Vacation Food

Well I just got back from my trip to Ottawa and Montreal, and I definitely spent all the money I saved in the weeks before the trip on food. But it was good food, so it was ok. I'm not one to take photographs of restaurant food, but I will try to describe the highlights:

Montreal

The Spirit Lounge - this was an experience that I will remember for a while. It was a small restaurant and different objects and materials covered the entire surface of the walls, ceiling, and floor. Our booth seats had a faux-snake skin cover, there was a rug on the ceiling, playing cards were glued to the wall as well as tinsel, there was writing on a mirror which was also on the wall...and those were just what was in my immediate vicinity that I remember. It was a very colorful place. The music was good as well and went from Carol King to reggae to tango to Hindi music. The owner, who was also (as far as I could tell) the waiter and cook, told us that only one meal was served each day (all-vegan), that we could have a regular or reduced portion (both for the same price) and that he didn't want to see a drop of food uneaten. I've read that in the past he used to charge $2 for not finishing your food and now he just gets angry if you don't. I guess it probably makes sense, especially because Montreal doesn't have composting. Anyway, we were first given a curried coconut milk-cauliflower soup, then a curried crepe thing that (I think) had sweet potato, regular potato, turnip, cilantro, and peach (yes, peach), among other things, then a slice of chocolate banana pineapple cake, and to finish, red bush tea with indian spices. We got the reduced portion (which was still very substantial) and every morsel of food got eaten. The soup was amazing, the crepe was good but a bit weird (too much unnecessary fruit), the cake was really good and the tea was amazing. I was shocked that some extra spices could make a tea taste so good! I will have to try it myself. very interesting place.

Aux Vivres - we went here for Saturday brunch. I was very excited to have brunch at a vegan restaurant, and it was very good. I was disappointed that there weren't any pancakes, though. Pancakes are a brunch essential, or at least french toast. Anyway, I got the 'le brunch complet' (I think that was the name), which consisted of scrambled tofu, tempeh bacon, cornbread, roasted veggies, and a bit of fruit. I'd never had tempeh bacon before, and it was awesome! That is another thing I'll have to try to make myself. Everything was pretty good.

Ottawa

Irene's - this was a little bar/pub that had vegan food. It's find of funny, the night Josh and I got in to Ottawa, we decided to go here because it was fairly late and I thought other places might be closed. We didn't have a map at the time, so it took a while to walk to Bank street, and then we realized that Bank street was quite long, but we didn't realize exactly how long it was... By the time we got there the kitchen had long shut down and all that was left was chips. So then we went back (on bicycles) the next night and I got a yummy veggie burger. I was just impressed that Irene's had a variety of vegan as well as non-vegan food - I don't know of any bar in Halifax that has a good selection of vegan food, although I don't go out much so I wouldn't know. They had soups, sandwiches, hummus & tabouli, and other vegan things. It was nice.

Caribbean Flavours - this was the first time I'd had Caribbean food. We ordered the jerk tofu roti platter, and it was the spiciest thing I've ever eaten in my entire life. Spicy curried tofu wrapped in flatbread with spicy carrots, green beans, plantains and sweet potato on the side. I drank about three glasses of water during the meal, my nose was running, my eyes were watering. It was insane. And it was the kind of spice that lingers for a while. The food was good, but next time I will never order 'jerk' anything again, or at least not soon. I'll stick with the regular tofu roti for a while, then maybe try to work my way up to the jerk tofu in a few years. This restaurant had home-brewed ginger beer, which I really enjoyed. It was sweeter than the stuff I can buy here, but it was tasty. Interesting place.

The Wild Oat - this was a health-food bakery/cafe. It wasn't strictly vegan, but it had several options. Busy place with a nice atmosphere. The first time we went, I got an 'east meets west' sandwich, which had grilled tofu and vegetables with a cilantro-something sauce. Delicious. The next day we went back for breakfast and I got, I don't remember the name very well, but something like ______ creme. I wish I could remember. Anyway, it consisted of buckwheat groats blended with flaxmeal, orange juice and banana (I think), then topped with fruit salad. I'd never heard of anything like it before, so I was intrigued. It was good - the blended part tasted almost bitter, but the fruit salad balanced it out. Interesting, very interesting.

That's it for now, but expect new recipes and pretty pictures soon!