It had been three years since our last McAuslan brunch, prepared by Martin Picard and his team at Au Pied de Cochon. Sure, we had managed to get in to the last three sugarshack meals at their cabane a sucre, as well as the first meal ever at the cabane a pommes, so we haven`t been starving or necessarily deprived of foie gras…but the McAuslan brunch has a whole other flavour and feel to it. While the two previous brunches we had gone to had been held at the AU Pied de Cochon restaurant, this one, held on January 27th, 2013, was at his cabane a sucre. I did like the atmosphere a bit better at the restaurant, but there’s no doubt that the cabane is a more logical locale.

When we walked in for our 11am seating, our tablemates weren’t there yet (our group of four had been combined with another group of four), so we settled in and started in on the complimentary pitcher of Caesar deliciousness, while ordering a pitcher of McAuslan blonde and rousse. The beer was all-you-can-drink, though I always leave these places feeling like I should’ve drank more. However, we were almost immediately informed that there was to be 14 dishes served to us today, so it’s better I didn’t fill up on beer. I did a pretty good job with the Caesars already.

Pretty soon, the first dishes started getting carried out. Served on enormous planks of wood that needed two servers to carry, each table received a variety of plates to start the meal off with. Some of my favourite parts of the meal were served on this forest-platter!

There was horse “smoked meat,” served alongside a little squeeze bottle of mustard and apparently rye bread, but we never got the rye bread. We did have an entire baguette and a block of butter for the table, so I didn’t miss the rye bread, instead slathering butter on the bread, a dab of mustard and a slice or two of the horse. It wasn’t as fatty as smoked meat, but still really tender and salty. There was a package of housemade gravlax, which was actually right at the top of my favourite things – luscious, thick, pieces of salmon that were light and decadent all at the same time. Another one of my favs was the maple-almond croissant…this thing had pretty much been made out of butter, with a thick, sweet, sugary crust in the middle, having been bathed in maple syrup. There was a jar of housemade maple yogurt, and I ate my entire croissant half by dipping it in the silky, smooth, sweet yogurt. A high point of the meal for me!

There was also a fennel salad with a clementine vinaigrette that everyone at the table loved, but I found it a bit too acidic. I did love the baby dill pickles and the corn relish though.

My plate was filled after this one course…and I even started to slow down a little…

There was a soup served, and this was my least favourite dish of the meal. Absolutely tender and melting pieces of tendon with airy pieces of tripe in a broth of volailles, it was very mildly flavoured and little lack luster. However, the tendon was striking, melting in your mouth, coating your mouth. Apparently this soup had dumplings in it, but I didn’t get any. One of our servers came around with a little carton of quail eggs much later, telling us they were to break into the soup; however, the soup had been sitting at our table for quite some time by then, and wasn’t exactly hot anymore. Also, by that point, most of us had almost finished our soup anyway.

A fantastically interesting and beautiful dish came next: their infamous tourtiere stuffed with every possible meat. The APDC tourtiere, by itself, is a thing of beauty – pork, pork and more pork baked in a flaky, buttery crust. Add light, fluffy sweetbreads and salty Victor and Berthold cheese, and it rises to perfection!

The next dish seemed simple in comparison, but was even more flavourful: the egg, cheese and bacon omelet. This was so rich, so creamy, so smooth, so intense in its cheesy, bacony flavour….I ate my slice, then ate more, then maybe ate more. This is also where I hit my wall. I blame it on the thin strips of slightly crunchy bacon baked into the omelet.

I believe this is where we were given a short break. It’s difficult to remember anything clearly after this point.

A giant cannelloni stuffed foie gras and black truffles hit the table. Cut into eight slices for the table, I was sorry we didn’t have more to share – it was simple, refined, and another one of my favourites. As full as I was at that point, I easily managed to eat what was served to me.

Next up, a shining star in the meal – a deboned chicken that had not only been stuffed with chunks of lobster and foie gras, but actually injected with a lobster bisque. This chicken, its meat juicy, tender, its skin, crispy, salty, exuded lobster-flavour. Every bite was packed with buttery lobster. It didn’t need the gravy it was served with, but the gravy definitely didn’t hurt!

There was really no more eating possible for me at this point. I merely sampled the pompano and mussels that came to the table, but we did bring a lot of it home, including the heads, which one of our tablemates was about to throw out. Delicate and soft, Soli absolutely adored this fish. A salty salad with smashed potatoes at the bottom and crumby garlic pork sausage all over the top was also delivered – at the time I couldn’t even take a bit, but again, we took so much of it home that we ate it for two nights in a row.

Somewhere along the way, we were also served small milkshakes, sweet and rich, of which I ended up drinking two. I brought my dessert of maple and chocolate cream doughnuts and sugarpie poptarts home.

And so it ended. We walked out of there with a bag full of leftovers –fish, chicken, tourtiere, salad, omelet…This was the meal that just keeps giving.

Now we’re waiting for our callback for the cabane a sucre for this season…Give me another few weeks, and I’ll be ready to go for another round.

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Last Christmas, I made nuts, which, while tasty, where sticky and hard to get apart. The end result of making these nuts was a giant mass of nuts that seemed almost cemented together. This year, when buying my combo of pecans, walnuts, almonds and cashews, I knew I didn’t want a repeat of last year. Sure, they tasted really good, but candied nuts are supposed to be fun to eat, not hard work!

I flipped through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table, looking for a meal to make that evening, and happened upon her recipe for sweet and spicy cocktail nuts. While I haven’t made many recipes from this book, I am an enormous fan of her baking book, and know that I can trust any recipe she puts out. This recipe sounded promising – the spice mixture of salty, sweet and spicy was just what I was looking for, and the use of egg whites told me that these nuts would not stick together with that shellacked veneer of baked sugar.

As to be expected, these nuts did not disappoint! They stuck together after baking, but were easy to break apart, and they stayed separate after being put in their jars. The coating stayed on the nuts, was crunchy and perfectly sweet and salty (but more sweet than salty). I would probably add a but more heat to them next time, as I couldn’t really detect any spice. I mixed the nuts in the egg mixture and didn’t do a great job draining them after (I didn’t do it at all, actually), so I think it took longer for everything to bake up and added to them sticking together, but it also meant more coating on each nut, and as I said, they weren’t difficult to break apart after baking.

I loved this recipe and will be using this egg white method for all future spiced nuts. It makes them light, crunchy and each nut is packed with flavour. The recipe below is Dorie’s, but I put my changes in italics. I doubled the recipe. It’s easy to test the spice mixture as you go along and add more of anything you feel is missing. I think these measurements are great suggestions, but everything should be to taste.

Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts
from Around My French Table
Makes 2 cups

1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I increased the salt)
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder (I used Mexican chili powder)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of cayenne (I increased this amount, and would increase it even more next time)
1 large egg white
2 cups nuts (whole or halves, but not small pieces), such as almonds, cashews, peanuts or pecans, or a mix (I doubled the recipe, and used almonds, pecans, walnuts and cashews. The cashews were actually my least favourite in the mix)

1. Center rack in oven and preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray nonstick baking sheet with cooking spray or line baking sheet with silicone mat or parchment paper.

2. Mix sugar, salt, chili powder, cinnamon and cayenne together in small bowl. Beat egg white lightly with fork in larger bowl, just breaking up the white so that it’s runny. Toss in nuts and stir to coat them with egg white, then add sugar and spice mixture and continue to stir so that nuts are evenly coated.

3. Using fingers, lift nuts one by one from bowl, letting excess egg white drip back into bowl (you can run dipped nuts against side of bowl to get rid of last bit of egg white), and transfer to baking sheet, separating them as best you can. (I did not do this, but dumped everything onto my baking sheet)

4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until nuts are browned and coating is dry. (Mine took much longer to bake than this, but I checked them every five minutes or so after the 30 minute mark. They seemed a little sticky still, but they crisped up as they cooled)

5. Cool 5 minutes then transfer to another baking sheet, a cutting board, or piece of parchment paper, breaking them apart as necessary and let cool completely.

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Every Christmas, I try to make fudge or something similar and chocolately to give to my father. In the past, he has been the recipient of cherry polka dot fudge and Caramilk sugar fudge.

This year, I made a batch of dark chocolate and white chocolate peanut butter layered fudge. Quite a mouthful – the name and the fudge itself.

Perhaps I’m not the best person to judge this stuff. Having grown up being deathly allergic to peanuts has created a bit of an aversion to them. I have outgrown the allergy and can eat peanuts now, but don’t particularly like them or their by-products. I think if you do like the peanut butter and chocolate combo, then you would like this fudge. I enjoyed the sweetness all the white chocolate gives to it, the slight saltiness of the peanut butter and how the dark chocolate cuts through both the salty and the sweet. I tried a few bites, and did enjoy it, so anyone who loves peanut butter should love it. And it’s a pretty fudge too – perfect to give as a gift!

Dark and White Chocolate Peanut Butter Layered Fudge
From EagleBrand

1 can (300 mL) sweetened condensed milk, divided
8 squares (1 oz /28g each) semi-sweet or dark chocolate, chopped
6 squares (1 oz /28g each) white chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp baking soda, divided
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup peanut butter

1. In a small saucepan, heat half a can of sweetened condensed milk with semi-sweet or dark chocolate and 1/4 tsp (1 mL) baking soda. Stir frequently until chocolate is melted. Stir in vanilla extract.

2. In another small saucepan, heat the remaining sweetened condensed milk with white chocolate, 1/4 tsp (1 mL) baking soda and peanut butter, stirring until melted.

3. Pour dark chocolate mixture in parchment paper-lined 8″ (20 cm) square pan. Spread peanut butter mixture on top. Cool. Chill 4 hours or until firm.

4. Remove from pan and cut into 1″ (2.5 cm) squares.

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After two weeks off during the holidays, what do I have to show for it? Not too much, unless you count the three bags of recycling in our backroom that mainly consist of wine bottles. A few vodka bottles are also there, for good measure.

Christmas was filled with the usual good foods that only make their appearance during the holidays (and in excess!):

Pastrami rolls and bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with nuts and parmesan:

More dates, deviled eggs and a hot artichoke dip:

Meatballs, cheeses, little eggy tarts, baked beans:

And don’t forget the quintessential pork buns, and the spinach pies and the raisin bream-ham-cheese bake! There were also many, many desserts, and I will be posting some of those recipes over the course of January.

We also enjoyed various other foods…lots and lots of food.

We had an amazing and simple meal at L’Express. It was our second time going there in under a year, and three of us shared the bone marrow appetizer, but had it served with our hangar steaks and fries.

After a night of extensive wine-enjoyment, Soli went out for lunch to Pho Tay Ho, our favourite Viet resto in the city. He came home with a raw beef salad and an all-dressesd pho for me. So sweet, so needed.

And the mandatory pizza, necessary for any quality holiday:

Speaking of said pizza, this one took three hours to get to us, because we ordered it one the day of Montreal’s record-breaking snowstorm, which threw 43-cm of snow on us. Soli worked hard shovelling a pizza path for the poor delivery man.

And some quiet evenings and/or mornings with great scotch and great cats.

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1. Coconut Cheesecake with Honey-Roasted Pineapple

2. Chocolate Cinnamon Caramel Cookies

3. Banana Chocolate Chunk Toffee Muffins

4. Gazpacho with Roasted Peppers and Watermelon

5. Pasta Carbonara with Bacon and Peas

Also, as usual, I attempted the 50 Books in 1 Year Challenge, and as usual, I did not even come close. I did better than usual though! Below are the 37 books I did get through. The ones in bold are the ones I thoroughly enjoyed.

1. The Zombie Survival Guide – Max Brooks
2. On Chesil Beach – Ian McEwan
3. Dust to Dust: Stories – Timothy Findley
4. The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
5. Made Hope – Heather Birrell
6. A Certain Grace – Binnie Brennan
7. Our Daily Bread – Lauren B. Davis
8. Whirl Away – Russell Wangersky
9. Dance Dance Dance – Haruki Murakami
10. The Hunger Angel – Herta Muller
11. World War Z – Max Brooks
12. Story of O – Pauline Reage
13. Good to a Fault – Marina Endicott
14. Drought and Other Stories – Jan Thornhill
15. Fifty Shades of Grey – E.L. James
16. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne
17. Forgive Me – Amanda Eyre Ward
18. Plainsong – Kent Haruf
19. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
20. Submarine – Joe Dunthorne
21. After the Quake – Haruki Murakami
22. Talking It Over – Julian Barnes
23. The Sisters Brothers – Patrick deWitt
24. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
25. Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran – Shahrnush Parsipur
26. The Elephant Vanishes – Haruki Murakami
27. The Best of All Flesh: Zombie Anthology
28. Never Let Me go – Kazuo Ishiguro
29. Daybreak – Brian Ralph
30. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Besiary
31. Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
32. Room – Emma Donoghue
33. Runaway – Alice Munro
34. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
35. Mercy Among the Children – David Adams Richards
36. Alone in the Classroom – Elizabeth Hay
37. The Walking Dead, Compendium 1 – Robert Kirkman

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Here’s the last installment of the Portugal series. After spending time in Lisbon and the Algarves, we spent our last day visiting Sintra and the Pena palace. Gorgeous place, and the perfect way to spend our the last moments in Portugal. I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.

