My November Adventures!

November is here and gone! Compared to the crazy October, its much calmer, especially since this year I didn’t even think about NaNoWriMo at all. Its the first year in a long time that I haven’t done it (although last year I didn’t finish it). Either way, there are a few plans scheduled in and a remote coverage for a film festival and well, just preparing for December and other little tidbits.

Let’s check it out!

MTL a Table: Rose Ross

Coregone, carrot mousseline, beluga lentilles, fennel and basil

First to kick off November is our first spot to check out for MTL a Table. This time was a more half the gang deal as it only appealed to ourselves and Phoebe and her family. Rose Ross is located in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Rosemont in the Promenade Masson and serves French cuisine but with a lot of the local ingredients available to them. It also has some vegetarian options and even had lactose-free dessert which always wins my heart over. The menu also had an Aeroplan privilege exclusive which was fun. The full recap of the meal is HERE.

MTL a Table: La Classe

The second restaurant that the group (except my husband who had to work) went to was La Classe, a restaurant in College Lasalle with their students taking up the various tasks from host to servers to kitchen. Its one that we’ve been to before however they had changed their name this year to La Classe. The food here is always pretty good and its pricing is incredibly worth it for its quality and for French fine dining. You can check out the recap of the meal HERE.

MTL a Table: Taboo Cuisine Rebelle

Salmon gravlax marinated in lemongrass and ginger oil, Asian sauce, wasabi, pomegrenate, fried capers, shoots

The last restaurant in the MTL a Table this year is a new find for the majority of us which turned out to be fairly disappointing. Its pretty much North American food in a lounge setting with a very prominent small finger foods and drinks. Its price point outside of the MTL a table was pretty high as we looked at their menus so MTL a Table gives a general experience of it. There was a lot left to be desired. You can check out the recap HERE.

The First Snowstorm of the season

Coinciding with our week off from work, a lovely little staycation, much overdue for myself was the first snowstorm of this winter, well, late autumn to be accurate which brought in about 15cm of snow. Some neighbors told us about how most snow removal service contracts only started on November 15th, which this storm hit November 12th so some companies didn’t come around to remove snow, causing quite a few headaches. Luckily, while the storm did knock some of our road trip plans out, it did let us take our time with shovelling the snow, although we still did it in relatively one go in the morning.

Staycation Day Trip: Ottawa & Shopping Haul

Disney: Christmas Eeyore

LCBO

T&T Supermarket (without hot/cooked food)

Other than the shopping haul and just taking a moment out of town, we went to eat at Fatboys Southern Smokehouse. You can find the recap HERE.

An Afternoon with My Battle of Ingredient Co-Host

The week of staycation is almost at an end and what vacation would it be without running an errand to the dentist to pick up (very expensive and makes me thankful for benefits) Night Guard and the much more exciting hangout for my good friend and Battle of Ingredients co-host for a lunch at Kumamoto and an afternoon tea at Presotea after she helped me out a great deal with something I’ve been meaning to do for a while (but needed a kick in the pants to do).

MEGA Expo

Finally, to wrap up the staycation week once and for all was heading out to check out MEGA Expo which was held at Le Grand Quai, which is so new that I have never been in before. The venue was nice and we saw some nice games. The recap should be over at Game Warp..but it isn’t because I’ve just been hitting a writing slump and busy with work…Its still happening because there’s so many games that I really want to talk about.

Blood in the Snow Festival 2019

Blood in the Snow Festival took place on November 21 to 26 in Toronto. Of course, I didn’t have time to go but I was lucky enough to get remote coverage and it had almost all the movies available to review. Its a short festival but one that highlights a lot of Canadian genre films and while it had some meh films, there was still a lot to love and some really great stories and premise. The reviews should all be up on the BITS 2019 tab HERE. But as usual, I will do a top 3 (since there was only 8 full feature films).

• Majic
• Hunter’s Moon
• Z

Marche Ephemere EtsyMTL

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Visited the #MarcheEphemere #EtsyMTL at #GareWindsor last evening. Picked up some #goodies from @lapincee and #thescg . Some really cool stores there. Some of my faves are the cards shown here but didn't get anything yet. #quebec #tea #montreal #events #spices #naturalblends #buyinglocal #artisan #craft #food #mtlevent #mtl

A post shared by Kim (@tranquildreams) on Nov 23, 2019 at 10:26am PST

Black Friday – Shopping Haul

I actually didn’t think about Black Friday until it was literally the week of as the flyers started coming in. Its been a goal to spend less so I’ve decreased a lot of expenses. With that said, I did take a look at the sales and got a little something here and there. Not a whole lot of physical shopping as I was stuck at work rushing a deadline but here’s the general list.

