A Visit to Vancouver

I had a great time visiting a college friend in Vancouver this past month. Here are some highlights from my trip!

The City of Vancouver is a major tourist destination, and it is very beautiful. Vancouver tends to have a mild climate year-round, with warm summer days, and a rainy winter season. The city is very walkable, and there are bike lanes everywhere. Driving and public transportation are other options to get around Vancouver. In addition, there are many parks all over the city.

Vancouver

Grocery prices in Vancouver are quite high, although I did make some interesting finds, including this marinated cabbage, primed for fermenting.

Marinated, sour cabbage

On my first full day in Vancouver, my friend and I visited Granville Island Public Market. You can get to Granville Island by walking, by public transportation, and by ferry. I enjoyed going to Granville Island Public Market, and I went there twice during my stay. The public market features homemade products and independent food vendors. I had a delicious focaccia from Terra Breads at the public market, and the best chocolate covered mocha beans I've ever had from Bon Mano Bon.

Granville Island Public Market

My friend showed my around Vancouver, and we visited several cultural landmarks, such as the Inukshuk.

Inukshuk

We also went to the International Summer Night Market in nearby Richmond, British Columbia, which was a blast!

International Summer Night Market

I found out that Lululemon stores offer complimentary yoga classes once a week, so that is what I did the following morning. For lunch, my friend and I had delicious lunch sets at Kingyo, which offers Japanese cuisine. We both ordered Kingyo's assorted deluxe bento box for lunch (limited to only 10 sets per day). It was amazing.

Kingyo's assorted deluxe bento box

After walking off some of our lunch, we decided to have gelato at Bella Gelateria, which has been voted to have some of the best gelato in the world. Mmmmmm.

Akbar mashti (rosewater, saffron, pistachio, and cream) and black sesame gelato

I also did some explorations of my own. This included renting a bike and biking around Stanley Park, and visiting the Vancouver Aquarium.

Anemones and rockfishes at the Vancouver Aquarium

I stopped by VanDusen Botanical Garden, which originally was a golf course before the site was transformed into a botanical garden and opened to the public in 1975.

VanDusen Botanical Garden

 There are many gorgeous flowers and plants at VanDusen Botanical Garden.

I visited the University of British Columbia (UBC) as well, which has a nice campus.

University of British Columbia

At the University of British Columbia, I went to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, a natural history museum. At the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, I saw numerous preserved animals and skeletons, and I was lucky to catch the beginning of their Herbarium Project exhibition.

Rattlesnake skeleton

I also went to the Nitobe Memorial Garden at UBC, which is beautiful!

Nitobe Memorial Garden

For my last dinner before I left Vancouver, my friend and I ate at Nuba, which provides Lebanese cuisine.

One course of "La Feast," a vegetarian mezze sampler at Nuba

For dessert, we had donuts from Cartems Donuterie, including a Vegan Earl Grey donut and a Honey Parmesan donut. Yum!

I enjoyed seeing my friend and traveling to Vancouver. It was a relaxing visit, and Vancouver is a great city to explore and to eat delicious food!

Cooking at Taberna de Haro

The Spanish wine and tapas restaurant, Taberna de Haro, has changed quite a bit since I first wrote about it three years ago.

Last year, we expanded the restaurant to include a full bar, offering bar tapas and mixed drinks.

The bar
(Photo courtesy of Taberna de Haro)

We also increased our patio seating and revamped our menu. And of course, we have our ever expanding wine list, currently with over 320 Spanish wines.

The patio
(Photo courtesy of Taberna de Haro)

In addition to being a server these past few years, I took on the position as a cook last year. It was a great experience to work in the restaurant in the front and the back of the house. I also enjoyed learning more about cooking and about how many of the dishes that we offer are made.

Making salad for the staff meal
(Photo courtesy of Celeste Radosevich)

My duties included preparing various menu items and weekly specials. I became an expert at cooking the classic Spanish omelette, the Tortilla Española (find a recipe here). Fun items that I also helped to make included pâté and our house-made Spanish blood sausage, morcilla.

House-Made Morcilla: Spanish blood sausage with sliced apple

On Tuesday nights, I was in charge of the cold and brick oven station. This included serving up our suckling pig special, cochinillo asado, cooked in the brick oven and served on Tuesday nights from October - May.

Whole roasted suckling pig

(Photo courtesy of Taberna de Haro)

Heating up the roasted suckling pig for the family meal
(Photo courtesy of Celeste Radosevich)

Other special dishes that I helped to prepare include:

Roasted duck breast over blood orange and frisée greens

Quail egg and house-made lamb bacon on tomato toast

Rabbit escabeche salad with pomegranate seeds and onion

Taberna de Haro is located at 999 Beacon St., Brookline, MA 02446. We offer authentic Spanish cuisine, including tapas, entrees, wines, and cocktails. Enjoy the rest of the patio season while it is still warm out, and look out for our roasted suckling pig, winter, and brick oven dishes returning in October! Visit the website and sign up for the newsletter for more information and to stay up to date about events.

