I made a fabulous dinner on Mother’s Day – with very little help from the Whole Foods in West Vancouver. Perhaps I expect too much from the über-expensive grocery store. In case you haven’t been to one, it’s the sort of place where the person in front of you in line pays $462.46 for two or three bags of food. I went there looking for duck breast – thinking that Whole Foods is the sort of place that would have duck. There was no duck in the fresh meat section (the only poultry was chicken and turkey), nor was there duck in the weird meat freezer. I did ask and the reaction I got was general confusion.
Whole Foods also does not sell eggs in sets of 6. Only 12. As someone who was leaving the city in two days, this was very inconvenient for me.
I was also going to buy a dessert at Whole Foods. But, the whole duck disappointment was making me angry, and I had a lot of extra eggs. It drove me to make the banana cream pie (seen above before the cream was added) from scratch. I used a recipe from Rob Feenie’s Lunch – Brunch – Dinner except I added lime oil to the shortbread crust. Lime oil makes everything better – just not drinks, that’s gross.
I ended up getting duck from Westlynn Meats and Seafoods in the Lynn Valley Mall. Luiz, the manager, was endlessly helpful. So, if you’re ever looking for duck (or buffalo, bison, ostrich, rabbit, venison, or organic meat) on the North Shore, he has fresh duck come in every Friday. I made the orange duck also out of the Lunch – Brunch – Dinner with the fennel-leek confit, orange gnocchi and pea shoots.