Bahn Mi

Two years ago in Calgary, a friend took me to Thai Tai for a vietnamese sub, also known as Bahn Mi.  It's just a little chain fast food restaurant but it was so delicious.  Since then I have been wanting to eat it.  All the time.  But I didn't know where to get it in Edmonton until recently.

Before, the places you can get it here are a little more authentic instead of being a chain and, therefore, are not always as easily accessible unless you know what you're looking for.  Evenutally we found a couple places, and then a couple of months ago a little place called V Sandwiches opened up right next to my work in Rice Howard Way.  Awesome.

I recommend the beef satay.  It comes on a toasted baguette with cilantro and spicy mayo and pickled carrots.  But, if you are feeling even a little bit adventurous, then I recommend trying to make it yourself.  It's not that hard and the ingredients are pretty basic other than a few specialty things for the sauces.  I found a fun recipe that I tried the other day and it was easy.  You can link to the full thing with pictures here, or I have put the directions below...

For the chicken:
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2lb chicken thighs
1/2 cup coconut peanut sauce (see link or recipe below)


In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the lime juice, sugar, salt, and olive oil. Add the chicken and toss until well coated. Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes.


For the pickled carrots:
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/8-inch match sticks


In the meantime, whisk together the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a medium mixing bowl until dissolved. Add the carrots and toss until combined. Set aside to pickle for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

For the sandwiches:
2 baguettes, sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon siracha
1 bunch cilantro, bottom of stems removed

Brush a  pan with olive oil and heat. Grill the chicken in batches and then toss it together with the peanut sauce (see recipe below) in a medium mixing bowl.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise and the siracha. Season with a sprinkle of salt.

Toast the bread on a cookie sheet under the broiler for a few minutes until crusty. Spread mayo on bread. Add the chicken, then top with the carrots and a handful of cilantro leaves.


And for the peanut sauce...

Peanut Sauce
Makes about 1/2 cup

Ingredients
½ teaspoon oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, minced
½ teaspoon chili-garlic paste
1 cup low-fat coconut milk
3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
juice of half a lime
 

Marcel the Shell

I had a great weekend.  My friend Natasha was here from Seattle to hang her show at the Sugarbowl.  I might post about that tomorrow because everyone should go see it and buy something.  Other highlights included my sister returning from the west coast (YAY) and hanging out with a four-and-a-half pound dog!  Cute cute and more cute. 

 

Last night, we wrapped up the weekend with a yummy dinner made by the newlyweds Megan and Joel.  Conversation circled around whether they were officially grown ups now that they are married and have a nice place to live and can cook dinners for people together.  But then we started watching youtube classics and all of a sudden it didn't matter whether we were grown ups or not. 

 

If my friend Megan was a youtube video, I think she would be this Marcel The Shell (with shoes on) video that she showed us last night...

 

 

She is shockingly good at the voice.

 

Watching this youtube inevitably sent us on a revisitation of a few classics from this past here, so I figured it was worth sharing links to a few faves.  Two funny, and two cute.  Shane Sings 5 Octaves stands out head and shoulders above the rest though...

 

• Shane Sings 5 Octaves on the Piano: wherein Shane tries (and dare I say, fails) to sing five octaves. On the piano.  Worth it for his strained facial expressions alone.
• Double Complete Rainbow: I thought everyone had seen this but Megan saw it for the first time last night. 
• Happy House Lamb: oh my gosh.  I want a happy lamb. 
• Baby Bunny Eats Tiny Flower: Exactly what the title says it is.

Hipster Central

So in September I got to eat some really great french toast in Seattle.  Some genius decided to make a toppings bar with a crapload of fresh fruit.  Pretty  much the dream of everyone's life.

 Highlights of the Seattle trip included Natasha's hipster glasses (Seattle is full of hipsters and plaid, by the way) and watching her text.  When she lived here she was a vocal anti-cellphone type, so I really enjoyed watching her do it.  She was posing, trying to look distressed and bad at texting.  I think it worked.

 We spent a lot of the week just wandering and shopping, reading and eating deli take out food on the beach.  This is a cute garden shop in U-Village.  Below is a picture of my cute friends at the cute shop.

And, Tash graciously took us to the Pike Place Market several times.  They have the most amazing flowers there.  I wish we could get Dahlias easily in Edmonton.  Dahlias and Lavender are two seriously lacking things in our city.

We had a few really beautiful days and one of them just happened to be when we were down by the beach in Edmonds.  We took some cute pictures, but I like this one below because I was imitating Kerry's fake smile from one of the other photos we took. Good times.

Suuuuper Belated Hiking Adventures...

I saved up my annual vacation for the end of August and mid-September this year.  Let me tell you, January through August is a long haul to go without vacation.  But it was totally worth it.  Our all-women hiking trip adventure to the North Coast Trail on Vancouver Island was pretty much a dream come true and exactly what I needed, and then Seattle was faaan-tastic. 

Lots of beach walking, even more forest walking, and overcast weather, plus four of the best hiking companions of all time added up to one seriously awesome trip. 

