slurp your noodles

What: Slurping noodles in the best way possible.

Where: Kawawa Japanese Noodles

When: Lunch

Why: Because we didn't want all-u-can-eat sushi

Verdict: I like my noodles chewy and soft and this was perfect. 

My lunch buddy had the curry ramen noodles.

tropical climate

What: Lunch
Where: Tropika
When: Boxing Week sales.
Why: After pushing throw crowds and being whacked around by shopping bags, we thought it was time to take a breather.
Verdict: Great lunch specials. Desserts are delicious too (didn't have a chance to take pictures because my dining partners refused to wait for dessert).As you can see from the numerous posts in the past, this is becoming one of my favourite lunch spots.

Eggy goodness.

Hainanese chicken with rice. The chicken was so tender and juicy.

innocent until proven guilty

What: Christmas get-together with friends
Where: The Crime Lab Restaurant
When: Dinner
Why: Presents. It's all about the presents.
Verdict: Great vegetarian platter. I know that if I ever decide to give up on anything that has a face, I will be okay here.

While waiting for the boys to show up, I ordered their Mojito which was 1916 Cuba
Havana Club 7yr Rum, mint, sugar, mixed with lime & soda. Very refreshing.

The Vegetarian Plate to start off. It has vegetable spring rolls, thai buckwheat noodles, roasted artichoke fondue, quinoa & black bean salad, gomae, edamame & breaded stuffed mushroom caps

I had the Grilled Lamb Lollipops: rack of lamb with mint oil, rosemary reduction, balsamic reduction, melon & feta salad with lotus chips. It's on the appetizer menu, but it was enough for me. Especially after stuffing my face with the veggie platter.

p(ho) p(ho) p(ho)

What: Last Pholicious meeting of the year

Where: Pho Nhun

When: Lunch
Why: Because I'm on Joann's naughty list for missing out on several pho meetings this year. 
Verdict: Nothing like a steamy bowl of pho to celebrate the holiday season.

Look at all that steamy MSG goodness, hahaha!

luxe

What: Pasta craving

Where: Cafe Luxy

When: Dinner

Why: To tame a delicate stomach, introduce some friends to a good cheap pasta joint downtown, and to make them suffer in hunger as I snap macro pictures of their food before they take a bite.

Verdict: Good pasta.

The special of the day: Mango-lychee martini. YUM.

 Cannelloni Napoletana: meat and spinach baked with tomato sauce

 Linguine al Salmone Affumicato: smoked salmon with dill cream sauce

Cannelloni Gorgonzola: meat and spinach with rose gorgonzola sauce.

Tortellini Pollo al Pesto: Spinach tortellini with chicken

And finished the night with a Blue Hawaiian.

being social

Look up. Waaay up.

What: Society
Where: Yaletown
When: On a dark and rainy day, like any other day in this city.
Why: Early Christmas dinner with a friend.
Verdict: Comfort food with a twist. And I love the twist.

This drink is the Candy Collins! It's gin and lemon on the rocks with a stick of pink cotton candy on top. I picked away at the top for a while, before I dunked the whole thing into my drink, once the novelty factor wore off. It's delicious, but messy too.

 Mac and cheese balls with white cheddar and jalapeno served with a side of ketchup. So swanky!

Shar ordered the Italian pizza, which is loaded with chorizo, salami, pepperoni, banana peppers and ricotta cheese. You can't really go wrong with pizza!

 

Classic tuna nicoise. I had no idea what I was ordering, but I knew there would be tuna, which I like. And I really, really like this dish because it's light, just in case you've filled up on too many mac and cheese balls.

 I ordered the Malibu milkshake (Malibu, pineapple and coconut) to go with my tuna nicoise. Delicious. It's like a pina colada but in milkshake form.

coffee and curry

go together like mango liquer, Gingerale and Sprite! Hee.

 Starbucks Caramel Brule Latte. Delish.

