Unison

My family and I celebrated my birthday in advance at one of our favorite restaurants, Le Club Chasse et Pêche. It has been around for many years. It is a cosy restaurant, dark but not too much, and not too loud. We started with oysters. There were some that didn't have anything on them, but there were also some that came with a passionfruit salsa and some that were cooked with cheese on them. I didn't have any of the hot ones, but passionfruit being one of my favorite fruits, I had two of the ones with the passionfruit salsa. They were pretty amazing. The oysters were pricier than at any other restaurant I have ever been to, though. For my appetizer I had scallop ceviche with autumn strawberries, grapefruit and edible flowers. There was a bit too much pepper on the whole thing and the edible flowers brought a flavor I didn't particularly like. My entrée was duck with oat rice, ground cherries, and almonds. It was a great dish. The duck was crispy at all the right places. Duck and cherries are a combination that I see quite often and I don't particularly care for it, but using ground cherries made it different and much more enjoyable. The almonds brought a bit of crunch to the whole dish. For dessert, I had a maple syrup parfait with chocolate and with a sauce of red berries. It was very sweet, but I love maple syrup and red berries, so it was worth it. Le Club Chasse et Pêche is the perfect restaurant for special occasions, and I look forward to going back there.

Yellow

I first went to La Planque a while ago, with A and F. I didn't think my visit there warranted a blog post that time, because I only had an entrée with oysters. Let's face it, oysters don't tell you much about how good a restaurant can be. It is true that at La Planque, they serve their oysters with raspberry and mango vinegar, which is interesting. My entrée that time was particularly good: I had the fish of the moment, cod. It was served in a lobster bisque with small potatoes and spinach.

I went there a second time later with F and my parents. That time, I had oysters again, an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert. The oysters came with their vinegars but also with a homemade cocktail sauce. My appetizer was salmon with a coconut sauce, my entrée was chicken with thyme, chanterelles and pecans, and my dessert was made with strawberries. Everything was good, but unremarkable.

Both times, I was seated at the terrace, but the restaurant was surprisingly big inside and could easily welcome big groups. I was also very full both times. I would go back there if I wanted to indulge someplace near home (the restaurant is in Limoilou), but I think there are more interesting options downtown.

You and Me

F and I went on a roadtrip for six days at the beginning of July. We departed on a Friday afternoon and stopped in Rimouski for a night's sleep. The next day, we visited Murdochville's old copper mine. It was a short visit, and our guide was a bit weird.

We then drove to Percé where we stayed for the two nights. The first night, we had supper at La Maison du pêcheur, one of Percé's most famous restaurants. We didn't have a reservation, but there was a cancellation and we ended up with one of the best tables in the restaurant, with a view on the water and just underneath the original roof where members of the FLQ had drawn graffiti. The food wasn't that great, though. I had a sea urchin which had a bit too much cream in it and lobster with a maple and algae sauce. The lobster was a bit too rich. 

We finished our evening at the motel bar, at the Pic de l'Aurore. This is the third time we have been to that specific motel. We always end up at the bar talking with the proprietor, Jean-François, and his girlfriend Marie. Even though they live in what is considered to be one of the most far off regions of Quebec, they are more worldly than most people I know. 

The next morning, we headed to the Bonaventure island, where there are four hiking trails which all lead to a huge bird colony. We started with the trail which allowed us to visit all the abandoned houses on the island. We then arrived to the bird colony, which was a lot more impressive than what I had expected. This is what it looked like:

We took the fastest trail on the way back. I would probably go back another time to do the two remaining trails.

That night, we had supper at a place recommended to us by Jean-François, the Bistro Sacs à vin. It looked less touristy than most of the restaurants in Percé, especially since it wasn't by the water. I found the restaurant to be way better than the Maison du pêcheur. First of all, it was less expensive. For 60$, we had two soups, two entrées and one liter of wine. I had cod cakes, and they were amazing. I also tasted F's dish. He had homemade maple sausage. They were also really good and not too sweet.

We also talked with the proprietor, a nice French guy. I will be going back there for sure.

The next day, we drove to Shediac, a beach in New Brunswick near Moncton. The drive was long, so by the time we were done with the beach, it was time for dinner again. We went to a restaurant next to our hotel called Pisces. I had oysters and a bouillabaisse-like dish, which allowed me to taste all kinds of sea food: lobster, shrimp, scallops, salmon, mussels and calamari.

The following day, we went to Halifax. We walked along the harbor for a while. We were supposed to sleep there, but we thought it might be too expensive, so we got back in the car and went to New Glasgow, a pretty small town.

From New Glasgow, we drove to the Glenora distillery, which I believe is the only distillery in Canada which produces single malt whisky. We arrived in time for lunch and we both had a dish inspired by Vietnamese sandwiches. The sandwich had pulled pork smoked with wood from whisky barrels and pickled daikon and carrots in it.

We then visited the distillery and took a hike around it. We had dinner at the distillery restaurant, but it wasn't a particularly memorable meal.

The next day, we returned home. I liked traveling around the Atlantic provinces, but I don't think I will be returning there anytime soon (this was my second time in those provinces). Percé, however, is still a favorite of mine, and I would go back there again and again, even though this was my fifth time there.

Take my Breath Away

I watched Top Gun for the first time recently. At the beginning of the movie, I was really skeptical. A lot of the elements of the movie could have turned me off: the scenes with unidentifiable jets, the fact that you couldn't recognize the actors most of the time because of their helmets... However, the movie really worked for me. It was also a surprisingly sad movie. It is a bit annoying that the same two songs keep on playing, though.

Little French Song

For my dad's birthday, we went to La Chronique. It is a restaurant which has been around for quite some time, and so it wasn't crowded ike more recent Montreal restaurants. Before ordering our appetizers, my sister asked the waitress where the tuna from the tataki came from, and the waitress couldn't guarantee us that the fish came from sustainable fishing. She told us that the tuna tataki was a staple at the restaurant and that it would be difficult to take it off from the menu at times. Even with all those explanations, my sister ordered the tataki, as did my mom and I. It came with a bit of avocado, which is always good. I could understand why the dish was appreciated by most customers: there were a lot of pieces of tataki. For my entrée, I had Kamouraska lamb. It was good, but a bit small for an entrée.

La Chronique is a restaurant I would come back to whenever I really don't feel like dealing with the noise in a restaurant.

Turnip Farm

I went to see Jurassic World. There were some moments that made it seem promising. Some moments made me jump out of my seat a bit. However, the tame Velociraptors and the final fight are simply too ridiculous. The movie also definitely lacked a Jeff Goldblum-like character pondering on the meaning of life.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

After going to Decca 77, I went to see U2. It was something I wanted to do once in my lifetime. I used to listen to U2 a lot when I was younger. I haven't listened to their more recent albums that much, but I do have the latest one on my Apple devices, as all Apple users do. The songs from that album weren't that bad. They played a lot of them in the show, along with some classics like "Pride (In the Name of Love)". "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was a strong moment, with lights the color of the Irish flag:

There was a fair bit of technology in the show. There was a huge rectangular screen in which Bono could walk and images would go around him. Bono still has a great voice, and yes he talks a lot about global causes, and The Edge is pretty cool. I am glad I got to see this show.

