This 'n that

Wouldn’t you know it. 

A restaurant night of full-on Bahamian buffet, and who forgets her camera…

So instead, you get a photo sampling of the some of the sweet (and I mean SWEEEET) drinks here. For balance, there’s a bottle of spicy hot sauce in there too. It’s every bit as hot as the fruity drinks are sugary.

The sweet fruity theme carries into many of the cocktails here as well, such as the ‘Bahama Mama’, a concoction of sweet punch with more than one kind of Bahamian rum. Too many sips of those and you’d soon be needing a pair of Bahama Pajamas.

Here’s a link to a range of typical Bahamian foods, including the strangest (to me, at least), macaroni and cheese. All I can think is that it must have been a ‘gift’ from some well-intentioned missionary, as there are certainly no macaroni trees here. 

Other items on the menu included conch (of course) as well as rice ‘n peas. These were similar to other Caribbean versions of rice ‘n beans (and yes, the ‘peas’ in the Bahamian dish are indeed beans), but the version we tried lacked the coconutty taste of versions we’ve had in Costa Rica or Belize. But that vaguely ‘Rice-a-Roni’ flavour may just be the Bahamian twist on this particular staple – or else thanks to the chef whose cooking we were sampling.

Desserts were tiny rum cakes. Yes, the scent and flavour of rum is everywhere. Almost as ubiquitous as Kalik, the local beer (origin of that name is a whole other story in itself). Cheers!

Laid-back restaurant by the beach

When we travel, we often have restaurant meals for lunch, rather than supper. For one thing, the prices are usually easier on the pocketbook. Many restaurants are also less crowded at midday.

So tonight’s supper was kind of a compromise – at a restaurant, but at a ‘budget-style’ place we’d heard served excellent conch. 

In ways, the meal seemed more like a lunch than a supper, but after a day exploring several empty beaches (the best kind!), a fried seafood supper sounded just right

We had two kinds of conch (sounds like 'conk'), plus a heap of chips. I ordered the conch burger and the Dear Man ordered the crack conch. We divvied up the burger and conch bits so we both got to try each.

Conch is the one food you can’t avoid on the Bahamas. Nor, would you want to – they know how to prepare it here. 

Although conch meat is naturally quite tough, the Bahamians have learned ways to tenderize it. You can often hear terrific pounding in the kitchen, as that’s one of the ways of softening it up. The other way is with lots of lime juice, freshly squeezed, of course. That's how conch salad works, a deliciously refreshing treat, basically a kind of ceviche. 

Flavour-wise, conch is vaguely related to clam (our west coast geoduck is a taste that comes to mind), somewhat sweet and with a bit of chew to it.

But the conch isn’t only used for food. Its beautiful shell shows up everywhere, as garden or patio decorations and even embedded in cement as part of a fence. 

The Countdown begins

...with a birthday celebration!

With our house still not fit for hosting dinners, B's supper was at the restaurant of her choice. Lucky us, she chose a nearby Thai place.

When our salad of Som Tam arrived, she reminded us that last time she'd had this, it had come in a bowl-sized bag, as she'd actually had it in Thailand. The salad was followed by a vegetarian appetizer, an assortment of fried tofu, sweet potato and taro.

The mains were assorted curries and a wonderful noodle dish I'd never had, Pad See-Iew -- the same fat rice noodles as in Pad Thai, but with vegies and meat in a thick, smoky-tasting sauce. Apparently this flavour comes from a special Thai 'black' soy sauce. Whatever, the dish gets my vote as one I'll order again.

Best of all, the birthday girl was happy.

What a start to the countdown that will end this year-long blog. If that was Ten, what's next?

Holiday Extravaganza

Colleagues from the D.M.'s workplace planned a celebratory meal at a restaurant -- a festive meal to get us into the spirit of the season. The tables were strewn with green and red foil-wrapped kisses; there were shiny ornaments at everyone's place and even Christmas poppers, complete with corny jokes and paper hats.

For starters, there were cups of pumpkin soup. Then came the salad. Mixed greens with shredded carrot and cucumber, mung bean sprouts and a deliciously fresh tasting dressing.

Mains meant a choice of pork, salmon or chicken. I chose the chicken rounds, which were delicious. Especially nice was the loosely (lumpily?) mashed potato wrapped in a thin layer of filo -- something I will have to try at home.

Dessert was a no-flour chocolate cake, complemented by unsweetened whipped cream and blueberries. Definitely a special meal!

Something to celebrate

Since two of my favourite men have pieces in an art show that's opening tonight, we're celebrating with Greek food at one of our favourite restaurants.

