I got an email about updating my site today and I was like, whoa! People don’t know I have a new site. Or maybe they do because it’s not actually that new but it’s also not that obvious from here. Anyways, check it out! www.SmokySweet.com

It’s a visually stimulating food (cooking and eating), drink (cocktails, wine and whiskey) and occasional travel blog and I bet you’ll love it. I’m keeping this one live for the odd review and also because I’m working on an iPhone app for it but mostly you’ll find me at Smoky Sweet these days.

She’s at it again! Renowned Jackie Connelly is hosting another food photography and food styling workshop designed to help bloggers with their glamour shots. Not to worry if you’re not a blogger, you can still get in on the action and get some useful tips for lighting, set up and technique.

There are two workshops; Food Photography + Food Styling 101: A Workshop for Food Bloggers and Other Creative Types and a straight Food Photography 101 class. See her site for more information.

• Guaranteed 1-on-1 time for every student.
• Step-by-step instruction on how to prep your shots using some specific food & beverage examples, focusing on using your camera’s manual settings.
• Refresher notes sent out before-hand and some workshop notes for you to take away from the session.
• All you are required to bring is your camera, user manual and a tripod.
• No more than 10 people per workshop to ensure dedicated one-on-one time.
• The last 2 workshops sold out quickly, and payment is required to hold your spot. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.
• Click here to read info/see pics from previous workshops.
• To register for either/both workshops, please email Jackie and she will send you a PayPal link.

Are you one of those people who brings out the camera at dinner, not to photograph your dining companions, but to capture the gorgeous food on your plate? We’ve all been guilty of it and here’s a chance to make sure that the pictures you produce are worthy of all the re-arranging. Jackie Connelly, a renowned Vancouver food photographer, is teaching a Food & Beverage Photography 101 workshop on Dec. 5th. I took her introductory class last month and learned how to set up the perfect shot, how to create depth of field and how to adjust lighting. Details follow.

It has a permanant link in the menu bar.

Check out @ethniceats on Twitter and the brand new Ethnic Eats page on Facebook and expect us back with regular food posts starting tomorrow.

Thanks for hanging in there.

The theme for 2008 was not ever being home and a huge part of that (a sub theme if you will) included some spectacularly good eating out. I started this post by making a list of the top meals of 2008 but so many of them happened in the last week of the year that it made me seem like I just had a terrible memory.

There were a couple of fantastic meals at Boneta (easily my new favorite restaurant of the year if you don’t count Tailor in New York City) and several from old favorites Dona Cata, Hapa,  Salt and Medina, but it’s been this holiday time that has taken the year of good eating to possibly unbeatable proportions.

Christmas eve started with a spread for some friends; Susie and I made homemade caramel, fudge and cookies, chicken livers marinated and grilled with red onion, Parkerhouse rolls to wrap around cold cuts, homemade crackers to go with a selection of cheeses, cherry tomatoes stuffed with feta, carrot soup and mulled wine kept warm on the stove.

Christmas day was a traditional English dinner at my dad’s place with a roast turkey, Waldorf salad, mashed yams, roast potatoes and parsnips, flaming figgy pudding and lots and lots of wine.

Later Boris and Rachael had a Christmas open house at his parent’s place on Bowen Island. There was homemade creton on homemade soda bread, Czechoslovakian cabbage soup, and then thanks to an underweight fawn that had frozen to death in the backyard, 4 courses of venison. Steaks sauteed rare with grapeseed oil and salt and pepper, heart cooked with a bit of garlic and served on a cracker, roast with dried apricots, cranberries and prunes, garlic mayo and wine (among other things, I’m sure), followed up with venison shank cooked to perfection in the aforementioned cabbage soup. It was a meal that I am not likely to ever have again, and it was incredible. Special thanks go to James for his suburb butchering and cooking skills and to Boris for hosting and delicious cooking as well.

Another evening, some friends and I made gargantuan, decadent tourtières from the Au Pied de Cochon cookbook and it seemed like even before I had finished digesting it, we tucked in to the aforementioned Phnom Pehn eating extravaganza.

For New Years Eve I ate at Campagnolo restaurant (I’ll be putting a review up on Foodists soon) and feasted on seared tuna, fried chickpeas, roast pork and fagioli beans with cipolline onions. Just  incredible.

Even the non-feast days had a ridiculous amount of decadent eating. There was bread pudding with arugula and gruyere for breakfast one day and seafood towers and steak lunches for lunch on another. Travis made his traditional broiled shrimp with garlic and scallions at some point between Christmas and New Year’s and later in the evening on New Year’s Eve made good luck black-eye pea and ham soup.

