Success! The twins loved Vij’s curried coconut beef, and curried pork. At $14 a package, it might seem a bit steep, but I had enough left over for two more portions the next day. Both curry dishes were rich in flavour, and the meat was surprisingly tender. I served both curries over a super-easy and delicious coconut rice recipe found at Epicurious.com.

Campbell River is a rugged and beautiful city but on a Sunday most of the boutiques were closed including some interesting, privately-owned food stores. We stopped at the Lookout, a restaurant that overlooks Discovery Pass and Quadra Island. A poster of the Hurricane’s captain hoisting the Stanley Cup greeted us in the foyer (damn you Brind’Amour!).

We ordered fish and chips and were happy with the locally-caught cod and halibut. I took a chance and requested the squid appetizer which was sauteed with banana peppers, onions and capers. I put the little o-rings on the twins’ plates and surprise, surprise, they ate it up. I told them it was like octopus, which was fine until Cole started talking about the octopus friend on their favourite cartoon, Dora the Explorer. It reminded me of when we served rabbit to our kids and had one of them ask if it was Thumper.

Driving home, I told the kids how happy I was to be with them and that I loved them very much. Cole, replied “I love you man.” Ahh yes, precious times with the twins.