Breakfast things

2008-11-16T08:51:00.002-05:00

La Cantine (212 Ave Mont Royal E): I'm almost hesitant to write about this place because it's such a treasure. It opened in the past few months, and we can still walk over and get a table right away, and I like that. The fact that it calls itself a "bistro boutique" and has a cool, kind of loungey decor might not make you question whether they prefer style over substance, but don't be fooled. The brunches here are wonderful and... psst, even better - they can be cheap. Let me show you what you get for $6.50:

Eggs, potatoes, bacon, cheddar cheese, fruit and toast. Sounds pretty typical, but it's rare that you get these breakfast foods cooked so well. The eggs were perfect. The cheddar was old and sharp and got all melty when piled on the toasted baguette. Andrew had ham instead of bacon, and it wasn't your regular processed breakfast ham - it was actual porky chunks of real meat. They also have more atypical brunch foods, like a creme brule yogurt or pistachio french toast or grilled cheese with apples. The coffee is excellent. We've even come here for dinner and weren't disapointed (you can actually get mini Pogos!). So, go, especially if the lineup at L'Avenue is way too long!

2008-11-15T09:20:00.002-05:00

Pâtisserie De Gascogne (237 Laurier O): This is now a 10 minute walk from my apartment, which is a little dangerous. This bakery is divine, and for those mornings where you don't want a full out brunch, it's nice to drop in and pick up a chocolatine or pastry and a cup of delicious, strong coffee and walk around the neighbourhood. It feels a little fancy. They also do their own version of the breakfast sandwich (croissant, egg, ham = YUM).

2008-11-15T09:16:00.000-05:00

L’Avenue du Plateau (922 Ave Mont Royal E): I can’t believe I haven’t talked about L’Avenue on this site. This is the kind of breakfast place that is ridiculously popular, and if you try going on a Saturday morning around 11 am, the line is certain to be snaking out the door, even in the dead of winter. So I prefer to go as early as possible, like 8:30 or 9 am (I can only usually motivate myself to be up and out on a weekend morning if I have guests or if I’m jet lagged). But L’Avenue is good. The breakfasts, whatever you choose, are always delicious, the waiters are always cute, and even if you’ve used their bathroom multiple times, you are always surprised by it (it’s kind of trippy).

2008-11-15T09:03:00.002-05:00

Le Cagibi (5490 Blvd St Laurent): My favourite thing to get at Cagibi is not breakfast. It’s a warm Rachel’s Remedy (a delicious, medicinal drink composed of ginger, whiskey and honey) with one of the ethereal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. The earliest I’ve had this combination is around 1 p.m., so perhaps it could fall into the "brunch" category, but if you want something a little more substantial, Cagibi also serves things like breakfast burritos and tofu scrambles. I know a tofu scramble may not sound like the most exciting thing, trust me when I say they’re good. A must (if not for brunch, then at least a drink or baked good, or a burrito) for your visiting vegan indie rocker friends.

2008-11-15T09:03:00.001-05:00

Beauty’s (93 Avenue du Mont-Royal Ouest): This is another Montreal institution, but the lineup is always so long that I never have the patience to wait it out. It’s all retro and diner-y. I’ve had wonderful pancakes here, and you can buy the maple syrup in cute little bottles that you can bring home as a souvenir. To tell you the truth, I would probably rather go to Bagel Etc, which isn’t too far away.

2008-11-15T09:02:00.001-05:00

La Grand-Mère poule (1361, ave Mont Royal E): There are a few locations scattered throughout Montreal, but I’m most familiar with the one on Mont Royal. A cute little place that looks like it was indeed decorated by your grandma who lives in the country and does needlepoint. You can get a good, cheap eggs and bacon or pancake breakfast, but I personally always go for the rostis. My favourite is the Geneve, which is a delicious, heart-attack inducing mess of fried potatoes, sour cream, bacon and spinach. The spinach makes it healthy, obviously.

2008-11-15T08:59:00.002-05:00

Chez Cora (various locations): If you’re visiting Montreal for a short period and only have time to do one proper brunch, don’t go to Cora’s, dude. I mean, yeah, it’s fun and decent, kinda like going to a Golden Griddle or IHOP or Denny’s or whatever, but there are so many other options in this city! That being said, I think Cora’s is better than Golden Griddle/IHOP/Denny’s, so if lineups for other places are too long and you’re on a schedule, you’ll probably get a table at Cora’s much quicker and you won't regret it. I’m a sucker for the French toast (topped with bacon!) or a ham and cheese crepe. But in terms of Quebecois breakfast chains, I prefer Eggspectations.

Eggspectations (various locations): My co-workers and I often go to Eggspectations on Fridays for lunch for our end-of-week treat. Breakfast for lunch on a Friday makes you feel like the weekend has already started. I am a big fan of the Bagel Eggspectations: bacon and egg on a bagel, with home fries on the side.

2008-11-15T08:58:00.002-05:00

Senzala (4218, rue De La Roche or 177 Bernard): There are two locations, but I’ve only been to the one in Mile End. Senzala is a Brazillian restaurant and the brunch portions are huge. Think: an entire avocado split in two and topped with poached eggs in each half, smothered in cheese sauce. Add a a side of potatoes, grilled fruit and plantains. These big meals have the potential to turn into a big soupy mess on your plate, which can be unappetizing, but generally I’ve left feeling full and ready to take on the weekend. You also get a fun carafe of coffee at your table. And afterwards you can visit the Drawn and Quarterly store down the street.

2008-11-15T08:58:00.001-05:00

Los Clasicos (4561 St-Laurent): The brunch that made me think, "God, I need to update my blog so I can write about this place". This Mexican restaurant gave Andrew and I the most satisfying brunch ever: huevos rancheros, chilaquiles (my favourite: fried tortilla strips that are simmered until soft, slathered in salsa, topped with eggs and queso.) Good coffee, nacho chips and salsa to start, and the friendliest staff. Prices were reasonable. I am predicting many trips here, and I haven’t even tried their dinner.

2008-04-27T19:22:00.004-04:00

Breakfast at home: Now that the weather is nicer, there is something satisfying about a nice weekend breakfast at home, puttering around in pjs, windows thrown open, sunlight streaming in. Saturday morning, pre-market, I noticed we had a half loaf of day old bread, a few eggs and not much else. So, French toast via the lovely Everybody Likes Sandwiches blog.

And then on Sunday it was warm bread, butter and grape jelly.

Warm, homemade bread, thanks to Jim Lahey's no knead bread, which I finally, finally, got around to making this weekend. At about 6 pm last night I was convinced the dough was dead and flat (I've been scarred - my last bread making attempt was at Christmas, when I accidentally misread the recipe and added 3 TABLESPOONS of sugar to the flour). I resigned myself to bread making failure and drank a glass of white wine. I had used active dry yeast since I didn't have instant, and assumed this was my mistake. So, I was surprised Sunday morning when I realized that the dough was actually yeasty and springy. I folded it for the second rise, and low and behold it rose again. When it emerged from the oven, I was triumphant. I took pictures of it like it was my first child and held my head close to the crust to listen to the crackle of the bread as it cooled. And then we ate it.

2008-04-24T21:37:00.003-04:00

Reservoir (9, avenue Duluth Est): Reservoir is a thing of beauty: all gorgeous rustic wood and big, sunny windows looking onto Duluth. Most people come here for the microbrewed beer, but Reservoir also serves these amazingly gourmet brunches. For instance, their take on the classic bacon and eggs is sophisticated: perfectly fried eggs with lurid, bright yellow yolks paired with thick slices of smoked lard. Smoked lard has a pillowy fatness to it that can be a bit much for people, so be prepared. I’ve had a nice thick stack of pancakes topped in a banana caramel sauce here once, and freshly baked brioche another time. It’s spendier than most brunch places, so you probably won’t be coming every weekend, but it’s perfect for those mornings where you’re feeling a little indulgent.

A Reservoir meal:

Don’t be fooled by the photos – the portions make look small, but the food is rich.

2008-04-06T14:00:00.003-04:00

It’s sugaring off season in Quebec and after a scoop of tire à l'érable ice cream from Bilboquet earlier in the week, Andrew and I had maple syrup on the brain. We woke up late on Saturday morning and decided that the best way to kick off the weekend would be a traditional cabane à sucre lunch. We did a little bit of Internet research to avoid a place teeming with bus loads of people, that wasn’t too expensive (because face it, whether the meal is $15 or $25, we knew we were going to feel ill by the end), that wasn’t too close, but wasn’t too far. So, Erablière La Tradition in the Lanaudière region it was.

A traditional cabane à sucre meal is not for the faint of heart. Especially the vegetarian faint of heart. We settled into one of the long benches and started tucking into the food.

Soft rolls spread with cretons (let the pork begin!). Packaged rolls are kind of gross, but occasionally we get cravings for them.

The only flash of colour in the meal came from the pickled stuffs.

The lightest course: pea soup and coleslaw.

Pork rinds, fèves au lard and whole roasted potatoes. Despite my love of fried, horrible foods, pork rinds are just a little too much for me. Andrew happily chowed down, though.

More pork! Oddly mushy and unattractive sausages that I strangely enjoyed, especially drizzled in syrup, ham, and eggs.

Just in case you're still craving pork, a nice porcine stew.

And don't forget desert! Fried dough with maple syrup and maple tarts (the tarts not pictured).

When we left they were just preparing the tire sur la neige, which we ate despite full bellies.

With all that food in our systems we were ready for a day of chopping wood or heavy farm work, but instead we drove back to Montreal and napped until it got dark. Whoops!

2008-03-09T15:22:00.002-04:00

Maam Bolduc (4351, avenue de Lorimier): It's nice to have a decent place for brunch down the street the morning after a major snowstorm.

I've been to Maam Bolduc's too many times to count in the past two years, initially lured by the promise of Best Poutine Ever. Unfortunately, I don't think this place holds the title, but for lazy Sunday morning brunches when the last thing you want to do is dig out your car, it's perfect. The food here is basic diner style - not amazing, but cheap and it hits the spot. Plus, the waitresses are always sweet, the decor is that comfy-trippy Plateau style, and in the summer you can sit outside if you're lucky.

2008-01-13T19:12:00.000-05:00

Dusty's (4510 Avenue du Parc): It's no secret that I've been spending more time at home cooking, even more now that my kitchen is equipped with a beautiful silvery Kitchen-Aid mixer and a life-saving Cuisinart food processor (/end brand name dropping). As a result, I just don't go out as much to eat, breakfasts included. And recently, when I want breakfast out, I want something I can't make at home. I want grease. Dusty's is a diner at the corner of Mont Royal and Parc, with booths and greasy food galore. The other day someone found my site with the following keywords "Montreal waitresses attractive or sexy or hot". Not sure if they found what they were looking for, but hey, the waitresses at Dusty's are definitely cute and friendly.

2007-10-29T19:50:00.000-04:00

La Boîte Gourmande (445, avenue Laurier Est): This new breakfast joint near the Laurier metro was still a bit empty when me and my girlfriends paid it a visit one Saturday morning, but the people working were sweet and let us sit there and chat for a good two hours, long after our food had gone cold and as the place slowly filled up.

The restaurant is bright and sunny, with wooden tables and church pew seating. I had a lovely melty Oka cheese, apple and walnut sandwich, and the regular bacon and eggs were good too. The yogurt came with a pumpkin compote and the coffee was yummy.

The aftermath

They also sell frozen meals that might come in handy if you live in the area and pass by on your way to the metro. There was something virtuous about this place.

2007-10-12T23:55:00.000-04:00

Dame Tartine (1652, rue Ontario Est): I live a short walk away from a long stretch of tattoo parlours, piercing places, a big Portuguese Catholic church, a hydroponics supply store, thrift shops, laundry mats and seedy bars. Oh, Ontario Street! Foodwise there is not much to choose from this side east of Papineau – mostly a disappointing flurry of Lafleur’s or shady looking pizza parlours – but there are options, like the decent Mexican restaurant (La Guadeloupe, 2345, rue Ontario E) and one of my favourite French bistros, especially on snowy Montreal nights when we don’t want to attempt digging the car out of a snowdrift (Au Petit Extra, 1690, rue Ontario Est). One recent Saturday morning, looking for a quick breakfast and wanting to stick close to home, we ended up at the charmingly named Dame Tartine with its cutesy cartoon rendering of the dame herself on the sign and poem on the back of the menu with pertinent details of her life, starting with her home (a castle made of butter). The place was big enough that we got a table right away, but what was supposed to be a quick breakfast ended up an hour and a half affair, waiting endlessly for our meals, and finally just paying up at the counter instead of waiting even longer for the bill. But okay, I generally enjoy drawn out meals, and even though we were on a schedule, we were flexible. If the breakfast tasted good, I wouldn’t mind as much. But… I wasn’t particularly impressed. I was excited by the prospect of my French toast breakfast sandwich (Two pieces of French toast sandwiching a fried egg, tomatoes and ham) – what a high calorie, eggy, but awesome combination! When it came down to it, I would’ve rather just had a regular breakfast sandwich and forsaken the extra eggs and syrup (More on syrup below..). Andrew had the self-titled Dame Tartine eggs benedictish concoction, and it was similarly uninspired. I might give the place another chance on a snowy winter morning but for now I’m neutral on the whole thing.