New Year's Day

I got tickets for U2 for June 12th because June 13th is my sister's birthday. Unfortunately, we had another family gathering on the 13th. My mom decided to make a reservation on the 12th at a restaurant near the Bell Center, Decca 77. They are used to having people who go to shows after eating, so they had a special pre-event menu. I had already been to the restaurant a few times before, and I had found it okay, not particularly remarkable. Now that I had a taste of their pre-event menu, I am even less impressed. I ordered an heirloom tomato salad as an appetizer. I thought it would be fresh and simple, but my dish was really busy, with a lot of ingredients in it. There were also blobs of a mayonnaise-like sauce. For my entree, I had fish, which I thought would be light, but there were also blobs of sauce around it and it also had too many different ingredients around it. The dessert was okay, especially because it involved rhubarb, which is in season. If I ever go back to the Bell Center, I would try to find another restaurant near it.

High and Dry

Last week, a friend form Alma was in town, so I invited him to join F, A and I at a restaurant I had been meaning to try for some time, La Gueule de bois. I had seen this restaurant a while ago when I had walked past it, but other than that, I had never heard about it. It looked like a nice place, though, and sure enough, it was. However, there weren't that many people for a Thursday night, which was a bit of a shame, but that also meant the restaurant didn't get too stuffy. For my appetizer, I had their homemade blood pudding with scallops. The chuck of blood pudding was huge. I don't order scallops very often, but each time I get them, I am reminded of how delicious they are. My entree was fresh pasta with shrimps and rabbit. To have shrimp and rabbit in one dish was a bit intense, but it was delicious. The rabbit wasn't too salty, as it usually is. I had cheesecake for dessert. It was one of the smoothest cheesecakes I have ever had. All in all, F found the restaurant to be a bit too expensive for what it was, but I believe the price was right enough. My friend from Alma liked the restaurant a lot, too. His biggest complaint was that they didn't have any local beer, which they should since there a lot of microbreweries near the restaurant.

Cruel World

I went to Lana del Rey's show last Thursday. I didn't get tickets for it myself since it was a school night, but my sister got me some tickets for Christmas.

Grimes was on stage for the first part of the show. I haven't listened to her album that much, but I only recognized one of the songs (an article about the show I read later only talked about two songs from her album). Apparently she is releasing another album soon, so she must be testing her new songs. Her performance wasn't really appropriate for the Bell Center, though. It was too concentrated on one part of the stage. There were also weird dancers all around her. Since Grimes is from Montreal, it made me think that maybe she only called up some of her friends so that they could dance around her on stage.

As for Lana del Rey's performance, well, it wasn't exactly the best show I have ever seen. She didn't talk that much, but she smiled a lot. She went down into the public and brought back some gifts on stage, among which there was a Canadian flag. She didn't do any encores, either, and the show was finished after an hour and a half. She seems to rely a bit too much on her pre-recorded voice, or maybe that's just my imagination. At one point, she held the microphone towards the public but I could still hear her singing. Perhaps I was mistaken and it was the public singing, because everybody seemed to know all the lyrics. In general, her songs varied just enough from the album versions so that there could be doubt whether she was lipsynching or not. The videos playing behind her were a bit too self-indulgent, with lots of footage of herself and of American flags.

I had forgotten about the possibility that she might do her Leonard Cohen cover in Montreal. I really hope she will record it someday, as "Chelsea Hotel #2" is such a great song. Besides songs from her albums (mostly singles from Born to Die and Ultraviolence), she also played a song called "Us Against the World" which I liked a lot, "Serial Killer" which is a little bit more of a minor song, and she covered a Peggy Lee song in a pretty jazzy way.

Perhaps I would see her again in Quebec City with some friends, but I don't think I will be going back to Montreal to see her.

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

I finally saw the final episode of "Mad Men". I am really sad this show is over. For now, it is definitely my all-time favorite TV show, and I hardly can imagine another show taking its place. A lot of people have complained about "Mad Men" over the years and have constantly compared the episodes they were watching to earlier ones, but I have always enjoyed the show. Some seasons were funnier than others, and that was way okay by me. It is probably the smartest show I have ever watched, and the one that rings true the most.

Paranoid Android

Last weekend I had dinner with F and my family at Kitchenette. I started off my meal with a drink made with gin, cucumber, coriander and a homemade spicy sauce. The drink was very refreshing, and the spiciness added a nice touch. I then had oysters which were delicious, but the restaurant didn't have much to do with that. For my main course, I had a "reimagined" salad niçoise. I thought the salad would be really deconstructed, but the changes were more on the subtle side: a small tuna steak instead of tuna flakes, poached eggs instead of hard-boiled ones, and fingerling potatoes instead of simple potatoes. There was a twist in the dressing also, as there was avocado in it. The salad was very good. The dessert was great too: I had a cake made with coffee ice cream.

As for the rest of the menu, I would say that it shows a certain sense of diversity. There are a few dishes influenced by Mexican and Asian cuisine. I tasted some of the food that my family chose and everything was good. For instance, my brother had a burger. You would think that having a burger in a restaurant cannot really be a special experience, but this one had foie gras in it. My mom had a pizza which was a bit weird because it had Boursin on it, which is a pretty cheap cheese, but it also had truffles on it. I tasted my dad's steak, which I normally wouldn't do because to me, steak is a pretty standard dish, but again, there was a twist: the sauce was made with bacon.

Unfortunately, even though the space is nice and the food is great, there weren't many people in the restaurant when we went there on a Saturday night. However, it is possible that it is more of a lunch restaurant, as it is right next to the state television tower. I personally would go back there anytime, for lunch or for dinner, as I found no great flaws in the restaurant. Our waiter, though, was a bit weird.

The Twist

While I was in Montreal for Mother's Day, F and I also had dinner with a friend of ours at Evoo. We only had cocktails and a main course, though. I had a cocktail made with strawberries and basil, which was delicious. As for food, I had scallops with mussels, fava beans, grilled tomato purée, crispy shallots and kale. My dish was good, but it was nothing earth-shattering. The bill, however, was more surprising. The bill for F and I came up to about 100$ before the tip, and we only had a cocktail and a main course each! There is a nice atmosphere in the restaurant, but it certainly isn't worth spending that much.

I Know I Know I Know

I read All My Puny Sorrows, Miriam Toews' latest book. I had previously read one of her other books, A Complicated Kindness. I don't remember A Complicated Kindness very precisely, but I remember that I had enjoyed my read. I also enjoyed All My Puny Sorrows. "Enjoyed" perhaps isn't the proper word. All My Puny Sorrows is the kind of book that makes you incredibly sad all along your read. There are some funny moments that lighten up the book, though. I found the way it was written to be interesting, especially for the dialogs.

What Goes On

After our Mother's Day dinner, we all watched The Bicycle Thief. Weirdly enough, it felt as if we were watching a thriller. We all knew exactly what would happen, we just didn't know exactly when the events were going to happen. When they did, we felt miserable all the same. Some of the characters' actions felt so pointless. The story of the movie is so simple, and that must be why it stays with you so much. Fortunately, the little boy had some pretty funny moments which made the film a little bit less grim.

Take Me Out

For Mother's Day, we all had dinner at Graziella. My father asked the waiter to put us in a quieter section, and indeed, it wasn't as noisy as most of the more recent Montreal restaurants. The space was also beautiful, with Riopelle paintings on the walls.