Amazon

• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
• Crawl
• Greenies Dental Treats (for cats)
• Car phone holder

Steam

• Blackwood Crossing
• Batman: The Enemy Within
• Yoku’s Island Express

Playstation Store

• Spider-Man
• Days Gone
• God of War

Michael’s (shown above): Wreath and Wreath supplies

Decathlon: Water Pouch (for backpack)

Cute Kitty Pic

That’s it for this November adventures!
A lot more packed than I expected but it had to do with the last minute vacation.

MTL a Table: La Classe (College Lasalle)

Another MTL a Table adventure is here as we head to the second restaurant on my list (out of three). This time we head to a much more familiar spot to the College Lasalle restaurant which employs the students of College Lasalle to hone their various skills related to the restaurant business. La Classe was previously called Fuschia and serves French cuisine at a very reasonable price to the public.

Aeroplan Privilege: Gin Cirka, pear puree, rosemary syrup and Labrador tea

The Aeroplan privilege drink was this La Classe cocktail that was very unique. I haven’t tried Gin Cirka before and I rarely drink gin in general and this one was very strong in flavor however it was pretty good.

Amuse-Bouche

The amuse-bouche is a tuna of sorts with sesame seeds and whatnot. I don’t have the actual dish name but while I’m not a huge fan of raw fish, but this had quite a lot of depth with the one bite. It was really delicious.

First service: Starters

Mushroom veloute, chestnuts, hazelnut oil

Seared scallop, squash ravioli

Arctic char gravlax from Baie des Chaleurs, beet-crusted soft boiled egg

Crusted poultry

I had the crusted poultry. I’m not quite sure what poultry it was but it had this foie gras sort of texture to it. Paired with the crust and the dijon in the middle and the little jelly and other adornments in the centre, it all gave it a nice balance in flavor to compliment it. However, foie gras texture, even though it is poultry is denser so felt a bit much in the last bite or two but it still tasted really good.

Second service: Main course

Halibut filet, mussels, cauliflower

Pork served in three ways

Smoked duck magret

Citrus lobster tail

For the main course, I went with the citrus lobster tail which was absolutely delicious. The puree seemed like some squash puree or pumpkin puree or something and the sweetness it brought meshed with the citrus flavors and the perfectly cooked lobster tail gave it a really lovely balance in flavors. Plus, they had these crunchy sides which I’m not quite sure what it was as it didn’t have quite a lot of taste to it but it did add a depth to the texture itself.

Third service: Dessert

La Pomme

Passion-Coco

As for desserts, they all look so wonderful. The dessert list actually had two more options from the original MTL a Table list on the website so I don’t have the info for it. Luckily, they did add in one that I could have which was the Passion-Coco. Its a lovely little citrus taste which was a nice blend of aromas and flavors of passion fruit and coconut that actually wasn’t overpowering and worked well together to be a good blend without being too acidic.

Overall…La Classe Restaurant is a great location. Its MTL a Table menu is in the $23 range which is incredibly affordable and a good bang for the buck  especially for French cuisine. While it is primarily student run, they have very patient servers and the kitchen makes very delicious food. Its a very thorough experience and always enjoyable atmosphere. Its a restaurant well worth visiting even outside of this event.

MTL a Table: Rose Ross

The Battle of Ingredients is taking a break in November as normal to check out the MTL a Table. We’re definitely back on track as this time, we kick off the eating earlier in this restaurant event. The first we’re hitting up is Rose Ross.

Rose Ross is a cozy little restaurant. Its actually just one strip of restaurant that was easily missed when we were first looking for it until we crossed the street and saw the sign. Its rather nicely ambient and while its fairly close quarters, the decor is very comfortable. Right off the bat, the service here was fantastic. They made an effort to make sure that allergies and intolerances were addressed and confirmed before ordering and was patiently answering all our questions and then when the meal came, they made sure to assure that anything that might look like it could trigger food allergies were confirmed to not be the case.

MTL a Table menu was rather good with a good few choices for each course and they also offered the Exclusive Aeroplan privileges for Aeroplan members.

Exclusive Aeroplan Privilege: Glass of Suriol Cava

They offered everyone with the Aeroplan card on hand a complimentary glass of sparkling wine, Suriol Cava as a starter. I’ll talk more about it in the wine recap for November. I can say that I’m not usually a huge fan of sparkling wine but this one was pretty good and matched well with the meal.

