrick's Gin put on a morning filled with curious umbrellas, delicious drinks and even a bit of knowledge as we tasted through the spirit in different stages of distillation. Nothing like a bit of gin to wake up your senses!

There was also a gathering of interesting spirits in the "Meet the Distillers" hall. We were really happy to see Seattle represented with Oola Spirits and San Juan Distillery (Spy Hop Gin is a house favorite).
In the Lifford Lounge we were treated to oysters on the half shell served with Bowmore 12 Year Old Islay Single Malt. After that snack we walked into the "Around the World in Whiskey Days" room where cocktails made with Scotch, Irish, Canadian and US Whiskey's were flowing.

Eddie Russell, Master Distiller

Bacardi then showed off daiquiris made with dry ice and a cola sour using their new Oakheart Spiced Rum.
But the fun for us American's was in the Havana Culture room, stocked with prohibited Havana Club rum and Cuban cigars. I may have filled my flask with some of that 7. And we may be infusing white rum with a cigar.

 These rooms were a great opportunity to meet the Ambassadors, Brand Reps and Distillers and to ask questions and learn about the history of each. It was also an excellent opportunity to taste delicious drinks and have a hell of a fun day!

All the fun can be seen here

Train to Tales on Tour

As per usual I'm about a year behind on posting about our travels. I've yet to write about Italy, Paris, Brugge, London, Bath, Chelan, etc. And I need to finish my posts on Costa Rica, 1st world problems for sure. But another month (or two) brings another trip, this one a short jaunt north with friends for the second annual Tales of the Cocktail on tour- Vancouver.
Unlike last year when there were mud slides and we had to bus most of the way, today is beautiful and sunny. The views of the Sound are beautiful and we spotted 5 bald eagles standing in a field, 2 adults & 3 adolescents.
Dayne pre-batched Corpse Revivers, Gary pre-batched a yummy punch, I made a mushroom/onion/bacon tart and away we went.
The train ride to Vancouver is about 4 hours. There's free wifi in the business class car and you can take a nap since the train leaves so damn frickin early in the am!
Tomorrow is our conference (lol! I love calling it that!) check in and opening party, it's a 30's themed Hollywood ball- I've brought a ball gown :)
There are still some tickets on sale at www.talesofthecocktail.com so if you aren't doing anything this weekend come join us!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Canada

Vancouver Weekend Getaway

Since Dayne wasn't able to attend "Mini Tales" with me in March and I still had a fantastic Living Social deal for the Pan Pacific we headed north Easter weekend just to do a little eating and drinking.

We checked in to the Club Lounge and they upgraded us to a Harbor View room which was very nice. The weather was looking awesome for the entire weekend and the views of the mountains, sea and city were gorgeous!

First stop for the weekend was L'Abattoir where we met friends for a few cocktails before having an outstanding dinner. I ate here on my last trip also and just loved it! A definite favorite in Gas Town. L'Abattoir does a couple of barrel aged cocktails which I was excited for Dayne to try but unfortunately none of them were ready when we were there. Next time!

Cocktails continued at Calabash Bistro where the drink menu boasts some seriously delicious rums from Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Cuba, etc.  I had the Cohiba Rakston which was the clear winner of the evening! Havana Club 7 year old, coco nib infused Appleton VX, Late bottled vintage port, agave syrup and bitters, stirred and strained into a chilled glass coated with Cuban cigar and vanilla pod tincture. Thanks to Shawn at Clive's for the tip on this spot!

Making our way back to the Pan Pacific we noticed PourHouse was still open and for the first time since our initial visit 3 years ago it wasn't packed. We stopped in for a very nice nightcap and enjoyed the near empty bar.

The next morning, as we were heading out of the elevator, we ran (almost literally) into Rod Stewart! I never recognize stars but there was no mistaking the aging crooner. Star sighting! :)

We spent our day poking around the Vancouver Flea Market, checking out Vancouver photographer Brian Howell's "Shopping Cart" exhibition at the Windsor Gallery, eating poutine at Fritz and drinking beers at Granville Island Brewery and then walking it all off with a stroll around the sea wall at Stanley Park. It was just perfect weather to be out and about (Canadian accent please).

