The Big Bagle Battle

Everday one must make many decisions.  Some of these decisions are simple: What should I wear today? Should I take the 24 bus or the 51 bus? Where should I eat lunch? What should I do tonight after work?  Some of the decisions are difficult, these decisions have consequences and put you into a category that might separate you from your friends and family.  In Montreal, one of the difficult questions you must ask yourself is: Do I prefer St. Viateur bagels or Fairmont bagels? 

Bagels are an important part of the food culture in Montreal.  The bagels in Montreal are different from the bagels I am used to but still delicious.  Sesame seed is the standard bagel you will get if you go into the store and ask for a bagel.  In Montreal there are many bagel shops but two stand alone, St. Viateur and Fairmont.

The original St. Viateur bagels opened in 1957, and remains open 24/7.  They sell over 1,000 bagels a day. It was founded by Myer Lewkowicz who arrived from Eastern Europe bringing with him, his famous bagel recipe. Each bagel is hand rolled and baked in a wood-burning oven.

Fairmount bagles originally opened in 1919 when Isadore Shlafman moved to Canada.  His bagels were also rolled by hand and cooked in a wood-burning oven.  He moved to Fairmount Street in 1949 taking his shop with him.  His family lived upstairs and he would go downstairs and cook the bagels.

Yesterday my friend Mahsa took me on a tour of mile end and had me taste test a bagel from each shop to see if I could tell the difference.  First we stopped at St. Viateur.  When I asked if I could take a picture the guy said to come on back and see how the magic was made.  We got to help hold the paddle as bagels were taken out of the oven.



Mahsa, Leah and the bagel guy taking bagels out of the oven

 Our next stop was Fairmount bagels.  To be fair, I got a sesame seed bagel at each (even though the chocolate chip bagel at Fairmount sounded tempting).

Both of the bagels were tasty.  There were subtle differences between the bagels but my untrained bagel palette couldn't really taste a difference.  All in all I would say they are both good and I will take whichever one I can get.

The Colors of Summer

My parents came to visit me and today and we had a great day.  We started the day in the Old Port/Quays with a boat ride.  The water was beautiful, it glistened and sparkled as it lapped against our boat.  Water is one of my favorite things about summer.  I would love to be able to own a place on the water and spend time enjoying it everyday.  Sometimes when I am really stressed out I swim laps at the pool, being sumberged in water relaxes me. As we were riding in the boat today I started thinking about all of the beautiful colors of summer which prompted me to write this blog. 

We ended our day at the Jean Talon market which is one of my favorite places in Montreal.  The fruit and vegetables are amazing, reminding me yet again that summer is here.  Being at the market, with all of the colors and hues, was comprable to being at the Holt Renfrew surrounded by fashion.  The colors of summer are everywhere and it brings a smile to my face to know that none of them look like snow. 

Au Pied de Cochon

Au Pied de Cochon or the pig's foot, is a restaurant that is pretty popular in Montreal.  I happened to stumble across it when I was looking for a fun place to eat online.  The menu has a lot of items containing foie gras and various parts from a pig.  If you are a vegetarian this is probably not the place for you.  Interestingly enough the Au Pied de Cochon also has a sugar shack during maple season. 

After looking over the menu I decided that there was about five things that I might eat (I am very picky) and got pretty excited about the foie gras poutine.  If you know anything about foie gras it is hard to eat it without thinking about where it comes from, if you can get past that it tastes like a party in your mouth. 

Forest and I met up with some of our friends and made the adventure to Au Pied du Cochon.  It was a Thursday and it was extremely hot outside.  The restaurant wasn't air conditioned and we happened to be seated close to the kitchen.  The meal I ordered must've been at least 10,000 calories but because I sweat so much I think I ended up breaking even. 

Pete and Yi-Yi ordered these little foie gras squares.  The way to eat them is to put the entire thing in your mouth and then close your lips and let the flavor explode in your mouth.

Guinea Hen Liver Mousse- I tried this, it smelled and looked a bit like cat food but tasted ok

Yi-Yi and Pete with their appetizers

Foie gras poutine

PDC's Melting Pot- different bits of sausages, pork and potatoes (Forest ordered this)

All in all the experience was pretty fun and it was neat to try new foods.  If you are interested in going you can make reservations online or call.  You will need to call about two weeks in advance.

Parc Lafontaine

My friend Charlotte and I decided to go on a geocache at Parc Lafontaine.  Parc Lafontaine is in the plateau and has two ponds, "waterfalls", a fountain, an outdoor theater, play areas, baseball diamonds, and loads of ice cream trucks.  I had never been geocaching before and I was pretty excited.  Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunt and there are many different geocaches all over the world.  A capsule containing various trinkets, maybe a travel bug and a pad of paper that you can sign when you find it, is burried somewhere and it is your job to find it.  You look online to get coordinates and then off you go.  Once you get to the designated coordinates you have to do a little searching to find the capsule.  Throughout this whole treasure hunt you are supposed to act stealthy so you don't draw attention to yourself and ruin the surprise for other people in case they would like to experience the geocahing adventure themselves. 

I had never been to Parc Lafontaine and was taking in the sites once we started our geocache. It was a really beautiful and hot day so there were a lot of people enjoying the park.  We navigated the park using Charlotte's GPS and found the area where the geocache was located.  Charlotte is a seasoned geocacher and she knew where to look so we started digging in the rocks right away.  Apparently I wasn't being stealthy enough because two old ladies came up to me and started speaking in French.  I kept telling them that I don't speak French and I pointed at Charlotte who does speak French.  Since the extent of my French is un baguette s'il vous plait we were at a standstill until Charlotte came over to speak with them. 

After Charlotte convinced the ladies that we were ok we continued searching.  Charlotte found our capsule which was hidden in the rocks.  I can't disclose any more information about the location in case any of you would like to find it (although I am pretty sure my only reader lives in Des Moines, Iowa).  She wanted me to experience finding it as well so she hid it again and then I had to go searching for it.  While I was doing this, I scraped my knee.  I didn't realize that geocaching was an adventure sport and it was at that time that I decided that geocaching might not be a big part of my future.

Finding the box was pretty thrilling and it was neat to see what was inside.  Charlotte had brought a travel bug that she found the previous weekend and left it in the capsule.  She signed the book and then we tucked the capsule away exactly where we found it. 

Charlotte

Pond 1

Leah in front of Pond 2

Capsule

My scaped knee

Charlotte with the treasures

Cool Chair Art- as we were leaving the park we saw these chairs with different items underneath them (a book, soccer ball, shoes, lunch pail)