Poutine and Québec City with thrills and spills

Poutine and Québec City with thrills and spills

I spent the last week in Quebec city for work. I only knew two things about Québec. The people of Québec speak Canadian French and the provincial dish is poutine.

[maxbutton id=”10″ ]

 

Poutine

• 

• 

Poutine is basically hot chips, cheese curd, and gravy. I’ve never seen cheese curd for sale in Australia so when I’ve had hot chips and gravy I’ve often added grated Coon cheese. As a variation, instead of hot chips, I’ve used potato gems too. The people of Québec call chips, fries. I have no idea what the difference is between a chip and fry. I do know that young crabs are called fry.

French first

The people of Québec are passionate about speaking in Canadian French. I had some difficulty communicating. I did try with simple greetings and being able to say thank you. It’s French first and English second in the province of Québec.

Do I have bad luck in Canada?

Flying to Canada is often fraught. Each time I’ve flown with 🇨🇦Air Canada🇨🇦, I’ve had a bag go missing for a day or two. This trip I was again flying 🇨🇦Air Canada🇨🇦 and so I did all I could to just travel with two small carry on bags.

Snow videos

Some very short clips to share the extent of the snow

Sleeping on the streets

I arrived at the hotel to discover the booking had been made for a hotel of the same name in another province. I’ll hasten to add, I did not make the booking.

I was told there were no rooms and I was given the choice of sharing a room with a colleague which was not an option really, or finding a hotel across town. When I explained that I was part of a team and we needed to be together, it was suggested I hire a car and drive across town and back each day. I tried to explain that I’m from Australia where we drive on the left side of the road and that I have no left-hand drive experience let alone experience driving with snow tyres during an exceptional snow event in Québec City. It’s the heaviest snow the city has seen in years. After some further discussion, a room was found in the system and I had a place for four nights.

Air Canada flight cancellation

On the return to Australia, my Québec to Toronto flight was cancelled. I had to scramble to make a Québec to Montreal flight. The plan became Québec to Montreal, Montreal to Vancouver, Vancouver to Sydney, and then Sydney to Canberra on Sunday evening.

Good fortune

On the plus side, the detour to Montreal put me in the rear right window seat of a Dehavilland Dash 8 and I got to see the St Lawrence River for almost the entire journey. It was flowing this sheets of ice on the surface.

RM Williams boots and tumbling over and over again

A Welsh colleague mentioned when Australians say A over T, the British usually say “arse over tit”.

The other thing that went ‘wrong’ was some poor preparation on my part. In my effort to minimise what I brought over in my two small carry on bags, I decided I would wear my black RM Williams Tambo boots. I’ve had these shoes for more than ten years. The leather is still good and while a little scuffed, I apply a neutral protective boot polish weekly. I’ve got the original rubber sole on them but I’ve been through two lots of heel replacements. I didn’t even think about snow and walking in snow. I had not looked at the weather apart from the temperatures which ranged from a minimum average of –25 °C (–13 °F) to a maximum of –10 °C (14 °F). I should have taken more notice of the other aspects of the weather. That said, even if I did, I didn’t think there would be that much walking and I had hoped the rubber soles would be okay. Unfortunately, the rubber was too hard. The rubber soles froze with the snow and became icy.

On Tuesday night walking back from a restaurant, I fell about four times. One of the falls was heavy and I hurt the posterior aspect of my right arm. When I woke up the following day my tricep was sore and I had some problems with range of movement.

On Thursday afternoon, the sun was out and the day felt warmer and I got complacent. I fell heavily and banged up my right shoulder. It hurt pretty badly. On Friday morning I had less range of movement. I think I will need to slowly stretch and exercise the arm for a few weeks. There was also some tingling in the ulnar nerve distribution which went away after a few hours.

I’ve learnt my lesson. If I ever travel again to somewhere where there is snow I will buy a pair of suitable shoes.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

I flew between Melbourne and Vancouver and then between Montreal and Vancouver in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This is a magnificent airframe. The electronically controlled shades are great. The environmental control to manage temperature and humidity is also good.

I’m old enough to have flown in the full Boeing series, viz., 707, 717, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, and now the 787.

What have I watched this week?

Star Trek: Discovery

Sadly, because of flights over the weekend I was not able to watch “Light and Shadows”. I will have to watch this sometime during the week.

What have I listened to this week?

The Medical Republic

One of the medical magazines that I read on-line is The Medical Republic. It’s aimed at Australian so-called “curious” general practitioners, but as a “curious” pathologist I like to keep up to date with what is happening so I read it along with a few other medical news services. TMR has recently launched a podcast named The Medical Republic. One of the hosts is Felicity Nelson who I’ve had contact with in the past.

I hope TMR doesn’t mind other curious medical specialists from listening to the podcast.

Felicity can be found on Twitter.

I listened to all the available episodes while flying to Quebec. I enjoyed the format and the interviews with people.

The shows so far:

• The king who killed his psychiatrist
• Elsevier’s nemesis
• Do artificial sweeteners help people lose weight?
• The doctor with cerebral palsy
• No Kon do: When tidying up does NOT spark joy

You can find the podcast in your regular podcatcher.

What have I eaten and photographed this week?

Le Lapin Sauté

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

This is a restaurant in Lower Québec City which specialises in rabbit.

I enjoyed snails with brie, rabbit poutine, and a maple syrup crème brûlée.

THE QUEBEC GARRISON CLUB

• 

• 

• 

The Garrison Club is very much like an officers’ mess. It’s very traditional with sturdy tables, white linen, and silver service. Options are few but the food is delicious. I had vegetable soup with creme of herbs, seared beef with brie and borderline sauce, followed a dark chocolate mousse and dark chocolate crème brûlée.

La Citadelle de Québec

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

This fortification was built by the British and staffed by Regiment 22 of Canada Forces. A Canadian French speaking regiment based in Québec city.

Rotisserie St Hubert

• 

• 

I ate here on Thursday evening and enjoyed two classics of Québec cuisine, viz., French onion soup and poutine.

On Tuesday, for lunch, I had a sloppy joe with potato wedges.

On Wednesday, for lunch, I had a piece of dry salmon with caesar salad.

On Thursday, for lunch, I had a chicken burger and chips with cheese whiz and mayonnaise.

This is a gallery of photographs. Click on one image and scroll through the rest of them.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Yummy Lummy this week

I wrote a review of Le Lapin Sauté.

New logo for Yummy Lummy

[maxbutton id=”11″ ][maxbutton id=”12″ ][maxbutton id=”13″ ]

Final thoughts

• Have you ever been to Quebec?
• Have you eaten poutine? Do you like poutine?
• Can you speak French? Do you think French will outlive English?