Search This Blog

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Montreal: Day One

One would think that having a trip to Montreal scheduled would be highly anticipated, but with the amount of work we have both had, the busy schedules have definitely hampered the build-up of excitement. Luckily, after hectic late packing, unhooking and hauling up our hot water tank up cut-off basement stairs, we had wisely booked a 9am flight so we had time to get ourselves ready in the morning and eat breakfast without too much of a rush. The trip had been booked for our company's national marketing conference for Sunday night to Tuesday evening. Since our 1 year wedding anniversary fell on the Monday, C and I decided to fly out Friday and spend that day until Sunday evening together, when I had to go for dinner for business.

Once we arrived in Montreal, we took a cab ride to the hotel. We stayed at a place called L'Appartement Hotel, which is as it sounds. Our room was like a one bedroom apartment, with a living room, dining room, and kitchenette (which I love). We had a small balcony that overlooked a busy downtown street. The room was clean, the decor simple and outdated. We dropped off all of our luggage and by this point were getting pretty hungry. The plan was to walk to Schwartz's Hebrew Delicatessen. Open for over 80 years, this cornerstone of the Jewish community is a local favourite and the line is always out the door, spilling onto the street. This is such a normal occurrence, that it is the only venue on the street with an overhanging canopy coming off the building to protect waiting patrons from the elements. I had been regaling C with stories of this hole-in-the-wall deli where customers sit at long shared tables or at the counter on screwed down stools, tucking into tall stacks of fresh smoked Montreal meat. We found the address without much difficulty. True to form, there was a line out the door, with what sounded like a group of Irish tourists ahead of us and a young couple on a first date. One of the servers came outside, checking to see how large each group one "Vous-etes tous ensemble? You are all togethers?" "Non? You are 2? Come with me. To the counter, go." With that, we were bustled in ahead of the line, parked our wear selves onto the padded stools, and waited. The place was packed. Every table was full and 3 men were doing nothing but cutting up meat. Directly across the counter from us was a bread slicing machine. The stainless steel cabinet underneath this appliance was full of loaves and loaves of chewy soft rye bread loaves. Every time our server got a moment, he would place a loaf onto the slicer and the machine would vibrate, jiggling the bread through its blades, creating a perfectly sliced loaf of rye. Those slices were then stacked beside the meat slicers for creating huge sandwiches, or placed on the side of platters.

We ordered the required smoked meat sandwiches with a plate of fries on the side and 2 large kosher pickles. I forgot that they have different fat grades that you can order so ours both came as medium, the default. Doing it over, I would have had lean. Mustard and ketchup are the only condiments provided. Starving, we wolfed down the fries first and then dove right into the sandwich. I went with the method of adding mustard on a section, then taking a bite of the colossal meatiness. The pieces that kept falling out were looked after with quick stabs of my fork at the end. No morsel left un-devoured. The nice thing about this lunch was that it was satisfying but I didn't feel heavy after the meal. The portion was just right. We paid as soon as we were done eating and left since the restaurant's revolving door of clientele doesn't encourage lingering. As our bellies were feeling satisfied but not too full, we walked across the street to get some homemade ice cream in homemade waffle cones. The cones were harder than I've had at home and the ice cream was less sweet. We each tried a different type of chocolate ice cream, which was perfect, and I tried an amazing chai spiced scoop and C's second scoop was a raspberry cheesecake. We walked back to our hotel, enjoying our homemade creamy dessert.
Real Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich
With our typically hectic schedules, C and I rarely get much relaxed downtime. Travel days are always more tiring and after a long walk and a rich lunch, we decided to take a nap. We fell asleep and dozed for over 2 hours, lazily waking up, a little more refreshed. We bunkered in, watched what English TV we could find, and as night fell, we started getting hungry again. We had walked past the Quebec version of a Superstore on the way back from our first exploration of our little area so we decided to head back there for some ingredients. Since we had a kitchenette, the option of staying in for dinner on the night that we were most tired was a treat.

We walked down every aisle in the store and picked up ingredients as we went. We didn't know what we felt like eating, but we knew that we would be inspired as we saw what was available. Fresh local strawberries were the first thing I spotted and needed to try. none of these steroid sized strawberries from across the world, these were small locally farmed berries. Into the basket. Local pea leaves for salad, local yellow and red tomatoes, baby carrots...I couldn't get over how much of their produce was locally produced! I definitely wish our Superstore was more like this one. We decided that we'd do a salad with some sauteed veggies on the side. Protein was next. Another amazing thing about this store was that they had small inexpensive portions of fish and meat at this store. We could buy just 2 turkey and veggie sausages for $1.99, or for the same price, chorizo, or another choice of sausage. We could buy small pieces of tilapia, cob, haddock, salmon, etc. Again, if we had this option at our Superstore, then we could just buy the right portion for the 2 of us of a more expensive cut or variety for a reasonable price. We ended up getting fresh haddock as a second protein (our first being those turkey sausages), and some orange spice to coat it with. C grabbed some sun-dried tomato bread and bought a tub of sharp cheddar cheese, which he loves.

