October 25, 2015
Day 96: Montreal: St. Viateur Bagel on Rue du Mont-Royal, and more
I headed out on a bike this morning, in a clearly futile attempt to stir the embers of this over too soon cycle tour. My target was Rue du Mont-Royal, a premier shopping street of Montreal. My objective was the bagel bakery about half way down. Bagels are of course the unique, terrific bread product of Montreal - assuming they come from the St Viateur bagel bakery, at one of its few locations. To be right, bagels must be hand rolled, boiled, and baked in a wood oven. But of course, everyone knows that, except for hapless millions served by industrial bagel pretenders!
On the way, I was keeping my eye open for baguette bakeries, since I somehow do not have a good mental map of them all. My eye was soon caught by the keywords "Boulangerie Artisanale". Of course in France almost every bakery they have makes the artisanal claim. The thing is, it is literally always true! So in I went to this one, who name was Le Pétrin Fou. That's a hard one to translate, since a pétrin is a mess, jam, pickle, or predicament. I was not sure quite what to make of the interior, since it was extremely smoky with either wood smoke or bread smoke. I did not immediately see any baguettes on display, and said to the lady the equivalent of "Errm, got any baguettes?" Then I looked behind her and down and spotted dozens and dozens in bins. I bought one ($1.75) really and truly just for research purposes, since bagels were to be the main menu item today. The research revealed a flavourful (and not burnt or smoky) baguette with good texture. This would be a fine place to remember.
I have been to the St Viateur bakery on Mount Royal a million times (having written about it in blogs each time, seemingly), but there is something about their storefront and sign that makes it hard to spot. I slid on by and had to get out my phone to sheepishly ask them where they were. Once inside, I took the usual dumb tourist shots of the bagel production. Don't care. I love seeing it every time.
From there it was back home with my treasures. I am still close enough to the cycle every single day phase of the trip that I am about as strong as I ever can be. Combine that with an unloaded road bike and empty Sunday morning streets, and cycling is pure heaven. It's the silent, effortless movement that I love. I also noticed that with an unloaded road bike, hills are no problem. All they do is add an interesting slight change of pace. Well, duh - you are thinking. But listen, when do I ever get to ride an unloaded anything?
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's theme of trying to recreate our experience in France got a big boost as Josh and Sabrina and we got an invitation from Gale and Agnes to stop by for lunch. Gale and Agnes are world travellers with original roots in Lyon, who also worked in Angers for a few years. Though their parents remain in France, they seem to be settling in in Quebec.
Last year Agnes had challenged me to a tiramisu making contest, and she chose today to come up with hers, inviting me to follow suit. I cried foul because of lack of notice, but she seems to have still claimed the tiramisu crown. I feel ok about it, because to be frank, her tiramisu was terrific. I had my doubts, though, as I walked in to find her mixing something with ricotta cheese. "No, no", I cried "You can't even begin to think tiramisu with ricotta!". Agnes was fortunatley not insulted to see that I would even begin to believe she would do this. Instead she patiently explained that she was making a side dressing with garlic for the Saucisse Lyonnaise she was preparing, and that the tiramisu had been done and safely in the fridge for ages.
Well the sausage (which had pistachios in it) was super (served with the dressing, and Maille mustard), as, of course, was the tiramisu. We had fun talking about France, cycling, kids, housing, and all sorts of stuff, until Gale threw us all out, because he knew we would never get to the Jean Talon market - our next planned stop otherwise.
Josh, Dodie, and kids planned to go by car, while I took the bike. The market was 6 km away, so I beat them there. They had some lame excuse about the difficulty of getting the kids into their jackets.
More so than in any of the European markets, Jean Talon gives a feeling of tremendous abundance with the seasonal harvest. There are piles of bright red apples, peppers, beans, carrots, etc. Pumpkins are everywhere, in all sizes up to half a ton! And look, Michel, enough cranberries to accompany a whole flock of turkeys!
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Amazingly, all three kids found a way to be crabby at the market, so our stay was not so long. We still came away with a lot of good stuff - multicoloured carrots, pumpkins big and small, unpasteurized apple juice, and maple syrup!
My ride to and from the market really was a pleasure. Montreal and Velo Quebec are much to thank for this, since the whole way was on beautifully marked out cycle ways. The city has been fearless in hacking off strips of none too wide streets and dedicating them to cycles. Sometimes this takes the form of painted lanes, liberally designated with cycle symbols, and sometimes, such as on Rachel and Clark streets, there are separated cycle sections supporting two way cycle traffic.
My way to the market took me past a large creperie, and then onto St Laurent Ave. This had been a traditional street of immigrants, and de facto boundary between English and French halves of the city. All that is pretty much ancient history now. Still, a little north on St Laurent is the section known as Little Italy. It seemed to be mostly represented now by one large Italian grocery store. If the Bartletts (Italy Bound with our Recumbent Tandem) are reading this they will laugh, but I really think that in this small area the traffic got a lot more crazy. I had not yet found the Clark Street bikeway at this point, so I felt forced to take to the sidewalk. Can drivers get crazy just from the Italian vibes emanating from a grocery store?
The route to Jean Talon crossed both Fairmount and St Viateur Streets, both the homes of famous bagel bakeries. There was also St Zotique Street, which lacks a bagel bakery, but I just like the name (Saint Zoticus of Comana, was martyred in 204 a.d.).
In the end, today's cycling distance was sort of semi respectable. I know this too - it was completely super enjoyable!
Today's ride: 18 km (11 miles)
Total: 4,133 km (2,567 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |