More from Canada

We spent most of the day in Steveston, but made a quick trip north to Vancouver.


The new housing development we spotted in Steveston looks promising, from an architect in training's viewpoint these apartment/condo/housing units reflected a kind of aesthetic not seen in the American Southwest

In Vancouver, huge housing high-rises were everywhere, under construction.


Back in Steveston, we ate at the local Japanese restaurant and tried the VC roll, a Canadian native recipe that used smoked salmon to flavor the roll

Here's pop with the teriyaki chicken and tempura. The aji (flavor) of the chicken was very well done, a combination of using a marinade and a thick sauce added before serving.

Careening into Canada

No trip to the Northwest is complete without taking a detour into America's kindly neighbor, Canada. The drive was three hours from North Seattle, and thoroughly cemented the rustic beauty that is still alive and well up there.



On the road to our destination, the town of Steveston, south of Vancouver.

The town was once home to a large number of Japanese Immigrants and their children, up until the second World War and was home to many seafood packing plants and fisheries.

A tourist destination for many British and American tourists, the town maintains a small seaside town atmosphere.

The Japanese Canadian community re-settled in Steveston years after the war ended, the community center there is a testament to thier hard-won success here.

Seattle e Yokoso!

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest! We are visiting seattle for the week, visiting family and have taken the opportunity to sample the local offerings. On Tuesday we shlepped on down to the Pike Place Market. This beautiful semi-open market hosts all kinds of seafood sellers, vegetable vendors and a farmers' market for local small-time organic farmers and craftspeople.


A large basket of fried seafood at the Seattle Public Market

The first Starbucks, the humble beginning to a roasted empire

Heading to the Seattle Art Museum








Still photos can't do justice to the atmosphere, there were people of all kinds of backgrounds and fresh, colorful produce everywhere.

Spaghetti no jikan

As an experiment, I wanted to try posting a photo recipe blog. It's one of the things that we wanted to do with the site, is to have photoblogs for restaurant reviews and recipes. let's try this out. Here is a neat meal that can be prepared for 3-4 people.


Shopping list

-1 box of spaghetti noodles 1 pound or 500 grams
http://www.dececco.it/default.asp?language=EN


-1 bottle of spaghetti sauce (bolognese is a good one)


If you can buy chopped onions and garlic, this may be a good start

-1/2 an onion's worth of chopped onions

-about a thumbs worth of chopped garlic


-Olive oil, if you don't have some you can use butter

-500 or so grams of hamburger
-A handful of mushrooms, sliced


--Allez Cuisine!--
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Fill a big pot about half full with water, it is ok if it is cold. Turn up the heat very high, hopefully it will be

boiling by the time you are ready with the sauce.
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Get out a big pan, and turn on the stove to medium and pour a small bit of oil or butter into the pan

when the pan starts to warm up, put the onions into the pan and stir occasionally

the onions will start to turn clear and there will be a nice smell coming off of them around 1-2 minutes.

Then put the galic and mushrooms in. After another 1-2 minutes, put in the ground beef.

stir the beef and the vegetables together and cook at the medium heat until the beef goes from red to more of a brown colour.

it will be smelling very nice about now. When the meat looks like it is maybe 80% cooked pour in the sauce.

Keep stirring and turn up the heat a little

after a bit bubbles will start to come to the surface. You can then turn it to low.

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Get the noodles and put the whole bunch into the water, it is ok if they are not completely submerged. When they are soft enough

start stirrin! It will probably take 2-4 minutes to be soft enough. You can take a noodle and bite into it, it will have to be chewy

all through, if it isn't done then it will still be crunchy on the inside

When it is chewy all the way through you can drain the water out
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Now all you have to do is find a big plate, and put the noodles onto it. Then spoon the sauce over that. Everyone takes

from the big dish in the centre for their plates. Serve with french bread sliced with a bit of oil and some garlic sprinkled

on top when you toast it.

Brea Sushi Class, July 27, 2007

Pictures of our Brea students...Big rolls were Poke (Hawaiian Tuna) and California Rolls. Thanks to all, especially Pam.....