The ingredients
A rich treat of bread and cheese
We walked back to the hotel with our bags of goodies and started prepping dinner. We were both hungry so started snacking on the bread and cheese while we washed up the fresh tomatoes for the salad.

Local tomatoes
With the salad ingredients washed and chopped up, we started on the protein.

Beautiful fresh, ripe, produce
We decided that instead of cooking our fish in oil, that we would add go the French classic route and use butter. Butter is such a rich, flavourful ingredient that can make anything it touches taste amazing. Oh my, babcia would be proud!  I have to mention now that we toted this precious block of fat from Montreal to Laval and then back to Winnipeg with us. Yes, that is how obsessed I am with not wasting good food. 
Babcia, this is for you. Love M and C
A generous pat of butter was added to the hot pan and as it melted, its amazing aroma was released through our tiny kitchenette and suite. Once it was bubbling and starting to turn a golden brown, the meaty haddock fillet (which had been patted dry first) was gently placed in the pan. The fillet immediately began sizzling and cooking through. The sausages had already been cooked since they took longest and now this was the final part of the meal. The translucent flesh of the fish began to turn opaque white as it cooked. when the fish was cooked halfway through, I carefully turned it over using tongs, but even a gentle flip was too much for the delicate fish and some of the cooked portions flaked off into the butter. Mmmm, no harm done.

Fresh haddock coated in orange spice and cooked in butter
Vegetable turkey sausages and flaky fish
With the proteins crispy and hot, dinner was served. We were both so hungry and everything smelled amazing, I couldn't wait to dig in.

Juicy sausages (although we both agreed we should have bought some spicy mustard for them), flaky butter crispy fish, fresh vibrant salad and veggies, and crispy chewy bread with cheese. Nothing could have been better that night. It's a very confident feeling to  know that we can go to another city and whip up a delicious and comforting meal without too many ingredients or kitchen wares. I would consider this our 1 year anniversary meal. It's very "us". Simple, comfort food, well executed. We did so much cooking together while we were best friends. It was almost our form of dating. Getting to know each other through creating meals and moving seamlessly together through the kitchen together. Our relationship roots, for me, are deep in the kitchen. We would talk about everything and we definitely worked well as a team. We still do.

Our almost-anniversary meal
There was barely any room after such a wonderful meal, but there was just enough space for a few juicy bites of sweet, fresh, washed strawberries. A simple humble ending.

Local sweet strawberries
 Almost one year ago from this day, I married my best friend in an intimate and personal ceremony in front of my family and friends. That night, we took a picture of our hands together, showing the rings that we wore together for the first time. So, one year later, I thought that it would be fitting to take the same photo. It has been a very tough year for us with many hurdles and obstacles that we've had to carry each other over. We've made it through to the other side, not too worse for ware, still learning about each other and getting used to each other quirks and eccentricities. People say the first year of marriage is the hardest, and I can believe that. With all the changes and trials that come with living together as a married couple, getting used to habits, and forming a "working" relationship with your partner, stress is a normal reaction to such changes. Add onto that having close friends walk out of our lives right before our wedding, the lose of a job, both of us starting new jobs right after our honeymoon, C working up north about 3 out of 4 months before the wedding, me working on getting our house finished while he was away, lack of sleep, lack of time, building a house, moving out of my apartment, a death in the family...we have definitely had our share of trials in our first year. One of the biggest hurdles as well is perfecting the ability of two independent being to live a co-dependent life together. I think that we are doing quite well based on our current schedule with the house needing to be at a certain point before dinner. Long days, high stress, and lack of sleep definitely put pressure on a relationship, no matter how solid it is. Despite all of that, when we are able to take time to just be ourselves and be goofy together, we are amazing. That is what this Montreal trip brought out in us. Or true selves. Relaxed, with nothing to worry about or work on. Spending uninterrupted time alone together, away from our phones and email, is exactly what we need. An intimate recharge. So far, Day 1 of Montreal has been perfect. I wish that we could stay on vacation together forever!
One year later.







1 comment: