Shopping

Recently Roland and I have been trying out several Southeast Asian recipes (Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, etc.). This weekend I planned to make laksa (Malaysian curried noodle soup) and I needed to pick up some ingredients that I can't find anywhere else. So we headed to Asia Market in Chinatown.
We found all the ingredients we needed and many more we've been wanting to try. If you're planning to cook an authentic Southeast Asian recipe, this store would be a great place to visit.

This past week, Roland and I discovered that, David, one of our building neighbours, has recently opened a bakery/deli called Pane e Formaggio. As the name indicates, the store specializes in artisan breads and fine cheeses.

Located on a bustling strip of west Broadway, just east of Blanca, the shop is a beautiful place to drop by for caffe, panini and some deli goodies and bread to go.

On our visit we shared a panini filled with chopped black olives, fontina, salami and hard cooked egg. We also picked up a loaf of Tuscan (our favourite) bread that we haven't tried yet.

Vancouver has alot of great Italian shops. One of our favourites is Bosa on Victoria Drive.

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!

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.

If you are shopping in East Van, Santa Barbara Market on the Drive is the place to get the best value for your money for deli meat and cheese, and fruit and vegetables.

If you don't mind a bit of a crowd, the place to get fresh and cheap produce in Kitsilano is at Young Bros Produce aka Quality Market on West Broadway.

The Cookshop at City Square Shopping Centre (the same midtown Vancouver mall where Safari Pies is located) 3-555 West 12th Avenue (at Cambie), telephone 604 873 5683 has an excellent and extensive selection of cooking supplies. We like their stuff so much that it's part of our wedding registry!

As a bonus for registering there, we get 2 gift certificates for their cooking classes. Luckily they expire in Feb 2002 so we have plenty of time.

For our work get together yesterday, I bought some excellent pork chops, chicken sausage and lamb sausage from Jackson's Meats and as always they were very tasty!