Browsing: Food & Travel

Movenpick Marche

November21

D was a second year student studying Tourism and Hospitality at Ryerson in Toronto when we first started courting and he returned for his final year of study when we were engaged.  Needless to say, there were many reasons to visit Toronto for a weekend back in the olden days and I’ve been a fan of Movenpick ever since.  We would visit their Yorkville location in those days as we were fascinated that a very old neighbourhood, could some how come back to life with shops and restaurants.  These days of course, that is what TO is all about!

As the saying goes-feast your eyes!  If you agree that we eat with our eyes then you’ll be more than satiated before you even pick up a plate at Movenpick Marche.  The food displays are exquisite and are set up in food groupings.  When we visited at brunch time there were these stations: dim sum and sushi, crepes and waffles, seafood, omelettes, salad, etc. etc. etc.

On this day, we were meeting most of the rest of the family of the Frenchman (our pet name for the beau of our youngest).  We choose a quiet spot in the area of the restaurant that has a brasserie feel of Europe (appropriate since that is where this couple first met). 

I could not pass up the grilled vegetables on the salad bar reminiscent of the antipasta dishes that we fell in love with in Italy

and there were THREE kinds of baked pumpkin (I sampled them all). 

D was tempted by the divine bouillabaisse and so we shared both. 

This loaf of apple strudel was too good to pass up and even thought we shared it too, we could not finish the huge portion.

Marche Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Kath’s quote:  “…..all the charming and beautiful things, from the Song of Songs, to bouillabaisse, and from the nine Beethoven symphonies to the Martini cocktail, have been given to humanity.”-H.L. Mencken

Thank you for making the drive from Peterborough to meet us and for the exquisite lunch and visit.

Mexican Village-Grand Forks

September30

Five of us travelled together to NYC last summer and we were trying to recreate the fun times with another stateside adventure.  Now Grand Forks is no New York City (sorry Grand Forkians, Winnipeg ain’t no Toronto either), but we still managed to have a nice rest, great shopping, fun times and good food.

We were heading for Mi Mexico to find that it was no longer open.  We’d done Paradiso, many times before so we landed at Mexican Village.  The waitress glanced at the clock over our heads as we arrived (it was 8:40) so we knew that we were being considered fashionably late diners. 

Cold Coronas and our food was out in a flash and that was lovely as we had worked up a thirst and an appetie at Gordman’s.

 A couple of sisters had the combination platter,

another fajitas

and I the chicken tortilla soup (very different from the recipe that I make in that I couldn’t make out the chicken and I’m not accustomed to a cream base) 

and a seafood enchilada (if you call crab flavoured pollock seafood). 

We were surprized that we got our choice of gravies because we didn’t recall gravy on anything when we dine in Mexico-mole sauce yes, gravy no.  It was explained to us that gravies were actually sauce variations.  Must be a North Dakota thing….

Mexican Village on Urbanspoon

Kath’s quote: “I come from a home where gravy is a beverage.”-Erma Bombeck

Memories of Nice

September7

I was going to write about a recent lunch at the Frenchway Cafe and got out my travel journal about France for reference.  But I have now been swept away with memories of Nice as we were there exactly at this time, two years ago.  When I open my journal, it is as if it were last weekend.

In celebration of a milestone wedding anniversary, D and I travelled to Italy and France (very much motivated by the food offerings of the regions).  En route from the Italian Riviera to Paris was a glorious stop in Nice.  D wanted me to experience his favourite hostel from his backpacking adventure with our son, a couple of years prior.

 

Can you see me under the palm fronds on our balcony?

Villa Saint Exupery was everything he promised and more.  He had booked us a “suite” which in hostel terms, meant that we had our own bathroom and did not  have to sleep with strangers

  

The view from our 5th floor window was of the city below us, all the way to the Mediteranean and from our 180 degree balcony of another cityscape, the hills and the sunset.

 

There was a delay in the preparation of our room because the hostel staff had run down to the Marche aux Fleurs to ensure that flowers were waiting in our room (as D had arranged in every city we arrived in on this second honeymoon).  The lilies were absolutely glorious and I can remember their scent even now.  No wait, those are fresh lilies I smell, a gift from D marking this year’s wedding anniversary.

I digress.  I am supposed to be musings about food, so back to the culinary adventure.  At the Villa, a glass of French wine was a single euro but if you bought the entire bottle, it was only 4 euros-duh.   The hostel’s chef prepares a pizza each evening in addition to one other dish.  So D and I shared an amazing sausage, red pepper and artichoke pizza and a grilled chicken breast, turnip puree, sauteed green beans and roasted baby potatoes-all for 12 euros! 

