Jan-chan’s Tidbits

This week the twin’s parents are away on a cruise trip so it’s time to play “Jan’s Kitchen” at their house. The challenge is to have food on the table in about an hour or so after we get home from work. I’m a very slow chopper, so it seems to takes twice as long to prepare the food.

My solution to a quick meal is one pot dinners. Well ok, that’s not exactly true. It’s actually two if you count the rice cooker as a pot. On Monday night I made a chicken and sausage stew with tomatoes served with rice. I found a recipe on Rachael Ray’s website and modified it. It turned out pretty well and I’ve made enough to last for next day’s meal also.

Yesterday was pasta night. I didn’t want to make tomato sauce because we already had the it for the stew for two nights. So it was pretty much a basic toss pasta with veggies and sausages. Just throw everything in a huge pot and toss. Again it turned out better than I thought considering the fact that I didn’t have a recipe to work with.

Wild sockeye salmon were on sale this week (2 for 1!) so we got two fillets which I’m planning on pan searing tonight. It should be enough for tomorrow’s dinner as well unless the twins decided to eat it for midnight snacks. Will update on how it turned out later.

Since I celebrated Mother’s Day early with my mom, I had the chance to eat out with Al’s mom last Sunday (May 11, 2008). We went to Nu Restaurant, located right under Granville Street Bridge for Mother’s Day dinner.

This is my second time dining at Nu. The place is very trendy and I love the chairs there. Here’s a couple shots of the interior.

[the bar view]

[the kitchen view]

There were floor to ceiling windows surrounding the restaurant and since there were sunny breaks when we got there, I managed to take a photo of the beautiful view.

There was a tasting menu for spot prawns festival. A 5-course meal for $59. However everyone at the table must order the set menu together and since Al’s mom would like steak, we decided to order separately. Here’s what we got:

[click to enlarge]

I didn’t get pictures for every dish as we were really hunger and dug in before I managed to snap a shot. I ordered a Braised Beef Rib Burger for appetizer which was really yummy. The portions at Nu are bigger than other fine dining places I’ve been to and the prices are really reasonable. They also have a patio which you could enjoy the sunset in a hot summer day.

A few things I think they can improve on:

1. Some of the waiter/bus-person’s attire were dirty (you can see stains on them). We started at 6:30pm which is really early, so I doubt the stains were from serving food.
2. Someone was vacuuming the dining area when we arrived and continued to do so for about 15 minutes. Despite the fact that he wasn’t vacuuming under the tables where guests were sitting, I still don’t think it’s appropriate to vacuum while people are dining as the vacuum machine can draw dust from the carpet and into the air.
3. They should put a note next to the tasting menu to let guests know that everyone at the same table must have it or they can’t chose the tasting menu. We had to take another 10 minutes to pick what we want for dinner after the waitress told us about this.

Contact

NU
1661 Granville Street, Vancouver
T: 604-646-4668

With a wedding next Saturday and like three mothers to celebrate mother’s day with (my mom, my grandma and Al’s mom), my family decided to celebrate mother’s day earlier. Mom wanted to try brunch so a week ago I made reservations at Griffins Restaurant. The restaurant is located inside Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, right by the Burrard Skytrain Station.

Brunch at Griffins run from 11:30 to 2:30pm. We arrived at 11:30 and got seated promptly at a table by the corner so we got lots of privacy. Fresh orange juice along with your choice of coffee or tea was offered by our server. I love fresh OJ~! We let mom and dad get their food at the buffet station first and during this time I took a couple of photos:

[Chef at the omelette's station.]

[My fresh orange juice. Yum~]

I haven’t had brunch in a very long time (I think my last brunch buffet was when I was 12?) and was surprised to see the many selection of food they offered. Crab legs, smoked salmon benedicts, roast beef, prawns and scallops…they were all so yummy. I couldn’t resist any so I ended up trying out a little bit of everything. Good thing I came prepared for all those food - I went jogging before heading out. Hehe. Oh and here’s the best part - the dessert! Mango cheesecakes, creme caramel, fresh fruits, cream puffs…I think I stood there for 5 minutes trying to decide what to try first. Anyways, for a sample of their menu, visit the Griffins Restaurant website.

[Here's what I got: white & dark chocolate mousse, cream puff with raspberry sauce & macaroon.]

[Al got creme caramel, jello and the same chocolate mousse.]

It was a very enjoyable brunch and we all walked away with a full stomach. Actually Al and I were so full we didn’t even eat for the rest of the day, not even dinner! Their brunch and lunch hours are really busy so if you’re planning to go, be sure to make reservations (or go there early).

Oh and here’s a picture Al took of me after I finish my 2nd plate (you can see the bone off some braised ribs to the side…lol)

So last night, after about two months away from the oven, I’ve decided to get my lazy butt back into the kitchen to whip up some goodies for the brownie monster (aka, WuWu). While I was preparing the brownies, I remembered I “borrowed” a bag of espresso coffee from the twins and thought it’d be interesting to add some “bam” to the old recipe. It actually turned out quite nicely and my taste tester (my mom) said it’s pretty good except I might have added a bit too much espresso since it covered the chocolate flavor. Continue reading »

I haven’t been to Granville Island for a long time, probably up to 5 years or more. The main reasons are a) I don’t drive and b) taking the transit there is a bit of a hassle sometimes especially on the weekends. However, this month I was able to visit it not once, but twice! Al hate going there because of the traffic and parking chaos (it’s super busy there on weekends and holidays) but when we found a hand-made sake store there, the twins are much more willing to travel to Granville Island. Continue reading »