Day 17: Espresso Stout

Day 17 is my last day of freedom for a little while. Grad school gears back up tomorrow and I have been avoiding it like the plague. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy to be doing what I am doing, but it doesn't mean a girl can't get a little case of the back to school blues.

So, I decided to spend the last day of vacation commiserating with friends from school. We headed over to John Harvard's in Harvard Square for a drink and some good conversation and it was here that I discovered Espresso Stout.

The beer itself is dark, almost black in color, and really does taste like coffee. A little sweet but equally acidic (sounds bad but actually pretty good) and it comes highly recommended by the staff. One guy went so far as to say that it was the best beer he has ever had. Now I wouldn't go that far but it was one I will definitely get again.

If you are ever at John Harvard's and you want to try something different, I strongly recommend the Espresso Stout. You might not want to drink a bunch of them as they are very strong tasting but you will absolutely enjoy one or two.

Until Tomorrow,
Cat!

Day 16: Goodbye Quebec

Quebec. Long needed, much anticipated, thoroughly enjoyed. We had an amazing trip up here and I am so sorry to see it end. But, reality is setting in, jobs need to be done, classes need to be attended, and it is time to leave. 

There were so many firsts on this trip that I could not possibly fit them all in so Day 16 is dedicated to the sights we saw today and every other day we were here. More picture based that usual but that isn't a bad thing.

I cannot wait to return during the warm months. This city lights up at night and is meant for walking, sightseeing, eating, and enjoying oneself. I plan on revisiting all of these things during the summer when it is not 7 degrees out at night and you can enjoy a dinner outside or a walk along the promenade seeing the town and it's gorgeous surroundings.

I am sorry to go but I'll be happy to return.

Until Tomorrow,

Cat!

Day 15: Sugar Pie

My life has been changed. No seriously. On day 15, I was introduced to Sugar Pie and it was, arguably, one of the most interesting and delicious things I have ever eaten!

Bob and I had finished up a long day of sight seeing in more 15 degree weather when we decided to get dinner at Le Couchon Dingue (The Crazy Pig). It is a small, casual restaurant, set along this street:

The atmosphere was warm, welcoming and exactly what we needed after a long day spent at museums, shops, and walking the city. The dinner was good, not particularly remarkable (although that may have something to do with the bottle of wine we had), but the dessert....wow. There are no words to describe our initial reaction to this stuff. We had been told that Sugar Pie is a Quebecois specialty and we were excited to try it but neither of us had expected this!

The pie does not look particularly remarkable. In fact, it's actually fairly bland in appearance. It consists of a pie crust and a caramel like filling made of flour, butter, salt, vanilla, cream, and, on occasion, maple syrup or brown sugar. It kind of reminds me of pecan pie but without the pecans but the texture is different, more smooth and creamy. I have never in my life tried anything like it, flavor, texture, appearance....everything was very familiar but....not.

We liked it so much, we went back the next day to buy a full pie to bring back to the U.S.

Sugar Pie is found predominately in Quebec, France, Belgium, and the midwestern United States (random I know). However, it appears to be very easy to make so if you are interested and you cannot find any near your home, try making one of your very own! You never know, you could discover a new favorite!

Until Tomorrow,
Cat!

Day 14: Mont-Sainte-Anne

Again, I know I am wicked behind. I lose. It's been a crazy week+ but, while I haven't been blogging, I have still been doing 1 new thing a day. I hope to catch up with everything in the next few days so have patience!

Pretty much everything I did day 14 was a first! But, in the interest of keeping this short and sweet, I am focusing on XC Skiing at Mont Sainte-Anne.

Mont Saint-Anne is a ginormous mountain/ski resort just north of Quebec City that opened for skiing in 1966. It offers 66 trails and night skiing with the highest elevation in Canada. The resort also offeres roughly 150 km of cross-country ski trails, snowshoeing, dog sledding, and an indoor/outdoor spa!

Bobby and I did just under 9 miles worth of xc trails over the course of about 2.5 hours and we only had 1 wipeout! And yes, it was me. And yes, it was while I was going up hill. Lets be honest though, not a single one of you are surprised right?

If you need to take a break, there are cabins that you can stop at every 2-3 miles that are heated and have benches that you can pull out into beds (bring your own sleeping bag!). We stopped at one and, while there was not much going on inside it, it was wonderful to be able to sit down and thaw out next to the heater.

It is the off season up here (for some reason, tourists don't really seem to be attracted to 15 degree weather during their vacations) and it was during a weekday, but, that being said, there was a surprising lack of people. Which was awesome!! We had miles and miles of trails all to ourselves and, for anyone not familiar with the sport, you really work up quite a sweat so a 15 degree temp. is actually pretty preferable.

The trails were well groomed and wide and the views were spectacular. Totally considering going again tomorrow but I suspect we go to somewhere in town because, yes, you can totally xc ski IN the city of quebec. Thus making this city the Best. City. Ever.

Until Tomorrow,
Cat!

Day 13: Restaurant Madrid

Here is a list of facts:

1. I am in Canada. Quebec City to be specific.
2. It took 10 hours to get here driving. Yes there were numerous stops but it totally took 10 hours.
3. The restaurant/truck stop we stopped at on the way up has potentially changed my life.

Allow me to introduce you to Restaurant Madrid

Now, this is important, look closely at the picture. What do you see? 

Dinosaurs. 

Let me repete. You see DINOSAURS.

I ask you, if you were in my position, driving down the highway and you pass by a restaurant/truck stop that has multiple dinosaurs just sort of hanging out in front of it, what would you do? I certainly could not pass up patronizing such a fine establishment and it was pretty much the most hilarious decision ever.

Bob and I initially passed by it, our jaws dropped in awe. But we quickly regained our composure, turned around and raced to the restaurant parking lot, which was entirely surrounded by dinosaurs, thus making it the best parking lot in the history of the world. 

Upon braving the restaurant itself, we were immediately confronted with no less than 4 video arcade games and a bunch of gumball machines. Walking past these, you enter a small, desperately in need of a face lift, restaurant that has tv's, more video games, pictures of dinosaurs and caricatures of the owners on the walls, and a very random fish tank just sort of hanging out. To help you get a better visual, imagine standing in a 6 year old boys dream bedroom and add some hamburgers, tired truckers, and cranky waitstaff and that is where I had dinner tonight.

Oh, and the restaurant has monster trucks too.

Overall: All of you need to get into your preferred modes of transportation right now and drive up to Autoroute 20E immediately to support this amazing piece of Canada. The food is kind of blah but with an abundance of dinosaurs, monster trucks, and video games, who cares?! I will be stopping there on the way back. It was that funny.

Until Tomorrow,

Cat!

P.S.

The first picture came from here. There are tons of other pictures there too if you want to check them out!

Day 12: The Von Bondies

I was supposed to put this up yesterday but the day got away from me in a serious way and before I knew it, it was 2am.....love but hate those days. You're having fun but that fun rarely involves any serious productivity.

Anyways, I found out about the Von Bondies for the first time on Day 12 while watching "Rescue Me" (also a first!) and immediately had their song "C'mon C'mon" stuck in my head for no less than 8 hours. The Von Bondies are a US alt. rock band (their words not mine) that started in the late 90's but blew up around 2003/2004 with their 3rd album "Pawn Shoppe Heart".  The song "C'mon C'mon" was a hit back in 2004 and a shortened version of it is featured as the title track to the show "Rescue Me".

While I am mildly obsessed with "C'mon C'mon", I must admit that I am not really digging the rest of their stuff. They are very guitar heavy, similar to Dinosaur Junior, The Thermals, etc, and some of their songs start to really sound the same- two things I am not super into but I do like their other hit, "No Regrets".

Overall: Not really sure if they are still making albums or if they are still trying to ride out the "Pawn Shoppe Heart" wave AND after finding out that one of the band members got into an altercation with the White Stripes frontman Jack White years ago that led to one of them being treated for injuries at a hospital, I think I have to hate a little bit on the Von Bondies. Love that one song but anyone that messes with the White Stripes is no good in my book. Fact: I sing "Your Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl)" and/or "We're Going to be Friends" to myself pretty much Every. Single. Day.

Buuuuuuuuuut ignoring that extreme bias, I think they are ok- I leave you to make your own decisions.

Going to Canada today so I am not sure if/when I will be posting but expect a lot of Canadian Firsts in the near future!!

Until Tomorrow (but hopefully I will get totally caught up and it will really be later today),
Cat!

P.S.
The Von Bondies do have a legit music video to go with "C'mon C'mon" but, for some reason, I could not get it to copy to the blog. If you want to see it, just go here.

Day 11: Filming!!

As promised in the previous post, Day 11 is dedicated to BarCat Productions first film shoot!!!

RGBar and I have been working on a video project for Emerson College. To keep it brief, the project involves filming 14 interviews of current and past GMCA graduate students and we hope to do 1 per week for the next 2 1/2 months. The videos will be comprised of interviews, still images, stop motion, on scene filming, and voice-overs- I am sure this will vary depending on the person we are working with but that is the plan for now.

It has taken a very long time to actually get things moving as we had to jump through 39840942 hoops just to be able to check out some lighting and sound equipment from the school. Luckily, Emerson came through and we got what we needed!

So, after spending Day 10 working on lighting and planning, we actually began filming on Day 11! The day started with some scouting in the Prudential Building and along Newbury Street.

This was followed by the actual interview with SK. She was amazing!

It is very difficult to be in front of the camera. I don't care how confident you are, it takes some serious adjusting, but she handled it like a pro and it couldn't have gone better. We still have a lot more to shoot for her because the weather was not great for the outside scenes and we had a very limited amount of daylight to work with. But, it was a great start and exactly what we needed.

Now on to plan the next one....and the one after that and the one after that and the one after that.....I think we may have gotten in over our heads.

Until Tomorrow (but again really until later today),
Cat!