Montreal, and food!

The city of Montreal has some fantastic bagels.  They are thin and dense and delish!  The most famous of them all is Fairmount Bagel.

There are lots of flavors....

......but the best of them all is sesame seed ♥

You tell them what you want and how many, and they give them to you into a paper bag.




Opened in 1932 by Moe Wilensky, the restaurant was immortalized in Mordecai Richler's nove, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.  Scenes in the film version of the book were shot in the restaurant.
Wilensky's is most famous for its special, a grilled salami and bologna sandwich with mustard on a kaiser roll, pressed flat from the grill - mustard is compulsory, as a sign in the restaurant announces.  
Paul took my mother there once and they just slapped the sandwich down on the table without a plate or a napkin!  My mother was a little horrified :)  I wasn't really interested in eating there, no matter how famous it is.  It was fun to see the outside in person.

We walked along some more and went into a little market where we found some red olives.  Of course we had to try them.....they were good olives, had a lot of flavor, and we supposed that they were soaked in beet juice to make them red.

If you go to any province in Canada, you must eat at Tim Horton's. It is a Canadian icon, founded by Canadian hockey player, Tim Horton.  I almost got into trouble at the Canadian border once (ha ha!)  because I said their "Roll up the Rim to Win" slogan to the customs official!!!  My children made me do it :)  Tim Horton's sells the best coffee (I'm told....), donuts, muffins, hot chocolate, etc.

High on my list for food in Montreal, is poutine.  Greasy french fries, with squeaky curd cheese and hot gravy poured over the top.
You have to try some if you ever get to Montreal!



At the very top of my list, is smoked meat.  Just plain smoked meat, only sold in Montreal.  It is like pastrami but way better!!!  The most famous restaurant to buy the best smoked meat in Montreal, is Schwartz's on St. Laurent Blvd.

Celine Dion and her husband Rene Angelil recently bought the restaurant.  They say they are going to keep it the same, and not change it at all.  The place is pretty dumpy, you have to share a table with strangers, and they only accept cash.

I have a secret that only Montrealers know about......go to the Main, it's across the street.  It isn't as dumpty as Schwartz's, but you get a private table and can pay with plastic.



I feasted on a smoked meat sandwich.....rye bread slapped with mustard and stacked with smoked meat.  Served with greasy french fries, a side of vinegar cole slaw, and a garlicky dill pickle.  Feast you eyes, and just hope you can get some someday!!!

I hope you've enjoyed my simple tour of food in Montreal in the St. Laurent area :)

Montreal, a Walk and some Window Shopping

My brother Paul took me for a five hour walk up the mountain and down again.  This week, I will take you along with me, Montreal is a very interesting city!


Montreal is built on an island, surrounded by the St. Lawrence River.  We walked up Mt. Royal and on the way, stroll around Beaver Lake.  This is Paul, my tour guide.

On our way up the mountain, we walked along this beautiful trail.

We reached the top of Mt. Royal to see this gorgeous view of the city of Montreal.  You can see the Jacques Cartier bridge in the background.

It was a really hot, humid day, you can see the haze in the air.  The Champlain bridge is visible in the background.

We began our descent and found some dinosaurs!

Window Shopping

Vintage Shops

A changing room at one of the vintage shops.

On Wednesday, I will show you some more ♥

After 35 years, the Group of Seven still exists!

I grew up in St. Lambert, which is on the south shore of Montreal, Quebec.  Chambly County High School was really small, 500 students from grades 8 to 11.  
I belonged to the "Bridge Club", seven of us were really good friends.  This picture was taken in 1973, the year we graduated.

Here we are with Mr. King, our Biology teacher.  It looks as though we were celebrating someone's birthday, but none of us remember whose it was!
Left to right, Louisa Leggett, Cynthia Crook, Kate Church, Laurie Neale, Mr. King, (don't remember the boy's name), Andrea Roberts, Heather Edwardson's cheek, Karen Pedersen, and me (Cynthia Kennedy) in the far right corner.
Some of us have known each other since Elementary School!

Here we are at an open house at Andrea's parent's home for her pre-wedding.  December, 1977.  We were all 21 years old.


Laurie initiated the idea of us all getting together for a reunion......We met in Toronto over the Victoria Day weekend.  
We had such a fantastic time together, it was as if the years melted away.....we picked up right where we left off.  We have all matured and life's trials have seasoned us for the better.

