Fotolog - Confiture at Ile D'Orleans (Island of Orleans - Quebec)

Ile D'Orleans is a magical place covered with orchards and "cidreries" (like wineries, but they make cider... not sure what the English word for that would be). I was lucky enough to visit two cidreries while I was there, followed by a trip to an amazing waterfall about an hour away.

This is the owner of the first cidrerie we went to. He was a Belgian who immigrated to Canada. He actually found his orchard in full bloom before he bought it. It was on a piece of land no one was using at the time. He and his family decided to salvage the situation and created their beautiful cidrerie. I really wish I could remember the name right now... If I figure it out, I will let you know.




They make about 6 different ciders here, not to mention about 20 or so different types of mustards, jams, and confitures. The ciders vary in sweetness depending on the ingredients and when the apples were harvested. Some of the flavours included honey cider, maple cider and ice cider.




The confiture table included different mustards (regular, orange, terragon, honey, etc), as well as confitures (onion and carraway, onion and maple, etc) and preserves (various jams and marmalades). I wanted to buy everything, but there was no way I could fit it all in my suitcase, haha!




-A


P.S. Chute de Mont Morency (Mont Morency Waterfall)




What a great day.

Fotolog - Epicurean Adventures in the Vieux Port (Old Port, Quebec City)

Full of various vendors of wine, cider, fish, bread, flowers, cheese, meats, spices, and fudge, this is my favorite market to date... but I guess I haven't been everywhere yet...




La Fromagere. Cheese shop. This is where I learned exactly how popular cheese curds are.

Also tried the fresh cheese Louis D'Or. It's aged in a grotto, unpasteurized and extremely expensive. Also, unlike anything I have ever tasted before. Louis, you are missed.




Mmmmmm. Look at all that CHEESE!




Bakery across the way from the cheese shop. Didn't have a chance to try anything, but it all looked delicious!




This was at the far end of the market. It was a little variety store full of teas, spices, chocolates and other treasures












Some locally brewed beer, sold at the corner store in the market






Some of the beautiful flowers for sale outside




After all this browsing, I think a meal is definitely on the menu!

Mediterranean-style focaccia seasoned with tomato sauce and spices topped with mushrooms, peppers, artichokes, olives, onion, sundried tomato and, of course, feta.




Served, of course, with locally brewed beer, Blanche de Chambly.




Oh, by the way, did I mention the scenery??

Fotolog - Cabane a Pierre (Quebec)

Cabane au Sucre (or "Sugar shack" for the anglophones out there)

This was an amazing night in the outskirts of Quebec City at a traditional maple syrup house, Cabane a Pierre. Everything was very authentic from the meals served to the traditional Quebecois band... and even the fur trappers hut (eeee! pictures will not be posted).

This is definitely something to experience if you are at all interested in the history of Quebec and French Canada. However, be warned, most food is not vegetarian, but a (loose) veggie could definitely get by in the meal (pea soup, homemade bread, potatoes, beans, crepes, tire d'érable). I basically just didn't want to miss out on this amazing experience.


Please note the best pea soup of my life:

Fotolog - Aux Vivres (Montreal, Quebec)

While I was in Quebec, I had a chance to stop by this little Vegan restaurant down on St Laurent in Montreal. I had actually been there before about five years ago and I couldn't wait to return. Last time I was there, I ordered their (vegan) BLT wrap, which had bacon-flavoured shredded coconut inside! It was pretty amazing, so I couldn't wait to come back. This time, I opted for something different, but unfortunately, with not-so-amazing results.

This is the tempeh burger with a side of potato wedges and coleslaw. The burg gets my thumbs up, but unfortunately the wedges and coleslaw... not so much. FYI to everybody out there, clove spice should NEVER be used on potato fries. NEVER.




This, however, was pretty amazing.




It's some kind of pate made out of carrots, BUT TASTES LIKE LOX!! Pretty decent imitation. I enjoyed it, however, it would have been better if served on a baguette or cracker of some sort, instead of all on its own.


Aside from the food, I have to admit, the service was pretty terrible. I don't remember it being this way my first time there, but we were seated right next to the washrooms (when there were plenty of other tables available) and once our food was served, our waiter was nowhere to be found. It took forever to get water and even longer to get our bills. However, since I have only been there a couple times, I would give them the benefit of the doubt that this type of service isn't the ordinary.

Despite my less-thank-stellar experience this time, I think I would still go back and see what other interesting creations they've got on their menu. They seem to have a knack for fascinating flavour imitation.

Verdict: To Be Continued...


-A

Fotolog - Breaded Veggie Chicken with Steamed Buns under a Mushroom Gravy (and a side of Garden Salad)

I know it's not the prettiest picture, and I was debating about posting it... but it sure was tasty!!

Fotolog - BBQ Tofu, Corn (off) the Cob, and Dill Potatoes

Summer's here!! (yum!)

Fotolog - Curried Tofu on Jasmine Rice

My most recent tofu trial (and success). Tofu curry made with (light) coconut milk, served with onions and carrots on a bed of sweetened Jasmine rice.

I'm still looking for a sweet curry recipe. I feel like this maybe depends on the type of powder used. Can any curry experts out there help me out?

