Beware the Poutine

On the way to Montreal, Jason mentioned something about a local food item -- poutine. I hadn't heard of it, so I looked it up in my guidebook. Here's what it's all about:

• French Fries


• Cheese curds


• Gravy

My reaction? "Ummmm... I think I'm going to have to try that!" And we did!

btw, Jason is not supposed to have fried foods, dairy or MSG (found in most sauces and gravies), but he took one for the team! Surprisingly, he felt pretty good afterwards.

Cupcakes -- Montreal style

This past weekend, I went with Jason to Montreal. For the last six years, he's been the "Chandler" to my "Monica" (minus the getting married in the last season thing) as he lives in my building and we bug each other all the time and I steal his TV Guide.

Wait? do you think I'm "Rachel"?

Anyway... He's moving there for the next 10 months because he got a great job there, and I made the drive up with him. Since I had never been to Montreal before, I decided I should do a little research... on cupcakes.

My first attempt was to check out the cupcake blog to see if they had anything listed. They actually had three listed. Two were delivery only -- meaning I'd have to order a dozen or more and have them delivered. The third was a place that had an actual shop... but the website said they would be closed from Sunday, July 25 through some time in August. So I knew that the only way I would be able to sample them was if we could load up all Jason's stuff, drive to Canada, get his working papers at the border, not hit border traffic, and unpack his stuff by 5 pm on Saturday. So...

Next I did a google search, which turned up the same places. Next, I asked Esther for advice and she found me this blog. Not only did it name some other cupcake places, but it told me which ones were the good ones. Plus, they named the neighborhoods, which helped since the only thing I knew about Montreal was the name of Jason's neighborhood. I wrote down the address of the one that is in his neighborhood (which is supposedly marginal), plus the one that won their title of "Best cupcake" two years in a row.

Saturday, we were busy with the moving and the driving, so Sunday evening was the first day we could kind of explore outside of his neighborhood. We decided to go to the "best" place, just so we could locate it. We figured it would be closed by 5:00, as the other one had. When we got there, we discovered that it was, in fact, open until 6 pm (still ridiculously early, if you ask this New Yorker) and the present time was 5:45. However, there was a sign in the window that said that they were sold out. I'll refer you to Esther's blog for my feelings about this. The kicker was that their sign said that they are closed on Monday AND Tuesday. All the time. But this week, they were also closed on Wednesday. Which didn't matter because we left on Tuesday.

On our walk, we happened to walk past the one in his neighborhood and I recognized it right away, but since I thought I could easily go there the following day while J was doing other moving-to-a-foreign-country stuff, we kept walking. The next day, he got done earlier than expected, so we met up and on our way home, got off the subway one stop early to return for cupcakes. Which was when I realized that I wished I had looked at their sign when we were there on Sunday because it also indicated that they are closed on Mondays. And who has Monday as the LAST day in a list of days? What kind of a crazy place is this?!

In addition to that fun stuff, I also wrote down another place that the Canadian food blog recommended... Guess what. CLOSED on Monday!

Desperate for sweets and being denied thrice, we remembered a place in his neighborhood that we had walked by and commented on because it had chocolate in the title... also CLOSED!

So, all of that was to say that I didn't have any cupcakes on this trip.

Not for nuthin'....

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Hey, C'Mon That's Not ... Why Would You ...Whoa!
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

for the record, my entrance is 14.

America's most trusted

In a recent poll, my fave Jon Stewart was voted the most trusted newsman. Interesting.... I think of him as a comedian, but I do trust him over a lot of others out there, who shall remain nameless.

More movie reviews

(500) Days of Summer. LOVED it!!

Public Enemies. What a disappointment.

Vacation wrap-up part 4 -- movie reviews

1. The Hangover. This is not the type of movie I would normally go to, but it had been getting such good press. Also, I really like Bradley Cooper since his days on Alias, but especially now with his longish hair. I talked Jason into going with me. Ironically, he liked it and I didn't really, for exactly the same reasons I wouldn't normally go to this kind of movie.

2. Whatever Works. In a previous post, I wrote why I wanted to see this movie. I totally get now why Woody Allen didn't make this movie back when he first wrote it. Also, I read an interview with him and he says, "People always look for clues [about me] in my movies … no matter how many times I've told them over the years I make this stuff up."
If you've seen this movie, Manhattan, or Husbands and Wives, and I'm sure there are others, you will see that this man is completely delusional. Even so, I had a few good laughs watching this movie. Larry David is hilarious basically being himself, although doing a sort of Woody Allen impression. Patricia Clarkson is always brilliant and Evan Rachel Wood is pretty good, too. The best part is New York. I really hate how the city is portrayed in most movies today, but this feels pretty authentic to me.

3. On the way to the theater to see Whatever Works, I was given a pass to see Funny People. Usually, I can't see screenings because they start at 5:30 or 6:00, which means I would have to be there to stand in line at 4:00. Standing in line for an hour or so to see a free movie is a great way to spend a vacation day, dontcha think? Anyway, the movie wasn't what I expected at all. I think because it wasn't exactly funny. The best thing I can say about it is that most of the jokes in the trailer are not the same ones that are in the movie. The scenes are the same, but the dialogue is different which is great because even though you know the basic plot of the movie, the lines are all totally fresh. The funniest line of all comes from James Taylor, interestingly enough.

4. My Sister's Keeper was okay. I am not a fan of Cameron Diaz, but she didn't bug me too bad, for once. It's described as a tearjerker, and I'll admit it. I did shed one or two. Which usually means that I loved the movie, but in this case, it was just okay.

So, no rave reviews, but my favorite of these was Funny People. Summer movies are not exactly my favorite.

Read this. True. So true.

as proof, I suggested last night that my book club read Julie and Julia and go see the movie together. Not quite Fight Club, but still...