Wordless Wednesdays: Light Lunch at Wilensky's

Come Enjoy Cupcakes for a Cause

I probably don't have to tell you where I'm going to be on Sunday afternoon... that's right, scarfing cupcakes at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel for Cupcake Camp Montreal!

Foodies, gourmands, and cupcake aficionados are all aflutter over this event and who wouldn't be? I mean, have you heard?

20,000 cupcakes.

At this point, the organizers are only concerned that enough people will show up to eat the veritable sea of sweetness.

It's practically my duty to go. Plus, it's for charity, raising funds for La Tablée des Chefs and Kids Help Phone. You should totally come too.

What's this? Cupcake Camp Montreal
When: Sunday, November 21, 2010 from 1-5 p.m.
Where: Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, 900 Rene Levesque Blvd. W

A $10 ticket at the door gets you three cupcakes, a gourmet coffee and an opportunity to mingle with local bloggers and bakers. You may even spot your favourite celebrity chef or TV personality, as the panel of judges is quite colourful!



I'll see you there. Come over and say hello! I'll be with the tall guy, probably trying to corral two little boys with sugar highs. Oh yeah, with 20,000 cupcakes to enjoy, there was no way I was getting out on my own for this one.

Cabane a Sucre Au Pied de Cochon Part 3: Desserts

You may want to grab some of that leftover Easter chocolate before starting to read this post - or not. Chances are your Cadbury eggs will pale in comparison to this line up of deserts we recently enjoyed at a local sugar shack.

Here are the first two parts of our culinary adventure to bring you up to speed on our outing:

Read Part 1: Appetizers
Read Part 2: Main Courses

Desserts are, as all of you know, my weakness. Desserts featuring maple? Well, let's just say we get along very well.

A little too well, perhaps, but who's counting pancakes??


'Crêpes Grand-Mère', I believed these were called, although I wasn't paying much attention to our server at that point. I'm somewhat of a pancake aficionado, and these were among the best I've had.

Can one really call them pancakes, though? They were deep-fried in duck fat, deliciously hot and crispy and served swimming in maple syrup. Definitely a perfect marriage between pancakes and doughnuts.

Our table polished them off in no time.

I called our server aside to inquire about the house policy on 'seconds', to which she promptly informed me that they don't accommodate. I remained calm, but firm, and managed to convey my deep and utter need for another tray.

Happily, another dish of pancakes arrived shortly in front of me, hot and devastatingly good. (Have I ever called anything 'devastatingly good' on this blog??)


OK, I'm going to get flack for this one, but this is my space, so I can say what I like. This banana split was just so-so. Sure it had banana's (what's local about those?) maple marshmallows (mine are better - just sayin'), some pretty kicking maple ice cream, and maple-glazed nuts, but I wasn't as impressed as some of the other eaters. Go ahead, call me spoiled.


The split's best feature was the maple cotton candy garnish, which was brilliant. I bought some to take home for the boys. Delish!


This was subconsciously what we had all come for: tire à l’érable, or maple taffy. This is a requisite treat for a visit to any sugar shack.


It is rolled up on a popsicle stick from it's bed of crushed ice (packed snow works better) and enjoyed in all it's teeth numbing, sticky sweetness.

(at this point, I almost had to hold onto the table when I stood up. Remember this was our third 'wave' of food. But there was one more...)


My second favorite dessert (pancakes were number one) was the maple mille-feuille, and easily the best of its kind I've ever had. Mille-feuille is a dime a dozen around here, but most of them are disappointing.

Not so here, Au Pied de Cochon's version leaves nothing to be desired, except, perhaps, the residual longing that all mille-feuilles were maple.

Ah, in a perfect world, perhaps.


~Cabane à sucre Au Pied de Cochon: adult $49 CAD, kids from 3 to 12 yrs old $15

Cabane a Sucre Au Pied de Cochon: Part 2

...Continuing from Part 1.

Not everyone understands Martin Picard's food. It's bold and brash, gutsy--and sometimes even guts themselves. It's not for everyone.

