Nineteen

Hey all! We made it back safe and sound from the beautiful city of Montréal. We flew up Friday at suppertime, caught a taxi to our hotel, checked in, and then caught another taxi to Milos on Parc Street. It was our first time there and we had a delicious meal. It's a little pricey, but worth every penny. We both started with the crab cakes, which were very yummy, full of crab meat and little else. Then we both also had the grilled halibut as a main, which was also cooked to perfection and very tasty. For dessert, I had the Galaktoboureko, and Brad ordered the Loukoumades. I have to say that Brad's dessert was incredible! Lightly fried greek dough balls drenched in honey - thyme honey from Crete. They were spectacular. (If we hadn't recently bought 12 jars of honey from Don and Marlene, we would have picked up a botle at the restaurant - $60 a pop!) I also ordered a glass of greek dessert wine and Brad had a port to finish off the evening. The service was very good as well, as we were served by very sexy Kostas, a Greek guy in his early twenties with a smile and a bottom to die for! After our great meal, we walked to the nearest metro station and rode back downtown and headed to one of the strip bars for which Montréal is famous. We stayed well into the early hours and spent too much money - well, I spent too much money on the boyz... But what the heck. It's a once a year thing!

Next morning we had breakfast at the hotel, which is included in the price, and then we took the metro to the Atwater Market - a terrific spot with lots of different food shops. I picked up some Israeli couscous and a bottle of olive oil from Spain. Across the street was one of the bigger SAQ liquor stores, so we popped in there and picked up a few bottles that are hard to find at home, including a white port. We then made out way back to the hotel and dropped off our purchases before heading out on foot to meet good friend Maurice for lunch at L'Evidence. It, too, was a great spot and it was good to sit down and catch up with Maurice. After lunch, we hopped in Maurice's car and drove to a Middle Eastern bakery and then to a Greek bakery. This was Brad's wannado, and he picked up lots of yummy pastries, some of which we are still eating! We then went to the Jean-Talon market, which is similar to Atwater, only bigger and, in my opinion, better! The weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm. Maurice then dropped us off at the hotel, where we changed for dinner at Le Piedmontais, a cozy French/Italian resto very close to where we were staying. After another good meal, we made our way to Place des Arts where we saw Mozart's The Magic Flute opera. It too was very good. It finished around 11:00 p.m., and we were both too tired to do anything except head back to the hotel and get a good night's sleep.

The following morning, we again had breakfast at the hotel and then checked out and headed over to our friend Lynn's, who lives in Westmount. After tea and a chat, we went with him to an open house to look at a condo he was thinking of purchasing downtown. We then wandered all over downtown and the Le Plateau district on another sunny and warm fall afternoon. We made a reservation along the way at La Prunelle, a cosy bring-your-own-wine spot. After walking around and shopping a bit more, we found a liquor store and picked up a couple of bottles of wine to have with dinner. Another fine meal later, we were back on the street and headed for the strip club once again - hey, I had to bid my boyz adieu! Sunday was women's night at the place, and it was a completely different atmosphere with all the squeeling gals.. We didn't stay that long and soon caught the metro back to Westmount, where we retired for another good night's sleep.

We had breakfast at Lynn's the next morning - November 9 - our 19th anniversary as a couple! Brad and I then went out and did some shopping in the 'hood. I picked up a new backback - mostly to carry all of our purchases back home in, some soap from my fave Westmount shop, and a new cookbook. All and all, a productive morning. We also picked up some kalamata olive bread and a loaf of sun-dried tomato bread to bring home with us as well as a couple of sandwiches to eat at the airport. Our flight home was uneventful and pleasant, except for this very loud gal from France who was seated directly behind us and who did not shut up for the entire 1 hour 10 minute flight! Man, I wanted to slap her!

So that was our weekend. I had yesterday off and got a lot done around the house and a lot of errands done about town. Today is a statutory holiday in Canada (except for Québec), so tomorrow will be my first day back to work. It has been a great little break. And a 2-day week, I think I can handle at this point. It's been another gorgeous fall day here and we've both been busy outside raking and bagging leaves and I cut down the old raspberry canes and fertilized the patch.... Will no doubt be sore tomorrow!

Nothing new with respect to my brother. He's finished his chemotherapy and it's now wait and see if is normal blood cells make a rebound.

Been a while, so here are some fellas!