Irish Heather with the LFA Gang!

This past weekend, about 20 of us LFA alums got together for a tour of our old school. They started us with a visit to the new wing, and the difference between the old and new was amazing.

They also laid out our old yearbooks, which was a mixed blessing. For example, I had totally forgot that I was voted "most likely to install the first answering machine at LFA".
After the tour, most of us headed downtown to the Irish Heather for dinner. The long table in the private room was decorated with cookies and pretty centerpieces.

We were greeted with custom made cookies with our school crest and motto, almost too pretty to eat! Ad Lucem means "to the light".

We had selected our entrees ahead of time, basically either meateterian or a vegetarian meal. The meat dish was a huge platter of sliced roast beef, which had been slow roasting for us for four long hours.

It came on top of a huge mound of mashed potatoes, flanked by glazed sliced carrots, and a large yorkshire pudding. The gravy was an au jus that was a deep brown and richly flavoured with what tasted like a wine reduction.

The vegetarian meal is a creamy ravioli filled with roasted vegetables and sprinkled with fennel and goat cheese. There was a topping of roasted tomatoes as well as some fresh peashoots.
The meal was delicious, but our conversations were even better. At the halfway point, we switched seats and did a little musical chair dance and mingled with new people.

Some of us ordered dessert, a chocie of chocolate cheesecake and strawberry mousse. The cheesecake looked decadent and rich, and seemed more than enough for one person.

The strawberry mousse was served in a mason jar, there's something about food being served in a jar that I love...so homey and real...like comfort food. Of course, the fact that it was served with a healthy topping of whipped cream didn't hurt either.
And for those of you who have been dying to know (and keen to practice for our next meeting)...here are the lyrics to Salve Regina and our School Song.

Vancity Buzz - Vancouver Blog: Vancouver Street Food Sees 17 New Locations

For a complete listing of where the various new Street Foods will be, please check out Vancity Buzz's blog.
I will be hunting most of these down in August...watch here for photos of what's in store. Not sure if I'll hit the Fresh, Frozen and Choco-Dipped Fruit stand...but we'll see! Vancity Buzz - Vancouver Blog: Vancouver Street Food Sees 17 New Locations

Happy Hour at Hapa Izakaya

How to make the best of a Friday when the whole world has it off? You plan drinks right after work! Both my BFF and I had to work on the Friday between Canada Day and the weekend. Instead of moping, we realized the luck of being downtown on a nice Friday afternoon. We headed to Hapa Izakaya in Yaletown for a drink and some small tapas. Arriving shortly after 3:30, we were delighted to see that they were still serving lunch. We started with a bottle of white – grasping at straws for a sunny afternoon on the patio.

We needed a few nibbles, but nothing heavy. She got the Antipasto platter, which consisted of some Ebi Mayo, Chicken Karaage, a gomae salad, and a small serving of tuna sashimi. A great deal for $9.50!

The solo uber fresh and crunchy prawn chip that accompanied the Ebi Mayo didn’t quite satisfy…so we ordered another serving…and it was just as good as the first!

The next things to arrive were a green salad and miso soup, which rounds out the Ishiyaki we ordered.
Despite sitting on the patio, it was a little chilly, so the miso soup was quite welcomed. Unfortunately, I have never mastered the art of eating salad via chopsticks...I just spear into it instead of picking up green pieces.

The Ishiyaki arrived on its own tray in a stone bowl. As she stirred it, we could hear the sizzle of the rice/egg/meat sear against the hot bowl. This was going to warm us up the right way.We ended up killing two hours on that patio...just sipping, noshing and chatting. A great afternoon with even greater company.

RiRi in GMP/Rogers Arena

Photos of Sunday's concert...okay, so I didn't really take them...but I was there right next to the photog...I swear.
Ke$ha opens it up. I missed the first guy.

I like the mike holder!

The screen while we waited

The stage.

Nice outfit?

Nicer butt!

First car

Second car

Close up

Trio of Rihanna

The stage changes!

Almost the end.

Almost over.

Over...

Tucking in at Town Hall

Before my trip to Toronto last month, I had a great lunch at Town Hall (formerly known as (Saltlik) on Alberni. I usually go to Coast or Fortes if I’m lunching during work, but that’s the problem…”been there ~ done that” too many times. They reopened around the Olympics, but I have yet to try out the new menu.

The décor is pretty cool…the wall behind the bar looks very DNA-ish…with all the lights and stuff. Since I was getting on a plane in a few hours, I didn’t want anything too heavy or rich. So I will have to return to try their Gooey Cheese Pot & Grilled Sourdough toasts. Instead, we ordered an appetizer, their Trio of Tuna, and then split their Double-Fisted Bacon Cheddar Burger and fries.

