The Pandemic Pantry: Cooking Covid-19 Style, Days 1-16

Dear Nancylanders,

I hope your are feeling safe and nourished.  We're half a month into the physical distancing measures in Vancouver.  Here, restaurant dining rooms have been closed for a while, and you know this is one of my favourite pastimes, along with photographing the beautiful professionally-presented food.  So I decided that I would photograph my humble homemade meals to satiate the food photography lust in some way.  I figure that documenting the progression might also be fun because I imagined my meals getting more haphazard and weird as I run out of supplies.  I do eat three meals a day generally, but I've usually chosen the one meal that is most noteable from each day, as I don't want this post all filled up with shots of cereal and toast.  Having ramblings about sustenance here will also serve as another way to remember this historic time when we look back on it in the future.

I was also still sick for Day 1-3 and staying home anyway, so my Day 1 happened the day before our federal messaging switched from just staying 2m away from people to urging us to stay home as much as possible.  I recognize that I started a bit earlier than most.  I have also been a little more careful than the average Vancouverite, judging from the highschool teacher flashback moment from our usually diplomatic (some say to a fault) Prime Minister ("Enough is enough! Go home and stay home!" People were still gathering in crowded places, so I loved that clarity as I was getting tired of the yahoos who would be dragging this out longer for the rest of us.

I was prepped (as in mentally taking stock of my pantry, but not panic buying), but not completely mentally ready.  At least, I was not aware that I wouldn't be going back into work and not be out and about when I was leaving the office my last time.  I had Sun - Tuesday off as a long weekend, and I had been getting some extra groceries before I went home for my weekend in preparation, but still thought I'd be back at work on Wednesday.  I stopped by spontaneously to a Mexican restaurant that Saturday night and did think that it might be one of the last in-restaurant meals that I might have for a while. I had been thinking for a couple of weeks beforehand that I wouldn't ever starve with even just the supply of rice I have on hand.  Also, as my very last resort, I have a tonne of very tasty instant dehydrated meals that I bought for camping.  They are shelf-stable for a long time, so I will be saving those until I really need them.

I'll be updating in future posts.  Stay safe and in good spirits, everyone.  There's already a small possible indication that our efforts are starting to pay off here in BC, so keep up the good work, if you are doing the right thing.

Day 1: Sunday, Mar 15th, 2020
Unphotographed fresh guacamole and tortilla chips  (Photo from a previous dinner party)
Heavy on the avocado and cilantro, with onion, fresh lime juice, green onion, salt and pepper.

Day 2 and 3: Mon Mar 16th and Tue Mar 17th
Caesar salad with mixed beans, croutons, and Parmesano Reggiano shavings. Paired with The Nancy mocktail.
I heard that I would be working from home on Monday.  I remember thinking that eventually I would run out of the Reggiano. Also, this is my favourite home "mocktail" - half and half of orange pop and guava nectar over a glassful of ice.  An "accidental" discovery.

Day 4: Wed Mar 18th
Kickass Bean Salad
I don't usually like bean salad that much, but this mixed bean and macaroni salad with a red wine vinaigrette was fantastic.  I also finally opened a jar of green olives in my fridge that has been there for many years and they were great and a few are in there!  Aside from the last of my romaine lettuce, this is filled with pantry items, including my ever present bag of frozen corn.

I also prepared a quick Vietnamese style carrot and daikon pickle (do chua) so that it would ready the next day.  They are a bit thin for bahn mi, and I would prefer if my mandolin had an intermediate size, as the next size up seemed too big for me.  Will probably go with the big one next time.

Day 4:  Thu Mar 19th
Bahn mi inspired sandwich.
Super tasty, and with less than 24 hours of pickling.  Things seem a little more isolated when you start pickling.

Day 5: Fri Mar 20
Steamed dim sum
I was appreciating by this third day of working from home that I could use that time that I saved from commuting to really take my time with breakfast like I do on the weekends.  Here, I took the time to steam some items for breakfast.  These dim sum and other items were already in my freezer.  The animal bun is a pig egg yolk custard bun that lost his snout from a box that I purchased from a new Korean grocery store.  There's a slice of a bun filled with sticky rice and that was a frozen dumpling/dim sum items place in Richmond.  There's a purchased pork dumpling. The pork and mushroom patty and slices of duck meat were from my dad.

