Poutine

Yesterday afternoon was another one of those can't-get-to-work-till-I-spend-some-time-out-of-the-house afternoons. And it was a gray and gloomy day. The kind of day where it seems like a good idea to make fries your main meal.

Bill had never had poutine before; I have a vague memory of eating it on a high school trip to Quebec City, but I had already quit eating meat by the time I first came to Montreal, and vegetarian poutine had simply not been an option back then. (I did order a poutine sans sauce once, very early on, but it wasn't really worth trying to explain myself to the Quebecois poutine-serving guy -- plus it was only fries and cheese curds, which just isn't right.)

We headed out to La Banquise, which is on the Plateau, close to Parc Lafontaine. Supposedly this is some of the best poutine in the city, so we figured it was the perfect place to break us in. We went in and sat down, and looked at the 20-ish different varieties of poutine on the menu. When our waitress came over, I said, "I have some questions. For a vegetarian--"

"There is nothing. Vegetarian. Here," she said, punctuating each word by poking our tabletop with her index fingers, "except the lettuce."

Au revoir, La Banquise. Next stop: Mondo Fritz on Blvd. St-Laurent. It's by no means a vegetarian restaurant, but the poutine sauce contains no meat or dairy products, so it's very vegetarian-friendly. It is not, however, the most "authentic" poutine experience: they serve grated cheese instead of squeaky cheese curds, and of course the peppercorn sauce. But it was so tasty! I couldn't finish my giant portion, but I got pretty close. Bill enjoyed his, too, but then he also coined the slogan "Poutine: Once in a Lifetime." I know people who eat poutine more than once a week, and I can't imagine that, but every couple of months I'd be happy to go back to Mondo Fritz for a big messy plate of it.

Since I didn't take my camera, I'll point you to a poutine Flickr group (yes, really) -- guaranteed to either whet or destroy your appetite.

Insult received, injury added

When I left my house yesterday just before noon, it was raining. On my way to school, the rain got a bit sleet-y. As I sat in class all afternoon, I could see that it was full-on snowing outside, and that the snow was piling up on the ground. This was not good -- not only because it's the freaking middle of April, but because I was in no way dressed for a snowy day. Insulting!

When I finally left school at about 10:00 p.m., wearing ridiculously inadequate Birkenstock shoes and a raincoat (both fine choices when I'd put them on, I swear), I headed out the front door of the Arts Building, carefully went down the front steps, and upon reaching the street, promptly slipped and fell on my ass. Owwww.

This little piggy went to market

I went to Jean-Talon Market this afternoon, and it was like a vacation from winter! I love going to the market, not just for the produce, but for some of the crazy peripheral bits that remind me of being in an Asian market: fifteen different things plugged into an outlet, with wires hanging all over the place; music coming from a crappy radio that's hanging from the wall with rope; prices on hand-lettered signs; just the general jumbliness of things. All that stuff that makes the market different from a big grocery store.







Does anyone actually eat those bunnies made of maple sugar? Dentists must love seeing those for sale. Just looking at them makes me crave a glass of milk.

I got nuthin'

I've been spending my days in my office or at the library, writing papers. If all goes well, this term will be finished for me on April 25. It may even be spring by then! (Light snowflakes swirling around in the air today.) I encountered these two characters this afternoon outside the library. We're not allowed to take a cup of coffee into the building, so after a few hours of research I had to pack up all my materials, put on my coat, and go outside for a coffee break -- it's cruel and unusual. I may be projecting, but to me these gulls look pretty tired of winter.

Oh, I may have ordered some KnitPicks Merino Style in Nutmeg so I can whip up a Blustery vest. That is all.

This is not a democracy -- it's a yarnocracy

I swatched for Thermal, and I think I will knit it after all -- but later. I really do have a ton to do in the next three weeks, so it's just not a good time to start a sweater. Instead, I need a project I can easily pick up and put down, and one that involves lots of quick gratification. And I have just the thing...

While thrifting a few weeks ago, I came upon something very exciting: a giant collection of old tapestry yarn. You know -- those little 15-yard bunches of colour-fast, moth-proof 100% wool. (I don't even know what it's meant for. Needlepoint?) If it had been a proper thrift shop, the whole pile would've been in a garbage bag for five bucks, but it was V@lue Vill@ge, so the huge amount of wool had been separated into a hundred separate little overpriced bags. I spent about fifteen dollars on five different colours.

I knew I wanted to crochet another blanket, this time with a vintage (1940s-ish) palette. Lots of bloggers have been crocheting granny squares, but I didn't want to use my 1930s/1940s colours in squares that make me think of the 1970s. I looked online at various afghan squares and settled on a pattern called Cluster Flower Square. I was very excited to find fifteen little skeins in the perfect shade of Depression-era jadeite green, and I want that to be the main colour. So I crocheted a few squares, using the green as the border around the centre circle. I think if I also use the green to join all the squares, it'll look a bit like a green blanket with multicoloured polka dots.

So far, I'm very excited about this. My first crocheted blanket -- which is this close to being done; it just needs a border -- was a great project for using up leftovers, and it's bright and colourful and cheerful, but I adore the colours of this vintage tapestry yarn. However, each crocheted square uses just over one little skein of green, and I only had fifteen. Only one thing to do: I went back to le boutique V.V. hoping there'd be more.

Good news: there was plenty of my green left -- about twenty wee skeins, plus (jackpot!) a big ball of the stuff. So I'll be able to make a green blanket after all, plus I grabbed a bag with single skeins of pink and a darker green, which I can throw into a few of the circles. Plus, I had a visit from the thrift fairy, who confirmed my crafty choices by leaving a special treat for me in the kitchen aisle:


Yep, a little FireKing jadeite bowl ($1.99), which is filled here with the contents of another $1.99 bag: a dozen nice old wooden spools of cotton and silk thread, and two strips of antique crochet tatted trim. Oh, I love it when a thrift comes together.

Daytripping: Les Laurentides

I planned to spend all of yesterday doing schoolwork, I really did. (Just like every day until at least April 20.) But at about 1 p.m. I couldn't stand being in the house anymore. It was a beautiful day, and I just needed a break. I decided that I could justify taking the rest of the afternoon off to clear my mind, and I'm so glad that I did.

Bill and I hit the road and headed north (northwest?) to the Laurentians. We hadn't been out of the city since last October, when we drove to London; we stopped in Laval for road coffees and then drove about 60 kilometres to St-Sauveur. (The photo above is of L'Eglise St-Sauveur.) It's a small ski-resort town, very touristy, the sidewalks jammed with sporty people and their enormous dogs. We walked in the sunshine for a while and then got back in the car and drove another five kilometres to Morin Heights. We spent a glorious hour there having a pint on the terrasse of the local pub. I wasn't even wearing a jacket -- just a sweater and a scarf. Glorious.

So, yesterday was a big breath of fresh air (literally!), but today I'm back at my desk and back to my work. Sigh! I need to keep reminding myself that after I hand in these three papers, I can have lots of days like yesterday.