Month: May 2009

Uncategorized May 27, 2009 The Waffle No Comments I was quite excited to receive the newsletter from Made In France – a cool little boutique on the outskirt of the ByWard Market, which specializes in imported products from the culinary capital of the world.  It opened in 2005, and I do drop by from time to time. Amongst the new products available on the shelf soon, Brittany butter cookies, Sweet Pepper mustard, Truffle mustard, Apricot & Lavender jam, Rose petal confit, Salted butter caramels from Brittany, Cooking lavender, Truffles and Truffle Oil. Items are a bit pricy, but its not like you can find them at Food Basics. Be sure to check it out for A summer à la française! —————– Tuesday, May 26, 2009 French Summer-Un été à la française NEW Tablecloths & Placemats-NOUVEAU Nappes et Napperons Summer Shipment: Arriving early June!-Nouvel arrivage d’été début juin Summer Specials-Ventes d’été .

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General May 24, 2009 The Waffle 3 Comments On our way to Shauna’s graduation party – she is moving to Halifax to save lives – we had to stop for beer.  Since we stayed at the Hotel des Gouverneurs on Ste-Catherine, we dropped by the IGA at Place Dupuis to get some. Beers are important when you go to a party.  Shauna is portuguese, and therefore we knew we didn’t need to bring food (on the menu:  4 types of salad, cured meats, pork chops, chicken breasts, bunch of snacks – and 7 fully loaded desserts, and yes, I did try them all.)  But beers were needed.  I was quite pleased at the selection available at the IGA Place Dupuis – almost as pleased as Melissa was with the post-modern plastic shopping cart.   I hesitated a bit – and ended up selecting a 6-pack of Red from Les Trois Mousquetaires,…

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Politics May 22, 2009 The Waffle No Comments In the Ottawa Citizen Saturday Observer, the versatile and multitasking Glen McGregor  maps out the locations described by Terry Kilrea during his testimony at Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien‘s trial. (Kudos to Dennis Leung for the actual graphic.)  First, let me say that out of Terry Kilrea’s guide of 12 locations, I have actually been to 11 of them.  I am a regular at Maclaren’s and the Metropolitain, I go from time to time to The Lieutenant’s Pump, Dunn’s and the Elgin Street Diner, and I have been a couple of times to Biagio’s Italian Kitchen and Milestones.  But I have never been to the Ottawa Courthouse – since I have never been charged with:  “having or pretending to have influence with the Government of Canada, or with a Minister of the Government, directly or indirectly, offer, or agree, to accept for himself a reward, benefit…

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Restaurant May 16, 2009 The Waffle 5 Comments We went to the ByWard Market, wandering and wondering where to go for dinner.  Buskers were performing on the William Street Mall, and the laughter and applause from the crowd attracted our attention to the area.  That is when we noticed that Oregano’s successor was finally open. Oregano’s Pasta Market had been there for almost 30 years, and was very popular with tourists, with its red-and-white checkered table cloths, and its inoffensive if uninspired Italian comfort food cuisine.  I did enjoy Oregano’s lasagna, I admit.   But the owners of the popular Empire Grill and Metropolitain (I talked about the Met here and here) wanted to expand their branché empire in the Market, and they took over Oregano’s lease in August. Nine months letter, Gary Thompson, John Borsten and Dave Mangano gave birth to their new baby: The Grand.   Appartently, they named…

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General May 14, 2009 The Waffle No Comments Today, the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of  Jerusalem and the  Canada-Israël Committee were hosting a reception on Parliament Hill, Celebrating Partnerships in honour of Israel’s 61st Anniversary. Hundreds of guests, including parliamentarians from all parties, were mingling and enjoying the tapas-style creation  of Israeli  Chef Ovid Alfia while Israeli Opera Star, Yevgeni Shapovalov, was impressing everyone with the strenght of his voice while Ernest Shteynberg was accompanying him on the piano. The best two hors d’oeuvres were the beef roulades on a bed of avocado and covered with strips of marinated vegetables (right); and a spicy tuna on artichokes served raw with a milder sauce and sprouts(bottom). Both dishes were delicious, and they were freshly prepared before our eyes during the event, which was a nice change from the usual fare on Parliament Hill. The catered meat meal was supervised by the Ottawa Vaad Hakashrut. All meat…

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