Around the world ...

Ethnic was definitely the flavour of my last visit with my guy.

After an eventful trip to Montreal, marked by numerous delays (one spent chatting with Bill Paxton), cancellations and culminating with the airline sending his luggage to Toronto, my sweetie finally arrived.

Bill Paxton at LAX

Watching him (my sweetie, not Bill Paxton!) approach me, I noticed a marked absence of a Canadian staple - a winter jacket. Despite having grown up in this arctic climate, he decided to jam his jacket into his luggage and this Cali boy was now left to deal with temperatures of almost -7C in nothing more than a long sleeved shirt. After picking up the rental car and checking in at the hotel, we were told that because of the late hour, the bar, restaurant and room service had all closed for the night. He did, however, suggest that we head to the House of Jazz,only about a block away.

House of Jazz

We scampered over through the cold and made it just before the kitchen there shut down ... no big whoop since the food was just meh but the ambiance, the décor and of course, the music was amazing. The entertainment that evening was provided by the Dawn Tyler Watson Jazz Project and she was just terrific. Later, Snooky and the Bandits closed up the evening and they are definitely worth returning for.

Snooky and the Bandits 

The next morning brought the arrival of the errant luggage and we eventually headed out to the old neighborhood, properly dressed for a Quebec winter. We stopped in at Zytynsky's, where Angel set us up with some fantastic kobassa and fresh rye bread. We then headed to the Polish home and had a lovely visit with my guy's babcia, where she thoroughly enjoyed her snack. Later, we made a quickie stop in to Rockaberry's - I had been experiencing an incredible lemon meringue pie craving for a couple of weeks that desperately needed satiating! I tucked the dessert away for later because it was time to head off to make our dinner reservations. Whoa! Le Nil Bleu is truly an experience not to be missed! This restaurant serves Ethiopian cuisine that you eat sans cutlery. After going through an interesting menu, we settled on a platter for two consisting of four offerings - yesiga alicha (marinated beef cooked with potatoes and carrots in a mildly spiced sauce flavoured with green peppers and ginger root), doro alica (chicken in their special house seasoning sauce), yebeg key watt (lamb in berbere sauce) and yemesser watt (lentils in a mild sauce) - to be washed down with a delicious bottle of African red. After bringing you a hot, wet napkin (the kind you would normally spread over your lap), the platter of food is delivered to your table. The food is spread out over a large, flat, spongy Ethiopian pancake called injera, made from an iron-rich grain called teff. The pancake is also served along with the meal, rolled up and cut into manageable pieces, with which you scoop up the food and sop up the sauces. The whole experience is amazing ... it is very laid back and reminiscent of childhood to be eating everything with your hands but at the same time, a very intimate and sensual experience. Definitely something I would recommend and Le Nil Bleu is the place to try it out. And dessert? The lemon meringue pie - shared back in our hotel room after a nightcap at the hotel bar - was simply sublime!

The following day, after the required stop at Lafleur's, we hit the road for the hideaway. This time, we spent more time there as homebodies, cooking up a storm and watching a slew of movies.

My baby made homemade pizza ... with extra cheese! Awesome!!!

Of course, there was the dress up date night, this time at Scaramouche. The place was jumping with business men but we were squirreled away at a table that afforded us a lovely view of the CN Tower in the distance. Our server had us pegged from the get go and afforded us ample time to leisurely handhold our way through our cocktails and peruse the menu. My guy had the house smoked salmon (served with radish and cucumber, horseradish crème fraîche, salmon parfait, fingerling crisps, and lovage cress) while I chose the dungeness crab ravioli - a large offering crammed full of filling and accompanied by a seared sea scallop, mustard greens, bok choy and radish, all atop a sea of lobster sauce that I would have gladly licked my plate clean of if I thought no one would have been looking! We then moved on to halibut for the gentleman and for myself, more sea scallops - this time pan seared and settled on a leek potato purée and accompanied by salsify, puntarella, celery, bacon gremolata, Meyer lemon relish, and veal jus. Honestly, I had a mouthgasm. Multiple mouthgasms. Thankfully, they were all restrained. And dessert? Well, between the atmosphere, the company, the food and the wine, dessert somehow went by the wayside ... but the evening still ended on a sweet note!

My sea scallops ... I miss them already!

Another day, we made it onto the Danforth in Toronto and lunched at Kalyvia, a really great Greek restaurant. Saganaki, souvlaki platters and hot tea helped to ward off the chill that day and everything was deee-licious! We popped in to an organic market to pick up a few things but left just as quickly. Between not being able to find any ricotta, the almost $7/dozen for eggs (and I only needed 1!), me snickering at all the 'interesting' food choices (Rice Dream Ice Cream? Seriously?) and the hoards of 'granolas' (as we affectionately call them here in Quebec), I had enough of the place!

A shopper at the organic market ... ummm, it's a MALE shopper! Yes, that's a freakin' braid!!!

As we walked back to the car, my eye was caught by a whimsical window display of old time lunch boxes ... I just had to go in! The place is Sucker's, a candy emporium. No,'emporium' is an understatement. Imagine traveling back to your childhood on acid ... that is this store! Floor to ceiling displays of every candy you can remember and many that you had even forgotten that you had forgotten! (Remember Lucky Elephant Pink Candy Popcorn? FLASHBACK!) We were there forever, reminiscing and reliving memories. I picked up a couple of things for Julia and found out later that my guy has never had Pop Rocks! He has now! (Hehehe. 'Nuff said!)

Our last night at the hideaway was another night in. I was really excited because it was 'gnocchi night'. And not just 'eat gnocchi night', it was 'make gnocchi night'. I had wanted to make gnocchi for the longest time and we finally did. For those of you who haven't, you must try it. It was both one of the easiest to make and best things I have ever made. Seriously ... the results far surpass the very limited effort expended. Scrumptious!

You gotta make this!

And now the wait is on for the next adventure. Destination picked, tickets bought ...I'm SOOOOO excited!!!