For my appetizer, I chose to have foie gras yet again. There wasn't anything particular about my dish, except for the Marsala Jelly that came with it. It tasted very strongly of wine, but it was original enough.

The waiter had recommended us to share some pasta dishes for our second course. I shared a risotto with my brother. There were shrimps and peas in it, and the sauce was made with lobster bisque. It was very good, very al dente, but a little bit salty.

My main course was a milk-fed veal chop served with chanterelles, vegetables, and a purée that was delicious, but which I couldn't identify. The veal chop was huge and the chanterelles were very nice.

All in all, I found Graziella to be a very elegant restaurant, which I would surely return to.

Can I Kick It?

I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron. In Quebec City, it is almost impossible to see a movie in the theater in English, so I saw it it French. I also saw Avengers in theaters in French, and I didn't like it much then. When I saw it again on DVD in English, though, I appreciated it more. Perhaps the same thing will happen for Avengers: Age of Ultron. It was okay, but it made me less emotional than most superhero movies do. I found Thor to be the funniest in this movie. The amount of comedy in Avengers: Age of Ultron was more satisfactory than in the first movie of the series. Avengers was a bit too Disneyesque. I liked the Maximoff twins a lot, and Captain America is still my favorite.

Awake

My office organized a party at Houston. Everybody kept saying how they loved the place, but I personally prefer Charbon Steakhouse. We had a special menu prepared for us. I first had salmon tartare, which was good but unremarkable. I then had wild boar. The meat was excellent, but the portion was too big. I don't remember the dessert much because at that moment it was time for the party to be over. I certainly wouldn't go back there for a date, but it is agreeable enough a setting for an office party.

Étienne D'août

Last month, F and I celebrated our five years together at a restaurant called Légende. I started off with a gin, elderberry and ginger cocktail. It tasted strongly of ginger, but it was still pretty good. We then had one of the prettiest cured meats platter I have ever seen. Every product on the platter was delicious. Next I had a foie gras dish with apple. A classic combination, but it worked. We finished off with a cheese platter. It was okay, but the main thing I remember from that course is the fire cider that we ordered with it. I had never noticed that dessert wine on any other menu before, but now, I will surely be on the lookout for it. As for the Légende restaurant in general, I would definitely go back there for their cured meats platter. It would be a great way to start off any evening. I am glad I got to enjoy this restaurant for the first time on a special occasion.

The Body of an American

For Easter weekend, F and I decided to go on yet another little getaway. Normally our first reflex is to go east, but at this time of the year, there isn't much to do there. We are starting to run out of places to go to in Quebec, and F hasn't done his passport yet. We settled on Ottawa, which is where we had one of our first getaways. We arrived at the Gatineau Sheraton on Saturday afternoon. After getting our room, we walked over to Ottawa and roamed aimlessly around for a little while. We ended up at Sparks Street Mall, a pedestrian mall that looked like it had declined in recent years. We walked through the mall and decided to go back up to the beginning of the mall, where we had seen an Irish pub. It turned out to be part of a chain, but the ambience of the place was good nonetheless. I had mini shepherd's pies, which were cute and good, but after a while the crust gets soggy. Here is what they looked like:

After that we sort of fell into a food and alcohol coma, and we spent the rest of our evening at the hotel bar watching the hockey game. The next morning, we went to the National Gallery of Canada, where they had a temporary exhibition on Escher. We also went through the permanent collections. There was a lot of everything: baroque art, Impressionists, American abstract Expressionists, and lots of interesting Canadian and Quebec art. We went through the whole museum pretty quickly, but at least we got to see a little bit of everything. After our visit, we went to the Byward Market for a little while, and then we took a walk on on Parliament Hill in an attempt to see if it was possible to visit the Parliament without a tour guide. We didn't have any luck with that, so we walked back to our hotel to get our car to try and find the Prime Minister's house, at 24 Sussex Drive. After a roundabout, we couldn't figure out where Sussex Drive continued, so we ended up in a fancy residential block which houses diplomats. We drove back to ByWard Market, where we got lunch in an Irish pub, which apparently is part of another chain of Irish pubs. In the Irish standards section of the menu, they had a mild curry, so that is what I got. It tasted just like my mother's curry.

Another food  and alcohol coma fell upon us. We then went to the hotel pool for a little bit, and then we headed to Gatineau's casino. We ate at one of the restaurants, which on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays serves a buffet. The buffet was good, with lots of kinds of salads, seafood and meat. However, it was a bit pricy, especially considering that F and I never eat that much at buffets. F then played roulette and blackjack for a little bit, and then we were off.

I now have a newfound appreciation for Ottawa. The last time I was there, it was an even quicker trip, so it left me with the impression that there is nothing much to do in Ottawa. Now, however, I have changed my mind about that. There are a lot of other museums in Ottawa that we could have gone too, and there are more Irish pubs than in Quebec City. It might seem weird that Irish pubs are the places we hung out at the most, but they are more fun than clubs, for example. Also, apparently the Irish ethnicity is the third answer that comes up in the list of ethnicities Ottawa citizens identify to, so it isn't that weird. In general, Ottawa is a nice city, just big enough.

Plus dur, meilleur, plus rapide, plus fort

F and I went to the movies to see the latest Astérix movie, Astérix: Le domaine des dieux. We were expecting a lot from it because one of the directors, Alexandre Astier, is the creator of "Kaamelott", a show F and I both love. However, it was a pretty standard kids movie. We watched it in 3D, but the 3D didn't bring any added value to the movie. The character played by Astier, though, was pretty funny. I hope that one day I will finally get to see the movie he is supposed to do to complete the "Kaamelott" saga.

Grace

I watched Anna Karenina, the one with Keira Knightley in it. Anna Karenina is a book I enjoyed a lot, and I hadn't necessarily expected to. The other Russian classic I had read before that was Crime and Punishment, and I found it to be a bit over the top. In Anna Karenina, however, I loved the scenes with Levin, and found them even more interesting than the main storyline with the character of Anna Karenina. I was a bit disappointed to see that in the movie, not much attention is given to Levin, but I don't think his story could have been transposed to the screen effectively, so perhaps it was for the best.

A lot has been said about the way Anna Karenina was filmed. I personally found that filming the scenes af if they were going on in a theater worked well for the movie.

I only recently saw The Talented Mr Ripley and it has increased my interest for Jude Law as an actor a lot. I enjoyed his performance in Anna Karenina.  It is weird to see him cast as the severe Karenin, but it works, in a way.

In general, the movie was okay, but it wasn't spectacular. At least it makes me want to read the book again.

Debout

I watched the final episode of "19-2" the day after it aired. The third season was particularly sad. The director of the series also did another series for TV, "Minuit, le soir", and it is also depressing. It is, however, one of my favorite series of all time. In the third season of "19-2", there were some fun cameos from actors who have starred with the two main actors of "19-2" in "Dans une galaxie près de chez vous". The main story was a bit hard to follow, especially since I saw the two other seasons over a year ago. The director relied a bit too much on showing scenes previously shown. Usually, I don't like it too much when a director makes his character speak over a scene where we don't actually see him talk, but it didn't annoy me as much in the case of "19-2".

