This was my double leg meal with coleslaw and rice.

This week, we approximate what reading a book will be like on the upcoming Apple iPad (something I think the majority of iPad owners will never freakin’ do on the device anyways), Gary plugs another iPhone app of the week and we witness Stephen Fung eating a tiny, tiny portion of food…a far cry from our resident eating champion’s usual gluttony.

I mean, look at it…he even shared with Kelly Frankson…

If you’d like to join us for Dot Com Pho, which is usually on Saturday’s at 12:30pm, just follow me on Twitter and you’ll usually be informed of where we’re going by late Thursday or Friday. Everyone is welcome…just let us know so we can save you a seat.

Mexican food in Vancouver has been somewhat of a revelation for me. For most of my life, I’ve thought that what they serve at Taco Bell despite it’s grossness is what they actually serve in Mexico. Instead, I discover that that is an Americanized, mass produced version…with extra cheese. It’s just like how PF Chang or Manchu Wok isn’t really Chinese food. Real Mexican food is much more simple than a six-layered Buritacodito Supreme. It’s good ingredients prepared simply. I’ve enjoyed my visits to Salsa and Agave as well as La Taqueria but no quest for tacos would really be complete without a visit to the restaurant that has taken best Latin food in Vancouver magazine the past three years, Dona Cata.

Strangely, I used to work a mere block and a half away from this place a bit more than two years ago now and have never been. Maybe because I usually went South rather than North for food or sometimes, I’d try to drive as far away as possible to get away from the store. Either way, I wish I knew about this place since eating here would’ve been a fantastic lunch hour. The dining area could be described as “cozy” with about ten tables, room for roughly 20-25 diners.

When I arrived, there was live music as well with a lady singing Spanish ballads (as well as that song where every verse ends with “TEQUILA!”). The kitchen is mostly open and the smell of various meats cooking engulfs you as you walk in the door.

As I got to my seat, my server brought me a small plate of complementary tortilla chips, which was more exciting than usual since it gave me the opportunity to try all the different salsas at my disposal.

Separating the kitchen and dining area is a salsa bar with ten different variations. They start mild on the left and go all the way to inferno on the right, which is just straight up ominous looking black/red chili peppers. Now, I wasn’t aware of this order system or which ones were hot or not as they’re mostly labeled in Spanish and my knowledge of the Spanish language is limited to the quasi-Spanish sometimes found in popular hip-hop and R&B lyrics. I got lucky at first and tried some of the milder salsas, thinking they were all going to be on this side of a light tingle.

I ordered four tacos since that seems to be the norm and I thought I should order something similar to what I had at the other places to give a rough comparison. Tacos are $2 a piece and $2.50 if you want them topped with cheese. I had the Al Pastor (marinated pork loin, slow-roasted with spices, chiles and pineapple), Bisteck (chopped steak), Carnitas (succulent pieces of slow roasted pulled pork and herbs) and the Barbacoa de Borrego (slow-braised lamb loin in a secret house blend of chiles and spices).

Out of the four, I probably enjoyed the two pork tacos the best. The pineapple in the Al Pastor gave it a little unexpected sweetness that was really nice and tangy and I think I picked a good, hotter salsa to balance it. Unfortunately, my Bisteck was rather dry and after I tried it with just a little lime, I had to douse it with salsa to give it flavor. I picked an not-that-suspicious looking green salsa on the right side of the bar and went to town.

Big mistake. I didn’t want to look like a moron in the restaurant and run around waving my arms yelling “OH GOOD GOD IT BURNS!” but that’s pretty much what I felt like doing. It started a wildfire in my mouth and I had to finish my drink and another plus a good five minutes of trying some mind over matter to put it out.

As I was finishing up, I commented to my server that I loved the salsas except for the fact that one of them burned a hole in my mouth, at which point I learned how the degree of hotness works. Just for kicks and because I’m a complete idiot, I picked up one of those ominous looking peppers on the right end of the table and took a small bite as well. Let me tell you…it’s as if Lucifer himself came out of hell and sucker punched you right in the mouth. If you want to dump some burning coals in your mouth, be my guest but I thought I should warn you here. I know some of you are going to do it but for the rest of you much smarter people, don’t do it.

I should note that Dona Cata also serves a variety of other authentic looking Mexican dishes. The table beside me had a very good looking chicken dish that I was too full to order but I’ll definitely be getting it next time. They also serve a variety of beers as well as Jarritos sodas, which range from very good to extremely terrible (stay the hell away from the strawberry and guava ones).

How does it compare? Apart from the disappointing steak taco, I enjoyed Dona Cata a lot. The salsas were delicious if you stay away from the last two (three including the chili peppers) and I enjoyed the atmosphere and friendly service. You also get a bit more for your money ($2 a taco is the cheapest yet). Overall, Dona Cata is a good pick for Mexican food in Vancouver…and plus you don’t have to deal with the downtown traffic that you’d encounter if you went to the other two.

We had a few new faces join us this week. This was the first Dot Com Pho for Kim-Kiu Ho of I’m Only Here For The Food and Mijune Pak for Follow Me Foodie, and Ariane Colenbrander of ArianecDesign. We discuss the hot topic of the week, Apple’s iPad, John plugs his upcoming new book and we meet Michael Kwan’s doppleganger!

I’m sure by now you’ve already heard that the Cult of Steve’s leader…uh, Steve…announced yesterday that Apple would be releasing a quasi-tablet called the iPad, which has been met with very split opinions. This is in stark contrast with the iPhone announcement which most of us just immediately dubbed the Jesus phone and declared that we would buy one as soon as possible because it was awesome in phone form.

