March 18, 2014: Casual dining, out and at home! Dogs snacking on phyllo crisps!

I checked the mailbox today where I discovered a note from Canada Post informing me that they tried to deliver a package yesterday morning but no one was home.  If I wanted to pick up the parcel, I could do so at the nearby post office.  ”Package for me?”asked Akemi as I walked back into the house.

“No,”I said.  ”It’s for me.”  And showed her the note.  It read: “Akemi’s Joseph Mallozzi.”

“But the package is for me,”she insisted.  ”It’s from my father in Japan.”

“Maybe,”I said, “but it says Akemi’s Joseph Mallozzi.  And since I am YOUR Joseph Mallozzi, that means it’s for me.”

“Do you think I’ll have to show my I.D. to pick it up?  Or should you bring your I.D.?”

“I think we should both bring our I.D.  You have to prove you’re Akemi and then I have to prove I’m Joseph Mallozzi.  After all, I could be anyone’s Joseph Mallozzi.”

So we went to the post office and picked up the package which ended up containing items for both of us: lipstick for her, green tea for both of us, and…

Joe and Hers chopsticks.  Check ‘em out.  They have my name on them.  ”Why my name is not on the other chopsticks?”wondered Akemi.

Beats me.  ”Maybe he forgot your name?”  She frowned but I cheered her up by promising to etch her name into her chopstick with my exacto knife later this week.

Also in the package, for me, were this set of hiragana/katakana/workbooks.

I imagine that, at some point last month, the family was going through all the signatures in Akemi’s sister’s wedding book and came across what no doubt looked like a child’s scrawl, or the Japanese script of a plucky dimwit.  Upon closer scrutiny, however, they no doubt realized it was neither A nor B but C)  A spirited attempt to spell the name “Joe” by yours truly.  Clearly horrified, they decided to send me these in preparation for the next big family event.

I’m thinking of starting an occasional Best of Vancouver column in which I highlight the city’s best.  The best place to go for chocolate.  The best place to go for chocolate desserts.  The best place to go for hot chocolate.  The best place to go for non-chocolate anything.  One of the places that may well make the list of Best Places to go for a cheap eats is the Congee House on East Broadway.  The other day, Akemi and I stopped by for a tasty lunch of…

Crispy pork on rice.  How do they get the skin so light and crispy?  Every attempt we’ve made to replicate our pork skin has failed miserably – and, in some instances, painfully.

Congee.  I like mine with those century eggs (that, it sadly turns out aren’t 1000 years old at all but just a few months old as that’s how long it takes for the egg to incorporate aspects of the clay and ash in which it’s been preserved).

And back on the home front…

Akemi loves making this phyllo-layered pastry pizza.

 While I tried my hand at gumbo.

And, since Akemi was in the mood for something raw – tuna sashimi with avocado on rice.

In the spirit of Dogs Eating Ice Cream, I present Dogs Eating Phyllo Crisps…

It never fails.  No matter what she eats, Jelly invariably ends up with food on her face.

Today’s entry is dedicated to blog regulars Das and birthday boy Woody Woodward!