Wishes for my children, wishes from a beautiful life...

I wish for you, that you one day you will be listening to Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa, and be moved to tears, moved to wonder about the provenance of your being. Moved to joy at the gift of your being in this sacred moment.




I wish for that you are blessed to know the pleasures of tango Argentino, the warmth of close embrace, the chemistry of two bodies exploring music and movement together.





I wish that one day you will have understood the sadness and joy of dancing Butoh: the slow coming together, the slow departure, the meditative examination of each moment and each movement as a grain of sand trickling through the hourglass of your life.



I wish that you will know deep loving – in all it's terrible and transformative beauty, from bliss to despair to redemption to sacred opening. I wish that your knowledge of the music and movement of life is informed by this experience, and that your life in turn becomes a celebration of the magic and the rituals of connection and creativity that the experience of loving demands and expects and grants to us, each of us who has the courage to hazard the journey.

I wish this for you. I wish this for you, because – at this moment in my life – this is the beauty and the joy of my life, and it is profound. It is the richest gift I can wish for you. I am blessed to know this. I am humbled to know this.

I wish this blessing on you.

Your father,

hans peter meyer
17 January 2012 

Appreciating Customer Appreciation Month at Locals

One of the things I love about Locals is that the amuse bouche is a matter of course for dinner. You sit down. Before long, along with the tasty bread and the (healthy) house bean pate (butter if you ask), there’s a wee bit of beauty and deliciousness. For our dinner it was a crostini with a smidge of duck pate wearing a berry chutney. An elegant way of introducing us to the flavours to come.

My dinner pals and I had arrived to test the “customer appreciation menu,” Locals’ $25 3-course offering for the month of January. A nice gesture to those of us who frequent the place – and an excellent introduction to what Chef Ronald St. Pierre and his team do at Locals: sing the praises of local product – from oysters to apples, pasta to pork, and many things in between.

Very dry, very tasty Victoria Gin martini.

After the amuse bouche one of the first Vancouver Island products I enjoyed was a very dry Victoria Gin martini. I’m a Hendricks man, but Victoria is a close second, and the bright floral notes are just the thing to accompany the delicate Cortes Island oysters I shared with my table. Beautiful to behold - all pearly and iridescent in the half-shell - they are a lovely reminder of the sea on a blustery day. As he let one slide down his throat, one of my friends was transported to a moment from his youth. He’d once made a meal of 24 oysters in Paris - but preferred the fresher, more tender Cortes offerings.

Winter Spinach and Pomegranate Cone.

The “customer appreciation” menu features several choices for appetizer, main, and a dessert. Several of us chose the “Winter Spinach and Pomegranate Cone” as our starter. A variety of mixed greens, shavings of carrot and beet, organic hazelnuts, all of it lightly dressed with citrus and wrapped in a delicate red cabbage leaf the salad gave us lots to chew on – and talk about.

My choice of main was already made when I saw the Prontissima Pappardelle option: broad egg noodles dressed with sundried tomatoes, tangy olives, all of it wrapped up in a roasted sweet pepper and citrus sauce. I am a big pasta guy. And I’m a huge fan of Prontissima. Big, huge - pasta can do that to a person. Me, I’m trying to do this in moderation. The mix of flavours in this dish was wonderful, an ambrosia that I’m going to be revisiting as soon as I get back from my next walk through Tin Town…

Paprika Crusted Snapper Fillet.

The rest of my table, however, were all smitten by the Paprika Crusted Snapper option. I had a bite. It was good. But it was also a visual delight to see the four plates in front of me: the firm white flesh of the fish with its brilliant red top crust, sitting on a cream-coloured bed of baked potato Duchesse, dressed with a green layer of arugula pesto cream. One of my friends, acknowledged by my circle of gourmands as a pesto connoisseur, opined that this arugula pesto deserved an “A1 rating.” Others had a similar opinion of the paprika crust. Both items made in-house from Black Creek’s Pattison Farms.

A shallow wine list is one of my quibbles with many local restaurants. Yes, we do have an emerging Vancouver Island wine industry. And yes, new world wines tend to be the “big flavour” choices. But I like the earthiness and understated qualities I find in the old world styles. I was therefore very happy to see several affordable bottles of French and Spanish red on the Locals’ list, and chose to share a 2007 Domaine de Beaurenard from the Cotes du Rhone. A little heavy for the snapper; perfect for the pasta.

Profiteroles au Chocolate.

But what to choose for dessert? I like creme caramel (much more than it’s burnt cousin), but I like Profiteroles even more. What’s not to love about fresh little cream puffs stuffed with vanilla gelato and drizzled with warm choclate sauce, Chantilly cream, and candied almonds? Yes, I tasted the others’ creme caramel. It was good. But I was happy with my choice. It looked good too. And was quite lovely with the Talisker scotch that I chose to close the meal: another exploration of the smokey, peaty side of this beverage.

