Yesterday, we headed to the city’s Yaletown district to do some strolling, some shopping, have a little lunch, and potentially run into fellow writer-producer Carl Binder who has been in town checking out the free events and, if my sources are correct, representing Djibouti in the skeleton and freestyle skiing. Alas, no Carl sighting on this day. Also, no lunch at Rodney’s Oyster House which, unlike many well-situated Vancouver restaurants, elected not to open for lunch and take advantage of the Olympic crowds. So, instead, we went over to the Blue Water Cafe where we ordered up a half-dozen oyster varieties…
We followed up with some small plates (smoked sockeye salmon terrine, Dungeness crab and shrimp cake, Albacore tuna tartare, and a Qualicum Bay scallop ceviche) and maki, then braved the crowds of silly hat-sporting strollers. Now I haven’t been in the area for weeks, but I don’t remember seeing this – uh – interesting piece of artwork the last time I was here…
We eventually made our way back to the car which, conveniently enough, happened to be parked right our front Ganache Patisserie – so we stopped in for some dessert.
We took in an anime matinee in the home theater room, watching How’s Moving Castle which she loved and I found enjoyably odd but narratively scattered. We’ll probably check out Miyazai’s latest, Ponyo, today – although Akemi is eager for me to check out a series called Code Geass.
We’ve been eating a lot of late so it was no surprise that, by the time our dinner reservations at Bistrot Bistro rolled around, we weren’t exactly ravenous. As a result, we ended up eating light. Well, fairly light.
We started with two terrific appetizers – escargots in butter sauce and warm caramelized onion smoked applewood bacon gruyere tart – and an okay butternut squash soup, then shared –
We decided to skip dessert and requested the bill. A couple of minutes later, we were served a little surprise –
As I mentioned in yesterday’s entry, I’m considering suggestions for the April Book of the Month Club pick. While I’d love to do a classic, the reason I started this book club was to give new writers the opportunity to introduce themselves while allowing established authors to re-introduce themselves and hopefully pick up a few more avid readers along the way. The Q&A portion of the discussion is important as it offers insight into not only the works, but the individuals who give so much of themselves to create the stories we enjoy. So classics, while tempting, are problematic – unless the author is available to drop by and field our questions. Ideally, given that April fast approaches, it would be great to come up with a title that is readily available at most local bookstores – in affordable paperback version. Since I’ll be reading along with you, I’d like to make a special request for no potentially cheesy candidates. And finally, while I’m sure there are a lot of wonderful tie-in novels out there, they’re not my cup of tea. Sorry.
So what’s going on with the Olympics? Well, I’m glad you asked. First up, Canadian fans are proving themselves jerks and poor sports: http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Candian-curling-fans-leave-Danish-player-in-tear?urn=oly,221320. If your athletes can’t win on their own merits or you can’t depend on the whims of those judges, then I suppose that’s one way to go.
Still, for all the money spent and all the talking done, Canada hasn’t exactly been kicking ass. Own the podium? Maybe we’d have been better off looking to rent: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/sports/olympics/21podium.html and http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Weekend+fizzle+hurts+Canada+gold+medal+hopes/2596080/story.html
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