We got up early in the morning and after some confusion, found the train station and got on the train to Sintra, which is about a 30 minute trip from Lisbon. After some major kerfuffles getting off the train (our tickets for the train are supposed to scan and let us leave the train – ours didn’t work and we had to pry open the turnstile door), we got on a bus that brings you waaaaay up the mountain to Pena palace. We took 10,000,000 photos of this fairytale castle:

We had a quick lunch at the palace after spending hours exploring and taking photos of the castle and the views it offered. I had a sausage roll, cod pie and coffee – perfect!

After leaving the castle, we went on a short hike out to a lookout that’s supposed to offer amazing views of Pena from afar. The hike itself had lots of pretty things along the way.

And the lookout was indeed an amazing view!

We took the bus back down, and bought a lot of queijadas, which is a Sintra-specific dessert. Awesome pastries, I brought a whole bunch home.

The rest of the time we spent exploring the village.

And had our last dinner in Portugal there, our last bites of the black pig pork that we had fallen in love with.

And thus concludes a trip to Portugal! Beautiful country with so so so much good food.

Here’s the other posts:

Portugal, Part 1 (Algarve)

Portugal, Part 2 (Algarve)

Portugal, Part 3 (Lisbon)

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This mushroom and pea pasta cabonara was a last-minute addition to our Thanksgiving menu in the fall. It was whipped up quickly and easily, but it turned out to be my favourite dish! The bacon and cream didn’t weigh down the pasta at all, probably because of all the bright, green peas studding the entire thing. I loved the salty cubes of crispy bacon, the mellow and earthy mushrooms, and the light touch of cream. While I am not the biggest fan of peas, I was able to forgive them this time, because they gave the dish a beautiful sweetness.

This was made without any recipe, but here’s the basic idea.

These are the ingredients that went into our version – use as much or as little as you would like, or for as many people as you’re cooking for.

Bacon (as much as you would want!)
Mushrooms (2 packages)
1 yellow onion
2 cups frozen green peas
3 eggs
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
½ cup whole milk or half and half
1 – 1 ½ pounds egg noodles
Salt and pepper

Slice mushrooms and dice onion(s). Set aside.

Take as much bacon as you would want in your dish – cut into cubes, and sauté, until browned, crispy and crunchy. Remove from pan, but leave all that delicious bacon grease in there.

Saute the onions and then the mushrooms in the bacon fat. Remove.

Combine mushrooms, onion, bacon and frozen peas in a bowl. Set aside.

To make the cream sauce, whisk together the eggs (3 should do it for 4 servings) and grated parmesan cheese. Add ½ cup of cream or half-and-half. Stir and set aside.

Boil salted water; add pasta (I used egg noodles for this one) (between 1 pound and 1½ pounds). Cook until al dente.

Drain pasta – add pasta immediately to the bowl of mushrooms, bacon, peas and onion. Pour in the egg/cream/cheese mixture. Toss with vigour. Season to taste and serve!

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The first restaurant we went to was Brasserie T!, Toque’s sister restaurant, which was offering a three-course meal for $29/person. Located in a narrow, window-laden building looking out at the Quartier des Spectacles, the place itself certainly is interesting and eye-catching. Our table was all the way at the end of the restaurant, the last table before the bathrooms, which is always a bit disappointing. However, the food made up for the somewhat awkward table location.

There were two choices of appetizers, mains and desserts. Since there were two of us, it only made sense to order all the choices and just share everything. Wise choice!

Our appetizers were both great. One was a horse tartare, served with a lightly dressed and tangy salad. The tartare was mild-tasting, with a slight heat. The dish was light and fresh – great start to any meal, for sure. The other appetizer was the house terrine. This wasn’t heavy either, despite being packed with livers. Not too salty, not too fatty, it was excellently seasoned and served with crunchy toast points and some sweet and lovely prune compote.

The main dishes were the star of the show, though. I especially loved the pork ribs and fries, served with a side of coleslaw. I will always love pork ribs, but these were exceptionally good. The sauce was perfectly balanced, sweet, salty and sticky, while the meat tender and slid right off the bone. The coleslaw was not all that exciting or memorable when eaten by itself, but when combined with the ribs, iuts character completely changed. It was no longer slightly bland and slightly boring, but an active character supporting the heavy heartiness of the pork ribs. Oh, and the fries!! These were, by far, the best French fries I have ever eaten. So crispy on the outside, so soft on the inside, fried in savoury duck fat. They were actually my favourite part of the meal.

The other main dish was a little less exciting for me, but I think Soli preferred it more – skate with hazelnut butter. I found the skate a little difficult to eat (maybe more apt is to say difficult to share) and the romanesco was bland. The hazelnut was a nice complement to the fish, but was perhaps a bit too buttery. For me, this dish was simply just okay.

Soli and I disagreed again with the desserts. We received the paris brest and cardamom rice pudding with slightly sour preserved fruits (can’t actually recall what these fruits were!). Soli adored the paris brest, while I did not. In fact, I only had one bite and let him devour the rest. Paris brest is a choux pastry with a light praline cream inside, so it’s understandable that Soli would love it – this seems to always be his favourite kind of dessert. I found the pastry not sweet enough and overall, not very interesting. I tend to like my desserts rich and sweet, and I wasn’t disappointed in the rice pudding. It was very creamy and heavy on the cardamom – just perfect!

Overall, a good experience, and I would happily go back to Brasserie T! to sample more from its regular menu.

