VanEats

From our friends at Evalu8, comes word of the 15th Annual BC Chili & Barbecue (BBQ) Championship which will be held this Saturday (i.e. tomorrow!) June 29, 2002 in Surrey.

This is a real BBQ competition that features food along the lines of the awesome BBQ featured at Memphis Blues.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to attend. If you do, please give us a full report.

Wow! Holy turnaround! After our news item yesterday on Anne Garber's new website, Evalu8, they linked to us. Here's an excerpt:

They don't waste time "dissing" slackers in the industry, but they ladle on high praise for the places that are really worth your while.

Thanks!

Anne Garber, of MyBC and CBC fame, sent us an email about her new site, Evalu8.org. Thanks, Anne!

This site covers a lot of ground including a large number of food related topics.

When we were at Lumiere last Saturday, we overheard one of the patrons saying that the excellent pecan and dried fruit bread that is served with their cheese course comes from Terra Breads.

This inspired our friend Lisa from Ontario to buy us a loaf. For about 6 bucks, this bread is a steal whether Lumiere uses it or not!

Not only is it great toasted with cheese like we had at Lumiere, it's also great with peanut butter or nutella. Mmmm. Buy it, you won't regret it!

We enjoyed another superb meal at Lumiere on Saturday with some friends from Ontario.

Prices have gone up slightly; the vegetarian menu which I had for the first time is now $80 and the seafood and chef's tasting menus are now $90.

But the food remains constant! Flavourful, inventive and sophisticated.

The highlights of my vegetarian menu were the pea soup and the risotto.

Local strawberries are finally in season! Hurray! The flavour of local berries is much more intense, deep and sweet than GMO berries shipped from California.

We bought local strawberries from Granville Island yesterday, but look for them at your nearest farmer's market or pop by a local farm!

For a cool treat, we whirled up slushy watermelon coolers with watermelon, triple sec, vodka and lime juice. To keep it extra slushy and to avoid diluting the drinks with ice cubes, I used frozen ripe seedless watermelon cut into one inch chunks. You could also use other frozen ripe fruit such as mangoes and pineapple and different liqueurs.

For those of us who are searching for an affordable lunch downtown I am on the case!

Today, I went to a place recommended by our friend, Jessica.

This restaurant is literally a "hole-in-the-wall" and I don't even remember the name. There are no tables, just a small place to stand and eat next to a window into their small space where they prepare the food.

Like VanEats which is a website without ads, Cook's Illustrated is a magazine without ads as described in this New York Time's article.

Barb and I love going to Granville Island. I especially like chatting with the vendors about their wares.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a nice chat with Maureen Simon, proprietor of Maureen's Caribbean Foods of BC (12824 Anvil Way, Surrey V3W 8E7, no phone number on the label).

To make a long story short, we had such an enjoyable conversation that we ended up buying her Jamaican Jerk Seasoning which sells for about five bucks.

It's very spicy but has a nice Jamaican jerk flavour and it will go well with chicken and pork.