It's been days since I updated, and that's mostly due to the tight schedule we've had here in Vancouver. How I ever believed 5 days would be enough, I'm not sure. Here goes:
Day 11
We awoke early on our last morning on the Canadian, and headed off to have breakfast with the only other two young people in sleeping class. We'd seen them often, but never had a chance to eat or chat with them. The evening before, right after dinner, we stopped by their booth to see if they wanted to have breakfast with us the next morning - our last opportunity for social gathering before we pulled into Vancouver. They were very friendly and pleasant, and it was fun to talk to people our age who were on the trip for similar reasons that we were. After our final breakfast, we packed up and were ready to leave the cramped living spaces and lack of internet behind us. At least, I was suffering from internet withdrawal. Once we arrived, we caught a cab to the hotel; we were momentarily thrown for a loop when the receptionist told us that Hotwire (yay) had booked us in a room with two double beds. We'd have to upgrade, which we'd been considering doing anyway, to a single King. Except that they didn't have a free King room for the entire time, so we'd have to switch part-way. Not loving this, we asked for another alternative and found ourselves booking a Suite room for little more than the King room upgrade would have cost us. Score! It was even ready for us, at 10am (usual check-in being 3pm), so we took our bags up and crashed onto our non-moving sleeping arrangements. Heaven. Then the front desk called up to tell us that there were 'cards' waiting for us in the lobby - which I deciphered as the gift cards Mel (my Vancouverite friend) said she'd drop off. Our day was set - we headed over to the Vancouver Art Gallery in the afternoon, and Bin 941 for dinner.
We figured that it was about time for pre-gallery lunch, and set off to find a good sushi place nearby. We ended up at Tsunami Sushi, a restaurant on the second floor whose claim-to-fame was a chain of boats, floating on a little moat surrounding a sushi bar. Each boat had different plates of sushi on them, and little signs all around explained that certain plates cost a certain amount. Before we knew it, we had a mountain of empty plates piling up in front of us - from rolls, pieces of sushi, salmon roe, even an elusive (and most expensive) 'red plate'. I must say, the quality of the sushi didn't taste any more impressive than where I was used to in Toronto, but MAN was that salmon red. Overall, a satisfactory and entertaining sushi lunch - the first of many, I was sure.
After lunch, we went to the Art Gallery. Really, it isn't much different than any other art gallery I've been to; the most memorable thing we saw was the Emily Carr exhibit, which featured three modern-day Canadian Artists paired up with Carr and asked to interpret different periods of her work. I admire Carr, even if I don't love her work the way I love Cezanne's or Botticelli's, and the work of the other artists in comparison was intriguing. The other exhibits at the gallery were momentarily interesting as well, but some made Roger and I discuss the fine line between exhibitionistic tendencies and creative art.
That evening we headed out to Bin 941 for dinner, with no idea what to expect. It was a colourful hole-in-the-wall 'tapas' parlour (the quotations will be explained later) that looked like a mix between the Red Room in Toronto, and O'Thym, the super-chic place in Montreal that blew our socks off. Roger admitted that the decor looked like something you'd find in Barcelona, which certainly suited the vibe of the place. We mulled over the menu and ended up ordering a starter tapas of Golden Beets with Pine Nuts and Truffle Sauce, followed by the Ahi Tuna plate and the Pacific Halibut. The beets were sweet and tasty, made much more delicious depending on how many pine nuts you could spear to go with them. The salty and nutty flavours of the nuts paired nicely with the sweet starchiness of the beets; the truffle oil (as I've been discovering) brought everything together in perfect harmony. But the beets rated hardly more than passable once we tasted the Tuna dish, which was easily the star of the night. Perfectly seared tuna chunks had the perfect balance of seasoned-grilled outside, and fresh sweet raw insides. Fighting to be admired as well was its neighbour on the plate, the tuna tartare - a ceviche-like salad of flavourful tuna chunks, light in a way the grilled tuna wasn't. On the other end of the seared tuna was a mildly flavoured roll of noodles, acting more like an understated compliment to the dish than anything that tried to steal the limelight. Very, very tasty. Finally, the Halibut showed up with a tart glass noodle and mango salad. Honestly? The noodles tasted like what I make at home - which is both complimentary and disappointing. It was tasty, but not at all exciting. The halibut was cooked nicely, but what stole the show of this dish was the greens it had been sitting on. I'm pretty sure it wasn't spinach, but it was some dark green leaf that had a rich and wonderful flavour to it - reminding me of the vegetables in the seafood course at The Press Gang. I really like restaurants that treat their greens and veggies with as much attention as the meat that goes with them. However, we were a bit frustrated with this whole usage of 'tapas' to describe small plate sharers. For all its scrumptiousness, I would not call Bin 941 a "tapas parlour". But back to praise, we heartily enjoyed the Storm Ale pints of Stout that accompanied our food. Very tasty, and not at all expensive. Huzzah to the local breweries! We turned down dessert in the end - I think we were a bit desserted out after the constant feedings on the train. Finally, we walked back to the hotel, sufficiently stuffed, and tucked ourselves in for the night.
Day 12
Tuesday morning started with a search for the perfect breakfast food. After having fairly regular breakfasts for the past 4 days, I was determined to start days off right in Vancouver. I did a little searching and found a blog dedicated to breakfasts in Vancouver (I love foodies), which told us that a very, very impressive haunt was just around the corner from us. So Roger and I hopped up the road to Medina Cafe and fell deeply and desperately in love. The only downside, we could find, was that the menu had too many tasty things on it. Roger intelligently commented that we could just come back again and try more of them. So we did. For Tuesday morning, he ordered the waffles (oh, their waffles) with Fig and Marmelade Confiture, with a side of Saucisson de Paris (duck sausage). I ordered La Santé, ironically the closest thing to tapas we'd had the whole trip, which was a plate consisting of avocado, tomato and black olive tapenade, prosciutto, ciabatta toast, and a soft-boiled egg. It amused me, as the plate ws put in front of me, that everything sat in its own little corner, waiting for me to assemble it how I chose. It was so similar to something I'd have for breakfast at home, that I was delighted beyond the tastiness of the food. Roger let me taste some of his sausage, which was excellent, and some of his waffle, which was also good... other than the fact that I REALLY don't like marmelade. I was determined to try one of the other waffle flavours on our return. After a breakfast of such magnitude, we were ready for anything that day.
We left the cafe and instead of turning left to head back to the hotel, turned right and headed north into Gastown. We spent at least a couple hours just wandering through the old Victorian area, ogling the interesting architecture and mix of characters that peopled the streets. On our way back, we discovered a T&T grocery store, which delighted both of us with its asian personality. It was as if Sobeys and Toronto's Chinatown Groceries merged into a supermarket where you could order take-out dim sum, buy live King Crab (holy $#!+, they're HUGE), find an aisle marked "Western Cookies" and yoghurt called "YoBaby", and grab fresh sashimi, uni or roe from the "ready-to-go" section. It was hardly a 5 min. walk from the hotel, and became our go-to for quick snacks. Roger got a Lychee drink, a fried-bun and BBQ Pork sandwich; I got some dimsum (pork & shrimp dumplings), a very tasty cold mushroom and cucumber salad, and a coconut milk tapioca dessert. We brought it all back to the hotel and feasted.
That afternoon, we headed out to Granville Island. Up to and including this point, the weather in Vancouver had been all mist and rain. It became apparent that the complimentary umbrella that the hotel kindly left in our suite was more than just an "in case". I have also been amused by the amount of umbrella stands everywhere, hiding just inside most shops. Rain is certainly a part of the culture here. Anyway, we hopped off the aquabus onto Granville and peeked around. In the weather, the visitors were mostly students of the Emily Carr Design Institute or employees of the market and surrounding shops. After a fun tour of the Public Market, we strolled the streets of the Island, poking our heads in here and there. We saw a store that sold incredibly beautiful painted silk shawls and wraps, a store that sold brooms (one of which was labeled "racing broom"), ceramics, glass, an enclosure with woodcarvers hard at work on a totem pole-like sculpture, and a sake store. I'd been in the Sake store the last time I was here, but hadn't tasted anything. Roger and I tasted three of their different kinds and learned that the sake rice used to make them was grown here, in Canada. Neither of us had had cold sake before, and the taste was surprisingly pleasant and starchy - not at all what I was expecting. After our sampling, we headed over to PICA for dinner.
