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!