Restaurants

by

Tight Connection

Whew! I made it to Vancouver! There was only forty-five minutes between my inbound Montreal flight and my outbound Vancouver flight at Toronto… and we ended up circling the airport for nearly a half hour! I had only enough time to bolt to my gate and grab a quick bathroom break while the priority customers boarded. I have some checked luggage for this return trip and I will be very surprised if it is waiting for me in Penticton.

Security screening in Montreal was a piece of cake. I didn’t have to take off my shoes and I didn’t even beep when I went through the metal detector so I was saved an invasive groping by the staff. I paid for that dearly on the flight to Vancouver, however, since, despite my checking several times that I would have a window seat, I was seated in a middle one! YUCK! At least, we were in the emergency row, so the leg room was luxurious. My neighbour to the left was very cold and sighed each time I moved around well within my designated buffer zone. The neighbour to the right, however, was quite friendly (and generous with his cashews) and we shared a few laughs as my, thankfully empty, beverage glass kept on leaping off my tray! I was glad I’d brought a snack of dried fruit flat bread, cheese, and clementines since the options for food in Montreal were dismal and I didn’t have time to grab anything in Toronto.

YVR has a burger jointed called Vera’s where I caught a very late dinner. I’d been looking forward to udon at one of the Japanese kiosks, but that restaurant was clear across the airport. The veggie burger piled high with fresh veggies and the fresh-cut fries we’re a very yummy, and inexpensive, surprise, though, so I’m not disappointed.

I only have about a half hour left in Vancouver before we start boarding for Penticton. If everything goes well, I’ll be there in two hours and home in three. I miss my cats and my bed!

by

Falafel Heaven

I was out and about with my mother today. We were sitting in the horrible Montreal traffic at 6PM, heading home, and famished when she took a detour. I didn’t think anything of it until we stopped in a near-residential neighbourhood. There, she told me we were picking up falafel and baklava for dinner!

We entered a world I had nearly forgotten existed. A Lebanese bakery with racks piled high with sweets dripping with rose water and honey and a deli counter with all manner of manaeesh. The sandwiches are made to order and authentic; I can always tell that they will be good when their maker bosses me around and makes me take ‘everything’ even though I’m not crazy about the marinated turnips!

Oh, that falafel was like finding the oasis in the desert. Perfectly spiced, coated with sesame seeds, drizzled in tahini, and resting on a bed of parsley and mint then wrapped Lebanese style in a thin pita. I realised then that, for me, the concept of ‘home’ is intimately tied with food.

Everything I ate this week convinced me that the cuisine of western and northern Canada is generally bland. The teeming mass of mixed cultures in the most populated provinces, namely Quebec and Ontario, make for dishes that electrify the taste buds. I went to a restaurant on Saturday where an option was za’atar encrusted halibut. I haven’t seen za’atar on a menu in two years!

Asian dishes, like the sushi I also had this week, are the only thing I find ‘as good’ out west, and that’s because the immigrant population out there is pre-dominantly Asian. I’m not saying there aren’t any good restaurants out there, just that the savory cuisines I took for granted growing up aren’t as readily available.

My week in Montreal has come to an end (!) and it can best be summed up as a gastronomic journey. What did I do all week? I ate! 😀

by

The Best Pizza in North America (or, at least, Canada & the US)

I think pizza buffs will agree with me that there is one pizza against which you measure all others. In all my travels across Canada and the US, I have yet to find a pizza has good as that offered by Tre Colori, a restaurant situated in my hometown of Chambly, Quebec. Imagine that!

Tre Colori’s pizza sauce is savory, but not, too pungent. The cheese is greasy and generous. The crust is what makes this pie stand out. Under the pizza, it is thin but not crispy, and at the edge it is doughy and yeasty. I like most pizzas with a lot of toppings, but Tre Colori’s has to be eaten plain.

the box hasn't changed since I can remember

the box hasn’t changed since I can remember

my half is plain; the other half has onions and mushrooms

my half is plain; the other half has onions and mushrooms

close up of the texture

close up of the texture

close up of the yummy dough ball they use to keep the lid away from the pizza

close up of the yummy dough ball they use to keep the lid away from the pizza

The restaurant has been in business since 1967 and I have eaten there all my life. It was one of my dad’s favourite restaurants, so I celebrated many milestones there, most notably my thirteenth birthday. The decor has changed over time, but the food is the same. They serve pasta and non-Italian dishes, but it’s only the pizza I crave when a wind blows me back into town.

by

I Love Flying!

