Old Montreal (Cold Montreal)

With all the travelling that Tom and I have been lucky enough to do, it has occurred to us that we have not seen much of Canada. Both of us had only stepped foot in three provinces, Alberta, BC and Ontario. We have not even been east across the Alberta border into Saskatchewan!

This weekend past, we can finally add Quebec to our list of Canadian destinations, with a quick trip to Montreal.

First of all, a word of wisdom-- don't book a holiday in Canada in March. Why we thought this would be a good idea? I'm not sure. Although it wasn't too cold on Saturday, it snowed non-stop. Big wet globs that clung to our coats and slowly soaked through. On Sunday, it was SO. COLD. Allegedly -14, but felt like -24 with the wind chill. And it was a strong, bone-chilling wind. And Monday, while slightly better, was about -11, and felt like -19.

Here we go, from the top.

We arrived in Montreal on Friday evening, via Westjet, thanks to a Friends & Family deal through my sister. We hit some turbulence about half-way through the flight and my water spilled everywhere. Tom and I spent the next hour of the flight with wet pants. The remainder of the flight was uneventful, and we headed to our hotel in Old Montreal. We grabbed a pizza dinner, and decided we'd start our sightseeing fresh in the morning.

Old Montreal is beautiful with all the old stone buildings, carvings and bricks. It's a glimpse into some of the oldest buildings in Canada, and by comparison, everything out west is just so very new. We started our morning with a visit to the Basilique Notre-Dame. We went to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2011, and the two don't quite compare, but it is the most impressive basilica I have seen on Canadian soil!

Notre Dame Basilica of Montreal.

Inside Notre Dame Basilica.

In the afternoon, we walked around to get a feel for the city, and tracked down a famed smoked meat shop, "The Main" for lunch. Many people told us to go to Schwartz's for smoked meat but my googling found a website that proclaimed The Main had higher quality meat. I can't personally compare, but our sandwich at the Main was delicious, and we had three pickles to munch on as well. 

Following lunch, we started to make our way to the McGill University campus, but the snow just seemed to come down thicker and thicker, and our coats were started to become waterlogged. We eventually gave up, and headed back to the hotel to dry off and warm up. 

On our way back to the hotel, about a dozen police vehicles passed us with their sirens blazing. We thought, "Hmmm... That can't be good!" And when we made our way a few more blocks we encountered a wall of people in the midst of giant student protest march. Students, but the thousands, were protesting government austerity. This in itself was interesting, and we stopped to watch for a few minutes. I have never seen a large protest before! My photo below only captures the tail end of it, but the link above has some more representative photos.

 

March 21, 2015 student protest.

We spent the evening pigging out on Mediterranean food and Greek wine. It was as awesome as it sounds. 

Stay tuned for Day 2 and 3-- the rest of the trip!

2015 Jet-Setting

The last few weeks have been quiet. A few birthdays, and a few more baking adventures... But for the most part, we've just been hanging on, waiting out the winter. The last few days have been spring-like, but I'm sure one last epic dump of snow is on it's way (like usual). But we are preparing to enjoy spring with a little more globe trotting!

Next weekend, Tom and I are heading to Montreal for an extended weekend.  I have never been, and Tom hasn't been since he was in elementary school. I'm looking forward to poutine, smoked meat, and whatever delicious food Quebec has to offer.

After Montreal, we'll be home for about a month, and then we'll be off to Spain and Portugal and the end of April. We never managed to make an international trip in 2014, so we are looking forward to an extended holiday.

I will, of course, be blogging as we go! We'll be landing in Barcelona, heading north to San Sebastian, then south to Madrid. Afterwards, we'll stay close to the coast while we pass through Granada, Seville, and finally to Lisbon.

Stay tuned! There will be plenty of travel adventures to come.

Amaryllis by Morning

Ever since my mom gave me an amaryllis an amaryllis bulb in December, I have had Amarillo by Morning stuck in my head. So join the club, press play, and watch my amaryllis grow!

I planted the bulb just after Boxing Day. It had already started to grow, unplanted, in the box.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Today

 At -15 degrees and with a fresh coat of snow, there's something very satisfying about the four gigantic blossoms on this plant. Something cheery on a cold day.

Hello, Cupcake!

One of my most prized Christmas gifts this year was a book called, "Hello, Cupcake!| by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.

As you've probably deduced-- I love making cupcakes, and this book is chalked full of delightful decorating ideas for cupcakes. I have already put two to use, and am looking for occasions where I can test a few more!

In early January, I made these owls for my mother-in-law's birthday. They are shockingly easy! The eyeballs are made of the insides of an Oreo and Junior Mints. The noses are almonds and the ears are  by backed by cut-up pieces of Oreo. I made chocolate cupcakes, and used chocolate creamcheese icing.