BRASSERIE T!
1425 RUE JEANNE-MANCE
Montreal, Quebec, H2X 2J4

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One hot Friday this summer, Soli and I biked down to Old Montreal to finally give Club Chasse et Peche a try. We had been wanting to try it for a long, long time, and a summer lunch is the perfect opportunity. During the summer, there is seating outside, overlooking the Château Ramezay gardens. It’s got a gorgeous atmosphere and stunning food and impeccable service – I can’t think of a meal I’ve had that I enjoyed more than this one.

We started with a delightful glass of bubbly. I can’t remember what was called now – however, it’s not something that’s available to us at the SAQ, as it is a private import for the restaurant only. We did love this, and savoured every last drop. At the end of the meal, our waiter was kind enough to pour us another glass of it, probably because we spent the whole meal raving about how much we loved it.

We each ordered a different appetizer and main, and when possible, the kitchen split the plates in half for us. Such was not possible with our snow crab salad with tobiko, apple and avocado on a buttery, flaky cracker. I loved this appetizer, especially with the shreds of apple offering tartness to the creamy and sweet crab, and the rich, buttery base. We also shared the wagyu tartare, which was definitely milder in taste. The mushrooms and egg was the perfect topping for it.

For our mains, we shared the duck confit risotto with foie gras shavings and the grilled octopus with lima beans, tomatoes and mint. Both were incredible! The duck confit risotto was so rich and decadent, I couldn’t imagine having a whole plate of it to myself. The foie gras shavings melted slowly over the whole thing, changing the dish into something new and exciting every time we took a bite. This was one of the most perfect dishes I have ever had the pleasure of eating. The grilled octopus was excellent as the counterpoint – lighter and brighter, it was nice enjoying the perfectly charred octopus in between bites of the heavier risotto.

We skipped dessert and instead took a walk through Old Montreal, a place we rarely visit, despite living about a 15-minute walk away from. I’m looking forward to trying this place in the middle of winter too, in what I hear is possibly the coziest restaurant in the city. I know for sure it’s one of the most delicious!

Le Club Chasse et Peche
423, rue St-Claude
Montreal, Quebec

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Canadian Thanksgiving just passed, and Soli and I had a small Thanksgiving dinner at our house for some friends and family, It was just nine people, but we felt like we had to make a ton of food, and a ton of food we made!

This butternut squash and celery root gratin is one of the dishes I made. I had never actually cooked with celery root, so I was excited to give it a try. It is a pain to peel, but a delight to eat, so it all worked out in the end. I really, really liked this gratin. I adore the taste of celery root, and it really stands out in this dish. It’s definitely something a little bit different from the usual gratin. The butternut squash, as to be expected, is sweet and a perfect compliment to the celery root.

The streusel is awesome too. I added more of everything in the topping than the original recipe suggested and am happy I did. The thyme gives the gratin that Thanksgiving, warm, homey taste, and I find the parsley added some freshness. Using panko instead of bread crumbs is important, as panko is so much lighter and more crispy.

You’ll notice there’s no cheese in this…And the gratin doesn’t need it! The cream adds all the richness it needs, and there’s no need to mask the stars of the dish, the squash and celery root. A definite winning side!

(Oh, and I had made it a day ahead of time, baking it about 10 minutes short of the suggested time, then reheated it slowly, and covered, in the oven before dinner)

Butternut Squash and Celery Root Gratin with Walnut-Thyme Streusel
Adapted from Chow.com

WALNUT-THYME STREUSEL
1 ¼ cups panko
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), melted
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1-2 teaspoons (or to taste) kosher salt

BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND CELERY ROOT GRATIN
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 medium butternut squash (about 3 pounds), peeled, cut in half, and seeded
1 medium celery root, also known as celeriac (about 1 pound), peeled and cut in half
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick), plus more for coating the baking dish
1 large white onion, thinly sliced
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

STREUSEL
1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix until the butter is incorporated. Cover and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

GRATIN
1. Heat the oven to 400°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Coat a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with butter and set aside.

2. Pour the cream into a large bowl and set aside. Slice the squash and celery root into 1/4-inch-thick slices with a mandoline or sharp knife, placing the pieces in the cream as they are cut. Toss until well coated.

3. Melt the butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and season well with salt and pepper. Sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes; set aside.

4. Make the gratin by ladling a third of the squash–celery root mixture into the prepared baking dish, then seasoning well with salt and pepper. Top with half of the onions, then another layer of squash and celery root. Season the second layer with salt and pepper and cover with the remaining onions. Place the last of the squash and celery root on top and press down to create an even surface. Season with salt and pepper, then pour the remaining cream over top.

5. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the gratin. Bake until the vegetables are soft and the streusel is golden brown, about 40 to 50 minutes. Let sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving.

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It’s chilly during the days. Even frostier in the evening, our heaters are on and we just celebrated Thanksgiving. This means, sadly, that summer is over. the sun is setting earlier and earlier and the leaves are slowly changing colour, curling off their branches, and falling to the ground. Autumn would be so much better if we could just have another summer after it, not the long, cold winter.

So now that summer’s gone, I figured it’s time to sum up the last few months and just be happy with how the time was spent.

With the exception of the time in Portugal at the end of May and the camping trip at the beginning of June, summer was spent in Montreal. Fortunately, Montreal is a great city to live in in the summer, as there are festivals happening pretty much every day. We took the opportunities we had to enjoy as much as we could, exploring the city and even making some new discoveries!

For the most part, I used my phone’s camera to get photos of everything, but there were a few days where I wandered around with the Nikon in tow. One of these days was a walk down to the Old Port (top row) and Old Montreal. It’s a top tourist destination, but I never, ever go there – there’s just not all that much to do. I got caught in a massive downpour (pretty much the only one we had all summer!) while on a tiny, cobbled side street and had to huddle in a tiny doorway with a ton of spiders for about 30 minutes to wait it out. I also checked out the Just for Laughs festival on a few occasions, The photos on the bottom row show them just starting to set up the festival at the Quartier des Spectacles.

Other random things in Montreal that were explored.

Top row
(1) On top of the hotel that overlooks the Quartier des Spectacles. We went up there to find the hotel bar, which was great, with an awesome swimming pool. This little spot was along the side, and so pretty and private.
(2) A rainbow spotted one Sunday evening on my parent’s balcony in the south shore.
(3) Sitting after a walk through parc Lafontaine, where I spent a few afternoons and evenings watching the water and reading books

Middle row
(1) Cloudy sunset from my front porch steps
(2) Blue moon from my front porch steps
(3) The sunset on my bike ride home from work one evening

Bottom row
(1) Graffiti behind Foufounes
(2) and (3) Visiting LaRonde on the hottest day of the year and feeling much, much too old.

