Swiss bakery

Swiss bakery on main and 2nd is a small bakery located in an industrial area. They offer lots ot baked goods that you don't see at other Valerie.

I tried the peach danish and chocolate croissant. I loved the fluffy and light texture of the croissant. It was much lighter than the ones at Cobbs bread.

The peach danish had a fluffy and crunchy outside with the peach and custard filling at the center. I loved that as a whole the pastry was light and not overly sweet, a perfect compliment to any beverage.

The bakery also has a large selection of cakes. They also offer sandwiches served on artisan bread. Unfortunately there was no soup available during the weekend. I will definitely come back to try some of the cakes.

What l liked:

• Lightly airy pastry
• Peach danish lightly sweetened
  

What I didn't like:

• Location was hidden
• Not a lot of seating room

Sea Cider Victoria

An apple cider winery. Lovely scenery and specializes in just ciders as the name suggests. They offer 9 different ciders, ranging from light to strong dessert ciders. Some are effervescent like beer, others taste more like white wine.

The full flight tasting offer best value and lets you try all the ciders on the list.

Sunflower seeds offered as a side dish to complement the cider.


We loved the beautiful ocean view. What better way to spend the time sipping cider than sitting out on the patio.

The Muse bistro and winery

We arrived here today at 11:30 to be the first lunch guests. Located at Victoria, close to the ferry terminal(about a 10 min drive). Menu is simple and priced competitively.

We ordered both the sandwiches on the menus, chicken and vegetarian. each is served with the soup of the day potato peek with bacon.

The soup was creamy and flavorful. we love the vegetarian flathread as of was toasted to perfection and the combination of peppers and avacados was delish.

All in all food was good, and the best part was the scenery.

Beginner Cheese making Workshop

UBC Farm offers classes from time to time from their affiliates that teach people about local foods and produce. One of these courses is a Beginners cheese making workshop. Being the cheese fanatic that I am, I was dying to go to this workshop. Most classes are offered during weekdays, but we were fortunate that this class was offered on the weekend.

Located at the Tapestry Residence out at UBC, the class size is small, around 15 people. These classes are very popular and normally sell out very quickly.

David the instructor is very knowledgeable about the cheese making process and will also give you practical tips to make cheese at home.



Heating the milk to make paneer.


After adding the vinegar, the milk begins to curd.



The finished product. Top: Paneer with garlic added. Bottom: Paneer pressed into shape with two yogurt containers.




Heating the milk to making Rennet cheese.



Rennet cheeses includes Camembert. The cheese does not need to be pressed, but does need to be flipped every 12 hours for it to be shaped properly.



The remaining cheese curds are brought to a boil in whey in order to turn it into squeaky cheese.


Yogurt cheese. Made from hanging yogurt and letting the whey drip out.

What I learned from this class is some ways to make simple cheeses. The teaching is easy for me to follow and the hands on demonstration teaches me what to look for when the curd is setting. I would love to try this again at home and if everything goes well I will go back for a second class.

Hotel Vancouver high tea

Thanks to a group buy site, I landed a high tea for 2 at $36.

At current cost levels, how can this go wrong? Located at the lobby of hotel Vancouver. The high tea area is located behind the bar area.

There is a good selection of around ten teas. Service was fast and friendly. The fine china and plush chairs also added to the high tea experience. Despite it being located in the lobby of the hotel, the experience was relaxing and the noise level was low.

Tray from top: four raisin scones served with Devonshire cream. Two lemon tarts. Two raspberry mouse squares. Fresh strawberry slices. The Scones were my favorite with the cream. I found the crust for the lemon tarts to be too thick for my tastes.

Bottom tray: Two mini croissants with black forest ham and brie, two Smoke salmon on rye bread, two curried chicken on white bread, and two cucumber sandwiches.

Imo the curried chicken was lacking depth, the curry powder was the only thing that we tasted. I liked the brie and ham combination better as there was more depth in flavor and contrast of textures.

