Rob and I were lucky and blessed to attend our good friends Marie-Ève and Mike's wedding in the Eastern Townships. Enjoy some pictures we took during our 3 day week-end.
More pictures after the jump!
Links to the places we visited:
I love this KibardinDesign concept digital wall clock. Goes black during the day and white at night.
Via Apartment Therapy
We had two of our good friends over last week and one of them just had to stop over at the 'cupcake lady'. Intrigued, I followed her in the tiny store. Cocoa Locale is a great cupcake and cake store. Reema Singh, the store owner and resident baker, make the most scrumptious and delicious cakes!
You must try her chocolate-chai cupcake, made with Valrhona chocolate. Cupcakes are 3$ each, 15$ for a half dozen and 5$ for the bigger cupcake for two.
Gone are the carefree days of summer when we could just laze around and make forts with nothing more than a box and an imagination. I miss those days, but if I look back I recall the desire to be older and ability to do things when I want - well, I am a bit older, but am still not able to do things when I want, perhaps that comes with retirement? As a grad student, one thing you realize is that for at least a few years your life is school ALL year, and that is really, really hard to get used too. I miss out on a lot of things during the year, and my personal life is limited to my time in the bathroom, but the thing I miss doing the most is cooking. I used to cook for my family, then I met the best thing that happened in my life and had the pleasure of cooking for my new extended family, alas the cooking is sporadic at best these days. However, today was one of those days.
When it came to deciding what we wanted for dinner, it was off to our small grocery store that never fails to inspire me with its amazing selection amidst its cramped aisles. We grabbed a few things for the week: milk, veggies, bread - you know, the basics - but when it came to the meat counter we looked at chicken and beef like it had been SO overdone. It's not to say I don't like the aforementioned meats, I've just eaten too much of it - so it was decided, dinner would be the "other white meat" (I feel like that quote is trademarked by some pork producing company, so consider this my thanks!).
One thing people know - and should know - about me is that I love food, it is almost like a lover. Food, like my lovers, can't be pretentious, shallow or conceded (etc) because I don't need things like that in my life and they are simply trash in my eyes; food should be interesting, easy and fun to prepare, and a JOY to eat. Even simple things can be the most enjoyable and dare I say it, gourmet? Second, I am indeed a nerdy scientist by day and chef by night, and there is nothing more enjoyable and fun then rummaging through a fridge to create a dinner out of little bits of whats laying in that energy consuming, air conditioned box - like a wonderful lab experiment. A note: there are certainly some scary things in a refrigerator, mostly in the back, so steer clear of anything moving or growing a new form of penicillin - of course, you would never find anything like that in our fridge......
Now that I've had a bit of a rant, let's get down to the best meal of the day: dinner. Tonight's menu consisted of a pork medallion in a cilantro-onion reduced cream sauce, served over pureed potatoes, served with a Greek-inspired salad. Did I mention this was all done in 30 minutes? 
I started by slicing half a large red onion because we really, really like onions; red onions have a wonderful soft taste and sweetness when sauteed. I reserved a few slices of onions and diced them into fine pieces for the salad. I finely chopped one clove of garlic, and about two tablespoons of cilantro. The pork in question was a beautiful pork loin, one thing to watch out for is to trim off any connective tissue (it's silver) because it can cause sinuation. In other words, it causes the meat to curve by causing the connective tissue to tighten up quickly and therefore the meat cooks unevenly and makes for one odd eating experience. Once I had the pork loin cleaned up, we started to potatoes cooking (not pictured because let's be serious, who can't boil potatoes?) and also heated one tablespoon of butter in a pan with two tablespoons of olive oil on low heat. I then cut the pork loin into medallions about half an inch thick - cut it to the thickness you like, but make sure they're even. Season with salt, pepper, and a bit of flour.
The trick with the flour on the meat is that the flour actually reduces a bit when you sear the meat, so you reduce the chances of the final product having any lumps of flour in the sauce. With the butter melted and the oil heated, not hot, I added the cilantro.
This is my trick, certainly where science meets food, if the oil is too hot you will fry the herbs and seal in the flavor - all you'll have is fried leaves that give nothing to the dish's overall flavour. Plants are delicate and in order to get the maximum flavor, simmer the herbs lightly in the oil and butter and you will create a beautiful infusion that will generate the most amazing, subtle flavour in the final product. I like to wait until I can really smell the herb I am simmering before proceeding and cilantro is one of the most arromatically pleasing, I just love it. I added the onions next with that sizzle sound where you know the heat is at the perfect setting, which is hard to establish on our relic of a stove - to be honest though, I wouldn't give it up for anything.
