October 30, 2005 Archives
I love myself, so have syndicated this blog over both Livejournal and one of its clones, Greatestjournal.
But anyways, I've read from the Livejournal flist, that you HTML takes heart characters! & + hearts + ; = ♥ (if you are dim-witted, see source code for entire explanation).
The 1995 referendum on Quebec independence from Canada was some 10 years ago. Extremely entertaining documentary produced by Radio-Canada (our state broadcasting corporation) is currently airing. You can even buy the DVD, woaw. I was obviously too young to remember most of what preceded the climax of the campaign. But it appears clearly to me that back then I would've thought it "cool" if Quebec voted Yes, just b/c I was a teenager looking for a thrill similar to government change. Point de rupture, documentary in two parts, first aired and September, and now on re-run, as we hit the 10th anniversary tonight.
The documentary really comes across with the sense of theatrical drama. The strange bedfellows (competing interest groups in Quebec under the same banner), the near-death experiences (Lucien Bouchard and the flesh-eating bacteria), the all-mighty God looking upon the characters (showed by unclassified confidential communication between the American consul in Quebec City and Bill Clinton), and a fantastic open-ending (the No wins by a margin of about 0.1%, while it was thought to defeat the Yes by at least 10 points). *That's* a great show!
You will often hear me complain on this blog and in real-life about the lack of anything Asian in Montreal, starting with the food. But one fine to excellent thing about Montreal is its variety (on the cheap side) in various other things, including Meditteranean stuff.
This afternoon after sweeping the leaves in the backyard (you could go out w/o wearing a winter coat, isn't this super?), I followed my mother to Marché Adonis on Des Sources Boulevard, to what I had in mind as small nowhere ethnic grocery store. Turned out to be a renovated version of it, in its suburban largeness (not as large and mainstream-ish as Canadian-Chinese grocery stores, like T&T in every major Canadian market besides Montreal, can be - even though Montreal is by far the second largest city in Canada, the Chinese, usually English-leaning HKers, have deserted the city b/c of Quebec sovereigntist French-isation movement - a nonsensical reason I think).
We went for fruits, but you could order shish kebabs for takeout, houmous in the refrigerated counter, and a whole row of just with bags of beans. There's even that weird salted yogurt drink I had the other night at the Persian restaurant... And I found an Arabic-branded ("Phoenicia", locally-produced, I don't think one can find imported dairy products in this country). I assume it's middle-eastern style, and middle-eastern yogurt was a food discovery of the Egypt trip. It's chunkier and plain-er than the plain-est North American-style yogurt. The best during breakfast was always to add a spoonful of fig jam or honey to a cup of yogurt (we also purchased a small jar of fig jam for 99 cents! A produce of Egypt!).
I had this idea on Friday while reading on food, that I would actually love to go on a food trip to France. My cousin from France (most of my dad family's living happily in France) throws the yearly invitation to visit the country, and perhaps the rest of Europe, but I always refuse b/c of my secret love affair with Asia (to be discussed furtherly around some hot cups of hk-style milk tea). But this time, I used food as a motivation, and thought, hey, I'd like to waste a few euros on food? WASTE EUROS FOR FOOD! (Besides, they're useless in North America, Asia, anywhere besides the Euro zone)
What eh. I have a father who cooks better French food than Chinese food (our weird way out of Guangzhou/China made both sides of family pass by former French possessions), so let me be, and raid that Parisian fromagerie! Or perhaps the whole market, while we're at it. And an hour later, you will see me in Bois de Boulogne chomping my bread with cheese, and wine bottle (in its paper bag).
The only restaurant I remember from my first and only trip to France when I was 12, was Le Pied de Cochon near Les Halles (and as I check their website, am proud I remember that detail!). Of course, I can't eat pig feet, just like I still dare not eat fong tsao (chicken feet). "But the delicious gelatin and crunchy cartillage!" Yes I know... :/
Wine and cheese, yes yes, that's right...