Dinner:  Corn egg drop soup, jacked up.
This is a childhood favourite that I haven't had for years.  Comfort food from mainly pantry supplies (besides the green onion garnish, which I try to always keep some growing in a pot. I wouldn't have had it as spicy and flavoured as a kid (Worcestershire, Tabasco, soy, fish sauce...).  There's canned corn, frozen corn, peas, daikon, carrots, and celery in there.

Day 6: Fri Mar 21
Miso soup and Japanese short-grained rice with tsukemono (Japanese pickles), furikake seasoning, and shredded nori.
The miso has wakame, carrots, daikon, and Chinese mushroom slices. Another comfort meal.

Day 7: Sat Mar 22
Onigiri with canned salmon filling. Sesame oil and furikake in the rice.
I finally got to try the onigiri holders that I bought at Oomomo in Richmond.  I've made onigiri before    with a piece of plastic wrap and shaping it with my hands.  That allowed me to get it more packed and stay together than what happened with these containers.  They will be great for packing them for work though.  I ran out of nori sheets, but I have ordered some from the supermarket delivery service that is coming.  I received a small LD delivery of pantry items on day 15, and will receive a large Save-On delivery with fresh items on Day 24.  

Days 8-12: Mon Mar 23 - Thu Mar 26
Unphotographed giant delivery from Spicy6 through Foodora bike delivery.  (Photo from Spicy 6's weekday lunch buffet from years ago).
I hadn't stocked up any fresh meat, so I figured I'd get a big order and live on it for several days as well as stashing some of the curries in the freezer (which later taste just as good as it does going in).  I had lamb rarra gosht, aloo gobi, butter chicken, chicken curry, naan (which I slathered with butter in the mornings), raita, rice, and daal makhni.

Day 13: Fri, Mar 27
Another dim sum morning, and I paired it untraditionally with milky orange pekoe tea (since I was making a btach of ice tea for the fridge).   Pig snouts are intact, and I found the previously missing snout on the side of the left piggy in the photo.  I was surprised at the quality of these packaged buns.  The egg yolk custard inside is beautifully golden and surprisingly runny.

Day 14: Sat Mar 28
Spaghetti with tomato sauce, mushrooms, and too much garlic. I made a huge batch of this and froze some too.

Day 15: Sun Mar 29
Congee with non-traditional toppings.
I put on top anything that I thought would taste good.  I didn't have any peanuts so I threw in a dollop of peanut butter to at least get the flavour (even if I was missing the texture.  Corn chips work beautifully instead of Chinese donut or other crispy things.  I don't keep pork fluff in the house, but the smokey taste of bonito flakes was great, along with some tsukemono.  I like my congee nice and thick.  I finally recovered from my flu and then sinus infection, but this is a great comfort food (but I would have been too tired to make this while sick anyway).  I actually think that there is a chance that I had Covid-19 starting on Mar 5, which would make me now immune and unable to transmit to anyone now, but without knowing for sure, I still need to comply with physical distancing.

Day 16: Mon Mar 30
Raclette cheese and tortillas, some with cilantro, green onion, and jalapeño.
I bought some raclette from Little Qualicum Cheeseworks when I visited in February. I really enjoyed their fresh cream cheese with cranberry and black pepper as well.

My Secret Taco Place - Molli Café on Burrard, at Davie

Four tacos is a good-sized meal for me

I stop at this unassuming coffee shop after work sometimes, and I love the wonderful tacos, tortas, and horchata.  I've even had a Mexican concha bun, though I haven't seen it every time.  I've also had the lamb soup that is only sold on Saturdays and it was very nice, but there are other soups throughout the week too.  Don't forget the nice sauces in the squeeze bottles, including spicy ones for your tacos and tortas.  But the owner hasn't let me forget as she has grabbed those and brought them over with the food.  I had the beef tongue torta, and it was delicious with nice crusty bread and a generous amount of avocado too.  My favourite taco is the pork one, and my personal least favourite is the chorizo one, but I'll eat all of them happily, and could easily eat all five types in one sitting.  They are done just how I like them with double corn tortilla and lots of cilantro and onion (depending on the taco), lime on the side, and tasty fillings.

