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A faithful correspondent writes: Journalists at this week’s budget lockup were wondering how the tough financial times and record deficit would affect the free lunch. The lockup description is literal – once in, generally before 9 a.m.

I hope you enjoyed the summer of 2009 because by the time our next long weekend rolls around, we'll all be wearing coats again.

Posh, the Vancouver-based sukiyaki restaurant, has just opened an outpost in Victoria. It's at the former location of Med Grill Mosaic, 1063 Fort St. Here's a ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ story from last month .

Yes, I know I don't get out enough. That's why Coffee Crisp and Kit Kat "bites" are such a revelation for me. They're balls of candy -- like chocolate-covered peanuts or raisins -- except they're formulated like Coffee Crisp and Kit Kat.

Well, actually, I'm not sure that it's good food, having never eaten it. But all over the place, I'm bumping into these self-righteous stories about food that isn't good for you. Lots of tut-tutting going on.

Dim sum at Sun Sui Wah in Vancouver. Random dim sum notes. Dim sum: little dishes of food, typically shared among several people.

Lots of people picking and eating berries from the bushes that line the Galloping Goose and Lochside trails.

Nando's has opened its downtown Victoria outlet on Government Street at Pandora, taking over a spot that previously housed a sushi restaurant. The first Greater Victoria outlet for the international chain was in Langford.

People sometimes scold me — playfully, I think — when I talk about eating burgers and fries, fish and chips, steak and potatoes, eggs and corned beef hash. Obviously not a good diet, if you do it all the time.

"Go big or go home" might be an accurate -- if ironic -- way to describe what Jena Stewart and Alison Bigg had in mind when they decided to open their own eatery in the culinary minefield known as downtown Victoria.