Although I will not be returning as a cook in the fall, I will still be serving at Taberna de Haro. Come by and say hello! I will also be continuing my position as a CSA Distribution Coordinator at Waltham Fields Community Farm until the season ends in the end of October. Finally, I am looking forward to beginning a Master of Science in Food and Nutrition Program at Framingham State University this fall!

Shiki: Japanese Restaurant

Hidden on Babcock Street in Coolidge Corner in Brookline is one of my favorite restaurants to dine at in the Boston area: the Japanese restaurant, Shiki.

I have been going to Shiki since it opened in 2007, and I have returned many times since. Shiki offers authentic Japanese cuisine (confirmed by my Japanese friends, and you will often find Japanese people dining in the restaurant). Shiki is a great place to go if you love seafood like I do. However, there are many non-seafood options if seafood is not your thing! Check out their menu.

I typically order the Take Kaiseki lunch set.

Take (Bamboo) Kaiseki Lunch Set

"A combination of sashimi, broiled fish, tempura, and cooked vegetables. Served with miso soup, salad, and rice (white or the day's mixed rice)."

Although if I am particularly hungry, I sometimes order the Matsu Kaiseki lunch set instead. Mmmmm.

Matsu (Pine) Kaiseki Lunch Set

"Combination of mini appetizers, sashimi, oshizushi (pressed sushi), mini chawanmushi (egg custard), broiled fish, and tempura. Served with salad and a small udon noodle soup."

Shiki is open for lunch and dinner, six days a week (it is closed in-between meals, and closed on Mondays). For lunch, you can choose from a variety of lunch sets and sushi a la carte. Small plates are offered for dinner a la carte. I have been to Shiki for both lunch and dinner, although I typically go for lunch, because the prices are so reasonable. Whenever you go and whatever you order, though, is sure to be beautiful and delicious.

Hokkai Donburi Lunch Set

 "Assortment of seafood - crab meat, salmon roe, scallop, and sea urchin [served over rice]. Served with miso soup and salad."

Shiki is located at 9 Babcock Street, Brookline, MA 02446. T: (617) 738-0200. Go to the website to take a look at their hours, their menu, and for more information. Visit today! You won't regret it.

A Weekend in Chicago

This past weekend, I visited Chicago with my brother and sister. We were only there for less than forty-eight hours, but it was fun exploring the city for the first time!

Because the three of us are foodies, we pretty much arranged our schedule according to where we dined. And while I will not cover everything that we did throughout our trip, I will highlight some of the places that we visited!

Friday I arrived in Chicago before my siblings, so while I was waiting for them, I set out for the Chicago French Market. Along the way I passed by Kramer's Health Foods.

Kramer's Health Foods

In the front of Kramer's, there is a health food store with prepared foods, beverages, produce, supplements, and more. Meanwhile, upstairs there is a healthy vegetarian cafe and juice bar. Unfortunately the cafe was closed when I stopped by, but I still purchased a prepared tuna sandwich from the front of the store, which was made with (real) tongol tuna, mayonnaise, Ezekiel Bread, tomatoes, green onions, celery, and barrel pickels. For only less than $6 it was a great, delicious, and healthy purchase!

After walking a little over a mile I arrived at the Chicago French Market- a year-round, indoor marketplace with local artisans and purveyors.

At the Chicago French Market, I stopped at Raw, which offers 100% raw and plant-based foods. While I am not raw nor vegan, I love trying new and different healthy foods! 

Raw

Signature Muffin (Carrot and Raisin, left) and Kale Chips (right)

I purchased the carrot and raisin signature muffin and the dehydrated kale chips. Although dense, the muffin was very tasty! The kale chips were alright, although I was not a big fan of the seasonings. These kale chips were made with kale, tahini, lemon juice, HSS, garlic, agave, spirulina, nutritional yeast, and cayenne. However, when I make kale chips, I usually season them more simply: a little olive oil, salt, sesame seeds, and optional garlic powder. Raw also had some delicious looking and sounding salads, other prepared foods, beverages, and more. Check out the menu here. If you are looking for healthy food in Chicago, I'd recommend to stop by Raw!

