plus ones
the brunch city, heat wave faves, and eating an entire salmon
Greetings, earthlings. I didn’t write last week because I didn’t cook a single thing without dragging myself into the kitchen crying and whining about it, as one does from time to time. Jeff and I did have a nice trip to Victoria, though: a place where people are more insane about brunch than any city I’ve ever been to, except maybe Portland, Oregon.
We ate at Blue Fox Cafe, a place we both have fond memories of visiting before, but the last time we went there was over ten years ago and on a weekday and before 9 a.m., so we weren’t prepared for the 45-minute long wait in line. They have an extensive and interesting menu, and I treated myself to a mimosa along with my coffee, because I think if you wait almost an hour before you sit down to breakfast, you get to have a little extra beverage about it. The eggs benedict are served on bagels— incidentally, bagels made here in North Van— which is kind of a fun change, although they’re so gigantic and filling that I only made it a couple of bites into the second half of my chorizo benny.
The excuse for going to Victoria was a guitar show at the convention centre which Jeff was interested in and I was not, so while he was there I wandered around some used bookstores and consignment shops, and we met up again later on at the record store in Fan Tan Alley, eventually making our way to The Drake for a beer and a snack (both of us still too full from breakfast for a real lunch). The sweet & spicy nuts almonds are delicious, and the mustard that comes with the pretzel will definitely clear the sinuses. It’s a nice place to sit on a sunny afternoon, with wooden tables overlooking the square where buskers take turns playing music, and you can watch people pick through vintage sellers’ racks and bins of overpriced t-shirts and jeans and cargo pants (are those a thing again? thanks but no thanks).
Later, we met up with our friend Ray for a pub dinner at the Garrick’s Head, one of the oldest English pubs in Canada, which may or may not be haunted, apparently? After dinner, I suggested the nearby whiskey bar The Churchill, but instead Ray guided us to a speakeasy called Artemis, which also has an extensive whiskey list as well as a lovely assortment of cocktails. The interior was really cool, sort of a sexy retro-futuristic space theme, which of course made my little Trekkie heart go wild. I had a second cocktail— something I almost never do— because we were having such a good time, and returned to our hotel in a slightly altered state.
The next morning we met up with my brother Riley, his girlfriend Hanan, and her husband Nick for breakfast at Floyd’s in James Bay, where we sat on the warm, sunny, patio and did not have to wait at all (there was a line by the time we left, though). This is another place we ate at a long time ago and remembered enjoying, and I, for one, was pleased to be able to order a half benny so that I could also get a single plate-sized pancake on the side. The potatoes here are also perfect. Floyd’s has a menu item called The Mahoney, where for $23 you get an enormous and unhinged off-menu creation of the cooks’ choosing. They never make the same thing twice in a day, as a point of honour, and if you order it, you also have the option of flipping a coin to see if you get the dish free or if you pay double. My brother told us that he and four friends once all ordered it and all won their coin toss, and felt so guilty they ended up tipping as much as the meal would have cost.
Finally, on our way back to the ferry terminal, we stopped in Sidney to visit Small Gods, a new-ish brewery I discovered through cans at my local liquor store and was excited to check out in person. I’ve yet to try a bad beer from them, and they do a lot of interesting collabs, too. Give them a shot if you get the chance.
On Mother’s Day, we had some of Jeff’s family over for an early dinner in the yard. It was hot all weekend, so we opted for things we could put on the grill. We’ve had most of a salmon in the freezer for awhile; it was a gift from my aunt who was gifted more than she could ever eat by someone who’d caught a whole bunch. And since Jeff and I could hardly eat an entire fish by ourselves, this seemed like a good opportunity to thaw it out. We made one of the marinades I make often for tofu, maple and soy with garlic (we made a little tofu too for Natalie, who is vegan). At the old house, Jeff had acquired a package of cedar planks, and we finally used the last one here for the fish, giving it an amazing smoky flavour in addition to the salty-sweet marinade.