Only as it turns out, in the all the excitement, I didn't take a picture of our supper! Trust me though, it was beautiful -- a tableful of assorted appetizers. There was lots of everybody's favourite, calimari with tzatziki, and much more: chicken livers, fried cheese (saganaki), Greek salad, dolmades, homous and pita bread.

Having a bunch of plates to choose from made it feel like a family supper at home.

At least I got a picture of one of the desserts. The gallery was filled with all kinds of Christmasy treats, including a punchbowl of eggnog someone described (accurately) as 'sinful'. Too many glasses of it would have led to bad driving and maybe even a heart attack. But oh, a single glass, totally worth it!

Too-late posting

My friend Steve had a launch of his new book and took us out for yummy supper. And then, oops, there was a party after the reading which resulted in my not connecting with the Internet until after the magic midnight hour. I guess it will look as though I had two suppers on the 28th. But then, that's a good pal's birthday, so maybe the date is deserving of something distinctive.

Pic to follow once I'm home from Vancouver Island.


Beauty, eh! This soup contained just about everything you can think of: flank steak, tripe, oodles of satisfying noodles -- and really, it tasted even better than it looks.

Something restauranty

It's another of those evening literary readings at our local coffee house. Because of our reno, the kitchen/dining area isn't the best for hosting guests. As a result, I'm taking our author out to a local restaurant of her choice.

Menu and photo will appear post-event.

Not exactly what I'd planned to post. Between ordering and chatting and relaxing, I managed to forget to take a picture of my supper. Trust me, it was good. This bit of homous is all that remains.

Ordering in for someone special

If she’d been able to be with us, she’d have wanted to take us out to supper. But with the early darkness, complicated by today’s rainy weather, she’d probably have been just as happy to have the restaurant come to us. So that’s exactly what we did –ordered in.

The family together, sharing food and memories - had she been alive, that’s exactly the kind of supper my mother would have loved. One year since she’s gone, we’re keeping our love for her alive.
And even acknowledging her Christmas Day birthday with treats from the freezer.

Anything can happen

Going into the city to attend an event meant another night of restaurant food. Because it's en route, we headed for an old favourite, an old-timey cafe that serves good solid food.

It felt like the first night of winter in Vancouver, in other words, a miserable night.

I did my best to park near as possible to the restaurant, but since our last visit the place has gone considerably upscale with a refit. As a result, I marched right past it. Since this was during the worst of the downpour, both of us managed to get completely soaked. When we finally retraced our steps to the place, we were grateful to get inside. Hot food to warm us was key.

I ordered the traditional open-faced turkey sandwich, complete with traditional trimmings. I love the fact that it's always real turkey served here -- big chunks of both dark and light meat piled onto the sandwich. None of that pre-chewed stuff that comes in a tube, the kind they have to shave so it looks like you're getting a pile of meat, even if it's mostly just air.

The DM had pretty much the same, only he opted for fries instead of mashies, and pork instead of turkey on the sandwich.

Quick stop supper

An evening for a school concert, so we needed to grab something fast. We tried a new Vietnamese place and were both very happy with our piled-high bowls of vermicelli, topped with grilled pork. The real treats were buried at the bottom of the bowl -- slivers of vegies, the most recognizable being cucumber and fennel. Quick, delicious and satisfying.

Late post, odd little supper

I spent much of the day in Vancouver -- riding buses, navigating rapid transit, walking around Granville Island at the Writers' Festival.

The Market at Granville Island positively teems with food. I treated myself to all kinds of treats, even fresh mangosteens.

Because I'd kind of 'grazed' all afternoon, I didn't need much of a supper. A girlfriend and I shared a bagel that was slathered with herbed cream cheese and delicately smoked salmon.

She got the plate, I got The Georgia Straight -- food for thought as well as food for supper.

Girls' Night Out

The birthday celebrations are continuing, tonight with a meal at a nearby restaurant. Who knows what will be on the menu. Trust me, I'll report with pics when I'm home again -- and not on somebody else's computer (and not on dial-up either).

I have a feeling I'm supposed to put on reasonable clothes and comb my hair. Lord knows, maybe even make-up. We'll see.

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Happily, nothing fancy was required: one of the joys of island life!

The treat of eating out is that everyone gets to choose their meal. I chose a spicy squash stew topped with lamb. Very lamby, very squashy -- also very yummy (especially the delicately flavoured coconut rice that came with it).

It's a pub night

We're still on our getaway weekend and about to head out for a stroll about town. I suspect we're going to end up at the pub for some kind of burger or sandwich. Maybe watch part of a hockey game -- or if there's a band, stick around for a dance or at least a listen.

Because this is a holiday, I'm shutting down the computer now, but will settle the mystery of tonight's "What's fer supper" when we're back home tomorrow, whenever that may be.

Lots to be grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend (and always).