STARTERS

Honeynut squash, pumpkin seeds and herbs, pesto, mozzarella di bufala Maciocia

Mushroom cream, fried shallots, chive, curry oil and crispy chicken skin

Brussel sprouts a la vietsesame oil and coriander

A big group is always nice as we get to at least see everything on the menu. With the starters, we got the 3 out of 4 choices. My husband having the first one with the honeynut squash where his general comment about his meals throughout the evening was that they had a lot of depth in the food with the different textures combined and the flavors and such.

I had the last one (which was the one that I had my eyes on) with the brussel sprouts. I’m always on the lookout for new ways to cook and eat brussel sprouts. While this one was a tad powerful in the vinaigrette, it was really delicious for the majority of it and we all had a debate on how to fry or roast the brussel sprouts to be like that. Very lovely dish and it says a lot about it as I’m not a huge fan of coriander to begin with but the vietssesame oil and coriander was great with the brussel sprouts.

MAIN COURSES

Gnocchis, pecorino romano, chanterelles, fried cauliflower, chard, tarragon and cream

Blood pudding from Cochonnailles, squash puree, embeurre of cabbage with lovage and bacon, glace de viande moutardee

Coregone, carrot mousseline, beluga lentilles, fennel and basil

Onglet de boeuf IPE, cognac sauce, fries and mayonnaise (+$10)

Kid’s meal: Penne with tomato sauce

The husband’s choice was the Gnocchi, Phoebe’s choice was the Onglet de boeuf and mine was the Coregone fish option with the carrot mousseline. Everyone liked their main course. Mine was very unique as I’m not sure that I’ve ever had this type of fish before. The fish was cooked nicely and then the carrot mousseline was heavenly then it was paired with the sides that gave it a lot of depth and the flavors blended really well together.

Worth noting here is that they gave the option for kids menu where they had various types of pasta and two types of sauce to choose from which is always nice to see it having a certain level of accommodation on that level.

DESSERTS

Hazelnut cream puff with vanilla ice cream, salted caramel and goglu cookie crumble

Carrot cake and miel d’Anicet

In terms of dessert, they also landed quite well. The group enjoyed the hazelnut cream puff while I had the carrot cake which was a change in the original MTL a table menu which was some almond milk rice pudding. This one was also lactose-free option and tasted really  nice. It was very aromatic and not too sweet and the cake texture was moist as well.

Overall, Rose Ross is definitely a restaurant that we’d go back to. For MTL a Table, it was in the 2nd tier pricing at $33 a meal with a lot of options in each course to choose from. The service was impressive and very friendly. The restaurant atmosphere was really efficient and very comfortable. The food also delivered really well especially since it has a mix of French and North American food which sometimes is rather sensitive on the possible allergies but they were all very knowledgeable about their menu so had options for the basic allergies. It was an awesome first impression and first experience that we’d gladly go back a second time, even during a non-MTL a Table event for their regular menu if the opportunity presents itself. If you’re in Montreal, this one is a definitely one to consider.

My Weekly Adventures: The Wrong Side of the Fence…

Following the last Weekly Adventures, I was on the fence about something. And well..seeing as its the title of this Weekly Adventures, suffice to say I made a decision on it. If you didn’t see the last post, don’t worry, you will know soon enough when we get there. These two weeks was a lot of eating… that’s all I got honestly. Something crazy happened at work that stressed me out so very much but really gave me the kick in the pants to motivate myself to get back into the groove of things. Find back some of the focus that I’ve seem to be missing.

MTL a Table 2018: Nom Nom Cantine

This year’s MTL a Table in place of the November Battle of Ingredients is at Nom Nom Cantine. We had a pretty good time there, eating delicious food with great company.

You can check out the post HERE.

NaNoWriMo 2018

The wrong side of the fence is refering to this. Which can only mean one thing…that I decided to start NaNoWriMo this year. I started on Day 7 and the late start and my recent cold has impacted a lot of progress. To be honest, with all the projects right now, I don’t plan to finish but I have an idea that I kept wanting to write about so I just couldn’t resist. Of course, I wasn’t going to do this madness by myself so my awesome podcast co-host graciously joined me in working on his own thing.

My progress leaves a lot to be desired right now so I’m going to try to push myself over the next half of the month to really catch up. Next Weekly Adventures, I’ll share the final result.

