Urban Vancouver

Don't ever use your freedom of expression to write about places you don't like, lest something suspicious happens to them and the police, apparently lacking any real suspects, take to Googling and call you up for an interview.Yep, it's true!
I have further thoughts on privacy and how insulted I am, but that's it for now.

On the bus passing Budgie's Burritos today, I saw a sign posted above the chairs outside: "No posers, loiterers, or smokers". Isn't that their whole clientele?

Come to think of it, someone should take a photo of that and send it to Passive-Aggressive Notes.

After the Boeing Tour which took a good part of the morning, we headed south towards Seattle and decided to have lunch in Cedar’s. Cedar was one of the most recommended from chowtimes readers on my list. I guess I won’t go wrong going for lunch here since also that the family loves spicy Indian cooking.

Cedars or more accurately Cedars on Brooklyn Restaurant is located, well, on Brooklyn Ave (St? Dr?) in the University District. From outside one would never have thought that this is an East Indian restaurant. Moreover, the name Cedar has no absolutely no connection to anything Indian, at least not to my knowledge.

We were a bit wary about this place as we went in. We wanted only authentic Indian food and seeing also the customers there who are mostly whites, I thought their food might have been watered down to suit the local palate. I was sooo wrong.

The lunchroom was packed but we got seated quite promptly. Maybe it’s just me … but the customers do seems like they are either students or university professors. After all we are in Seattle’s University District.

Mango Relish. I guess it must be something like a chutney that one uses as a condiment. What do you eat this with anyway?

As far the Iguana XXX Habanero sauce I am quite sure this is not Indian. Ooooh, this I like. There is a real kick to this and loves the fact that the burn comes on slowly. Try a dip and for the first few seconds, it was just like nothing and then the burn will set in to such an intense level I had to reach for the glass of water. Nice, wickedly nice! I put some on the dishes that came afterwards.

Oh wow … the naan was heavenly. Freshly made and served out of the oven, it was simply the best we had ever tried. The boys tore into them and finished them up in no time. They were served warm and fluffy. We like that they buttered it on one side which gives it a good balance of moistness with the crispiness of the charred edges.

The dip was a bit out of the ordinary for us. We normally were not served dips with naan in other Indian restaurants. Here, we were given this dip that taste like fruit jam. The dip was good but really, one should just eat naan wih the curry gravy of the main dish.

We ordered the Butter Massala with Prawns. This is what we dip our naan into. The gravy is absolutely marvelous. It is rich and creamy and so full of spices. We asked for this to be made spicy hot and then we pump in the Iguana XXX Habanero sauce — we all had sweat on our forehead and Suanne was sniffing all throughout the meal. It was that good.

The butter massala goes equally as well with the rice too. They do serve a huge plate of rice.

I can’t recall exactly what this is now. Seems like the Tandoori Chicken with rice. This is alright, no big deal compared to the other dishes.

We also ordered the Lamb Briyani. Oh this one is great. There were lots of chunky pieces of lamb meat — I had never come across cuts as big as these. I love this. It has just the right level of spiciness even though we asked for the hot version.

Most Lamb Briyani would have lots of rice with a few pieces of meat which almost disintegrated into the rice. Here, they are still perfect chunks and with so much of it that it seems like the rice is like garnishing on the dish — well, not exactly but you know what I mean.

Forty bucks, excluding tips. It was very good. We told ourselves that if we were to come to Seattle again, we will definitely come back to Cedar again. I am actually pleasantly surprised that this is that good; never expecting that for a city with so little ethnic population like Seattle, there is this little gem of a place. Double thumbs up … no make that three!

Thanks for the recommendation!

Approaching summer makes me think of tacos and salsa and, ok, margaritas, so on a sunny day last week when I met a friend for lunch, I found myself suggesting Mexican. Specifically, La Casita in Gastown.

A cute little hole in the wall with kitschy decor (check out the chairs-as-cacti, below), La Casita has been around for a while, but never seems to make it onto the radar of top Mexican restaurants in the city. And, while we had a tasty and festive lunch, I would say that there’s a good reason for that.

It was a little soon after my morning coffee for tequila, so I started with a Horchata, an iced rice drink infused with flavours of cinnamon and vanilla and we munched on the chips and salsa that arrived with it.

For lunch I chose something that the waitress said was a “popular combo” and that was probably not a great idea. Because first of all, popularity does not mean quality and secondly, because I don’t particularly like chimichanga’s. My fault entirely. Combo #5 comprised 1 beef chimichanga, 1 chorizo quesadilla, rice, beans and salad, for $14. There was nothing wrong with it, but the quesadilla was a little dry and then the other half of it was a chimichanga. The beans and rice and salad were excellent,  however, which leads me to believe that I would have been very happy with a veggie burrito. Ah well, next time.