What we liked:

• The atmosphere and attention to details. Nice chinaware and tea selection
• The location : convenient downtown location
• Reasonable portions

What we don't like:

• Lack of originality : The selection was reasonable but predictable. Many hotels offer high tea downtown. It is difficult to differentiate from the competition.
  

Given that its original pricing is $36, this is at the middle of the pack. Sutton place hotel offers a $26 high tea that has a better selection of sandwiches and dessert ( although its tea selection is limited). If the tea is your highlight, then Urban Tea Merchant offers a more luxurious tea selection as well as a selection of price points for different types of tea service.

Macdonald's third pounder

My boyfriend was dying to try the new burger at McDonald's, so I humored him and tried it as well. McDonald's new third ponder is smaller than we expected. We got this during the 50% off special at $2.78.

The bun has a nice firm texture. The burger is less salty than the other burgers. Flavor is dominated by mayo and mushroom. Not necessarily a bad combination but reminiscence of greasy Jack in the Box burger. We ordered the Swiss and mushroom burger. The patty itself actually resemble meat instead of the usual dry grey cardboard serve at McDonald. He thinks the Angus burger can finally trump the gristle burger at Dairy Queen.

What we liked:

• Nice bun with good texture. Am improvement from their existing buns
  
• Mushroom and swiss option was a good variation
  
• Lots of mayonnaise
  
• Meaty patty

What we did not like:

• Expensive for fast food. Over $5 for the burger at regular price.
  
• So much mayonnaise, it can kill you ( This coming from a guy it says a lot)
  
• Where is my veggie? Mushroom is not officially veggie in my book (This was his comment as well)
  

Chef hung taiwaneese beef noodle

Located in Aberdeen center, this restaurant advertises to have won multiple awards for the best beef noodle in Taiwan. Upon arrival, the decor feels welcoming and the restaurant design is quite spacious. There is an open kitchen at the front of the restaurant.

For the side dish we chose The spicy beef tendons. For 5.95, it was quite expensive given the small portion. The tension did not taste spicy at all. The most spicy was the sliced chilies on top. Standard fair.

For our mains we ordered two noodle dishes. First is the champion braised beef shank, tendon and tripe with noodle soup. We choose the thick noodle. The noodle arrived in a timely manner. The noodles looked like fresh noodles, however the noodle shape was inconsistent in both width and thickness. First impression, my counterpart described it as tasting like Chef Boyardee. At first taste it seems the soup is pretty light, but there is a can soup aftertaste that reminds him of Chef Boyardee.

The second noodle is the champion braised beef shank with noodle in tomato soup. The description indicates that red yeast is used in dish. I do not believe I have seen that anywhere else. I give them points for originality. Imho this version of the noodle did not use a lot of soup stock. It seems they went with less salt but more msg. I was very very thirsty after the meal. The sweetness from the soup tasted like it was from sugar, and I could not taste much of the tomato flavor. I was somewhat disapointed as I was looking for more of the sourness from the tomatoes.

For drinks, we ordered a taro milk tea. Given that this cost $4, the drink was made from instant powder. I was kinda looking for a larger cup than what was they served.

Given the prices we paid, I would have expected the soup noodle to be served at least in glass bowls. Instead everything was serve in plastic dishes, including the taro milk tea. The only ceramics on the table were the 2 glass of hot tea. How is this a better dining experience than the food court at the other end of the mall that serves noodle dishes at much lower prices?

What we liked:

• The braised beef shank was cooked to perfection. Tender but not overdone
• The location. Aberdeen is conveniently located close to public transit and has lots of people flow.
• The noodle was not overcooked.
  

What we did not like:

• The price was expensive. Given the choice of restaurants and the food court nearby, this restaurant was not that busy during Saturday lunch hour.
• Please no plastic bowls. Not that I am worried about BHP levels, but the plastic bowls was not doing anything for the restaurant image.
  
• The MSG. I was still drinking water a good 2 hours after lunch.
• The noodle had a weird oily texture.