Festival de la Poutine

Richard and I went to Drummondville, QC to attend the Festival de la Poutine and got press passes.


We got in early, before the crowds, to check out the poutine booths setting up.


There was an enourmous stage with huge Poutine Festival banners on either side of it.


At about 3 p.m., folks started drifting into the show. The first performance was Pass Partout, a kids' show.


There were clowns and jugglers...


...and people tasting poutine around every corner.


I took notes of where and what we tasted.


My friend Anthony (from mapoutine.ca) and I both took tons of photos.


Lots of poutine with orange-ish, tomato-based gravy, apparently a specialty in the Drummondville area.


And other poutines like this one called "Poutine Taquise."


This one, in my opinion, was by far the rock star of the event. Chef Martin Picard's lobster poutine. Oh. My. Gawd.

Poutine & New Friends

On Saturday, Richard and I ventured north to Drummondville, QC, to attend the Festival de la Poutine. I got an email from the fellow who runs the site mapoutine.ca who said we should meet for lunch at Chez Louis and share a poutine together before heading to the Festival.


And so we met up with the poutine-loving Anthony (who recognized us from my blog), who was wearing his signature poutine t-shirt...


...and clicking away madly to record each and every poutine he saw.


His lovely partner Sandy also had a poutine although I suspect she's not as huge a fan of the stuff as Anthony is.


We did share some poutine and some talk about judging a good poutine and a lot of general poutine talk.


Okay, Anthony. How do you do it? Thin and still eating your poutine to the very last drop.


Nice to meet you, Anthony! Good times.

My Sister's First Poutine

My sister Marci came to visit my from Ithaca, NY over the weekend. We headed to Alfred, ON (the French fry captial of Eastern Ontario) to try some poutine.


Marci had never had poutine before! It was an exciting moment.


She loved the fries and kinda liked the poutine. This was a good one too from a little place on the main drag called Kennebec.


Crisp fries, curds and gravy. What else could a gal ask for?

Poutine & Chipmunks

Gordon and Natalie brought their 13-year-old friend Rachel over. Rachel was visiting from the U.S.A. and had never tried poutine before. Oh my!


Her request was to have kosher poutine and it was a fairly easy task. I found a tin of brown, mushroom gravy, added curds and fries and voila! Meat-free poutine.


I think Rachel really enjoyed her first taste of the stuff.


After our meal, we went outside to sit on the swing and get some fresh air.


Somehow I think feeding the chippies was more fun than eating poutine.

Poutine at The Gage

In Chicago, right across from Millennium Park is a restaurant called The Gage.


It's actually directly across the street, so close that you can see the park reflected in its front door. I had Googled "poutine in Chicago" and The Gage popped up with glowing reviews.


And they were all right! Elk ragout poutine, delicious, creamy gravy making the curds, still squeaky in their freshness, melt a bit, all served over very good fries.


Richard loved it...


...and so did I! It definitely rated 5 curds out of a possible 5! Yum!

Cheese Fries at Neil's

While in NYC a few weeks back, my sister Marci asked a few cops where we could grab a good cup of coffee -- that wouldn't cost us $5 a cup -- and they directed us to Neil's Coffee Shop.


Great call! The place is one of those real joints I love to go to.


Even at three o'clock in the afternoon, the food orders were coming fast and furious.


The menu had all the typical diner fare you'd expect...


...which included a great cup of coffee.


We couldn't find poutine on the menu so we ordered a plate of cheese fries...


...which my niece Sylvie and I split. She also had a chocolate shake. Ah, to be 19 again...

This Poutine is the Bomb!

Ever have the urge to bathe in a bowl full of scrumptious richness? I had that experience the other day at a fantastic joint called Petit Bill's Bistro in Ottawa. My friend Peggi treated me to a lobster poutine and man, oh man, was it ever amazing. To see my full review, go to poutine chronicles.

If You Go Into the Woods Today

We've had almost no winter in these parts this year and I'm not complaining. Spring has come about a month early and with temperatures close to 10C, whatever snow we had is going fast.


The old picnic table in the woods is still standing and with this weather, it was the perfect weekend to hold our second annual picnic in the woods. Last year there was tons of snow and it was much colder.


So, this year, we had poutine which I assembled in the woods. I brought hot-from-the-oven fries...


...which I topped with squeaky curds...


...and poured on hot gravy from a Thermos.


Perfection in the woods.


And hot, milky tea to end the meal. See ya next winter, picnic table!

Perfect Valentine's Day

On Sunday, Richard and I headed to Cornwall to see the Seaway Valley Theatre Company perform Fiddler on the Roof.


It's a show with a huge cast and lots of wonderful musical numbers. How would they do it?


They did a really good job. The sets were simple but perfect. The casting was pretty darn good.


But definitely, the star of the show was Jean Guy Quesnel. He was absolutely convincing as the lead character Tevye. He was a joy to watch.


We went for an après théâtre snack at the Fifth Wheel down the road...


...where we had a cuppa joe and shared a poutine. A perfect Valentine's Day I'd say!