Gluttonous Me

Such an indulgent day for me.

Sunday actually started early, with a trip to the Vietnamese market and an attempt to slice cuts of meat I had never before seen raw. Except for in the hands of my mother, where they are much better off. Great learning experience, but it looks like I need a butcher knife.

With the stew prepped and packed, I was off to Redstone for brunch with Caitlin. I always feel like this place should be busier than it is. It has great food and a really relaxed, easy-going vibe. And a waiter that we couldn't really understand.

We each started with a Stoli Doli (pineapple for Caitlin and strawberry for me), both of which were delicious.

Their morning bread - the bread of the day was cranberry orange, served warm and topped with frosting and a scoop of butter. So good. I could have eaten the entire thing. Caitlin and I would have had to fight for it though. Hah.

Caitlin's seared ahi tuna - this looked really good, but I feel like they could have added another slice or two? Or even sliced it differently so each would be more bite-sized?

Side of hash browns - not what I was expecting but they were really good. Could have used an additional minute or two of cooking. They mix cream cheese into their hash browns here, and the result is everything you'd want from a potato dish.

My french toast - really good, thick slices of french toast. The side of fruit is a nice touch too.


















Following bruch, we went to Thu's to spend time with mother and baby. I could watch Alice and the faces she makes all day. I also got to make this (well, mostly make. Thu and Jeff finished it for me, since I had to leave):

And then it was off to dinner at Novara in Milton with Jessica, Rosa, Wei, and Tai. From the outside, it looks very unassuming, but the inside of the restaurant is fantastic - modern, industrial, yet inviting. High ceilings and bright lights. But you can also tell they're new. Unavailable menu options (mind you, we were there at 7pm, not 10pm), a waitress that needs to find her groove, no one asking if we wanted another drink. I hope they work these kinks out, because the restaurant has loads of potential.

Onto the food. 

Chicken parmesan meatballs - crispy and delicious. I could have used an additional sprinkling of grated cheese.

Shaved brussels sprouts - I think there was supposed to be bacon? And I see two bits of what could be bacon in the picture. I did not taste bacon. But the apples were a nice touch.

The bread - that came after we finished the meatballs. The sauce from the meatballs was much tastier than this concoction. I would have preferred plain olive oil over this. Not too sure what they're going for, but I didn't love it.

Nonna's spaghetti and meatballs - meh. The meatballs were good, but this dish was overall a bit underwhelming.

Jessica's lobster scampi - they ran out of king crab and this was the replacement. Everyone said this was delicious.

 Antara pizza - Wei said this was salty.

Fra diavolo pizza - soo good. Could have used more seafood (Figs, you are not), but otherwise really tasty.

Tai's porchetta - with cheesy farro. This dish was amazing. So yummy. Crispy, flavorful pork. And that farro was really different. I wouldn't have said no to more greens, though.

Tiramisu - so, Tai really liked this. I found it a bit runny (and seriously, a runny egg is okay, but a runny tiramisu?!).

My lone Tuscan Lemon. I would have liked another. It was delicious, with a sugar rim that really made it an adult lemon drop.

















What a wonderful day, filled with some of my favorite people and amazing food. I will be back to both restaurants, but I do hope Novara figures itself out in the meantime. Goodbye, January, you were very good to me. Onto a 29 day February. :)

When Life Gives you Lemons...

Or when people can't make it to dinner and you have a reservations and a groupon, what do you do? If you're me, you find replacements and go anyway. At least this time I did.

So Tai, Edmund, Nhi and I went to Masona Grill in West Roxbury. It's across the street from a train station in a fairly residential area, so it's a bit odd. But it's inviting and quaint. The owner, however, tends to say/mutter very random things. Quirky, I guess.

PEI pan-roasted mussels - yup, still on his kick. These were really good, even if the broth was a little on the tart side.

Peruvian pork chicharon - a bit tough, but the flavor was great and there was a good spicy kick.

Chili-rubbed hangar steak - slightly overcooked, but very flavorful. Fries were a bit soggy. The vegetables were good.

Manny's paella - this was really good. It was everything you want a paella to be.

Grilled pork tenderloin - surprisingly I really liked the tacu tacu (which contains beans). The spinach was good. Apparently, I'm not a huge fan of fried sweet plantains. And as for the pork itself, it was dry and tough. The sauce was awesome though, so I do wish the pork wasn't so hard to eat.












Mmm, not sure I'd be back. Overall, it was a pretty solid meal. But there are better meals to be had out there.

Vy Eats in Whistler and Vancouver

Well, actually, Vy snowboards. But a girl's gotta eat as well, right?

I looove Whistler. I would move there if I could. I appreciate it so much more this time around, after having been to a few other mountains out west. As great as the others are, Whistler really is the complete package. Absolutely breathtaking.

Our first stop in Vancouver before the drive to Whistler was Japadog. Where we almost got a parking ticket because Tai forgot to shut off the engine of the ginormous truck we rented.