…what, that was just me?

The problem here is that the iPhone added features to a phone that we never had readily available to us before. Sure, the Japanese and Koreans have had their futuristic Star Trek-like devices that have folding 40-inch plasma TVs and rocket ships attached for years but here in North America, we were stuck with phones where the biggest feature is that you could add your own ringtones. That made the iPhone awesome…the fact that we could do so much on a device that was so very little.

Unfortunately, the same formula doesn’t work with the iPad since we have laptops for all the bigger tasks and an iPhone for when we don’t want to pull it out of our bags. If all this is is a giant iPhone, then what is the point? Great…all the iPhone apps will work on the iPad but why? I have Twitter installed on my MacBook Pro. I can check hockey scores by going to website already. Sure, it might be a bit easier to surf on an iPad compared to an iPhone but is it really easier than on my MacBook?

No. The problem is that there are too many things missing from the iPad. Heck, it doesn’t even have USB or a card reader without buying accessories and unlike my MacBook, you can’t multitask on the damn thing either. To be honest, if they simply made a tablet MacBook, I would’ve been happy. Heck, I would’ve paid more. Just take the keyboard off the MacBook Air and we would’ve been good, Steve. No, I don’t care there’s no optical drive. I can’t remember the last time I used a CD or DVD now that I think of it. I even used a USB key with Mac OS to do my last format so opticals are gone the way of floppies, in my opinion. Give me a device that is more MacBook than iPhone, Apple.

That being said…at $499, I’m not sure I could resist buying one just to play around with. Personally, I think this would be a fantastic way to carry around a photo portfolio to potential clients. I’m just a little peeved since it could’ve been so much more than just a fancy picture frame I could surf the internet on.

A quick look around that person’s channel shows a lot more acappella performances by various groups, some of which are actually really good. And then there’s this one of the popular Lonely Island song I’m On A Boat.

As some of you know from following me on Twitter, this past Tuesday was my 27th birthday (by the way, thank you for all the birthday wishes). Unfortunately at my age, you get to the point where it is difficult to get all your friends together on a weekday due to jobs, kids, and other obstacles so they decided to come out with me on Friday. When asked to pick a restaurant, I decided I was rather bored with the usual establishments so I asked Twitter where I should go for a casual dining experience. After siphoning through several suggestions, including Michael Kwan stating that it doesn’t get any more casual than McDonald’s, I decided the most interesting one was Blue Canoe Waterfront Restaurant as suggested by Rob Viccars. Two reasons: it’s located on pier in Steveston, one of the better locations around for a meal and a look at the menu revealed some interesting dishes and an even better beer list full of brews I’ve never heard of.

We arrived for a 7:30pm reservation and while not at capacity, the place was quite busy. We were seated on the heated patio since it was big enough to seat our table of 14. Unfortunately, when I say heated, I mean it was like Cancun. Apparently, the heater outside only has two settings: on and off. If we turned it off, all the girls were freezing like women usually are. If it was on, we might as well have ordered our food raw and watch it cook in front of us from the heat. Personally, I think one of those space heaters you see at Starbucks would’ve been plenty.

The menu contains what you’d expect from a waterfront place. The usual burgers, pastas and steaks as well as a seafood menu that changes daily according to what’s fresh. Our server explained all the daily specials in detail (twice…since our table was so long), which included a very interesting steak cooked on top of a halved onion.

I had prime cuts of beef twice already that week so I decided to go with the seafood. My starter was the seared ginger soy ahi tuna, served on a bed of seasame slaw with a citrus soy marinade. The dish was well seasoned and cooked perfectly, very rare in the middle. The tuna goes great with the crunchy coleslaw. The tuna with the marinade is a bit on the salty side by itself but in a complete bite with the slaw, it’s great.

My entree was mussels, clams and fries cooked in a classic white wine, garlic and butter combination. The fries are the extremely thin shoestring variety, fried to a crispy golden brown. The clams were great but the mussels were rather small for their shells. They all tasted fresh and the garlic/butter/white wine broth was great for soaking up with the crusty bread and fries. It was good but honestly, I’ve had better.

I mentioned that they have an interesting beer list. My selection was this Tree Brewing Cut Throat pale ale which, aside from the awesome name, is described on the menu as being “absolutely brilliant”. It’s a darker beer than you’d expect from a pale ale with a hint of bitterness but smooth, slightly sweet and not heavy. Great with food.

Here’s some of what my friends ordered. This is the Waterfront burger, which is a flame grilled prime rib burger with aged cheddar.

Grilled sablefish and shellfish linguini.

Skillet tuna steak, seared rare.

This is the steak I mentioned above, cooked on top of half an onion while the other half is made into crispy onion rings.

Service at the Blue Canoe was attentive and friendly. We got our appetizers quickly but we waited for quite a long time for our entrees. I guess I could give them a pass on this since we were a rather large party and they accommodated us well, even turning the heater on and off a few times throughout the night and switching the channel on the nearby TV when some questionable programing (…uh…some MMA guy was getting a…uh…medical checkup…I think) appeared.

They also heard it was my birthday so they treated me to dessert on the house, a bread pudding with a creme anglais I can’t quite remember. It was nice and warm with some tasty cranberries.

Overall, an enjoyable experience with above average food. Maybe in the spring there’d be some better mussels available, which was on the only real criticism I had. The view is great and the atmosphere is warm and inviting. I’d love to try sitting on that patio for a meal without it feeling like a heatwave. If you’re a bit bored of the usual chains around Vancouver, head to Steveston and give Blue Canoe a try.