PICA stands for Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, and was recommended to us by my friend Laura. The meal is cooked by the students, in a kitchen you can see into thanks to a few large glass windows in the dining room. I was entertained by a guy scraping chocolate off a marble-topped counter. I was even more entertained when a bald man in chef attire (who clearly looked like the teacher) came and tested the chocolate, then gestured something authoritatively, which led to the original guy taking the bowl of chocolate back into the depths of the kitchen. This of course was all without sound and behind glass, which reminded me of when my sisters and I used to mute Soap Operas and substitute the dialogue for one of our own creation.
Dinner there was excellent. We had pulled pork bowtie pasta as a first course, followed by fish for mains. Roger ordered the Sablefish, and I the salmon, and both of us were beyond pleased with how perfectly both were cooked - not at all over or undercooked. I forced dessert in - I'm getting very intimate with the feeling of being stuffed - which for me was a light and airy chocolate eclair with raspberry coulis. Roger had an apple crumble which was gone before I could ask for a bite. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do anything but roll home after the meal, but there's no cure for fullness like exercise, so after the aquabus returned us to downtown, we walked all the way back up to the hotel - no more than 20 or 30 mins really. It wasn't late when we got home, but my body still thought in EST, and 10:30 was quite late enough for bed.
(In an attempt to pace my update, I'll stop now and add more soon. But not too soon.)
Friday, October 29, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Days 9 & 10
Day 9
Our train trip soon became a rigidly-kept schedule. We preferred the late-sitting for meals, having lunch at 1pm and dinner at 7:30pm. It seemed later and later as we passed through time zones. Saturday (Day 9) saw us in Winnipeg for a few hours, as our crew switched over. But since we got there at 8:30am, and nothing really opens on a Saturday until 10am, we found the stop a bit tedious. Winnipeg, of all the cities we’ve been in, reminded me most of Toronto. Eerily quiet on a non-weekday, with wide four lane streets and hints of history in some of the stone buildings. Our adventures kept us warm enough (there was a brisk, cold wind) to walk over to a mall. Like Toronto, Winnipeg has an interesting and intricate system of pathways – this time over as opposed to under. Skywalks connect mall to mall, and small shops and kiosks fill the causeways. Other than picking up another book (I eat literature for breakfast), we didn’t see much to buy in Winnipeg, despite my wish to try and find another pair of moccasins. Either the stores weren’t open, or they were the exact same stores we saw at home: The Bay, Staples, Shoppers... etc. We headed back to the station to allow about 20 min. of internet time before we flew off again; we both checked our mail, I updated this blog, etc. etc.
Lunch came and passed. We read, we played with the computer, we wrote thank you cards, we stared out at the new scenery: prairies. Wide, open expanses of farmland that Roger was disappointed to find weren’t as flat as he’d imagined. It was a bright sunny day out, and the fields shone golden with old stalks of corn, or dark rich brown from recently-cut and tilled hay crops. Cows and horses popped up every so often, but usually it was fields and hedges of trees. The trees were gnarlier than before, tougher and curled up. Someone mentioned they were probably Manitoba maple. The evergreens had all but disappeared. Dinner came. Manitoba left. Entering Saskatchewan, the scenery remained unchanged. We read, hung out in the dome car, etc. End of a day with little substance, other than gustatory or pastorally aesthetic.
Day 10
Our next day started with an early morning stop in Edmonton – so early, we saw nothing but lights outside our curtained berth. As the day progressed, we saw that the sun had left us in Saskatchewan, and the ground now undulated in soft hills. More trees, less farmland. Due to our scheduled stop in Jasper around 1pm, the train was offering brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. We ate around 9:30, and were placed at the table with a couple of people who drew us jovially into conversation. The older man was Father Gerard, a priest of an Old Catholic church in Vancouver. He grew up in Gaspe, and identified himself as both Acadien and Metis. His travelling friend was Jim, an Asian man with a deceptively young face. He didn’t look much older than 35, though he told us he had a son that was 27. We enjoyed our meal and our conversation, then headed to the dome car to see the approach of the Rockies. Soon, the gentle hills deepened into valleys. The soft slopes took on steeper inclines. As they were all wrapped in a thick mist, I immediately thought of Scotland and the highlands – Glencoe, Rannoch Moor, etc. We saw a couple groups of elk and an unfazed team of Bighorn sheep watching the train pass by. The landscape shifted from rockfaces and trees trees and more trees (I noticed that they were once again mostly coniferous, pines and firs), with an outbreak of valley view and snaking river. All the staring out the windows made me feel a little like a nature voyeur – no interaction with it at all, but drinking in the picture it made, endlessly.
Suddenly, Jasper was upon us. Because we were running late, we only had 30 or so minutes at the station. Roger and I made it as far as the lounge, where we capitalized on the few minutes of internet we could gain. Sooner than we would have liked, we returned to our birth and continued staring out the windows transfixed. A couple hours of staring later, we realized that all those mountains we’d seen before had just been teasing. The snow-capped peaks of the Rockies suddenly appeared, wrapped all around in mist, but as highly-defined and clear as anyone could imagine it. The trees by now had become titans – soaring tens of feet high. My favourite scenery was watching the train pass by dips where the trees rooted themselves feet below the level of the train, yet stretched far above. I felt almost as if a brontosaurus head or some other Mesozoic creature would peek up from out of these ancient-seeming woods.
After dinner that night, the time changes all caught up with me, and what was supposedly 8:30pm local time (PST) felt like bedtime. I tucked myself into the lower birth with my iPod and just stared out the window at the full moon, playing hide-and-seek with the clouds and bending train, and let the silhouetted giant trees lull me into a relaxed state of mind.
Our train trip soon became a rigidly-kept schedule. We preferred the late-sitting for meals, having lunch at 1pm and dinner at 7:30pm. It seemed later and later as we passed through time zones. Saturday (Day 9) saw us in Winnipeg for a few hours, as our crew switched over. But since we got there at 8:30am, and nothing really opens on a Saturday until 10am, we found the stop a bit tedious. Winnipeg, of all the cities we’ve been in, reminded me most of Toronto. Eerily quiet on a non-weekday, with wide four lane streets and hints of history in some of the stone buildings. Our adventures kept us warm enough (there was a brisk, cold wind) to walk over to a mall. Like Toronto, Winnipeg has an interesting and intricate system of pathways – this time over as opposed to under. Skywalks connect mall to mall, and small shops and kiosks fill the causeways. Other than picking up another book (I eat literature for breakfast), we didn’t see much to buy in Winnipeg, despite my wish to try and find another pair of moccasins. Either the stores weren’t open, or they were the exact same stores we saw at home: The Bay, Staples, Shoppers... etc. We headed back to the station to allow about 20 min. of internet time before we flew off again; we both checked our mail, I updated this blog, etc. etc.
Lunch came and passed. We read, we played with the computer, we wrote thank you cards, we stared out at the new scenery: prairies. Wide, open expanses of farmland that Roger was disappointed to find weren’t as flat as he’d imagined. It was a bright sunny day out, and the fields shone golden with old stalks of corn, or dark rich brown from recently-cut and tilled hay crops. Cows and horses popped up every so often, but usually it was fields and hedges of trees. The trees were gnarlier than before, tougher and curled up. Someone mentioned they were probably Manitoba maple. The evergreens had all but disappeared. Dinner came. Manitoba left. Entering Saskatchewan, the scenery remained unchanged. We read, hung out in the dome car, etc. End of a day with little substance, other than gustatory or pastorally aesthetic.