Oh, and the food! Along with the meals at the Main and Diablos, we feasted every chance we could!

Top row
(1) Beef in red coconut curry from Kam Do in Ville St-Laurent
(2) My favourite poutine in the city – Montreal Pool Room on St-Laurent
(3) A great and cheap burger from Burger de Ville, a fallback when we discovered our favourite Vietnamese place closes early in the evening

Second row
(1) Sushi with uni(!) at Mikado
(2) Shish taouk while waiting in line for a Fantasia film
(3) Mont-Royal Hot Dog Special poutine, ordered in one evening

Third row
(1) 72% chocolate/raspberry soft serve from Kem Co Ba
(2) A sloppy double bacon cheeseburger from La Paryse, picked up after an exhausting day at F1 races
(3) Yet another poutine, from Decarie Hot Dog, in Ville St-Laurent

Bottom row
(1) Weekend breakfast at Place Milton
(2) Pizza from Pendeli’s in CDN
(3) Dumplings from Sushi 999

And dim sum visits! Nothing better than eating all the dim sum early Sunday mornings in the summer!

Not too mention that we also visited the food trucks who lined St-Catherine street during the Just for Laughs festival, sampling the tuna tartare and the pulled pork sandwiches:

The octopus balls and the BBQ rib sandwiches:

And mont-blancs and duck confit poutines:

We cooked at home a lot too, enjoying several BBQs in the backyard.

Top row
(1) Grilled fish
(2) Lamb, veal and beef burgers with brie
(3) Camping BBQ

Bottom row
(1) Burgers and thick cuts of bacon
(2) Corn, garlic, veggies
(3) Lobster!!

And the other food prepared at home over the summer:

Top row:
(1) Fresh salsa made in the late summer, with corn, tomatoes and jalapenos from the market
(2) Super chocolate chunk cookies – amazing!
(3) Ribs from Coco Rico, but Soli-fied, with a maple syrup sauce

Bottom row:
(1) Fresh pesto with the basil that grew in our garden all summer long
(2) Chocolate-cherry scones, with fresh cherries
(3) Zucchini and tomato bake

What else? We grew our own tomatoes, made jalapeno mint jelly with mint from our garden, and baked some cakes.

I think this hot summer of perfectly sunny days was well-spent, and am already looking forward to the next one!

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We are no strangers to poutine here. Living in Montreal requires one to not only crave poutine, but to fufill such cravings on a somewhat regular basis. I lost track on how many poutines I ate over the course of the summer, but between the ones at Decarie Hot Dog and Mont-Royal Hot Dog alone, it was a fairly high number. I’ll focus on just one for today though…the smoked meat poutine at the Main Deli Steakhouse on St-Laurent (also known simply as The Main, or, the inferior smoked meat place across the street from Schwartz’s.)

While watching Foodnetwork’s You Gotta Eat Here, we saw that The Main offered up a smoked meat poutine that was supposed to be amazing, so during one of St-Laurent’s street fairs, we decided to take the quick 5-minute walk from our house to give it a try. We also split a veal sandwich, just because it sounded interesting.

The poutine, unfortunately, was not something I would return for, nor do I think it earns a spot on a television show. It was good, just not great, like one would imagine a smoked meat poutine to be.

The good parts included a pretty nice sauce, brown, salty and thick, and a lot of it. I love a lot of sauce on poutine. The fries were excellent too – thick enough to carry all that sauce and not turn to mush.

The not so great – the cheese curds were high-quality, but unfortunately, there weren’t very many of them. And the smoked meat wasn’t at all fatty enough, it was like strips of lean smoked meat. I guess given poutine is already a massive pile of fat and calories, a little lean meat would be okay….but if I’m going to eat a smoked meat poutine, I really want the smoked meat to be an important, not forgettable, part of it.

As for the veal sandwich, I really enjoyed it! The meat was very, very thinly sliced, with a somewhat fatty texture and a little bit of a gamey taste. A really fun and interesting sandwich.

I like The Main’s rib eye steak platter, and that’s something I would go back for. But I would probably skip another smoked meat poutine (or maybe, I’ll order a poutine, sneak some Schwartz’s smoked meat over there, and put some on it when no one’s looking).

Main Deli Steak House
3864, Boul. Saint-Laurent
Montreal, QC

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Coupon details: You could choose one appetizer from a list of four, one main dish out of a list of five, and one dessert out of a list of two, and all of this would be covered by a coupon.

Well, when we got there, we were told that the rules had changed, and we had to take the normal menu and HAD to select enough food, PER PERSON, that equaled $33. Now, that is a lot of food. Not one of us at the table wanted to order $33 worth of food, EACH! But, if we ordered only $25, the coupon was considered invalid. Oh, and alcohol couldn’t be included, even though the coupon didn’t state that either. The restaurant decided just to make up its own rules all over the place.

We struggled for over 30 minutes, trying to figure out how to do this. Finally, we thought we had it. Soli and I decided to split a big platter that’s intended for two people…still weren’t at $33, so we had to order an oyster poyboy we didn’t even want. Well, at the end of the evening, the rather inept waitress informed us that we couldn’t each use a coupon, as we had split the platter. She knew we had coupons right from the beginning, so why she didn’t tell us this when we were ordering is beyond me. I guess money is more important than the customer’s satisfaction.

As for my parents, they were charged because my mother didn’t quite reach $33. So the coupon was invalid…we complained about that, had to wait over 30 minutes in the dark at the end of the meal, to get that charge removed. However, Soli and I were still only allowed to use one coupon, so we ended up paying $60 total, not including the original $13 pricetag of the coupon, for a meal that wasn’t very good. Had we known that would be the case, we would’ve spent our $60 in a restaurant we actually liked.

The waitress had gone to the chef, but too bad, so sad for us. The coupon we bought was not what we got at the restaurant, and the restaurant did nothing about it, except charge us. I still have a coupon left, but would rather lose my $13 on that coupon then step foot in Diablo’s again.

That complaint about the awful customer service aside, a brief review on the mediocre food we were served:

We started with a pitcher of this drink that had spruce beer in it. It was unremarkable. The bar had no spruce beer in stock, so someone had to run to the store, leaving us waiting for over 30 minutes for a drink. I couldn’t taste any alcohol in it, it was two sweet, and we couldn’t finish the pitcher, even among 5 people.