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon

Like last year, as an end of season marathon thank you for all my early mornings and such, my friend took me out for a fancy dinner at the Casino de Montreal at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon. This restaurant definitely is expensive and fine cuisine but the one place that never disappoints me because of how well they adapt to making everyone feel important especially when it comes to my lactose intolerance and having French cuisine.

You can see the full recap of this restaurant experience HERE.

MEGA MTL

This past weekend marks one of the last gaming festivals that I will be going to (since there was also the summit earlier this week which I don’t go to because its on weekdays). MEGA MTL was morphed from the Montreal Independent Games Festival which used to be free and held at Dawson College. Now, it occupies the Marché Bonsecours in Old Montreal and it always shows off a lot of indie games to try out and showcase. Its a lot of games to write about so currently the post is still in the works for That Moment In but should be up soon.

My game of the festival is hands-down a game that has already been released called 39 Days to Mars, which is a coop puzzle adventure game developed by It’s Anecdotal.

Cute Kitty Pic

Thats it for this Weekly Adventures recap!
A quick and easy one this time. We had a few busy weekends so probably the next one will be even more quiet.

MTL a Table 2018: Nom Nom Cantine

As usual, our November Battle of Ingredients is put aside as we head out for MTL a Table. This year’s MTL a Table included a good many more selections as more restaurants joined into the fun. A lot of new restaurants also participated which makes it all the more exciting. This time, we return to a familiar location where we went to previously when it was owned by another restaurant called E.A.T (Etre Avec Toi), the restaurant is closed so meaningless to check the post now (although you can if you want HERE).

The current restaurant in this location is Nom Nom Cantine which serves Asian fusion food. Just one look at the menu and it shows off those qualities right away.

Nom Nom Cantine

Decor

Nice and soothing to say the least. We had a pretty early reservation so we were the first group to arrive which gives me the chance to take these pictures with no one else in there. However, rest assured that the restaurant did fill up as the evening went along. However, one nice thing is that it stayed fairly casual and relaxing.

Cocktails

This time, our group went for the interesting selection of cocktails that it offered. Trust me when I say its unique when one of the cocktails (I think the Bloody Caesar had fish sauce as one of the ingredients). However, these are two popular choices among us. On the left is The Noble One (the guys took this one) and on the left is the one I chose called Deadly Sin which had a bunch of stuff I liked including the so underused Apricot Brandy. Both tasted fantastic (well, to us). Deadly Sin has a lot of citrus flavors including yuzu so it was more sour and floral. The Noble One is a stronger one but still very smooth.

Bread & Amuse-Bouche

Ten out of ten for presentation alone here. I didn’t taste the bread but our little bread expert (aka Phoebe’s toddler) approved it and ate a bunch. Props to the restaurant for making this happen although normally the MTL a Table menu doesn’t come with it.

They also offered up an amuse-bouche. This is a slightly modified one for my husband and I, the lactose-intolerant option. The original was peppercorn salmon with sour cream and coriander (I think) and ours is replaced with a mango and something sauce. I should seriously write these things down. Regardless, it still tasted really good.

First Course

There are two options for first course.

Dumpllings Basket (4)

Dumplings basket was one of these choices and the one that I chose (along with a few others from our group). Four different dumplings here: chicken, pork and shrimp, beef, vegetables. I could swear that mine came with two beef ones but I didn’t quite mind because it tasted like the beef that we have at dim sum and its a flavor that I’ve missed eating. Regardless, my husband did have all four and he liked it. I thought the dumplings are also really good. Actually, I’d love to go back just to have dumplings.

Second option was the white fish tartare, matcha, citrus, coriander, coconut cream. These were really clever as instead of having bread or something as the accompaniment, they went with shrimp chips to eat with the tartare. Its a very  nice twist that matched with the restaurant concept.

Second Course

Another two choices for second choice below.

Pork Roulade, Quebec Butternut Squash Puree, Roasted Mushrooms, Chestnut

While the portions were fairly little, there was quite a lot to like about this dish. For one, the Pork Roulade is pretty good. The barbecue sauce is made in the restaurant so it has a nice spicy kick to it. I really liked particularly the butternut squash puree along with the roasted mushrooms and the chestnut. Although they weren’t plentiful, they felt like it was done perfectly. I’m not a big fan of arugula but it wasn’t a huge amount so it was okay. That is really just a personal preference. The dish here is done very good and has a nice balance of textures and flavors.

Fish Tempura, Papaya Salad, Coconut and Chili Sauce

My husband took this meal. I tried a little piece and the fish tempura was done really tender. I didn’t try the sauce since I’m not really into spicy sauces much however the little taste I had was pretty decent.

