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.