After we attended the Glowbal relaunch party last week, we saw that they were having a 50% off lunch promotion til the end of the month and well, I’m not one to pass up a good steak, especially after seeing the fantastic Australian Wagyu beef in the meat locker. This week, John and I organized a lunch and invited people to join us on Twitter. Some old friends like Adarsh and his business partner Rasheed, Jeff Kee and the famous Brian Wong showed up as well as new faces like Shane Gibson, Cathy Browne as well as an old friend of mine and fellow photographer, Tomasz Wagner.

Glowbal Grill Steaks and Satay is located at 1079 Mainland Street in Vancouver’s Yaletown district. As I mentioned before, they’ve recently renovated and are promoting their quality cuts of meat, especially the Australian wagyu. In case you don’t know what wagyu is, they are a breed of cattle that has very well marbled fat and therefore, more tender and juicy meat. Most people will know this as “Kobe beef” but that only applies to beef produced in the Kobe region. There are many different areas of the world that produce beef of this quality. Outside of the many in Japan, Australia probably has the largest wagyu beef production.

Since we were getting meat from Australia, John felt he had to do the whole “You call that a knife?? THIS is a KNIFE!” bit.

I ordered a 12-ounce cut of the Australian wagyu ribeye. Originally I was going to go with an 8-ounce steak (the minimum order is 6-ounces, by the way) but remembered that a few nights ago, I polished off a 14-ounce and that didn’t seem too big so I went with the 12-ounce steak that John got as well. The meat is cooked to a perfect medium rare and well seasoned throughout. On top, you get a dollop of Cafe du Paris butter, which I’m told contains 16 ingredients including taragon, thyme, basil, cognac, port and paprika. The butter melts over the steak and adds a great richness. You also get a selection of three salts to enhance your steak: a smoked salt, a volcanic salt from Hawaii and a glacier salt from Bolivia. I quite enjoyed the Hawaiian volcanic salt but preferred to keep the meat on it’s own for the most part. The steak is served with some crunchy green beans and some mashed potatoes.

Only John, Cathy and I got the wagyu while Shane dug into this beautifully rare prime rib.

Brian, Adarsh and Rasheed got the prime rib burger which was massive. None of the three really finished what was on the plate.

After our meal, Chef Eric Heck came out to greet us and show us the cut that we were served earlier. You can really see that well marbled fat in that ribeye. Despite the higher fat content, Wagyu is actually made up of a higher percentage of unsaturated fat compared to most mass produced farm cattle and is high in omega-3 fatty acids. I don’t completely understand why that’s good for you but that scary fat isn’t as bad as one might think.

Chef Heck and our server Brian treated us to some desserts, including some of their personal favorites like a sampler of sorbets, fresh strawberries, a bread pudding (soaking with Bailey’s!), and what I think was my favorite, some apple fritters. Pour some of that caramel cream sauce on them and they are amazing.

Even with the 50% off deal, our lunch wasn’t exactly on the thrifty side and the steaks came to $90 ($7.50 an ounce…compared to the regular $15 an ounce). The burgers were a steal at $8 since they’re only $16 regularly while the prime rib is $12.50 ($25 regularly). Service was top notch and all the staff were friendly. The 50% off lunch promotion is on til the end of the month so get in on the deal while you can!

After the success of last year’s Taste BC event hosted by Liberty Wine Merchants (raising money for BC Children’s Hospitals), John Chow and I were excited to go again. I mean, last year’s Taste BC marked the first time we were introduced to one of our favorite restaurants, Miku, and we had some delicious treats from Mon Bella Bistoria and Rodney’s Oyster House. Although the event’s emphasis was on wine, there was more than enough food around while we sampled all the alcohol.

This year, however, we were rather disappointed at the lack of restaurants taking part. The lines got longer (especially for the cheese samplers) and I’m guessing less food meant people got a lot more drunk. More than once I pointed out people that were as red as tomatoes.

Rodney’s was back again, shucking up raw oysters for the crowd. In fact, it was the same two guys that were there last year. I can’ t say no to raw oysters so we were back there several times that night. Word of warning though…that “Hell” hot sauce is burning hot. They tried to warn me but since I’m an idiot, I didn’t listen. John just pointed and laughed as I searched for something to put out the fire in and around my mouth.

Strangely enough, the next thing I tried also had a bit of chili in it. This is a mini chocolate mousse cup from Cravings Restaurant. I’m told the chocolate mousse contains chipotle. Sweet but not overly sweet…but that might have just been because my mouth was on fire.

Next up, we had pork belly with a fava bean puree from Showcase Restaurant and Bar at the Marriott. The first time I had it, I thought the pork belly looked scrumptious but tasted slightly bland and dry. I gave it the benefit of the doubt though since, hey, it’s pork belly…and the second time around, it was really great.

Pork seems to be the big thing lately and people are putting it on everything…and I mean everything. This is a cheesecake with bacon from Central City Brewing. Yes, you read that right. Cheesecake with bacon. I was reluctant to try this since I really don’t like mixing too much sweet and salty but surprisingly, it wasn’t bad. It was actually rather good. Not something I would probably order off a menu or attempt to make myself but not bad, nonetheless. I applaud the audacity of pork as a dessert.

Nothing goes with wine like cheese so Benton Brothers Fine Cheese was on hand to give us some samples. There are a couple milder cheese and a couple with a strong, robust flavor, including a tiger blue cheese. Personally, I love cheese with a bit of kick to it so naturally I enjoyed the blue but the smoke cheddar had a great nuttiness to it as well.

Speaking of cheese, this is a fig balsamic spread on top of some goat cheese from Capers Whole Foods. They also had a selection of great dark chocolates.