I am in Calgary and approaching the end of my last layover.

Airport security procedures continue to suck. I was subjected to an incredibly invasive pat-down in Penticton, but once that was done, it was smooth going. I’d never done a cross-country flight with layovers, so I didn’t realise I only need to do the security thing once. When I’ve flown to the US with layovers, I had to clear customs while still on Canadian soil, so there were two security checks.

But once the security hassle is over, I remember why I don’t mind going through it. There is something about flying that gets me every time. I just love that little hitch in your throat at the moment of takeoff; it is so exhilarating. I was seated right next to the landing gear on the flight to Vancouver, so I had a chance to see how it works. It was cool to actually see the plane bounce at touch down!

Everyone needs to both drive and fly across the continent once. By tonight, I will have seen the Pacific Ocean, the Rockies, the prairies, and the Canadian Shield before descending into the familiar St Lawrence Lowlands that were home for thirty years.

The layover in Calgary turned out to be a most pleasant respite. I had a nice lunch at the Chili’s restaurant, then caught up on some work. I need to pack up now and go off in search of snacks since I’ll be landing in Montreal at 11PM local time, which is dinner time for me!

by

A Touch of Colour

Donna wins the amazing friend award of the year.

I invited her down to Omak today because I wanted to go pick up something at the Walmart. It was a quilt. I’ve been looking for one for a few years and had thought that I would get my colours scheme from it. Time passed and I had to press on with getting paint and whatnot. Thankfully, when I finally found what I was looking for, it still worked with my paint choices.

Before Walmart, we had a Mexican lunch at Tequila’s. YUM! 😀

Once I had the quilt, it was time to make a final decision on the rest of the fabric: curtains in the study and library, a curtain to block off the cab and loft, something to recover the sofa in the study, and scraps for the kitchen stool. I had looked at all sorts of stores and decided that if I found my dream quilt at Walmart, then I was going to be satisfied with what else I could get there to cross everything off that shopping list.

I lost track of time as Donna and I scoured the bedding and bath sections, then the fabric. I changed my mind a million times and when we finally found suitable curtain fabric, there wasn’t enough. I was going to concede defeat and go with the cheap linens I got in Campbell River, even though they were never intended to be a permanent solution, but Donna persevered and found a solution in the curtain rod section (of all places! :D). She was so patient, listened to me, and was an amazing sounding board. Thank you so, so, so much for your help today!

Two of the things I decided were:

  • Reducing the colour palette

Originally, the kitchen, library, and loft were going to be different colours. I have decided to have my dominant colours be green, pink, and yellow. Accents are chocolate brown, and I will have one orange statement piece. The toilet room, being its own private and closed off entity, can stay purple. But the three rooms that flow into each other need some sort of continuity.

  • Curtains

I’ve been trying to come up with a good idea for window treatments and have decided on plain old curtains to be combined with privacy window film (which I hope to pick up tomorrow). I bought curtain rods, so window treatments are ready to go.

I am a long way from installing all the things I bought today and showing them off properly. I need to get the rooms painted first, for one thing. But here’s a sneak peak of the fabric as well as the paint I bought yesterday:

IMGP0917

IMGP0919

Next, we headed to Home Depot. I recently found a two year old gift card and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I hadn’t spent it yet. It’s because it was only good for the US stores! Ten bucks (and 13 cents change) got me a can of spray paint for my living room chair makeover project as well as an angle measuring thingy for my trim. Thanks again to Donna for thinking of that and finding it for me!

We made a quick stop at Princes in Oroville where I stocked up on Baby Ruth bars, a treat I haven’t had since I went to Chicken. Then, it was time for the dreaded border crossing. Since I was well over my daily allowable limit, I expected to have to go into the customs office and pay tax and duty on everything. This fear was reinforced when I was asked to turn off my engine, a first. The officer was a bit incredulous that two women our age could afford to winter somewhere without working, but saying that we’re writers seemed a satisfactory answer. He asked for a rough breakdown of what was purchased and then sent us on our way! I was shocked!

It was an incredibly productive day and I am now highly motivated to get this rig DONE. 😀