Day 10
Our next day started with an early morning stop in Edmonton – so early, we saw nothing but lights outside our curtained berth. As the day progressed, we saw that the sun had left us in Saskatchewan, and the ground now undulated in soft hills. More trees, less farmland. Due to our scheduled stop in Jasper around 1pm, the train was offering brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. We ate around 9:30, and were placed at the table with a couple of people who drew us jovially into conversation. The older man was Father Gerard, a priest of an Old Catholic church in Vancouver. He grew up in Gaspe, and identified himself as both Acadien and Metis. His travelling friend was Jim, an Asian man with a deceptively young face. He didn’t look much older than 35, though he told us he had a son that was 27. We enjoyed our meal and our conversation, then headed to the dome car to see the approach of the Rockies. Soon, the gentle hills deepened into valleys. The soft slopes took on steeper inclines. As they were all wrapped in a thick mist, I immediately thought of Scotland and the highlands – Glencoe, Rannoch Moor, etc. We saw a couple groups of elk and an unfazed team of Bighorn sheep watching the train pass by. The landscape shifted from rockfaces and trees trees and more trees (I noticed that they were once again mostly coniferous, pines and firs), with an outbreak of valley view and snaking river. All the staring out the windows made me feel a little like a nature voyeur – no interaction with it at all, but drinking in the picture it made, endlessly.
Suddenly, Jasper was upon us. Because we were running late, we only had 30 or so minutes at the station. Roger and I made it as far as the lounge, where we capitalized on the few minutes of internet we could gain. Sooner than we would have liked, we returned to our birth and continued staring out the windows transfixed. A couple hours of staring later, we realized that all those mountains we’d seen before had just been teasing. The snow-capped peaks of the Rockies suddenly appeared, wrapped all around in mist, but as highly-defined and clear as anyone could imagine it. The trees by now had become titans – soaring tens of feet high. My favourite scenery was watching the train pass by dips where the trees rooted themselves feet below the level of the train, yet stretched far above. I felt almost as if a brontosaurus head or some other Mesozoic creature would peek up from out of these ancient-seeming woods.
After dinner that night, the time changes all caught up with me, and what was supposedly 8:30pm local time (PST) felt like bedtime. I tucked myself into the lower birth with my iPod and just stared out the window at the full moon, playing hide-and-seek with the clouds and bending train, and let the silhouetted giant trees lull me into a relaxed state of mind.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Days 7 & 8
Once again, we have only a pocket of time to post something - we're in Jasper right now, and I promise to catch us up once we're in Vancouver!
Day 7 – Evening
After our scrumptious sushi, Roger and I picked up some girl guide cookies at the Bathurst TTC station (yay mint chocolate!) and headed down to Union. We’d been encouraged to get there early, as we would have a chance to book what sitting we’d want for lunch and dinner. Thanks to our fast service at Sushi Couture, we were there with plenty of time to spare. We whiled away the hours in the Panorama Lounge by reading and watching Jeopardy (HEATHER), and before we knew it we were loading onto the train – car 121, section 2. After settling in (you’re right Mom, looks just like what I remembered!), we headed to the Dome Car at the end of the train for (flat but festive) champagne and little hors d’oeuvres. Our bunks had already been made into sleeping arrangements when we first saw them, and we were tired enough to climb in and fall promptly asleep.
Day 8
Friday was a restful day. We woke up to beautiful, painting-like landscapes of birch groves and emaciated pines, with breaks of marshland and shining lakes. I told Roger it reminded me of a mix between Dr. Seuss art and the Group of Seven landscapes. Sometimes, those tall, skeletal (no leaves remained) birch trees were in forests dense enough to remind me of bamboo forests I’d seen pictures of in China and Japan. Something about their tall, graceful forms clustered together. Often, I was reminded of the stories of Nanabush, that Ojibway folktales book I used to read from when I was younger. The forest seems at peace up here, if that makes sense. Wild but ordered. Happy that their northern location keeps them far away from civilization, I imagined.
Our focuses on the train became the food. Our breakfast was hearty – we both got the blueberry pancakes that seemed more berry than pancake, and they were delicious. Our lunch was BBQ Shrimp wrap – again, very tasty for something so simple. Dinner that night was Pickerel, and though disappointed that vegetables were treated more like garnish than food, the meal was wonderful. The landscape that was so fascinating in the morning seemed tired now, and it flew by with less and less notice. We were both ready for a change of scene.
(More is coming, don't worry!)
Day 7 – Evening
After our scrumptious sushi, Roger and I picked up some girl guide cookies at the Bathurst TTC station (yay mint chocolate!) and headed down to Union. We’d been encouraged to get there early, as we would have a chance to book what sitting we’d want for lunch and dinner. Thanks to our fast service at Sushi Couture, we were there with plenty of time to spare. We whiled away the hours in the Panorama Lounge by reading and watching Jeopardy (HEATHER), and before we knew it we were loading onto the train – car 121, section 2. After settling in (you’re right Mom, looks just like what I remembered!), we headed to the Dome Car at the end of the train for (flat but festive) champagne and little hors d’oeuvres. Our bunks had already been made into sleeping arrangements when we first saw them, and we were tired enough to climb in and fall promptly asleep.
Day 8
Friday was a restful day. We woke up to beautiful, painting-like landscapes of birch groves and emaciated pines, with breaks of marshland and shining lakes. I told Roger it reminded me of a mix between Dr. Seuss art and the Group of Seven landscapes. Sometimes, those tall, skeletal (no leaves remained) birch trees were in forests dense enough to remind me of bamboo forests I’d seen pictures of in China and Japan. Something about their tall, graceful forms clustered together. Often, I was reminded of the stories of Nanabush, that Ojibway folktales book I used to read from when I was younger. The forest seems at peace up here, if that makes sense. Wild but ordered. Happy that their northern location keeps them far away from civilization, I imagined.
Our focuses on the train became the food. Our breakfast was hearty – we both got the blueberry pancakes that seemed more berry than pancake, and they were delicious. Our lunch was BBQ Shrimp wrap – again, very tasty for something so simple. Dinner that night was Pickerel, and though disappointed that vegetables were treated more like garnish than food, the meal was wonderful. The landscape that was so fascinating in the morning seemed tired now, and it flew by with less and less notice. We were both ready for a change of scene.
(More is coming, don't worry!)
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Catching up in Winnipeg
(We're stopped in Winnipeg for a few hours, which is our small fix of internet until Edmonton, I believe. So here's as far as I've written up)
I believe the last time I left you all was on the eve of Day 6, after we discovered that the Biodome was closed. Off we went anyways, to the Biodome’s neighbour: the Botanical Gardens and Insectarium. As told by Rob, the Gardens were hosting the Chinese Lantern Festival. After being charged for one Quebec student and one Quebec adult (do we blend in that well??), we followed the path lit with candy-coloured lanterns in the direction of the gardens. I had wanted to get there early for a chance to see the Native American garden and the Japanese garden – both closed at 6 – but we were pulled into the thrilled crowd at the Chinese Garden and the varied revelry. The pond was filled with lighted scenes of men and horse, children playing, camels and mythical creatures. The large buildings were draped with plump, blushing red lanterns – in my opinion, the prettiest lanterns of them all. And in the quieter back gardens, displays of Chinese Bonsai (don’t ask me what it was in Chinese, I forget) fascinated Roger and I. Miniature gingko bilobas, trident maples, and evergreens were sculpted into graceful Ikebana-like arrangements. The maples were even changing colour, much to our delight. We ended the experience with a trip to the Insectarium, which I admit to enjoying, even as it made my skin crawl. Roger was grinning wickedly the whole time, making spider movements on my shoulder with his fingers. We saw tarantulae, stick bugs, cockroaches (ick!), centipedes (double ick!), butteflies, moths and my favourite: scarab beetles. After having amused ourselves plentifully, we headed back to The Village to try our luck with a restaurant close to the B&B. This recommended choice, O’Thym, was actually open (yay!), and it was delicious.
No set menu here, but instead its offerings were chalked up onto the soaring 20+ foot walls of a very chic and busy place. The waitress told us that they were a “bring your own wine” resto, which actually meant that they didn’t have any wine at all. We weren’t planning on drinking that night anyway, but we did notice that nearly every other table in the place had at least one bottle opened. I wonder if there’s a corking fee, like in Ontario? (Get to the food, Heather!)
