unofficial BOM - Best of Montreal

It's been over a month since I have been back.. .and my trip seems like a distant memory. So I have made a list of my best of Montreal ...not in any particiular order.

1. friends and family (obvious choice)
2. bixing
3. the fact that cirque de soleil was born here


4. hab fever ( no one is ever complaining to stay home for this one)
5. standing on the corner of berri \mount-royal and seeing our famous and infamous domes at the same time (the moutain to the west and the big O to the east)
6. garage sales
7. unexpected snow in april (thanks uppercasechase1)
8. an unexpected peaceful stop at the Chirst Church Cathedral and contemplate that church was on stilts during its construction, of the underground that is)
9. maple syrup ice cream at Marché Jean-Talon
10. the rare classics that don't change (i.e. patitapatata,laika,reservoir... just to name a few)


the things I enjoyed less
1. not seeing nearly as many friends as I wanted to and spending more time with family (it's never enough!)

2. taking my daughter and her stroller on public transport... SUCKS. Honestly, their new campagin is about being green...but I just wanted to run out and use a car!!

3. little mom and pop shops closing up and making way for NEWER, CHICKIER, DESIGNY places...there is something about grit that i like. I feel that there is this massif cleanuup going on...the 'quartier des speactacles' for example ...seems like it wants to get rid of the red light district. Evicting a classic like 'Café Cleopatra' (not that I ever attended but now regret immensely) but it has been in business for more than 25 years now , you just don't kick them out because you have a master clean plan. I also noticed that they moved the 'Montreal Pool Room' to the other side of the street...well it ain't THE montreal pool room if you change location! So I ask you all, to help support the dying red light district, go see the shows or at least go to this site and check out the video by Eric Paradis, I think he says it better than I can.

I found this 'bijou' tucked away at the berri bus station...I hope they don't get to this one too!

indoor passage

As I try to stay calm and not think about the impending ash cloud that is threatening my upcoming trip back home (montreal), I realize that I ate my through 3\4 of the strawberry and rhubarb pie! (honestly it's a great recipe even if i didn't use tapioca!)

Enough is enough, I decide to head out for a walk for another calming activity, shopping! My husband G. is worried that a cancelled trip will get too expensive :-)
It's quite windy out, so after I have let M. run around wild in the center square, I decide to head home by a different route and use the 'indoor passageway'. I didn't realize this at first, but it is an actual shopping 'arcade' as they call it here...equivalent to Montreal's underground shopping network, except that you are at ground level. The masterminds behind the renovation of this area are Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Basel, Switzerland. It's called the Fünf Höfe, which means five courty ards, because it is literally an area of five connected courtyards. There is one courtyard that I enjoy strolling through, not for the shops but for the scenery above!





I am not sure if my photos capture the detail, but the plants are real and almost 10m long!



















M. loves to stop and admire it herself!

balancing spring

So these guys never cease to amaze me....the snow has thawed and as I was riding my bicycle (my old atala..didn't buy or steel anyhing yet) through the Englischer garten. It was a gorgeous day and so many people were taking advantage, basking in the warm spring sun, walking, playing ball and I thought I saw what resembled volleyball nets like we have back home in mtl in parc jeanne mance. But as I rode up closer I noticed that they weren't nets but ropes. These guys tight rope walk for fun! and the riskier and (drunker:-) you are the higher up you walk!

bicycle thief

They stole my bike, again! The first time it happened in Montreal 5 yeas ago (see original story)

This time it happened in Munich, just by my house. I moved here from Milano with my loyal rusty Atala that I had bought in Rome, but I was itching to get a 'girly' bike so I could ride with my skirts.













It didn't take long before I had noticed these amazing bicycles around town...Gazelle. They are basic city bikes and have a very vintage look and made for tall people it seems, my friend M.C. would look so graceful on one of these.
Anyhow, they cost over 600€ a pop brand new! It was over my budget , actually not mine, but G's. I figure since I am not spending the money allocated for daycare right now, I could spend it on wheels and it wouldn't be like overspending :-) My husband says that I even make finance creative.

Anyhow, we were walking around the hood a few weeks ago, and I spotted yet another 'gazelle' by a tree. It was not tied up or anything..."What a calm city, you don't even have to chain your bike and it's safe," said G. But my eyes began to sparkle and G. said "Don't even think about it." I sighed and turned away.

So I decided to hunt them down on ebay. I managed to find quite a few, but every time I went for the bid, I was out bidded. It was hard to accept that these bikes were going for 200€ USED. So I decided that's it, if the bike is not chained, it can't even be considered stealing...it was abandoned, and actually the proprietor should be punished. I just want to give it a new home.

I went out with M. for a stroll...actually by the time I got close to 'the tree' I started to sprint, only to find out that the god damn bike wasn't there!
This frustrated STAH mom will just have to make the economy go round
$$schaching$$schaching$$

Le cordonnier mal chaussé

As most friends, family and peers know, I used to be a landscape architect... I say used to, because since the birth of my daughter, my professional life has been on PAUSE until I find daycare, or stop moving around(whichever comes first). Nontheless, I never had a green thumb, nor a passion for plants. In fact, as a child, I resented watering my parents' garden during the summer," you can't go out to play before you finish watering the tomatoes ?" ( I had an adorable foto to insert here but i left it in montreal)
I must confess , at times I wonder if I chose the right direction.

About a few months ago , I decided I wanted some greenery in the kitchen, although I know we don't have much(any) light, I bought a rosemary plant. Now most of you with common sense would say, you can't have a rosemary plant in the middle of winter...but me, with no common sense says : if they sell it, it must live! Needless (or needles less) to say after a few weeks the needles fell , one at a time, and then like clumps. At least, I recuperated the rosemary for our supper of baked chicken and potatoes!

While starring at M. eat her avocado, I remembered seeing children plant avocado pits to grow a plant. Well my brain went to work, if kids can do it so can I!

I have a very visual memory, and I rememberd seeing something with water and toothpicks. So I stabbed the pit with 2 toothpicks , at both extremes and propped it over a glass with water so that half of it was soaking in water. I waited a couple of weeks and nothing. My husband G. kept smirking every time he passed by the mirky glass of water ,"doesn't the organic waste go in the bin", he said. So I decided to get some help professional help...google.

A great video enlightened me and so I went to the kitchen and threw out the pit. Went back to the grocery store and decided to have another stab at it. This time , I followed the videos' directions, and seems like a got it right. Well they said to wait 1-2 weeks, and it's been a month because I just don't want to rush mother nature.

But last week, as I stared at the pits trying to send them my postive vibes, I had to face reality. I looked up at G. and said, "Se tu fai crescere la pianta dell'avocado, io lascio la professione." (if you can grow a plant from a pit, I will give up the profession).
He said, "Se tu fai crescere la pianta della noce, io divento prete". (If you can grow a plant from a pit, I'll become a priest.)

While debating if I want to live with a priest, we brought home a series of treasures (sticks, cones and some moss) from our walk in the park with M. yesterday . I decided to put the moss on the avocado pit (because it seeks humidity and that damn seed has been sucking water for a month) ...well after 24 hours it stuck! So I may not be able to get it to grow roots, but I gave the bald guy some hair!

In the end, I'm still battling with the question but in the meantime have discovered that a dozen tulips cost 3€ and last a week, a far better run for my money and effort!

winter... fun?

Just a few minutes away from our house, there is a beautiful park we love going to The Englischer Garten which has an artificial stream running through it called the Eisbach

'

and this is what the locals do for fun, if you have balls ... and size doesn't matter because I have seen girls do it too! Not to mention that surfing is forbidden ... life on the edge.






I, with no breasts, let alone balls, prefer a more subtle exercise routine...carrying my 10k M. in one arm and a sled in the other to the park :-)

Sign language is for the birds

Although my daughter -M.is only 20 months old, she has quite a developed palate, in Italian we say buongustaio. At 9 months she decided that she was going to stop eating the mush, that most babies all around the world eat (she made that clear by throwing it on the floor).
At that point she started eating 'adult food'(cut up in smaller pieces btw, because she still didn't have any teeth) with her hands, why use cutlery, when you can lick your grubby little fingers...hmmm.

Now just because she eats with her fingers doesn't mean she has a fine palette, but the fact that she likes 80% dark chocolate' does. Back in Italy, one of her favorite dishes, was 'galletto con scarola' (cockerel with escarole lettuce). It may sound awkward but the meat is tender and makes an incredible savory broth. So the other day I decided enough of the 'wurst' (sausage) let’s go back to our mediterranean diet.