Nightcall

A little while ago, A and I watched Drive. I had been wanting to watch that movie for a long time, and I was not disappointed. I had heard that it was extremely violent. It takes a while before the violence begins, to the point that I was asking myself what all the fuss was about. However, once the violence starts, the movie becomes really intense. Drive has major star power: Ryan Gosling, of course, but also Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston and Christina Hendricks, who has a pretty memorable performance. The music is great, too: what they play is exactly the kind of music you expect there to be in a movie about a guy driving around in a lonely city. The same atmosphere can be found in TRON: Legacy, even though it is a completely different movie. I heard that the director's other movies weren't as successful. That's a shame, but I'll still be on the lookout for future projets of his, because I sure wouldn't mind watching more movies like Drive.

I Don't Blame You

I have finished the third season of "House of Cards". I liked it better than the second season. I found the second season a bit hard to follow, what with all the deals with China going around. In the third season, Russia is the bad guy: a classic conflict which is easier to understand. My complaint about "House of Cards" is the same season after season: I feel cheated because they make it look like Frank Underwood has a master plan, when in fact the show is really about showing him getting around, improvising and using his political skills. It still makes for a pretty good show, though. F and I were both leaning closer to the screen when we watched the episode with the debate, as if we were watching a real political debate. I still find Doug Stamper to be one of the most interesting characters, even though some people don't like his storyline that much. The end of the season inevitably leaves us wanting more. I have to say, however, that "House of Cards" is not a subtle show the way "Mad Men" or "The Wire" are subtle shows. "House of Cards" and "Game of Thrones" are more "in-your-face" kind of shows.

Love Me Again

I watched Jack Reacher, because as I have said before, I still love Tom Cruise. In this movie, he plays a badass detective. It is kind of funny to see his name on the credits as a producer and then you see his character being swooned over by any woman he meets. Perhaps the character is that way in the book. I have the impression that the book might be better than the movie, but it still is a pretty good movie. Rosamund Pike's American accent is a bit distracting, though. The movie includes one of the most awesome/ridiculous fight scenes I have ever seen. I wouldn't mind going to the theater to see a sequel of this movie.

Le Tourbillon

I watched Jules et Jim. I have only seen one other movie by François Truffaut, Les 400 coups, which I have not enjoyed that much, but there are a lot of other films by Truffaut that I want to see: Baisers volés, La nuit américaine, Le dernier métro... Jules et Jim is a movie that keeps you thinking for a long time after you have seen it. The characters in the movie seem to live a completely carefree life. Jeanne Moreau is incredible in this film. The three main characters try to live life differently from what is usually expected, and things don't turn out the way they thought they would. The end of the movie is a memorable scene. Throughout the movie, I liked the way the director decided to narrate some scenes, as the things that are described can only be perceived through the screen with difficulty.

Les étoiles filantes

The day after we went to Chez Victor, F and I were supposed to head out to Montreal for a birthday brunch. After a while on the road, we had to turn back because it was simply snowing too much. Since our brunch plans had fallen out, we decided to try brunch at a place we had been to a few times. The restaurant is called Chez Madame Charlotte. They have been serving brunch for a bit more than a month. The restaurant has been around for quite a few years, but it has only recently been taken up by some acquaintances of F and I. The new owners have vowed not to change things around too much. Brunch, though, is a welcome addition to the restaurant. F and I both had the same thing: it was a dish with eggs, cheese, sausage, bacon and spinach, all cooked up together. It was a delicious and comforting dish to have on a snowstorm. We also had a small fruit salad at the beginning of our meal. A fruit salad normally wouldn't be worth mentioning, but this one was covered with tropcial juice, which made it way better than other fruit salads. It was nice to take the time to have breakfast on a weekend morning, which is not something F and I often do. We talked a lot with the owner, because he loves politics as much as we do. A lot of the owner's political acquaintances often show up at his restaurant.

F and I went there for dinner twice. The first time, I had a lasagna, and the second time,  I had a typical Quebec dish, meatball stew. The two dishes were nothing fancy, but that is pretty much the point at Chez Mme Charlotte: to serve comforting food which could have been made by some Quebec grandmother. It is a nice place to go to from time to time and now, with the addition of brunch, we have even more occasions to do so.

Sail to the Moon

A few weeks ago, F and I went to a friend's birthday at Chez Victor, on rue Saint-Jean. Chez Victor is a chain of burger restaurants spread throughout Quebec City. I have tried a few of their burgers and have enjoyed them all. My usual order is the Brazil nuts and spinach burger. I love a good vegetarian burger. On rue Saint-Jean, I took a burger that is only made there, with deer, Brie and red wine and rosemary pears. I usually have my burger with two sides, fries and salad. I have the maple syrup mayonnaise for my fries and the lemon dressing for my salad. I love that their salad has sunflower seeds in it. The only thing I dislike about Chez Victor is that they always forget to leave out the mustard, which is something I always ask.

Age of Ice

One of the last things F and I did on that break week at the beginning March was try a restaurant called Toast! with my parents, who were in Quebec City for a visit. My mom had been wanting to try it for a long time. It is a very small restaurant, with very few seats. For my appetizer, I had foie gras. I don't remember my dish much. I know I am writing this post a long time after the fact, but my dish must not have been very memorable. I do, however, remember my entrée. I had tenderloin and braised steak. The tenderloin was very good. Unfortunately, I forgot that I had ordered beef two ways, and I ended up eating the whole tenderloin before starting on the braised steak. I would have preferred to alternate between the two. For dessert, I had a Quebec cheese plate.

F and I had a good evening with my parents. The food was good, but not spectacular. The place itself, though, felt intimate and cozy.

Je Veux Tout

My last blog post was about a getaway F and I had at the beginning of a one-week break of his. Since then, things have been pretty busy, because of the break and because of the following work week. I will be attempting to catch up on blog posts about things I have done during those weeks.

During the break week, A, F, a friend of A's and I went to Chez L'Autre, a restaurant that was opened a while ago in expectation of a new theater that was supposed to open nearby. The theater is no longer set in stone, however, and Chez L'Autre might be closing at the end of the month. That is why we all decided to have dinner there. A and I had drinks there before a show a few months back, and we had enjoyed our strong drinks. I had also previously dined there with F, but that was a few years ago. As for Le St-Laurent, I had some good memories from my previous visits, but this time, things did not turn out so good.

We started off with some drinks, which were as strong as I remembered. My second drink later that evening was also strong, but it also gave me the impression that I was drinking lemonade. It was a good thing taste-wise, but I am not so sure that it is a good thing for alcohol intake.

My companions and I all agreed on the same thing: our apetizers were far from stellar. A's friend and F had foie gras, and both of them did not like their dish, which is rare for a foie gras order. A and I had sweetbreads that were drowned in a sauce that tasted too much of wine. I guess they have a thing with alcohol at Chez L'Autre.

The main courses, however, were better. I had lamb chops that were fine, but not that exciting. A had seafood pasta that was generally good, put perhaps a bit too al dente. A's friend and F had standard bistro dishes: tartare and duck confit.

Dessert seemed like it would be a good course at first, but then also managed to disappoint. The first bite from my tarte tatin was delicious, but I realized later that I liked that first bite mainly because it was warm. My other bites came off as too sweet.

We all had an okay night, nevertheless. We enjoyed the restaurant's decoration, although black-and-white is not my favorite style. There was also a jazz singer that night. She was very talented, but I tend to get distracted when I have difficulty hearing the conversation at my table. The servce, however, wasn't very professional: things like pepper of parmesan always came a bit too late.

