Poutine is good.

When my boyfriend and I first met he had recently moved to Vancouver from London, England. He had also just discovered the National cuisine of Canada, poutine. There were many nights, after an evening imbibing with friends that we would set off in search of this new culinary discovery. It seemed that he couldn't get enough. (possible cause of eventually buying a new wardrobe of jeans & trousers, 1 size larger).

We would navigate through drunken, scantily clad and slickly dressed crowds of of Vancouverites on the wet, dark streets to our cheese & gravy-covered destination. Happily squishing into a booth or lining up and rubbing our fingers together while waiting for someone to take our order.

The variations are endless. Classic with beef gravy and real cheese curds (from Fritz's European Fry House), or vegetarian covered in mushroom gravy with sharp cheddar (at the Templeton) , on a plate or in a basket or styrofoam container, fries home-made, from frozen or yam. When our order arrived we dug in with gusto trying to soak up the alcohol from 4 micro brewery beers and the random shot ordered by one of our peers (Marcus) consumed earlier in the evening. Now warm and full and very sleepy we would clamber back onto the streets in hopes of a quick taxi ride home.