On Friday, my office took the afternoon off, and Jenn & I got to experience something that's part of every Quebecer's childhood - a visit to the Cabane Sucre (Sugar Shack) (Quebec produces 75% of the world's maple syrup). As a child, they were taught all about the process, from collecting the sap (looks and tastes like water), to boiling it down (40 gallons of sap boils down to 1 gallon of syrup), and all about the various grades of syrup.
As adults, the whole thing seems to have been boiled down to eating a meal of cholesterol inducing foods, including ham, bacon fried in lard, and scrambled eggs, all drenched in maple syrup. As a guilty pleasure, it was divine! There were other things to begin with, including pickled beets, pâté, and a delicious bean soup, and followed by a selection of maple deserts.
Then it was out to taste some maple syrup on a stick. The hot syrup is poured in little strips, on a trough of snow, then you take a popsicle stick, and wrap it up, and lick it like a lollipop. That's my boss, thoroughly enjoying his third dose of sugar.
We then went for a lovely walk in the sugar bush, to counteract the effects and to work off some of the sugar. A very enjoyable afternoon!
On Saturday we went for a walk in the Westmount neighbourhood, a high-end area to the west of us.
A great, very detailed sculpture at the offices of the Gazette, the Montreal English-speaking newspaper.
We didn't find the rest of the game-board - this square was painted on the sidewalk at a street-corner.
One of the many, gorgeous stone houses.
3 comments:
Oh man, I am so excited to go to Quebec! :) The maple syrup is calling me.
I love the maple taffy on a stick...it's one of the best things at Festival du Voyageur.
Sheri-Lee
Great pics as always. Looks like your snow is mostly gone (except in that trough). The maple syrup meal sounds kind of disgusting but oh-so-delicious at the same time.
I like that Stone house. Nice province.
Looks warmer than here.
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