Yaletown is a relatively new neighbourhood located in the south part of downtown Vancouver just north of False Creek. Considered fairly trendy and now filled with many high rise condominiums, Yaletown was converted from a former warehouse district in the late 1980′s. Today, you’re more likely to find restaurants, cafes and stylish furniture stores than warehouses.

I think that one of the things that I’ve always liked about Yaletown is that so many things are right there. Barb and I have often thought about how it would be so cool to be living in a highrise Yaletown condo with a great view of the mountains or False Creek. Within steps from our home would be parks, restaurants, grocery stores, the water and cafes. How great would that be?

So why aren’t Barb and I living in Yaletown now, you might ask? Well it might have something to do with the punishing commute I’d have to contend with out to Langley where I work.

I guess for now, we’ll have to be happy with living in south Vancouver and enjoy the occasional trips to Yaletown when the opportunity presents itself.

Baden

The method that I was taught for making brioche dough involved letting it rest in the fridge overnight so it takes a bit of planning to have it for Sunday breakfast like we did this morning. The fact that it was Mother’s Day and Barb’s mother Ruth was with us made it worth the effort to put the dough together last night and bake it this morning.

Slightly yellow in colour (no doubt a result of the egg yolks), brioche have a much richer taste compared to other breads and served warm with apricot and blackberry jam as we did this morning just doesn’t get any better. For the moment, you have to forget about how much calories you’re eating and just enjoy!

Brioche dough can be formed into any shape desired but are commonly made in brioche pans (see picture) into brioche à tête. The “à tête” means “with a head” referring to the small ball at the top.

I’ve seen seen non-stick coated or silicon flexible types of brioche pans but I prefer the bare metal ones, liberally coated with butter (what else) so the brioche practically falls out of the pan once out of the oven. I’ve found that 8 or 10 cm. size pans are perfect for individual servings.

Along with the jam, one can only eat a few brioches as they’re so rich. It’s not something I could eat every day but on a special occasion like Mother’s Day, it’s perfect.

Baden

Commercial Drive is famous as the heart of the Italian neighbourhood of Vancouver. Near the corner of 2nd Ave. and Commercial (or “the Drive” as it is known) resides Cafe Calabria which happens to be Barb and my favourite cafe in Vancouver. We first stumbled upon Calabria by chance about 10 years ago while looking for a place with some atmosphere to relax and have a nice latte after going downtown for dinner. Since that time, we’ve been to Calabria many more times and make a point of taking any friends or family members with us there wherever we’re nearby.

It has to be the unique atmosphere that keeps us going back to Calabria. Imagine a cafe setting of small round tables surrounded by replica statues of David, Venus de Milo and the like. Add a painted ceiling similar to Michaelangelo’s Sistene chapel then about 50 black and white photographs of famous Italian personalities (Dean Martin, Rudolph Valentino and so on) around the cafe.

If the atmosphere wasn’t enough to entertain, the coffee definitely is. For all of the times that we’ve been there, we have had a special coffee drink about 99% of those visits. Our favorite drink is called a gelato con espresso. Imagine a large mug of rich Italian gelato (ice cream) covered with a cup of hot espresso. To say that the drink is simply good would be a huge understatement. We have introduced the gelato con espresso to at least 20 other people who have joined us at Calabria and without exception, there has been unanimous enjoyment.

With any luck, we may just be able to make another visit tonight.

Baden

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Cafe Calabria
1745 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
604-253-7017

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Of course when I say “we” have received confirmations, I really mean Barb and my sister-in-law Liz and not me or my brother Peter. This is a slight distinction but important nonetheless as Barb and Liz will be quick to tell anyone that they are doing the trip planning and Peter and I have, how shall we say, a less involved role. This role generally involves listening to the travel recommendations that Barb or Liz have done and nodding approvingly. All things considered, I think that we’re doing our part.

Some of you will know that the four of us planned on going to Italy in 2002 and were in exactly the same stage as we are now with flight tickets in hand and accommodations booked. Unfortunately we ended up cancelling the whole thing as Barb went in for surgery in August. Barb and I ended up going to France that year (see our Excellent French Adventures) and we have tried to rebook the Italy trip with Liz and Peter every year since. Hopefully, two times a charm in booking this Excellent Italian Adventure.

Our three week agenda will start us off in Rome then move down to Sorrento (just south of Naples) for a few days. We will then move north for our stay in a Tuscany villa near the town of Barberino Val D’Elsa. We will end our trip in the city of Milan where we will use that location as a base to tour the surrounding lakes region.

The only remaining part of our trip planning will be to do some research on what we will want to do and see in each of the four locations that we will be staying in. The day to day details. In the last few trips that Barb and I have made to Europe, I have always tried to arrange to do something a bit different and non touristy to get a taste of the real culture of a city or country. Be it either attending a Réal Madrid football match in Spain or scouring the sewers under the streets of Paris, there is always something unique to be done in every country – one just has to discover it.

For those of you who have been living without electricity for the past few months, you probably are aware that the Pope died recently and a new Pope chosen. This whole process was of great interest for us not so much from a religious perspective but from a travel one. You see we were really worried that if the Pope John Paul hung on until September that when we were going to go to Rome we might have been met with the same million extra visitors there at the same time we would be there.

Yes, sadly the timing of the death of the spiritual leader for a billion or so Catholics ended up being good for our travel plans.

Until next time…

Baden

Goto the next episode of Making of an Excellent Adventure 2005

This was the second try at making this split pea soup which was provided to me by my friend Angie courtesy of her mother. Angie had been the source of the highly regarded Spicy Caribbean Chicken Soup and this one is just as good.

If there’s one ingredient that really makes this soup work, it has to be the smoked ham flavour. From the very first few steps of making this soup, the smoky taste is infused into the broth and carries through right until the end. The ham and split peas just seem to be a natural combination and both compliment the other very well.

While the soup takes lots of hours to make from a start to finish perspective, there’s actually very little real work involved. Most of the hours are consumed just letting things simmer.

Angie passed on this recipe to me which she said was originally her Mum’s. While I’m curious about the origins of this recipe, I dare not ask as I want to maintain my impression that it has been in Angie’s family for generations – carefully passed down from mother to daughter over the years. I’ll be disappointed to learn that Angie’s Mum lifted the recipe out of a woman’s magazine last month.

While I have made some minor changes to the recipe, I’ll give all of the credit to Angie and her mother for the Easy Palese Split Pea Soup recipe here (or an unnamed woman’s magazine as the case may be).

Baden