Montreal-You've Redeemed Yourself,Even Though You Didn't HAVE To...

but you didn't have very great vegan baked goods.
let's start with the best.



Yesterday morning(yesterday b/c it's 3am now) my cousin took me to Le Cagibi,and it was cute,wonderful,cozy and warm,and I wish I had known about it before I was supposed to leave in two hours.It's actually a vegetarian restaurant(I didn't know until I just went to the website)and they had great espresso.Triple espresso for $2.50!And I wasn't expecting it,but I asked if any of the baked goods were vegan and the counter attendant girl said yes.Then she said "that one is,the peanut butter chocolate square." So I bought 2.I brought one with me to Toronto,and they're awesome.A chewy,dense,moist oatmeal chocolate chip base with super sugary peanut butter frosting and chocolate swirl in it.Nothing totally mind blowing,but I'd say it's better than the amazing Red Mango peanut butter chocolate bars I had it NYC which were awesome(and everyone else thinks/thought so too).
Also,I was super excited becasue the vegan sweets department of Montreal seemed to be lacking.AND IT WAS PEANUT BUTTER!!!I hadn't had a peanut butter dessert yet in Montreal,and this really made up for it.Yay Le Cagibi!







Also,I drank a lot of coffee in Montreal.I also met my Uncle Ben who I'd never met,and he's around 90 years old,but has amazing hearing,walks a lot,stayed out past 10pm,and wanted to take me to Le Commensal,but I said Aux Voivres would be better(even though I had gone 2 nights before with Priam,my cousin) because Le Commensal is bleh food.So we met there at 6,I was earlier than him,and freaked out b/c they aren't open Mondays.Who isn't open Mondays?Jerks.So when Ben got there,I apalogized,and we walked on Mount Royal to Artjava.Glad we did.



that's a soy chai latte.holy crap,i used to love soy chai lattes and need to drink them more often.well,i probably won't,it's better when they're special n stuff,but still.
we were there for almost 3 1/2 hours.We both had 2 lattes.Glad we did.



i usually just get espresso or drip coffees,but I guess if i'm being treated...



The first night I got to Montreal my cousin took me to Aux Vivres,an all vegan,busy,happening,casual,'fast food but healthy and also sit down' restaurnt.Brandy told me that I HAD to try the carrot cake and that it was the best carrot cake she'd ever had and that she'd had a lot of vegan carrot cakes,and at the tiem I said the Native Foods one was my favourite,and she said I really had to try Aux Voivres carrot cake.



It was very good cake.Yes,the cake,I would say,was awesome.Superb.BUT that's the cake.The frosting was a let down.Too tangy and citrus-y.Trying to replicate cream cheese?No wonder,I heard their cheesecake is tofu-y.Anyways,It was still delicious,but the frosting failed and therefore made it not the greatest.
I tried a lot of other stuff there,though.



a truffle.good.nothing crazy.



Banana Chocolate Pie.It was very good.Though tasted a lot like cherries.Very very sweet.and rich.Oh,and they gave us a tiny serving.wtf?

our server said "like James Bond"







Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie.Great cookie.I mean,it's pretty heard to screw up an oatmeal cookie,but it was above expectations.Yummy.Soft and chewy,with crunchy edges.Mmmm.



Ginger Cookie.I got it for free and the man sang a little song and did a on-spot jog to show me what he meant by 'little man' which was,in fact,referring to the gingerbread man.Then he gave me the cookie for free because it was the last of things in the 'to-go' section.It was too cake-y.But the flavour was alright.I didn't finish it,though.







coffee beans in the sugar?



they give you coconut milk to put in it.
weird.
and it was just espresso-who puts anything in a little espresso?!
anyways,the coconut overpowered the little bit of espresso.





after Aux Voicres(we went there Saturday and Sunday evenings)we went to Casa del Popolo (Saturday) and I liked it a lot b/c they were playing a really good mix of Kate Bush,not just 'Hounds of Love'.Also,an Americano was cheap,and after and hour I didn't finish mine,but I got free steamed soymilk(vanilla!) to add to the rest of my cold coffee.Then we went to see No Age
,which I was really excited about,and got to meet some of Priam's buddies.

found this at the health food store.never seen it before,and looked french.it was delicious!



found this there,too.SO NASTY.gross.tasted like rancid mango.yeah.







cute,huh?
Ben told me I had to go to Cafe Rico,and that they ahd great fair-trade coffe.They had fair-trade everything,and very good coffee.Surprisingly really cheap too.I whole heartedly approved,and tried to go again yesterday morning,but they opened at 10 which was later than when I went by.





this is like a 'bread' made from peanut butter,sesame seeds and sugar.It's like a big candy tortilla.Priam showed them to me and gave me some as a parting gift.They're soo good.



One night I stayed there from midinight until 8:05 am doing a scratchboard etching.The next day was crazy.But eff them,because they don't have soymilk!Neither did the place across the street!Ugggh.AND my internet wouldn't work there.





cafeo.



viarail.nasty.

Okay,Montreal was beautiful,people rude,it was freezing,and going into the subway(which is expensive!) is crazy because yr all bundled up b/c it's so cold outside but there it's BOILING in there.and I had a great time and really really like it there.Great city!



So I might as well post some tester cookies I made at Priam's parent's huse(aunt marg and michael) before going to Montreal...



Cranberry Walnut Thumbprints
so these are testers from isa and terry's forthcoming cookie book.
okay,when i think of thrumbrpints i think of 'simple treats' and healthy,granola-y,but still nummy,just more nourishing cookies,that might as well be a muffin.but terry told me that these are decadent holiday cookies.
and yeah,they are.
1)the doough is cinnamony and soft,with a fantastic chew.
2)toasted walnuts make anything good,not that these needed to be 'made good';i made some without walnuts.
3)cranberry sauce is awesome.i guess daniel didn't really ruin it when we were younger.

so basically here we have a sweet,cinnaom-maple-y or i guess wintery is what i'm looking for,soft,chewy cookie base,filled with slightly tart but sweet cranberry sauce and rolled in walnuts which get all toasty and delicious after baking.5 stars.

oh and my aunt marg loooved them.
and she had never heard of putting jam in a cookie.she thought i was a real innovator.and she's not dumb!
she kept calling them lovely.

though,michael burned the second pan of them b/c he didn't know they were in the oven and turned it to 450 degrees to make pizza.then he over cooked his pizza and marg said it was too hard to chew.oy.





and with the cranberry love and carrot cake talk,here's a carrot cake I never posted about from mid-October which I made for Ben'd dad's birthday...



decorated with cranberries,white chocolate,and walnuts.



Ben said this in the e-mail about it "My parents said it was the best carrot cake they'd ever eaten. My dad even ate 2 pieces (something he would never ever do). "

okay,that's all.I'm back in Toronto now,but will be in Vancouver again as of Friday.I went to Jet Fuel again today in the hour I had between arriving and meeting my uncle.Dreamy.