We ordered the smoked poutine (we were desperately trying to get up to that $33!), and this was probably the best thing there. The sauce was nice, and I enjoyed the sweet potato fries.

The oyster poyboy was bland, and there was too much bread, not enough oyster.

The mains had low points and okay points. The friend chicken was the best part, with a good, crunchy exterior. The pulled pork was mushy and too sweet, the ribs were forgettable, and the sauce was almost like straight up molasses. Each main comes with two “sides” – the corn salad was in a dish that was about 1 oz….hardly a side, but that was okay, as it tasted slightly rancid. The potatoes were bland.

The pecan pie tasted like an apple pie with pecans. Weird and kinda gross.

I hope this restaurant manages to improve its food, and work out its major customer satisfaction issues. I will never return though, and wouldn’t recommend this restaurant.

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We set out early one morning to hike the Kalalau trail along the Napali Coast. The entire hike is 11 miles, and it rated a 9 by the Sierra Club – it can be quite strenuous and treacherous due to steep coast, crumbling rocks, muddy paths, etc. (not to mention, it is apparently difficult to get a permit to hike this and we did not have camping gear). Needless to say, we were not up for the whole thing, so we decided to do the 2-mile option, from Ke’e beach to Hanakapi’ai, which is already quite difficult.

The hike there was indeed a hard one, with lots of grappling down waterfalls and across slippery paths. A lot of it was a steep incline, and I needed lots of breaks and lots of water.

The views along the way were absolutely stunning though and worth every drop of sweat!

The climb down to the beach at the end of the two miles was across giant rocks, but we had already made it that far – no turning back here!

The beach at the end of the 2-mile leg has a lot of warnings, as rip currents can be quite strong and drownings occur regularly. The waves were big, but we were unable to resist swimming in the ocean. In fact, we spent so much time and so much energy in there that we got nervous about being able to make the hike back!

We did, however, make it back, and packed up our stuff in the apartment. We had spent the previous night trying to find a place on Kauai to stay for the next seven days, as we had decided in Hilo that there was no way we were leaving after just a week (our original plan when we left was to spend the last week driving the California coast). In Kauai, we called the airline, switched our flight for one a week later, and used Hotwire to find a “resort” on Kauai to stay at. We had no idea what we were getting, and the first room we got was awful. After a lot of complaining on our part, we got placed in a better room with a much better view (of the pool and of the ocean). We are on the eastern side of Kauai, right in the middle of the north and south shore, which was a great place to be, as it took no time to travel anywhere we wanted.

We spent a few days exploring the island, checking out beaches and just relaxing. Polihale beach was amazing – it took a long drive and a long empty road to get to this deserted beach.

We were lucky to see a monk seal sunning himself on Poipu beach.

And then there were palm trees, waterfalls, lighthouses and mountains. We had BBQs in the wind and the dark.

We also ate wonderful, wonderful food! This included shave ice, ramen and the best burgers in the world, the ono burger from Duane’s, packed with fresh pineapple and avocado.

The last two days on Kauai were spent doing those big-ticket things that one should do while on Kauai. The most exciting thing, and the most beautiful thing, was the helicopter ride over Waimea Canyon and the Napali coast. Just flying in a helicopter was exciting enough, especially a helicopter with no doors. Add the magical and awesome views, and it became the highlight of our trip!

We also flew into Mount Waialeale, which is the wettest place on earth, and it was damp, scary, dark and cold.

Finally, on our last full day, we took a boat ride around the Napali coast, so we ended up seeing the coast on foot, by air, and by sea. On the way in, I had a great time. The boat stopped near the Forbidden Island so that we could go snorkeling and eat lunch. On the way back, the boat went through a whole lot of waves, and I ended up massively seasick. I spent the whole trip back holding back vomit, with my eyes closed, and even passed out a few times. Not quite sure the view was worth it, but it was mostly fun.

Our flight to San Francisco was in the afternoon, so on our last day, we packed up the jeep and spent the morning at Ke’e beach, saying goodbye to our favourite spot and to our time in Hawaii.

Read the other Hawaii posts:
Big Island, Day 1 (Puako)
Big Island, Day 2 (Puako to Captain Cook)
Big Island, Days 3 & 4 (Kona to Hilo)
Big Island, Days 5 & 6 (Volcano and Mauna Kea)
Kauai and Waimea Canyon
Kauai and Getting to Hanalei
Kauai – The Last Week
And here’s our two days in San Francisco!

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During the hot months of summer, I made sure to put our berries to good use, one of which was this berry-packed bundt cake. It’s one of those perfect cakes, where there’s actually more berry than cake, the cake itself is moist and flavourful, thanks to all the lemon zest, and where the glaze adds a punch of tart sweetness. This cake can be used with any fruit, but I used a combo of cherries and blueberries.
Not much else to say about this one…it’s a great bundt, and versatile and easy!

Blueberry-Cherry Buttermilk Bundt
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

CAKE
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
3-4 cups mixed berries (I used cherries and blueberries this time)

GLAZE
2 cups (240 grams) powdered or confections’ sugar
Juice of 1-2 lemons
1 tablespoon (15 grams) unsalted butter, very, very soft
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 10-cup Bundt pan, either with butter or a nonstick spray. Set aside.

1. In a medium bowl, mix 2 1/2 cups flour (leaving 2 tablespoons back), baking powder and salt together and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers, until it becomes fragrant. Add the butter to the sugar and cream together until it is light and fluffy (between 3 and 5 minutes)

3. Turn the mixer down to low and add the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the bowl after each egg addition. Beat in the vanilla.

4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter, beating only until just combined. Add half of the buttermilk, and then another 1/3 of the flour mixture, and then the remaining buttermilk and the remaining flour mixture.

5. Toss the berries in a bowl with the 2 tablespoons of flour. Gently fold the berries into the cake batter.

6. Spread cake batter into the prepared baking pan.

7. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a test comes out clean.

8. Set cake pan on a wire rack and cool for 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan and cool completely.

9. Once cool, whisk together the powdered sugar and butter. Add lemon juice slowly, until it reaches the consistency you like (it can go from a glaze to a straight up frosting, whatever you prefer!) Spread or pour over top of cake and serve.

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It was strange arriving to the cabane on a sunny and hot afternoon; we are used to heading over there on cold, icy evenings, in the dark. We had to 2pm seating, which was the ideal time, and we spent some time admiring the fat pumpkins and squash in the big green garden right in front of the restaurant.