First off was a soup that we didn’t order. We looked at each other conspiratorially when we received it, thinking there might have been a miscommunication as to what a tatin is (read on for that), but quickly started eating it so they couldn’t take it away. It was a creamy curry and coriander soup, very smooth-textured, but little dimension. Nice, but not anything special. Certainly nothing to prove to us that our meal would be a winner. To start, we had ordered un tatin de foie gras, avec les eschalots et les figues confit. Translation: little puff pastry base with a layer of caramelized shallots and figs, topped with perfectly seared pieces of foie gras. I think we cried a little, it was so good. Our fears were allayed. Next up were the entrees: I had ordered Carre d’agneaux (rack of lamb) with a garlic and honey sauce. Yuuuummm. The lamb was perfectly cooked, and the garlic so sweetly roasted with the honey, that everything melted together perfectly. Roger had ordered the bison steak with raspberry and vinegar sauce. The berries exploded alongside the gaminess of the meat, in the most perfect of ways. Roger claims his was better, but I liked both equally. They were both served with seasonal vegetables (one of which was that fractal-type broccoli that we’d seen earlier!), and some very tasty roasted tubers (potato, sweet potato, yam, etc.). Unable to stop ourselves from the train of awesome, we ordered dessert. No sharing here: we both chose the dark chocolate cake, served with a frigid pear froth – light as air, and twice as tasty. Incredibly full but satisfied, we rolled ourselves the block or two home.
Day 7
Up not as early as late, eat what we can at the B&B (we're still full from the night before), and then off to the train station. I grabbed a sandwich from one of the station's little shops, and we spent a quick (5 hour) train ride to Toronto. Surprisingly, we arrived on time, and headed straight up to dinner: Sushi Couture on Bloor. Laura recommended it to us, and we have to give her full kudos. We managed to have the 5-course tasting menu in a span of 1 hour, thanks to incredibly prompt service and a near-empty restaurant. I guess 5pm is too early for most people's dinner. Here goes the food rundown: First course, a dashi-based broth soup with clams. Perfect for starting two people off who might actually STILL be full from the evening before. Second, tempura. A sweetly-vinegared sardine wrapped around something green and skewered with a spear of toothpick; a pair of scallops and seaweeds; and in the middle, a mussel with a rich creamy sauce that originally looked like cheese, but tasted like heaven. Roger gave it thumbs up. Third course, sashimi! Two pieces of a white fish with small red dots of roe, three succulent pieces of white tuna that had a beautiful, beautiful taste to them, and our favourite part - a shotglass of tastes and textures. In this shotglass was a fresh oyster, an egg yolk, salmon roe, and uni (sea urchin), all suspended in a delicious sake mixture. With a quick 'salut', we threw it back and let the tastes all burst in our mouth. Very good, despite its intimidating appearance. Fourth course was sushi: pairs of different nigiri came out. Our favourite was the BC Tuna, which had some deepfried spring onion threads decorating the top. Yuuuum. Finally, our third course were two rolls, the first was your average dynamite roll - tempura shrimp, avocado and cucumber, with fresh tobiko (the little red eggs) on top. The second roll was too much for me, which worked out for Roger (he loved it); it was a california roll topped with perfectly seared salmon. Dessert was green tea ice cream and tempura banana - the perfect end.
Stay tuned for the train ride!
I believe the last time I left you all was on the eve of Day 6, after we discovered that the Biodome was closed. Off we went anyways, to the Biodome’s neighbour: the Botanical Gardens and Insectarium. As told by Rob, the Gardens were hosting the Chinese Lantern Festival. After being charged for one Quebec student and one Quebec adult (do we blend in that well??), we followed the path lit with candy-coloured lanterns in the direction of the gardens. I had wanted to get there early for a chance to see the Native American garden and the Japanese garden – both closed at 6 – but we were pulled into the thrilled crowd at the Chinese Garden and the varied revelry. The pond was filled with lighted scenes of men and horse, children playing, camels and mythical creatures. The large buildings were draped with plump, blushing red lanterns – in my opinion, the prettiest lanterns of them all. And in the quieter back gardens, displays of Chinese Bonsai (don’t ask me what it was in Chinese, I forget) fascinated Roger and I. Miniature gingko bilobas, trident maples, and evergreens were sculpted into graceful Ikebana-like arrangements. The maples were even changing colour, much to our delight. We ended the experience with a trip to the Insectarium, which I admit to enjoying, even as it made my skin crawl. Roger was grinning wickedly the whole time, making spider movements on my shoulder with his fingers. We saw tarantulae, stick bugs, cockroaches (ick!), centipedes (double ick!), butteflies, moths and my favourite: scarab beetles. After having amused ourselves plentifully, we headed back to The Village to try our luck with a restaurant close to the B&B. This recommended choice, O’Thym, was actually open (yay!), and it was delicious.
No set menu here, but instead its offerings were chalked up onto the soaring 20+ foot walls of a very chic and busy place. The waitress told us that they were a “bring your own wine” resto, which actually meant that they didn’t have any wine at all. We weren’t planning on drinking that night anyway, but we did notice that nearly every other table in the place had at least one bottle opened. I wonder if there’s a corking fee, like in Ontario? (Get to the food, Heather!)
First off was a soup that we didn’t order. We looked at each other conspiratorially when we received it, thinking there might have been a miscommunication as to what a tatin is (read on for that), but quickly started eating it so they couldn’t take it away. It was a creamy curry and coriander soup, very smooth-textured, but little dimension. Nice, but not anything special. Certainly nothing to prove to us that our meal would be a winner. To start, we had ordered un tatin de foie gras, avec les eschalots et les figues confit. Translation: little puff pastry base with a layer of caramelized shallots and figs, topped with perfectly seared pieces of foie gras. I think we cried a little, it was so good. Our fears were allayed. Next up were the entrees: I had ordered Carre d’agneaux (rack of lamb) with a garlic and honey sauce. Yuuuummm. The lamb was perfectly cooked, and the garlic so sweetly roasted with the honey, that everything melted together perfectly. Roger had ordered the bison steak with raspberry and vinegar sauce. The berries exploded alongside the gaminess of the meat, in the most perfect of ways. Roger claims his was better, but I liked both equally. They were both served with seasonal vegetables (one of which was that fractal-type broccoli that we’d seen earlier!), and some very tasty roasted tubers (potato, sweet potato, yam, etc.). Unable to stop ourselves from the train of awesome, we ordered dessert. No sharing here: we both chose the dark chocolate cake, served with a frigid pear froth – light as air, and twice as tasty. Incredibly full but satisfied, we rolled ourselves the block or two home.
Day 7
Up not as early as late, eat what we can at the B&B (we're still full from the night before), and then off to the train station. I grabbed a sandwich from one of the station's little shops, and we spent a quick (5 hour) train ride to Toronto. Surprisingly, we arrived on time, and headed straight up to dinner: Sushi Couture on Bloor. Laura recommended it to us, and we have to give her full kudos. We managed to have the 5-course tasting menu in a span of 1 hour, thanks to incredibly prompt service and a near-empty restaurant. I guess 5pm is too early for most people's dinner. Here goes the food rundown: First course, a dashi-based broth soup with clams. Perfect for starting two people off who might actually STILL be full from the evening before. Second, tempura. A sweetly-vinegared sardine wrapped around something green and skewered with a spear of toothpick; a pair of scallops and seaweeds; and in the middle, a mussel with a rich creamy sauce that originally looked like cheese, but tasted like heaven. Roger gave it thumbs up. Third course, sashimi! Two pieces of a white fish with small red dots of roe, three succulent pieces of white tuna that had a beautiful, beautiful taste to them, and our favourite part - a shotglass of tastes and textures. In this shotglass was a fresh oyster, an egg yolk, salmon roe, and uni (sea urchin), all suspended in a delicious sake mixture. With a quick 'salut', we threw it back and let the tastes all burst in our mouth. Very good, despite its intimidating appearance. Fourth course was sushi: pairs of different nigiri came out. Our favourite was the BC Tuna, which had some deepfried spring onion threads decorating the top. Yuuuum. Finally, our third course were two rolls, the first was your average dynamite roll - tempura shrimp, avocado and cucumber, with fresh tobiko (the little red eggs) on top. The second roll was too much for me, which worked out for Roger (he loved it); it was a california roll topped with perfectly seared salmon. Dessert was green tea ice cream and tempura banana - the perfect end.
