Opening the door of the Mauricie

We were driving back from Quebec City and were letting the little one sleep in the back for as long as we could. Such is what you do when you are driving a lot during the holidays. When she woke up would determine, once again, where we would eat, depending on where we were. Just how far could we go? We were on the 40 and closing in on Trois-Rivières. Perhaps we could reach the outskirts of Montreal? Not quite. She woke up as we were exiting Trois-Rivières, limiting our options. I suggested waiting until Berthierville, but was told that she wouldn’t hold out that long. We were closing on Yamachiche. The choice became obvious: la Porte de la Mauricie. This old truck stop, which opened 30 years ago, was recently expanded and renovated. The complex now includes, on top of the original restaurant and the gas bar, a convenience…

Read more!

Skipping the Chili at Chili’s

We were on our way back to the Fort Lauderdale airport as our vacation was coming to an end. All week, Melissa had been talking about going to Chili’s. Why? I think she has been craving Chili’s because of all the ads she sees when I force her to watch American Football. Which, of course, I never do. Founded in Dallas in 1975, Chili’s has over 1400 locations in 32 countries around the world, most of them in the United States. There are 14 locations in Canada, all in Alberta except for 2 in Saskatchewan and 1 in Ontaro. We were driving south on the I-95 and our appetites were growing, so I started looking for a Chili’s location on the GPS. There are a lot of Chili’s in Florida, so I had no trouble picking one – we stopped in Wellington, Florida, a well-off village in Palm Beach County.…

Read more!

Fish and Cheap

As we were getting closer to Hfx09, I was sent on a pre-convention tour on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. The obligatory first stop was at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport. I was a little annoyed because even though my Air Canada flight had landed 5 minutes ahead of schedule, we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes as we waited for a free gate and a free ground crew. Still, I had a few hours before the boss landed, and so I decided that lunch was the next obligatory stop since it was past noon and Air Canada no longer feeds people on their flights. Choice is limited at the Halifax Airport, so I settled for the Maritime Ale House. Operated by HMS Host, the MAH is an ode to the Molson Brewery. Available beers on tap are all Molson products. The place was busy but not packed.…

Read more!

Celebrating Freedom

Mel and I were meeting Crystal for dinner to catch up and so on and so on.  Ever since she moved to BC, we barely see her anymore. Mel had picked the terrace in front of the Metropolitain as a meeting point, planning to maybe wander in the Market for a place to eat.  But since I was a few minutes behind and Crystal was nowhere in sight, Mel made the executive decision to pick up one of the few remaining tables on the Met’s patio. I showed up and we ordered drinks while we waited.  Mel felt Euro-sophiticated and decided to go for an Alsatian Kiss, one of their Metro Martinis – Citron vodka, apple vodka, apple juice, simple syrup.  (Why isn’t it called Lemon Vodka anyway?)  It was a well balanced drink – not too sweet, some tartness. Refreshing.   I opted for a pint of Stiegl. An Austrian beer, the…

Read more!

A chicken roosting in a Mondayne Cage

I’ve written about La Cage aux Sports before – I go there regularly.  Yesterday, I needed a quick dinner between a curling game (we lost 8-3) and a soccer game (we lost 5-1).  I figured that the best place to go between playing two sports was a place dedicated to sports, so here I was at the Hull location. Until March 15th at La Cage, it is the Mexicage Festival, so I was tempted to go down that route.  The Mexicage Burger looked especially interesting, and so did the pizza.  By experience, I wouldn’t recommend their ciabatta – way too much bread for it to be enjoyable. Also be aware that their Mexican Fiesta and their Fajitas are available all year long, and that despite the Festival, the prices are the same as usual for these items. At any rate, our lovely server Annie reminded me that, it being Monday, you could get their…

Read more!