After the Chicago French Market, I took a train to Green Grocer Chicago. Green Grocer Chicago is a small, neighborhood market featuring locally grown and produced produce and specialty food items. The store is small, but a neat place to check out if you are interested in local and organic food items! At the store, I picked up a copy of Edible Chicago. And of course, my visit to Chicago would not have been complete without a tasting of a local kombucha brew. Green Grocer Chicago offers NessAlla Kombucha as a local brand option, which is produced in Madison, Wisconsin. I tried the raspberry kombucha. It was slighty sweet and had nice effervescence!

Green Grocer Chicago (left) and NessAlla Kombucha (right)

Saturday morning, my brother, sister, and I had lunch at the Mexican restaurant, Xoco. My favorite item that we got were the churros. They were light, crunchy, and delicious!

Churros with a chocolate shot (left) and Aztec hot chocolate (right)

Afterwards, we visited The Art Institute of Chicago. I enjoyed the Impressionism and Post-Impressionism exhibit the most, which features works of Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, and more.

Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877

American Gothic by Grant Wood

Next, we went to Mana Food Bar, a vegetarian/vegan food bar that also offers smoothies and freshly squeezed juices. Everything that we ordered was beautifully prepared and delicious! Some of the items we ordered included the mana slider made with a brown rice and mushroom burger with spicy mayo, chilled yellow wheat noodles tossed in a spicy sesame peanut sauce with shredded peapods and carrots, and spicy tomato braised okra over blue-cheese grits.

Mana Food Bar's outdoor patio

Spicy tomato braised okra over blue-cheese grits

On the next day, Sunday, we had Easter Brunch at Nana. Nana is a family-owned restaurant that sources from organic, local, and sustainable food producers. We enjoyed the food here, and ordered the sweet potato doughnuts made with dark chocolate, cherry gastrique, and sweet potato chips as an appetizer. For entrees, we shared the nanadict (made with pupusas, chorizo, poached eggs, poblano cream, and home fries) and the "biscuits and duck gravy" (made with two eggs, biscuits, duck confit gravy, cipollini onions, and seasonal veggies). The biscuits in the "biscuits and duck gravy" dish were huge, but other than that, the dish was perfect!

Nana

"biscuits and duck gravy" at Nana

After Nana, we visited Millenium Park, and we were lucky that we had such nice weather over the weekend! Of course, we also stopped by Cloud Gate at Millenium Park, also known as "The Bean."

Millenium Park

Cloud Gate

Overall, we had a great time in Chicago. The city is more spread out than other cities, such as compared to New York City, and to get around we made use of the city's public transportation and Zipcar. Other noteworthy places that we dined at in Chicago included Avec and Urbanbelly. In addition, we had deep-dish pizza at Gino's East, but were not impressed. Places that I would have liked to stop at if we had had the time includes the Dill Pickle Food Co-op, a farmers market such as the Green City Market, and other cultural attractions. I will just have to visit those the next time I am in Chicago!

Taberna de Haro

It's been a busy summer with two part-time jobs and numerous classes and activities, but I am very glad to have gotten a job as a waitress at Taberna de Haro, a Spanish wine and tapas restaurant, in May. Although I have had no previous experience with the Spanish language or cuisine (I am now taking a beginner's Spanish class at the Boston Center of Adult Education), and a 200+ wine list is never easy for anyone to master, there are many things that I enjoy about working at the restaurant.

The outdoor patio seating is a definite plus during the warmer months.

In addition to working with a fabulous staff, as a foodie, I love all the locally sourced items on our menu. All of our beef comes from River Rock Farm, based in Brimfield, MA, and is grass-fed and raised without antibiotics or artificial growth hormones. The organic eggs are from Country Hen based in Hubbardston, MA, and our bread is from Iggy's, based in Cambridge. Occasional special menu items include local produce from Siena Farms and the owner, Deborah Hansen's, garden. Several other items on our menu are locally sourced as well.

Some of my favorite tapas include the Arroz negro (black paella with ali oli), Espinacas a la catalana (sauteed spinach w/ garlic, pine nuts, & golden raisins), Gambas al ajillo (shrimp with garlic and olive oil), Almejas con jamon (big local clams with ham, white wine, & EVOO), and of course any of our beef dishes (hey, you gotta love it if it's grass-fed!).

I love all things fermentation, so learning about Spanish wines is a blast, although it is still a somewhat overwhelming task. One of our wines, Les Sorts Jove from the Priorat country, is made by carbonic maceration, in which fermentation takes place within whole grapes in a carbon dioxide rich environment, as opposed to the normal winemaking process, in which grapes are crushed and fermented with yeast. Pretty cool! Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Taberna de Haro is located at 999 Beacon St., Brookline, MA 02446. Check out their tapas menu and wine list. You can make a reservation online or by phone at (617) 277-8272, and say hello if you stop by!