I think we would have regretted not going to Chez L'Autre before its closing, but now, having had a recent night there, I don't think we will be missing it that much. It is, perhaps, a place better suited for drinks than for dinner.

Come Into My World

A week ago was the start of a one-week break for F, so we decided to have a little getaway. We left Saturday morning at about eleven, and we stopped at Baie-Saint-Paul for lunch. We wanted to go to a place we had already been to, but it was closed for lunch, so we went to Chez Pineault. I had a good soup and a huge amount of mussels, and F had a burger, which had a good size. We then hung out in the town for a little while and bought some local products.

After that, we made our way to a hotel in La Malbaie, which is near a casino. We rested from the drive a bit and walked around the casino for the few hours we had before our reservation at Le Saint-Laurent. We had eaten there previously and I had some good memories from the restaurant. This time, I also had a good evening, but it wasn't really because of the food. For my appetizer, I had foie gras mi-cuit. The foie gras was okay, but I wouldn't really have called it "mi-cuit". There was a good amount of it, but I was given too much bread for the amount there was. I then had duck breast with truffle gnocchis. The duck was good and once more, the portion was satisfying. I was a bit anxious about the gnocchis, because I usually don't like truffles. In the end, they didn't taste too much like truffles, but I wouldn't exactly call that a redeeming quality. The gnocchis simply weren't smooth at all. Things got a bit better at dessert, surprisingly. A restaurant often disappoints at dessert, because restaurants which are known for their chefs often have another person manning the desserts. That evening, I ordered an apple cake, which came with a layer as green as a Granny Smith. The cake tasted a bit like an apple cheesecake and was a great finish to a so-so meal.

We spend most of the rest of our evening in the casino. In the later part of the evening, we listened to a band whose singer had more energy than the last one we listened to. It was the conclusion to our getaway which, albeit short, was a welcome break from our routine.

Wake Me Up

Last weekend F and I went on a random outing. One of our friends has a friend whose dad is part of a band and the band was playing at a recently opened place called Les Maltcommodes. They brew their own beer, but I don't think that their main goal is making good beer. Their beer tastes like any other mainstream beer or tastes slightly worse. I shared a pitcher with F and our friend and I found the beer to be very sweet. It had too much of a caramel taste. It took us a pretty long time to get our beer, even though there weren't that many people. F believes that the place is more of a restaurant than a bar. The crowd was weird too, with a pretty even number of young and of older people. I think the people there are simply people who do not want to go into town to go out, because the bar is in a suburban mall. The decor was okay, even though there were a few creepy elements, like eyes staring at us from the wall. As for the band, first of all, they had a terrible name: Beauty and the Beat. People wanted to see the band because the singer has participated in one of the many singing contests that are on TV. The singer wasn't bad, but she didn't look very comfortable in her strapless dress. One of the guitarists was very weird. Sometimes, he didn't even have his guitar and was simply dancing on stage. When he did have his guitar, he was very enthusiastic about his playing, even when the band was covering a Rihanna song.

Les Maltcommodes could have maybe made its way into my list of restaurants to try, because they brew their own beer. Unfortunately, having been there in other circumstances, I don't think I will ever be going there for a meal.

Rebel Yell

I watched National Treasure not too long ago and I enjoyed it fairly well. I don't think I have ever watched another treasure quest movie, and the concept is pretty exciting. However, the acting was far from good and the whole movie felt a little bit too Disneyesque. The quality of the action scenes also varied.

Je ne regrette rien

F and I caught up on Valentine's Day last week. We went to the Louis-Hébert, a restaurant we had been meaning to try for some time because  lot of politicians go there, and we are both pretty passionate about politics. It is a cozy little restaurant that apparently has a few separate rooms which can greet politicians who have confidential meetings. The waiter was really nice and on the verge of being too present. F and I ordered the same dishes for the whole evening. We started with foie gras au torchon, which came with brioche and what looked like a honey compote. The honey compote was very sweet, but it was nice element to have on the dish, especially knowing that honey is usually a Québec product. We then had a celery cream which was not too heavy and which tasted truly of celery. For our entrée, we had rabbit with squash risotto, Brussels sprouts and cranberries. The rabbit was delicious. The last few times I had rabbit, it was always too salty, but this one was great. The risotto was not risotto per se: there was a definite lack of cheese. The Brussels sprouts and the cranberries were a welcome addition.

Every dish we had was good, but the restaurant was simply too expensive for what it was. For that reason, I don't think we will be returning there anytime soon.

Everything In Its Right Place

My brother's birthday falls on February 11 and my mother's, on February 16. That explains why F and I have been spending Valentine's Day with my family for the last few years. However, since they often bring us to cool restaurants, I don't really mind. This year, we went to Salmigondis. It is a small restaurant, but there aren't that many tables, so it doesn't feel too crowded. The space is nicely decorated, so even though it is a bit dark, it still feels warm. The noise level is appropriate and we got to listen to some cool music, from Salt-N-Pepa to David Bowie to Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
We started with an oyster covered with horseradish cream and a mussel. I usually don't like horseradish, but the cream wasn't too bad. However, I couldn't really taste the oyster, which seems a bit of a shame. I then chose to have the trout tartare which came with gravlax, cucumber and a few lingonberries. It was beautifully presented, as you can see below:

The tartare was a bit spicy: a welcome flavor. For my entree, I had deer with beets and cranberry. There was a little too much cranberry, but the beets were good. This is what my dish looked like:

My favorite course was dessert. F and I were given two desserts to share. One of them was a caramel flan. It was good and not too sweet. That was the more classic dessert. The other one was an olive oil cake which came with a parsnip semifreddo. My brother found the semifreddo to taste a lot like parsnip, but I thought it was delicious.
A pleasant setting and original food: Salmigondis provided us with both and made our evening memorable.

La vallée des réputations

Sunday night, A and I went to the movies to see a Québécois movie that came out last Friday, L'amour au temps de la guerre civile. It was a dark, dark movie. In the first part, the main character, Alex, drives around a drug dealer. The whole thing seems mind-numbingly dull. After getting caught by the police, Alex ends up in some guy's apartment and spends his time watching porn and dealing with a crazy chick who is almost always high. He then reunites with a more serious lover but they waste time getting high and trying to get money for drugs. During the whole movie, it seems like the characters are completely unable to get out of their miserable life. Some scenes were confusing. There was a lot of mumbling and it was sometimes hard to know who was talking in the same-sex love scenes. The despair conveyed by the movie, added to the frequent confusion, made for a weird experience.

May It Be

Last Saturday was pretty much a restaurant day. F and I went to Paris Grill with my parents for lunch, and we went to Le Hobbit with a few friends from out of town for supper. These friends had been to Le Hobbit a few times before, and I guess it's a restaurant they like to go to when they are in Quebec City.

I started with yet another bourbon cocktail. This one had butternut squash and spices syrup and maple syrup in it. The drink was strong at the beginning and got sweeter afterwards. Perhaps the bourbon tends to float on the other ingredients.

The food I chose wasn't on their regular menu. I had a deer appetizer with rosemary and roasted onions. There was also an orange purée which was perhaps squash. The portion was a bit big for an appetizer, and it wasn't a very refined dish, but everything was good. I then had  seafood tagliatelle with lobster bisque, spinach and zucchini. The tagliatelle was al dente, there was a great ratio tagiatelle/other ingredients, and the amount of vegetables was awesome. This was my dish:

F had an onion soup and duck cannelloni. I tasted the onion soup broth and it was good, not too salty. The duck cannelloni is apparently a staple at Le Hobbit. It was great, but a little rich.

