A shopping meander through Little Italy...

Fiat or Alfa?

The Jean Talon Market in Montreal's Little Italy is a wonder. I mean, take the Trenton Farmers Market in NJ (which used to be a favorite of mine) and multiply quantity and quality and variety by a hundred, and you get the idea. Check out that fried smelts lunch! I tell you, I've never seen such wondrous variety of every food you can imagine this side of the pond outside of NYC... everything and anything your little heart desires. Makes Whole Foods look like a convenience store.

Note ashtray

six kindsa beans!

Eating for four! Somethin's gotta give!

Caught this lovely little city front yard jardin of cosmos on the way back home from the Marche (that's pronounced, as you probably know, marshay but I don't have the accents thing handy here). Isn't it lovely? what esprit! What whimsy against all the concrete! Montrealers are a hearty, optimistic lot.

And the barbeque last night chez Ramelle et Richard (Happy Birthday, Richard!) in a just to die for 1860 funky little artists' house southeast of here, very french! was completely ooh- ah charming, with a gorgeous enclosed, vine covered yard out back. Great food spread (I brought a caramelized beet salad I whipped up with gorgeous beets and leetle figs I found at the marche and fresh herbs, etc. Everyone seemed to like it, recipe on request) and, seriously, a truly interesting et tres sympa group of creative types: professors, writers (Tess, I was sorry to not talk with you more!) documentary film makers, a gourmandise (hey, Dave!), etc. A precious 6 month old baby who was my last extended conversation of the evening. Talk about a guy you wanna take home from a party! Sweet Ronan. Mum's Irish of course! I played with his teeny, fat little feet for a good fifteen minutes. A very tolerant young man to indulge me so. Takes you back to your precious days as a mum of leetle ones. Loved the mum as well. Truly, everyone there just charming and warm and kind and jolly. Thanks, Fran, for taking me along! Walking alone here at night is a revelation. Safe for the most part and Wow Friday night on St. Laurent was lively. I loved it.

Think the rest of the weekend I'll indulge a little in the things I can't find anywhere stateside. Pastries, (Fran sez the Bostok at Gascogne is a must have) excellent cafe au laid, the amazing Quiet of the 'hood Outremont on weekends. It empties out like Paris in August on the weekends as the middle class plus (who can afford weekend places cause they have free healthcare) hie off to the country.

I find myself on Saturday and Sunday mornings here walking the dog in this leafy hood and humming Joni's My Secret Place. Been awhile since that one spiraled through my head. Oddly, I find bits of Joni tunes running through my head all the time here. (She's from Saskachewan. ) I blame Mel for starting that with the Song from Sharon email. Now it's all Joni all the Time Radio playing in my audial brain. Oh well, could be worse, eh? Could be ... well, fill in the blank.

Hasta la pasta..

Speaking of which, Dave informs me the best restau in Montreal is DNA. I read their menu (do yourself a favor, click on link and check it out just to get your salivaries going) on line, and he's probably right.

ps... don't think I've gone all soft in the head or fallen into some food induced coma... there;s plenty of sociopolitical commentary lurking in the crenellations and on my desktop just waiting for the moment something really pisses me off. then I'll drag all those links up, have my say, and likely piss a few folks off again. So enjoy the "mellow" while it lasts. But just for fun, here's a proposal from a couple days ago that got people excited: If we paid kindergarten teachers over $300,000 a year, would we be getting our money's worth?

pps... IF you're reading this and yo haven't signed in above as a follower yet, please do so. It keeps me goin. Thanks!