Long ago I worked a shift at Au Pied du Cochon, back in my restaurant days and back when Martin called the tickets every night. It was one wild and crazy Saturday night where I was tossed into the pit, literally, to replace a friend who was sick (or something.)

It was brutal, wonderful, sweaty, faster-than-fast paced and completely intoxicating. I'll have to share the whole story sometime. Especially the part where a bell rang half-way through service and a waitstaff pointed at me and inquired

"What do you want?"

Let's just say there was no round of drinks mid-service at the place I usually worked.
But that's Martin Picard for you.

I may not understand his food completely, but I do know that I absolutely love to eat it, and so let's look at the second round of food we recently enjoyed at the Au Pied de Cochon sugar shack!


Piping hot and fluffy as can be, is an omelet, but not just any omelet. Inside is a layer of maple-smoked sturgeon and it is topped with braised pork shoulder and green onions. As you can imagine, it made for a pungent mouthful when coated with maple syrup and devoured.
I could have done without the fish, however the pork was fantastic.


This masterpiece was easily the most complex dish of the bunch. It is a whole cabbage stuffed with lobster, ground pork and, hidden deep in the center, molten foie gras.

Served on a bed of al dente lentils, this dish had me shaking my head with wonder at each bite. I've always loved the earthiness of cabbage, and it was a perfect match for the rich lobster, pork and foie.

Hat's off to the chef, for the cabbage was tender and yet the lobster was not over-cooked. That accomplishment alone left me scratching my head.


It's a bit ghastly to look at, save for the precarious lobster garnish, but the 'choux farci' was my favorite part of the meal.


Forgive me, but I didn't even taste the next dish: beef tongue with a celeric remoulade.
At this point I was staring down the lobster dish above, and marveling over it's complexities. The beef tongue was way down at the other end of the table--and who in their right mind is going to abandon a dish of lobster and foie gras for tongue??


This maple-glazed chicken received plenty of abuse from our food bloggers for being boring; however, I think that simplicity was part of it's charm. I quite enjoyed it, and found the delicious beans cooked with maple syrup and garnished with fresh parsley far outshone the bird.


Two thoughts on that one:
1.Yeah, it's chicken, surely a nice pintade or a couple of game hens would have been more fun.
2.I need to eat more beans.


Yours truly carving up the chicken for the table (and taking it very seriously, apparently).

The last element of our main course cause quite the frenzy in our food paparazzi when it was brought to the table:


This traditional Quebec toutiere was photographed from all angles for a good five minutes before getting sliced up and served with it's homemade tomato ketchup.

I have to draw on Mary Poppins for the praise of this dish, for it was indeed 'Practically perfect in every way'.


It will be difficult to enjoy another meat pie after having experienced this version; it a good thing I purchased one upon our departure and it's now stashed in my freezer.

I doubt it will last there very long.

Stay tuned for desserts! They are coming up next to conclude this series...

Cabane a Sucre Au Pied de Cochon: Part 1

I'd love to start this post with a brief introduction to who exactly Martin Picard is and why some 20 local food bloggers were freaking out over scoring a coveted reservation at his sugar shack, but I'm going to skip it and short track straight to the food.

Anyway, many of you have probably already heard of this Montreal chef and the restaurant where he hangs his apron, Au Pied de Cochon; although, come to think of it, I've never seen him in an apron.

It's not really Martin's style. This is more his thing:

Rustic entrance to the Cabane a Sucre

For reasons that will soon become apparent, my account of our outing to the sugar bush will be presented in three parts: appetizers, main course, and dessert, naturally.

The eating was seemingly endless....the photography documentation exceedingly extensive...all which makes the report expansive. Three posts it will be.

So let's get to it!

Au Pied de Cochon's Cabane a Sucre
Part 1: Appetizers

First up was a salad of fresh greens, walnuts, aged cheddar, and ham, topped with an mound of airy 'Oreilles de crisse' (deep-fried pork rinds). One could hardly call the rinds a garnish, as they equaled the greens in volume, but when all the elements were assembled, the salad made for a very tasty and well-balanced mouthful.


The salmon gravlax was well executed, but a tad boring--and I was wishing for some crostini to drape the silky fish over.