Not having a butcher close by, I decided to head to the only outdoor market in the center i know of, 'the viktualienmarkt', expecting and accepting to 'pay for it'.
I let M. run loose for awhile and when I finally found a shop that didn't only have sausages hanging from the window, I walked in. Obviously, the vendor didn't speak English so as I asked for cockerel, I had to flap my arms, like a bird. She looked at me strangely and pointed to some chickens....I said 'nien huhn' (not chicken) I looked at the poultry section, and came across, what looked like to me a 'galletto'. I pointed and she said 'Bird, from France, you know (flap flap with her arms), very famous'. Okay, close enough, I'll take it, the French are very picky eaters too!

Back home, I start to prepare the galletto as my mother in law taught me...oil, garlic, onions, sauté a little bit of tomatoes, then add the bird....and finally water and greens, and a parmesan rind as the final touch. I leave it alone while playing with M. and once she has run out of things to play with its done! I start to cut up the meat, and realize that it's rather brown. Maybe it's duck, I think to myself, but strangely the vendor didn't go 'quack quack' when she sold it to me?

I finally decide to use my German dictionary ...well 'junge taube' means young pigeon! And mine cost me 12€ probably because it flew in from France!

Needless to say, I am dropping the sign language and bringing a pocketbook dictionary, next time I go shopping.

Communication duhh...

The phone guy came today,more than punctual, he was early! So he was lucky to find me dressed, although I was already dirty from M. eating breakfast on me. Of course my phrasebook german didn't impress him 'Ich spreche keine deutsch, sprechen sie englisch?' (I don't speak german, do you speak english?) I think he answered no, but he rambled on and he could of told me ' lady you look horrible, and I hate my job so i won't do anything today so just sign here please'. He came in and went out back into hallway..and well I have no clue as to what he did, cause my phone still doesn't work......all I could muster up was danke! (thanks:-)

Just so you know why my last words will be ‘rosebud’

We have had some nice snow fall and we live by a small hill where kids go sliding…. so I thought I'd go downtown to buy a sled ... m. and I take the metro without the stroller so we can return in the sled ... but the little one does not want to walk, then I take her in my arms and she’s crying that wants to get off when the metro is jammed with people ... you know, where it's less convenient!
So first store, sold out, store n°2 only has models for adults , at the 3rd store they’ll be arriving next week ... all the while she screams like a mad woman(seems crazy because all the other children who are German, are quiet and still) .. . m. keeps yelling SCENDE, SCEEEEEEEEENDEE (down) or BRACCCIO BRACCCIIOOOOOOOO (arms ) and then when I let her down she’s throwing down everything from the shelf! I keep mustering under my breathe…’why do I bother’? So the following day as m. and I were talking a quiet (she had already thrown the cappuccino on the floor in the café we had just been into) stroll (she’s in my arms and the stroller is empty) in the neighborhood I notice some toboggans at a bike shop – go figure! It cost me 100 € for a wooden sled so I hope that at least we have fun!

day n° 1 ... going no problem, m. seems to enjoy sitting back. .. I get on with her and she’s not scared to go down ... but she doesn’t seem to understand when we get to the bottom of the hill…she’s shouting ANCORA ANCORA (again) . that we must go to the top to do it again! So then she does not want to walk up, but BRACCCIO BRACCCIIOOOOOOOO ... ok .. we go on like this, I carry her up once we get down. Every so often she begins to cry MALE MALE (hurt) as she sees some boy fall from his sled ... then at some point starts to cry BRUCCI BRUCCI, (burns) I think that her hands must be frozen because she does not want put on her gloves, EVER. but no, she points to her behind, saying CACA CACA (no translation here) ... she doesn’t want to know anything about returning in the sled (obviously, if your bum hurts ...) so I take her 10kg in my arms while she continues to cry the whole way back (which seems to never end ).. . while the sled is empty . arrived home, no poo!

day n° 2 m. seems enthusiastic ... even when she sees other children fall ... we go even higher this time and she likes to squeal out like the others ... and this time she lets me pull her up the hill! seems almost perfect ... I decide to make a last run but while we are going down there’s a group of children in the way, for the life of me I can’t remember the word for 'GET OUT OF THE WAY’' and after 2 seconds I start to scream ACHTUNG (danger) thank god for U2! the first guy moves in time but the girl who was behind him, does not see us and I wasn’t able to maneuver in time…and then .... BOOM ... the girl went down. At first silence then WAAAAWAAAWAAA nothing happened to the girl (what a sport), but m. got scared ...I tried to calm her down ... but nothing to be done ... needless to say back home in my arms with any empty sled!

So if day n° 3 doesn’t get better ... by day n° 4 I'll have a sled for sale!