Montreal & Quebec City

About 5 years ago, we took a road trip to the Maritimes and I never blogged about it.  I love reading my old travel posts just to reminisce.  So, the fact that I hadn't blogged about the Maritimes has been bugging me for years now.

I have a renewed motivation to cross this off my mental list since we just recently came back from a second road trip to the Maritimes.  So, what you'll see in these travel posts is a combination of our trip pre-kids to Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI and a trip with an 10 month old and a 3 year old to Quebec, New Brunswick and PEI.  

This trip, our ultimate destination was a cottage in PEI.  But, I wanted this trip to be about the journey as much as the destination.  So, we weren't in a rush to get to PEI.  Our general plan was to stop mid-day on each travel day to let everyone get out of the car, eat and burn some energy so that (hopefully) a good length nap would follow.

We decided to spend our first night in Montreal in a Airbnb apartment to take the kids to the Biodome.  It is near several other tourist attractions in Montreal that we've previously visited.  But, having never gone to the Biodome, we wanted to check it out and thought the kids would enjoy it too.  

Overall, I'd say the Biodome was pretty good.  You go through four ecosystems and see plants and wildlife that would be native to those habitats.  We got through it pretty quickly and found it to be smaller than we expected.  

Here are a few pictures from Olympic Stadium and the Botanical Gardens, from a previous trip to Montreal.

Football game at the McGill stadium (Stade Memorial Percival-Molson) 

Since I'm showing previous trips, I might as well throw in some pictures from another trip where we went to the Just For Laughs festival (digging these ones out was a trip down "pre-kids" memory lane).

Schwartz's Deli -- A Montreal (smoked meat) institution:

Marina

Back to this year's trip...

The next day, we continued east, with a stopover in Quebec City.  The old town in a fair ways off the Transcanada Highway, so the visit  got us into our next stop (Grand Falls) later than planned.  But, we enjoyed walking around the cobble stone streets.  It was a very busy day with lots of tourists.  I preferred past visits that avoided peek season.

Unfortunately, even after going through my three external hard drives, I couldn't find any of my old pictures from Quebec City.  So, I'm thinking my previous trips pre-date owning a digital camera.  

Sucrerie de la Montagne

Plus 25 Celcius in March?  This does not happen in Canada and is not good news for maple syrup producers.  Maple sap runs best when the weather is warm during the day, but cool at night.

March and April is maple syrup time around this part of the world. You can read about previous visits to cabines a sucre (sugar shacks) here, here, here and here. If you take a look through these posts, you'll get a sense of the range of sugarshacks, from lame pancakes on a plastic plate to an all you can eat selection of food, sure to make you feel stuffed for the next 2 days.

My last, and probably most intense, sugar shack experience was at Sucrerie de la Montagne.

When you arrive, a horse-drawn carriage will take you the short ride from the parking lot:


You can explore the grounds, seeing several rustic buildings that house cottage-like accommodations, a bakery...

 a general store, a building where maple syrup is processed (during the maple syrup season)

and, of course, the main halls where the food is served.  Sucerie de la Montagne blows other sugar shacks (that we've been to) away in terms of food quantity and quality.  Let's just pretend that everything you see in the rest of this post was stretched out over a week of consumption, rather than one sitting.

Soupe au pois du Montagnard (mountain dweller's pea soup)

Omelette soufflée de la fermière (farm-style omelette soufflé)


Saucisses de campagne (country-style sausages) & Jambon fumé à l'érable (maple-smoked ham)


Tourtière de la beauceronne (meat pie from Québec’s Beauce region)


Traditional sugar pie


Pancakes with maple syrup



On this plate is Ragoût de boulettes (traditional meatball stew, Oreilles de crisse (crispy-fried pork  rinds), Fèves au lard de chantier (wood-fired baked beans), Pommes de terre pilées à l'ancienne (old-style mashed potatoes) and the same omelette, meat pie and sausage that you see, above.

