October 5, 2009

Montreal! Je t'aime!


Back at home with my kids after a few days of work meetings in Montreal. This was the first time that I have spent some serious time in that fabulous city -- before this all I knew of Montreal were stopovers while changing planes!

What a great vibe Montrealers have -- they are warm, welcoming and invariably speak this uber-cool "franglais", easily slipping between the English and French words.

We stayed at the Queen Elizabeth (part of the Fairmont hotel chain today) and -- unbeknownst to me, this was the site of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's famous "love-in" back in the day :) Pretty cool, as many of my roads are leading to Yoko it seems!


Highlights of our stay were numerous -- especially dear were the hospitality and generousity of our Montreal business contacts. Breakfast at Fuchsia on Sunday was a delight for all of the senses -- like edible fine art, polenta delicately flavoured with fresh herbs was topped with a fried egg, bacon and a giant caper the size of an olive -- all in a sweet antique-style mason jar and accompanied by a salad of seasonal greens and flowers (marigolds, roses etc...). Yum and double yum -- all of my senses were singing an angelic chorus! Our drive up to Mount Royal and viewpoints of the city from the hill were breaktaking.

Bagel Baby!
Oh, and I must not forget the famous Fairmount Bagels -- no, not Fairmont, Fairmount... this is in the Jewish district of Montreal and is not related to the Queen Elizabeth in any way.

The quaint but immaculately tidy shop cranks out a variety of bagels 24/7 and our favourite were the sesame ones. Warm from the oven, without cream cheese, they are delectable -- moister, slightly sweet and less doughy than their New York cousins, these are a new addition to my list of best loved foods!

Our friend recommended cream cheese, lox and fresh sliced tomatoes and the combination was mouth-watering. He also suggested that the addition of raw onion was nice, if you like onion -- next time perhaps! (... because I know there just has to be a next time!)