This week, my good friend, Andrea, welcomed her little boy into the world-- a full six weeks early! Both mom and son are doing well, but her baby will be staying at the hospital a little longer so he can gain some strength and weight. This weekend, I made some cupcakes for Andrea's baby shower.

The "Hello, Cupcake!" book has step-by-step instructions and a template for making butterflies. The actual steps are quite simple, but the whole process was more time consuming than I had originally imagined. The main problem was that the melted chocolate kept solidifying, and I had to microwave it again and again so that I could work with it.

I'm particularly pleased with how these cupcakes turned out-- they look so pretty! I think I'm going to make them again (with a slightly different spin) for my niece's 4th birthday in February. She says butterflies are her favourite!

Seems like 2015 will be the Year of the Cupcake!

January Sunsets

I don't always have the greatest view from my office, but every once in a while, it surprises me.

French Quarter

 Iconic cast iron railing on a French Quarter balcony.

On our final full day in New Orleans, we took a walking tour of the French Quarter through the Nola Tour Guy. Dave, a history major, gave an excellent tour of the area as well as a nearby cemetery. The tour group was small, and we were able to ask as many or few questions as we were interested.

 French Quarter apartment front.

Royal Street is closed to traffic during the week, and there were several street performing bands that were busking for tourists as we wandered our way down the road. One of the bands even had a lady who was tap dancing along to the music.

 A glimpse down Royal Street.

We had several delicious meals while in New Orleans. One that stands out in my mind were charbroiled oysters and po' boys at the Acme Oyster House on Bourbon Street. Tom and I tried to go to this restaurant the night before, but eventually went elsewhere because the line was too long. We arrived the following day at 3pm, and STILL found a line outside! Fortunately, we did not have to wait outside long before we were ushered inside. I had a softshell crab po' boy, and Tom had a spicy fried oyster and fried shrimp po' boy. We also devoured a platter of 12 oysters, which were a little bit gritty with sand. Bleh.

Fried softshell crab po'boy.

Charbroiled oysters and French bread.

On our final afternoon in New Orleans, we went to the National World War II Museum. The next morning, we caught a flight to Houston. We stayed in Sugarland for two days visiting Tom's friends, where Tom succumbed to the flu. We brought the bug home with us, and both of us dealt with it in turn, right up until Christmas.

This concludes our travel adventures for 2014. More to come in 2015!

Happy Holidays, and all the best in the New Year to everyone!

Oak Alley Plantation

Oak Alley Plantation.

On our third full day in Louisiana, we took a tour to Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana. Oak Alley was a fully functioning sugar plantation in the 1800's. The property was founded in 1830, and was purchased by Jacques and Celine Roman in 1836. The mansion was built in 1837, designed in a Greek Revival style, with 28 columns to match the 28 oaks creating an alley up to the property from the river.

The Jacques and Celina ran the plantation until 1848, when Jacques passed away from Tuberculosis at the age of 48. His wife, Celina, then proceeded to drive the plantation's business into the ground, until her son, Henri, took over management in 1859. Celina passed away from pneumonia in early 1866. Later that year, due to the Civil war, and lingering debt, Henri was forced to give up the plantation. It was subsequently put up for auction.

In the intervening years, Oak Alley changed ownership over a half dozen times, and fell into disrepair. It was purchased by Andrew Stewart in 1925 for his wife, Josephine. The couple began the long and laborious task of restoring the house to its original glory. Josephine Stewart created the Oak Alley Foundation in 1966, which allows the house to operated for educational purposes as a non-profit organization.

Tom and I on the second floor veranda.

Oak Alley is not actually considered to be a large plantation house. Although it about 18,000 sq. ft (with the veranda included), it only contained between 6-8 rooms inside. Some plantations houses in the area would have had upwards of 100 rooms in the big house.

Tom and I enjoyed some mint juleps while we were taking our tour through the big house. I think they had real sugar cane syrup in them-- they were delicious!

Reconstructed slave quarters.

The grounds also featured six reconstructed slave quarters. These quarters served as a slavery exhibit that covered the history of Oak Alley from the 1800's through to emancipation. The exhibit features information and artifacts that help depict the lives of the approximate 200 enslaved people who lived and worked at the plantation.

 

Ladybug crawling up a doorframe in the slave quarters.

 

Oak alley.

The oak trees lining this pathway are over 300 years old. Some of the limbs are so large and unwieldy, they are essentially resting on the ground.

Oak leaf.

Tom and I noticed that many of the oak leaves on the ground had these weird fuzzy puffs on them. I'm not sure if it is mold, or some sort of insect egg sack. Either way, we didn't touch them-- just looked!

 Butterfly in the garden.

 I wish we had had a bit more time at the plantation to look around and roam the grounds. We were on a relatively tight timeline since we had taken a bus tour. We missed a few of the stops on the grounds, and we probably would have stopped for a second mint julep, if we'd had the time!

Oak Alley Plantation was definitely the "Grande Dame" of the area.