Thanksgiving Precursor

I saw these mini cupcakes at Healthy Living Market in VT next to the Vermont Brownie Company brownies. Can't resist sweet potato cupcakes topped with cream cheese icing by My LIttle Cupcake. Couldn't really taste the sweet potato, but definitely got the sugar rush from the super sweet icing. Really cute and really tasty. Mr. Monkey thinks so too.

Successful Brownie Quest

When I arrived in Vermont, I immediately thought of brownies laced with Chevre. Why? Because the Vermont Brownie Company was featured on Food Network's Throwdown. After a few thwarted attempts to locate a brownie, I finally ended up buying it from a local grocery store. Expensive, but delicious.

On Vacation?

Sasha and I visited the Ben and Jerry's factory in Waterbury, VT. The bad news: the production staff was on vacation, so none of the equipment was running. The good news: I still got to eat ice cream anyway. Check out this cool podium!

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: