I spent a lot of time during my last visit in Montréal reminiscing about the past. I guess that’s what happens when you’re back in a city you called home for four years. Suddenly, the dépanneurs (deps!) and S.A.Q.s (saqs!) bring back memories of carefree evenings with friends. That coffee you’re drinking at this trendy new spot tastes better with a side of nostalgia for the memories of that pretty green dress you had bought there back in the days when it used to be a chic boutique. Some of it is bitter sweet of course, like seeing that a place you loved went out of business and was replaced by something new or realizing that you used to live in a WAY nicer house (and for much cheaper) when ...
Oh Canada
Highlights From My Long-Weekend in Montreal
I first fell in love with Montreal when I was seventeen, so much so that I moved across the Atlantic right after high school to attend its prestigious McGill University. Recently, my college flatmates and I met up back in the city where we had lived together for four years for a quick 3-days mini college reunion slash girls getaway. Here are some highlights from my trip down memory lane back to the city I still love so much. WHAT BROUGHT ME TO MONTREAL? As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, I went to college there and hadn’t visited in a while (like 8 years a while!) So I was definitely overdue for a visit and when one of my university floormate and flatmate who lives in Calgary ...
Get Some Travel Inspiration From These 10 Montréal Instagrammers
I'm headed back to Montréal soon and my list of places I want to (re)visit and restaurants I want to check out is growing bigger every day! Since I lived in Montréal for 4 years, I'll be skipping most of the tourist sites and I've been looking for a little travel inspiration from Montréalers on instagram. Here are some of my fave: One of the best decision I ever made in my life was moving across the world when I was 18 to attend McGill University. I'm not going to say when that was, but I had a Nokia cell phone that couldn't take pictures back then so I can't wait to instagram my old campus for the first time! On the social platform, my alma mater mostly sources its content from current ...
Catch These French Films at Filmfest DC
In the winter months, I try to cram in as many oscar-nominated films as I can before the awards are given out. After that movie-binge, I typically take a needed break from the cinemas. Until April and Filmfest DC! Filmfest is the District’s first, largest and only international film festival. Between April 14 and 24, 2016 Filmfest DC will celebrate 30 years of delighting Washington cinephiles with a really impressive line-up of 75 movies from 45 different countries. As always, that includes a number of films from France and Belgium. Here are some of the French(-ish) or French-language films you can look forward to this year. THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT The poster claims that "G-d exist... and ...
Gad Elmaleh in DC – Part Trois, Now All In English
Le revoici, le revoilà! Gad Elmaleh repasse au Birchmere, avec un petit changement qui n'est pas négligeable: le comedien fait son show en Anglais!! It's hard enough being funny in your native language, let alone in a foreign one. Seinfeld, for example, was notoriously bad when dubbed in French, and the humour didn't quite translate. And yet, that’s exactly the personal challenge that French funnyman (and Seinfeld BFF) Gad Elmaleh has set for himself. After performing sold-out shows in Washington, DC twice in 2013 (in April and September - you can read my recap from the September show right here), the comedien is back for a third time. This fall, he’ll try to branch out of the ...
Go Habs Go: Poutine Pizza for Game 7
I don't know who's been doing poutine's PR lately, but Quebec's classic dish has been ALL over the news. There was this poutine porn in Huffington Post last month. A poutine burger was NPR's featured Sandwich Monday recently. And then there was all the hoopla that accompanied the opening of Chicago's Big Cheese Poutinerie, a restaurant dedicated entirely to, you guessed it, poutine! Most recently, poutine popped up in this great Wall Street Journal article. The (Canadian) author, Adam Leith Gollner, laments the rise of enhanced poutine, topped with foie gras for example, arguing that poutine should remain, at its core, the greasy kind of dish that's consumed when cold or inebriated. Or both ...
Celebrating Poutine Week… in Washington, D.C.
I think I may have mentioned it a few times on this blog, I used to live in Montreal, Quebec. For 4 years. You'd think this would mean I'd be able to weather this cold snowy winter like a champ, right? Well, not quite. But it means I have learned to appreciate Quebec delicacies like shish taouk and poutine (and Molson beer... let's be honest). Montreal has changed a lot since I lived there. It's still cold. But it now has macaron shops and poutine week. POUTINE WEEK!!! Are you kidding me!?!? It's basically like our Restaurant Week except between February 1st and February 7th, there are 30 restaurants that offer special poutines for $10. Do you have any idea how all over that I would have ...
French More Widely Spoken in US than German or Italian… interesting non?
A few weeks ago, the U.S. Census Bureau released a new interactive online map pinpointing all the different languages spoken in homes across the United States. According to the data collected through the American Community Survey from 2007 to 2011, some 60.6 million people spoke a language other than English at home in 2011. Of course, a majority of these (37.6 million, represented in pink on the Washington Post map below) speak Spanish. The other "foreign" languages most spoken throughout the country in 2011 were Chinese (2.9 million), Tagalog, one of the languages spoken by the Filipino community (1.6 million), Vietnamese (1.4 million), French (1.3 million), German (1.1 million) and Korean ...
Ain’t no party like an S Club a poutine party!
Sometimes back in 2011, the Canadian Embassy figured out that I wasn't actually Canadian. Initially I guess, my degree from McGill University got them confused and I somehow managed to get invited to a lot of great events, celebrating the Vancouver Olympics, Stanley Cup finals and Canada Day. But last year it all stopped. Le sigh. Where will I get my Molson fix now? ;-) Luckily, the Canadian Embassy is stepping up its game this year, and offering a lot of options for people who, like me, would like to celebrate our neighbours up north but aren't quite special enough to get official invites. Starting with... drumroll... DC's first-ever poutine party. Yes. Poutine party!! I haven't been to ...
Hockey Night in Canada Washington
While I like to think of myself as a proud cocorico-ing French woman, my nationality is apparently not as obvious to everyone as I would like to think it is. Maybe it's because I speak fluent French and English. Love soccer and hockey, wine and Molson Export. Perhaps the confusion come from the fact that did I spend 4 years living in Montreal. Or it might be due to pictures like this floating on the internets: Among other things, my time spent in Montreal has introduced me to hockey. They say a woman never forgets her first love and that's definitely true for me and my first hockey love. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Caps but I'll always feel a little something for the ...