Basically, we hiked five (six?) days on the remote tip of Vancouver Island and served as entertainment/comic-relief for the hard core arcteryx-sponsored family of hikers that hit the trail hours ahead of us every morning, and were in camp hours ahead of us each night.  We were too busy laughing to hike at a regular pace. I think they liked us.

It was pretty remote...we saw two bears on the beach where our water taxi dropped us off at the trail head, and there were several bear sightings, wolf sightings, and even a cougar (apparently) sighting by other groups, but I think we were a bit too loud for the wildlife, so they scrammed long before we got close enough to see them.

In conclusion, I loooove my sister and friends and everyone should do the North Coast Trail.  The end.

A biannual indulgence: a post about the dictionary and other such related things

The great thing about a blog is that I get 100% freedom to direct my own content.  This is why twice a year or so I indulge myself in a post that is dictionary-related.  You nerds out there may not care what this nerd is learning from the dictionary, but then again, you might.  The beauty of blogging is that I can float it out there without really having to worry about the negative impact that dictionary-focused blogging might have on my readership (hi Kerry and Joel!). 

So, today's post is brought to you by the hard copy of The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, The Chicago Manual of Style Online, and Dictionary.com

It's no secret that I love leafing through a hard copy dictionary.  At work I will often look up words and then spend a few moments scanning the pages before and after my original destination to see what other interesting things it might turn up.  So this morning, while I was cementing my understanding of the definition of the word 'egregious' (gross, flagrant, shocking, our outstandingly bad), I came across 'el cheapo' (cheap, inexpensive, of inferior quality, or a stingy person) which pretty much made my morning. 

For a relatively static document (at least compared to the ever-evolving internet) that has such an academic and sometimes stuffy feel to it, the dictionary actually does a surprisingly good job of keeping their finger on the pulse of popular culture.  They may be a few years behind on word trends, but they're doing a pretty good job of staying relevant.

Also on the lighter side of referencing materials, I find myself returning to the Q&A section of the Chicago Manual of Style website time and time again.  Every month, they answer people's questions on issues that may not be clear from a reading of the manual.  There is always a mix of genuine questions from people and questions that are coming from people who are clearly pretentious snobs.  And time after time, I am amazed at the way they humorously and effectively answer the questions and, when needed, knock the snobs down a few pegs.  I love them for it, because if anything I expected them to be the snobs.  I LOVE the people who answer the Q&As.  I want to be friends with all of them.  An example from last month's questions...

Q. If you have to call someone “Jeff-bear,” is the hyphen appropriate, or would “Jeffbear” suffice? The new Manual doesn’t say.

A. I’m sorry, but when we got to the term “Jeff-bear,” the Hyphenation Committee couldn’t agree and things started to get nasty, so we left it out. I’m afraid you’re on your own.


and another from the archives...

Q. I wonder which you think is best: Key Lime pie, Key lime pie, or key lime pie?

A. I’m actually partial to pecan, but if you’re asking about spelling, consult a dictionary: Webster’s 11th Collegiate prefers lowercasing, noting that “Key” is often capped.

Ha! 
 
And finally, I recently discovered that dictionary.com has a blog!  It's called the Hot Word Blog.  It's basically a playful forum for discussing all sorts of words.  Today's post is on the latest discovery of yet another word coined by Dr. Seuss. Enough said.  I like it.

The C-Line

As of October 8, 2010, the City of Edmonton has finally figured out how to get us a bus to the airport!  I'm sure it will have its share of challenges, but seriously, it was ridiculous how difficult it was to get out there (and expensive). Don't even get me started on the taxi licenses that prohibit drivers of the airport taxis from taking return passengers back to the airport.  ACK. 

Anyways, we now have something to Leduc called "The C-Line".  All it is is a bus that goes from Century Park LRT station out to the Edmonton International.  One step closer to actually becoming a visit-able city.  How can we hope to attract a full range of visitors to our City of Champions if they keep getting stuck in Nisku? 

I hope it works!

The Daily Good

There is a hard copy magazine called "Good" that has awesome design and quirky content.  One of their big things is to be all about sharing information in attractive and well designed ways that are both interesting to look at and easy to understand.  The first time I saw it I spent a long time reading an article about subway systems in major cities around the world.  That's a subject that could go either way in terms of interesting-ness, but it was so visually awesome that I really got into it.

Since I try not to subscribe to too many magazines (they stack up and I find it hard to get rid of them because I think of them as almost-books) I didn't sign up to receive the magazine, but I did sign up for "The Daily Good", which is basically one good thing a day, sent to your email account.  It's fun, and the things they send are surprisingly awesome and intersting, if not a little heavy on the bicycle news which is understandable since bicycles are generally awesome.

One of my favourites was this prototype of a station wagon bicycle.  It's funny and great all at once. In one of the pics it is even holding an adult as a reclining passenger.

I am a bicycle enjoyer and latent bicycle commuter.  Heavy emphasis on the latent.  But we won't talk about that.
I borrowed a pic here from designboom.com which I linked to above.  If you click through the link there are some images showing it in use, but here it is in all of its glory.  Think of all the excellent things you could do with this!