Dessert

For dessert, there are two choices as well however due to the lactose intolerance issue for us, we got our own little thing.

Rocher Brulé, 70% Chocolate Mousse, Milk Chocolate and Puffed Rice Crisp, Coffee-Caramel Fondant, Vanilla Creme Brulée, Quebec Honey And Coffee Ice Cream

Judging from my friends, this one was a sweetness explosion. For those with a sweet tooth though, they enjoyed it quite a bit. The chocolate mousse looked delicious to be honest however, I have no first hand experience to talk about.

Cocolada (Pineapple Carpaccio, Rum-Coconut Sorbet, Tapioca, Poppy Seed Meringue, Lime Gel)

If this one didn’t have the tapioca, we could had it but unfortunately it also had that one.

Fruit Bowl with Poppy Seed Meringue

As for our fruit bowls…lets say that my one comment is that if restaurants could do substitutes for lactose intolerant people and not give fruit bowls, that would be really thoughtful. The bowl itself and the fruits were pretty good, except the extremely sour blackberries. They did add in the poppy seed meringue which tasted really good.

Overall, Nom Nom Cantine was a pretty nice experience. The food tasted really good. There were some delicious and creative cocktails. The service especially is what I’d like to compliment on. Our waitress was fantastic in both being attentive to all our allergies and dislikes as well as accommodating the best that she could. The food presentation was nice as well and all the little details were matching to the concept. At the same time, the decor was also really nice and lots of ambiance.

That’s it for the recap of Nom Nom!

MTL a Table 2017: Bistro Le Ste-Cath

I talked about it in the last Weekly Adventures however we ended up going to a second restaurant for MTL a Table. This time, we landed on Bistro Le Ste-Cath which is in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve area, which is a little off of downtown. A few reasons for this choice: the menu looked good and the location was decent (since there was a hockey game that night and it would be a mess to get in and out).

Bistro Le Ste-Cath

None of us had been to Bistro Le Ste-Cath before. Its a very artsy spot and there was a live show set to begin at 8pm. During the meal, there was an artist doing a painting on their stage. It was pretty cool to look at. The seating is a little tight but its also quite casual. The area had a decent parking spots if its not too late.

Drinks

Bloody Caesar

Sangria Rose

To start, my husband got his staple of Bloody Caesar. This one was pretty strong as in the spices were all there. As for the rest of us, we shared a pitcher of Sangria Rose. Bistro Le Ste-Cath has a pretty extensive variety of sangrias. Taking into consideration allergies and preferences, we went with a simpler Sangria Rose which only had a few ingredients. It was pretty good.

First Course

Mussels of the islands with fries

East-Hereford Rainbow Trout Tartare

Bas-du-Fleuve Minestrone Soup

I chose the mussels with fries for the first course. It was pretty good. The broth they used was delicious and the fries were top-notch perfection. It had a sprinkle of pepper and the way they made it was awesome. My husband had the minestrone and judging from his reaction, I  can’t say that he liked it a ton.

Second Course

3 Cheeses Salad and Mac and Cheese with Vacherin de Mont-Laurier

Brome Lake duck vol-au-vent served with fennel, dill and orange salad

Breaded Rainbow Bobines trout served with sauteed vegatables

Next up was the main meal. I took the breaded rainbow bobines. This was really nice. The sweet potato fries being the disappointment of the dish because it didn’t really have any taste and the texture was all pretty meh. However, the fish was nice. It was breaded with corn flakes which is pretty nice because for those who don’t know, corn flakes breading is the replacement for panko for those who are lactose-intolerant. I usually just leave it and suffer a little of the consequences if I am super desperate but this one had delicious sauce and was made very well. The husband had the duck vol au vent and he said that he enjoyed it.

Third Course

Monteregie Creme Brulee

Chocolate Trio with Strawberry and Basil from Quebec

Fruit Salad

The fruit salad is obviously mine’s since I can’t eat the original two on the menu. However, this berry salad was very fresh which is always a plus.

Overall, Bistro le Ste-Cath was alright. The seating is a little tight which makes it more suitable for like shows and drinking probably. The food was good. The presentation was nice and the taste was decent. To be honest, Bistro le Ste-Cath seems like a pretty hip spot. It had a lot of cool art happening as we ate as well as along its walls. It has live shows. You can tell that this spot has a lot of frequent and repeat customers because at times, there was a lot of groups that seemed to already know each other and seemed like a reunion, which can feel quite nice to see in general. Plus, surprisingly, this little spot actually had a quick alternative for my dessert issue. Its always nice to see restaurants willing to try to accommodate to our myriad of needs from having a toddler around and allergens and offering decent service for it.

