Wine and Cheese in the Park

Monday Pizza and I had nothing to do but we couldn't stay home, we had already spent all of Sunday doing just that, we needed to think of something to do. We thought about it for a while then Pizza suggested we go to Jean Talon Market and get a bunch of different cheeses and some baguette ( and browse, see if there was anything else of interest since it would be my first time going there), and then head down to Parc Lafontaine and sit by the water and sample the cheese. That was a good idea, I said, but throw in some wine and it would be perfect; little wine and cheese in the park. It sounded so relaxing and fun so we packed up a bag with a blanket, a small knife (for the cheese), couple of plastic cups and a bottle opener, hopped on the metro at berri and headed up to Jean-Talon.
Since Pizza had been there only once before, we had quite a special time trying to find the place. lol We felt pretty dumb cuz it's not right there when you get out of the metro, it's a couple of blocks away and south about a block.
I have to say though, once we actually found the place, we were thoroughly impressed with it and it's really too bad I didn't bring my camera because you have to see it. It's like an endless ocean of fruits and veg. So much selection and so fresh. I tell ya, I coulda lost myself in there. The tomatoes, sweet potatoes + asparagus were huge! You would never see this stuff at a chain grocery store. Even the cashews and macadamia nuts were bigger than I had ever seen at IGA before. It was like being a kid in a candy store. There was so much we wanted to buy but we were on wine and cheese'y mission and didn't want to carry too much so the next time we will ransack the place. They even had live lobsters for sale, huge motherf'ers, and it was so funny, two of them turned around at the same time and looked right at me and Pizza. I would love to cook me some lobster; It's on my list of culinary projects along with lots of other things!
So we browsed around for a while and got a nice fresh baguette )oh boy do I ever love the smell of fresh baguette). Then we headed over to a cheese place and picked out a few different kinds; we chose a strong brie, a medium Gouda and a smoked Gouda. Next we moved on to purchasing some wine... My favorite part. We chose a white wine (2006 Pacific Rim) and a rose (2008 Voga Italia); two new ones, didn't want to take the same ones we always take. After this was done we had one last little pit-stop (Pizza wanted to get some jam, she got strawberry) and we were off to the park.
We sampled all the cheeses with the baguette and with the jam. The brie was alright; it had a very mushroom'y taste, not necessarily one we would buy again, but the Goudas, now that's a different story. Both of them were very good, delicious, and the jam was really good with them. Hands down, the best out of the three was the smoked Gouda. It tastes like bacon and that paired with the jam was like eating candy hihi! So good! The wine was also agreeable; nice flavors.
It was such a nice day: mild, sunny weather and sitting in the shade next to the water sipping wine and sampling the cheeses was absolutely romantic. Even though drinking in public is not really kosher in Montreal as long as no one notices it's all good. It felt like we were celebrating our engagement.
Panda