Chopstick Café

I haven't posted in awhile. It takes a lot more to keep a house running than I thought. By the time I'm done washing the dishes from breakfast, it's time to start thinking about lunch. Then there's the laundry, sweeping and errands to think about. The juggling is better now that mom is back home because I'm no longer balancing the house stuff with visits to the hospital. But I hadn't realized the thought that goes into coming up with meals that are nutritious, appetizing and will please everyone's likes and dislikes. (The good news is that this has given mom a chance to translate more of her Chinese cookbook recipes into English -- I'll post some of my favourite recipes when I get back to Ottawa).On Tuesday I had a break from the cooking when I went for dinner with two of my cousins. Went to Shiru-Bay Chopstick Café in Yaletown. My friend Sheila recommended it, after her cousin took her there the last time she was in Vancouver.The restaurant's been open for under two years. It's kind of bistro influenced Japanese food. According to the website, the restaurant was started by a guy named Kodai Uno. His family is in the restaurant business in Japan and this is the first one outside of the country. Shiru-Bay's ambiance is relaxed posh. Dark woods, dim lighting, servers dressed in black, and an open concept kitchen. When you first step in, you're greeted by the cooks and servers all hollering out a welcome in Japanese. That and a towel for you to wipe your hands.I forgot to make reservations so we were seated at the long sushi-bar-esque table in front of the chefs. Not great for conversation but it was cool to watch the cooks work. We sat face-to-face with the sushi chef and the fryer guy (who really liked milk -- while we were there, he drank three glasses in between all the coating, frying and plating). One of my cousins was intrigued by the bottle of avacado oil sitting on one of the shelves behind the fryer guy. My other cousin was more keen on going through the menu. He got three types of sushi; the dragonball sushi, red dragons sushi and tuna tataki sushi. I got the sashimi salad. My other cousin ordered the vegetarian sushi. And we all shared Japanese tapas -- endamame, a hiya yakku tofu and a cheese tofu with honey and almonds.The cheese tofu was delicate and delicious. It was tofu whipped to a creamy texture with drizzled honey and a slice of strawberry for garnish. It came with toasted baguette. The spread was quite light tasting -- tofu at its minimalist splendor -- but the sweetness from the honey added a nice touch. I had expected the almonds to make more of an appearance, but the dish worked just as well with the honey taking centre stage. My salad was fresh fish and shrimp -- I particularly remember the salmon -- tossed with salad greens, tomatoes and grapes -- all coated with a tangy wasabi-soy marinade. The marinade did a lot to hold the salad together. I got to try some of W.'s sushi. I really liked the red dragons. It's smoked sockeye salmon topped with salmon caviar. The only disappointment was the hiya yakku tofu. It was described on the menu as cold tofu with ginger and green onions -- so I guess we shouldn't have been surprised when we ended up getting pretty much that. It was a bit bland. As my we noshed on our Japanese tapas, me and my cousins got caught up with what is all going on in our lives and our families.The chopstick café (which incidentally, uses pretty chopsticks that just tempt you to swipe them) also serves dessert. But we decided to head elsewhere for that instead.