My Weekly Adventures #54

November is finally upon us! Christmas is a little over a month away. Daylight Saving Time has kicked in but its always nice to get that extra hour. Montreal had their first little snowfall. Our roof is finally done and over with. Eco logs are ordered and shipping to us soon, luckily we have some leftover from last year. Its all shaping up to some fun times. That is a great thing after all the craziness in October. It also seems that not doing NaNoWriMo was a good call although doing it for the last few years now makes this year feel weird and oddly empty from having that creative outlet.

Anyways, I’ve rambled enough. Its felt busy but apparently not really….

MTL a Table 2017 (aka Battle of Ingredients substitute)

 

Battle of Ingredients takes a break in November as we change our gatherings to dinner outings for MTL a Table 2017. The original plan was for one restaurant which I covered HERE. This past weekend, we went to a second one all thanks to incredibly generous friends. Another great night that I will share later this week.

We are now planning our Christmas December gathering for Battle of ingredients. What do you eat as tradition for the holidays?

Haute Cuisine at Casino de Montreal

My friend’s half marathon season ended with his last race in Oka. Like previous years, he treats me to dinner to thank me for helping out. I am incredibly grateful for this running theme of generous friends. I help people because they are good friends of mine but its nice to feel appreciated as well. He took me to a fine dining French cuisine in the Casino of Montreal called L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon. Its so incredible that I have to write a post for it so that is coming up.

Wrapping Up and New Segments

Last time I talked about a surge of things sitting in backlog watched and needing to be reviewed and even talked about the immense about of movie reviews and TV binges. All still remains true. I still have a few screeners both short films and full features to review. One has been needing to get released but I can’t seem to word it correctly that I’m happy with. TV Binges are a little better but still wanting to get the Gilmore Girls seasons done. The goal this month is catch up.

In the spectrum of what I’ve done this past two weeks, I have decided the general rundown for the holidays marathon with a featured franchise, alt christmas movies and probably holiday movies (Hallmark and others depending on Netflix availability). Also, I have started a new segment for Sundays called Sunday Lists which are essentially lists of faves or best to worst. If theres something you would like me to rank, just comment below or shoot me an email. These lists will be updated whenever there is something to new to add.

Cute Kitty Pic

Upcoming:

• Restaurant recaps
• Movies and shorts reviews
• Book reviews

That’s it for this Weekly Adventures! 🙂
What have you been up to? 

MTL a Table 2017: Bistro Brasserie Les Soeurs Grises

MTL a Table is upon Montreal again!! It runs from November 2 to 16. The amount of restaurants seems to have increased quite a bit and has expanded the geography spread a little more to restaurants located a little further than the downtown, Old Montreal and Plateau Mont-Royal area which is the popular spots for restaurants. The menus however were quite a challenge to figure out with less that works for us. With that said, we ended up deciding on going to check out Bistro Brasserie Les Soeurs Grises for dinner. Last year, we checked it out for their brunch menu and it was incredibly delicious so we have high hopes for this one. You can check out last year’s post HERE.

Let’s see what their dinner menu looks like!

Bistro Brasserie Les Soeurs Grises
MTL a Table Dinner Menu

Bistro Brasserie Les Soeurs Grises has a really nice ambiance and is located a quieter part of Old Montreal.

Cocktails

Bloody Caesar

Sangria Blanche

Being a brasserie definitely gives this place at least some guarantees of making a decent drink and for both of these, they were really good. My husband had the Bloody Caesar which he orders whenever he goes out to a restaurant and my typical is white sangria. What is so great about sangria is the fruity taste of it all and how essentially every restaurant can have their own twist. This one is a little stronger with a more obvious taste of the triple sec however, still a very good one.

First Course

Smoked Duck Carpaccio, candied orange, spicy mesclun

Chickpea and beetroot hummus, basil pesto, roasted pepper, grilled pita bread

Smoked red peppers cream, mini grilled cheese au fromage Louis d’Or de Sainte- Elisabeth de Warwick

I’m fairly certain Phoebe will hop on here at some point to check out the post and she will tell you all about the Duck Carpaccio in the comments (along with her choice of the confit duck leg and waffles in the second course). I had the hummus and OMG, was it scrumptious!! The grilled pita was great and it went well with the hummus which was so unique. My husband had the soup and the grilled cheese. The grilled cheese was kind of a tease being so little but he liked it however, him being not a soup person, he did give higher compliments to the roasted pepper cream.