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As it turns out we did one of our 'sharesies' plans. An order of steak and prawns (with spicy potatoes and squash soup) plus a plate of assorted appies -- chicken wings, vegies and dip, onion rings, zucchini strips and more.

Divided up onto two plates, each of us had a wonderfully varied meal: half a steak, a few prawns and all those other tidbits to sample. Very tasty and very fun.

And yes, we sat around and watched a period of hockey -- Edmonton and Montreal. Very Saturday nightish.

Early birthday celebrations

Tomorrow is the day that's actually the Dear Man's birthday, only he's not going to be home for supper tomorrow night. Instead, he's spending the day doing what's dearest to his heart -- playing golf. He's participating in a tournament and a fancy dinner is part of the event.

I've got heaps to do tomorrow too, so it's just as well to have our celebratory meal tonight. Dear-hearted man that he is, his request was a simple one: he wanted an assortment of takeaway from the local Greek place. Really, how hard was that? It's no wonder he's known as the D.M.

Dessert (not a birthday cake) was also super easy. A couple of pieces of baklava, accompanied by a first-time (for both of us) taste treat, fresh dates. The dates didn't taste anything like what I'd imagined. More like tiny, rather juiceless apples. Still, they went perfectly with the honeyed baklava.

After-event treat

I still tend to think of summer as a time for being lazy. Not.

This morning saw us up with an alarm, then off to the berry farm to pick another round of blueberries. Then, this evening was a fundraising reading, so by the time that was over, it was a reeeally late supper.

Still, the wait was worth it, as we went out to one of our favourite restaurants (again). Tonight's menu was (clockwise, from left) Bombay style garlic fish, chili paneer, and tofu with mushrooms. Pretty spectacular end to a nicely full day.

Different kinds of magic

Having supper after 9 seemed a little bit magical, especially after seeing Harry Potter at a nearby cinema.

We ordered two dishes, both nicely spiced -- one with lamb, the other with those nifty skinny eggplants. With a bit of rice, we both had plenty to eat, and even have enough for tomorrow's lunch.

Full moon poking through the clouds on the drive home proved to be the most magical of all.

Belated celebration

Sushi at a local restaurant -- what a great way to celebrate a birthday, even if it is almost two weeks late. Some food is worth the wait. Pictured below, clockwise from front: two pieces of octopus, two pieces tobiko (flying fish roe) wrapped in seaweed and topped with quail egg, three pieces salmon and one of creamy sea urchin. Special treats for a special evening.

Oh boy, lazy

We got caught in the crush of traffic leaving Hornby Island, so even though we left our site just after noon, we didn't get over to Vancouver Island until nearly four. Because it's a hot day, we weren't up for the trek down island (and to another ferry) and over to Saltspring. Instead, we took the lazy route again and got a room at our favourite Vancouver Island hotel, the place that has the most delicious restaurant.

Tonight was buffet night, and we weren't disappointed. There were too many choices to try, though try we did. The photo above was what I had for starters: poached salmon, steamed clams (and were they ever sweeeet!), some salady samplers.

The mains were more complex: Chinese style barbecued pork, vegie chow mein, red snapper in lavender butter (with blueberries for panache), tiny little Cornish pasties -- amazing.

But the dessert table was the most magnificent of all. Pies (apple, lemon meringue and more), cakes, and a chocolate fountain fondue with assorted fruits and baby cream puffs for dipping.

Eating in, in style

After a crazy morning of packing and piling camping gear into the car, then taking a ferry and driving up the Island Highway, we settled in for a night at a hotel. It's a place we visit just about every year -- a place where the food is always good, and so are the sleeps.

After a bit of unpacking and a swim in the pool, dinner in the room sounded like the perfect, lazy treat.

The local special, a mixed grill, featured lamb, steak, and chorizo sausage with rice and vegies. As we've experienced other times here, the chef uses plenty of wild mushrooms, an item that's always a treat.

The salad was wonderful too: a perfect avocado, along with spinach, shrimp and bits of fruit -- canteloupe, honeydew and tiny grapes.

It took a while to think of the last time we'd splurged on room service. It turned out to be nearly seven years ago. It was the night before we were leaving Australia and we were madly repacking (following a camping trip) in a hotel room near the Sydney airport. Sounds just about exactly backwards from tonight's excuse for luxury. But hey, once every seven years isn't all that extravagant.

Sharesies

A friend and I had plans to go to a reading at an arts festival, so we went out for a quick pub supper beforehand.

The 'Philly melt' sandwich (roast beef, fried onions and cream cheese) tempted both of us, but we decided to go sharesies on the salad and fries. I ordered fries, she ordered salad and we split the two among ourselves, getting a little of each.

Sharesies, isn't that one of the things friends are for?