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

Two Year Aniversary!

My how time flies when you are madly in love! I can hardly believe it y'all but as of this past friday Pizza and I have been together for two years. And living together for almost as long. Crazy! I know! As you may already know, we had been planning to go to Chuck Hughs' restaurant in the old port but when we called for a reservation it was already booked for the whole week so we had choose somewhere else to go. We chose to go to a Tapas restaurant up on Mont-Royal called Nuevo. This place was really nice. The inside is lit up with bright colorful lights around the bar. They had tables set up on the sidewalk so we sat outside because the weather was nice enough. We had never been to a tapas restaurant before so we weren't really sure how we should be ordering, but the waiter was really nice to us and explained we should order about 4-5 things to share between us. We took a couple of minutes to look at the menu and decided on 4 choices + an appetizer. We chose the artichoke dip with tortilla chips as the appetizer, the risotto of the day (which ended up being spinach and red pepper), the eggplant and tomato gratin, fried calamari with diablo sauce and the crab and smoked salmon croquettes with garlic saffron aïoli.
The artichoke dip was good. It had a very cheesy taste like Parmesan and cheddar mixed in and the tortilla chips were clearly "homemade", taking tortillas, cutting them into wedges and baking them which was a really nice touch. I approve!
The risotto unfortunately was not as good. It was not so much creamy... more like dry and gummy. Kinda like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for a while or microwaved when we ordered it. Sad really because it was also rather tasteless and we both agree we would not be ordering that again. (my risotto from a couple weeks ago was better hihi)
Sadly the eggplant and tomato gratin falls under the same criticism. The cheese was congealed like it had been sitting for a long time and taste-wise was not something to write home about.
Luckily they redeemed themselves with our last two choices. The fried calamari was great. They had seasoned the breading so even if you didn't take any sauce with it you still got a bit of spiciness. It was delicious alone as well as with the diablo sauce which was nice because it is not the usual tomato sauce you get at most restaurants. Now the piece de resistance, and definitely the best thing we ordered that night, the crab and smoked salmon croquettes. These were amazingly mouthwatering! I feel like going back there and ordering only these the whole night. They were perfectly cooked, just the right amount of crispy and not too oily and the sauce complimented it wonderfully. I'm still thinking about these things!
All in all the experience was great. The food was all shared between me and Pizza, with a bottle of white wine so it was really romantic. Also the portions were relatively small so it wasn't too heavy and we didn't feel ridiculously full; Perfect since we wanted to go for ice cream after. We both agreed that we would go back but try a few different options.
After the restaurant we walked down St-Denis to Sherbrooke and got some ice cream at Koco boule the continued walking a long down to foufs and decided to go for a drink on the terrace. We got a pitcher and Started talking. After talking for a while I leaned in close and looked her in the eye. I told her I had something to say but was unsure of how to say it. I stared her for a moment and simply decided to come out and say it. I eaned in a little closer and said. "Will you marry me?" She said "yes!", kissed me and smiled. I said "I don't have to get on one knee do I?". She said no and laughed and was like "OMG we're engaged!" lol. A great end to an amazing night. <3