Background on the event is here.

 The MC: Tamara Taggart, CTV

The Music: Adam Woodall

The chefs:

• Robert Belcham (C, Fuel)
• Brian Fowke (Rare One)
• Sean Heather (The Irish Heather, Salt, Pepper)
• Colin Johnson (Parkside)
• Neil Wyles (Hamilton Street Grill)

The catch:

• All local ingredients
• All items made from ingredients procured the same day

The menu:

• Champagne & canapes
• cauliflower & truffle shooter
• pumpkin ravioli • beurre noisette emulsion • amarettini-sage crumble
• fenel risotto • neon squid • malt-cured oak-smoked bacon
• duck soup • black beluga lentils & evergreen organic autumn vegetables
• butter-sauteed sablefsh • tarragon • chantrelles & porcini • apple puree
• Blue Goose organic beef • Dungeness mashed potatoes • red wine reduction
• Okanagan apples five ways • Gala • Ambrosia • Granny Smith
• local cheeses & charcuterie

Thanks to my good friends and sugar-daddy and -mommy Raj Taneja and Nina Sohi I was able to get to this, the finest meal I have had in many years. I’m cross-posting this from the Waiterblog forum because I am A) sick and B) lazy, and because I want to welcome Waiterblog‘s parent site Urban Diner to the blogroll. Like you didn’t know both of those fun facts about me already! But I’m already running into problems, as I imagine much of social and single Vancouver will be (before the latte hits) trying to keep my synapses routing me through the Urban Jungle of Urban Mixer, Urban Diner, and Urban Fare. We need a new word, yo, for verily, we are easily confused.

It was a fantastic event. Tamara Taggert was an enthusiastic and friendly emcee, and every one of the silent auction items was sold. The event raised a truly useful sum for a very good cause, and it was, quite frankly, the best meal I have had in years, course after course of it. An example: I could happily dine on the pumpkin ravioli with beurre noisette daily until June. The wines were up to the same rarified (ha!) standard, and were an education in themselves: I thought I didn’t like Chardonnay! The matchings were outstanding, and the Muscat comes in for special mention.

A big shout out to the Urban Mixers Nina Sohi, who bought me a ticket, and Raj Taneja, who bought me wine, for lo I am way poor; without these two I would never be able to sample the delights of a meal like this. I just had to get that out of my system.

Tina looked beautiful, and it added so much to the evening to have her there. Neil and Brian should have their own tv show: why not cut out the middle man? And it was delightful to share a table with Tara and her friend (whose name escapes me…did I mention the wine?).

Trivia for fans of the Neon Squid: It’s actually a flying squid! It was marvelous, of course.

Tina’s family will now be able to hire a full-time nanny, enabling her to devote her vitality to fighting both the disease of breast cancer and the side-effects of aggressive chemotherapy, which can be dangerous and draining in themselves.