Two years ago I was in Honolulu for a dance competition and took advantage of my brief time there to check out a small sample of the local restaurant scene (Fine Food in Honolulu). I love the simplicity and freshness of raw fish in its myriad forms whether called sashimi, crudo or carpaccio, marinated as in ceviche, or dressed with other ingredients as in poke, so my eyes inevitably sought out the sashimi options on the menus. At home one of my favorite sashimi choices has always been hamachi, usually called yellowtail here.

What a great way to end a fun birthday day … Fresh from a 3 hour Hustle workshop (think Saturday Night Fever! but not the line dance), I strolled along the False Creek sea wall to a small restaurant overlooking the water, to share tapas and wine with friends and listen to cool jazz.  

I love eating the grilled fish from the fresh fish sheet at Sandbar so it is crazy that the memory that sticks with me from our Mothers' Day dinner was not the perfectly cooked Alderwood-grilled, miso-marinated Sablefish, but the potatoes that I got as a substitute for the regular rice accompaniment. The sablefish was delicious but it was the texture and smoothness of the potatoes that kept me having just one more bite, till - so much for my carb-restricted eating plan - my plate was empty.

To entertain a visitor from Calgary who, like a true Albertan, enjoys a great steak, I chose the Hamilton Street Grill for dinner. It's a ten minute walk from my downtown apartment but on searching my reviews, it has been quite a while since I dined there.

Since I seldom eat breakfast out on weekdays and my mid-morning meetings tend to be at coffee shops rather than at full service restaurants, I didn't know that Provence Marinaside serves breakfasts.  But searching for a location in walking distance from home, with a water view for a celebratory and farewell breakfast with family, I found out that Provence Marinaside is open from from 8 am to 10:30 pm and has a great breakfast menu.

The pre-show dinner I enjoyed at Heirloom Vegetarian restaurant may have just changed my attitude about vegetarian cuisine. Enjoying fish and shellfish, meats, specially charcuterie, and having an aversion to the texture of many  grains and beans I have tended to avoid places serving only vegetarian foods.

Wanting a light pre-show supper, protein-based with flavourful fresh salads or vegetables, we chose Portobello Restaurant before going to see Underneath the Lintel at Pacific Theatre. Our needs were perfectly satisfied though we had to conscientously (and sadly) decline their delicious bread.

Among our family dine-outs over the holidays, a dinner at Black+ Blue Restaurant was an unexpected stand-out. Normally appreciating the high quality of the Glowbal Group's local restaurants, we were surprised by a sequence of negative reviews of Black+ Blue Restaurant on a popular bar-and-restaurant guide and decided to check it out for ourselves.

Until now, despite rave reviews about the food from friends who live in the neighborhood and frequent this cantina, I have foolishly avoided joining them for fear that I would be subjected to dishes flavoured with the dreaded cilantro. But finally others in our group planned a dinner there and I joined them.

Eating the most tender duck confit at a little cafe in the Mirepoix market while on a food-writing course in France almost 8 years ago remains one of my favorite food memories. I have heard great things about the duck confit at Les Faux Bourgeois and this French restaurant has been on my dining wish list for a while. Until now I have not got there but on the evening we were going to see Wide Awake Hearts at the Little Mountain Gallery theatre just off Main street, I managed to get an early dinner reservation for three of us.

When seeing a play at the little Havana theatre tucked into the space just behind the Havana restaurant and bar, I like to get there early and indulge in some good Cuban cuisine.

Conveniently located just steps away from the two Granville Island Arts Club Theatre venues, Edible Canada at the Market is a perfect spot for a  pre-show meal, specially on a cold rainy Vancouver night. We were seeing Blue Box at the Revue Stage and opted to have supper at Edible Canada before the show..

I have not eaten at Chambar since they moved a short while ago to their new location just up the street from their first spot. This was a good choice for lunch with a friend before we went to a VIFF screening at the Vancouver Playhouse a few blocks away.

After seeing a film at the Scotiabank Cinemas  we exited the complex to find that rain was pelting down with gusts of wind blasting our umbrellas inside out. We speed-walked a few yards to the corner of Smythe and Hornby to have supper at the Earls restaurant round the corner.

After a hard day of training, the thought of my usual "nutritionally correct" supper of baked salmon and green salad was not really appealing, and instead we decided to head up to the local restaurant rows on Hamilton and Mainland Streets and pick somewhere for dinner.

Sweet tooth? Not I. I choose salami over strudel any time.So it is appropriate that the first supping experience I report occurred at SALT, a restaurant specializing in charcuterie and cheeses. Mmmmm. Just thinking about it sets my mouth watering.