We wandered in and started the afternoon with some of the apple cocktails being offered. Almost everyone at the table enjoyed an alcoholic apple slush kind of drink, which was sweet, tart, and way too easy to drink quickly.

Every table had three jars: marinated eggplant, a corn relish and pickled cauliflowers and pickles. My favourite was the corn relish, but others at the table preferred the marinated eggplant. I loved the eggplant’s texture, but the corn was so bright that is perked up many of the rather heavy dishes to come our way.

The service was slightly different from the cabane a sucre’s style of serving – the dishes came out in what seemed like three courses, so instead of having one dish at a time served, we were served three or four dishes all at once. One of the star dishes is one I couldn’t get a photo for, sadly. It was a big pot of cream of squash soup, garnished with crumbles of Amaretti, apples, and heavily au gratin with emmantal cheese. The soup was thick, thick, thick, loaded with cream and butter. The thinly sliced apples and the Amaretti were marvelous. We ended up bringing some of this soup home, and made a creamy mashed potatoes with it, using that instead of butter. It made amazing potatoes.

Also served at this time was the house-cured ham, draped over a skull, and topped with some pickled onions. Light and flavourful, not very salty.

We also got a fresh, creamy, light goat cheese topped with honeycomb, slivers of foie gras and thin, crispy grilled bread that had been rubbed with a healthy dose of garlic and rosemary. The honey made this dish.

The absolute star of the meal was also served at this time…ravioli stuffed with chicken liver gelee, and cavatelli apple sauce accompanied with a confit of foie gras, which was all combined in a massive Parmesean wheel at the table. It was so so so so good! The sauce was sweet, with hints of savoury, the pasta slightly dense and chewy, the pillows of confit foie gras meltingly, achingly good. I would’ve come just for that pasta.

Salmon “en papillotte” (in newspaper!) with escargots and apple cider sauce, apple slices and basil. This was a big hunk of salmon, very fresh, wonderfully cooked. Also one of my favs. It was served alongside salty eggplant pancakes, a dish of creamy clams, a massive saucepan of apple-glazed roast beef, carrots and warm oysters, some heavily hazelnut-crusted broccoli and a somewhat bizarre bowl of lettuce. Together, it all worked. But really, I just wanted more pasta.

This time, I actually had enough room to enjoy dessert. The warm apple pie’s crust was a heavenly. An ice cream and an apple sorbert was served in a cream carton, topped with apple cotton candy. There was a warm sticky apple-toffee pudding that was popped out of a can and drenched in a caramel sauce, and we all dug into an apple and chocolate soufflé.

Without drinks and with tax, this meal cost $57/person. That is pretty unbelievable, and so completely worth it. I wish I was going back, or at least, sneaking in for some more of that pasta.

Cabane 2010

Cabane 2011

Cabane 2012

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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.

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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/

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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!

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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.

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Of course, snacks are needed when exploring, so I stopped by a bakery for a pastel de nata (custard tart) and an almond tart. The custard tart, was, as usual, delicious. The almond one was a little lackluster for me, but I enjoyed eating it in little pieces throughout the entire course of the day.

We ate lunch at a restaurant here right by the beach. As tempted as I was to enjoy some more black pig ribs, I was convinced not to due to the fact that this restaurant offered cataplana, a fish and seafood stew, for one. It’s actually named after the dish it’s cooked in. Most restaurants offered it as a dish for two, and so I hadn’t been able to get it yet. And even though this was for one person, it was still way more than I could eat. It had mussels, massive shrimp, chunks of cod, crab and vegetables, served with a pile of juniper-scented rice. It was lovely!

After a late lunch, we headed to Faro for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We stumbled upon a tiny chapel, and saw a little paper sign inside advertising a bone chapel, which I think cost us 1 Euro to go visit. Through some doors, a little walk outside, and into this small, skull-packed chapel, lined with skulls and bones. Strange place, for sure.

The rest of the time was spent walking down towards the water, stopping here and there to look at churches. And taking ten million photos of the storks and their giant nests on all the buildings and chimneys.

Before heading back to our weird little town where our hotel was located, we made a stop for dinner at a small bar along a highway, Casa dos Bifanas, for pork sandwiches. They were definitely a little skimpy, and we ended up having to order two rounds of them, and I also devoured a plate of fried sardines and salty, fatty pork. The sandwiches were tasty though, especially with a healthy pouring of piri piri sauce and yellow mustard.

Next, the days spent in Lisbon…once the photos are finished!

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At the end of May, we returned from a trip to Portugal. We spent half the time in Lisbon, which included one day in Sintra, and the rest of the time on the Algarve coast, visiting many of the towns that dot the shoreline. It’s taking me forever to get through all the photographs, but I have at least finished the Algarve set, so here’s a small photo recap of the time spent in the Algarve, Portugal, with the focus being on, of course, the food! I tried to eat a different dish or food every single day or meal time, and I think I did a pretty fine job…

Our hotel in the Algarve was in a bizarre town, Armação de Pêra. It was almost entirely empty of people, and filled with pastel-coloured complexes and buildings, almost all of which looked to be abandoned. The beach right outside of our rooms in our hotel was beautiful though, and made up for the strangeness of the town.

The small “boardwalk” lining the street in front of the beach was also mostly abandoned, but still quaint, with small, quiet details that made the place end up being charming.

However empty and desolate the town was, there was some good food to be had! In fact, my favourite meal of the entire trip was had at a little restaurant packed with locals late one hot night. Where these locals worked and lived is beyond me, but there they were.

But first, our first meal there! I started with some fish soup, which is pretty much a staple in any restaurant that one may visit there. It was a tomato-based soup with chunks of cod. Flavourful, but I can’t say it’s very exciting. I’d rather skip the soup and fill up on other dishes.

My main that night was grilled fresh squid and prawns. Simply done, and I squeezed some lemon and drizzled a bit of piri piri sauce over it. It was a nice meal, great for a summer night near the ocean. It came with some lackluster boiled potatoes and a side of vegetables, but some olive oil and more piri piri sauce made it a bit more exciting.

The meal ended with a dessert of pudim flan, which is basically a crème caramel. Again, light and simple, it’s a pretty good dessert to end any meal. However, I think we needed a bit more dessert, so we headed down to a gelato place on the boardwalk and I enjoyed a dulce de leche scoop alongside a chocolate brownie scoop.