Concha and horchata

Beef tongue torta

Taco close-up

Baklava

This Saturday lamb soup was take-out, shown in my own bowl

The offerings are an odd mix of Mexican and Persian because this place was first started up by a couple of originally from Mexico, and then sold to the Persian owner.  The original owners had, according to articles, actually had both worked at some of the world's best restaurants, both in Spain:  the famous El Bulli (now closed) and El Cellar de Can Roca, the latter being my absolute favourite restaurant in the world.  Unfortunately, I have never met those owners, but their dishes live on with the new owner, who exudes this wonderful warm hospitality.  It's as if you were visiting her home and she's happy to host you.  I think she cooks everything herself but they are open every day from 8am - 9pm.  I love that they are open in the evening though, but I wonder if she's always there, and can keep these hours up.  It's just off the busy Davie St. so it's not as noticeable as other places, including another taco place...I really hope that Molli Café gets enough business.

Of the non-Mexican items, I have only tried the Baklava.  These tacos might be my pick for the best in the whole city (squaring off with La Taqueria on Cambie St.), and it tickles me that it's in a place where you might pass by day after day (like I did, sadly) without even realizing that they serve Mexican food.  I wish I had found it sooner and experienced the place as it was first opened up, but I am glad to have found it now.  The vibe is super relaxing in there, with a couple of little tables on the street even, in the warm weather.  It's absolutely a great place to just have coffee and a pastry too, and relax alone, or chat with a friend.

Basically, it's a foodie dream - high quality, delicious, authentic food in a comfortable hideaway with amazing service.  The unexpectedness really makes it feel like a buried treasure foodie find.  It's so satisfying in many ways.  Tacos are not just for Tuesdays. 

A Super Hiro for Multi-course Tasting Menus in Vancouver

The same person that will blow a wad of cash on several small plates at a hipster restaurant will turn around and say that a tasting menu of the same number of dishes at a Japanese restaurant and same or even less cost is just too expensive.  This $65 omakase was good value for me. 

The food here is exquisite in flavour and composition, and I found it to be almost a therapeutic exercise in appreciating the purposeful design of each of the dishes.  The service was really amazing as well, and I loved chatting with the two women and the chef who came out often on this quiet stormy night.

I believe in your super powers, Hiro. Please continue your good work.

See below for my photos. Unfortunately, it's a bit fuzzy in my memory and I can't remember which fish was in each dish, but it was all wonderful in taste and texture. I'll go again soon.  

Potato Salad (which is very popular in Japan and in Korea)

Sashimi Course

Fish Close-up

The omakase included so many types of fish that I had never had.

Brie is melted on this fish dish.

The restaurant was empty on this stormy night with extreme winds.

These pieces of fried fish were served with a delicious broth, and the servers said that it could be poured in, or dipped in on the side or whatever I wanted. I tried both, and then I drank the rest of it. It was served in a beautiful mug with a handle after all, and I wouldn't have wanted it to go to waste.

The nigiri sushi was amazing and was topped delicately with other flavours as you can see. 

One of these was compliments of the chef.

Even the pickled ginger on the side was a bit different with some herb mixed in with it. 

Green tea mousse or something like that. Vanilla ice cream, berry sauce. 

Fast Food and Biscuits

New honey-butter biscuits

Just in case you have the impression that I only enjoy high-end food, here is some fast food that brought me perhaps a disproportionate amount of joy recently.  New to my area, here are the honey-butter biscuits from Church's Chicken.  There are other fast food companies, like KFC, that have biscuits in other areas, but don't include biscuits in their menu here in Vancouver because it's not really a thing here like it is in the south. Having lived in Georgia, I appreciate a good biscuit, and I'm I'm sure other Vancouverites would too. A new biscuit-centred restaurant named Chewie's Biscuits has recently opened in Kitsilano, but I haven't had a chance to try it, with their limited hours that conflict with my work schedule.  Plus the biscuit I'm looking for would be light and fluffy.  We have scones here which are sort of a dried out, harder, sweeter biscuit that people have at breakfast or with tea (though if they are done well, they don't have to be as dry and puck-like as they normally are).  

To be honest, the biscuits pictured above were not that light and fluffy compared to the style of biscuit in the south, and actually they were considerably shorter than those in Church's advertising photos, so it might have been an execution issue, but it was soft and airy inside, and the top is crunchy with that honey butter-glaze all over, and I honestly enjoyed it.  They kind of look like my latest attempt at making my own biscuits where they didn't puff like I wanted them to, but they were still tasty.  Maybe it's my scone heritage that allows me to embrace these (metaphorically, the honey-butter glaze would stick to everything otherwise).