The main advantage here is that with a huge space and an off-Water Street location, you can get decent food before a night out without waiting around for very long.  There’s no patio, but a summer lunch is also a nice option because it’s quiet and light and again, not that busy. Service is polite but not outstanding.

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La Casita

101 West Cordova

Day two in Seattle. The highlight of the day is the Future of Flight and Boeing Factory Tour. This place is located somewhere north west of Seattle. We had always wanted to visit the world famous Boeing but did not managed to do that because Nanzaro did not meet the minimum height requirement for the tour.

The Future of Flight is a Aviation Museum but more importantly it is the starting point of the Boeing Tour. We bought the entrance tickets online before the Seattle trip to make sure we have the time secured. You can try to walk in and get the tickets but on some days they are so popular that there are no tours available.

Security is tight and they are really serious about it. You cannot bring your bags in, not even cameras, cell phones and believe it or not, not even an iPod! Since we had already pre-purchased the ticket we just had to go pick up the ticket.

We visited on a Monday morning and so there were hardly anyone there. Also, we booked the first tour of the day which is kind of early for a lot of people too. We enjoyed it this way because we get a lot of space at the exhibits.

The Boeing Factory tour started with a video presentation on the history of Boeing planes.

It is too bad that we did not managed to get any pictures at all of the Boeing Factory Tour. As stated earlier, the security was tight. We had to board a bus escorted by a security vehicle during which we were repeatedly warned about not bringing along any form of electronic equipment including cell phones, mp3 players and such.

The factory tour was spectacular. It is amazing learning of the assembly processes of Boeing planes. The factory is the largest building in the world in terms in volume. It is so big that, you could fit about four Empire State Buildings in the same volume. The building is so big that there is a transit system within the building and have something like seven restaurants in them.

This factory is where the assembly lines for 747, 767, 777 and the brand new 787, also known as the Dreamliner. We get to see the planes at various stages of construction. We were also shown the contrast of the manufacturing process between the 747 Jumbo and 787 Dreamliner. They had been building the 747 for decades already and so we see that the manufacturing floor was very organized. For the new Dreamliner, it was a bloody mess! The Dreamliner project is already two years behind schedule. It became so bad that all the headoffice staff on the 787 Dreamliner project were forced to work on the factory floor! Gosh, I had never seen so many makeshift cubicles and meeting rooms scattered all around a half finished plane. I wished I could show you the photos.

See the picture above? That is the interior of the Dreamliner. It is a lot more spacious than most planes with a lot of new innovation in aircraft design. For one, the window shades are now replaced with electronically controlled shades and LED lightings which will help reduce travel fatigue of long haul flights.

After the tour, we happened to witness the landing of a Dream Lifter. The Dream Lifter is basically a fattened version of the 747 and is designed to fly in parts for the 787 Dreamliner from all over the world. It was a huge plane and it’s jaw dropping seeing it land right in front of us.

After the 2 hour tour, we went to the museum where the exhibits feature mostly Boeing planes. There are many interesting exhibits including the interiors of existing and new planes.

Being members of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, Nanzaro and Arkensen had a great time checking out the flight cockpit.

If there is one trip you want to make while in Seattle, you must try to make it to this excellent Boeing factory tour. The museum was nothing to shout about but the factory tour was one of the most interesting we had ever been to.

OK, see if any of you know this … question … why are all the Boeing planes are number 7X7?

It was a long first day in Seattle. There were a lot of walking and were quite tired by the end of the day. We had managed to try lots of food though which was a good thing.

On the way back to the hotel, I wanted to go look for the famous Fremont Troll and take a few pictures.

The Fremont Troll is located under the Aurora Bridge on N 36th and Troll Ave. It’s just by a quiet neighborhood with really narrow roads. Although the street is completely parked with cars, getting a spot is easy. It is because there are so many tourist who just come, take pictures and go.

I can’t really figure out what the big deal is with the sculpture. The kids enjoys climbing the structure but other than that there is really nothing to it.

Anyone knows the history behind the Fremont troll?  Especially who is behind this sculpture?

Oh well, at least I’ve seen what the Fremont Troll looks like.

