Fancy food on the Orford Express

Ticket office

My dear Mr.Bear

AAA Angus Prime beef wrapped in bacon  

We were on the bridge with the train.

Dessert: hot caramel cake with vanilla something like that. 

Having a dinner on a train while enjoying sightseeing was definitely one of my dreams. When I watched the Japanese TV program that introduced sort of that luxury trip in Japan, it made my mouth water. Coincidentally my boyfriend received a birthday gift from his sister and brother in law. The gift was exactly what I have obsessed with for ages, and I just took advantage of him.

The train was leaving from Sherbrooke train station which is a two hours drive from Montreal. The departure from Sherbrooke was at 2p.m and the return was around 5:30p.m. During three and a half hours, we had deluxe meals, in the meanwhile, we stopped in Magog where we wandered around for 30 minutes, after that, the train kept running to Eastman and turned back to Sherbrooke station.

I was really into the retro decor when I just stepped on the train. Unfortunately I was too shy to take photos inside so the quality of the image( top third ) is not really good. There were two screens to guide people on the view we saw( French only however ), one was on the front and the other was on the back for people who sat in the opposite direction. I was so satisfied with the service because the waiters were very attentive, kind, and with warm smiles. The trip ended up with one of the waitresses's performance. I felt something touched my chest when I heard her beautiful voice. I would like to do a trip like this again, though I didn't see any young people like me in this trip(?!).

Oh! I forgot to describe the food. Anyway, I can only give them two thumbs up and I'm drooling now. You are smart enough, I'm sure you will see what I mean:)

For someone who is interested in having a outing train trip, please check the link: http://www.orfordexpress.com/en/home.htm

Muru Crepe

I really like this moustache because of Mr.Pringles:)

The other day my friend and I went to one of my favorite brunch places called Muru Crepe which is located in old Montreal. The decor of the restaurant is based on the vegetation color and there were many very large windows so the place was breathing with light, which made me very comfortable. I ordered a Madame muru crepe with bocconcini, tomato, pesto, almond, basil and olive in it. I could also opt for a salad or French fries or both. The crepe was so yummy and the fries were the best I ever had in Montreal( I didn't compare them with poutine ). I cannot wait to go back for their Bailey's crepe or anything else on the menu. So who's in with me?

Yuki

My ex roomie Yuki with her friend Yuuko came to Montreal last Saturday. I went to the airport to pick them up and when I saw her, I was extremely excited as if a doggy saw its owner coming back from military service in Iraq. It had been a year I had not seen her. The purpose of her visit to Montreal was to see:
1. Indigo cafe, where she used to study; she loved the atmosphere of the place
2. HABITAT 67
3. ME, who was the last one on her list...

Even though I didn't go to Indigo cafe with them, I showed them:

Tam-tams in Mont-Royal park.

The knight fighting game. I told her that many kids would be there and dressed in middle ages knight costume. "They are not kids, " Yuki whispered.

After Mont-Royal park, we took metro to Jean-Drapeau metro and walked around 50mins to HABITAT 67. There were so many flies around the bridge before the dark that we couldn't open our month to talk to each other. 

We finally got to see HABITAT 67. On our way back downtown, nobody wanted to take the bridge so we took the opposite from where we came. Not long after, we found a 168 bus stop and we took a bus back to town.    

We had dinner at m:brgr where Yuki insisted on having a meal. She had three mini burgers with three eggs. I haven't got the permit from Yuki, thus I can't show her face on my blog.

She brought some souvenirs from Japan for me. When I opened the bag, I almost cried because I was so touched that she remembered all the Japanese snacks I mentioned to her when we were living together. These snacks mean at a lot to me and bring back memories of my student life in Japan.

Yuki and I used to live together. We had done so many things in that huge kitchen/living room, such as cooking, sharing life experiences, asking advises, skipping classes, discovering good food in town, laughing, doing foolish things and blah blah blah. In fact, she cooked most of the time. I still remember the conversation we had every morning...

Yuki: I'm cooking. Do you want bacon?
Me: Yes!
Yuki: Salad?
Me: Um, okay!
Yuki: Eggs?
Me: Sure!
Yuki: Lunch box?
Me: Thank you!

She was just like my mom. I feel that I miss her already...

18th century market

Even the little boy was helping to sell stuff.

I was looking forward to attending this Festival for quite a long time because I have missed it twice since 2010, and I finally got to see it this year. The event was taking place on 25 and 26 August in the old Montreal. 

Despite the fact that it was an unbearably hot day, it didn't prevent people from coming. There was some vendors who were selling food, clothes, natural products and so on, and buskers were all dressed in retro-chic clothe of course. If any of you read my post Road trip day 5 I: King's Landing, you will find out how much I am obsessed with those going back in time things, especially the gentleman I posed with in the last photo, who was so adorable, wasn't he? But I don't wanna cross the line so I have to say that the person who took this shot for me is the best :)        

M4 Burritos

My boyfriend and I went to this place a week ago. We were attracted by the pictures of chicken, pork, beef and veges under the signage: M4 Burritos. I'm always keen to try new things, therefore, I stepped in the door and talked to the staff. The place was like a Subway style Mexican restaurant. At first, I needed to choose from four kinds of base of burrito, tacos, bowl and salad. After that, I could opt one sort of meat, two veges and two sauces.

I opted for a bowl and had chicken, rice, black bean, corn, guacamole sauce and cheese on it. I was panicked to see a small mountain in my plate when I went to pay the bill, though the price was pretty economic ($7.95). I can't tell the place is the best in Montreal but what I liked was the fresh food and I had options to mix the food I wanted. I didn't finish the small mountain in the end, so next time I will probably ask someone to share one with me or bring a plastic container to take out the remaining. Oh! Oh! don't forget to try their non alcohol Margarita ($4.95) which was sour a bit but sweet at the same time.


M4 Burritos
close to metro Berri-Uqam