Make up

Playing conference goer and tourist has left me a bit boggled. IT is really Saturday morning and if it were not for the photos that Jodi is taking and their congruity, I think I would be totally lost. Wednesday morning I left Jodi snuggled in bed and went to my conference. The conference I am attending is the International Association of Forensic Nurses, which is held each year in a different location. Last year was Pittsburgh, and next year is Puerto Rico! I have been really looking forward to this year because Montreal was on my list of places I wanted to visit, mostly I think, because of the French Influence. And it has been a good venue, but the ONLY a good thing I can say about the food at the conferenc this year is that the croissants at breakfast have been quite good. Beyond that, well, Yesterday I didn’t even let them leave the plate of fish, rice and beans in front of me. And as people picked bones out of their mouthes I was glad!

Wednesday while I was in conference Jodi played some with her camera and I LOVE the shot of her looking out the window with her image embedded on the exterior scene.

While she was photoing, I had an abysmal lunch of vegetable soup that was so thin we all added S&P, followed by a lovely but equally tasteless ravioli and ended by a artful but also worthless caky-pudding thingy. By the time I got out of the conference I was starving and feeling pretty guilty because Jodi had gotten up in the middle of the night at ate some ritz cheese and crackers we had purchased. Because she so rarely gets excited about food it was back to Le Papillion for dinner.

Some musings on the way to dinner: I got one look at the Champs du Mars here and thought ok Dorothy you are definitely not in Paris! There are some other lovely thoroughfares though that we encountered on our way to dinner. Also some interesting displays such as the one this restaurant had up for Halloween! Maybe a little frightening to the kiddies? She had her bruschetta and pizza and I had one of the offerings of the day which included soup or salad. The soup offering tonight was a apple carrot soup, which Jodi said tasted like baby food, and I had to agree as the apple was much more predominant flavor. But my entree was good, it was a pork roll with blueberries and cranberries, in a delicious sauce, accompanied by potatoes, charmingly carved to resemble mushrooms, cauliflower, asparagus and carrots. It was very good. We wandered a bit on the way home, but drizzle was once again the atmospheric message of the day.

It just isn’t Paris, But it is a good Substitute! Montreal day 2

Another lazy morning, I played on the computer and got caught on the blog while Jodi caught up on her beauty sleep. I ordered a double pot of coffee so I wold have some real cream for my coffee, wow! It was more costly than a good Starbucks, but not as good even though it is touted to be Starbucks coffee. It was worth it though because apparently Jodi thought she needed a lot of beauty today as she slept for a very long time, and I was feeling the pinchers begin to grow.

When we finally got out and about, of course, food was a priority! We ended up at a little place called Pappillion, where Jodi had bruschetta she deemed good,which for her gives it at least 2 if not 3 stars! I had a roasted red pepper soup which I deemed good as well. After we wandered toward the Notre Dame Basilica, which we had heard was a must do. We made our way in and out of several souvenir shops. I purchased a red had which reminds me of one I bought in Paris. LOVE it! We went into one Christmas shop that reeked of a familiar smell that I could not quite put my finger on, which irritated the heck out of me when I figured it out. Let’s just say the staff seemed to he having a herbal essence sort of a day, and leave it at that. There is a $5.00 fee to enter the Notre Dame Basilica, which seemed tacky to me. I understand the need to keep the building up, but what about the church? I don’t know it just felt wrong to pay to get into a church, I don’t know why I am being so hard on them, I think we pad to get into Westminster Abby, but it did not really feel like a church, like this place did. Anyway it is lovely and worth a look. After The church I wasw ready for coffee and a snack, so we headded back to a little palce I had spied on the way into the old city. Dinner this evening was another French Restaurant, Alexandre and Fils, where I ordered Steak Tartare again! Jodi ordered a vegetarian panini, but to her horror it was made with rye bread and she only ate the guts. the restaurant was interesting in that they allowed me t0 try my $11.00 glass of wine before I purchased it, and they allowed me to taste my steak tartare as they were preparing it, apparently here they like it"hot" and had consistently asked me how I would like it prepared, this was a first though. A pleasant stroll back, stopping to purchase some music at a large store; where when IAFN was in Vancouver I first encountered Sarah Harner, I had to try something new again!