Second Course 

Smoked salmon filet, smoked potato salad, dried sausages with cheese, maple virgin sauce

Grilled waffle with confit duck leg from Brome Lake, onion jam, salad of the day, maple caramel and homemade beer

Poultry, sweetbread pistachio blood sausage, roasted potatoes, crispy onions, balsamic reduction, sauerkraut with wild boar bacon

I had the sausage dish for the second course. Since these foodie adventures, I’ve gained a liking for sweetbread and in this sausage mixture oddly with pieces of pistachio poking out, it was the absolute highlight of the dish. The roasted potatoes were slightly mushy but it tasted really good. My only issue with this one was the sauerkraut however, it isn’t the fault of it and more mine since I have days that I am more in the mood for it and I just wasn’t feeling like it complimented the dish that much. My husband had the salmon and he gave it all a thumbs up. I remember a praise for the roasted potatoes salad.

Third Course

Beeramisu and milk jam with fleur de sel

Pouding Chomeur with maple syrup from “Les Sucres de Mont-Megantic”

Dates stuffed with goat cheese, cranberries and walnuts

Finally, we are at the third course. Most of you know about my lactose intolerance so many times, my dessert option is limited. The only option here was the dates. I’m not a fan of dates and goat cheese (which is the only cheese I can have barring the lactose-free variety). With that said, this dessert option was over the top sweet and made me feel really bad afterwards and I just ate one of the dates. Normally, I have a sweet tooth but the sweetness of the dates actually overpowered the goat cheese making it decent tasting but adding in some extra syrup and not even cranberries to balance the acidity and then the walnuts was just too much for me. However, being too sweet seems to be a big comment on our table even for my friends who took the Pouding Chomeur. However, it seems the star of the desserts goes to the twist on Tiramisu called Beeramisu which my husband said was quite good except it was leaning on the very sweet side at the end.

Overall..I’d say Bistro Brasserie Les Soeurs Grises was pretty good. Sure, the desserts weren’t to our liking but thats just probably because we’re not all immensely in love with extreme sweetness. However, the food was pretty decent and wins for both me and my husband. Definitely someplace we’d consider going out for a date night if we ever have the urge to go downtown (which is almost never unless its festival season).

MTL a Table: Bistro-Brasserie Les Soeurs Grises

MTL a Table finally done as of this past Sunday. In a final attempt to give a brunch a shot, my friends decided to go out for one last little trip out! Well, a post I saw about the recommended brunches just made me want to go eat one of them so much and the Bistro-Brasserie Les Soeurs Grises just looked phenomenal in the article that I’m happy they agreed.

Let’s wrap up MTL a Table in style!

Bistro-Brasserie Les Soeurs Grises

MTL a Table Brunch

First service

Mimosa with Prosecco
(another option is mimosa with beer)

One word for this: YUM! I love mimosas. Probably because I don’t usually have them when I go out for breakfast.

 Second service

Toutiere du Lac St. Jean (Pie pan of Lac St-Jean with deer, ox and boar, country bread, wild boar bacon jam and seasonal fruits)

Burger des Soeurs (Pretzel Bread, blueberries wild boar sausage, aged cheddar cheese, egg, fruit mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato salsa Kumato and seasonal fruits and brown chopped potatoes)

Pancake and Gravlax (Thin pancake with gravlax and smoked Matane shrimp, dill cream, flying fish egg, apple and fennel salad, smoked potato salad and seasonal fruits)

I had the tourtiere du Lac St. Jean for this one. The other choices, without the lactose portion just would seem incomplete. But then, I had my eye on this option. I don’t think it was on the menu displayed on MTL a Table site. Just to show that, you can never be sure about a menu until you give it a chance for these events. For those who don’t know, Tourtiere is something of a traditional Quebec food. It is pretty much a meat pie. Some people prefer to eat it with ketchup. I do that sometimes. If you look at this one, they really changed up the formula. The meat is different and the presentation as well. It was so awesome! Right from the meat in the pan to the bacon jam. As for the other options, the pancake and gravlax was delicious as well. My friend enjoyed that one. Her husband took the burger and I think it was decent as well.

In Addition…

The winner of the show for my friends was maybe the side of pretzel bread that we got. It was not only cute to look at but also tasted really good. I personally think they could have gotten another one.