Stay tuned for the train ride!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Days 5 and 6: Exploration de Montreal
To finish off Day 4, let me just say that our luck in Montreal has not been magnifique. To begin the disappointment: after an afternoon of walking around in Centre-Ville (why can't Toronto feel like Scotland, Ottawa and Barcelona all wrapped in one?), we felt like some comfort food for dinner and set off for a nearby sushi place recommended by our hosts. Wouldn't you know it's closed on Mondays? We satisfied our craving (or in my case, addiction) in a little sushi join in the Latin Quarter, then tucked in for the night.
Day 5: The beds get a million thumbs up here. They're confections of comfortable cotton that you disappear into. Our room is perfect, and our hosts (though we've mostly seen Rob) are wonderful. We had a little breakfast upstairs in the couple's living/dining room, and chatted about everything from Lady Gaga to the Spanish Civil War. Finally, Roger and I decided to continue our exploration of the city south, to Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal).
We've done a fair amount of walking here, and I've got to say - I never knew Montreal was so progressive with bicycles and pedestrian spaces. There are dedicated bike lanes everywhere, divided from the actual roads by boulevards. They also have a point-to-point bike rental service here, like ZIP cars. We decided it was a bit too cool to bike much (the wind here is chilling), so have been walking everywhere instead. After a nice stroll by the Saint Laurent, we stopped at the Museum of Archaeology and History of Montreal. What a labyrinth of a building! Its location wasn't chosen so much as set in stone - literally. The museum hovers over the remains of the first settlement in the city, as well as a later Insurance Building from the 1800s. Beneath the museum, in the sous-sol, is a maze of huge stone blocks, making up the old walls of the 18th Century governor's house, or an old cemetery for the original settlers killed mostly by Iroquoian raids, or old plumbing systems from its Victorian occupation. It was pretty interesting. We also got to see a fun temporary exhibit on Easter Island. I've been fascinated by Polynesian Archaeology since my last year of University, so I was happy! After our museumness, we grabbed some lunch and walked around Old Montreal, finally arriving back at the B&B in time to get ready for our Symphony. Before we left, we considered ordering some Thai take-out for our return (we knew it'd be late) and swung by the restaurant. Wouldn't you know that the nearby Thai place, again recommended by our hosts, was closed due to the owners being on vacation? Gaaah!
We made ourselves fabulous, then caught a cab to the Place-Des Arts. The symphony was excellent. Nagano interpreted Mahler with as much passion as he's famous for, and also treated us to some Haydn piano and German romanticism (a piece called In The Summer Wind) beforehand. Though Roger and I did note that our presence probably dropped the average age by a good 20 years. Anyone who knows Mahler knows we didn't get home early, so we got back, ate something small, then dropped into bed.
Day 6:
Our plans today consisted of the Biodome, the Botanical Gardens, and maybe the Marche Jean-Talon in Little Italy, just north of the downtown. Rob suggested we eat lunch up at the market, which turned out to be an excellent idea. Roger and I ate like natives, at a little boulangerie just behind the main market. He had a very tasty beef and roasted vegetable sandwich on an incredible-looking bread, and I had a homemade spinach quiche. Delicious! Roger gave into his sweet-tooth for dessert and bought a butter pastry (they look like cassette tapes, and are super flaky), while I resisted the temptation caused by a delectable-looking creme brulee that sat beckoning from behind the glass. The bakery also sold tasty looking cakes and pies, and bulk pate - something I'd never seen before. They all looked delicious. The market was great - colour and texture everywhere. Our curiosity was piqued by a small butcher selling various meats, and we bought some smoked duck to try. Delicious. They also sold wild Quebec boar (Sanglier en francais, as anyone who reads too much Asterix y Obelix should know), bison, deer, and rabbit. Roger was fascinated by a type of cauliflower/broccoli that looked like something from an alien planet. The florets formed fractal patterns, jutting out more like crystal than vegetable. I liked the stems of brussel sprouts one booth sold - neither Roger nor I had ever realised they grew like that. They looked like gladiolas! Finally, we headed back to the B&B to rest before carrying on to the Botanical Gardens.
No Biodome, though. Remember how I said "bad luck"? Well, as I checked the computer this morning, I discovered that due to renovations, the Biodome is closed until December 4th. Whaa??? They said NOTHING of this a couple months ago, when I was planning our trip. Gah. So instead, we're off to the Botanical Gardens and the Insectarium, to see the Chinese Lantern Festival. I'm also curious to see the Jardin d'Autochtone (Native American Garden) they have.
Stay tuned for more!
Day 5: The beds get a million thumbs up here. They're confections of comfortable cotton that you disappear into. Our room is perfect, and our hosts (though we've mostly seen Rob) are wonderful. We had a little breakfast upstairs in the couple's living/dining room, and chatted about everything from Lady Gaga to the Spanish Civil War. Finally, Roger and I decided to continue our exploration of the city south, to Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal).
We've done a fair amount of walking here, and I've got to say - I never knew Montreal was so progressive with bicycles and pedestrian spaces. There are dedicated bike lanes everywhere, divided from the actual roads by boulevards. They also have a point-to-point bike rental service here, like ZIP cars. We decided it was a bit too cool to bike much (the wind here is chilling), so have been walking everywhere instead. After a nice stroll by the Saint Laurent, we stopped at the Museum of Archaeology and History of Montreal. What a labyrinth of a building! Its location wasn't chosen so much as set in stone - literally. The museum hovers over the remains of the first settlement in the city, as well as a later Insurance Building from the 1800s. Beneath the museum, in the sous-sol, is a maze of huge stone blocks, making up the old walls of the 18th Century governor's house, or an old cemetery for the original settlers killed mostly by Iroquoian raids, or old plumbing systems from its Victorian occupation. It was pretty interesting. We also got to see a fun temporary exhibit on Easter Island. I've been fascinated by Polynesian Archaeology since my last year of University, so I was happy! After our museumness, we grabbed some lunch and walked around Old Montreal, finally arriving back at the B&B in time to get ready for our Symphony. Before we left, we considered ordering some Thai take-out for our return (we knew it'd be late) and swung by the restaurant. Wouldn't you know that the nearby Thai place, again recommended by our hosts, was closed due to the owners being on vacation? Gaaah!
We made ourselves fabulous, then caught a cab to the Place-Des Arts. The symphony was excellent. Nagano interpreted Mahler with as much passion as he's famous for, and also treated us to some Haydn piano and German romanticism (a piece called In The Summer Wind) beforehand. Though Roger and I did note that our presence probably dropped the average age by a good 20 years. Anyone who knows Mahler knows we didn't get home early, so we got back, ate something small, then dropped into bed.
Day 6:
Our plans today consisted of the Biodome, the Botanical Gardens, and maybe the Marche Jean-Talon in Little Italy, just north of the downtown. Rob suggested we eat lunch up at the market, which turned out to be an excellent idea. Roger and I ate like natives, at a little boulangerie just behind the main market. He had a very tasty beef and roasted vegetable sandwich on an incredible-looking bread, and I had a homemade spinach quiche. Delicious! Roger gave into his sweet-tooth for dessert and bought a butter pastry (they look like cassette tapes, and are super flaky), while I resisted the temptation caused by a delectable-looking creme brulee that sat beckoning from behind the glass. The bakery also sold tasty looking cakes and pies, and bulk pate - something I'd never seen before. They all looked delicious. The market was great - colour and texture everywhere. Our curiosity was piqued by a small butcher selling various meats, and we bought some smoked duck to try. Delicious. They also sold wild Quebec boar (Sanglier en francais, as anyone who reads too much Asterix y Obelix should know), bison, deer, and rabbit. Roger was fascinated by a type of cauliflower/broccoli that looked like something from an alien planet. The florets formed fractal patterns, jutting out more like crystal than vegetable. I liked the stems of brussel sprouts one booth sold - neither Roger nor I had ever realised they grew like that. They looked like gladiolas! Finally, we headed back to the B&B to rest before carrying on to the Botanical Gardens.