Guests are also offered Coffee and tea, Pain croûté de la paysanne (farm-style crusty bread) and
Homemade fruit ketchup and pickles.

Of course, the star of the show is the maple syrup.


The food is all you can eat and is served family-style.

Once you're done.  If you're not in a coma, you can get up and dance to some traditional music.  Or, at least listen to the music while you rest your head on the table, unbutton your pants and close your eyes.  That's normal sugar shack behaviour, right?

Here's a video that gives you a good idea of what the place looks like.  Skip to 1:47 if you want to see the food insanity!

Vegetarian Tourtiere

The family and friends are getting together this weekend for the BIG celebration. Our family is both multi ethnic with a variety of religious affiliations. As my SIL "R" says, we celebrate Chrismakkah in a non denominational way. Everybody brings a little bit of where they come from and who they are to the table and it's a wonderful celebration. That's not to say that it's stress free. Hell no!

Our newest member of the family as I've mentioned before, is a vegetarian so it's always a challenge for me to create something that's vegetarian worthy while still being tasty. Since I'm not a vegetarian it presents a greater challenge for me only because it's unfamiliar. This year, I made traditional French Canadian tourtieres but also wanted our veggie being to have some too. I found a recipe for vegetarian tourtieres on Canadian Living . So happy!!!! I was particularly happy since our vegetarian is from Venezuela and having something so distinctly Canadian was important for me.

It took the better part of a day (start to finish) to create the tourtiere. I also decided to go with a vegetable shortening premade pie crust (although I'm listing Canadian Living's recipe for the crust). Everything went amazingly UNTIL I took the tourtiere out of the oven. I won't repeat what came out of my mouth - I'll just show you. Don't you just hate when this happens?



I couldn't believe it. I should have put a pan underneath it prior to putting it in the oven. I didn't. I will next time. The filling, by the way, is really and truly tasty and inspite of the crack I'm sure it'll be well received for the effort.

Ingredients

2 cups (500 mL) TVP* (Textured Vegetable Protein)
2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
3 ribs celery, (with leaves)diced
2 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups (500 mL) cubed peeled potatoes
2 tsp (10 mL) tamari or sodium-reduced soy sauce
1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) dried savory
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) pepper
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground allspice
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground cloves
2 bay leaves
2 cups (500 mL) vegetable broth


Pepper Thyme Pastry:

3 cups (750 mL) all-purpose flour
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
1 tsp (5 mL) dried thyme
1/2 tsp (2 mL) cracked black peppercorns
1/2 cup (125 mL) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (125 mL) shortening
2 tsp (10 mL) vinegar
2/3 cup (150 mL) Ice water

Pepper Thyme Pastry: In bowl, whisk together flour, salt, thyme and pepper. Using pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter and shortening until in fine crumbs with a few larger pieces. In liquid measure, whisk vinegar with enough ice water to make 2/3 cup (150 mL). Drizzle over flour mixture, tossing with fork to form ragged dough.

Divide in half; press into 2 discs. Wrap each and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)

In large bowl, pour 1 cup (250 mL) boiling water over TVP; cover and let stand for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in shallow Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook celery, onions and garlic, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 10 minutes.

Stir in potatoes, tamari, savory, salt, pepper, allspice, cloves, bay leaves and TVP; cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

Stir in broth and 1 cup (250 mL) water; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, 30 to 40 minutes.

Break up most of the potatoes with back of spoon; simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened, 7 to 10 minutes. Let cool. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate in airtight container for up to 24 hours.)

On lightly floured surface, roll out 1 of the pastry discs to generous 1/8-inch (3 mm) thickness. Fit into 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate. Trim to rim of plate. Spoon in filling.

Roll out remaining pastry. Brush rim with water. Place pastry over filling; trim to leave 3/4-inch (2 cm) overhang. Fold overhang under pastry rim; flute to seal.

Roll out pastry scraps; cut out holiday shapes. Brush top of pie with water; arrange cutouts on top. Cut steam vents in top. Bake in bottom third of 400°F (200°C) oven until bubbly and golden, about 1 hour.