After about eight minutes or so, the onions softened and started to clarify a bit, I pushed them into a small pile and added the meat to sear it off: yet another of the beautiful sights and sounds in the kitchen.
After searing the meat on both sides, I added the key, decadent, and yes gourmet ingredient, heavy cream. And not just a bit, but half a cup of it; its thick and rich texture encompassing every bit of flavour in that pan, truly a marvel.
I reduced the heat, gave the pan a gentle shake to make sure the cream wasn't escaping a nook or even a cranny, and covered the pan with a lid. The potatoes were cooked by this time, so I drained them, mashed them, added butter, sea salt and mik, and whisked them to a gentle, fluffy puree. Potatoes are great because they are easy to cook and definetly a joy to eat! I called the salad Greek-inpsired because it's wasn't quite a traditonal Greek salad, but had some elements of one. I didn't feel like a traditional one for two reasons: it was too late to eat that many sliced onions (heartburn) and secondly I hate, hate olives. There, I said it - to the foodies of the world the day has come, someone hates olives. When I go to a party where there is a plate of olives, it might as well be a gaping, black hole into some olive-centric universe; and god forbid I find an olive in my martini beacuse there will be a bartender with a black eye. So, you get the picture and we return to the simple salad: mixed greens, tomoates, the diced onions, feta cheese, and cucumbers. Easy, easy, easy!
Dressed in the only dressing we eat as private citizens (lol): lemon juice and olive oil. I never eat prepackaged or bottled dressings even if they say they're good for you, real food is something YOU make. With that, we made ourseleves delcicious summer cocktails and proceeded to plate our food, which I topped off with chives from our balcony herb planters.
Along with a loaf of sea salt and rosemary bread, we dove into an absolutely wonderful meal for a cooler summer Monday.
Remember food is the gateway to the soul, and if you enjoy creating something in the kitchen with your own imagination you may be able to recapture those long gone summer days. Bon appétit my friends.
Hi everyone! We'll be on vacation for the next week (for a well deserved rest) and won't be updating MEL until our return.
In the meanwhile, you may contact us through Twitter.
See you soon,
MEL
Station8 will be showing off it's collection at the Montreal Mode & Design Festival, which started today. See the newest Station8 treads on the Select Stage tomorrow night, Thursday June 18 @ 7:30pm.
Plus, see many more fashion shows and artists (like Beast and K-OS)!
Montreal Mode & Design Festival - McGill College avenue between Ste-Catherine and Maisonneuve
Station8 is a made in Montreal clothing company by Ève Gravel and Marie-Claude Guay.
Some of my favorites after the jump!
station8clothing.com
Available at General 54, 54 St-Viateur W, 514.271.2129
and all D-TOX stores.
Is anyone else excited about FOX's new show, Glee?
Check out the this sneak peek:
Just changed the layout of Mile-End Living.
What do you think? Leave your comments or Twitter me!
Chris
While browsing the H&M website for their Fashion Against AIDS line of Tees and Body shirts, I noticed that Swedish singer Robyn had made a creation.
Remember Robyn? Here's a refresher:
Anyway, I discovered her last album (Robyn) and I fell in love with it.
Check out some vids and some of her songs after the jump!
Robyn - Who's that girl?
Robyn - Handle me
Get Robyn's self-title album on
robyn.com
myspace.com/robynmyspace
A giant Fortune Cookie!
Hi everyone! I'm sorry, I haven't been a good blogger, but school is absolutely crazy. I'll be done soon and I'll have more time to blog up a storm!
Anyway, just wanted to share with you some BIG Kylie news: she is FINALLY doing a North American tour (her first EVER) and will be stopping over in Toronto in October!
I'm so happy!!! Of course, I'll be trying to get some tix!
Kylie Minogue
@ Toronto's Air Canada Centre
Oct. 9, 2009
Tix available May 15th through TicketMaster
Rob and I stayed in MTL on Easter week-end and had a wonderful, sun filled Saturday afternoon in Mile-end.
First, we went to Chocolaterie GrandBois. These hand crafted chocolates by Geneviève Grandbois are to die for! We bough a tin of Les Brindilles Fleur de Sel, a delicious combination of 70% cocoa dark chocolate with fleur de sel...
162 Saint-Viateur West
514.394.1000
chocolatsgrandbois.com
Next, we had an amazing brunch at Café Local. Brunch is served from 11am to 4pm! Now's that's my kind of brunch!
I enjoyed the eggs benedicts on a fresh St-Viateur bagel with cream cheese, rosted red pepper and tomato, zucchini and roast potatoes. I finished it off with a Lush (prosecco, Absolut and rasberry puree).
Rob had the Club with roasted tomato and organic chicken on a fresh herbed ciabata with fries and salad. 
Looks good!
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