The next morning, we drove to Lagos and Dona Ana beach. The water, while chilly, was clear and vibrant, filled with greens and blues. The beach is lined with stone formations and sea caves and grottoes, making it quite spectacular.

We spent some time on the beach and took a small motorboat tour along the coast and into the grottoes, which lasted about one hour. It was a fantastic way to see the coastline and more of the hundreds of beaches that dot the coast. The man who took us on this tour also pointed out several formations (like the massive skull below) along the way, which proved to be quite humorous.

After a few hours on the beach, we did some hiking around up on the cliffs, looking down into the gorgegeous blue ocean.

This was all before lunch! Granted, we were eating lunch pretty late the whole time (sometimes, 3pm-4pm). We drove away from the beach and into the old village of Lagos, which was also just as deserted as the town where our hotel was. I was on the hunt for a good lunch spot, but there were some other sights that distracted me momentarily.

We finally stumbled upon a tiny resto with a terrasse outside, and I enjoyed a lunch of beer and grilled sardines. The sardines were plump, juicy, salty – just perfect!

In the late afternoon, we started driving back, but made a stop in Portimao to visit Praia da Rocha. Talk about pictuereqsue! And early evening is a stunning time to visit this beach.

We finished the day with my favourite meal – black pig ribs! These were so fatty, so tender, so perfect. They were especially wonderful with the almost full liter of red wine that came with them.

Next, the rest of the time in the Algarve, including Albufeira, a bone chapel and bifanas!

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The quintessential part to any dim sum experience – the dumplings! We tried the “mixed meatball” and the dumplings with shrimp and truffle. I thoroughly enjoyed both; what’s not to love about little pockets of shrimp dotted with truffle, or pork for breakfast?

We loved the rice rolls with spring rolls – fun texture, awesome taste – all steamed and soft on the outside, crispy on the inside. Definitely a highlight. We weren’t so crazy about the spicy beef tendon, mostly due to its texture. The sauce was flavourful, but the tendon itself was just too…oily and fatty to be enjoyable. I think it’s one of those things that deserves its own time and place, and Sunday morning dim sum isn’t that.

We had two types of green onion pancakes. The round ones are the Tawianese-style green onion “pancake” and the flar ones are the pan-fried green onion panckaes. I liked both, but preferred the flat ones. A little crispy, and little doughy, a little greasy…that’s some great Sunday morning dim sum.

Soli was a big fan of the shrimp and corn cake, given his obsession with both corn and shrimp, but I preferred simple shrimp dumplings. We both thought the steamy creamy bun with salted egg yolk to be absolutely bizarre…very sweet, very rich…almost cheesy. Neither of us finished this concoction.

The sweet rice balls with peanut paste were heavy, dense, chewy…and again, very strange. After all is said and done, our favourites were the different dumplings,packed with shrimp, scallops, veggies…

Kam Fung will remain my number 1 dim sum place, but Le Cristal Chinois still has some dishes I would like to try (and retry), so I will definitely be back.

Le Cristal Chinois
Swatow Plaza, located at 998 Saint-Laurent Boulevard, 6th floor
Montreal, QC

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These muffins are seriously yummy. I ate about 8 of them, and could’ve just kept going and going and going; I`m sorry I didn’t double the recipe and put a dozen in the freezer for a rainy day!

And what’s not to love? These muffins are packed with banana flavor, better than any banana bread or muffin that I’ve ever had in that regard. There is no doubt that you’re eating banana with these babies! What else do I love? The big chunks of dark, dark chocolate, balancing out the sweetness of the banana and the bits of toffee I had tossed in the batter. They are moist, not too heavy and great for breakfast, snack or dessert (I ate about 8 of them, at all points during the day, so I’m pretty sure about that!)

Banana Chocolate Chunk Toffee Muffins
adapted from Food Network

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 2-3 bananas) (I never mash mine to a smooth mash – I like a few banana chunks in my muffins)
1 large egg
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup whole milk
5 ounces coarsely chopped dark chocolate
5 ounces toffee bits, Skor bits, any bits!

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the mashed bananas, egg, melted butter and milk until incorporated.

4. Stir the banana mixture into the dry ingredients just until blended (IMPORTANT! Do not over-mix as it could result in a tough muffin). Stir in the chopped chocolate and toffee bits.

5. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.

6. Bake the muffins until the tops are pale golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 30 minutes.

7. Transfer the muffins to rack to cool for 15 minutes. Then remove from the muffin tins.

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I enjoyed this chicken meal I made ages ago, while the air was still chilly and snow was on the ground. I made some changes to the original recipe, including adding sausage to the pot, and mushrooms and brussel sprouts. It’s a comforting meal, and I love the bright lemon and the warm rosemary, the dominant flavours. The sausage, of course, was a great touch too!

I definitely recommend marinating the chicken overnight, if possible. If not, then at least a few hours. I used skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs and thought the chicken and resulting dish was a bit too fatty. Next time, I would use chicken breasts, which would probably be a better cut for this dish. I did enjoy the crisp on the skin from cooking the chicken on the stove before popping the whole dish in the oven, where all the flavours melded together.

Rosemary Chicken and Sausage Skillet adapted from Food Network

3/4 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved, or quartered if large
Salt
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus 1 1/2 tablespoons leaves
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Juice of 2 lemons (squeezed halves reserved)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (6 to 8 ounces each)
2 cups cremini mushrooms, halved
2 cups brussel sprouts, halved
1 large onion, sliced
2 italian sausages

1. Preheat the oven to 450. Cover the potatoes with cold water in a saucepan and salt the water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until tender, about 8 minutes; drain and set aside.

2. Pile the rosemary leaves, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt and the red pepper flakes on a cutting board, then mince and mash into a paste using a large knife. Transfer the paste to a bowl. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon and the olive oil. Add the chicken let marinate, at least 30 minutes, better if it`s a few hours, or even overnight!

3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down, cover and cook until the skin browns, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken from pan.

4. Add the sausages to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove sausages from the pan.

5. Add the mushrooms, brussel sprouts, and potatoes to the skillet, place chicken over mushrooms and potatoes and drizzle with any marinade remaining in the bowl and the juice of the remaining lemon.

6. Add the rosemary sprigs and the squeezed lemon halves to the skillet; transfer to the oven and roast, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.

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