My laptop is on the fritz--again! It's what I get for trying to stream Bethenny Getting Married. But I also blame the Apple for not letting me purchase the episode from their iTunes store because I'm not an American user.
I'm currently using my dad's laptop which just happens to have a French keyboard which means that nothing is where it's supposed to be. The letters are in their usual spots but the apostrophe, 'at' sign, quotation marks, slash and backslash and just about everything else are everywhere but where they should be. It's confusing. There's also an Alt+Car button which is what I have to use to access the @ sign. This is kind of chronicles except that I'm quickly getting used to it. It reminds me of the month Jessie and I spent in Europe (3 weeks in Geneva and one week in Paris).
Ah, Paris. Don't even get me started on Paris. I love that city. I have plans for Sean and I and that city. First I need to finish our trip to Montreal and our 9th anniversary celebration at kaiseki-Sakura.
Unfortunately all my photos are on my laptop and not on my dad's so I'm waiting for my brother, who just happens to do IT for law firms in TO for a living, to fix my laptop before I can post about all those wonderful things.
Until then, this photo-less post will have to do. But you can still find me on Twitter. Yep, I've joined that. We'll discuss it later.
September 19, 2010
September 9, 2010
MONTREAL, DAY 1
The morning started off earlier than normal:
But breakfast was as usual (instant oatmeal, ground flax, chia seeds, grapes and strawberries):
to be eaten in the car. We left 18 minutes later than planned:
but it was all good. What was not all good was my stomach! The oatmeal was not eaten because after two spoonfuls my stomach started feeling queasy. Even before getting onto the highway, I had to ask stop off at a McDonalds so that I could use the washroom.
The ride along the 401 westbound was pretty uneventful. I even managed to fall asleep for about 15 minutes but I suppose that shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone. Eventually we happened upon the Big Apple in Colborne and decided to pay it a visit. Actually, what really happened was that I got so excited about the Big Apple that Sean obliged when I told him we had to stop to check it out. We were making pretty good timing so I don't think he cared too much. Also, when you squeal with delight, you are more apt to getting your way.
Tons of photos ensued:
We never saw any of these animals...
Just a couple of llamas and a couple hidden sheep:
Check out the bakery:
Pie and crumble production! Some kind of machinery:
Cutting out pie crusts/shells or something of that sort (no one was really around to give us a tour or more info):
A giant mixer! This is my dream come true--although I'd like a more stable one:
And what visit is complete without food?
Savory bites available at the Big Apple cafeteria:
Along with some shockingly glowing candy apples:
apple butter:
and a slice of apple crumble that Sean and I split:
It wasn't totally horrible. I was actually a little hesitant to eat anything, in fear of having an IBS-related attack so I had about 1/3 of it and left the rest for Sean. It was a little too sweet but that's normal of outside desserts.
Of course, what visit to the Big Apple would be complete without a picture with the Big Apple:
Then we continued along our merry way.
The best part of the ride into Quebec was eating our prosciutto and basil sandwiches that I had made the night before. Mmm, mmm, good. (Does Campbell's have a copyright on that saying? I sure hope not as I think I've mentioned that quite a few times on this blog). Anyway, it was a grande plan as I wasn't fond of stopping at some fast food joint only to stop at the next fast food joint to get re-acquainted with the porcelain. So I made some sandwiches on ciabatta bread. The goat cheese I planned on using had gotten moldy so I nixed that and used some gooseberry jam from Sean's fridge. Sean's sandwiches had the jam, prosciutto and tons of basil while mine just had prosciutto and basil. They were great sandwiches to go with my coconut water. Whole Foods was all out of Vita Coco so I had to stock up (I only got 4) of the Zico brand. It's okay; I still prefer Vita Coco.
The rest of the ride was uneventful--until this came along:
The best thing about being in Quebec (not just Montreal) is that my name is everywhere! No longer is my name unique or interesting or related to a song sung by a nun, it's just a French name, like any other name in Quebec--awesome!
More stuff to come...I figured that Smoke Meat Pete deserves its own post!
But breakfast was as usual (instant oatmeal, ground flax, chia seeds, grapes and strawberries):
to be eaten in the car. We left 18 minutes later than planned:
but it was all good. What was not all good was my stomach! The oatmeal was not eaten because after two spoonfuls my stomach started feeling queasy. Even before getting onto the highway, I had to ask stop off at a McDonalds so that I could use the washroom.The ride along the 401 westbound was pretty uneventful. I even managed to fall asleep for about 15 minutes but I suppose that shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone. Eventually we happened upon the Big Apple in Colborne and decided to pay it a visit. Actually, what really happened was that I got so excited about the Big Apple that Sean obliged when I told him we had to stop to check it out. We were making pretty good timing so I don't think he cared too much. Also, when you squeal with delight, you are more apt to getting your way.