Overall… Bistro-Brasserie Les Soeurs Grises is a winner. The brunch was the best meal out of the four places we checked out. You can argue that I’ma brunch lover so a little biased but this place has heart, great atmosphere, located in a nice part of town and the service was great. Really not much to complain about. I just want to go out to eat there again and try something else on their menu.

My Weekly Adventures #32: Getting Organized!

We’re getting things more organized here! My Weekly Adventures will be numbered from now on! At least that way there isn’t a confusion and it kind of gives it less of the same title over and over again. I will try to add a little something to make it highlight what the part is about.

November is the month when I start thinking about the next year so that is exactly what I’m doing. I still can’t exactly believe that 2016 is almost finished! Christmas decorations need to go up soon and everything is being in preparation mode for December! I mean, everything!

Let’s start!

NaNoWriMo Progress

The beast I need to talk about first is NaNoWriMo. It is the highlight of November. This is my sixth NaNoWriMo and if when I finish, it will be the fifth one I completed. It also means, I need to work on some editing. Both my husband and best friend has asked about reading some of it. There has to be one story that I feel can be made into something a little more presentable. Maybe not for the public eye but at least friends and family that have to put up with my disappearance and sudden running off because I need to do word sprints.

NaNoWriMo is going pretty well! As I’m writing this up, I haven’t started the writing for the day but I’m at 21,156. I’m about 500 words behind provided I get the word count today. The story hasn’t hit a snag just yet but I did fall behind as I had to restructure a little of the outline as I work up on the first turning point. Thrillers are super hard to write. For those who don’t know, I’ve pretty much wrote a different genre of novel every year so far. The most promising goes to last year’s so far. I still think about how to make it better. This year is all about a thriller and those are super hard because its being able to keep a plot going but having a second thing going on where there are hints. It kind of happened just because I decided the day before I started to mesh two ideas and couldn’t decide. I’m sure it’ll work out.

On a better note, all this work has turned me into a super efficiently organized person. Apparently, when time becomes super scarce, I just go crazy on structuring my to-do list. All good things! I’ll do a recap at the end of the month. I feel like I’ve grown much more this time than ever and its only half a month. Plus, I’m still relatively on track which is a record on its own! Let’s not get overconfident though ;).

MTL a Table

Another year of MTL a Table has passed. We went to three dining restaurants and expanded our group to a three couple and one baby foodie adventure. We ended it with a little brunch (that unfortunately didn’t have the complete group). That post is going up tomorrow! There’s always so much to try and decide on and this year was no exception. I have my eyes on a few restaurants for next year. So far, those restaurants haven’t had menus that work for me yet. This year’s choices were still pretty good. They were all unique in their own way to say the very least. Plus, it was with great company. We keep to ourselves quite a bit, mostly due to schedule and being busy with our own little stuff so its nice to hang out with friends when we get a chance.

We are already looking at the next Montreal foodie event! It might be in a few months though.

ShirtPunch finally came in!

 

It took more than a month to get processed and sent here but I finally got it from ShirtPunch! You know what? It was worth the wait because it looks so awesome! I had my issues with Life is Strange but there are so many charming elements of it as well. A truly memorable experience.

Planning for 2017

I can’t ever remember how much I’ve talked about on this. I talked about domain and all that stuff earlier in the year. Don’t worry about it. It is still something I’m working on. There’s never something that pops out at me yet and I want to make a banner and stuff to make it all look more professional and fun! Just look at the sad YouTube channel page, for example, it would have multipurpose. I’m uploading more stuff there, like game playthroughs and unboxing primarily. There is actually going to be more stuff there soon. I’m working on the next thing right now. Its something that I’ve been thinking about for the last year so its nice to want to do something more.

As for 2017, there may be some finalizing the change in direction of what I’m doing. For one, there may be more video content, maybe less movie reviews and more focus on lifestyle. Although, to be fair, my lifestyle includes a lot of movie, TV and books so you won’t see it going away any time soon. Especially since I just started exploring the world of visual novels. Plus, I have to get back to those abandoned projects that I haven’t done anything for in a while.

If it isn’t crazy enough right now, my husband and I are setting up something new right now. Funnily enough, I made a banner for that already. Just need a thumbnail logo.

Lots of stuff in the horizon, my lovelies! My question for you all: What do you like reading here? 

Cute  Sleepy Kitty Moment

What are you up to? Getting ready for Christmas yet?
Help me out and tell me what you like checking out here!