I somehow managed to not gain any wait through all of this, but only because all of my muscles must have atrophied. I don’t intend to be out of the house quite so much in 2009 – I want to do a lot more cooking for one thing – but this is the short list of places I want to eat at this year:

La Quercia
Vij’s
Les Faux Bourgeois
Red Sea Cafe
Ajisai Sushi
Michi Sushi
Senova
Pied-a-Terre
La Buca
Raincity Grill
DB Bistro Moderne
Lumiere
Octopus Garden
Quattro
C
Gastropod

UPDATE: And now I’ve just made plans to eat at DB Bistro Moderne,  Michi Sushi and Gastropod, so it looks like this list will not be too hard to get through.

Bold – Things I have tried from those particular suppliers
Struck-out – Foods I’ve had, though possibly not from the supplier they recommend
Italicized – Foods that have been on my radar for a while, but I haven’t tried yet
Left plain – Foods I had no idea were so high on the “must-try” list
Red – things on the top of the list to try
Blue – things I am not particularly interested in trying

1. Raspberry Wheat Ale – Granville Island Breweries
2. Salmon Tacones – Go Fish
3. Gyu Yukke – Gyoza King
4. Thomas Haas’ Double-Baked Almond Croissant – 49th Parallel
5. Rabbit Sausage – Cioffi’s
6. Smoked Beef Tenderloin –JN&Z Deli
7. Hercule De Carlevoix cheese – Mount Pleasant Cheese Shop
8. Clayburn Raspberry Jam – Sugar & Co
9. Chef’s Chicken Salad – Koon Bo
10. Honey Doughnuts – Honey Doughnuts and Goodies
11. Foie Gras Parfait – Pied-a-Terre
12. Raincoast Crisps
13. Dark Chocolate Carmelitas – Chocolate Arts
14. European Deli Hummus – European Deli
15. Lavash Bread – Yaas Bakery
16. Nk’mip Pinot Noir
17. Arepas – Baru Latino
18. Kashk-eh-bodem jahn – Kashcool
19. Chocolate-Walnut Rugelach – Siegel’s Bagels
20. The Doug Special – Vera’s Burger Shack
21. Mariage Freres Tea – Urban Tea Merchant
22. Vanilla-Salt Chocolates – Wendy Boys (formerly of Lumiere)
23. Penne with Wild Boar – Cioppino’s
24. David Wood’s Chevre
25. Savary Island’s Tourtiere
26. Black Hills Alibi
27. Green Party Cocktail – Ocean Club
28. Cricket Bread – Vij’s
29. Deep-Fried Zucchini Blossoms – Cioppino’s
30. Japadog
31. Kobe Meatballs – Italian Kitchen
32. Topanga Cafe Chocolate Cake
33. Deep-Fried Frog’s Legs – Phnom Penh
34. Sablefish – Finest at Sea Seafoods
35. Wild White Salmon – Elixir
36. Friulano Salumi – Moccia Italian Meat Market
37. Abalone – C
38. Polenta Fries – Cascade
39. Vegetarian Poutine – Templeton
40. Venturi-Schultze Balsamic Vinegar
41. Solly’s Kosher Pickle
42. C Citrus Salt
43. Spot Prawns
44. Ambrosia Apple
45. Barese Sausage – Columbus Meat Market
46. Ramen at Motomachi Shokudo
47. Pan de Sal – Aling Mary
48. Taboo Absinthe
49. Tiger Blue Cheese
50. Shiitake Mushrooms at Bo Kong
51. Mission Hill Oculus Cherries
52. Georgian Baguettes – European Breads Bakery
53. Double Chocolate Porter – Phillips Brewing Co
54. Rosemary Raspberry Sea Salt – Maison Cote
55. Scallops in Octopus Bacon – C
56. Lamb Bacon – Fuel
57. Bad Girl Hazelnut Truffles
58. Xiaolongbao – Lin’s
59. Liege Waffles – Patisserie Lebeau
60. Stock Market’s Hot Porridge
61. Butter Baked Goods’ Marshmallows
62. Beer-Injected Fried Oyster – Nu
63. Soda Bread – Savary Island
64. Stellaport
65. Smoked Bison Carpaccio – Boneta
66. Dodonis Feta Cheese – Pantheon Supermarket
67. Stamina Roll – Blue Water Cafe
68. Osake Premium Sake
69. Burrata – Les Amis du Fromage
70. Moroccan Chicken Wings – Habit
71. Sweet Georgia Browns – Purdy’s
72. House Special Pho – Thai Son Vietnamese
73. Sandwiches at So.Cial
74. Quail’s Gate Old Vines Foch
75. Financiers – Ganache Patisserie
76. Hy’s Stuffed Potatoes
77. Ethical Bean Coffee
78. Farmhouse Alpine Gold Cheese
79. Muc Tuio Rang Muoi – Phomn Penh
80. Chocoatl’s Hot Chocolate
81. Fuel’s Fried Chicken
82. Cru’s Macaroni and cheese
83. Blis Maple Syrup
84. Natural Pastures Mozzarella di Bufala
85. Milsean Dark Chocolate
86. Thierry Busset’s Tiramisu – CinCin
87. Doughnuts – Congee Noodle House
88. Oysters with Horseradish Snow – Gastropod
89. Biltong – African Breeze
90. Hazlenuts – Canadian Hazlenuts
91. Ukrainian Church Perogies
92. Eleni Olive Oil
93. Sumac Ridge Steller’s Jay Brut
94. Pupusas – Rinconcito Salvadoreno
95. Belacan
96. Cocoa Nymph’s Ila Chocolates
97. Blue Fig Martini – Chambar
98. Naam Miso Gravy
99. Quadra Island Honey Mussels
100. Gelato – Brazza
101. Matsutake (Pine) Mushrooms