Also, the chicken skin was so perfectly crispy this time.  I remembered to ask for all dark meat as the Main St. location seems to err on the side of overfrying in my past visits.  

My cat sniffing the biscuits for me.  She walked away afterwards.

Notch8 for an Elegant Sunday Brunch Buffet, Hotel Vancouver, Downtown

Let's buffet like it's 1999!  Diets weren't meant to last forever.  I had a very good holiday meal here.  My kind of New Year's fireworks?  Blowtorch flames on motoyaki sauce.

Chef Will Lew flaming the motoyaki sauce atop the customized egg and toast.

I found this Sunday brunch while I was looking for a buffet to lavishly celebrate the New Year with a feast and it fit the bill for me, even though it is a day early and in the afternoon.  I normally don't get to do Sunday brunch because of my work, so I was particularly excited for this and I took joy in studying the menu thoroughly ahead of time and even looked at some videos online in anticipation.

Customized egg on toast

I admit that I was already a fan of the restaurant and the Chef's creative ecosystem/nature themes, having dined there a couple of times before. I've also been eyeing the menus for the fantastically themed afternoon teas and hope to try one eventually. I loved meeting Chef at the egg and toast station.  There are many options to choose from, but I asked for the sous vide egg with smashed avocado and crab meat, and asked for anything else he thought would be good with that.  Pictured above, it also has some herbed cream cheese, salmon slices, and shrimp on there, topped with motoyaki sauce and torched.  One of my favourite things about dining out is experiencing ingredients that I have never had before or becoming more familiar with their distinct taste.  In this dish, the garnishes of micro shiso and arctic char roe did that for me. So now I know that I like cute baby red shiso which is milder than the grown-up green type. Fun! It's so nice when people are as friendly as the chef was and happy to answer questions.  I was also curious about the sous vide egg texture so I liked the opportunity to try it.  This one had a very runny yolk, so the technique is a bit lost on me since my personal preference is a thicker yolk anyway.  But I could see how effectively it can completely cook the white without cooking the yolk at all.  And I love this version of a buffet egg station because I'm much more of a poached egg person than an omelette person, so the sous vide eggs work well for this. And the end result is therefore more eggciting than an omelette which has become a standard at buffets. 

For me, the atmosphere put together in the room can really make a big difference in a dining experience.  This place is so cozy with low ceilings, a nice fireplace, and stylish furniture.  In general, this results in a much more "civilized" easy-going vibe than a typical noisy buffet and I appreciated it.  

Service was pretty good. I thought that the hostess was great. Servers do try to clear dishes right away and replace cutlery.  I'm kind of a stickler for a clean table (at this price point especially), so if I could pick one thing to improve for this experience, I would say that the dirty dishes could have been tidied and replaced better (started pretty good, but especially at the end when my dining companions had to leave and I was staying for a bit, some of their dirty dishes were there for a while and not sure why he would leave them when he would have been the one to deal with their bills.  Also, once I had cutlery taken away while I was gone but when I got back, I had to wait for the server to get close enough for me to ask for a new set). 

I also think that the server could have offered the Caesar and therefore explained the Caesar situation (he did offer coffee/tea though) because I wound up asking the bartender for a glass at the Caesar station and he had to tell me to go back and ask the server and it seemed a bit of a run around (and not particularly friendly), until I realized that the server also puts the vodka in the glass and that this is how they keep track of each guest getting just one. The bartender could have taken the extra second to explain that in a friendly way right away, instead of just "ask your server for the glass", which made it seem at first like he wasn't willing to give me a glass that was right there. He explained a bit more when I looked awkwardly confused, but a smile would go a long way, and I'm sure I'm not the first person to be confused by this, and he needs to remember that it isn't the customer's fault that when they are confused, especially considering how much I studied for this meal, lol. When my guests arrived, the server did remember to ask them and I had it all figured out by then. I think I got all the service misfires for our table. However, we did have a nice carafe of coffee for the table which meant that there was usually some coffee available without having to rely on the server to refill, water was refilled, and he was definitely polite and friendly, so it was fine. When I arrived, and was shown to our table, there was another four top right next to it that had better lighting and I politely asked about it, but they said that was for four people, and my group had three, which I accepted, but honestly, I don't think it should have mattered to them that much since both of the tables were meant to hold up to four with reasonable flow and I was clearly showing a preference for that table when the party that was going to fill might not even have a preference. I had reserved a table for four weeks in advance (but someone cancelled).  

