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Fairmont Hotels’ Culinary Apprentice Dinner

Posted in By Invitations, Culinary Events, Dinner, Joyce, Special Occasion, Vancouver, West Coast, Wine Pairing, tagged Coleen Christie, cook apprentice, CTV, Fairmont Chateau Whistler, Fairmont Empress, Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Fairmont Olympic, Fairmont Pacific Rim, Fairmont Vancouver Airport, Fairmont Waterfront, Salt Spring Island, Semifreddo, souffe on September 29, 2011| 2 Comments »

Through work I was among one of the lucky ~300 guests who attended the Fairmont Apprentice Dinner. This is a culinary debut of cook apprentices from seven Fairmont properties: Waterfront, Pacific Rim, Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver Airport, Chateau Whistler, Empress in Victoria and Olympic in Seattle.

The event was at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. We arrived to the champagne reception, only to disappointingly report to you that I didn’t get to try any of the canapes prepared by Fairmont Pacific Rim. There were way too many people and I only saw two banquet servers passing around the canapes. I didn’t mind, though, saved room for the actual dinner.

Food

Emceed by Coleen Christie of CTV, it’s a six-course dinner with wine pairing. Each of the other six Fairmont Hotels was responsible for one dish. Here they were:

Fairmont Style “Cobb Salad” by Fairmont Vancouver Airport
Pascual Toso Sauvignon Blanc

Fairmont Style "Cobb Salad" by Fairmont Vancouver Airport

Tomato & basil terrine was wonderful. It’s colourful, juicy, light and refreshing. The bits of house-made bacon was smokey and blended well with the lightly flavoured quail egg and tomato terrine. The pressed chicken confit was just right, not salty and it had a nice crispy skin. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the thin slice of bacon fat. It was quite greasy for my taste. Oh and the blue cheese.

Pressed Quail Terrine by Fairmont Chateau Whistler
Mission Hill Pinot Noir

Pressed Quail Terrine by Fairmont Chateau Whistler

Initially I thought the terrine would be very rich, but I was wrong. The meat was lightly seasoned, with the added crunch of pistachio. I appreciate the choice of using apricot chutney to pair with the meat. The sweetness of apricot and the dash of S&P, along with the walnut crisp was an excellent combo. There were some pepper sprinkled on the crisps, though, which made my lips tinkled as I bit through them. A weird sensation. (more…)

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Burger Juice Trickle at Tree House Cafe

Posted in Brunch, Cafe, Lisa, Lunch, Neighbourhood Gem, Vancouver Island, tagged burger, burger juice, cafe, fresh, salads, Salt Spring Island, tree house, tree house cafe on August 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Over the course of the year, I’ve been traveling from country to country, but nothing’s better than home. During one of my smaller trips, the bf and I visited Salt Spring Island for the first time.

It’s a small place, a few hours could get around the entire island. A place where there’s no such thing as strangers, a place where it’s almost douchebag free. Magical, right? Didn’t think the food would be very impressive, but boy was I wrong.

We were walking around town with a map in hand when one of the locals asked if we were lost. He suggested a few places for food, but insisted that we check out the cafe. He said it was one of the locals favourites around here and that it’s different.

Walking along the harbour area, we saw it. It’s a place that’s guaranteed to make you smile. The cafe reminds me of something that’s taken out of a Disney movie, a little cafe that encircles a tree. There was a charming sign hanging from above the door, a few patio seats, and no matter what hour, is always at least half full.

Entrance to the cafe.

The server we had was attentive, was there when we needed anything, and prepared us with a stack of napkins for what we ordered. An order of cheese burger with a spinach salad and an order of the deluxe burger with a Caesar salad. While we were waiting, we took some more pictures from the inside of the cafe.