Links:

** More about TVP
Arguments for and against the use of TVP

Tourtiere - A French Canadian Tradition

Each French Canadian family has their own version of tourtiere that gets passed down from one generation to another. The recipe I've always used is one that has been used for centuries in one family's lineage. Typically this savoury pie, also called meat pie is enjoyed on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. If you're driving through Quebec, you may even find them in grocery stores

Start with the crust:

2 cups flour
1-2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups shortening
2/3 cup ice cold water
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp white vinegar

1. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar baking powder and salt
2. Cut the shortening into small cubes and add to flour mixing with a pastry cutter until it has a mealy texture
3. Whisk together water, egg yolk, vanilla and vinegar. Stir into flour mixture (use about half of this mix initially and add as necessary). Knead dough just until smooth.
4. Wrap in film wrap and chill in the fridge at least 15 minutes prior to rolling.
5. Divide dough in 4 and roll out the two bottoms of pie plates first.

Note: If you don't see yourself making the pie crusts, using a store bought would work.

Filling

1 lb medium ground pork
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 onion grated
1 cup water
2 bay leaves
3-5 whole cloves
1/4 tsp each allspice and nutmeg
1 1/2 - 2 cups grated potato, uncooked
2 tsp ground sage (or more if you like it)
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a heavy bottom pot, add meat, onion, salt and pepper
2. Bring to a boil and reduce to medium, cooking until the pinkness leaves the meat.
3. Add bay leaves, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg. Mix well and taste. Add sage and grated potatoes and cook on medium until the liqiuid looks mostly absorbed. Take out the bay leaf and cloves.
4. Fill pastry shells. Cover with remaining dough.
5. Finish as you would any pie cut vents in the tops to allow steam to escape and coat pastry with an egg wash.
6. Bake meat pies in a 400 F preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 35-40 minutes.

Although this is not my picture, it does show what the inside of the pie looks like when properly cooked. ...and don't forget to serve it with a tomato based condiment; anything from chutney to ketchup.

To everyone getting together for the holidays, all the best to you and yours from Psychgrad and Giz at Equal Opportunity Kitchen!!!

Sugar Shack

Spring is quickly approaching in Canada. The amount of snow this year is much more tolerable than last year. Here's a video of my balcony last year.



This year, there isn't a drop of snow left on it (knock on wood).

Thankfully, there was some snow left on the ground, a couple of weekends ago, when we went skiing. The lake is melting...

And the snow is getting a crunchy from melts during the day and freezes at night.

But, the weekend was beautiful as always.

Another sign that Spring is on its way is the beginning of maple syrup season. Syrup producers are making up for lost time. Last year, with the insane amount of snow we got, syrup production was really slow. But this year, conditions are much better with overnight freezes but mild temperatures during the day.

We decided to go to a small sugar shack operation.


Often, sugar shacks include a full artery-plugging selection. Like this one I went to last year. This time, it was just a pancake breakfast.

I was fine with that. But, I must admit to being somewhat underwhelmed by the flat-looking pancakes. The pancakes at Giz's sugarshack looked more natural and fluffy.

But the syrup was delightful. Unfortunately, with reduced syrup production in previous years, the price of syrup is up about 40%. It'll take a couple more years to replenish the stock. Who knows if prices will every return to their lower amount. I paid $6 for 500 ml a couple of years ago. Now, it's about $6 for 250 ml (depending on the type of bottle you're buying, glass vs plastic jug).

For as far as the eye can see, there are maple trees with metal syrup-collecting buckets attached. This syrup is then reduced, for a much higher concentration of sugar.




It's always a nice touch at the end of meal, when you get your hardened syrup on a stick. Here's a volunteer from the sugarshack rolling it.



Extreme close-up!


Continuing with the maple syrup theme, I decided to make a recipe I saw on Cathy from Noble Pig's site and, subsequently, on Kevin from Closet Kitchen's site.

Maple and Mustard Glazed Chicken
(makes 2 servings)


Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (pounded flat)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1 cup bread crumbs (I used a mixture of regular bread crumbs and panko bread crumbs)
4 tablespoons maple syrup
6 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon thyme (chopped)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:
1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Dredge the chicken in the flour.
3. Dip the chicken into the egg.
4. Dredge the chicken in the bread crumbs.
5. Heat the oil in a pan
6. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes per side.
7. Mix the maple syrup, Dijon mustard, whole grained mustard, brown sugar and thyme in a bowl.
8. Place the chicken in a baking pan and brush the maple mustard mixture onto it heavily.
9. Bake in a preheated 400F oven for 10 minutes.


The chicken was delicious. If you ask me, the marinade would suffice for 3-4 chicken breasts.

Check out Kevin's post all about recipes that include maple syrup. Also, don't forget to visit Giz's earlier post on her experience at a sugar shack.

Canadian Sugar Bush

You know it's spring in Canada when the maple trees are being tapped and the smell of burning wood and maple syrup are in the air. There are Maple Syrup festivals all around us and people are sampling local syrup with their pancake breakfast, in their coffee and in the form of maple shaped fudge and candies, to name only a few.

Psychgrad mentioned that she and "R" were planning a trip to the local sugar bush near her city and I thought it was a fun thing to do so I rounded up some friends and off we went. Psychgrad and I will share our same day experiences in different cities enjoying the same thing. How cool is that?

The place I went to is a very unassuming tree farm, very rustic and no commercial fanfare about the spring festival.



As you can see, although spring is just around the corner, we still have a fair amount of snow in the outer areas of the city.



Admission to the festival was really minimal and you were met by the owner of the farm who was entirely charming and very funny. He escorted us to a tractor that was pulling a flat bed and everyone hopped on to be driven into the syrup making area.

Can you guess what this is?


I'll tell you later in the post (not a bad way to keep you reading ...he he he)

First stop - the maple cabin - this is where they feed you pancakes with copious amounts of maple syrup. As a point of interest - maple syrup starts off being 3% sugar and 97% water. Once it's cooked it reverses to 97% sugar and 3% water. All the kids entering the maple cabin were well behaved. By the time they left, they were a total bunch of raving lunatics. Here...have some more maple syrup kids, I don't have to live with you :).





When you enter the cabin there are many different sizes of maple syrup bottles for sale. Since the whole process is extremely labour intensive, maple syrup is not cheap. The 40 ml size was selling for $6.99.



See the bubbles on the surface - that's how you know when pancakes are ready to turn. In the U.S. I think these are also commonly called flapjacks, not to be confused with the cake like treat in the U.K.


Oh my!!! Could life get any better than this? And look at the maple syrup just swimming on that plate.

.... and then compliment it with a steaming cup of maple coffee.


The pots and stove inside the cabin represented process in days gone by. Not much has changed other than the evolution of the stoves.



Now that we've indulged beyond capability of movement we dragged our sorry butts out for the educational part of the experience. I hope you're able to read the information; it's actually pretty interesting.



In pioneering days, tapping the trees was done with whatever equipment could be made.



and then cooked in large pots over an open flame


Today tapping is a little more sophisticated and sanitary but not a big change








The spiritual connection between native Canadians and the earth shows the meaning of maple syrup to the culture.



One of the most impressive pieces of information was how conservation wise manufacturers of maple syrup really are. They don't tap the tree in the same place twice and give the tree time to heal. The same tree can give sap for literally centuries.



This was my experience - good learning - good food and a fabulous day to enjoy the outdoors. I know that Psychgrad had a similar but different (does that make sense?) day at her local sugar bush. She even went so far as to prepare a wonderful meal with her spoils of the day. I was not quite so ambitious so stay tuned for Psychgrad's experience in the next post.

Well - you've come this far. The picture near the top that I asked you about - if you had any idea what it was? It's a form to put evergreen trees on and tie/wrap them for shipment. Who would have thought?