Along with the Algarve (Parts 1 and 2), we spent several days in Lisbon (including a daytrip to Sintra). I preferred Lisbon to the Algarve area – even though the beaches along the shore were amazing, there’s just something appealing about a bustling, pretty European city. The views from our hotel room was pretty nice!

When we first landed, we had the entire afternoon and evening to explore the area around the hotel, which was pretty much as central as one could get in Lisbon. Right outside of the hotel was a small pedestrian cobblestone street that led right into Rossio Square, which was surrounded by churches, bakeries and little restaurants with as much cod as one person could eat in all the windows.

Along with sampling some of the cheeses and the fish, we tried the ginjinha, a cherry liquour that was definitely quite potent. I thoroughly enjoyed the cod balls!

Between all the snacking, we wandered around and checked out the touristy sites/sights that were close by.

São Domingos Church:

The amazing Carmo convent, a gothic church in ruins:

Our first dinner in Portugal was at the renowned Bon Jardim, apparently one of the best places to go for piri piri chicken. It took us a while to find the restaurant, and we had to traverse a gauntlet of unrelenting restaurant greeters trying to pull us into their restaurants, but we made it there and enjoyed some fine piri piri chicken and red wine. The wine was cheap and so good. The piri piri sauce comes in a separate klittle jar that you briush on your chicken yourself – and it was SPICY! Very delicouys though!

We sleepily walked back to the hotel as the sun set and explored the rooftop bar for a bit before falling straight to sleep.

We have visited and reported on many sushi restos in Montreal…from the more high-end ones like Jun-I and Mikado, to more middle of the road ones like Tataki, and then the all-you-can eat places, like the abysmal Odaki and the ridiculous Kanda (two locations). I’ve been thinking that all-you-can-eat sushi and Montreal are just never going to be partners, and if you want decent sushi in Montreal, you’re going to have to pay the high price tag. Well, this past weekend, I was proven wrong, and I enjoyed the best all-you-can-eat sushi experience that Montreal has offered me so far, at Sushi 999.

We stopped in for a late lunch on Saturday, around 2pm. We were worried the place might not be serving food at that weird time, but it was, and for $13.99 per person! It’s more expensive to eat dinner there (about $25/person, the Montreal norm), but for a weekend lunch, $13.99 is hard to beat. While the don’t offer sashimi during the lunch menu, they offer plenty of other choices that make up for it. They even give a card that they stamp, so that if you go 9 times, the 10th is free. And it seems as though the place is BYOW as well…and finally, the food is great! The sushi is fresh, the rice well-seasoned, and the fried food we tried were all perfectly done. I don’t have a single complaint about the place, only praise.

We started by sharing two of the salads, the wakame (seaweed) salad and the fish egg salad, and both were delightful and refreshing. The wakame salad was excellently seasoned, and the fish egg salad, with strips of “crab” and lettuce needed only a splash of soy sauce.

As I said, the sushi was perfect. The tuna was fresh, the salmon buttery and rich, the eel luxurious.

We also really enjoyed the sushi pizza, with salmon atop a crispy, fried ricecake. We had ordered a handroll by mistake, but it was fortunate one, since it was one of the best things to come our way (stuffed with shrimp tempura).

We indulged in some of the fried options, such as the scallops, topped with a dollop of Japanese mayo and the dumplings, wrapped in super-crispy wontons.

The edamame was lightly seasoned and the shrimp tempura had a sweet and light, crispy batter – both were excellent.

The fish head had little to it, but its skin was fun to eat. They even have a small dim sum menu, so we tried the shrimp dumplings and loved them. The wrapper was a tad gelatinous, but I enjoyed the texture.

I am seriously looking forward to returning this Saturday!! They are only about 6 months old, but I hope the place sticks around for a long time to come. Oh, and sorry about the quality of photos…all I had was my phone with me…

Sushi 999
405 Sherbrooke Est, Montreal, Quebec
http://www.sushi999.ca/

Gazpacho is one of the easiest things to make, and up in my top 10 favourite foods. If I had to pick my Desert Island foods, gazpacho would be one of them. I love the saltiness, the sweetness, the slight heat…and the way you just feel healthier after one bowl. When we make this, the massive bowl is gone in about two days…

This recipe makes a lot, so if you’re not like me and don’t want to eat three liters of gazpacho in one day, you may want to reduce it. However, it freezes well, so if you do make a lot, put the extra in the freezer.

I like the following recipe for a bunch of reasons. The watermelon is a great addition; it adds a lot of sweetness to the gazpacho, but none of the watermelon flavour. No need to add any sugar, which is something I usually do without any watermelon in the dish. It also adds a lot of liquid and more substance to the soup. Roasting the peppers and garlic is amazing – you can definitely taste the roast in the peppers, and the garlic is much milder and subtle. Also, roasting the peppers means you’re not adding any of the skin to the soup, which is important. Make sure you seed the cucumbers – they hold way too much water otherwise!

Next time, I’ll probably throw some parsley and basil into the party…

Gazpacho with Roasted Peppers and Watermelon

6-8 large, very ripe tomatoes, peeled and quartered
2 cups cubed watermelon
3 bell peppers (green, yellow or red), roasted and peeled
1 jalapeno pepper, roasted and peeled
4-6 stalks celery, peeled and chopped
2 English cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 large onion, diced
1 bulb garlic, roasted and squished out
1 28-oz can tomatoes

The next ingredients should all really be added to taste…start with a little and add more as needed!

¼ cup red wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp hot sauce (or less, if you don’t like things spicy)
1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Put everything into one big bowl (non-metal, non-reactive)

2. Using a hand blender, combine everything until smooth.

3. Taste, decide what’s missing (maybe you want more lemon juice, more olive oil, more salt, a little bit of sugar…), add and blend again.

4. Let chill (at least one hour, preferably overnight) and devour!

I don’t know how anyone can hate camping. One of my favourite things is to escape into the woods, put up a tent, start a fire, swim in a lake, drink wine, enjoy just being away and eat lots and lots of camping-appropriate food. Fortunately, Mont Tremblant and its 1500km of lakes, woods and rivers is only about one hour away from Montreal, so it provides perfect and ample opportunities for camping.

A photo recap of our camping trip and meals on Lac Provost in Mont-Tremblant:

Arriving – setting up the tent and starting the fire.

A quick hike down to the lake to check in out in the sunset.

Then dinner time…an appetizer of grilled corn, followed by grilled chicken sandwiches, ending with a roaring campfire.

The next morning, up early with an omelet made with onions, basil brought from our home garden, cherry tomatoes from our home tomato plants, grilled corn and local cheese curds. Paired with some fantastic white wine, it’s the ideal way to wake up on a hot summer morning in the forest.

A leisurely walk along the shores of the lake, including picnic table stops with Frisbee, swimming and vodka.

Lunch/dinner was beef and veal burgers, topped with more cheese curds, onions and tomatoes, and a sauce that was made by reducing the marinade that the chicken had been sitting in.

The rest of the evening was filled with more swimming, playing the ukulele, checking out other parts of the lake, more frisbee and roasting a whole lot of marshmallows.

The next day, exploring/climbing waterfalls on a rainy afternoon and sleepily making our way back home.