What: Indian buffet

Where: Far away from home

When: On a snowy day

Why: 'Cause I don't say no to free food.

Verdict: I heart butter chicken and naan bread. YUM

visiting Malaysia

through food!

 Rice noodles, shrimp, tender chicken and spinach smothered in egg sauce. Very good and a deceptively large portion. You can feed 4 people with this dish easily.

What: Tropika
Where: smack in the middle of downtown
When: Lunch
Why: 'Cause I don't know very many restaurants downtown, except for the usual Cactus Club and Milestones. And I wanted something other than Cactus Club and Milestones.
Verdict: Good stuff and very filling. I don't remember the exact names for the dishes we ordered, and they don't list all the dishes on their website, so I'm just going by description here. Enjoy the pictures!

  I had Stir fried Shanghai noodles with pork, shrimp and squid and vegetables in light soya sauce. This was a smaller dish than the above rice noodles, but also very filling. 

Side note: I found a lot of dishes on the menu are very similar to dishes that you would find at Hon's or any Chinese seafood restaurants. I guess when it comes down right to it, Asian dishes are very similar overall.

Due to technical difficulties...

As my trusty digital sidekick is slowing being drained of what little life it has left, I will be hunting for a replacement soon. Tossing around the idea of investing in a digital SLR, but for now, the updates will be short and far in between, until I find a suitable replacement. I can't have a food blog titled, "Food for the Eyes" without any photos, now can I?

double the pleasure, double the fun

Continuing on the topic of genetically modified fruits (ie. see this post), here is another anomaly that I encountered in my culinary adventures:

Siamese grape twins joined at the head (top?)! They taste just as good as plain ol' regular grapes. Another bio-engineered achievement to produce twice as many juicy purple grapes for everyone's snacking pleasure? Hmmm... and the mystery continues...

season's greeting with candied apples

What: Festive candied apples
Where: Downtown while doing some Christmas shopping.
When: Afternoon
Why: Because it was too cool not to take a picture.
Verdict: The Grinch is very well done. I wonder if that's mint icing that they used to make it green...

mamma mia!

What: Anton's
Where: Burnaby
When: Lunch
Why: Catching up with a high school friend.
Verdict: If you have a pasta craving, I can assure you that after you have a meal at Anton's, you will not want to have pasta for a long time. The portion sizes are huge (enough leftovers to last a few days). It looks like I barely made a dent in my dish, that's how much pasta they serve you.

After more than a few minutes perusing the lunch menu (they have a wide selection, including panini sandwiches, soups and meal-sized salads), I finally ordered the Penne Chorizo Salsiccia E Funghi (chorizo sausage & mushrooms in a spicy lemon sauce) and my friend had the Linguine Alla Vongole (clams in a creamy tomato sauce). I bravely tried to finish my meal, but I had to wave my little white flag halfway through 'cause that was a LOT of pasta. You can probably feed a family of five with only two dishes and still be satisfied after the meal.

seafood by the sea

What: It was my best friend's boyfriend's and a mutual friend's birthday. If that makes any sense.
Where: The Boathouse
When: Dinner
Why: Because my friend made me.
Verdict: I had stood in line for 3 hours in the early morning light in 5 degree coldness to shop the Jimmy Choo for H&M collection. The lack of warmth might explain my feeling of under the weatherness (and strange ability to make up words that vaguely mean something), so I wasn't feeling like the brightest of sun rays, but managed to pull myself together since it was someone's birthday. Despite the rumblings of my stomach prior to dinner, I really liked my meal.

I ordered the Seafood Chop Chop Salad, because it was light enough that my stomach could handle it and I liked saying "Chop chop." The shrimp was tender, the scallops sweet and the salmon delicious and I love the mustard vinaigrette. When my stomach is back to its full digestive powers, I'll have to come back and try some of the other seafood dishes. 

