Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year, a festival celebrated in China, Japan, Vietnam, heck, all over Asia and in North America. It’s a time for cleaning house, settling debts, lighting crazy chains of firecrackers and spending time with family and friends eating good food.
If the clan’s coming and bringing their appetites, the perfect food to serve as a starter, side dish or snack with tea are dumplings. Known as jiaozi in Chinese, gyoza in Japanese and pot stickers by people walking around Wallmart, these little pockets of perfect are traditionally eaten at New Years celebrations to bring future wealth (their shape resembles Chinese gold ingots). Read More
Last weekend Vancouver’s spiffy new convention center played host to a veritable pantheon of celebrity chefs, food product artisans and industry professionals. For a couple bucks you could spend a couple days nibbling handmade cheeses, haggling over sous-vide machines, watching local chefs out-garnish each other and wander around tastefully buzzed on local wines. The 
This is a recipe that Hiro and I dreamed up way back in October during preparation for my Red Seal exam. I knew that I had to cook a salmon fillet in a short period of time, showcase seasonal and traditional Westcoast ingredients ‘n flavours while remaining true to my Japanese training. Nothing says Westcoast like smoked salmon, but there didn’t seem to be enough time… “Syunkon” said Hiro, meaning “moment”, “flash” or “instant” in Japanese. What if the salmon was seared first, then given a moment’s rest in a smoker? Well I’ve got a bombed-out old wok I never use, let’s see… 
Taking center stage at this year’s Yule festivities was a very Germanic looking