French Cuisine

All of the food in Montreal was amazing. Pricey, but hey, we were on vacation right?

Our first night we had a little welcome dinner at L'aromate Bistro - a great french bistro walking distance from our hotel in downtown Montreal.

Since we were a large party we had a semi private seating area which was nice. The only bad thing about having a large party was a limited menu - but i'm still not complaining because the food was amazing. For starters I had the "inspiration of the day." It was small flecks of salmon mixed with linguine and arugala. I wish i saved the menu so i could describe this dish more in depth. But trust me, it was very good.

For the main course, I chose the fish - it was an almond crusted type of white fish - again, sorry can't remember the name of the fish - but it was nice a light.

It came with asparagus, mushrooms and wild rice - very, very good. I of course had to have dessert. I think all of us girls did. Naturally many of the girls leaned towards the creme brulee - i didn't order this because of one key word on the menu, "spiced" creme brulee. Thank God i didn't because most of the girls didn't like it. I think its just an acquired taste. There were 3 mini bowls of creme brulee. - one of them i know for sure was ginger flavored........seriously. Then we came to find out that the french really like to experiment with spices and herbs in their meals -including dessert. I say stick to sugar and cinnamon for dessert. :) What i did end up ordering was a small sampling of different chocolate desserts. Again, it came with 3 - the first was a white chocolate type of cream/pudding (i do believe there was a hint of spice -but not enough to turn me off), the second was a mini truffle brownie, and the third was a chocolate macaroon. I have to say this satisfied the pregnant lady!

Then for a midnight snack, we all devoured a cake perfect for the occasion made by one of the girls!!

In Old town Montreal there were tons of little shops selling maple syrup, honey, jams, foie gras. You just wanted to buy them all.

For lunch on the second day, the girls insisted i try Poutine. This is like a high end version of disco fries. It was sooooo freakin good. Its a big plate of fries, with a stock based gravy poured on top, seasoned with black pepper and of course, small bits of fresh cheese curds. So Yummy.

Dinner that night was great - it was perfect for the bride to be. We ate at Cavalli's a high end italian restaurant with hot pink and crystal decor.

For appetizer we had olive bread - yes olives baked inside the bread - i normally loathe olives,but i have to say these were good. I don't know if its pregnancy tastebuds or if really the olives north of the border are just different. This bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinigarette was very very delicious. For my main course i ordered a linguine dish with lobster- the sauce was dark in color - i don't even know how to describe it, but it was good. I shared a dessert with my sister and we had this hazelnut breadpudding with chocolate on top and some type of crispy crust. Again, i was very satisfied. :)

To end the weekend, we all had a goodye brunch at a crepes place near our hotel. These crepes was unbelievably huge - again i had to order a savory one (a western crepomelet - it wasa western crepe omelet with hollandaise sauce on top, fresh fruit on the side, and wheat bread.

I also shared a sweet crepe with Cheryl (my dessert buddy) - we had a crepe with nutella and bananas.

Baby and I were happy to say the least.

Bon Jour

I had an amazing time this weekend with my sisters and friends in Montreal for my little sister, Christine's bachelorette party. We chose this destination since it was driving distance for most people from NJ but still exotic enough to feel like we really were in Europe and not just across the border in Canada. Montreal is a beautiful city - great architecture, great shopping, tasty restaurants, great looking french Canadian men that probably look better because of their french accents - all perfect elements for a bachelorette party.

We stayed in downtown Montreal which is an ideal location if you don't want to spend too much money on cabs. Its central to their main shopping street called St. Catherine St as well as the Underground city, a network of underground tunnels that are home to fabulous eateries and shopping stores. Montreal's historic area is a 20 minute walk from downtown called, "Old Montreal." Normally i could handle this walk, but since i have a little person with me now, i had to cab it. Old Montreal is such a quaint part of the city with its cobblestone streets. Some of the shops included art galleries, souvenir shops, crepes restaurants, etc.

I found a little sign worth noting - one for my husband :)

And one for my son :)

The most famous landmark of this area is the Notre Dame Cathedral.

I had some of the most amazing food this weekend - but i feel like i'll need a whole post just for the food alone.

The ambiance of the city just complimented the great company. It was so nice to spend time with my sisters on a mini vacation, as well as with our friends. Its still unreal that Christine, my little sister is getting married! But hopefully she had a great time this weekend. My middle sister, Gail, did a great job with the planning.

Here are some pics of these fabulous girls. I love these "b*tches!!!!!!"