Now, I enjoy wine but to be honest, I don’t know enough about wines to give an honest, educated opinion. I do, however, know a good beer when I taste one and luckily, there were a number of great beers scattered amongst all the wine vendors. Unlike John, I like a stronger beer with a hint of bitterness rather than a light, sweet beer.

A couple of the more interesting beers came from Howe Sound, including their Three Beavers Imperial Red. It’s hard to describe why I like the Imperial Red but it tastes great and I imagine it would be great with a nice steak.

My other favorite was the ridiculously named and essentially Canadian “IP’eh!” from Russell Brewing Company. It tastes rich and looks heavier than it really is.

We also sampled some of the ciders from Sea Cider. I enjoyed the drier end of the scale, which is the Wild English, made from organic English cider apples. The sweeter ciders were much, much too sweet for my taste.

This cider from Raven Ridge is a sort of ice wine made from Fuji apples. Despite the fact that most ice wines are insanely sweet, this was actually really fresh tasting and not overly sweet.

There were quite a few firsts for this wine tasting event, including fruit juices and snacks from Sun-Rype and coffee from Ethical Bean Coffee Company. I’m more of a tea drinker myself but even without any sugar in it, this brew was actually rather nice. Dark and strong but without that weird aftertaste you might get if you ask for a strong brew from one of the big chains.

If you enjoy wine, you won’t find a better opportunity to sample the best of British Columbia than at Taste BC. However, I hope next year we’ll get a few more restaurants taking part.

If you have no idea what’s going on, watch the video. It just about sums it up…sort of.

Eight years after opening in the heart of Vancouver’s Yaletown district, the Glowbal Restaurant Group decided to do a little renovation and last night, celebrated the relaunch of their flagship restaurant, Glowbal Grill Steaks and Satay. With the promise of great food and a great time, Vancouver’s foodie crowd crammed into some close quarters and some even waited outside in the pouring rain. Boy, I’m glad I didn’t have to wait in line…although I did get some annoyed looks as I got waved past it.

We were just at Glowbal a little while ago for the kickoff event of A Taste of Yaletown and I remember being throughly impressed by the beef carpacio and pumpkin bisque. The actual layout of the restaurant remained largely the same but there were plenty of tweaks to the decor as well as some new items added to the menu. It’s not so drastic as those of us that liked the place to begin with are hoping for familiarity but there are some fresh new touches here and there. I especially enjoyed checking out the new “Meat Cellar” which is a glass meat cooler right in the middle of the open kitchen, displaying some of the fine cuts that us carnivores can sink our teeth into, including some Australian Wagyu and Canadian AAA strip. Steaks are butchered to order.

Guests were greeted by cocktails at the door, which included some fruity pink things that John went straight for. I tried one as well but that was before I saw the selection of Whistler Brewing Company beers kept nearby.

Also outside was a grill serving up some of those fine cuts of beef we saw on display, sandwiched between some mini-rolls. I loved that they served some of the steaks quite rare as I believe that is the only way to eat meat. The flavor of the beef was fantastic but as a sandwich, you need something to give that bread some flair. I would’ve loved some spicy mustard or horseradish here.

Inside we were treated to even more great food.

This is a green pea ravoli that was lightly fried to a beautiful crispiness. Green peas usually aren’t anyone’s favorite food but the puree is light and vibrant.

These are the Kobe meatballs. Well-cooked, moist and delicious.

I’m rather sure there were two varieties, one with a rich sauce and a simpler, drier variety. The beef has a great flavor and although I never think it’s a great idea to use high quality beef like this, I can’t argue with the results.

Speaking of beef, this is a braised beef short rib, which a server claimed was so tender we could “take our teeth out and gum it” rather than chew. To be honest, the piece I had wasn’t THAT tender but it was still quite good.

I can’t quite remember what fish this sashimi is. John and I saw it go by and didn’t grab one in time so we asked Chef Eric Heck as he passed by to make us another round. I enjoyed mine quite a bit. The fish is fresh and tender.

We must’ve eaten a dozen or so grilled jumbo prawns as they were so good. Perfectly seasoned and cooked to perfection, tender and a bit smokey.

This was a grilled salmon skewer. Like with the tuna tataki dish (which I didn’t get a picture of) was far too salty on my first try. Luckily, the second time it came around, it was much more balanced. However, these were probably the least impressive dishes of the night. Maybe it’s just because I like my fish raw?

These were a play on the grilled cheese sandwich with a bit of crab meat in there too. The bread was nice and crispy but I didn’t taste very much of the seafood in here.

John and I, plus I’m sure quite a few other people in the room, agreed that the lamb chops were the best dish of the night. Nicely charred, well seasoned and cooked perfectly with the meat slightly pink inside.

Like the prawns, we polished off quite a few of these. When we thought about it, even if you order a rack of lamb at most restaurants, you’re not going to get five or six pieces on your plate…which is probably what we ate.

Of course, you can’t have a meal of this magnitude without some desserts. I’m not a big fan of anything overly sweet so dessert really isn’t my thing. I’m not entirely sure what these are, to be honest. This was a sort of pastry dusted with icing sugar with a bit of what tasted like condensed milk.

This was a second dessert which tasted like a bit of a sort of nut crunch or fudge. There was also a chocolate dessert somewhere around but I pretty much ignored desserts at that point in favor of a couple more beers instead.

Overall, a fun night with some fantastic new dishes that I look forward to trying the next time I head to Glowbal, which may be soon since they’re offering 50% off their lunch entrees til the end of the month.

Can’t wait to try some of this!