I’m not actually a very big fan of this list. Ignoring the obvious problems with any ”Top” lists – that your favorites are inevitably missed out – I just don’t think they’ve done a stellar job of covering off Vancouver’s fantastic range of delicacies. There is only one piece of sushi on here and 3 separate items from C restaurant? 5 different chocolates and no fanny Bay Oysters? Where is the Indian food? Where is the Joie Noble Blend? COME ON, you can’t not have the Joie. I can deal with the omissions, but there are so many places doing interesting things with food in this city that the number of repeats on here galls me, but all the same there are some gems and some things I’m definitely looking forward to crossing off.

Via Loud Murmurs.

UPDATED: May 2nd, 2009.

I’ve been kind of obsessed with the idea of last suppers (i.e. – for prisoners on death row) and whether given the choice of trying something completely new or rare or exotic one would pick that or something familiar. One friend said he would take the opportunity to literally have something else that he couldn’t have in a normal life – human flesh if they would give it to him, or a Cobra venom sack, etc.  – but it seems that most people choose comfort food for their last meal, at least in Texas. I’m not sure. I think I would be torn between having a favorite thing done exceptionally well and perhaps paired with something new. But the idea of not being able to have your favorite things anymore sticks.

On a similar but less morbid note, Adam at Amateur Gourmet has started a meme of last hours spent in cities. He describes what his final 12 hours in New York would be like, and Chocolate and Zucchini describes 12 hours in Paris. Here’s what I would do with 12 hours left in the city I’ve spent most of my life in.

If I was leaving Vancouver for any period of time, I would realistically need to take a trip to White Rock beach, but let’s assume that I did that on the second to last day because it takes up too much time.

So.

My last half day would start around 10 AM with a run around the seawall followed by a browse through Bibliophile bookstore on the Drive. Book in hand I would go to Calabria for a coffee and Fratelli’s for a croissant and sit and read for a while.

Then a snacking wander through Granville Island, especially Oyama Sausage, Liberty Wines, Edible B.C., South China Seas Trading Co., where I would sample whatever was on offer as well as stock up on supplies for wherever I was going.

From there I would walk along the water to have a late lunch at Hapa in Kits, even though it is substandard to the one downtown. This was a tough compromise. I actually will probably never go back to that location because I just like the other one so much better. But I wouldn’t want to go to the Robson Street location on what I’m imagining is a sunny day.

I would digest lunch at the beach reading and people watching and when the sun started to set, head back downtown. Around 6 PM I would have a glass of wine and possibly the foie gras parfait at Salt Tasting Room.

Dinner would be at Boneta with my closest friends and then to the Irish Heather/Shebeen for several whiskies with as many friends as I could round up. If there was time, maybe a jaunt over to the Morrissey as well.

I have to say that this list made me completely anxious. I’ve always planned on moving away from Vancouver at some point, but I was only able to leave out dim sum and bubble tea and several of my other favorites by slotting them in earlier in my last week.

Well, I’m back from New York and it’s been a week, but I haven’t looked at my credit card statement or my scale and I’m a bit afraid of both of them. New York was absolutely fantastic and we shopped and ate our way around the city like gluttons, but it was so worth it because I had some of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had, all in the space of a week. All the same, this sticker from The Spotted Pig gastropub illustrates the theme of our vacation very well: we pigged New York.

