VanEats

Our Italian Canadian friend, Marco, buys alot of the Italian pasta, meat and cheese for his house at the Italian Market on Hastings.

He took me there on Thursday on his day off. It's not a very big place but there is a comprehensive selection of Italian cheeses, meats (salami, sausage, etc.), pasta and Italian ingredients.

I bought some Pecorino Romano cheese, some bucatini pasta and two hot and two mild sausages.

I grilled the hot sausage today, mixed it up with some home-made tomato sauce and served it over bucatini! It was delicious!

The Heritage Hall at Main and East 15th is the site of this year's Your Local Farmers Market Society Winter Market. It will be held tomorrow and Sunday (December 8 and 9) from 10a.m. to 5p.m.

It's a great place to pick up local food (from farmers and other people like Ann Kirsebom's Tequi-Lime BBQ Sauce) and crafts. Perfect for Christmas presents. Barb and I will be there on Sunday for a couple of hours. Recommended!

For our Winter Warm-up we asked guests to bring non-perishable food donations for the Food Bank. We received over 80 items which will be donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and to the Youth Clinic at Surrey Memorial Hospital. Thank you everyone for your generosity!

When we want fresh bread, we go to Ecco il Pane or Boleto depending on our mood! There used to be two Ecco il Pane's one on West Broadway and one on West 5th. The West Broadway outlet has been renamed to Boleto (it used to be called Boleto at Ecco il Pane).

We don't know why there was a split, but we like and recommend both!

When we feel like having their delicious Cherry Chocolate Bread, we go to Ecco il Pane on West 5th.

When we feel like getting bread within walking distance, we go to Boleto.

I put up some new icons for Restaurants, Recipes and Features, courtesy of our friend, Lisa Marks, icon creator and dancer extraordinaire! Thanks Lisa!

For our Winter Warm-up party, I made these pecan-pie bars. They were a hit! The crust is crunchy and the pecan topping is chewy and rich. For an special touch, you can drizzle the cooled bars with melted chocolate.

Ecco il Pane (I couldn't find their website!) were also at Paolo Monti's cooking lesson on November 20th! They served their panettone, biscotti and bread to go with the dishes that Paolo cooked.

I liked their Panettone Reserva which was filled with dried pear, roasted sliced almonds and chunks of Belgian bittersweet chocolate. Recommended for all you chocoholics out there! Perfect for gifts! They also have gift special Christmas gift baskets and chocolate truffles.

Liberty Wine Merchants (they appear to have no website possibly due to BC's liquor laws :-) were also on hand at Paolo Monti's cooking class on November 20.

They served Italian wine naturally! I enjoyed their Chianti. They also had Barolo, Italian sparkling wine (Prosecco) and other Italian wines that I didn't try!

Not being a wine expert, I haven't been to their stores in the Vancouver area, but after tasting their wines, I think I will and will of course give a full report when I do!