The Maple Syrup dilemma: Say you order crepes or French toast, you just assume you’re going to get syrup with it, right? Obviously. But what about when you’re asked if you want either the regular (I guess "fake") maple syrup or the fancy REAL maple syrup? Do you spend that extra $1.25 to get a small paper cup of the real stuff? And if you do (because REAL maple syrup just sounds and tastes better), do you feel resentful at having to pay that extra dollar? Even if it’s just $1.25 and you should get over it already? Because admittedly, I am. I don’t expect free, real maple syrup at the diner around the corner, or in Texas, or in London, England, but I don’t think it’s much to ask for from a place that specializes in breakfast, especially in Quebec, where over 75% of the world’s supply of maple syrup is produced and where you can easily buy a $5 can of the good stuff at the grocery store down the street. I wholly support paying premiums for good, hard-to-get food, but sometimes it doesn’t seem reasonable.

2007-10-10T22:43:00.000-04:00

Instead of entertaining thoughts of roasted turkey and bowls of cranberries this past Thanksgiving weekend, Andrew and I hopped in the car and road-tripped away from Montreal, dipping into Ontario and parts of New York.

Driving through the Adirondacks

Metropolitain Brasserie (700 Sussex Dr, Ottawa): First up was Ottawa, where we had spent the night so that I could relive high school nostalgia and watch Eric’s Trip rock out at Barrymore’s. Friday was an abnormally warm day – we were walking around the city in short sleeves – but by Saturday it was rainy and chilly.

One of my co-workers had recommended The Metropolitain to me, a cute French brasserie on Sussex, and it was a cozy place to drink coffee and eat in. I ordered a French toast sandwich stuffed with cheese and ham, served with a side of cranberry compote and fresh fruit. It was the same kind of thing I had ordered at Dame Tartine the week before, but this version was a revelation: sweet from the French toast and (free, real) syrup, salty from the cheese and ham. Smeared with the compote was even more heavenly. Andrew had an equally swoon-worthy open-faced omelet.

Putnam Market (435 Broadway, Saratoga Springs): We randomly chose Lake George, New York as a destination without realizing that it was one of the tackiest towns in the Adirondacks. I like tacky, but food-wise the place wasn’t very promising, and that night’s dinner was takeout Domino’s pizza and Adirondack Ale. Instead of attempting breakfast, we shopped at the outlet mall, and then headed east, ending up in Saratoga Springs. We were running a little later than expected and grabbed sandwiches from Putnam Market, a bustling gourmet store and deli, to sustain us. The sandwich selections were amazing. I had a roast beef + mango chutney while Andrew had roast turkey and bacon. I also picked up a bottle of sparkling Saratoga Springs water and a few chocolates from Burlington, Vermont. With the strong Canadian dollar I also took the opportunity to buy a nice pouch of Maldon sea salt and a box of Café du Monde beignet mix.

Hot Dog Heaven (216 Lark Street, Albany) and Daily Grind (234 Lark Street, Albany): Albany is eerily deserted on the weekends, and as we strolled through the large empty streets surrounded by a blend of ornately architectured state buildings, abandoned hotels and churches, and monolith structures, we wondered if something had happened to the rest of the world while we had been outlet shopping in the Adirondacks. When it came time for dinner, the only place we could find open and relatively busy was Jack’s Oyster House (42 State Street, Albany), a little fancier than what we had been planning. We accepted the situation and happily slurped down some oysters, but our waiter, who recognized that we didn’t quite fit into the average Jack’s customer, told us to check out Lark Street. Breakfast the next day was a combination of coffee from Daily Grind (there is no need for Starbucks when you can get a pumpkin spice latte from them) and cheap, greasy sandwiches from Hot Dog Heaven, which we went to mostly for the name.

The sandwiches were satisfying – big and eggy on soft, toasted rolls – and paired with the fresh coffee made for a good breakfast.

2007-09-27T20:26:00.000-04:00

La Croissanterie (5200, rue Hutchison): We are hanging onto the last threads of summer and I'm not quite ready to let it go, so when a summerish opportunity presents itself I will take advantage of it, especially when it comes to outdoor dining. A breakfast on a shady terrace, a cup of good coffee (or an allongé, preferably), a good dining mate, and a newspaper = a pretty perfect Indian summer morning.