To go with it we cooked garlic-salted potatoes in a cast iron on the grill (they were perfect), and made the vegan caesar dressing from Isa Does It to use on grilled romaine hearts. This is another thing I make a lot in the summer, since it feels a bit more exciting sometimes than just making a salad. Cut the heads in half and grill at a high heat after brushing with dressing, just a minute or two per side, enough to soften the outer leaves and get a bit of char, but not enough to wilt the crisper core of the lettuce.
This dinner only used up half the salmon, so we spent another couple of days eating it in rice bowls with charred carrots and gim and cilantro, and fried rice with egg and mushroom, which was quite good, but I was also glad to be free of it once it was finally gone.
When it’s hot out, sometimes nothing hits like a dip dinner, especially one you can make without using the stove at all. We made instant pot hummus, and charred an eggplant on the barbecue for baba ganouj. The latter of these was a bit thinner than usual because I was making it from memory and forgot that I usually squeeze the extra moisture out of the eggplant flesh before blending, but seeing as we ate it all the night it was made, I don’t think we suffered too terribly. Usually I dust the tops with fresh mint and parsley, and smoked paprika, especially for the hummus (the baba ganouj is already smoky from the barbecue). I love flatbread with these, taftoon or pita being my go-to, but really you just need a vessel: crackers, tortilla chips, cucumber or carrot sticks, a crusty loaf of bread, whatever you’ve got to carry large amounts of it from the dish to your mouth.
Steph came over the other night to have dinner and watch Wrath of Khan with us, and since she loves eggplant and I had another one to use up, I made this pasta salad with sun-dried tomato walnut pesto and charred eggplant, which I make like every other week from May through September. I love it so much. It’s perfectly acidic with loads of flavour from the pesto, and the crispy little edges on the eggplant are so satisfying. I make it just a bit differently from the recipe, with more variety of herbs and some additional parmesan. I often throw in some kalamata olives too, but I left them out this time as Steph isn’t a fan. It’s very easy to eat way more of this than you really need to.
I made a couple of other nice pastas last week when I was lazy and we had almost no fresh food in the house. First, a quick tuna linguine with lemon and capers. It’s delicious with almost no effort: just toss a whole can of oil-packed tuna into a bowl, add some lemon zest, herbs, capers, and grated parmesan or pecorino, and toss it together with the noodles and a little pasta water and some olive oil if it needs it. I find there’s usually enough oil in the tuna can that it doesn’t. Fifteen minutes and then you can go right back to turning off your brain.
There’s just a slightly higher amount of effort involved in an herb & tomato brown butter pasta with sumac, from Milk Street: Tuesday Nights. Mix plain yogurt, lemon zest, and a mix of chopped mint/parsley/oregano in a bowl while the noodles cook, then brown some butter and add garlic, sumac, fresh oregano, and tomato paste to the pan. When the pasta’s done, mix it into the bowl with a little pasta water and then add the brown butter. I usually add a chopped tomato, or some grape tomatoes sliced in half just to stretch the dish a little bit and break up the texture. It’s really tasty and a bit different from an Italian pasta, so I really like when I basically have to make noodles because we have no other food and I remember this dish exists.
We’ve also been making some pretty good pizzas lately. Usually, this is our Friday night dinner, because it doesn’t involve a lot of thought now that Jeff’s habitually making the dough at the start of the week, and it’s easy enough to cobble things together to use for toppings regardless of how few groceries we have. Before we left for Victoria we just slapped the leftovers of the shakshuka onto one, which was excellent because it served as both sauce and toppings (the other one was pesto with kale and olives). And last week, we didn’t realise we were almost out of mozza until we’d already started making the pizzas, so we had to ration it a bit, adding feta to the one with olives and capers, and parmesan to the one with tomatoes and roasted red pepper. There are lots of herbs coming up in the garden, now, too, so I’ve basically been putting fresh oregano in everything and it’s great.
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