Vancouver Dine Out 2008

Vancouver dine out adalah salah satu acara untuk meningkatkan pariwisata di kota Vancouver. Biasanya diadakan pada akhir Januari sampai awal Februari. Acara ini unik dan banyak digemari bukan hanya oleh para turis, tetapi para penduduk lokal pun menggunakan kesempatan ini untuk keluar makan bersama teman atau keluarga.

Restoran yang berpartisipasi dalam event ini menjual paket "3 course dinner" dengan harga $15, $25, dan $35. Ini sangatlah menarik karena banyak restoran ternama yang ikut perpartisipasi. Diluar event ini, harga makanan "3 course dinner" di restoran tersebut akan jauh melebihi $35.

Saya sendiri berkesempatan mencoba 2 restoran: C dan Kettle of Fish. Di C restoran saya mencoba makanan berikut ini.

Appetizer: Black Heart Spring Salmon Tartare

Entree: Dr. Larry Albright’s Crispy Skinned Trout
creamy Israeli cous cous, braised fennel,
basil infused spot prawn broth

Entree: Herb Crusted Albacore Tuna white bean cassoulet,
organic carrots, bacon froth

Dessert: Creme Brulee

Secara keseluruhan, makanan di C Restoran enak sih, makanan pembukanya mantap, Salmonnya tidak terasa amis, kekenyalannya pun pas. Buat makanan utamanya, Salmon Trout pilihan saya mantap rasanya, kulitnya krispy tanpa ada rasa amis, daging ikannya punya empuk, kombinasi yang menarik. Soalnya, biasanya orang akan makan daging ikannya saja dan kulitnya dibuang, tetapi menu ini lain, justru saat kulit dan dagingnya di makan bersama maka makin mantap rasanya.

Saya juga sempat mencicip Tuna pesanan teman saya. Rasanya enak juga sih cuma saya memang pada dasarnya tidak terlalu suka dengan daging tuna. Untuk makanan pencuci mulut, saya memesan Creme Brulee, texture mirip tar susu (egg tart) kalo di Indonesia, enak sih tapi saya sudah pernah mencoba Creme Brulee yang lebih mantap lagi rasanya di Restoran Bluewater Cafe.

Pada minggu yang sama, saya juga mampir ke Kettle of Fish. Berikut ini adalah menu-menu yang dipesan.

Filler: Turtle Bread

Appetizer: Pan seared scallops, slow braised puy lentils,
lardons, walnuts and proscuitto crisps

Appetizer: Spot prawn salad with avocado, grape tomatoes
and honey balsamic vinaigrette

Entree: Pan seared Pacific Halibut, creamy candied tomato spaztle,
baby zucchini, preserved lemon and basil syrup

Entree: Crispy Ruby Trout, creamy herb risotto, forage mushrooms,
green beans and ver jus reduction

Dessert: Bittersweet chocolate brownie with vanilla bean gelato

Entree: Vanilla pot de creme with a homemade oatmeal cookie

Makanan di Kettle of Fish agak kurang konsisten kualitasnya. Entreenya sangat enak, Halibutnya sangat terasa di lidah dan Trout Salmonnya pun tidak kalah enak. Walaupun, saya harus mengakui bahwa Trout Salmon di C Restoran lebih enak. Tetapi appetizer dan dessertnya mengecawakan rasanya. Mereka juga menyajikan roti berbentuk kura-kura sebagai filler, rotinya ini mantap sekali rasanya.

Sekian dulu, saya pingin ikut lagi tahun depan dan tentunya akan mencoba restoran yang lain.

Happy New Year 2008!

Yuhu, it's new year: 1st year anniversary of this blog :) I am going to get married this year, yuhuuu, it's very exciting, so many prepation and it's so hard to do everything remotely (i.e. I am getting married in Makassar but I am currently in Canada)

Looking at the last one year, there are a lot of things that I have accomplished. My goal in improving my technical skills (i.e. electronics and programming) are reached; I have learned so many new skills that made me able to do so many things.

I have started several projects for my Church as well as my home. The goal of these projects are Automation. For Church, I am trying to automate the process of creating Church's bulletin. All bulletin members are assigned task to gather some information. Once the information is obtained, they could submit it on our "Warta Generator System". The system will then produce xml file near the end of week. Adobe InDesign will feed the produced xml file to automatically generate the Bulleting in the pdf format. One main advantage of this system is that all data are logged in database. It will be easier for church management team to retrieve them later in the future for statistical analysis purpose. The project is currently being expanded to handle more than bulletin.

Home Automation Project, I have spent a great amount of time on this project. I am trying to create a smart home, such as intelligent light control, home entertainment system, etc. I have finished developing most of the interface/library (video control, music control, light control, appliance control). It's almost time for me to start adding the intelligence to the system.

Other than technical side, this year, I want to polish my artistic side as well, Coniques hasn't had any new projects for a while now. My first top priority now is to create an unique wedding site for my bride and me :) After this, Coniques is going to take challenge by joining Pak Stef's Easter Drama Project.

One last thing I am trying to improve is my management skill. Sometimes, I have very short term memory and make me forget lot of tasks. I don't like my local Outlook because I cannot access it anywhere easily. I currently have online todo application that I created myself to help me overcoming this problem. Hope it will help and motivate me to keep track and manage my tasks better.

Lot of things to be done, but the things I most looking forward is my wedding mid of this year. Happy New Year All!