Toast or bread of any sort would have also been welcomed to accompany the following dish: 'Cretons'.


A spiced ground pork spread, this traditional French-Canadian breakfast staple may look like cat food, but I can assure you it is delicious when it is prepared properly.

I thoroughly enjoyed APDC's version, toast or no toast.


Which brings us to the first item I did not enjoy: barbecued chicken feet.
I attacked the spindly claws before any other dish, as I couldn't imagine trying them cold, but even piping hot, crispy and lacquered with a succulent maple glaze, I could not, WOULD not, eat more than one bite.

Non merci.


A quick word on service: excellent.

As I've experienced long waits at the mothership APDC, I didn't have high hopes for the sugar shack. I was pleasantly surprised by the prompt service, smart servers and general attention we received.
Granted, we were a group of 25 foodies/food bloggers. Perhaps that helped. We made quite a scene with our cameras. Good grief. The Cameras.


I was all over this split pea soup with it's earthy chucks of ham and nuggets of foie gras. I doused mine in maple syrup and was completely happy.


These nondescript buckwheat pancakes were alone worth the trek up north, but then I'm a bit of a pancake fiend, as we all know.

Although they were wrapped inconspicuously in a warm towel, they didn't last long around me. Each one was dipped in pure maple syrup and eaten in two bites. Delish.


To be continued...

Montreal Foodie Tour with Foodie Suz

Blogging has provided me with the opportunity to connect with hundreds of wonderful people and there are so many of you who I would love to get to know better over a cup of coffee! I'll just have to get to one of those blogging conferences one of these years! Anyway, I recently had the chance to meet a fellow Canadian food blogger who was in Montreal on business: Sue Robbins, or as she is better known, Foodie Suz.

I picked her up at her hotel and whisked her around town to some of my favorite food spots. Sue was courageous to meet up with me, a total stranger, and while she expected a foodie tour, she didn't know that she was signing on for a white-knuckled drive. I can be, ahem, a rather aggressive driver, not to mention sometimes scatterbrained. Poor Sue!
Anyway, I only blew through one red light (our conversation was so engrossing!) and we survived the whirlwind trip. Here's a peek of where we got around to...

Illy coffees and chocolate brioche at Olive et Gourmando

Olive et Gourmando, my favorite bakery/cafe

More treats from the Old Montreal bakery

Artfully arranged produce at Jean-Talon Market, our biggest open air market. This stop also included a walk through the one-and-only Hamel cheese shop and a lengthy visit to Olives et Epices, which we later exited laden with exotic spices.

Of course we were working up an appetite so a stop at St-Viateur Bagels was not optional - it was mandatory! I love how this place never closes and the river of bagels is always flowing.
We later popped in to my favorite cupcake shop, Cocoa Locale, but much to my dismay, it was closed, so no Chocolate-Chai Cupcakes for us.



We still needed a chocolate fix, so instead we parked in my old neighbourhood, the Plateau, and walked to Les Chocolats de Chloé. A stunning little artisanal chocolate shop, I died and went to heaven with Chloe's Illy Espresso chocolate. I would happily accept treats from this one-of-a-kind shop for any occasion--as long as I live!



After drooling over upscale kitchen items at Arthur Quentin, we were in need of something a bit more substantial than chocolate. As Sue had already experienced the famous Schwartz's Deli on a previous visit, I decided L'Express would be a good option for lunch. The Parisian-like place was in fine form, including a grumpy Maître d', who huffily told me to remove my water bottle from the table. Or what? You won't serve me? Man, my days of snobby restaurant life are over. Lighten up!



I think Sue enjoyed her octopus and lentil salad and I was relieved when she also ordered a side of fries, or else my lunch would have looked mightily unhealthy in comparison. I feasted on what just may be the best sandwich in town, the Croque Monsieur from L'Express. Heaven. Think grilled ham and cheese, but such ham! and such cheese! Cooked to perfection and served with an immense jar of pickles maison (pictured above with Foodie Suz), this is the sandwich of my dreams.


I so enjoyed my time with Sue and we were never lacking for conversation. We swapped book titles, recipes and favorite blogs, yakked about our kids and compared travel stories. It was wonderful to meet her.