The first night was a Mexican fusion place in Hell’s Kitchen, also called Hell’s Kitchen, where we ate lamb lollipops with blueberry glaze and mango salsa, pan-seared scallop tostados with smoked ancho chili and guacamole, ancho-chili crusted albacore tuna with spinach and peanut sauce, and striped bass poached with a spicy tomato broth. IT was a dark, edgy little place that was far from full late on a Monday night, but we savoured every bite.

The next day was lunch in Central Park followed by an unremarkable dinner at Mint. It was highly recommended in a couple of different places, but it turned out to be underwhelming. That’s OK, though because afterwards we went to the Carnegie Deli to try their famous cheesecake.

It was pretty impressive (although not as indeliably seared into my mind as the sight of the foot high sandwiches arriving on tables around us), but in fact I would have been happy to sit there and just eat pickles. The light green ones tasted just exactly like cucumbers fresh out of the garden with a little vinegar poured on top.

Wednesday saw us eating at a fancy Spanish restaurant in the Flatiron district. It was the only night that we left the hotel room without an idea of where and what we would be eating and while not a disaster, wasn’t one of the more memorable meals of the trip. We knew that we wanted to go to 230 Fifth for cocktails so we headed to that area and ended up at El Quijote, an old-school Spanish place. It served to fill us up with massive quanities of dishes straight out of the early nineties (quails, rack of veal, crab cocktail with cocktail sauce, iceberg lettuce salad, a carafe of rose and a dessert cart that was pushed over to the table at the end of the meal) as well as entertain us with the kitchsy decor. It looked like a cross between a fancy restaurant and a gift shop in Cervantes’ house. The portions were ridiculously big and we were stuffed (although not necessarily satisfied) before it looked like we had even made a dent.

The next day we were shopping in SoHo and decided to try Tailor for lunch as I had heard of them recently in a GQ article. Turns out they were not open for lunch, so we went across the street and had an amazing meal at Aurora.

The highlight of the meal was this bresaola with ricotta and balsamic vanilla infused figs. I had an excellent sausage and salad as well, but I would have just kept ordering this dish until they ran out of ingredients if I could have. It was that good.

Thursday turned out to be a good eating day because after our tour of shopping, we decided to go back to Tailor for dinner and there had the memorable meal of my life so far. I’ve had dreams of being in Tailor this week that threaten to depress me when I wake up.

The best thing was my dessert, but I’m going to note absolutely everything we ate that night because it was all heavenly and amazing and brilliant and deserves acknowledging:

Amuse bouche: Sake-cucumber soda
Cocktail: Blood and Sand (Scotch, sweet vermouth, cherry ale, orange head)
1st: Buttery Fois Gras and apricot mousse with apricot sauce and nitrogen-created balls, topped with nasturtiums, fresh apricots and crunchy nasturtium balls
Cocktail: Pastis Fraiche (Vodka, absinthe, anise hyssop and lemon)
Main: Pork Belly squares (crispy on the outside and buttery in the middle) with miso butterscotch sauce, artichokes roasted with bacon, and parsley
Dessert: Manchego blackberry cheesecake. Manchego cheesecake dipped in blackberry gel, with graham cracker ice cream and fresh blackberries
Aperitif: cedar infused bourbon

My sister stacie had a kumquat capirinia, scallops sprinkled with spice toast and papaya, paprika rum punch, skirt steak with pureed cauliflowers and amazing peas and cocoa nib drizzle, followed by chocolate mousse with sesame ice cream, crushed peanuts with ancho chilis and mole paper. We were there for hours and I could have stayed days longer.

Friday was our outing to the Spice Market in the Meat-Packing district, the dinner we were most looking forward to, and the atmosphere was so charged. It was packed to the imported antique gills with shiny happy people dining late into the night and it would have been very easy to be impressed except Tailor’s cosy, warm genius wowed us way more than the cold, trendy Spice Market. Regardless, the food was still outstanding.

Other highlights of the trip were Shanghai Cuisine’s xiao long baos, soup dumplings from the heart of Chinatown:

Sourcream Hazelnut waffles with berries at Balthazar:

Antipasto from Rocky’s in Little Italy:

It was such a great trip. I can’t wait to go back.

Thanks for all your suggestions on new Vancouver places to try! As soon as my wallet recovers, I’ll be sure to check them out.

Katz’s Pastrami Sandwich with Pickles, originally uploaded by ronnyg.

I’m off to eat my way though New York City, so blog postings will be nonexiststent for the next week. Troll through the archives or leave me a Vancouver restaurant recommendation for when I get back. Actually, please do leave me one. My list is getting thin.

I’ll let you know what I ate and where when I get back.