No Biodome, though. Remember how I said "bad luck"? Well, as I checked the computer this morning, I discovered that due to renovations, the Biodome is closed until December 4th. Whaa??? They said NOTHING of this a couple months ago, when I was planning our trip. Gah. So instead, we're off to the Botanical Gardens and the Insectarium, to see the Chinese Lantern Festival. I'm also curious to see the Jardin d'Autochtone (Native American Garden) they have.
Stay tuned for more!
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Press Gang's Drill review, and Days 3 & 4 - Montreal
To end off the night of Day 2 in Halifax, I have to tell you about our dinner. After wandering about downtown Halifax for a half hour or so, we disappeared into the Press Gang, a wonderfully romantic and ambient old building. Our Hugh Jackman look-alike waiter's name was Alex, and took care of us right away, telling us that The Drill (the restaurant's 4-course fixed price menu) had been prepared for us. He gave us the option of pairing a wine with each course, and what could we say? Sold. Ready for this?
1st course: Seafood
Paired with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - a light, tangy citrus-note wine. Good but not incredibly memorable.
Local Nova Scotia Chowder, with mussel, smoked salmon, potato and clam. I really enjoyed the chowder (except for the odd piece of potato that didn't seem quite cooked), but Roger merely approved. He liked how the smoked salmon was full of flavour, smokey and salmony, and how it imbued the chowder. Yum.
Digby Sea Scallop, with peach jam on a bed of roasted brussel sprouts. Oh man, did brussel sprouts never taste so good. They had that lovely crunchy caramelized flavour to them without any of the sour/bitter taste that sprouts usually have. I quite liked the peach jam sweetening the perfectly cooked silky sea scallop, but Roger's favourite was the third item...
Nova Scotia Lobster, on a bed of caramelized red cabbage and pine nuts. If you think brussel sprouts were awesome, this cabbage blew our minds. The cabbage had been softened and sweetened with some onions, and the occasional crunch from a slivered pine nut. Topped with the lobster and a rich sauce I couldn't begin to tell you what it consisted of, and the star to our first course is born.
2nd Course: Salad & Amused Bouche
(Paired with another New Zealand wine, this one a Pinot Noir. Neither of us felt this wine was very remarkable, but I got into the spirit of trying to guess what type of food was coming with each wine selection. For this one, I guessed meat of some kind.)
Salad of Arugula, sun-dried tomatoes and sweet onion. I don't know where they get their sun-dried tomatoes, but I WANT SOME. These aren't your typical full-of-acid-bite fruit, they explode with the sweet taste of sun in your mouth. Paired with the peppery arugula (I'm really starting to like that leaf) and the crunch of sweet onion, and this was one salad Roger and I had no problems finishing.
Pork belly in Molasses sauce. I gotta say, this was one of the less remarkable dishes we were served. The sauce was very, very sweet - molasses indeed - with ginger and the thick teriyaki-like sauce saturating the fatty meat of the pork belly. Too sweet, in our opinion - it needed an extra bit of bite from a vinegar or a spicy layer.
Yam Perogie with Black Truffles and Sweet Potato Chip. Possibly the BEST part of the entire meal. Oh, this thing was to DIE for. The sweetness of the yam encased in the starchiness of the crust was swimming in a rich and delicate truffle sauce. I actually tried my first truffle on its own, and was a bit disappointed at how little its flavour burst in my mouth. Much more like a nutty mushroom than anything. But oh, the perogie. Whoever thought of topping it with the thin slices of deep-fried Sweet Potato get special kudos, because that sharp salty crispiness of the potato cut through any moment you thought you were getting sick of the cloyingly rich truffle sauce. EPIC WIN.
Palate Cleanser - Strawberry Sorbet with mint
3rd Course: The Meat
(Paired with a Californian 'Apothic Red', which is a mix of Shiraz, Pinot and Cab I think. Whatever it was got better and better with each sip, its undernotes of woodsy vanilla and coffee coming out to play. Easily our favourite wine of the night.)
Duck Breast with Cherry Sauce and Yam Mash. The duck was good, but not blow-your-mind good. In fact, I found I appreciated it much more in between the other two meats there were to try than to start with it. I'll also confess that this is the one course where I asked Roger to finish my portion. Mostly, I left him the duck.
Lamb with Cassis Sauce and Mashed Yukon Potato. I wanted to take this one home and curl up in it, I loved it so much. However they cooked the lamb was PERFECT. It was still red and rare, but didn't have any gamy overly-lamb flavour to it. Then add the soft currant tartness and potatoes I wish I could make (because most people know I am not a potato fan), and I swear there was nutmeg in there too... but of the three parts of this course, the lamb is the one I ate all of. Couldn't leave any for Roger. Must eat it all. All mine. My precious.
Pork Tenderloin with Homemade BBQ Sauce on Bed of Vegetable Salad. And then when you're not looking, they hit you with this meat!! I have had tenderloin many times, but nowhere has it tasted like this. I couldn't figure out what made it so irresistible; it seemed to contain all the ingredients I'd had before. But it was perfectly seasoned with pepper and salt, and the homemade BBQ sauce actually blended into everything perfectly instead of being "Yeah? So?"-like... which I admit to expecting. My one and only critique of this meat is that the portion was insanely large. Like, on its own it could have been dinner. But Roger managed to finish off what I didn't, and I wasn't too full to enjoy the pleasure of pairing the meats over and over with our delectable and smoky wine. And then we dreamed of our last course. Would it be dessert, or as Roger joked, pasta? Dessert pasta? We'll see.
4th Course: Dessert
(Nova Scotia's own Jost Wineries provided us with a not-too-sweet, apple-note icewine to accompany our dessert. Tasty!)
Creme Brulee. Okay, I had to start with this one. It's the first thing I radared towards, and first thing I cleaned out. These people know what they're doing. The custard was oh so rich, solid enough to stand up on its own but soft enough to melt like caramel on the tongue. The brulee... just... yum. Needless to say, I'm picky about my creme brulees, and Press Gang didn't let me down.
Poached Pear in Red Wine, with Oatmeal Crunch and Creme Anglaise. Where they did let us down was here. They had served us dinner with a fork and spoon - no knife - and we found ourselves ill-equipped to dissect the pear. Too hard, it felt like after-dinner exercise to try and trap the fruit and shear bits off of it.
Also on the plate was a gooseberry (or as we'd discovered earlier at Aunt Norma's, a "ground cherry") with tasty chocolate 'paint' (exactly what it sounds like) and a soft and crumbly shortbread cookie with drops of blueberry coulee to mix it with. It wasn't the most impressive dessert platter we've seen, but after three nearly perfect savoury courses, it was a nice end to a perfect night.
After the meal, we rolled ourselves back to the hotel and tried out the huge jacuzzi tub. Awesome. After floating about like plump little dumplings, we climbed up into the hilariously high queen bed and slept straight to the next morning. Which takes us to...
Day 3: Train Time
After a quick breakfast at the Waverley (we were surprised we ate anything after the night before's gluttony), we packed up and checked out. The VIA station was a five minute walk away, and we had no time getting there for 11, a full hour before the train was scheduled to depart. Before we knew it, we were on board in our little room for two.
In short, I don't like what they've done with my train. VIA used to fascinate me - the dome cars, the quaint dining car, the sliding doors between each car, the berths that fold down like origami. But now it's all gone. The only type of cars they have now are economy (which we weren't allowed into) and sleeper class, a mix of sleep-two rooms. No dome car. No park car. A 'service' car with a bar and an uninspired list of take-out items, and a dining car that has fold-down seats. Something seemed wrong and missing. Sure, it was neat to have our own little room, but I missed the airiness that came with the berths. I especially missed the dome car, and the walk down to it. I think when I was little, I had just as much fun walking along from car to car, hoisting the ready-to-close sliding doors open at each juncture. That's gone now - no doors at all, and our car was one of three sleeping cars before the service car. No exploration necessary - the sleepers are all identical.