The Hobbit is a good place to go to have casual food with friends. However, it was bit expensive.

Sous le ciel de Paris

My parents came to Quebec City for a quick visit this weekend. They asked me to choose a restaurant for lunch, and I chose Paris Grill. It is one of the restaurants comprised in a group that also includes Ciel! It has a French feel, which is something that my father usually likes, and it is in a good location for my parents, because they didn't have to make a detour and they could be back quickly to Montreal. There are more restaurants to choose from downtown, but that wouldn't have been practical.

I had never been to Paris Grill, so I could only hope that it would be a good choice. It turned out to be a pretty good one. The restaurant was nicely decorated and quite roomy. We were there at one in the afternoon on a Saturday, so the brunch crowd had cleared up by then. We still had the brunch menu, though. 

I was a bit anxious about being on the brunch service, as their brunch menu doesn't have that many lunch options and my parents don't really go for breakfast in restaurants. However, they found satisfying lunch options. My dad had a soup, which was a bit spicy, and he had a steak which he shared a little with my mom and me. He found the steak to be a bit hard, but then, he did ask for medium. I tasted the steak both plain and with the pepper sauce my dad chose, and I have to say that the sauce was pretty essential. The plain steak didn't do much for me. My mom and I shared a filet mignon burger with bacon. I am not a huge fan of bacon, but theirs was pretty thick and not very greasy. The burger was a success: filet mignon in a burger is incredible. We also had sangria and it came with strawberries and raspberries in it, so that was nice.

We had a very enjoyable lunch. It wasn't perfect, but Paris Grill is definitely a good choice of restaurant.

I Don't Wanna Break

This week my friend A, whom I had gone to Nihon Sushi with, wanted to try another sushi place. We went to Hosaka-Ya Sushi. It is one of the restaurants comprised in a duo of restaurants, the other one being Hosaka-Ya Ramen. The ramen place doesn't take reservations and it is pretty hard to get a seat, so I don't think I will be going there soon. The sushi place, though, takes reservations. It is a small restaurant, but we went there on a weeknight, so it wasn't very full. There was a weird smell when we first entered, but the place managed to look well decorated despite its size. Here are some cute decorations that were near our table:

A had gotten sea urchin to take out from Hosaka-Ya once, so I was eager to try that. However, they didn't have any that night. We will have to come back for that! A had a wakame salad with bits of shrimp, salmon and snapper as an appetizer. I had a taste and it was great. I chose to get an avocado hosomaki, a hamachi hosomaki (yellow tail tuna), izumidai sashimi (tilapia) and a sashimi maki. The maki was made with salmon, tuna, butterfish, tilapia, tobiko, avocado and shiso, which I thought was basil. I liked this restaurant's rice better than the one from Nihon Sushi. A and I once again watched with envy another table get a huge dish with food chosen by the chef, so we will return for that and the sea urchin and the green tea ice cream which was great! It is a bit weird to be eating raw fish and ice cream in the dead of winter, but sushi is definitely a theme when I go out with A.

Let Go

I watched Two Lovers, a movie directed by James Gray and starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow. I watched  a few movies with Joaquin Phoenix in the past year: The Immigrant, also by James Gray, The Master, and Her. I find him a fascinating actor to watch. His performance is the main event in Two Lovers. The movie itself is a fairly ordinary romantic drama.

Be Italian

Sometimes, F doesn't feel like cooking and wants to eat quickly, but I don't really like to go to a fast-food chain for dinner. Those nights, we go to Le Manoir. They serve pasta, it isn't far from our place and the service is really fast. Luckily, the restaurant also looks really nice. When we go in there, it is as if we have stepped into an old home with numerous rooms. 

The last time F and I went there, we were seated in a different section than our usual one. We often end up in one of the bigger rooms where noisy families gather up for birthdays, but this time, we got the bar section. It was cosier and more peaceful. 

We started with Caesar salads. Our portions were huge. I then had linguine with scallops and shrimp. It was good, but I probably wouldn't take it again, as it is a bit too rich.

We had a very satisfying evening. It is nice to be eating nothing fancy, all while being in an environment that looks a bit fancy.

Politicians

Vincent Marissal is the political columnist at La Presse and he is probably my favorite one. I find him to be very neutral and he criticizes all political parties equally. He published a book recently called Nos amis les politiciens (our friends the politicians) in which he did portraits of different politicians he met throughout the years. In his book, I had the impression that he was less neutral than he is in his column. You can sense that he doesn't believe in Quebec independence. He has some funny stories on a lot of politicians. However, I found his book to be somewhat repetitive. When anecdotes involve a few politicians, the story is repeated in each politician's chapter. Of course, this allows the reader to pick up the book and choose which politician he wants to learn more about, without having to read the whole book from beginning to end.

Nur Ein Wort

This past weekend F and I went to Montreal because my sister's German boyfriend was in town. My parents took all of us out to Bouillon Bilk. The restaurant was bigger than the last time I was there, but I found the decoration to be pretty sparse. However, there was recently a flood there, so that could be an explanation. It was very noisy, just like most of the more recent Montreal restaurants.

I started off with a gin and tonic made with a tea-flavored tonic. F had a cocktail made with a whisky I like a lot, Té Bheag. He found both cocktails to be kind of strong, but I was okay with them. 

We then had oysters. The waiter had announced that the restaurant had a few different kinds available, including the Trésor du Lac from Quebec I had been wanting to try. We asked for a mixed platter. However, they didn't include the Trésor du Lac in it. The ones I had were a bit too salty for my taste. 

We also had a small pre-appetizer which was beef tataki. It was fine, but it was served in a ridiculously large plate.

For my appetizer, I ordered sweetbreads with veal tongue. It was my first time having sweetbreads. I was a bit disappointed to find out that they were fried. Had I known that, perhaps I would have ordered something else. They tasted like chicken, and the veal tongue tasted like ham.

I had sea bass for my entrée. They left the skin and made it crunchy, which I appreciated. However, the portion was a bit small.

F and I then shared a platter of Quebec cheese. It came with very good nut bread. There were also candied nuts, but they were a bit too sticky.

I enjoyed my evening, but I found the restaurant to be a bit overrated. Usually, when I find a restaurant to be very good, it is often because of one stellar course and the others pull it off with a few understandable kinks. However, at Bouillon Bilk, every course had a few lacking details. I wouldn't mind going back, but if I were asked an opinion, it wouldn't be my first restaurant choice.

Battle Without Honor Or Humanity

Yesterday one of my best friends and I went to his favorite sushi place in Quebec City, Nihon Sushi. I think it is an okay place, but half of the time, I find it disappointing. Their rice varies from night to night. The restaurant is located in one of the city's more upper-class districts. It is not a particularly heavily decorated restaurant, and it lacks a bit for ambience. They lower their prices from Sunday to Thursday and at all times for students. I had an avocado hosomaki, a salmon hosomaki, a butterfish sashimi and a "Soleil levant" (rising sun) maki, which is made with scallop tartare, mango, apple, orange, avocado, lettuce, honey, tobiko and sesame seeds. They also gave me three extra pieces of avocado, which was nice. The next time my friend and I eat there, we will probably share a dish filled with makis chosen by the chef.