Tons of photos ensued:
We never saw any of these animals...
Just a couple of llamas and a couple hidden sheep:
Check out the bakery:
Pie and crumble production! Some kind of machinery:
Cutting out pie crusts/shells or something of that sort (no one was really around to give us a tour or more info):
A giant mixer! This is my dream come true--although I'd like a more stable one:
And what visit is complete without food?Savory bites available at the Big Apple cafeteria:
Along with some shockingly glowing candy apples:
apple butter:
and a slice of apple crumble that Sean and I split:
It wasn't totally horrible. I was actually a little hesitant to eat anything, in fear of having an IBS-related attack so I had about 1/3 of it and left the rest for Sean. It was a little too sweet but that's normal of outside desserts.Of course, what visit to the Big Apple would be complete without a picture with the Big Apple:
The best part of the ride into Quebec was eating our prosciutto and basil sandwiches that I had made the night before. Mmm, mmm, good. (Does Campbell's have a copyright on that saying? I sure hope not as I think I've mentioned that quite a few times on this blog). Anyway, it was a grande plan as I wasn't fond of stopping at some fast food joint only to stop at the next fast food joint to get re-acquainted with the porcelain. So I made some sandwiches on ciabatta bread. The goat cheese I planned on using had gotten moldy so I nixed that and used some gooseberry jam from Sean's fridge. Sean's sandwiches had the jam, prosciutto and tons of basil while mine just had prosciutto and basil. They were great sandwiches to go with my coconut water. Whole Foods was all out of Vita Coco so I had to stock up (I only got 4) of the Zico brand. It's okay; I still prefer Vita Coco.
The rest of the ride was uneventful--until this came along:
The best thing about being in Quebec (not just Montreal) is that my name is everywhere! No longer is my name unique or interesting or related to a song sung by a nun, it's just a French name, like any other name in Quebec--awesome!More stuff to come...I figured that Smoke Meat Pete deserves its own post!
September 8, 2010
MONTREAL, JE T'AIME.
Montreal was a blast! The vacation was over way too soon. There was biking and cupcakes and cake and so much good food. Absolutely nothing and I mean, not one food item was a miss. Terrific, just terrific! The company wasn't bad either:
Just kidding!
Sean and I both had a fantastic time. Food adventures included stapes such as Smoke Meat Pete and Lafleurs and poutine at (new to us) La Banquise. We even hit up a cupcake shop, Cocoa Locale with really high expectations and it matched (almost) every one of them. Also had room service our first night in town (good stuff!) and had our first taste of wild boar prosciutto at Bottega. Hmmm..what else am I missing? Ah yes, Sunday morning mimosas at Holder Restaurant and I cannot forget Sean's soft-boiled eggs with truffle tapenade at the same restaurant. To.die.for. We even had the courage to (finally) try Ethiopian food and the experience was all together fantastic. The taste of the injera was not as horrifying as others (on the internet) were making it out to be and our chosen dishes were great; the alcohol beverages we chose as accompaniments weren't bad either ;)
Did I forget anything? Oh wait, there was a squirrel that attacked me in Parc La Fontaine. But I'll get to that and all of the above in detail in the following days. Good food like this deserves its own post.
Just kidding!Sean and I both had a fantastic time. Food adventures included stapes such as Smoke Meat Pete and Lafleurs and poutine at (new to us) La Banquise. We even hit up a cupcake shop, Cocoa Locale with really high expectations and it matched (almost) every one of them. Also had room service our first night in town (good stuff!) and had our first taste of wild boar prosciutto at Bottega. Hmmm..what else am I missing? Ah yes, Sunday morning mimosas at Holder Restaurant and I cannot forget Sean's soft-boiled eggs with truffle tapenade at the same restaurant. To.die.for. We even had the courage to (finally) try Ethiopian food and the experience was all together fantastic. The taste of the injera was not as horrifying as others (on the internet) were making it out to be and our chosen dishes were great; the alcohol beverages we chose as accompaniments weren't bad either ;)
Did I forget anything? Oh wait, there was a squirrel that attacked me in Parc La Fontaine. But I'll get to that and all of the above in detail in the following days. Good food like this deserves its own post.
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