Transported to My Happy Place

I have not commented much on the Lang house B&B, which is crazy as it is the most expensive night of the trip. It is a big Victorian, and our room is charming, oddly enough the room that was available was the Fisher suite. There seems to be a theme here. The bed is holds a cloudy layer of foam, covered by lovely cotton sheets and just the right amount of covers to create pleasant dreams. The only down side for me is the lack of a bathtub, but the water was good & hot and there are luscious robes just waiting to be donned to keep that cozy clean feeling alive.

Breakfast is in a lovely room with red and paneled walls, floral tapestry covered chairs and moss green damask tablecloths. I am offered a small currant scone and my choice of the offerings of the morning! Hard to choose, but I decided to try the more seemingly seasonal Vermont apple spiced pancakes with, you guessed it, Vermont maple syrup. I am served and am transported to my happy place! Apples in a perfectly spiced pancake with Cabot Creamery butter and the aforementioned mentioned maple syrup. These heavenly morsels are accompanied by ham and some fruit. It is a perfect beginning to a beautiful sunshiny day! The only cloud in my sky is the fact that I may never have these lovely little cakes again as the proprietress declined to share her recipe. This I truly don't understand because I believe in sharing joy, even the joy of a recipe.

On the way out of Burlington we went to the waterfront, where we encountered a Navy Memorial and some lovely scenery, As we were leaving, in front of my very eyes was a April Cornell outlet, but it really did not have anything tempting to my financial ruin. Further on our way Jodi had me preform an abrupt stop so he could take a photo of an unnamed object. Anyone know what it is?

After my earlier sarcasm about the ever-ready presence of chain commerce, today Jodi wanted a Mango-Pineapple smoothie and do you think we could find a McDonalds in which to purchase one? Just before the Canadian border we did encounter one, where I decided to put my neck out there and try a carmel mocha. This carmel mocha the manager prepared a frozen version instead of a hot one. I might as well have let him serve me the frozen one, because at least the taste of the incredibly icky beverage might have been a little less intense!

I was all psyched up for a horrid border crossing, and it was painless. The Canadian guard had a sense of humor, which was nice! All of a sudden I realized that we were not in the middle of the mountains any longer, we were amid corn fields! The trip into Montreal was relatively easy, much easier that Paris. I think I only cursed once or twice on the way in.

The Hyatt Montreal is an interesting number, attached to a mall sort of thing. We parked underground, took the elevator to the Lobby of the Hotel on the 6th floor and then are on the 3rd floor of the hotel, which by my math puts is on the actual 9th floor of this building. As we parked there were these two older fellows sitting on a golf cart sort of thing, monitoring the garage. They told us that we had taken their parking spot, just teasing us. It was a charming first encounter with Montreal citizens. The room is pretty much what I would expect in a modern new hotel in Europe, which is not really a vote in it’s favor. While there are curtains across the entire wall, there is only a window about one third of the size of the wall. The bathroom is an odd shape, a reasonable size closet, has about a foot of space between the top of the doors and the ceiling. Regardless it feels good to be in a place for a few days rather than packing up again tomorrow morning.

Stead Tartare is omnipresent on my mind by 5 PM, and the concierge directed us to a place called Restaurant Julian. Thank God for our earlier interaction with the natives because we had a bit of a hard time finding it, and there was not an abundance of people that were willing to assist us. So it was a challenge, but it was worth the hunt. The waiter, a cute friendly bilingual fellow who brought an amusee bouche of fried plantains and a mango chutney, we both loved it so much he brought seconds! The steak tartare was among the best I have ever eaten, accompanied by a simple salad and pomme frites avec mayonnaise. We ended this feast with a cappuccino with the tallest foam topper I have ever seen and a simple creme brulee. The walk back was brisk, and we encountered a light show like i had not seen before. The cloud cover was low enough that it made round spots in they sky where the light met the cloud. An awesome way to welcome us to Montreal!