The Seafood Chop Chop Salad: Bay shrimp, sea scallops, smoked wild salmon, egg, tomatoes, cucumbers, wild greens tossed in stone-ground mustard vinaigrette.

brunch and sushi

Go together like night and day, right?

What: Hungry after spending hours shopping downtown.
Where: Italian Kitchen
When: Lunch
Why: Pasta craving. Also, we've passed by this restaurant several times before, insisting that we'll have lunch there one day. Today just happened to be it.
Verdict: Damn good pasta. Deceptively filling, too. You think the portions are small, especially when you're sharing the pasta platter with someone. But, halfway through, your stomach will admit defeat and will protest (quite loudly) if you continue to stuff yourself because it's been hammered into your subconscious from an early age not to waste food, and you're too stubborn to ask for a doggy bag.

This was the Braised Veal Cannelloni with Wild Mushroom Sauce. This was probably my favourite pasta out of the four.

Spaghetti and Spicy Meatballs with Tomato Fondue. I'm not quite sure what they mean by "fondue", but there was a chunk of cheese that kinda melted on top of the spaghetti, if that counts.

This was the Pappardelle with Lamb Sausage, Cabbage and Potatoes. This was a spicy dish, spicier than the spicy meatballs. Very good and also super filling and a little on the oily side.

Rigatoni Pomodoro. A simple dish, but still delicious.

***

Later that day...

What: Today also happened to be my 10-year Grad Reunion, a casual get together at the Refinery.
Where: The Refinery and ShuRaku Sake Bar and Bistro
When: Waaay past my bedtime.
Why: The Refinery is a wine and cheese kind of place, and we were hankering for food with more substance. My friend knew a sushi place about two blocks away, so we weaved our way around the line-ups in front of the clubs (and made fun of the skimpy dresses some of the chicks were wearing) and had a late night sushi snack.
Verdict: Not your usual all-you-can-eat sushi type of place, so the quality is much better, therefore it's more expensive. But it was really good sushi. Just watch the wallet when you come here, because you can easily eat a lot more than you're willing to pay.

 Chopped sashimi with cucumber and wasabi paste. Very spicy but very good.

 Rainbow roll: fresh Dungeness crab, cucumber and avocado rolled with slices of tuna, salmon, ebi, saba and hamachi.

My friend ordered the BBQ Unagi with rice and broth. Apparently, this dish is so popular that it's not always available. My friend lucked out and she let me have a bite and it's friggin' amazing. I'm going to have to come back just to try this dish again.

v for vodka, not vendetta

What: Checking out the V Lounge at Earl's
Where: Right in the heart of Yaletown
When: Dinner
Why: After a much-needed little R&R at Skoah (thanks Ashley for the night-time moisturizing tips!), it was time for grub. We also had a coupon for a free appetizer/starter when one entree is ordered.
Verdict: A good place to unwind from the work day, check out the scene and watch drunken 30-year old douchebags hit on the waitresses and the poor girls sitting at the bar.

 Since it was $10 off Wines Wednesday, we ordered a bottle of Quails' Gate Pinot Noir from the Okanagan Valley. I'm not much of a wine drinker, but I did like this fruity wine. It wasn't as dry as some of the other red wines I've tried before (and disliked).

 We ordered three starters to share before our entrees arrived:

  Italian meatballs topped with a slice of Provolone cheese and sweet tomato sauce. Delicious!

 

 Aha tuna stack with spicy wonton crisps. My friend (the chef) found the crisps a little too spicy and thought it overwhelmed the flavour of the tuna. I rather liked it.

 

 Spinach and feta ravioli with chopped tomatoes was very good. I wouldn't mind having a whole dish of this for dinner.

 

For my entree, I had the 7 oz. Certified Angus Beef Top Sirloin, cooked medium, with Mushrooms with Grilled Seasonal Fresh Vegetables and Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Very filling. I would have done without the beets though, but that's my personal preference as I'm not a beet person (Dwight would not be pleased).