Summer in a nutshell - intro to fotolog

So my life has been pretty crazy lately.

With the end of my second last semester came my summer of travel. About five days after I finished my exams, I packed up and flew my tush over to Quebec province. I spend a good portion of May there as well as about half of June. I could probably go into incredible levels of detail about this trip, but frankly, I just think that would take too long.

I came back home for a few weeks and then packed my bags for Guadalajara, Mexico. I was only there for a week, but it was a great experience and the people there are some of the most kind I have met.

I think for the next little while, I will be posting a mix of things I've seen, things I've eaten, and things I've made. I hope you enjoy!

-A

Thoughts and Pie

Hey everyone, long time no see! I’m sorry I left without a “back in 5” sign on the door. School has started again and I guess it’s been a little more demanding than I expected.

Although I haven’t been posting, it’s given me a little time to think over the philosophy of my blog. When I started posting, which I know wasn’t that long ago, I had a plan to share veggie food that came across my path and post it at least once a week. Somehow, it turned from a general food search to a recipe search type deal. (Maybe it’s because I haven’t really had the chance to go out for food all that much lately.) I guess I just wanted to let you know that although I will still be posting recipes, you can also expect to see some other veggie-related posts once in a while.

Also, I’ve decided to follow a policy of quality not quantity. I quite enjoy posting and doing so every week. However, I’ve found with my time constraints, that it becomes quite rushed, and overall not as fun to do…… so I’m not gonna.

Okay, back to business.

Everyone: I just got the best book in the world! Okay, well not really. But I’m super excited about it! It’s called Professional Chef and it’s a textbook put out by the CIA (link). It’s a little intimidating (like over 1000 pages), but I can’t wait to go through it! I’ve been cooking regularly over the past 3 years, so I’m still pretty new at the game. I can cook some pretty decent meals nowadays, but I find that I’m not quite up there when it comes to technique (I have no idea what I’m doing). I’ve always wanted to be able to cook sans recipe, and I think this book may help! Even though it does contain recipes (like 600 of ‘em), it also goes through various techniques, their purpose and what they hope to achieve. Eg. some topics include the different characteristics of regional cuisine, how to develop different flavours of tomato sauce, soup formulas, etc. The only thing about this book, which I wouldn’t necessarily say is a bad thing, is that I think I’m going to have to invest in a half-decent kitchen scale. The one I have (from Save-On) just isn’t going to cut it.

Anyway, if you’re looking for something more encyclopedic when it comes to cooking, this book may be worth considering. I also give it a pretty decent “veggie-friendly” rating because although it includes a topic on meat and many meat-filled recipes, this isn’t the sole focus on the book. Also, with this topic included, I hope to understand the flavouring process that goes into some meat dishes and translate it to a veggie alternative. (Wish me luck!)

Now, if you’re wondering why there’s a picture of a pie at the top of the page, no, the “A” doesn’t stand for Alberta Bean. It was actually a belated birthday present for my cousin (whose name also happens to begin with “A”). I’m actually quite proud of this pie, as it is the first pie I’ve ever made, and I DID IT FROM SCRATCH! (with the help of Professional Chef)

The pie crust was made with the help of the proportion guidance of my textbook and the filling recipe I found online. Let me know what you think!

-A

P.S. I also made baby pie. Cute, no?

Butternut Squash Soup from Easy Vegetarian (Ryland Peters & Small)

Warm soup for the cold winter.

This is dedicated to all my friends here in the frozen North.


There is nothing better than hot soup to warm you up after pushing your car out of a snowbank.


:-)


This recipe is from an Easy Vegetarian cookbook I finally decided to crack open. (See. Easy.)


I bought this book because it had a lot of familiar tastes in it and because all the ingredients seemed like they would not be too difficult to find. I don't know if any of you have ever flipped through some of the more fancy (or more vegan) cookbooks, but there are just some ingredients in there that I just don't know either what they are, or where I could possibly find them (other than on the internet).



Another thing I really liked about this book is that every single recipe has a picture accompaniment. I find that it's a lot easier to make something when you know what it's supposed to look like when you're finished. Big selling point for me.

So the soup I decided to make is a butternut squash curry soup. I'm not including the actual recipe because I'm not quite sure how this copyright thing works (can you copyright a recipe?), but I will post my pictures and you can decide for yourself if this book is something you might be interested in picking up.

This is actually the second time I've made this soup. The first time, I followed the directions exactly. The soup turned out a little thick, so I decided to use it as a pasta sauce instead (was yummy). This time I added more liquid so it is much more "soup-like". Also delicious.

The Cast:


Curry Powder, Coarse Salt, Ground Pepper


Butternut Squash, Medium Yellow Onion


Cashews


Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Milk, Unsalted Butter

First chop squash like so


It comes with seedies like this


Take them out

Then you will have a treasure trove like this


Then chop your onion and melt the butter in olive oil




It WILL smell good.

Spice it up.




Then mix in your squash.


Cook it and chop your nuts while you're waiting.


Add the milk and water to the pot.


Whadd'ya think??


Let it cook for a while till it's all soft.


Then stir in the cashews.


Finally, blend it.






Soup!


Warm, thick and filling.

P.S. Hot chocolate is also good after braving the cold.