montreal

Je t’aime Montreal Day 3

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Day 1 and Day 2 Recaps

Our final day in Montreal started out with a cranky baby who wanted to eat and eat and eat so it took longer to get the day started than we had hoped but what can you do? Finally by around 11:15am we were able to get E in the Boba carrier and head out for a little walking and window shopping.

After about an 30 minutes E had finally fallen asleep so we walked around for a bit longer and then decided to head to Aux Vivres for one last lunch.  It was so nice to actually go to the restaurant to eat since the last two times we ate Aux Vivres we had take out.

We started out our meal with a yummy VÉGÉ-DÉLICE juice (tomato carrot, beet, cucumber and spices) and an order of chapati with their famous veggie butter. I really want to try and recreate this veggie butter at home- does anyone know whats in it?

For our meals Neil and I debated over the amazing sandwiches, the yummy Kosmos plate we had ordered Saturday and the bowls.  In the end we both decided to go with bowls; Thai bowl for him and Bouddha bowl for me.  I apologize for iPhone photos for some reason we didn’t really take the camera out all weekend- huge fail on our part.

Thai Bowl: steamed bok choy, pickled carrot & daikon, peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, shredded carrot, coriander with Thai peanut sauce and grilled tempeh

Bouddha Bowl: steamed organic broccoli, steamed spinach, toasted sesame seeds, shredded carrot, grilled pumpkin seeds, wafu dressing & grilled tempeh

After lunch we headed back to the car to start making our way home.  We made one pit stop at the beer store to pick up a variety of Quebec beers that we can find at home including a pumpkin beer for our pumpkin beer tasting party next week.

The trip home was fairly easy with only two stops to nurse and the border was fast and easy. The only trouble we have had has been transitioning back to our normal routine.  I love vacations, small and large, but I hate coming home especially during the work week; I find it a challenge to get back into the groove and by the time I do it’s the weekend again!

Je t’aime Montreal Day 2

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Je t’aime Montreal Day 1

Sunday morning we woke up early (per baby’s routine) and made some early morning breakfast and coffee.  Edie ate a few times and took a brief nap before heading out for brunch.

Once E woke we bundled her up and headed out for a walk while we debated between Aux Vivres and Crudessence for brunch.  We ended up deciding on Crudessence because it has been on our Montreal bucket list for year but in the past it has either not been open or we have run out of time.

We started with some beverages a shot of cold pressed espresso for Neil and the best kombucha I have ever tried for me.

As you can see E didn’t want to feel left out so she decided she needed to eat as well.

For brunch Neil and I decided to share two different items:

Öm Burger: A mixture of mushroom, sun dried tomato, flaxseed and mixed vegetables, served on chapati and garnished with fresh tomato, red onion, lettuce, homemade mustard, ketchup and our famous caper aïoli sauce with a side of salads which included greens, sauerkraut and carrot salad.

Breakfast Burrito: Sun dried tomato and corn tortilla filled with our “egg” paté, aubergine bacon, tomato, lettuce and sprouts. Garnished with avocado, crème fraîche and local microgreens

Both were good but the Breakfast Burrito was exceptional.  The “egg” paté was incredible and I really want to recreate it at home. The burger is one of the most popular items but I thought it was good but not great.  The carrot salad was wonderful and Neil loved the sauerkraut.

Neil and I had saved enough room for dessert but Miss E was getting a little fussy so we decided to grab a package of green tea spirulina macaroons to go even though we wanted the blueberry faux cheesecake. The macaroons were incredible though so we were happy.

We packed E up in the Boba carrier and took the Metro to Jean-Talon Market.

We spent a few hours wondering around the market sampling the produce, admiring the turkish sweets (a few of which we enjoyed) and sipping a wonderful coffee all while the baby slept.

We picked up a few items from the market for our dinner and headed back to the apartment to relax and cook up dinner. We spent the remainder of the rainy night eating a yummy pasta dinner and watching Netflix.

Stay tuned for part three!

Je t’aime Montreal

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I always find that after any sort of vacation, short or long, it takes me a few days to get back into our routine at home. To top it all off this mini-vacation ended with the passing of our dear fur companion Boo so it’s been even more of a challenge this week.

So lets talk about Montreal! Neil and I went up a few weeks ago for his half marathon but we spent most of our time traveling there, at the race expo or at the race so we were unable to explore the city.  This fall was our first trip since October of 2010 due to immigration (Neil getting his greencard) and pregnancy.  Fact: Neil and I ran off to Montreal after only 3 days of dating (hmm..maybe I’ll share our crazy love story someday). Crazy, I know but it just felt right and here we are 6 years later happily married with a beautiful baby girl.

Neil and me in Montreal circa Sept 2006

Anyways we decided to find a place to rent in Montreal on airbnb.com (our new love since having a baby, my second -formally first love- is hotwire). We found a nice little place that one of Neil’s co-workers had actually stayed at in the Plateau area of Montreal.  It was the perfect location because it was 5 blocks from our favorite restaurant Aux Vivres and only a few blocks from two metro stops.

This time we decided to head up on Saturday morning rather than Friday evening and Neil took Monday off so we had three wonderful days to enjoy the city. We started off Saturday with a stop at the Atwater Market to check out the stalls and get a bite to eat. Neil and I ended up picking up some beautiful Brussels sprouts, mushrooms and garlic to use over the weekend and we shared a yummy tofu satay sandwich.

Edie hung out all bundled up in my poncho.

