Pizza at Home

I've made pizza crust before, but once I discovered this frozen pizza dough, we've been using it each time we make homemade pizza, calzones, pizza pops ...

It is available at Dad's Organic Market and Koko Patisserie, and we like it because it's easy to use and only contains the following ingredients: organic flour, salt, extra virgin olive oil, water and yeast.

We picked up some pretty oregano at the Public Market in Vancouver, and it made a nice addition to our veggie pizza.  It looks fresh, but it was dried like this:

It has a stronger flavour than regular dried oregano.

Topped with a trio of cheeses ...

And into the oven.

Do you make pizza at home?  

Do you usually make or buy the dough/crust?

3 Local Restaurants

We haven't eaten at home much lately.  On Thursday we visited one of our very favourite restaurants in town, Bombay.  The owner brought us out a little something to try before our food ... I'm not sure what it's called, but we thought it was light and crisp but soft (if that makes sense), and  it tasted great with the green chutney.

We shared the paneer pakora to start, and it was really good.

For the main course Christopher had garlic shrimp - yummm!  

I had my usual, chicken gorma with pashwary naan.

On Saturday evening Christopher's parents took us out for dinner to celebrate our birthdays.  We went to Grekkos.  I had the caesar salad, which was awesome!  It was super garlicky, which made me happy.  

My main course was the chicken cordon bleu, but I couldn't eat much of it since we the 'rents fed us too many delicious snacks before dinner ;-)  I took the leftovers home to eat the next day.

Sunday morning was another meal out - brunch with Vicki at Fireside.  My frittata was loaded with mushrooms, spinach and banana peppers.

  

What is the last restaurant that you went to?

Random Eats

The rest of our meals in Vancouver were pretty simple.  We had pizza a couple of times:

Coffee from Cafe Artigiano a couple more times:

We shared a sandwich in China town:

And a giant chocolate chip cookie from the public market:

We ate breakfast in our hotel:

And snacked in a dingy pub:

 

 

Our breakfast on our way home (in the airport) included a couple sandwiches, a samosa, and coffee:

We had a great getaway to Vancouver and look forward to visiting there again one day.  But before that, we have some other places to check out, such as Denver, and somewhere in Canada that is east of Winnipeg (neither of us have been east of Winnipeg ... I know, I know ...)

Do you have any getaways or vacations coming up?

Shu Raku, Vancouver

On Saturday evening in Vancouver we were in the mood for seafood.  We randomly chose a restaurant, and ended up at Shu Raku.  The lighting was terrible for food photography (I don't use flash), but I took a few shots.

To drink we had sake, of course.  It was the best sake I have ever had - very smooth, and made in Vancouver.

We shared two appetizers, including tempura:

And, one of the best things I've ever eaten, salmon tartar.

The tartar was served with seaweed "chips" which had tempura batter on one side.  The crispiness of the chips with the softness of the tartar was incredible.  Christopher's main course was sashimi five ways, and mine was ramen noodles with pork.

We assumed that the shrimp heads were just for decoration, but the server came by and asked Christopher if he was going to eat them, and offered to deep fry them.  Once deep fried they were similar to chips.  I tried a leg, and Christopher ate the rest, but couldn't eat their little faces/eyes.

Would you have eaten the eyes?  What is the "weirdest" thing you've eaten?  How was your weekend?  What did you do?

Meat & Bread, Vancouver

On Saturday in Vancouver we walked to a restaurant recommended to us, which has also been featured on the Food Network, called Meat & Bread.  This place was FANTASTIC, and we tried to go back again the next day, but it was closed (Sunday) :-(

It is a simple sandwich shop, that served up one of the most delicious sandwiches I've ever had.  We shared the daily special, which was smoked ham hock with poutine on it!  

I loved the presentation, and was very impressed with the juiciness of the meat - wow!

The decor was really cool as well ...

And we had to try the chocolate bar after reading the description:

We loved it.

Meat & Bread is a "must-visit" if you are ever in Vancouver, and you like meat and bread.  We'll definitely be back.