Thanks for looking me up, Sue, and for putting up with my driving!


PS: Here is Sue's rundown of our day, including a photo of yours truly on what was a very windy day where the wind was sculpting my hair into something unnatural!

Take a Break in the Townships

I wasn't going to bore you with any more details of our little weekend getaway in Quebec's Eastern Townships, but since people have been emailing and asking where we stayed and so on, I decided rather than answer everyone individually, it would be easier to post a recap with recommend links. It was a short and sweet trip and the details are well worth sharing.


You can start with La Route des Vins, a site highlighting agrotourism and wineries in the area; it also provides maps and information on the wine route. Although the route is a stunning drive along hilly country roads dotted with charming farms, I won't be passing along any praise for the two wineries we visited. Granted, I'm no wine expert, but I am a wine-lover and I could barely swallow some of the schlock we were offered in tastings. Some of it was shockingly bad--and the plastic cups they served it in didn't help. I can't drink wine out of plastic, I'm sorry.

I felt guilty about slipping into an SAQ in Magog to pick up a bottle of wine for dinner, but what's a girl going to do? I felt even worse when our waitress eyed our bottle of Australian wine as if to say 'don't you know you're sitting in the middle of Quebec wine country'?

Photo by nissanman2009

The town of North Hatley -and our final destination that day- is just too sweet for words. Perched on the banks of beautiful Lake Massawippi, it has the best kind of small-town feel about it and boasts the best junk/antique shop I've ever seen.

We chose to dine at the Auberge le Coeur d'Or, which we enjoyed, although in hindsight, most of the enjoyment was probably due to the facts that a) we were dining in a civilized fashion without the kids and b) we were sharing the aforementioned bottle of vino.
While the setting was quaint, charming and romantic, the food was rather dismal; it boasted that it offered local ingredients but didn't quite deliver in their preparation. I mean, asparagus soup should be a sensual experience, not a pool of gray matter that reeks of celery. Perhaps the chef waved a bundle of asparagus over the pot while the soup was cooking, but if that was a chilled asparagus soup, I'll eat my umbrella. Five years ago I might have complained to the waitress that Danny's duck was over cooked and my rabbit was so dry it hurt to swallow, but who am I kidding? I was unplugged, sitting across from my sweetie, a hundred kilometers from home, I was HAaaaaappy.

Stuffed from our four-course meal at Auberge le Coeur d'Or, we decided on a post-dinner stroll and ended up watching the twinkling lights of boats from the end of the town pier. Ve.RY. Romantic.

I would heartily recommend our B&B, Le Chat Botté (Puss in Boots) with it's wrap around veranda, private beach and close proximity to the center of town. The hostess was very friendly and gracious, and if there's anyone who loves cats more than her, I'd be surprised.
Served in the attached gazebo, the three-course breakfast was a plentiful, tasty, and piping hot--what more could you as for? Coffee? Yep, latte for her, espresso for him, served in the sweetest of kitty cups.


Although we were stuffed from breakfast, we stopped to check out the farmer's market on our way back to Hwy 10. Located on School Street in North Hatley, it's open from 10-12 on Saturdays and offers a bounty of lovely local produce, baking and flowers. I consider myself a bit of an expert on farmer's markets and this one had it all, save the hippy/bluegrass band playing in the center of the square.


These sisters didn't look thrilled that I was buying their strawberries, or perhaps they had someplace else they would rather have been that Saturday morning, but we enjoyed the berries nevertheless and they filled our car with their warm berry fragrance all the way back to Montréal.


Wait! There's one last thing! I have to say a HUGE thank you to my mother-in-law, Dorothy, who made this all possible by taking the babies overnight, and thanks also to my mum, who bought us the B&B gift certificate in the first place and forced us to get away.

In conclusion, I admit I used to think the whole overnight getaway for couples was overrated, but there's a lot to be said for sleeping between sheets that have never been repeatedly assaulted by baby vomit or leaking breast milk.

We returned home starry-eyed.

Take a break in the Townships soon, you deserve it!