I know I'll be happier with the train to Vancouver. Dome cars, berths, showers that aren't your entire bathroom... But until then, *heavy sigh* VIA. Heavy sigh.
Day 4: Montreal
Following a leisurely breakfast in the dining car of toast and coffee (well, I had coffee. Roger had Apple Juice), we packed up our things and gave our B&B a call. Rob kindly gave us directions for our cab, and we were at La Loggia before we could blink. It's nestled to the east of Centre-Ville in "The Village". Think Church and Wellesley. Our room is lovely, with a huge bed in comfy linens, a little table with iron chairs for take-out and typing up blogs (guess where I am?), a tv, two windows overlooking the street (we're on the first floor), and our own ensuite with shower. Already used the shower to try and regain some semblance of neatness, after cramped quarters in our little roomette. Everything is immaculately clean here, and the two guys who run the place (Rob and Joel) are wonderfully helpful. They've got wi-fi, hence the updates, and they've already given us a map of the city and a list of recommended restaurants.
The afternoon was devoted to walking downtown to see exactly how far it was, and to see what's around, so we strolled down Maisonneuve and Rue St. Catherine. We passed the Place Des Arts, where we'll be seeing the symphony tomorrow night, and discovered the awesome little villages around the University, like the Musee Quarter and the Latin Quarter. I bought some gloves - because it's a wee bit nippy right now! - and am so glad I brought my hat. Earflaps are a necessity here right now, with the wind being so fierce and cold. Tomorrow, who knows? We know we've got the symphony, but our day may get devoted to Old Montreal, a portion we didn't see today. We'd also like to head out to the Biodome and the Gardens (Chinese Lantern Festival is going on right now), and maybe climb Mount Royal too. But we've still got two more days, so lots of time to fit it all in.
1st course: Seafood
Paired with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - a light, tangy citrus-note wine. Good but not incredibly memorable.
Local Nova Scotia Chowder, with mussel, smoked salmon, potato and clam. I really enjoyed the chowder (except for the odd piece of potato that didn't seem quite cooked), but Roger merely approved. He liked how the smoked salmon was full of flavour, smokey and salmony, and how it imbued the chowder. Yum.
Digby Sea Scallop, with peach jam on a bed of roasted brussel sprouts. Oh man, did brussel sprouts never taste so good. They had that lovely crunchy caramelized flavour to them without any of the sour/bitter taste that sprouts usually have. I quite liked the peach jam sweetening the perfectly cooked silky sea scallop, but Roger's favourite was the third item...
Nova Scotia Lobster, on a bed of caramelized red cabbage and pine nuts. If you think brussel sprouts were awesome, this cabbage blew our minds. The cabbage had been softened and sweetened with some onions, and the occasional crunch from a slivered pine nut. Topped with the lobster and a rich sauce I couldn't begin to tell you what it consisted of, and the star to our first course is born.
2nd Course: Salad & Amused Bouche
(Paired with another New Zealand wine, this one a Pinot Noir. Neither of us felt this wine was very remarkable, but I got into the spirit of trying to guess what type of food was coming with each wine selection. For this one, I guessed meat of some kind.)
Salad of Arugula, sun-dried tomatoes and sweet onion. I don't know where they get their sun-dried tomatoes, but I WANT SOME. These aren't your typical full-of-acid-bite fruit, they explode with the sweet taste of sun in your mouth. Paired with the peppery arugula (I'm really starting to like that leaf) and the crunch of sweet onion, and this was one salad Roger and I had no problems finishing.
Pork belly in Molasses sauce. I gotta say, this was one of the less remarkable dishes we were served. The sauce was very, very sweet - molasses indeed - with ginger and the thick teriyaki-like sauce saturating the fatty meat of the pork belly. Too sweet, in our opinion - it needed an extra bit of bite from a vinegar or a spicy layer.
Yam Perogie with Black Truffles and Sweet Potato Chip. Possibly the BEST part of the entire meal. Oh, this thing was to DIE for. The sweetness of the yam encased in the starchiness of the crust was swimming in a rich and delicate truffle sauce. I actually tried my first truffle on its own, and was a bit disappointed at how little its flavour burst in my mouth. Much more like a nutty mushroom than anything. But oh, the perogie. Whoever thought of topping it with the thin slices of deep-fried Sweet Potato get special kudos, because that sharp salty crispiness of the potato cut through any moment you thought you were getting sick of the cloyingly rich truffle sauce. EPIC WIN.
Palate Cleanser - Strawberry Sorbet with mint
3rd Course: The Meat
(Paired with a Californian 'Apothic Red', which is a mix of Shiraz, Pinot and Cab I think. Whatever it was got better and better with each sip, its undernotes of woodsy vanilla and coffee coming out to play. Easily our favourite wine of the night.)
Duck Breast with Cherry Sauce and Yam Mash. The duck was good, but not blow-your-mind good. In fact, I found I appreciated it much more in between the other two meats there were to try than to start with it. I'll also confess that this is the one course where I asked Roger to finish my portion. Mostly, I left him the duck.
Lamb with Cassis Sauce and Mashed Yukon Potato. I wanted to take this one home and curl up in it, I loved it so much. However they cooked the lamb was PERFECT. It was still red and rare, but didn't have any gamy overly-lamb flavour to it. Then add the soft currant tartness and potatoes I wish I could make (because most people know I am not a potato fan), and I swear there was nutmeg in there too... but of the three parts of this course, the lamb is the one I ate all of. Couldn't leave any for Roger. Must eat it all. All mine. My precious.
Pork Tenderloin with Homemade BBQ Sauce on Bed of Vegetable Salad. And then when you're not looking, they hit you with this meat!! I have had tenderloin many times, but nowhere has it tasted like this. I couldn't figure out what made it so irresistible; it seemed to contain all the ingredients I'd had before. But it was perfectly seasoned with pepper and salt, and the homemade BBQ sauce actually blended into everything perfectly instead of being "Yeah? So?"-like... which I admit to expecting. My one and only critique of this meat is that the portion was insanely large. Like, on its own it could have been dinner. But Roger managed to finish off what I didn't, and I wasn't too full to enjoy the pleasure of pairing the meats over and over with our delectable and smoky wine. And then we dreamed of our last course. Would it be dessert, or as Roger joked, pasta? Dessert pasta? We'll see.
4th Course: Dessert
(Nova Scotia's own Jost Wineries provided us with a not-too-sweet, apple-note icewine to accompany our dessert. Tasty!)
Creme Brulee. Okay, I had to start with this one. It's the first thing I radared towards, and first thing I cleaned out. These people know what they're doing. The custard was oh so rich, solid enough to stand up on its own but soft enough to melt like caramel on the tongue. The brulee... just... yum. Needless to say, I'm picky about my creme brulees, and Press Gang didn't let me down.
Poached Pear in Red Wine, with Oatmeal Crunch and Creme Anglaise. Where they did let us down was here. They had served us dinner with a fork and spoon - no knife - and we found ourselves ill-equipped to dissect the pear. Too hard, it felt like after-dinner exercise to try and trap the fruit and shear bits off of it.
Also on the plate was a gooseberry (or as we'd discovered earlier at Aunt Norma's, a "ground cherry") with tasty chocolate 'paint' (exactly what it sounds like) and a soft and crumbly shortbread cookie with drops of blueberry coulee to mix it with. It wasn't the most impressive dessert platter we've seen, but after three nearly perfect savoury courses, it was a nice end to a perfect night.
After the meal, we rolled ourselves back to the hotel and tried out the huge jacuzzi tub. Awesome. After floating about like plump little dumplings, we climbed up into the hilariously high queen bed and slept straight to the next morning. Which takes us to...
Day 3: Train Time
After a quick breakfast at the Waverley (we were surprised we ate anything after the night before's gluttony), we packed up and checked out. The VIA station was a five minute walk away, and we had no time getting there for 11, a full hour before the train was scheduled to depart. Before we knew it, we were on board in our little room for two.
