CSA veg

We got our first bag from our CSA today, and it's full of goodness:

Red lettuce
Green lettuce
kohlrabi
savoury
garlic scapes (fleur d'ail)
Chinese cabbage
a turnip
radishes
broccoli
yellow squash
green squash
basil
red basil

Any suggestions as to what to do with the more exotic ingredients here?

Also: "scape" is not an appetizing word. I've had garlic scapes in stir-fry before, but I haven't seen them elsewhere. They're curly!

Gibeau Orange Julep Trip

When I was visiting the States last, I managed to lose my wallet, and along with it, my Quebec driver's license and healthcare card. There's no way to get either of them replaced online, so Ben and I set off Saturday to one of the SAAQ offices.

The liquor store is SAQ and the driver's registry is SAAQ, in case you were keeping track. 

I picked the SAAQ near a strange roadside attraction on Autoroute Decarie called Gibeau Orange Julep, in the hopes of making the experience more of an adventure and less of a lame chore for Ben and myself.

"What's an Orange Julep?" he asked.

"I don't know," I replied, "but my student says it's a thing we're supposed to do in Montreal."

He looked it up on Google.

"This seems promising," he said. "The Google keywords are 'hot dogs,' 'classic cars,' 'poutine,' 'hot rods,' and 'places to eat.' Let's go!"

So we did. The first stop was Metro Namur (not to be confused with Namor, who is the Sub-Mariner).

You'll notice a few things going on in this picture. First off, each of Montreal's metro stations has its own distinct architectural style, although they've all got an angular 60's thing going on. This station was evidently built in 1984, but they all have a similar vibe. Check out the cool lights, and more notably, the spikes on the escalators. Wikipedia says these sorts of things are anti-slide devices, commonly called "hockey pucks" because of their shape and size, and "their purpose is to prevent objects (and people) from precipitously sliding down the otherwise smooth metallic surface." While these don't look like hockey pucks, I'm sure these escalator spikes serve their purpose admirably. I have not spotted them at other stations, but I will now be keeping a lookout.

This is the Gibeau Orange from a couple of blocks away. It's a restaurant that is also a giant red orange. I do not know why it is this color, but that is not the color of a citrus fruit. Also there is some guy photobombing my picture here.

It featured a thematically appropriate sign with neon and everything.

Sometimes when you order clothes online, they caution you that the colors might not match up exactly, but if you're seeing this as an unnatural shade of red-orange, then you're in the right ballpark. What this picture doesn't impart is the presence of the speakers on lampposts blasting such hits as "The Reflex" and "Sister Christian" out into the parking lot. Which was awesome, of course.

Look close and you'll see a pretzel for sale!

The orange julep itself was dispensed from these cylinders. The insulated pipes coming out of it went into the ceiling. Ben and I both agreed that the giant orange was probably filled with the orange julep.

We got hot dogs and the usual sweet-ish, smooshy Quebec-style fries that I'm starting to enjoy a lot more these days. Ben and I both agree that if someone asks you if you want something "all-dressed," you should always say yes at least the first time. All-dressed hot dog in this case was relish, onions, and yellow mustard. I added ketchup. The buns on the smaller dogs were those fun split-top bread kinds that'd been grilled on a flat-top, while the Nathan's hot dog I got was on a normal but nicely toasted bun. I had the better quality hot dog, Ben had the better bun.

The drink itself is hard to describe, and evidently some sort of secret. My student told me it had "eggs or something." It tastes kind of like a dreamsicle.

The cup claims it's "MADE WITH SUNKIST ORANGES DAILY" and it has an excellent slogan.

So that was our adventure for the weekend. Later we went to a pool party and I wore an enormous sun hat, but there are no pictures of that. You can read more about the Gibeau Orange Julep here or here. Here's a scary recipe.

Where's the blog at?

Where have you been, you say? In Quebec, of course!

We're now headed into our second summer here in Montreal, and Ben and I will be finishing up our second French class this coming Monday. I see now why they call it "language interference," because half the time when I try to come up with a French word, I end up thinking something in German. So I am going to try to watch some more French-language TV, starting with this gem about le canard.

I like it here, I really do. I've settled into my job and they don't seem to want to get rid of me any time soon, so that is good, because I like it. I do one-on-one tutoring as well as class-specific labs and general workshops. Las semester I did a pronunciation workshop, which really allowed me to work with some of the knowledge I learned in my linguistics classes. It feels good to utilize the skills and knowledge that you have. I still don't understand how I managed to land on my feet after so many years of screwin' it up, but it appears to have been equal parts good luck and hard work.

 Ben's game was released earlier this year, and the portion that he worked on is really fun. I bought an extra Xbox so we could play the multiplayer bit together, and it's an enjoyable way for us to spend time. He's transitioned from a programmer into a design role, which is a cool career progression for him since he's more interested in design now.

Now I am off to watch my French show. Au revoir!