You remember those guys in Office Space that everyone was afraid of? The ones that were tasked with firing the useless employees after giving them an assessment on why exactly they were useless? Well, Up in the Air is about one of those guys…except this time he lacks a mustache, wears a dress shirt with sleeves and is played by George Clooney rather than Dr. Cox from Scrubs. Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham, a “termination facilitator” that takes care of the messy stuff when corporate America decides they need to downsize…and in this economy, there’s a lot of that happening. It’s not the most pleasant of jobs but Bingham makes the best of it…heck, at first observation, he appears to even enjoy it.

As one can imagine, firing people results in a lot of uncomfortable situations with people angry and disheartened, crying about what they’re going to do about paying bills or explaining the situation to their families. Bingham has this down to a science, probably through years of experience and a lack of emotional attachment, not only to his job but to pretty much everything. Bingham is one of those people that doesn’t really stay put anywhere for too long. Sure, he has an apartment but it is barely more than a box and he loathes the six weeks a year he has to spend there. His family thinks of him as a stranger, his secretary is instructed to deflect all means of communication and the only place Bingham really feels at home is on an airplane, where he is nearing the milestone of ten million (yes, million) frequent flyer miles.

Bingham cruises through the airport with ease, checking in, shopping at the duty free and sipping cocktails at the lounge without skipping a beat. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to bring carry-on onto an airplane with the new ridiculous regulations in place after Christmas but that’s beside the point. He learns the fastest and most convenient ways to eliminate the stress most of us feel when we have to head to the airport. Don’t check in any bags since that’s a heck of a lot of time lost waiting at the carousel. Line up at security behind Asians as we get in and out of our shoes easy and pack light (rather true, actually). Bingham floats through all these modern obstacles like a butterfly (…and I can’t think of anything clever to say about bees or stinging).

Bingham is also a part-time motivational speaker, who emphasizes the freedom of not having anything, including family, friends and non-mobile possessions, to weigh him down. That isn’t to say he is entirely isolated. Along the way, he meets Alex (Vera Farmiga), another frequent traveler like himself and they quickly connect over hotel lounge cocktails and a comparison of all their exclusive traveler club membership cards. We also have Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a new employee at Bingham’s firm who threatens to revolutionize his job through telecommunication, which would effectively destroy the need for him to spend the majority of his time on the road. Despite his objections, Bingham is tasked with showing Natalie the ropes of the job.

Up in the Air is the latest from Jason Reitman, director of great films such as Thank You for Smoking and one of my favorite movies of 2008, Juno. Although I admit that Diablo Cody’s script does not age well, there’s no denying Reitman’s talent in making interesting stories that are mostly rooted in reality.

I’d say the performances here are flawless but none of the roles are really much of a stretch for any of the principle cast. George Clooney is classic George Clooney here. Although he doesn’t do anything morally wrong such as tobacco lobbyists, he undoubtedly has one of the most detestable jobs known to man. However, it is difficult to not like Bingham as it is clear that he wants to make the firing process as easy as possible and does it in a strangely charming way.

Vera Farmiga smolders on screen, sexy and warm without being obvious about it. Alex is very straight-forward attractive in a no-BS way, something that appears to even surprise Bingham. It’s quite clear they’re meant for each other from the beginning as they roll out of bed and schedule their next rendezvous on their laptops, making sure it doesn’t clash with their current itineraries and that no strings are attached anywhere.

Anna Kendrick plays enthusiastic employee well, starting out like an overactive squirrel but showing some real emotional chops as the job starts to wear on her as it would any normal human being. Watching her cut loose from the day-to-day, worker bee attitude was hilarious as are her scathingly honest “complements” to Alex and Ryan, who she regards as “old”.

Up in the Air draws obvious comparisons for me to a pre-crazy Tom Cruise classic, Jerry Maguire, a film about a man who is 100% absorbed in his job but eventually warms up to his companions who, sometimes unintentionally, show him the value of human companionship. However, Up in the Air is a much smarter movie, relying on performance and plot rather than pulling on obvious heartstrings.

It is hard to describe why Up in the Air is such a great film. In fact, I think it is sure to be on the short list for Best Picture when the Oscars roll around in a couple months. At first glance, the premise seems like it would be snore-fest but the script is witty and dusted with irony. There’s very, very few if any moments in the film’s near two hours that aren’t engaging. Reitman deftly tells an entertaining story that keeps us emotionally invested without emphasizing elements of the film that would turn it into a contrived romantic comedy. In fact, I’m not even sure it’s a comedy despite having some genuinely funny moments. The ending is a bit of a twist and perhaps an unexpected shock for the viewer as Reitman isn’t complacent in simply making another one of “those” movies. My only real knock on the movie is that the start is slightly better than the finish.

Go see Up in the Air. It’s a wonderful film that shows one of this generation’s actors at his finest and proves Reitman may just be one of the best emerging directors in recent memory.

Verdict: 9.5 out of 10

I had passed by this little Mexican place every so often when I’m downtown but never really thought much of it until Kevin (604foodtography) mentioned it. After we visited La Taqueria last month, I was curious to see how the other more authentic Mexican places in town stacked up. Unfortunately, my efforts were thwarted several times before I finally got to try Salsa and Agave. Once I went on a Monday (they are not open on Monday…) and twice there was just a huge lineup and there’s nothing in the world I hate more than lining up…for anything. Therefore, I went back on a day when I was hoping the pouring rain would deter most people from dining out.

Salsa and Agave is a rather small restaurant with five or six tables, seating for a dozen or so people. There’s a patio as well with a couple more tables but Vancouver winters prevent most from eating outside. The waitress was friendly, dropping off a menu along with some complementary tortilla chips and salsa and explaining what the menu meant by “imported soda” and “fresh fruit water”.

The free snack that you get when you sit down is actually quite nice. It’s not the onion and tomato laden stuff you expect at Super Bowl parties. It actually is rather liquidy but has some heat to it and I noticed that there were what appeared to be strands of meat suspended in it. A very nice flavor and good to nibble on while deciding on what to get off the extensive menu.

Although there were a lot of interesting options on the menu, I couldn’t resist the four taco platter since I saw one of my favorite meats listed: beef tongue. After a lengthy listing of available drinks, I also ordered a guava soda.

From left to right, the tacos here are Rajas con Crema (peppers, sour cream and corn), Lengua (beef tongue), Carne Asada (grilled beef) and Pastor (pork in a red spice sauce). As you can see, Salsa and Agave are quite generous with the taco fillings so I employed a trick that Kevin suggested since all the tacos came with two shells each and split the filling into two tacos.

This allowed me to taste the fillings by themselves and then again mixed with some cilantro, diced onions and a squirt of lime. You also get a dish of this chili sauce, which has some considerable heat. I overdid it a little on one of my last taco and my mouth was tingling for quite a while.

As a meatatarian, I usually steer clear of anything that only has vegetables in it. Don’t get me wrong…I like veggies too but you’ll never convince me to eat only veggies. However, the Rajas con Crema comes with some high praise so I gave it a shot. I’m glad I did because it is delicious. The pepper strips have some surprising substance and the sour cream and cheese blend together well for an explosion of flavor.

The Lengua was as I thought it would be. The beef tongue was amazingly tender. It barely needed to be chewed it was so soft and delcious. With some lime juice and onions, it was even better.

The grilled beef was actually rather disappointing. When I went to split the shells, the juices had soaked through and they wouldn’t separate. Despite this, the meat was surprisingly dry and bland which prompted me to douse it in the chili sauce along with whatever remained of the salsa that came with my free chips. The pork in red sauce was quite nice with a spicy flavor but didn’t impress me as much as the Rajas con Crema or the beef tongue.

I had this pink bottle of guava soda with my meal. Guava isn’t for everyone but other than mango, guava is probably my favorite juice. I love that thick, pulpy texture and tropical flavor. This soda, however, didn’t have any of that and didn’t taste like any sort of guava I’d ever had. It was just a sugary tasting soda as far as I was concerned. I wouldn’t get it again but luckily, Salsa and Agave has a lot more drinks to try for next time.

How does it compare to La Taqueria? Well, apart from the disappointing grilled beef, I liked each one of my tacos and surprisingly, the vegetarian one equaled the beef tongue for me. The fillings were quite a bit more substantial than La Taqueria but I think I enjoyed the flavors at La Taqueria more. Salsa and Agave is also a bit cheaper as four tacos will only set you back $8.50 ($2.25 for my soda). To be honest, you really can’t go wrong either way and with another authentic Mexican restaurant in the Vancouver area, you have no excuses to be going to Taco Bell!

To find out where we’re going next week, you can usually find the announcement on Twitter on Thursday or Friday. You’re always welcome to join us for some food and conversation.

It’s getting to be that time again…Oscar season…when all the awards hopefuls release so that they’re fresh in the memory of Academy voters for the March 7th ceremony. Sure, we might get some clunkers that think Best Picture means boring but we’re also treated some some of the best movies of the year around this time. If the Golden Globes are any indication, we’ve already seen two of the best films earlier this year in Inglourious Basterds and The Hurt Locker. Hoping to join them is Brothers, a subtle but powerful drama about family, inner conflict and psychological turmoil in the face of war.

Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is preparing for what we can only assume is a second, possibly third tour of duty in Afghanistan, leaving behind his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and two young daughters. However, just before he leaves, he does his brotherly duty and picks up Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), the trouble-maker of the two, from the prison where he had just been released after a doing a bid for armed robbery. Tommy is obviously the black sheep of the Cahill family. His father, a military man himself, mostly looks at him in shame after comparing him to his upstanding brother.

Shortly after arriving in Afghanistan, we receive word that Sam has gone down in a helicopter crash and is presumably dead, shocking his young family at home. Grace in particular is just devastated but handles the situation with strength to be there for her girls. Tommy, in the meantime, has done his best to stay out of trouble and is also hit hard by Sam’s death. He also sees how difficult this has been for Grace so he helps her out around the house and plays fun uncle for the girls. As you can probably anticipate, the two grow closer as time goes on.

However, Sam, as you can see in the trailer, hasn’t died and was taken prisoner by the Taliban, tortured and forced to do unspeakable acts before he is rescued and returned home. The rest of the film delves into the mental prison of paranoia and guilt that Sam has confined himself to and how it affects his family.

Directed by Jim Sheridan, Brothers is a compelling drama about family and war, about how Sam’s disappearance affects his family. The film is very restrained and subtle. With subject matter like this, it is very easy to turn it into a sob-fest but Sheridan chooses to show emotion implicitly, setting up some amazing performances by the entire cast. Natalie Portman shows a great deal of maturity in a motherly role and Jake Gyllenhaal is authentic and honest in his role as a wayward brother and son trying to be his best for his family. However, this is Tobey Maguire’s film as he delves deep, bringing forth a darkness and fear that we have never seen from him before. I’m not talking about the sort of emotional conflict he has as Black Spider-man in Spider-man 3. This is a very real, very frightening take on a broken soldier by Maguire, something that, sadly, probably manifests itself in military men and women more often than we’d like to think.