The very many choices at Japadog, including ice cream dogs, which I have not been brave enough to try.

Three kurobata terimayo dogs and one hot and spicy dog.

Close-up of the kurobata terimayo. I know, seaweed on a hot dog? But it works. And it's damn delicious.

 Close-up of the hot and spicy.

My black pepper fries. We also had the butter & shoyu fries (very buttery) and the shichimi & garlic fries (a hint of spiciness). The black pepper is really nice and subtle though.








After the drive, we were exhausted, so I had salad and the others had instant noodles. Not very exciting, hah.

Thursday we spent on Whistler. Peak to creek is the most numbing 4 mile trail I've ever experienced. Seriously, ungroomed trails get no love from me. But we managed to ride over 15 miles for the day, which is pretty good considering we got to a late start after getting our passes.

For dinner, with sore legs, we went into the Village to 21 steps, where there are 21 steps leading upstairs to the dining area. Not very original, I know. The restaurant itself was really nice and relaxed, perfect for our post-slopes, you're lucky I changed, not so polished attire.

Tai's still on his mussels kick, so we had them with the white wine and butter sauce. Pretty good. Even better that they served it with a good 7-8 pieces of bread, instead of the 1-2 toast points you usually get.

 Edmund's scallops and prawns.

Tai's ribeye - really good piece of meat and cooked very well. Huge though - I'm pretty sure we all had a piece and he still didn't finish.

Rosa's short ribs - good, but the ale used as a braising liquid left a pretty bitter aftertaste.

My boring Caesar.

And my crab cakes - decent. I've had better.



















Friday we were on Blackcomb, which is definitely more our style. Especially after the workout Whistler was, it was nice to be able to speed through wide trails.

Plus, I got to eat this for lunch:

Oh Poutine, how I have missed your cheesy deliciousness.

After 19.3 miles of riding and then driving back into Vancouver, we went for a no-frills and quick dinner at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka. I have yet to visit the one in Harvard Square, but the Vancouver branch was really solid. They're small, but very efficient. And thankfully we didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes to be seated (the line was well out the door by the time we left).

Tai's toroniku kara-miso ramen - I didn't try his broth, but that pork was really good, if on the salty side.

My shoyu ramen - I really enjoyed the noodles and broth, but gave my pork to Tai. Way too fatty for me.

Rosa and Edmund both got the char siu kara-miso. Rosa thought it was a bit too much meat, but I think they both enjoyed their ramen.

And gyoza, which is generally never outstanding and only memorable when it's horrible. This was not horrible.









Saturday was our day for eating and shopping. The day was supposed to start with brunch at Union, but that never materialized because the workers were really rude. We arrive 6 or 7 minutes before they opened at 10am, the front door was open, so we walk in. It's raining outside, and instead of saying something like, "Hey, sorry, we're still prepping for service, would you mind waiting for a few minutes" we are greeted with, "Guys, we're not open. We need ten minutes," as she motions us towards the door we just walked in from. No thanks. I'm not waiting in the rain. I don't need to be served, but I'd have liked the offer to let us stand inside while you dry your dishes for 5 minutes.

Instead, we headed over to Granville Island and inside their Public Market, where I proceeded to eat:

Double smoked sausage, egg and cheddar on a bagel - it lacked flavor. But it was filling.

Banana and nutella crepe - yum.











After roaming around Richmond Centre, we head over to Aberdeen Centre and eat some more:

 Milk tea and watermelon smoothie with grass jelly.

 Egg waffles.

 Curry fish balls.

 Scallion pancake.

Pork and cabbage dumplings.











And just a couple of hours later, it's time for dinner. We go to Ebisu on Robson, and it's that weird time of day between the after-work crowd, but before the big dinner crowd. The atmosphere was a bit weird, lounge-y but Asian hipster-ish with bitchy staff. Maybe typical for Vancouver, but my Bostonian self is just not used to that.

Seaweed salad - really good, but really small.

Toro inferno - this got torched tableside, which was really cool. But it was not as delicious as toro usually is, which was sad.

Lemon and pepper chicken wings - solid wings, crispy with good flavor.

 Sashimi platter - fresh, but really giant pieces.

Oyster motoyaki - this was beyond weird. Not bad, but more gooey than I thought it'd be? And so I really do think they need to serve more bread with it, because how else are you supposed to eat it?

 Beef tataki - also solid.

Volcano roll - unlike any volcano rolls I've eaten, but I liked it. I did not, however, like the mountain in the middle that was composed of starting to stale panko.

Takoyaki - really good, but really filling. Tai said they're similar to the ones he ate in Japan, which is a good thing, I would imagine.

Crunch and munch roll - honestly, I don't even remember this much. Probably passable. Apparently it didn't make much of an impression.


















And so ends my trip to Vancouver. So sad. :( Until next time, Whistler...