I’d added a number of extras to my $25 3-course menu, but it was still a (financially) reasonable outing. On the flavour side, my party was unanimous: great flavours, great value.

hanspetermeyer
9 January 2012

Union Street Grill - A Highlight from the 2011 Dining Around Comox Valley

It's almost that time of year again... when restaurants look for ways to get people back in the door after the halcyon spending and feasting days of December and the doldrums of January. In the Comox Valley that means I'm anticipating another version of the under-publicized Dine Around Comox Valley event.

One of the highlights of last year's event was discovering that there’s more to the Union Street Grill [477-5th Street, Courtenay 250-897-0081 www.unionstreetgrill.ca] than great lunches at the Grill and tasty tapas at the Grotto.

A downtown institution
USG&G is an institution in downtown Courtenay. I don’t know how long I’ve been taking it for granted at the top of 5th Street. Too long it seems. For whatever reason (my prejudices against a place that used to be a Pizza Patio and then The Brown Derby, perhaps? Or maybe it’s the sheer number of good local competition that’s overshadowed USG?), I’ve never really considered it as a “fine dining” option. That all changed when – in a last-minute kind of situation – I had the opportunity to check out Union Street’s “Dine Around Comox Valley” menu.

I took along a friend of mine, one of the original Girls Who Love Good Grub Club. She's pretty fussy about her food (she’ll argue that she’s not “fussy,” she just knows what she likes; I’ll buy that, but I’ll also say that being a fussy eater is important, given what I pay for eating out; better fussy than sorry – frankly, I hate spending money on standard food). Her fussiness about food is one of the reasons I like having her along. In this case, she’s also been eating at USG&G for as long as I have – and perhaps taking it for granted as long too. So we were mutually surprised, and thrilled, at how the evening’s food experience turned out.

Here are the highlights: appetizer that rocked, lamb that amazed, mash that impressed even the potato-head in our duo, and desserts that satisfied even the fussy dessert guy.

The meal - from starters to mains
For starters we shared a “trio” of tastes: Tuscan roasted veggies wrapped in filo, Herb Roasted Fanny Bay oysters, and the Artisan Greens salad with Pakoras. “Amazing” said my fussy friend about the Tuscan veg: “Light pastry, perfect veggies!” My thoughts? Ditto. But I also got to enjoy the lightly battered and fried oysters (I usually like these raw, on the half-shell, but these were delicate, crispy, “sensitively” treated - what’s not to love?). And the “artisan greens” salad was colourful, with a spicy curry-flavoured dressing that “fit” the pakoras. Great appetizer. 5 stars for sure!

For mains, she had the Roasted Fillet of Salmon on a bed of lemon quinoa, with roasted peppers and capers on the side. This girl likes her quinoa, and she really liked what USG&G did with it. Kudos to the kitchen. But the real surprise was the roasted pepper thing. I know this woman: she’s NOT a roasted pepper gal. USG&G made a convert of her, and I’m still searching for the trick to how & why those roasted peppers became “perfect” in her estimation...

On my side of the table it was Grilled Lamb Sirloin. I always order it red because I find it the most flavourful and the best texture. I wasn’t disappointed: it was great. As for the sides: my pal, who’s the potato-head in pretty much any crowd, pronounced it “the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had!” The USG&G kitchen should feel pretty puffed-up about that bit of compliment. (btw: I tried a redux on that recently and failed miserably.)

I should mention that with my lovely lamb I enjoyed a glass of the Tinhorn Creek Cabernet Franc. I’m not sure of the vintage, but here’s the trick: Tinhorn is doing nice things with Cab Franc, and generally the older it is the better. Whatever the year, this one worked. Thanks to USG&G for stocking a New World that makes me think of Old World.

Dessert
OK. Dessert. I keep saying this, and I keep having to make amendments: I’m NOT a dessert kind of guy; but I loved dessert. She loves dessert. How did she describe it? “The Chocolate Torte: totally chocolate + butter + chocolate + butter.” I concur. It was sinfully chocolatey. And rich. And it kept her up all night (too much caffeine?). I went Euro (surprise) and took the Apple Almond Torte. Her words: “Different! Really nice. Would be great with coffee in the afternoon.” I liked it just fine with coffee in the evening. But then, I probably had a night of writing ahead of me. And I’ve always had a soft spot for apple torte.

And in the end...
In the end, we were totally impressed by what USG&G offered. Cost for two? It was part of the Comox Valley Dine Around program. All beverages included at $25 per person, plus taxes and gratuities. Great price. Great flavours. Very good value.

By the way, I’ve recently done take-out from USG&G via their “daily special” (posted on the www.unionstreetgrill.ca website) and surprised another foodie fussy-pot of mine. Again: great food, good prices. (Maybe that’s why they’re an institution in this foodie town?)

hanspetermeyer
6 January 2012 (originally published in the Food Centrefold, The Island Word, June 2011)