We started our evening with dinner and drinks back in Gas Town at Boneta. Another cute little place doing both cocktails and food excellently. We really enjoyed it here but both of us thought we liked L'Abattoir a bit better overall.

A quick taxi afterward to China Town and we bellied up to the bar at The Keefer. Quirky, dark and a tad mysterious the drinks were delicious here as well. We both loved the apothecary ambiance, grim x-rays, test tube lights, house made tinctures and infusions. This may be my favorite bar in Vancouver right now.

No weekend in Vancouver would be complete without soup dumplings at Lin Chinese on Broadway (for me at least!). We met our friends there the next morning for a delicious brunch of green onion pancakes, Beijing meat pastries, soup dumplings & honey prawns.

Love Vancouver!

All photos here                 

Tales of the Cocktail- Vancouver Edition

For the first time Tales of the Cocktail decided to do a mini event and they chose Vancouver, BC for the location. Lucky for me as it is super close, I have friends to visit up there and it's a great drinking and eating place to go. Luckier for me some of the LUPEC ladies and their significant others decided to go too!

Instead of having seminars over multiple days, this mini Tales had you choose 3 seminars all on the same day. Here's what I went to on Monday March 14th.

10:30am: Famous New Orleans Cocktails. A really nice history of the cocktails that were born and bred in NOLA as told by Chris McMillian (bar historian extraordinaire) and Philip Green (descendant of the Peychaud's family) from The Museum of the American Cocktail.

We started the morning with a Sazerac and learned that it was one of the (if not THE) very first cocktail originally "prescribed" by pharmacists to cure what ails ya. Next we were served a Julep along with information of the Juleps and Sherry Cobblers being the original ice drinks. America was first with the building of ice houses and thus America invented the first ice cocktails. In pre Civil War times the Mint Julep was made with Brandy or Rum (to be honest that is still my preferred Julep).

Moving on to the Ramos Gin Fizz we learned of Henry Ramos, the most noted bartender in New Orleans. His bar was not a loud and brash joint but a very upscale retreat for gentleman (ladies weren't allowed in bars at the time). His Gin Fizz was a beloved cocktail and he made it and other libations until Prohibition came into law. On that day he closed his doors and people have been messing about with the original recipe since. There is a great article that was discussed posted here (along with the original recipe). And as part of our education on Mr. Ramos we all shook up a Gin Fizz for our 3rd drink of the morning.

During Prohibition we learned of Izzy & Moe, the notorious alcohol enforcement agents who would dress up in elaborate disguises to find illegal booze and the bartenders/speakeasy's who were providing it. Of course these hard working agents relaxed in their off time with beer and whiskey.

And last but not least we learned the sad tale of the Hurricane. A once delicious cocktail developed to use up the mass quantities of rum that a certain Pat O'Brien bar owner had in his inventory. Marketed to whiskey loving New Orleaners by serving it in a big fancy glass it became a hit. No one knows how it evolved to the slushy regret abhorrence of today, but a real Hurricane is still a great cocktail!

Noon: cocktail count 4

1:30pm: The History and Importance of Ice in Cocktails. Hendrick's ambassadors Charlotte Voisey and Jon Santer's seminar had the best swag ever. Seriously! Hand made Lewis Bags from Allison Weber of Portland and gorgeous wood muddlers to use with them.

Charlotte started by telling us all about Fredrick Tutor, the first person to harvest ice for business, to build and control ice houses to store the blocks and take ice to Havana (as well as other warm weather places). He was a man of great vision and without him we'd probably be drinking warm gin and tonics as the Europeans still do! She discussed refrigeration and it's importance to the time period as well as how ice is actually harvested.

Jon then stepped in and gave us a little lesson about Nathaniel Wyeth, an ice harvester who created just about every ice carving tool still used today. Jon demonstrated how different ice (of both size and shape) dilutes and what size is better for various drinks.

We were served two Cobblers, both without ice but using our new Lewis bags we crushed ice and heaped it into one of them. The other got just a few pieces. After a bit we tried both to see how cold and dilution affected this classic drink. And we learned that if you looked at the the crushed bits of ice they looked like cobblestones, hence the name.