We sat in the garden and chatted with travellers from all over the world.  Truly, an unforgettable time for us.  

Kath’s quote: “Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me.”-Sarah Bernhardt

 

Beijing Eating Adventures: Guest Blogger-Sister #3

August29

I try to keep an open mind when I go to a foreign country, especially when it comes to their food.  I remember traveling through Turkey many years ago with a woman who would complain “you just can’t get a good hamburger here” and I remember thinking, there are lots of delicious things to eat in Turkey that you can’t get in Winnipeg.  I never wanted to be a picky Canadian when it came to travel.  I believe in doing my best to love the food I’m with, as it were. 

So imagine my dismay when I discovered that Mandarin food and I just didn’t hit it off.  Turns out I am a big fan of Cantonese and Schezuan food, found all across China, but not so much a fan of Mandarin food, the specialty of the Beijing area.  Don’t worry, I will be sure to share the Cantonese delights I discovered in a later blog entry, but for now, let’s talk Mandarin.  

 

My hosts were obsessed with me trying what they consider comfort food.  They know that I am passionate about food so they spent a lot of time deciding what restaurants to take me to so that I would have the freshest, most authentic taste of the food they love.   

So let me tell you about some of the classic fare I experienced.  Rice was the one thing I thought would save me on this trip.  I love rice and could eat it everyday but I only got it twice on this trip and both times I made a special request for it.  At almost every meal we had congee – a goopy, tasteless rice porridge.

 

Meat is something I usually enjoy however the cuts consisted mostly of organ meats and there was a lot of intestine being eaten.  Not so much what I had in mind. 

OK, chicken and fish, safe bet…right?  All the fish and shrimp of course were head on and I managed OK with that. However, I remember tucking into this big bowl of yummy bone in chicken, I saw the feet were in the bowl and managed to psychologically overcome that and then I saw the head and that was it.  Game over. I’ve sometimes heard vegetarians say that the  “don’t eat anything with a face”.  While I am far from being a vegetarian I must admit I prefer not to have the animals face looking back at me as I eat it.  

 

Many of the Chinese vegetables are really bitter. Most are served in a sauce that is tapioca starch based making them all pretty slimy.  Thankfully I love broccoli, carrots and asparagus so much that even that could not deter me.

Dessert, surely one can get enough calories from eating sweets at every meal.  Unfortunately dessert was also a challenge.  When we would stop at a road side stand for a cold ice cream I would be told I could “get that at home” and instead be handed a bowl of lukewarm runny custard topped with red beans or filled with slippery bits.  Even the candy in Beijing is made out of bean curd. 

Thankfully I started each day with toast and a hard boiled egg at the apartment. Beijing had the most delicious eggs I have ever tasted.  I was grateful to have packed a half dozen granola bars.  And Priscilla’s cravings for American food occasionally won her mom over to allowing us to go to Pizza Hut or Subway.  Not my favourite food but boy did it ever taste good compared to congee.

Kath’s quote: “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might better stay home.”-James Michener

On Her Way to China-by Guest Blogger Sister #3

August13

Today I leave for China to visit Priscilla, and international student who lives with me during the school year.  I have been preparing myself for this trip for months, yet I really don’t have any idea what to expect.  Sure I have looked at the websites and talked with others who have made the trip, but I think that China is going to be a totally mind opening experience for me. 

Of course I am looking forward to experiencing the food.  People from Asia tell me the food is very different from what we Canadians think of as “Chinese” food. When Priscilla and I go out to eat we love to go for dim sum which she says is similar to what she would eat at home, although she had never heard the expression “dim sum”.  I am thrilled to hear that lovely steamed dumplings and noodle soups are what I have to look forward to. I doubt that there will be a deep fried shrimp in sweet and sour sauce in sight and to that I say hallelujah, bring it on. A few friends that visited Beijing told me about street vendors serving live scorpions and beetles on a stick, something I will be sure to avoid. I am an adventurous eater, but there are limits.  I am most looking forward to trying Beijing “Peking” Duck. 

On the day I picked up my Chinese visa I stopped at my favourite Chinese place, The New Hong Kong Snack House. Owner, Robert likes to give me a hard time about not visiting as often as I used to. I once worked with a woman who ate there twice a week so needless to say I was a regular.  I treated myself to his wonderful hot pork noodle soup and beginner plate which includes steamed shrimp dumplings, sweet pork bun, Peking perogies and yummy meatballs.  A great way to get my taste buds ready for the culinary adventure I am about to undertake.

New Hong Kong on Urbanspoon
 

Kath’s quote:  “(In Canton) the Chinese fondness for snacks and small eats reaches a kind of apotheosis.”E.N. Anderson

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