La Croissanterie is a cute little breakfast place, maybe a little packed with chi-chi Outremont types, but the people who work there are always super friendly and anyway, it's never bothered me because yes, chi-chi Outremont types are people too, and I like all people, etc. I digress. I like the egg and cheese croissant sandwiches, but you can also get croque-monsieurs or other types of sandwiches. For wintertime reference the insides are just as charming, all pressed tin roofs and wrought-iron, but like with most things, I prefer it in the summer.

2007-09-18T18:53:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago in the midst of a heatwave, Molly and Mike brought us over to Mister Spicee (6889 Victoria, Montreal), a tiny Trinidadian fast food place that specializes in doubles (two pieces of yellow, fried flatbread stuffed with things like chickpeas and goat meat). We picked up a few, along with an order of pholourie (savoury deep fried dough!), and ate the greasy, spicy, delicious mess in a nearby park. When we were done, we ducked into a small Trinidadian market where Molly was in search of a particular masala blend she could use for an attempt at pickled scotch bonnet peppers. While we poked around the store, I found a package of "Tea Chocolate". The small package contained two ping pong sized balls of chocolate, a single nutmeg nut, a few cinnamon sticks and leaves. I bought it.

After some Internet research I discovered that I had purchased Jamaican hot chocolate, a common breakfast drink in Jamaica. The chocolate balls are made of roasted cocoa seeds that have been pounded to a pulp and then rolled into balls. A few days later, I got an email from Molly asking me how the chocolate tea had turned out. At the time it was too hot to even think about drinking hot chocolate, so I waited until now, mid-September, when the air has taken on that early autumn biting chill. I invited Molly over to try it out with me. We skipped ahead and drank the sweet hot chocolate with desert instead of breakfast: my end-of-summer plum crumble, her homemade pistachio ice cream.

(Directions are based on this excellent write-up.)

1 Jamaican chocolate ball
3 tbsp sugar
¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
3 cups water (the recipe suggested a quart, but we found it watered down the chocolate)
A pinch of salt.
Cinnamon leaves
Nutmeg

Grate chocolate ball onto a plate.

Bring the water to boil in the meantime, and then add chocolate and cinnamon to the pot of boiling water.

Allow the tea to boil for fifteen to twenty minutes. Sweeten to taste. Fish out the assorted cinnamon sticks and leaves. Pour into mugs and grate nutmeg to taste into your drink.

And drink. Just a warning - the oils from the chocolate rise to the top of the mug and create a hot slick that you might want to let cool down before taking that first sip.

The package I bought was fairly old, so the flavours were more muted than what I imagine the real thing to taste like. But the grating of the chocolate and nutmeg, followed by a nice slurp of condensed milk makes for a satisfying ritual. With autumn just around the corner, this might be the kind of beverage you want stocked in your kitchen for those days when you need something a little different to cut through the cold.

2007-09-11T20:27:00.000-04:00

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

It's been awhile, my friends. But what can I say? It was our first summer in Montreal. I was busy doing things.

I made a few loaves of bread.

Some strawberry rhubarb jam.

Tried pickling.

Baked things like these blueberrry muffins.

And a few pies.

Went to the Jean Talon Market (practically) every weekend, on the lookout for the freshest, sweetest and most interesting fruits and vegetables. Became particularly obsessed with finding heirloom tomatoes like this:

(These were in Toronto, though)

Or this (from Jean Talon)

Had multiple barbecues.

Got breakfast cooked for me by friends.

How can you blame me for not keeping this up-to-date?

More soon.

2007-07-10T16:49:00.000-04:00

L’Anecdote (801, rue Rachel Est): It was a weekend of mediocre meals until we took the food situation into our own hands (why didn’t we buy a $25 charcoal grill from Rona earlier in the summer?), and while our breakfast at L’Anecdote was nothing to really complain about, there’s not much to write either. Regular diner fare (perhaps better for burgers later on in the day?), complete with cute red booths, friendly staff. Coke comes in little glass bottles. It gets some bonus points for being a walking distance away from our place, not far from Parc Lafontaine, but I’m on the lookout for more adventurous breakfast places these days.