In short, I don't like what they've done with my train. VIA used to fascinate me - the dome cars, the quaint dining car, the sliding doors between each car, the berths that fold down like origami. But now it's all gone. The only type of cars they have now are economy (which we weren't allowed into) and sleeper class, a mix of sleep-two rooms. No dome car. No park car. A 'service' car with a bar and an uninspired list of take-out items, and a dining car that has fold-down seats. Something seemed wrong and missing. Sure, it was neat to have our own little room, but I missed the airiness that came with the berths. I especially missed the dome car, and the walk down to it. I think when I was little, I had just as much fun walking along from car to car, hoisting the ready-to-close sliding doors open at each juncture. That's gone now - no doors at all, and our car was one of three sleeping cars before the service car. No exploration necessary - the sleepers are all identical.
I know I'll be happier with the train to Vancouver. Dome cars, berths, showers that aren't your entire bathroom... But until then, *heavy sigh* VIA. Heavy sigh.
Day 4: Montreal
Following a leisurely breakfast in the dining car of toast and coffee (well, I had coffee. Roger had Apple Juice), we packed up our things and gave our B&B a call. Rob kindly gave us directions for our cab, and we were at La Loggia before we could blink. It's nestled to the east of Centre-Ville in "The Village". Think Church and Wellesley. Our room is lovely, with a huge bed in comfy linens, a little table with iron chairs for take-out and typing up blogs (guess where I am?), a tv, two windows overlooking the street (we're on the first floor), and our own ensuite with shower. Already used the shower to try and regain some semblance of neatness, after cramped quarters in our little roomette. Everything is immaculately clean here, and the two guys who run the place (Rob and Joel) are wonderfully helpful. They've got wi-fi, hence the updates, and they've already given us a map of the city and a list of recommended restaurants.
The afternoon was devoted to walking downtown to see exactly how far it was, and to see what's around, so we strolled down Maisonneuve and Rue St. Catherine. We passed the Place Des Arts, where we'll be seeing the symphony tomorrow night, and discovered the awesome little villages around the University, like the Musee Quarter and the Latin Quarter. I bought some gloves - because it's a wee bit nippy right now! - and am so glad I brought my hat. Earflaps are a necessity here right now, with the wind being so fierce and cold. Tomorrow, who knows? We know we've got the symphony, but our day may get devoted to Old Montreal, a portion we didn't see today. We'd also like to head out to the Biodome and the Gardens (Chinese Lantern Festival is going on right now), and maybe climb Mount Royal too. But we've still got two more days, so lots of time to fit it all in.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Day 1 & 2: Halifax
For those of you who have been checking this blog, hoping for honeymoon stories, you've come to the right place! What better spot to write up our little adventure but the blog that already exists. So here goes.
Day 1:
Our anxiousness to get going got stopped dead in its tracks when they announced on the Porter plane that we had mechanical problems, and would be approx. an hour late. So we deboarded, and enjoyed some more excellent free food (real shortbread cookies! excellent coffee!) while we waited. Once we got on board, it was another few hours and a stop in Ottawa before we hit the turbulence. I think the last 20 min. of our flight was more exciting than any other time I've been in a plane. Roger laughed when I joked to him that crashing and burning wasn't my first choice to start our honeymoon, but once we touched down I began breathing again. After I removed my clenched hands from the armrests, we picked up our luggage only to find that our carry-on (checked at the gate) had lost its handle. Stubborly, I filled out a complaint, but I was told by the Porter deskwoman that they don't cover handles or straps. But our night looked up once Aunt Irene and John took us back to their place and stuffed us silly with a homemade meal. Delicious. With full bellies, we climbed into bed at 9:30pm THEIR time and fell fast asleep.
Day 2:
About 13 (!) hours later, we got up and were treated to the delicious smell of cinnamon buns and the patter of rain on the roof. A few of those, and we were ready to head over to Aunt Norma's and Uncle Gordon's to see the family. Great turnout! We saw a veritable scattering of the family, and held a quiz for Roger at the end. In no particular order, we saw Jeff, Sarah and Emily; Mary Lynn, Alexander and Joshua; Andrew, Andrea, Sammy, Kai, and Josiah; Warren, Taylor and Mackenzie with their dog Lila; Aunt Norma and Uncle Gordon, naturally; Aunt Eva Mae; and Jan and Phil made an appearance with their irresistible new puppy Murphy. In true Spares tradition, there was a buffet of food to stuff ourselves with, and I think all of it was homemade. I know all of it was delicious.
Finally, Aunt Irene and John took Roger and I into Halifax, and after a little searching found the Waverley Inn. We'll be able to walk to the train station, it's so close, and we're looking forward to having a little stroll before our dinner at the Press Gang tonight. But oh, the room. This whole hotel is like something out of a Victorian period movie. Stephanie, you'd have nightmares. It's one of those places you just KNOW is haunted. There are no elevators, but with a little help from the hotel, we climbed the one flight to our Queen Deluxe room and settled in. We have a beautiful crocheted and tassled canopy over our epic bed (the headboard is solid wood, and straight out of Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre), a jacuzzi in our spacious en suite, and everything exudes awesome. I'm in heaven, and I know Roger loves it too. *self back-pat here*
We're off for dinner, and probably a little walk beforehand. Afterwards, perhaps try out the jacuzzi? Lots of love to all, and we'll let you know when we're on the train.
Day 1:
Our anxiousness to get going got stopped dead in its tracks when they announced on the Porter plane that we had mechanical problems, and would be approx. an hour late. So we deboarded, and enjoyed some more excellent free food (real shortbread cookies! excellent coffee!) while we waited. Once we got on board, it was another few hours and a stop in Ottawa before we hit the turbulence. I think the last 20 min. of our flight was more exciting than any other time I've been in a plane. Roger laughed when I joked to him that crashing and burning wasn't my first choice to start our honeymoon, but once we touched down I began breathing again. After I removed my clenched hands from the armrests, we picked up our luggage only to find that our carry-on (checked at the gate) had lost its handle. Stubborly, I filled out a complaint, but I was told by the Porter deskwoman that they don't cover handles or straps. But our night looked up once Aunt Irene and John took us back to their place and stuffed us silly with a homemade meal. Delicious. With full bellies, we climbed into bed at 9:30pm THEIR time and fell fast asleep.
Day 2:
About 13 (!) hours later, we got up and were treated to the delicious smell of cinnamon buns and the patter of rain on the roof. A few of those, and we were ready to head over to Aunt Norma's and Uncle Gordon's to see the family. Great turnout! We saw a veritable scattering of the family, and held a quiz for Roger at the end. In no particular order, we saw Jeff, Sarah and Emily; Mary Lynn, Alexander and Joshua; Andrew, Andrea, Sammy, Kai, and Josiah; Warren, Taylor and Mackenzie with their dog Lila; Aunt Norma and Uncle Gordon, naturally; Aunt Eva Mae; and Jan and Phil made an appearance with their irresistible new puppy Murphy. In true Spares tradition, there was a buffet of food to stuff ourselves with, and I think all of it was homemade. I know all of it was delicious.
Finally, Aunt Irene and John took Roger and I into Halifax, and after a little searching found the Waverley Inn. We'll be able to walk to the train station, it's so close, and we're looking forward to having a little stroll before our dinner at the Press Gang tonight. But oh, the room. This whole hotel is like something out of a Victorian period movie. Stephanie, you'd have nightmares. It's one of those places you just KNOW is haunted. There are no elevators, but with a little help from the hotel, we climbed the one flight to our Queen Deluxe room and settled in. We have a beautiful crocheted and tassled canopy over our epic bed (the headboard is solid wood, and straight out of Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre), a jacuzzi in our spacious en suite, and everything exudes awesome. I'm in heaven, and I know Roger loves it too. *self back-pat here*
We're off for dinner, and probably a little walk beforehand. Afterwards, perhaps try out the jacuzzi? Lots of love to all, and we'll let you know when we're on the train.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
We're Married!
The day has come, and gone, and we can only say THANK YOU. Thank you so much, to everyone who was a part of it, and thank you to those who were a part of it from afar. You are all so important to us, that it wouldn't have been the perfect day it was if it wasn't for you guys.
With love, from the happy couple.
Heather & Roger
With love, from the happy couple.
Heather & Roger
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