After shopping E had some lunch of her own and then we headed to the apartment.  Unfortunately it took us 35 minutes to drive 4 miles due to some horrible traffic and E let us know she wasn’t a fan of the traffic either.

Once we arrived and unpacked at the apartment we headed out for a walk.  We stopped at a few stores and hoped to stop for a beer at Dieu Du Ciel but when we arrived there it was packed and baby + pack brew pub = no go.  So instead we headed back to the apartment where I fed E and Neil headed out to the beer store to pick up a few Quebec brews for us to try.

Once E was in bed and Neil was back from the store we ordered take out from Aux Vivres.  Unfortunately by the time it arrived we were both too hungry to bother taking photos.  We ordered the Kosmos plate and the cold plate and they were both new to us and absolutely delicious.

After dinner we shared a beer and played a few rounds of cribbage before heading to bed.

Stay tuned for part two!

RnR Montreal Recap

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Where did the time go? I had planned to write this recap but now almost three weeks have past and I’m finally getting to it- that’s what happens when you have a busy husband and a baby. Anyways first you can read about our Montreal stay and the RnR Montreal Expo Recap.

When we first planned to head up to Montreal for the race the plan was for all of us to go to the starting line with Neil and then we would take the Metro up to the finish line.  Well once we arrived there we decided that it would be better for Neil to just head to the start by himself and in the end that was the best idea since the Metro was filled to the brim with runners.

At around 9:30 Edith, my parents and I walked up to Mont Royal Metro to meet up with my friend Allie who planned to watch the race with us.  Once we located each other we headed over to the finish line to wait for Neil and watch the race.  I lucked out the E slept in the Ergo for the first hour and then she wanted out but for the second hour she just hung out in my arms mesmerized by the runners.  Unfortunately due to the large number of runners it took Neil forever to finally get across the start line and by the time he reached us (we were at around kilometer 19) E was ready to eat so I didn’t really get to see Neil run and E didn’t get the chance to cheer on her daddy.

I was really impressed with how many people came out to watch the race and cheer everyone on.  This was a new experience for me since the only races that I have been to have been local 5 and 10k’s which is pretty much just runners and a few family members and the VCM which had some people watching/cheering but it was nothing like this race.

Since I didn’t actually run the race I can’t give you a recap of how the race went but you can read Neil’s two part recap here and here.

RnR Montreal Expo

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On Saturday we spent nearly the entire late morning/early afternoon making our way through the RnR Montreal Expo.  First stop at the Expo was race bib pickup and then on to t-shirt and swag bag pick up.

Once Neil had checked in and picked up all of his goodies it was time to make our way through the expo.

Our first stop was the Brooks Running game area where we had some fun playing a few games. We even played a competitive game skee ball which I won even with Edie sleeping in the Ergo (and no she didn’t even wake up!) I proudly wore my skee ball championship medal although after seeing Neil’s RnR race medal it wasn’t so impressive, but more on that another day.

After playing some games we made our way through the vendors and spent our time lusting over new running gear, trying some samples and of course getting our photo taken.

As much as I would have liked to have purchased everything in site Neil and I both held off since I am in need of new running shoes, which aren’t cheap. We did however pick up a few Bondi Bands which Edith just had to model for you (don’t worry she won’t be running for beer anytime soon).

Overall I thought that the race expo was really well done.  The layout was perfect and we hit very few congested areas.  I also loved the start of the expo where they had some fun games for us to enjoy.  Now I have only been to the VCM expo besides this one so I don’t have much to compare it to but overall I thought it was really well done.

Rock ‘n’ Roll in Montreal

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This past Sunday Neil ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in Montreal, Quebec this past weekend. This was his second half marathon and his first international half marathon. We headed up on Friday after Neil got out of work and checked into our airbnb rental which was in the perfect spot just 1.1 km from the Mont Royal Metro Station and surrounded by our favorite shops and restaurants.

(source for all images)

We arrived later than expected on Friday night and with a sleepy baby and pouring rain we decided to stay in for the night.  We ordered food from our favorite vegan restaurant Aux Vivres which unfortunately took nearly two hours to finally get because the online ordering/delivery service that they have on their website did not place our order because we were not using a local number and rather than contact us or update our order page we didn’t find this out until 15 minutes after the food should have already arrived which was an hour after we had ordered.

Tired, hungry and frustrated we decided to call Aux Vivres directly and Neil ran out to pick up our order this time.  I was a little frustrated and almost just gave up on getting dinner but I was so glad we did because my Dragon Bowl was just as good as I remembered and the big slice of carrot cake Neil and I shared was delicious.

Neil ordered the Macro Bowl (photo from Aux Vivres site)

Unfortunately I don’t have much else to share when it comes to food and sites because the bulk of the weekend was spent at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Montreal Expo and race. We did stop into the Eaton Centre for lunch at the food court and then Saturday night Neil and I picked up a few things to make a pasta dish at the apartment for dinner.

Since this weekend was dedicated to the race we are planning on making another trip up (hopefully) in October so we can spend some time enjoying our favorite eateries and sites.

Stay tuned for RnR recap posts!

Montreal RnR Demi Marathon

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This past weekend we made our first international trip with Edith up to Montreal for the RnR Montreal Demi Marathon. Neil and I are going to do a recap of the race and expo this week but until then I’ll leave you with a few photos. I’m exhausted after our weekend away and have a load of dishes and laundry to do but I’ll be back tomorrow!