The Prisoner of AzkaGRAN

I’m going to start off by saying that yes, this blog is going to be primarily food based, and I make no apologies for that. I will also add that I’m concerned I’m turning into one of those losers who takes photos of their food.

Vancouver looking pretty

I really like this graffiti

However, in line with the tradition of my blogs so far, I will spend a bit of time chatting about other things. We now have some more mice in our apartment (WHEN WILL THIS END?) Last night we were awoken by the colossal thud of a mouse climbing in through the window. As previously mentioned, Ash isn’t very good at these things so I set to with a spray-can of Raid. It’s ok though because we’ve named her Mo’nique.  

 It seems that there is no end to Vancouver’s pest problem. Is this something that exists at home and I’ve just never noticed it? Our friends had a ‘pantry moth’ infestation recently (shudder) and I keep walking into the path of skunks on the way home drunk (as a skunk). We’re now not allowed to have the window open at night because Ash is afraid that a raccoon is going to get in.

On the apartment front, the gay mafia set out on a meeting with ‘the bitch who stole our money’ one snowy morning. Needless to say she text me 20 minutes before the meeting to say she’d lost her job and didn’t have our money. So we’re no further into getting our $600 back, and it looks like we’re going to have to write it off. This is a difficult decision for both of us, namely because SHE STOLE OUR MONEY and SHE’S A MASSIVE BITCH. 

DRAG

GRAN

Speaking of bitches, we had an excellent night at the semi-finals of Vancouver’s Next Best Drag Act. There were some excellent contenders and we stayed on for some embarrassing dancing, and a disappointing level of gay pop (Vengaboys???). We got thrown out when they turned the lights on which was a bit embarrassing. We also ventured out for Mardi Gras on Davie Street which was fun.  Ash had a good laugh watching me being ‘grinded on’ by drunken gay men. I’m sure you can all imagine just how awkward I looked there. I’m pretty sure I ended up patting them on the head. (This was also the night after the infamous caricature was done so I was showing off Gran to everyone in the queue. She likes the gay boys). 

Poutine

For those of you who have read Ash's blog you will know that we had a wicked time in Seattle in February. The primary focus was just how good the food and drink were...and how cheap. We finally sampled poutine on our first day (being Canada’s national dish we thought we better try it in America). Essentially, poutine is chips, cheese and gravy...except the cheese is squeaky cheese curds and tastes like paneer. I’m pretty much a convert. We also had some excellent fried chicken and collared greens (with smoked ham) which was amazing and I felt really American. Ash has a delightful slideshow of photos of me sampling the ice-cream on Bainbridge Island in Seattle. In my 

defence it was called Chocolate Peanut Butter Moreo. And it was the best ice-cream flavour I’ve ever had. 

 

Hibiscus

We also enjoyed the beer in Seattle, being a bit less hoppy than the beer in Vancouver (ie. It doesn’t all smell like a passionfruit smoothie) it went down much better with me. Although as Ash mentioned, we did get turned away from the tap house for not having our passports. Boo. The bars in general however were excellent. Really quirky and with pints for $2.50 there were no complaints. Being as I am, I managed to sniff out a secret bar and had an excellent cocktail with a hibiscus flower in it. So now I'm eating flowers too.

The broccoli however was the showstopper of the whole trip. ROAST broccoli. Who knew?  I can’t rave enough about this discovery. We’ve now had it 3 nights in a row at home and it is definitely one to take home with me. I’m also thinking about roasting other brassica. On the agenda tomorrow: cauliflower.

Canapes at Judas Goat

Back home in Vancouver we’ve had a few misses on the food front. We had a rare day off together last week (our schedules are pretty back to front at the minute) and headed down to Chinatown. I got all excited about being in the dumpling shop and ordered a pineapple and coconut steamed bun by accident. Needless to say it brought up considerable peshwari naan memories which would have been better left buried. We tried the Dine Out Vancouver festival with a trip to a restaurant called Abigail’s Party in Kitsilano, which was also fairly disappointing. I’m pretty sure that all 3 of my courses contained honey. 

We also spent an evening in Judas Goat, a restaurant in the group that Ash works for. They specialise in...you’ve guessed it, small plates (like the rest of Vancouver). However I have to say this takes the prize for the literal interpretation of ‘small’. The clams were on the menu individually. I can’t say the number of times I’ve been out for a meal and been desperate for just one, single clam. The food was good but we couldn’t shake the feeling that we’d just eaten a few courses of canapés, and paid quite a lot for the privilege.

View of Bainbridge Island

I hope that the eating experiences improve over the next few weeks. I’m hoping to persuade Ash out for tea tonight, mainly because we only have rendered duck fat and yogurt in the fridge. However she assures me that she "doesn't want noodley broth" so that rules out most places in downtown Vancouver.

We're planning our trips for over the next few months because we've remembered that we're not just here to work! And because Seattle was SO good, apart from that girl thinking I was a guy (again). This doesn't happen to me at home. I was wearing nail varnish. And lipstick. Jesus.

Stella x