Follow Your Senses To The Marche

 We spent the Labour Day weekend in Montreal. Before reaching our final destination, we stopped by at the Marche Jean Talon to have lunch. When we visited there last year, we saw some people eating fried seafood that looked so delicious. On this visit, we vowed to look for it for our lunch. Since we have no idea where we will find it, we used our own senses looking for it. We knew we will find it soon because we just followed the smell  of cooking fried seafood all the way. Luckily, we found it on the other side of the market. It was a busy day that sunny and warm Saturday that I even forgot to take photos of the place. I don't even have the name of the place. We just know the location of this place that cooks fresh fried calamari and fried shrimps with lemon and tartar sauce. There is also fish n chips and any order could come with fries. As you can see from the photo above, the whole plate was full of fried calamari and fried shrimps. Just full of deliciousness. People passing by even stopped to asked us where we got them.  Our visit to the Marche was truly worth it after a long drive from Toronto.

Then I purchased the famous Quebec poutine made with fries topped with gravy and Quebec cheese curds to go along with our fried calamari and fried shrimps.

 

We discovered this fruit called Cerises de Terre which are actually yellow cherries in a leaf covering. You open it which looks a blooming flower and then you eat it. It was sweet. 

 

 

After lunch, we ate and purchased some of these peaches and kiwis. There are always a variety of fresh produce at the Marche Jean Talon. 

Bon Weekend!

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An Abundance Feast

Every time we visit Montreal, we can't help but stop over at the Marche Jean Talon to eat, shop and just walk around to see all of these abundance which is a feast in the eyes. Enjoy these celebration of food. 

Where to Eat

Soft taco with pulled pork and red onions.

Got to try these gluten free crepes. 

Apple crepe with chocolate and caramel sauce.

Turkish desserts at Patisseries Orientales.

Portugese Natas.

To learn more about the Marche, view my previous post Say Fromage At Marche Jean Talon.


Bon Weekend!

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Bountiful Harvest

 I spent the long weekend in Montreal to visit family. Here is our bountiful harvest from the garden of my Sister In Law's parents. We were amazed by the large size and abundance of these tomatoes. We harvested a bag full of them plus some fagiolini (Italian string beans). Amanda, my SIL, turned these sweet and large tomatoes into a tomato pasta sauce for our spaghetti antipasto. She learnt the recipe to make the pasta sauce from her Sicilian grandmother Maria and from her mother. For our main meal, we had barbecue ribs and she made  tomato salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  It is always fun and rewarding to harvest fresh vegetables from the garden then preparing them for the family to enjoy. It is food cooked with lots of love.

 See the large size of these tomatoes.

For our antipasto, Amanda cooked the spaghetti with her homemade tomato pasta sauce. The homemade tomato pasta sauce is organic, healthy, tasted fresh and sweet. My delicious drink is half beer and half Sprite which I learnt from my brother and Amanda. 

Buon Appetito! 

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Discovering Pho

 During our Easter weekend visit in Montreal, we discovered this Vietnamese Restaurant offering Pho and fresh spring rolls. Pho Ngon is located on the North Eastern part of Montreal. The ambiance and decor was very simple but this place was busy with food lovers waiting to eat their favourite Pho and spring rolls. Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup composed of beef or chicken, some herbs and bean sprouts. The soup comes in different sizes from medium, large to XL. I just love the freshness of the linguine shaped rice noodle, the meat, and the vegetables in the soup. The fresh spring rolls with shrimp is one of my favourite dipped in the peanut based sauce. It was truly delicious especially when you sprinkle the lime all over your soup. My family and I enjoyed our soup and of course, treasured each other's company during lunch. Talk about family bonding that Weekend. 

 Fresh Rolls with Shrimp and Peanut sauce. I could eat several rolls of these.

 Pho Noodle soup with linguine shaped rice noodle, mix of meats and  herbs. 

Add the bean sprouts and green vegetable on top while the soup is hot for extra vegetables then sprinkle with lime for more delicious taste. My brothers were extra adventurous by adding hot and spicy sauce on top of their soup. Don't forget to go on a food adventure this week and discover something new and delicious. 

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Say Fromage at Marché Jean Talon

My recipe for a perfect weekend is a visit to a market filled with an abundance of everything that we expect in a market and some, including speaking French, s'il vous plâit. That was the case when we visited the Marché Jean Talon in Montréal last weekend. This Marché is very French offering the best of Québécois gourmand and for the garden. We stopped by here after a long drive from Toronto to discover, to shop and to eat. Come and discover the Marché with its colourful and delicious offerings.

Québec produces the best fromage in Canada. We tried and purchased both the Québec Blue Cheese topped with local Apricot jam and the Cremeux de Jura fromage from France. 

Selection of Quebec fromage. 

Fromage de France. 

After our hunt for fromage, we had to look for our Baguette. 

Can't help to admire these pastries. 

I also purchased some  Portuguese tarts (Natas). 

Of course, I purchased some Macarons. The fleur d'oranger and pistache are my usual favourites. I also purchased the Abricot The Noir, Lavande and Caramel Fleur de Sel.

I haven't eaten tacos for so long. We tried these soft tacos with pulled pork and pickled onions.

Something unique from the Marché were the Bison ribs. Would you like to try some?

Also unique from the Marché is the Canard (Duck) sausage which I haven't seen anywhere else. Here I am trying it.
It was actually delicious, quite sweet, not spicy at all. 

Legumes de Quebec.

Looks at these yellow tomatoes. They look so fresh and delicious.

These look so perfect and yummy to make as a salad with those tomatoes. 

So unique in this Marché are these fruit stands for tasting. We were so full from trying these fruits and vegetables.

I have never seen so many apricots. Both the apricots and strawberries were so sweet. 

The Marché has a huge section of flowers, plants, herbs and vegetables for planting as far as the eye can see.

 Lavande de Québec.

Colourful flowers, all kinds of herbs and tomato plants. 

An abundance of flowers. 

Bonjour Dahlias! 

To cleanse the palette, all from the Marché Jean Talon. 

The Cremeux de Jura fromage from France, baguette and the cherries.


This weekend is dedicated to all the Fathers and to my late Father, who enjoyed shopping for different kinds of Food.


Happy Father's Day!

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