Hotels are all about service, so these small things do stick out more because of that standard. It wasn't the type of service where everything is thought of for you, or they keep checking on you, and you don't have to flag someone down to ask for anything.  But it wasn't bad enough for me to not want to come back plus you never know if you'll get a different experience with different people anyway.  

Caesar Station (one shot is included in the buffet price)

Coffee or tea is included, and juices and nice smoothies are out on the table too.  The $59 cost includes a Caesar, which you can make yourself at the Caesar station once the server gives you your vodka shot in a rimmed glass.  I think they could have done with some skewers for the multitude of garnishes as some were shorter than the glass, but I guess at least it saves some waste by not having them there. There wasn't a Notch8 mixer (if you wind up studying the menu too, lol), just Clamato and Walters.

My first plate. Gotta hit that prime rib.

The carving station is usually a priority for me at a buffet, and here it did not disappoint!  Make a bee line to it like I did.  I was actually planning to start taking more photos first, but I couldn't help myself and had to pick up some meat first.  They cook their prime rib overnight, and it was beautiful. So tender and all of it nice and red.  I ate every bit.  There was also Yorkshire pudding, jus, horseradish, and the wonderful addition of chimichurri sauce. 

I believe that if you were to come for dinner, just a main dish of prime rib without any drinks or appies would cost $49, so while $59 might seem high for a brunch buffet, I feel that it was well worthwhile because you are getting dinner quality food, but are just eating it in the afternoon.  Just as a local buffet pricing comparison, right now even the mediocre River Rock is charging $50 (without alcoholic drink) for their buffet because of the Christmas season.  The other carving item changes, but today it was my other favourite, turkey!  I had some of the dark and the white and was surprised at how nice it was - it was moist and tender, and not dry. You will not get that at the River Rock, lol.  Gravy and cranberry sauce accompanied.  There was a mixed veg dish that had different colours of cauliflower plus kale, brussel sprouts, with chili flakes, parmesan, lemon that would go nicely with this, but not pictured on this plate.  I also tried the various smoked salmons, salmon candy, cold prawns, cheeses, porchetta hash, and some other things.  I liked how the salmon offerings were served on halved logs, but I was so distracted that I forgot to take photos. 

It's nice that there are pre-made back bacon eggs bennies as an option, but don't forget, you can get a customized egg and toast.

Not pictured, but the chicken and pork sausages were tasty and I think I can be a bit picky about sausages as I have definitely met a sausage or two that I didn't like.  There were crepes, waffles and the usual breakfast suspects but I didn't have the room to try them.

Some of the breakfast pastries

I tried the mini almond croissant and really enjoyed it. I skipped all the other breads, cereals, two types of yoghurts because I didn't have room, but it all looked nice. Wish I could have tasted more of the mini muffins and pastries.

One of the people I dined with reported that the salads were very good.  I liked the fresh fruit and smoothies here.

Several beautiful desserts with pretty garnishing were available. In my buffet imagination, I thought that I was going to try a bit of all the desserts but I hit the wall after I started the first few. I chose the mini crème brûlée as someone came by with a tray of fresh ones, and it was nice.  I also had a tiny tiny pumpkin pie topped with a layer of apple jelly glaze, and pumpkin seeds, and I liked that the plate was decorated with long chocolate sticks like a sweet game of pick up sticks. I also had a slice of this nice fluffy holiday white Bûche de Noël (there was also a brown one). I prefer to spread my food out on the plate and just go up more often but I still wound up overdoing it like a buffet newbie. Walked it off for a bit, and just won't need to eat for the rest of the day.

My final plate...for the day.

Thanks, Notch8, for this feast!  Keep rocking the buffet at full throttle!  Btw, I love the train theme elements in the restaurant name and I think in the design of the cute little curtained booths in the dining room. I won't have a Sunday off for a while, but they do a breakfast buffet all of the other days too that might be worth checking out but it probably won't have that prime rib... Chugga chugga, choo choo!