The Way You Look Tonight

Yet another old movie. Love with the Proper Stranger, with Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen. I had been curious to know what Natalie Wood looked like, because Lorelai Gilmore gets compared to her at one point. Well, Natalie Wood is so beautiful, she literally made me look twice at the screen the first time I saw her. She's got incredible eyes. I think she looks more like Amy Acker than Lauren Graham, though. Steve McQueen is supposed to be the prince of cool or something. Physically, he is not really my type, but he does have some attitude. The movie is about Natalie Wood getting pregnant with Steve McQueen out of wedlock. It gives us a look at Italian inmigrants in New York and at how difficult it must have been to get an abortion in the 60s. We also see gow chaotic Macy's seems to be in that time. I've never been to the one in New York, but as I recall, Macy's is kind of on the down low. The music of the movie is pretty wonderful: I found it really old-timey. Natalie Wood has a crazy breakdown just when she is about to get the abortion. It also gets pretty dramatic in one scene where Natalie Wood invites Steve McQueen to dinner. Just before that scene, there is a weird moment where Natalie Wood tries to cover her cleavage. The end of the movie is pretty cute.

Face aux étoiles

One of my Christmas gifts to F was Enki Bilal's latest, La couleur de l'air (the color of air). It is the last of a trilogy. F later bought the first book, Animal'z. I had already read it before, and I reread it after reading La couleur de l'air. I'll start with Animal'z.

The title of the book is related to a few of the characters who can hybridate themselves with animals using packs of some sort. The technology is the product of Ferdinand Owles' research, one of many characters who are all attempting to find safe haven after a planetary event, the "coup de sang" (blood hit). The hybrids aren't the most interesting characters, though: there is a guy who says mostly interesting quotes from famous people who is involved in some kind of duel and there are also cannibals.

La couleur de l'air reunites the reader with characters from the first two books from the trilogy, Animal'z and Julia et Roem, and new characters appear as well. Since I read La couleur de l'air first and had read Animal'z a while ago, I didn't remember the characters from the first book too well. The end ofthe trilogy is pretty surprising and sends a powerful environmental message. I read a review that said the characters lacked emotion, but I believe it is because they are all on a survival mode.

Bilal's drawings, as usual, are very anatomical, and he still uses a lot of blue. At some points in the third book, there are more colors, and those moments are pretty striking. I will be getting the missing second book soon.

Starlight

Last week F and I decided to get a reservation to that restaurant we had a gift certificate for. We took the reservation for last night. The gift certificate was for the Ciel! restaurant (Sky!). It is the restaurant that took the place of the old turning restaurant of Quebec, ehich had existed for some time. This is the kind of view you can get from the restaurant:

F and I started with a white wine frim St-Sévère, in Quebec. It was surprisingly good, light and refreshing. I then had smoked salmon on a blini with blood pudding sauce. There was a lot of smoked salmon, so that was a definite plus. The blood pudding sauce qas also excellent. It was a bit unexpected with smoked salmon, but it worked well together. The blini was a bit big, though. F had mackerel gravlax: his portion was smaller than mine, and it was a bit too spicy for him. He got to compensate with the next course, though: cheese. It might be unsusal to have cheese as a second course, but oh well, the Gilmores have it with cocktails. (I am rewatching "Gilmore Girls" on Netflix, in case you were wondering.) We told the waitress we would like three pieces of cheese, anything but blue cheese. She didn't tell us what we got, but she said they served a lot of cheese from the Charlevoix area, not too far from Quebec City. The cheese was great, even though we didn't know what we were having, and it was served with beets and candied nuts. I believe there was a bit of ginger in the nuts. We also got warm bread at that point. Some critics say warm bread is a restaurant gimmick, but it is always appreciated. 

By the time we were done with the cheese, we were also done with the wine, so F had a beer from the Sherbrooke area, we believe, and I had a cocktail, the Général Montcalm. It was made with bourbon, maple syrup, lemon juice mint and apple juice. Judging by the ingredients, I thought the cocktail would be pretty similar to the one I had at L'Atelier, except for the apple juice. Well, the apple juice complemented the bourbon nicely. It made the cocktail sweeter, but I could still taste the bourbon. The drink was surprisingly refreshing for a bourbon cocktail.

For the main course, I had wild boar osso buco with beans, kale and orrecchietes, which are round pasta. That dish is usually served with rapinis instead of kale, but the kale was fine. The meat had a pretty strong taste. The sauce was great and tasted of herbs I couldn't manage to identify. There was a bit too much pasta for the amount of meat, but the whole dish was quite a satisfying portion.

After our main courses, F and I were too full for dessert, so that will be for another time. I would perhaps come back there in the day, to have a different view. However, it isn't a restaurant I will be going to regularly, because it was a bit expensive. The rhythm of the service is nice, though, for an evening when you want to take your time. A reservation is probaby essential, because we went there on a Sunday, which is usually a slower night, and there was a good amount of people, especially for a January night, when less people go into restaurants. Perhaps it will be less crowded as  the "new restaurant" factor fades out.

Rock And Roll Music

I watched another old movie recently: Teacher's Pet. It is with Clark Gable and Doris Day. I had only seen Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind, and I had never seen Doris Day. Clark Gable makes a lot of funny faces in Teacher's Pet. The movie is a romantic comedy, but it manages to talk about serious topics, such as education and journalism. I enjoyed this movie more than Houseboat.

Almost In Your Arms

I watched Houseboat a few days ago. I like watching old movies, especially ones with Cary Grant. I find him incredibly charming and surprisingly funny. With this movie, though, he didn't have much to work with. The premise of the movie is a bit ridiculous: the character played by Cary Grant, Tom Winters, and his kids decide to move into a guesthouse next to Winters' deceased wife's sister. The guesthouse gets moved around by a truck, and the truck stops right smack in the middle of some train tracks because the truck driver is mesmerized by Sophia Loren's beauty. A train wrecks the guesthouse, and so the Winters family moves into a houseboat. Every character in the movie has a weird tan. The movie is cute enough, but I look forward to some better Cary Grant movies.

All of the Lights

This weekend, I went to L'Atelier for a friend's birthday. It is a restaurant that specializes in cocktails and in fish and meat tartare. I started with a Kentucky Lime, a drink made with Old Forester bourbon, lime, maple syrup and cinnamon bitters. I tried it at first without any lime and it tasted strongly of cinnamon, but once I put some lime in, it became much more enjoyable. I then had tomato and red pepper soup. I love tomato soup, even though some people think eating tomato soup is like eating spaghetti sauce. For my entree, I chose a salmon tartare with lobster oil. I had a choice of fries or salad. I went with the salad, and they gave me a huge portion. The people who had chosen the fries didn't get many of them. The other cocktail I had was made with Beefeater 24 gin, apricot juice, green cardamon, lemon, simple syrup and soda. It was good, but I preferred the Kentucky Lime. I had a fun evening, but in my opinion, the restaurant is a bit too expensive.

