Food serves a higher purpose than filling up our stomachs; it's for discussing, savoring, scrutinizing, and truly appreciating for its delights; and taste, the only one of the five senses that exceeds its purpose, does more than just warn us from consuming poison and harmful substances.
I'm no expert, but I certainly understand the effects food, good food, has on me. It activates a hearty part of my brain that don't require being in a constant frenzy, that don't feel the necessity to sacrifice to gain, limit to enjoy, or hold back to avoid risk. Food is simply food, whether it's a social must, a mood-booster, or a comforting device; whether it helps to relax and enjoy, stir old memories, or allow you to experience a different world.
Appreciation for food comes from the lack of it, but appreciation and love for its taste is triggered by our hunger to be satisfied and to discover a new solace and delightment.

Tasting and appreciating food is obviously a privilege we should all enjoy to the full extent, and the girls and I, being the grateful girls we are, used this season of Dineout to make a full use of this wonderful gift, by visiting a classic steakhouse in the midst of Yaletown, called Pinky's.
The place had a nice, urban vibe to it; although it was a tad too dark- I woulda liked to see what I was eating...
A traditional Dineout menu contain a full three course meal: for appetizer, I had a classic onion soup accompanied by the predictable cheese bread, nothing unusual. It was alright, I found the cheese bread too greasy. I didn't like the onion soup, although I didnt' realy know what to expect because I'd never tried an onion soup before.

When the entree was served, I found myself mesmerized; and soon after I was gorging myself with the Sterling Silver Sirloin, steak, although a broad topic, being one of my, and I'm pretty sure, almost everyone's favorite. It came with spicy mushrooms on the side, which worked really well with the steak. The steak was delicious, just perfectly rare on the inside and flavored and cooked just right on the outside. mmmmmmm...........
Some things on the dish were a little.. unexpected, however. As we were eating away, Isabel, in the middle of enjoying the same steak I had, made a croaking noise, almost in tears. It was a hilarious sight, I personally thought she either bit her tongue or broke a tooth. It turned out she'd painted a scoop of an unknown sauce of extremely fiery taste (like wasabi times ten), onto her meat, and innocently chewed it until she realized her msitake. We all had a good laugh, but we were all relieved it wasn't us that'd made the first attempt at the "wasabi times 10 sauce", and thought there shoulda been a warning of some sort...

Last but not least, for dessert, I decided on Tiramisu; it was an extraordinary but very well-decorated and modern looking Tiramisu. In this case, the look won over the taste; although neither the appearance nor the taste looked or tasted like Tiramisu, at least it was artistic, not your typical Tiramisu cake. This was agreed upon all the girls, but I think if they'd given it a new name/description, it would have gotten a few thumbs up; we were all pretty much expecting the conventional Tiramisu by its description.
All in all, we left the restaurant satisfied, looking forward to another visit. And of course, you can't miss a group picture on a night like this!