However, the main cast is not the only people in the film that take it to another level. The Cahill daughters, in particular, are amazing and their performances mark some of the best acting I’ve ever seen by children. There are whole scenes where the action is conveyed simply by stares and facial expression and the dialogue is reduced to the background. However, although you feel like you’re watching something special, Brothers is missing a bit of that x-factor. Although it runs for 110 minutes, it seems surprisingly short with much of the real action occurring in the later third of the movie and you feel that there are scenes missing from the film.

Overall, there are flaws but this is a great movie and despite being one of the better movies about the modern war, it isn’t limited to a 21st century setting. Is this on the nomination list for Best Picture? It’s hard to say since there have been so many amazing films this year but it definitely deserves a spot on the short list. Along with The Hurt Locker, Brothers may just be one of the best movies about the human cost of warfare.

Verdict: 8.5 out of 10

I’ve eaten in a lot of strange and interesting places. I’ve eaten in restaurants that are more than ten times older than me. I’ve eaten things that can could possibly kill me…and yes, the Dot Com Pho crew and I once ate out of toilets in a weird but strangely delicious restaurant in Taipei. Well, now you can add senior’s home to that list.

No, you read that right. Hi Genki is a Japanese restaurant located in the “lobby” of an old folks home or extended care facility. I had no idea that this sort of place existed so you can imagine my surprise when I rolled up to a place that houses a lot of seniors and wondering where the restaurant was. I even brought my full DSLR kit to take pictures as low light performance on most point-and-shoots is horrible and most restaurants regardless of what they serve have dim mood lighting. Instead, I was greeted by the florescent flicker and wondered exactly what my former co-workers had gotten me into for our reunion dinner.

It was a little unsettling since I usually associate food in a hospital setting as being…mass manufactured and terrible so I tweeted out asking if anyone has ever eaten at Hi Genki before and the unanimously positive reactions put my mind at ease. People raved about the simple, no frills Japanese homecooking available at reasonable prices.

As such, nothing that we had that night was particularly interesting but everything tasted like a friend’s Japanese grandmother had cooked it for us. My nabeyaki udon lacked some of the extras that I might get at a bigger restaurant but the flavors were all there, the poultry and seafood tasted fresh and the rustic preparation was perfect. Hi Genki is owned by the Fujiya chain of Japanese markets so the ingredents are of good quality. My only real complaint is that they gave me a flat metal spoon rather than an Asian soup spoon which made it significantly more difficult to eat my noodles.

My friends all said about the same things about their meals. Delicious and satisfying.

We were all rather intrigued by the deep fried ice cream but only one of us actually ordered it. I was rather full so I passed but I’ll probably go back to try one. This is ice cream that is covered in what appear to be crushed corn flakes and briefly deep fried. I’ve eaten all kinds of unconventional fried foods like bananas or even milk but ice cream sort of blows my mind as…well, it melts. As you can see, it does stay intact throughout the process. Very interesting, indeed.

So if you’re looking for a nice, homestyle Japanese meal, give Hi Genki a try…and let me know if you order that ice cream tempura.

I feel at this point there’s no need for me to introduce you to this movie, which is possibly one of the biggest of the year, the decade…possibly ever. The hype machine has been busy with this one and rightfully so as James Cameron’s first movie in over 10 years simply looks like no other movie before it.

Avatar opens with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic marine, arriving on Pandora, an alien planet, after his brother’s death. In the year 2154, we can assume Earth is a barren wasteland which drives privatized military companies to seek out alien worlds that the can extract resources from. The resource in question here is the ridiculously named “unobtainium” (seriously couldn’t think of a better name there, Cameron?), which unfortunately lies under the sacred ground of Pandora’s indigenous people, the Na’vi. The more militant of the humans decide to take this by force while the scientists recognize the value in the knowledge that can be shared with the planet’s inhabitants. Jake, predictably, is stuck right in the middle.

The science team, led by Grace (Sigourney Weaver), traverse Pandora via “avatars”, which are basically home-grown alien bodies, produced from a mixture of Na’vi and human DNA that allow a human to remotely control the body and better survive the harsh climate and terrain of Pandora. I don’t remember how that goes but despite the lush, tropical environment, Pandora’s atmosphere lacks sufficient oxygen for humans. Soon, a routine exercise finds Jake lost and stumbling across the home team on their own turf.

I won’t spoil any more of the plot for you but honestly, there isn’t much to spoil. While Avatar has been gestating in James Cameron’s head for the last few decades, the story has been told several times in similar movies such as Dances with Wolves and The Last Samurai. It’s a simple story but one that we never really tire of being told. There’s plenty to grab onto here and much of the dialogue is designed to push your sympathetic buttons.

Cameron actually wanted to make this film years and years ago after he saw the way George Lucas made Star Wars. However, he didn’t want his film to look like a bunch of people in costumes or small scale puppets. He wanted the aliens to come to life and be seen in the same way that we might view real life. It was an ambitious project and one that would need to wait decades for technology to catch up. In fact, Cameron influenced the design of the Sony camera system on which Avatar was shot.

The result is…well, there’s no other way to say this…it is awesome. From the moment the movie begins right to the last scene, the visuals look bloody spectacular and there is no scene in the entire film that doesn’t take advantage of the 3-D wizardry. From start to finish, you’ll be saying “WOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!”. There are some slower sequences where the dialogue isn’t very interesting but even then, there is something to look at and be amazed by. The Na’vi themselves are just gorgeous to behold and if you didn’t know better, you’d think Cameron found a cast of basketball players and supermodels and painted them blue to play his tall, agile and graceful aliens. Pandora itself also looks fantastic with a bright and diverse palette of colors and unique lifeforms everywhere. Cameron hasn’t simply created a generic alien planet with a generic alien race. He has created a lush, vibrant world and a unique and detailed people complete with an actual language and history.

