Delicious Dumplings

Rick and I went to Qing Hua, the supposedly "best" dumplings in Montreal. We ordered the pork with cilantro, although quite good, I wouldn't classify them anywhere near my top ten list. They were very juicy, we ended up inadvertently squirting dumpling juice all over the table.

Oh la la!

When asking the front desk at our hotel where we could buy the BEST pastries in Montreal, the boy responded oh you know that place you walked past 25 minutes ago? Yea, right there. D'OH! Not about to brave the cold again, I opted to take the bus to Premier Moisson.
Cute little bakery:
Irresistible loot:

So True

Although not exactly food, definitely food related:A closer look:

Montreal Munchies

Rick's coworkers suggested the Montreal must-eats list which included poutine and smoked meats. So, we went on a trek towards Old Montreal and found Montreal poutine. Poutine is essentially fries that have been drenched in gravy and covered with cheese curds. Tastes about like it sounds. Maybe the place we went to wasn't very good, it tasted very bland. Not something I would order again. The unimpressive frites:
I walked for 1.5 miles to purchase smoked meat sandwiches from Schwartz's. Wow! What a difference, when going to try a city specialty definitely go with what the locals recommend. Delicious! I stood in line for about 15 min in the freezing cold only to learn that you don't need to stand in line for take out. Here's the deli in all its meaty glory:

Peter Peter

Pumpkin Cookie Eater. I felt the need to make Fall/Halloween cookies and used a Betty Crocker recipe. WOW. Totally delicious, even without the buttercream frosting. They turned out pretty well if I do say so myself!

Betty Crocker's Sugar Cookie Recipe

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Granulated sugar or colored sugar

1. Mix powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients except granulated sugar. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
2. Heat oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease cookie sheet.
3. Divide dough in half. Roll each half 1/4 inch thick on lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes with 2- to 2 1/2-inch cookie cutters. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Place on cookie sheet.
4. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 5 dozen 2-inch cookies

Ghoulish Delight

My overgrown child-husband wanted ghost burgers for the Halloween season. And that's what he got! Sirloin burgers topped with Havarti cheese using a Wilton ghost shaped cookie cutter.

Take Two: Sweet Mandy B's

One of my very first posts on this blog was about Sweet Mandy B's. Well finally made it back! The cupcakes look a little more sophisticated and the shop has expanded into the next building over, but one thing hasn't changed, the cupcakes are still good.

Strawberry Stands!

Strawberry season has ended sadly, but not before I bought a basket from one of my favorite stands. Up until now, I have never had a ripe strawberry before. Who knew that when a strawberry is ripe, the inside is red?! Not me.The stand was also selling five zucchinis for a buck! These will become chocolate chip zucchini bread in the near future.

That's a BIG straw!

I went to Burger King and ordered their delicious calorie laden Oreo Sundae shake. It was pure creamy chocolaty goodness and the best part about it? The straw! They call it the BK Pipe, it's big so you can suck up the chunky bits.

Mum's the Word

Ice cream cake! Ice cream cake! Ice creamy creamy cake! Ice cream cake! Look what Rick got me for Mother's Day! :)

I Dreamt I Ate My Pillow

and when I woke up, I saw a train made out of rainbow marshmallows. I went to the Bellagio again and this time they had a new display next to the chocolate fountain.

Berry Good

I made some blueberry muffin/cupcakes today using yellow cake mix. Not too much of a recipe, I just added 1 cup of frozen blueberries to the mix, 3 tablespoons of whey protein, 2 tablespoons of benefiber (gotta pretend it's kind of healthy) and 1/2 cup white chocolate chips to half of the muffin cakes. Then I mixed and baked according to the instructions on the box. All the blueberries sank to the bottom of the muffin cakes when they were done baking. It looked like the muffin cakes had collapsed halfway through the baking process. What happened to the muffin cakes with the white chocolate chips? The cocoa butter acted like regular butter and just melted into the mix, which made for a kind of greasy muffin cake. I topped off the cakes with a lemon orange glaze, recipe below:

Here's the muffin cake with an orange glaze:MMM! The muffin cakes are incredibly tender and feel like they'll fall apart at a moments notice. The glaze was VERY tart by itself, but complemented the muffin cakes nicely.

Orange glaze:
Ingredients
1 1/2 T lemon juice
1 t orange zest
1/4 T butter
1/2 C powdered sugar

1. Combine powdered sugar with juice and microwave for 10 s, mix
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and microwave for 10 s, mix
3. Glaze away!

Everything is Better with Bacon

I went to Country Waffles today, which is a staple out in this area. I ordered the bacon cheddar waffle. It was okay, dense and crispy. The waffle was pretty big and I couldn't finish it. It came with a side of cooked apples, which crumbled into mush in my mouth. I think they used WAAAAY too much thickener for the sauce. I took one bite and left those alone.