2007-07-03T21:59:00.000-04:00

Polly's Pancake Parlor672 Route 117Sugar Hill, NH 03586: Quebec is spoiled in June with two back to back long weekends (St Jean Baptiste, followed by Canada Day), and despite having just returned from a two week vacation, it seemed a shame to pass up a perfectly good travelling opportunity. So, on Friday night Andrew and I packed up the car and drove through Vermont, slept at a rest stop somewhere in New Hampshire, and then ended up bright and early on Saturday morning in Boston. Most of our time was dedicated to seafood, including the most amazing Island Creek, MA oysters at B&G Oysters, amazingly succulent fried clams from Kelly's Roast Beef on the beach at sundown in Revere, MA and a sampling of chowders at Chowderfest. Note: If you want good chowder, you probably shouldn't go to chowderfest (our pick won, but we've had better). Unfortunately all of these gifts from the sea add up and despite finding ways to save some money (see: slept at a rest stop somewhere in New Hampshire), by Monday we needed to stick to the land.

We took a route home through New Hampshire. Our love of Vermont has caused us to neglect New Hampshire, so we decided to ease up the pace a little. I have always been charmed by their dramatic state slogan: LIVE FREE OR DIE. And there's still something mildly shocking in finding out that the seatbelt law does not apply in New Hampshire. A wild and crazy state, right? Not exactly, but it is beautiful with its forest flanked highways and the gorgeous expanse of the White Mountains. There's even a Shaker village in Canterbury where, if you don't want to pay admission to enter, you can still buy herbs and heirloom tomato plants grown in the Shaker gardens. There is also a town called Sugar Hill, and if you're lucky enough to get there before 3 pm you can stop for pancakes at Polly's Pancake Parlor.

We each ordered a pancake sampler platter where you can order three different types of pancakes with different kinds of "fillings". Cumulatively we had plain blueberry, buttermilk oatmeal walnut, cornmeal coconut, whole wheat chocolate chip and apple cinnamon. They're served in groups of three to make sure the other half is kept warm while you're eating, and all of the maple accoutrements (syrup, spread, sugar), like everything else (i.e. the flour) is produced by Polly's family. It's cozy and friendly, and the pancakes were perfect. Definitely worth a return trip if we're ever in the area again.

2007-06-22T15:53:00.000-04:00

In general, most of our mornings in Greece were spent getting from Point A to Point B, whether by ferry or catamaran or metro or tram. With most of our ferries leaving some time between six and nine AM, breakfast wasn't really our priority. Besides, we were saving our appetites for some kind of huge lunch and dinner. But there's something about travelling, the giddy rush of it, that can make almost any meal memorable. Like that morning when we took the 6 AM ferry from Naxos to Santorini? I had stuffed the tickets into my back pocket, thrown on my backpack and walked jauntily to the port before the sun rose, only to realize that somewhere along the way the tickets had flown away and disappeared somewhere into the Grecian ether. Oops. Nothing to do but wait for the boat to arrive, hope that it wouldn't be full, and buy tickets on board. Luckily it was one of those huge, slow, cheap Greek ferries, so there was most definitely room for a non-exorbitant price, and I had remembered to pack the rest of the Papadopoulos "Petit Beurre" cookies coated in chocolate, which are incomprehensibly, but immensely, satisfying to me. So I got over it. Sometimes we'd think in advance and buy a few oranges, eating them on the top level of the ferry, always forgetting napkins to wipe our sticky fingers. The oranges were always good. If we were in Piraeus, we might buy koulouria - the ring-shaped sesame bread sold in stalls all over the city, and if we felt like something more substantial, we might find a crepe place.

But my absolute favourite breakfast item from the trip, which I have brought back to Montreal with me and have been eating most mornings, is Greek yogurt with honey and fruit. Greek yogurt is rich, creamy and silky, with almost double the milk fat you'll find in whole milk yogurt over here. It's traditionally made with sheep's milk, but is also made with cow's milk. You could buy it in stores - the Fage brand is the best you'll find for mass marketed kinds (and they sell it in North America, but I'm not sure where to get it in Montreal yet), but if we were lucky we could also find some local brands in clay pots from the bakery. It comes plain, and topped with a good drizzle of honey and a few spoonfuls of fruit, or even just the honey, is sublime. And I'm not normally a yogurt and fruit kind of girl.

