We enjoyed our Vancouver vacation so much that Laurie and I are talking about renting a downtown condo for a week or two next year. It’s one thing to admire kaffir limes and chilaca chiles, quite another to be able to actually cook with them.

“We could even invite some people over for dinner,” said Laurie.

“I have a better idea,” I replied.

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to The Splendid Table with Lynne Rossetto Kasper. A caller described a new Paris trend: *restaurants éphémères*, or temporary restaurants. A top chef (such as Pierre Gagnaire and Alain Passard) will open a restaurant and keep it open for a week or two, taking no reservations and serving high-end food at low prices. It’s a way of having fun and keeping the chef’s name in the headlines. Here’s Chocolate and Zucchini’s post about dinner at Végétable, Passard’s ephemeral restaurant of last spring.

So I figure I’ll open my ephemeral restaurant in an undisclosed downtown Vancouver location for one week during winter vacation every year. You’ll have to reserve years in advance. There will be a single menu served to all guests with no substitutions. It would be called Aux Racines et Vers. Iris will open every dinner with a toast, or possibly several pieces of toast.

Okay, I don’t have to guts to do this, and I’m not a good enough cook, but if you want to come by for dinner next December, let me know.