I couldn’t find some of the better looking stills from the movie on the internet but…I probably wouldn’t post them anyways. Nothing should spoil the wonderful visuals in this film.

While the storyline is nothing new, the cast makes the best of what they’re given and puts on a great show. Worthington, who we first saw in the absolutely horrible Terminator: Salvation does a great job of being the hero. He seems to be the type to take the hammer and brute force approach to everything but demonstrates his inner conflict and transformation well as the story moves on. Weaver is the best she’s been in years in a supporting role and Stephen Lang is a badass as the colonel in charge of the military operation. However, the person that really steals the show is Zoe Saldana (who we also saw in this year’s Star Trek reboot) as Neytiri, the hunter princess of the Na’vi. It’s strange to say this as we know she’s on a green screen somewhere wearing a suit of lightbulbs but the performance she puts on is just amazing. She’s a kickass warrior but displays so much sensitivity and tenderness as well. I’d go as far as to say that if she was actually on screen without the special effects magic, she’s be attracting a bit of Oscar buzz.

It’d odd but watching Avatar, you can’t help but understand why Jake is attracted to the Na’vi people and their way of life. Their affinity with nature, their nobility, honor and sense of community is a beautiful thing to behold and it is strange that we can see more humanity in 10-foot tall, blue-skinned creatures packing bows and arrows than the actual humans in the movie.

Avatar is not the best movie of the year…it doesn’t have a strong enough story to make it a truly compelling film. However, what it has is a whole new method of film-making, one that has produced possibly the most gorgeous looking movie we’ve ever seen. This is as much a turning point in film as the addition of color and I cannot possibly recommend this enough to everyone. You must see Avatar…and when you do, make sure you get it in IMAX with some of those ridiculous looking glasses.

Verdict: 9.0 out of 10

This week features me more than usual, actually, with my thoughts on the ridiculous new flight regulations regarding carry-on luggage in the wake of the attempted terrorist attack on a Detroit flight on Christmas Day as well as my opinion about eating delicious, delicious meat. Stephen Fung shows off his plan to circumvent carry-on regulations with a jacket and a few other things.

Don’t mind me, I’m just leaving some milk and cookies out for Santa.

I wish you and yours all kinds of happiness this holiday season. Thank you for another year of hanging out with me here on my blog. Everyone stay safe out there in the wet and cold and may you get everything you asked for this year.

Merry Christmas!

- Ed

(image resized and borrowed from Life’s Ambrosia)

There’s a lot of fun to be had in the kitchen and I don’t just mean water and/or food fights. I’m sure by all my restaurant posts you’ll have figured out that I love to eat great food but I can cook decently as well. With The F Word back on, I was a bit inspired to try my hand at cooking one of the dishes the angry chef himself made way back in season 2 (we’re currently on 5). This was also somewhat brought on by a short discussion over on ChowTimes as to the current “in fashion”-ness of pork belly. As I said there, bacon never goes out of style.

Most people are scared by the fat content when it comes to pork belly and with the health consciousness these days, it’s almost ridiculous to make something that you know isn’t particularly good for you. However, nearly everything that’s awesome is probably bad for you. Yes, there is a large layer (perhaps two) of fat in pork belly but a good majority of it melts away as it slowly cooks and if it is excessive, you can always cut it away before eating. Never cut fat away prior to cooking as that is basically what keeps meat moist and flavorful. Ever cooked a steak that’s just too lean? Found it was flavorless, dry and chewy, did you?

Pork belly is amazingly cheap and abundant since it is basically bacon prior to being sliced and processed. This piece I got was less than five bucks and large enough for two portions. It’s also amazingly easy to cook. This particular way is easy with very little prep and you don’t need to do very much at all but there is a lot of waiting around.

Score the top in a cross pattern with a sharp knife and season with salt and pepper. I also sprinkled some dried thyme on top.

Cut a couple cloves of garlic in half and put them in a tray with some fresh sprigs of thyme. The pork belly goes on top of that, raised off the bottom of the pan which will keep the meat moist and prevent it from getting burned on the bottom. I chose just to use a regular pan since my pork belly wasn’t big enough to justify bringing out the big roasting pans. Dump in a splash of white wine (I was rather generous with it) and place in the oven at medium heat. Medium as in 170C or 340F. Bake for two hours.

In two hours, it comes out looking like this. It’s cooked all the way through but it isn’t quite done yet.

Put the pork in a different pan and put it back in the oven. Crank the heat up to about 500F and cook for another 15 minutes or until the top layer is crispy.

To make a sauce, deglaze the pan with more white wine and reduce. Add chicken stock and reduce again. Make sure you scrape all the bits on the bottom and get all that slow roasted garlic mashed up. Pour through a strainer.

If you look at a cross section, you’ll see that the fat is mostly melted off and all the flavor is in the meat. There is a bit left between the two layers of meat which you can easily remove if you want. Of course, Ramsay’s recipe has you compressing the pork and putting it in the fridge overnight before returning it to a 500 degree oven. I did that with half of my pork belly and it makes a bit of a difference. Mostly it makes it easy to prepare ahead of time since two hours is a long time to cook.

Serve with a robust green veggie or some potatoes. I chose to caramelize some brussels sprouts (my new favorite veggie) to go with it.

It’s a slow cooking process but it is quite easy for just about anyone to do. Heck, this was my first time even trying and well, look at that incredibly moist and delicious bite up top.