Comfortably Numb

For Christmas, F and I got a gift certificate for a recently opened restaurant, so we wanted to go there this week. We decided to simply show up there, knowing that we wouldn't mind eating at the bar if ever the restaurant was full. Unfortunately, the whole place had been taken up by a group, so we went to our go-to restaurant, La Souche. It is one of my favorite places in Quebec. They brew their own beer and make great food with ingredients bought locally. The name of the place means "the stump", and a lot of the tables are made with parts of tree stumps. As for the food, there are new specials every week. During the winter, one of the specials is usually a comforting stew. That is what I took, and this week it was a pork stew with cranberries, camembert and aragula. Adding cheese to a stew makes it a bit intense, but since it wasn't a very strong cheese, i.e. camembert, it was okay. The cranberries were a nice touch, especially since the holidays are not that far behind us. The stew usually comes with some nice, hot bread. F had a burger, and since I am addicted to La Souche's fries with mayo, I pretty much wiped those out.

Search and Destroy

I watched Vi är bäst!, a Swedish movie about three young girls starting a punk band in the 80s. Nothing much happens in the first half of the movie. Things pick up when two of the girls decide to cut the third girl's hair. I don't watch movies in Scandinavian languages very often, so hearing some Swedish was fun. Throughout the movie, we hear old Swedish punk, and some of it sounds pretty good.

Knights of Cydonia

I finally finished the whole Dragonball series. It was a very satisfying read. I had mostly read the earlier volumes as a child and I was afraid that the series would get less funny once Sangoku would start fighting aliens, but that didn't happen. I think Sangoku is a great childhood hero. He always goes further in his training, and he makes you want to take up martial arts. My favorite characters aside from him are Tenshinhan, Piccolo and Vegeta. I like characters who have been enemies before becoming allies. The last arc is a bit ridiculous, and it is sometimes tiring to see the characters rely so heavily on the Dragon Balls, the senzus and new incredible levels of training, but all in all, I had a really great time reading these books.

Go Hard

This weekend, I watched The Man with the Iron Fists. It was entertaining enough, but it had quite a few flaws. The action starts to slow down when the movie starts to show where the character played by RZA comes from. The directing gets weird at the end, with the screen separating itself. The concept of mixing martial arts and hip-hop together could have been pushed further. In the first half of the movie, a lot of battle scenes are acted out to hip-hop music, but in the second half, there are fewer battle scenes, and the ones remaining are acted out to an anonymous score. The portrayal of women in this movie is pretty bad. It was also bizarre to hear Asian actors speak with such strong American accents. The bloody scenes can get really gross. So, quite a few flaws.

A Beautiful Mine

Yesterday F and I didn't feel like eating at home, so we went out to Charbon Steakhouse. We have been there a few times already. It is a bit expensive, but the portions are enormous and they give you plenty of freebies, so it is all worth it. This is the second time we have taken the soup of the day as a starter, and they are pretty good with their soups. This time, it was carrot, turnip, maple syrup and some spice which the waiter couldn't remember. It comes in a really huge dish! Afterwards I had an 8 oz filet mignon with parmesan fries and a truffle mayo. I usually don't like truffles, but I always order those fries, even though I have to pay a little extra. The last time, I had taken an 10 oz steak and it was too much, so I reduced my steak's size a bit, but I think I will have to reduce it once again next time. They simply give you too much food. We managed to cram in a bit of dessert. I had a maple crème brûlée, which was delicious, but it became impossible for me to finish it. All in all, I would gladly return there, but I would order less food. I love this place because of its coziness: it is full of dark corners and red velvet and it looks just like the kind of place where Roger Sterling and Don Draper would have a lengthy lunch (yes, "Mad Men" once again).

Ashes to Ashes

It has been a bit more than four years since I wrote my last blog post. I won't be going to school for this winter semester, and so I have decided to start blogging again. As my old readers know (if there are any of them left), the subjects I used to cover were books, CDs, movies, TV shows, and restaurants/bars. Since my last blog post, I have had less and less time to read books, my music listening goes in phases (there are phases where I am listening to a lot of new music, and phases where I am listening to anything much), Netflix has become a fixture in my life, and I have moved to Quebec City where I try to convince my boyfriend F to try out new restaurants with me. I will continue to cover the same subjects, although the proportions in which they are covered in my blog might vary from their previous proportions.

For my first blog post of 2015, I have decided to talk about the movies I have watched in 2014. I used to feel guilty about watching so many movies, as I could be doing better things with my time, but I watched "Mad Men"'s second season over again this year and when some woman asks Don Draper what he likes in life, he answers "Movies". So now I don't feel guilty about matching so many movies, because it is something I truly love to do (yes, Don Draper has that much influence on me). Here are the movies I watched this year that have left a strong impression on me. Some were seen in theaters, others not. They are listed in the order in which I watched them:

Edge of Tomorrow: A good action/sci-fi movie, with just enough romance. I still love Tom Cruise, even though everybody hates him.

Starship Troopers: F made me watch this cult movie. I wasn't expecting much, but I liked it a lot. A lot of meaning can be given to this movie, but I enjoyed it as a simple action movie... my bad.

Boyhood: I was born a bit earlier than the protagonist, but this movie still made me incredibly nostalgic. The soundtrack is perfect: for every year depicted, the one hit of the year was chosen. I laughed out loud alone when "Soulja Boy" came on. We can also see the evolution of technology, which is pretty interesting.

Lars and the Real Girl: This movie made me long for a community.

La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2: Probably overhyped, but the reunion scene made me cry, it looked so real.

Mommy: Our own Quebec genius' last movie. His directing didn't make me cringe anymore, and I was genuinely troubled at the end of the movie. The only movie of his that I haven't watched yet is Tom à la ferme. He really gets better with each movie. He's like Sangoku in that way (I am reading all of the Dragonball series currently. It was my Christmas gift from F. So romantic, haha. I will probably be doing a blog post on that subject when I am done).

Superbad: A great comedy.

On the Road: I am probably losing all credibility as a girl who likes books here. At least, the movie made me want to get back to reading Beats books. It is a very classical movie, nothing earth-shattering. Diarios de Motocicleta by the same director is one of my favorite movies. I also like Garrett Hedlund a lot, mainly because of TRON: Legacy.

Gone Girl: I am including this movie because it was one of the hyped movies of the year, but I mainly enjoyed it as a thriller, nothing more, really. The movie is pretty pessimistic about couples.

Zoolander: Another great comedy.

Interstellar: This movie had me watching with mouth agape and made me want to watch it again immediately with subtitles to better understand the parts where they talk about physics. I liked it better than Inception. Some people say that the love theory in the movie is ridiculous, but it perfectly appeals to sentimental girls like me.

Dazed and Confused: At first, I was thinking "Ok, yet another early Richard Linklater movie with a lack of structure". However, the movie got better as it went on and at the end, I was completely charmed by Linklater's portrayal of youth. This is the third movie of his to make it into my pretty exclusive list of favorite movies (mainly movies I could watch over and over again), along with Before Sunset and The School of Rock.

The Rock: Another cult movie F made me watch, another time where I didn't have much expectations. In the end, a very enjoyable thriller, with Nicolas Cage making you wonder whether he is a good actor or a completely ridiculous one.

Laurence Anyways: The third movie by Quebec genius Xavier Dolan. I didn't like the first part much, the directing was really hectic, but I guess that matched one of the characters' state of mind. It is a very long movie, but it didn't make me cringe as much as his two first movies, and it made me even more convinced of the importance of subventions for culture. We need subventions, so that movies like these can be made, so that people can feel less alone. Namely, the movie makes you realize that when some of the most important relationships in your life go awry, you are not the only person to whom this happens.