Me, Cynthia (California), Heather (Niagara Valley, Ontario), Kate (Maine), Louisa (Edmonton, Alberta), Karen (Edmonton, Alberta), Andrea (Maine) and Laurie (Holland)

After 35 years, the "Group of Seven" still exists :)

Travel Pillow

I made a little pillow for my grand daughter Kennedy when she was younger.  I originally made the pillow for her doll.

Kennedy liked the pillow so much that she shared it with her doll.

I bought the pillow form at JoAnn's, it is 12" X 16".  I use a fat quarter for one side and a fat quarter for the other side.

I choose a third fabric for the ruffle. Using three different fabrics lets me have the thrill (lol!) of coordinating and matching!!!

I made another pillow to match a baby quilt.

The baby quilt was made of Lila Tueller fabric also.

I was starting to be envious of these little pillows, I wanted one!  My daughter Rebecca and grand daughter Maisie and I took the red eye to New York City last summer.  The thought came to me to make us each a pillow for the plane ride.  

I have so many beautiful fat quarters, that it was really hard to choose which one I wanted to use.  I don't know if you can see the little "Bambi" on the ruffle.  I love that fabric but now I don't have anymore of it.  It came in yellow and blue and brown and I really wish I had some more of it.

The pillow was so handy on the airplane. The armrests are so hard on the planes, and resting my arm on the pillow felt so good. When Maisie was sleeping, it was nice to have the extra cushioning that the pillow gave.  Now I take the pillow with me when I fly and go on  road trips.  I often put the pillow against my lower back for support.  The pillow is very lightweight too.
I decided to make a "manly" pillow for my son who would be flying to Brazil.  

This fabric was about as "manly" as my stash allowed!  It is by Tina Givens and looks like an African print.  Instead of sewing a "girly" ruffle along the edge, I just sewed a trim, so easy!  The above side is a little more masculine than the one below...

My son loved the pillow and stuffed it into his back pack for his trip.  I'm sure he will find it very useful during his two year mission.
I hope you will get the bug and make one for yourself or someone you love.

Thanksgiving Dinner quilt

This is one of my favorite quilts, it is so much fun to hang it on the wall every Thanksgiving, through the Christmas holidays.

This quilt was designed by Lori Holt from Bee in my Bonnet.

Notice how the border looks like turkey feathers :)

It comes complete with the turkey and all the fixings.

The quilt is all applique and embroidery.  It took a while to applique the letters!

I cut off the mashed potatoes in the photo, but you can see the potato masher, the cranberry jelly and Grammie's gravy.  My mom made the best gravy from scratch with the turkey neck and some of the insides.  I can barely stand to look at those things, let alone touch them!

The pies, oh the pies!!!  Jordan makes a killer pecan pie tart and sweet potato pie.  Kim's favorite is pumpkin pie.  Rebecca's favorite is harvest fruit nut pie.  Lindsay makes a different specialty every year.  Our family loves key lime pie, but not usually for Thanksgiving.  I really like the traditional French Canadian sugar pie, and another Canadian favorite, rhubarb.  Vanessa made her first pie ever last Thanksgiving and it was a difficult one, Harvest Fruit Nut.  It was superb!

I think that Lindsay made the two pies on the left, Jordan made the one on the top right, and I made the pecan one on the bottom right.

I could go on and on about the pies....Jordan made the pecan pie with the crushed pecan tart shell on the left, Lindsay made the pumpkin pie covered in whipped cream with the cinnamon swirl crust pictured on top, Vanessa's first pie, the Harvest Fruit Nut on the top right even with a pastry heart!  Jordan also made the sweet potato pie with the meringue top, on the bottom.

Do you see the cinnamon swirls on Lindsay's pie crust?

What Thanksgiving dinner isn't complete without homemade stuffing in a vintage pyrex dish with pink embroidery :)

All of our Thanksgiving dinners include our favorite family recipe, Mushroom turnovers.  For those of you who don't like mushrooms, they don't even taste like mushrooms, they are just plain rich and delicious.

I didn't get a photo of the rolls block, but you can see it on the quilt.    The rolls are on the blue pedestal.

Oh, the turkey!!!  La piece de resistance!  This turkey is appliqued with basil leaves and cranberry buttons!!!  

Jordan is the expert "deep fryer turkey cook" in our family.  I think this turkey was Rebecca's specialty......marinated in brine for 12 hours and then baked the traditional way. Both methods result in such a moist turkey.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, especially when it is spent with those you love ♥