I didn't have much time to look for good Greek yogurt in Montreal, but the morning after we returned we woke up super early (thank you, jetlag) and went to the Jean Talon market where I picked up a tub of Krinos brand sheep's milk yogurt from Qui Lait Cru. It isn't as thick as I'd like it to be, but it has that familiar tang and is wonderful with the blueberry honey I got from the market earlier. Next time I'm going to get some locally made sheep's milk yogurt which I spied on my way out of the market, and I'm curious about how it would taste with a glug of Quebec maple syrup.

Next time you do your yogurt shopping, try it out. It's an excellent foil for any of the fresh fruits which are starting to make their appearance this season (like strawberries!) or eat a glop of it with a rhubarb crisp now that rhubarb is cheap and plentiful.

2007-06-01T06:01:00.001-04:00

I am off to Greece for a bit where I will do my best to hunt down the best breakfasts in Athens. This is a challenge given that the kind of eggy-doughy-fruity-syrupy-buttery-potatoey breakfasts I like best are quite rare in Europe. And if I don't find it? Don't worry, I won't be suffering food-wise. Or anything-wise, really.

2007-05-21T19:43:00.000-04:00

Café Joe (3068 St-Antoine E.): I spent this long weekend morning having breakfast with 3 people who spend a good deal of time thinking about drains, exploring drains, taking pictures of drains (one of them being my boyfreind). And yes, by "drains" I mean those mysterious tubes of piping that criss-cross the underbelly of the city carrying our sewage, our hormone-addled refuse and our storm water out into the great blue yonder. Despite what you may think, there is less stomping through shit than you may imagine. Regardless, it makes for interesting breakfast-time conversation.

I’ve resigned myself to being the screechy-voiced person who constantly stammers, "Isn’t that dangerous?!", but I’m (secretly?) charmed by it. And we had plenty of time to discuss drains, plus a million other topics, as we waited for our breakfast at Café Joe. It’s a cute place, that kind of sunny, Formica, rag-tag melange that is easier to find in Montreal than most Canadian cities. Danielle, a Francophone who knows her breakfast places, calls it "Anglophone hippie" because it’s hard to find a Francophone place like this these days, even though I associate the Montreal hippie aesthetic with Francophones. Anyway. It was one of the topics we discussed. The point being that we. Waited. So. Long. For. Our. Breakfast. Granted, it was a holiday and they had staffed only for a weekday, but seriously? 20 minutes for our coffees? Add another half hour for an allongé plus our breakfasts which came maybe an hour later. Granted, the food was enjoyable (above average diner fare), and I would possibly go again if I knew the wait wouldn’t be so long. When we were finally finished, they dropped me off at the nearby Atwater Market so that they could do their exploring, and I bought fingerling potatoes, fennel, fiddleheads and the fixings for a Cola Cake.

In the time it took for us to wait for our breakfast, I could’ve baked this cake. The recipe is from "Two for the Road" by Jane and Michael Stern, which I read (devoured, actually) on my train trip back to Montreal last night (thank you to Emily for the recommendation!). Should I feel guilty that I’m excited about eating a slice of this for breakfast tomorrow morning while I wait for the bus on my way to work, which will hopefully be running despite the Montreal Metro strike? I’m leaning towards "yes".

Cola Cake with Broiled Peanut Butter Frosting
Jane and Michael Stern

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
16 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa [I only had uh, Quick at home, and it was fine – I just cut down on a little bit of the sugar]
1 cup Cola with fizz [they list Pepsi, but I used Coca-Cola because I am a Coke kind of person]
½ cup buttermilk [I substituted ½ tablespoon of lemon juice + enough milk to make a half cup]
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup miniature marshmallows
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking pan.
Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl.
In another bowl combine the melted butter, Coke and cocoa and pour into the flour and sugar.
Sir until well blended.
Add the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, vanilla.
Stir in the marshmallows.
Pour into the pan and bake for 40 minutes.

For the peanut butter frosting, cream together 6 tablespoons of butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cups of smooth peanut butter and a ¼ cup milk. They also call for 2/3 chopped salted peanuts, but I didn’t have any, so I added a dash of salt. When the cake has cooled a little, slather the icing on top, and then broil for a few seconds until the frosting starts to bubble. Remove and cool completely.
The cake is moist and sweet and the marshmallows melt into a cloud-like consistency, impossible to discern from the cake.

And, if you want to learn about drains, or at least see beautiful pictures of them and other abandoned locations:

Andrew: http://worksongs.com
Danielle: http://www.uer.ca/~nel58/photos/
Michael: http://vanishingpoint.ca/