Then Jon pulled out his chain saw and cut up a huge block of crystal clear ice. People donned plastic rain parkas. Of course he did and of course they did, this is Tales after all. Fun tip from the seminar; fill balloons with water and freeze, peel off balloon for different sized ice. I'm making balloon animal ice for our next party.

3:00pm: cocktail count 7

4:00pm: Who's Your Daddy? A Mai Tai Paternity Test. Jeff Berry, the most passionate and dedicated Tiki drink historian around, finally answered the question of who invented the Mai Tai. We listened to "testimony" about Harry Owens, Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber while sipping on various Mai Tai recipes. There weren't any objections and the court most certainly was not in order but the slide show was full of vintage recipes, vessels, bars and island girls.

At the end of it all we came to the conclusion that Don the Beachcomber created something called the QB Cooler which may have influenced Trader Vic in his mixing but the Mai Tai is all Vic's.

Original recipe from the 1940's:

TRADER VIC’S MAI TAI

• 2 oz Wray & Nephew 17 Year Old Rum
• .5 oz orgeat
• .5 oz orange curacao
• .25 oz simple syrup
• Juice of one lime (approx. .75 oz lime juice)

Mix all ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a glass over crushed ice. Garnish with lime shell and a sprig of mint.


5:30pm: cocktail count 9

Of course Tales isn't all seminars and notes. There were parties, cocktails and bar crawls, soup dumplings and midnight croquet, delicious dinner and tasty cochon de lait lunch. Laissez les bon temps roulez, eh?

Evidence

24 Hours Victoria

The Victoria Clipper has been offering great overnight packages to Victoria, BC. Round trip Clipper tickets and a nice hotel for $115 pp, I got an additional 10% off for "liking" them on Facebook making our weekend getaway under $200 total. Clipper tickets are usually $139pp roundtrip and the hotel rooms start at $120 so I thought this was a great deal and I had never been on the Clipper!

We got up early Saturday morning and boarded the Clipper I right before sunrise. It was super foggy as we pulled out into Puget Sound so the vessel was moving a bit slower and continuously blowing the fog horn. But once we got up into the islands it was bright and sunny, a beautiful fall day.

A bit of breakfast, some mimosas, a little light reading and 3 hours later we pulled into Victoria Harbor. As our hotel was literally across the street we walked to the Grand Pacific and were pleasantly surprised that our room was ready for us so early and that we had a bit of a view of the outer harbor.

Taking advantage of the weather we headed to Red Fish Blue Fish which had been highly recommended. This little seafood grill housed in an old rebuilt wharf container didn't disappoint! My fried halibut & chips were delicious and Dayne's Tuna Belly sandwich was so meaty and smoky. Little did we know that we were there on their 2nd to last day of the season and are now closed until Feb 1st. The place was packed with locals, tourists and seagulls the size of Mini Coopers. One dive bombed the table we were at and stole my coleslaw container!! Luckily my fish and chips were well guarded.

The rest of the afternoon was spent leisurely strolling around town and shopping. It's a very cute little town, smaller than I remembered and easy to walk around.

Delicious cocktails later that evening at Clive's. They have a unique program called the Dead Bartender's Society where they create a menu of drinks based on the mixology of someone late and great. Hugo Ensslin was in the spotlight last month. Shawn and his team are really passionate about their libations, I'd highly recommend this as a "must stop" for a drink.

On to Stage for a delicious dinner served up to us by our friend Stephen. Awesome charcuterie and seasonal delicacies. They've got this octopus that is poached and then fried with rice flour. I've never had anything like it! And the gnocchi was light as pillows, yummm. Visit with friend and amazing food = WIN! 

We started our next day with a swim at the indoor pool at our hotel. It's huge and housed in an atrium style room so it's bright and filled with light. This was also the last day that the pool/sauna/hot tub was to be open before they started a remodel project.

A long relaxed lunch at Bon Rogue and a bit more shopping and our little excursion was about over. We stopped at Pig BBQ to pick up pulled pork, fried chicken, beans, slaw and cornbread for dinner on the Clipper and then it was time to go. Our return voyage was on the Clipper IV which was much newer and nicer. Tables at all the window seats and video maps to follow along with the ride.

A really nice weekend getaway made even better by the gorgeous weather and awesome food and drinks, thanks Victoria!

Photos