Month: July 2009

Restaurant Jul 18, 2009 The Waffle 2 Comments One great thing about a night out and about is to recover the next day with brunch. Sadly, there is a lot of uneducated restaurant owners and managers who somehow believe that brunch is just a fancy breakfast. It isn’t. When people go for brunch, they are looking for breakfast and lunch at the same time. BReakfast.  lUNCH. BR + UNCH = BRUNCH. See? A restaurant that respects its clientèle should not advertise a brunch menu if said brunch menu offers only breakfast items and variations on the same theme.  A restaurant that respects its clientèle understands that a normally constituted person cannot sustain themself until dinner with an 11 am yogurt and granola. Fortunately for me, we ended up at a location that understands:  the Irish Embassy Pub and Grill. Set in a splendid old bank building built in the 1800s located in the heart of the Financial District,…

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Airplane Food Jul 10, 2009 The Waffle No Comments It is often said that airplane food is terrible.  It most often is. Unless you fly First or Business class, domestic flights are indeed feeding you badly, and most often you have to pay extra for it. But one airline does understand that a nice flight includes a nice meal – no matter where you sit. Air France. Here is what the tray looked like when it appeared in front of me: The menu was printed as follows: Meal Service Tabbouleh with tuna Choice of main courseCurried chicken accompanied by rice with raisins -or- Filet of barracuda with sorrel and mushrooms, dauphinoise potatoes au gratin Cheese Fruit salad Crème caramel Coffee and tea Beverages Apéritifs Upon request ChampagneJacquart Brut Mosaïque White Wine Vin de Pays d’Oc Chardonnay 2008 La BaumeRed WineVin de Pays d’Oc Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 La Baume BeerHeineken Mineral Water Soft DrinksSchweppes…

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Food experiment Jul 9, 2009 The Waffle 3 Comments I was in Conakry for 8 days at the beginning of July, at the invitation of NDI for a Retraite Politique, ahead of the scheduled Fall election. I figured I couldn’t blog much while in Guinea, and wouldn’t be able to write about everything. So I decided I would do a photo-blog. Every picture below is clickable and you can have a closer look at the food. Generally, the Guinean food is either from the sea or spicy. Lots of stews. Generally, they have a plate of hot crushed peppers available to increase the heat. Perfect. You can also find skewers and all sorts of food stands while wandering the streets of Conakry, as everybody tries to sell some food for a bit of money. But I decided to stick with restaurants, except for the food cooked in the little shack…

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Airplane Food Jul 1, 2009 The Waffle No Comments So I was invited by NDI to participate in their Retraite Politique in Conakry, Guinea. They wanted me to give some classes on campaign, share my experiences, hold workshops and participate on a youth panel. They also wanted me to be available to assist as needed in one-on-one consultations. I have agreed to go, of course, but since it was a bit last minute, I had to scramble to get the green light from my boss, get the visa, get the vaccines and make all the other arrangements. But I was happy to go, despite the unstable political situation, and hopefully will be able to help. To get to Conakry, one doesn’t get a direct flight.  My itinerary was as follows: Ottawa-Chicago-Brussels-Dakar-Conakry.  19 hours of flying time, plus the layovers. So my first layover was in O’Hare, where I had 3 hours to grab some lunch…

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