Oh noes! Update 5/14/08 Update 5/15/08 Update 5/16/08 After finding an unusually low fare ($750 round-trip) a couple of days ago, I decided to take an impromptu trip to Thailand. Why Thailand? Well, besides the obvious economic reasons, it seems like a good place to experience a whole lot of different vacations, from bustling metropolises to sleepy beaches, and of course I have always been a sucker for Thai food.

Neko
Originally uploaded by Jeffery SimpsonKelly took this cute little video of Neko kneading the air in her sleep.

Suanne and I must have a cuppa every morning. For some reason, we had never really liked the coffee from Starbucks. If we wanted coffee, we would head to Tim Horton’s.

While we were still in the Pike Place Market, we thought we make a visit to the first Starbucks outlet. This is (almost) where the it all began, where the first of trillions of cups were served. For coffee lovers, I guess visiting the first Starbucks is like a pilgrimage.

I said this is “almost” the first Starbucks. The actual first Starbucks is located just 500 ft from this shop. In many ways, this outlet can be considered as the first Starbucks. You see, when Starbucks were first opened in the earlier location, they only sold coffee beans and equipment for about 11 years. It was only after they moved to this location that the first cup coffee was brewed.

It goes without saying that Starbucks is now the biggest coffeehouse on the planet. But guess you would not have guessed it was started by three teachers.

The Starbucks logo is a green circular logo with a kind of a mermaid on it. This store sports the original all brown logo. Besides the colors, do you know what is the main difference between the original and the current one? Well, the original logo has the mermaid with exposed breasts. The current one is more modest and I think the reason it was changed was because when Starbucks went international, the original logo could be kind of sensitive in many other countries. That’s my theory.

The store was packed — many of whom are tourists who just wanted to have a piece of history. Right up front is a bronze plaque proclaiming this is indeed “The First”. The store was terribly crowded — I was not surprised.

BTW, anyone knows the origin behind the Starbucks name? Sounds like it’s named after a sci-fi movie or something.

Anyway, although Starbucks is the king of the hill in the world of coffee, Seattle is equally famous for their other two brands of coffeehouses … Seattle’s Best and Tully’s Coffee. If there is a coffeehouse capital in the world, I guess that would be Seattle.

OK, here is another theory of mine. I think coffee consumption is the highest in places where the weather is cold, drabby, and damp. There is nothing like a nice hot aromatic cup of coffee on a cold day.

We got ourselves a Frap and a cup of latte. For the life of me, I could never order a cup like some people do. For me, it’s easier saying I wanted a medium latte.

You experts tell me … why don’t Starbucks just size their drinks small-medium-large? Why confuse people with sizes like venti, grande and what’s the other size?

Tim Horton’s is still the best for us.

Anyone who knows me knows that not only am I obsessed with food, but I'm also obsessed with invertebrates (more commonly known as "bugs") and all things zoology related. Gastropod means stomach foot, and is the name of the wonderful group of animals that includes the beloved snails in the French dish, escargot. It's my favourite restaurant name ever, I think. However, escargot is not my favourite gastropod ever. That spot is taken (at least for the moment) by the stunningly awkward creature called the Dromedary Jumping-slug (Hemphillia dromedarius). Yes, to me, the key word here is "jumping." Imagine in the depths of the Vancouver Island forests, a very rare (rare enough to be considered BC species at risk) hump-backed brownish slug, that sort of flails about quite vigorously to evade predators (do check out the slow-motion action on the video clip). This animal is so marvelously weird, you'd think I'd have made it up. But no, they're out there. Anyhow, I digress. This blog is about Vancouver restaurants, and perhaps you might be more interested in Gastropod the restaurant (1938 W. 4th Avenue, between Maple and Cypress St., 604- 730-5579), rather than various writhing or non-writhing slimy beings.

Okay, so onto some photos taken in August 2007 when Bleuet came into town. A Bleuet visit means one thing in particular to me - some good eating is going to happen! This woman can out food/wine-geek me! And that is a lot of fun. So after this great group meal at Gastropod with really fabulous food from Chef Angus An, and great atmosphere, I figured I'd be going back soon, but it has yet to happen, so I'm posting my first visit photos now...and maybe some Nancylanders out there can pipe up about their more recent Gastropod experiences. So here's to eating with your eyes (and not many notes because it was just too long ago)...

I'm still a fan of foam, and this one was really tasty, covering yummy chanterelles.

A Foie Gras dish (ordered by some of the others)

The Scene, with my red wine flight in the middle

Pork Trio

Halibut

How Hip People Eat Black Forest Cake

Molten Centre Cake Before

Molten Centre Cake After

Gelées for Everyone