The Trio is nice and light, very refreshing. You get two types of tuna, big-eye ahi tuna and tombo tuna. The big-eye is done as a sashimi with the tombo is done with an avocado mousse, and also with a goma-ae dressing, all served with crispy chips.

The Double-Fisted burger came already split for us, so we could “single-fist” it? The accompaniments are a little coarse, with a huge slice of tomato and a very generous slice of red onion. I prefer my onions (in a burger) diced so the big slab scared me. But then again, the bigness of it made it easy to remove…We also asked for all sauces to be “on the side” but I can’t remember any of them now.

Wedding Banquet at Victoria

A few weeks ago, I attended a weddng banquet at Victoria Chinese Restaurant, located by the Hyatt in Downtown Vancouver.
Banquet food is fairly standard, so here's just a few food shots. Trying to take these photos before people dug in is harder than you think!

Appetizer plate with Jellyfish, Bean Curd mushroom roll, Roasted Pork slices and Marinated Beef.

Marinated Mushroom in Tinfoil.

Honey Garlic Pork.

Shark's Fin Soup.

Lobster in garlic sauce.

Fish slices with Mushroom and Veggies.

Sliced abalone mushrooms with Baby Bok Choy.

Fried Chicken, Chinese-style!

Noodles and Yin Yang Rice.

Coconut Jello and Fried Sesame Balls!

Agava Flameado @ Uva

Last Saturday, before heading to the Vogue to see Aziz Ansari, we stopped off at Uva at the Moda Hotel for a drink. The bevvy was delicious, but the process was amazing as well. Here is the first of many videos to come, I hope. Thanks to Brad, the bar manager, for making it look so easy! My drink was the Agavo Flameado, and the other is the Shiso Caiprioska. If you love fire, watch the video below!

We also munched on a yummy risotto ball, as well as two of their bruschettas. One was the Sardine and Tomato one, and the other was a Fried Egg one. Can you tell which is which?

One Restaurant at One Hazelton

So on my last fun day in Toronto, we had made reservations for a Brunch Buffet at Four Seasons. But because it was the same day as their Ride for Heart, we totally missed the time. And at $48 a pop, I’d have to eat a lot in an hour to make up the lost time. As much as I enjoy eating, I don’t like it when it becomes a sport. As a Foursquare whore, I decided to use it to figure out where the four of us could go eat. The first place that popped out was One – the new McEwan joint. So off we went.

After the initial confusion of “where is the entrance”, we eventually found a hostess who seated us, and a waitress who was determined to take our drink order. After being traffic for about an hour, I needed a Ketel One Martini…the rest of the group ordered Carlsberg beers except for the one girl ordered a Fujian white rose tea...

I was still in breakfast mode, so I ordered their Eggs Benny, which was some artisan ham and a perfectly poached egg served on brioche bread, with “baby potato slices, baby tomato and basil leaf, and topped with diced chive”…and boy was it ever. I do believe this is the first time I’ve had a martini at breakfast…yes, mom, it was! The eggs were poached just right, but would you expect anything less from a McEwan joint?

The two guys with the Carlsberg decided to order the Burger, which was a gigantic patty, smothered in barbecue sauce atop a hamburger bun. The burger looked impressive, but oh epic fail …the bun wasn’t grilled. Honestly, if you are going to have a huge patty as your middle, you need the robe to be substantial too. And for me, the bun sort of got crushed (and not in a nice way) when you picked up the burger. A nice sear on the bun would have gave it a bit more texture and perhaps some legs to stand on.

The “tea” girl ordered a Cobb salad, which had chicken, goat cheese, quail egg, pancetta, and heirloom tomatoes, dressed with a mustard-based dressing. It had a beautiful presentation, but I didn’t take a bite, so I’m guessing it was good.

To go along with the Eggs Benny, Burgers and Salad, we needed some sides. The first one we ordered were the Truffle Fries. I mean, deep fried potato slices covered with parmesan cheese shavings and then doused with truffle oil…how could you go wrong? Well, maybe the truffle oil was applied too liberally, but all the fries were soggy. It was as if they were day-old reheated sticks! You could taste the truffle and the cheese, but there was no fry-like crunch. It reminded me of poutine.

The other side we ordered were the Onion Rings. It came with almost a “fish and chip like” batter, and were gigantic ringalooos. On the side was a citrus garlic aioli…almost as an afterthought. The rings were rich…heavy, you only needed one or two. Well, but I had about four! Although this wasn't on my list of "Places to Try" for this trip, I'm sure glad I made the visit!
Note...service not nearly as good as the food!