I first came across Moosewood's famous cookbooks when a kind American lady showed me her collection on our voyage from Roatan Island across to the mainland of Honduras. Lounging on the yacht and flipping through the book gave me lots of inspiration to be a magician in the kitchen. A 1970's print, the cookbook is really old and used and every bit the teacher u would want in a kitchen. "Oh, they have a restaurant in upstate New York." Ah-hah!!! And that started my pilgrimage plans to Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York. Naively, I hadn't realise at that time that it was a good 4hrs drive from NYC itself...so all pilgrimage plans were abandoned... until we decided to make a road trip up to Canada and make a detour to Moosewood...what better time to do it other than now?
Moosewood restaurant lived up to its reputation in every sense. Established since 1973, its widely acclaimed all-natural, vegetarian based cuisine catered to every health conscious though not necessary vegetarian eaters. I am not vegetarian but over here, I just want to eat everything on the menu! The warm apple cider with a dash of lemon is simply heavenly...never had a better apple cider compared to this. Never. The ginger and fruit mix is a perfect marriage of distinct tastes and a good match for the palette indeed. My tofu-mushroom-pecan burger sounded more like a dessert than the real thing and despite being in America, the servings are actually fit for a normal human being's consumption!!! Finally!! We have a restaurant in America who understands that humans do NOT eat like pigs!!! We do not want over-sized portions of food and be charged over-sized prices...we just want enough food for THIS meal. Yes, and be charged for exactly what we are consuming! Nothing more, nothing less. Thank you, Moosewood! :) Our pilgrimage to Moosewood is finally completed and we left with a happy apron and mug souvenir...get your asses kicked, HRC!
Due to the detour to Moosewood, we had to take the border crossing into Canada via the Bridge of the Thousands Islands instead. And OMG...it is a sight to behold. It is not called Thousand islands for nothing...and the bridge across these miniscule islands with rowing boats and summer houses was so scenic i wanted to jump out of the car to take some photos. Makes my heart burst with joy to be finally in one with nature... The migrating season is in full swing and our car window scenery was peppered with streamline views of birds and geese flying east(I think) as we drive on a dull highway. Do they have a compass? How they know where to fly to? Where is their map?
Montreal is a city dotted with ancient churches leftover from the French and English colonies. Having travelled across Latim America and coming into contact with more churches than I can count, I am surprised with what I found inside the Basilica of Notre Dame, Quebec. You step in and it is utterly... O-M-I-G-O-D! Astonishing! The Disneyland of all Catholics! Praise be the lord! Hallelujah! The 7,000 pipes organ is a piece of work...with 3 keyboards and 52pedals(if i remember correctly), only 1 talented Mr Ripley can play this monster in the church...and he has been doing that for the past 30 years. The Neo-gothic facade of the church took 5 years to complete but the amazing interior took a total of 100 years to complete. The altar itself is breath-takingly beautiful and all the statues were hand-crafted in France and shipped over. The columns and ceilings were covered with gold leaf stars and not an inch was left undecorated. What a piece of art and love. If I have a church like this back home, I will go to mass every week without fail...can't miss the gigantic organ and the choir for sure! ;p
I love the Biodome and Insectarium near the Olympic Park. The Biodome(or House of Life) is a museum of environment shaped like a zoo, an aquarium and a botanical garden featuring Capybara(the world's largest rodents, it is not the Kangaroo!), piranhas, posion dart frogs, beavers, porcupines, tamarind monkeys, emperor penguins, sloths and sturgeons(that produces caviar) and more. A walk to the insectarium and the Butterflies Go Free tent allowed us to mingle with like 1000 butterflies in their natural environment. Meeting with the Morpho butterfly again is like taking a trip back to Costa Rica for me... This photographer did a very admirable job of photographing the wings of butterflies that displays designs shaped like the alphabets A-Z over a course of 25 years. His patience and persistence paid off. We are awed.
Next destination is old Quebec City, a UNESCO World Heritage site duly titled where one feels as though they had stepped into Europe without their passport. Quaint little shops selling Noel decorations all year round, patisseries with the most amazing chocolate custard eclairs, chateau-like houses fronting the St. Lawrence river and of course, the Citadelle with its maze-like roads and structures modelled after Gibraltar. Chateau Frontenac is the main highlight of old Quebec City with its dominating presence facing the St. Lawrence river. Taking the Quebec-Levis ferry is worth it as you get a magnificent view of the chateau and the city from the other side. We checked into lovely Chateau Bellevue with a view of the river though I have to say the rooms are a tad too small for what I imagined of a chateau. One restaurant highly recommended in the gastronomically-packed city is the Le Lapin Saute. Boasting a menu with great rabbit dishes, we were highly surprised by the imaginative combination of ingredients, such as the camembert cheese and apple roll entrees and the escargot paired with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese sauce....ooh-lah-lah... Their turtle chocolate pie made with white caramel left a lingering taste on my mouth well after I left Canada. Best piece of choc pie I have ever had. I swear. The maple syrup creme brule was interesting though I have to say any desserts made with maple syrup has a certain grainy taste that I think should be acquired...like eating bitter gourd. Not to be missed as part of anyone's Quebec City experience is a trip to the Aux Anciens Canadiens Restaurant serving traditional Canadian cuisine since 1966. Somehow, the taste of Le Lapin Saute still lingers in my heart.
With the lingering taste of the Turtle Chocolate pie in my mouth...we sadly headed back to NYC and bidded Canada farewell.
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