Tag Archives: Montreal

Vote for me to win the Biggest Baddest Bucket List Contest – Please!


Please Vote for me on Biggest Baddest Bucket List contest. You just check one of the social media links in the big green box.

http://www.mydestination.com/users/thesouplady2/bbb#tab

vote 2

This is the coolest website by the way – they are offering a prize of $150,000 in traveling money – plus $50,000 in cash – and you get to travel around the world for 6 months. Oh yes, and you have to blog from all the places you visit. I can so do that.

But the fun part (after you vote for me of course) – is watching the other videos. Some are surprisingly good, others are amazingly bad. I mean – really terrible. I think those are more fun than the good ones – but don’t say I said so.

If you really want to help me out – send my link around to all your facebook friends – ask them to just vote for me. I so appreciate it!

And if you want to know what I said for my ‘tour’ guide piece – here’s my written copy. Enjoy. And have a café aux lait – and a 2 cheek kiss on me.

Beinvenu a Montreal

Welcome to Montreal –  home of the 2 cheek kiss

Come visit the Old world in the new world.

We are more than just big buildings, church steeples, cobble streets, Mt Tremblant, the Olympic Park, Celine Dion, and Claches (horse-drawn carriages – yes – even in winter).

We have World class art – both inside and out, fascinating Museums, magnificent churches, 75% of the worlds maple syrup, shop till you drop shopping – both underground and above ground, over 5000 restaurants (that 1 a week for 100 years – you’ll never be bored) – and world-class festivals.

You can come to see our Museums and Parks including Mount Royal

You might come to see the Oratory St. Joseph – one of the top Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world or

You might just come to shop.

But you really should come for our festivals –

In February – during the darkest days of the year we light up the skies, the buildings, and the night with our Festival of Lights. Fabulous restaurant meals at all price ranges – from free to unbelievably expensive are on offer. All you need is interest, an appetite, and a reservation.  Not curious about food – no problems, there are dozens of theatrical happenings, culminating in Nuit Blanche (White Nights in English) – over 1000 different (and free) activities to choose from – DJ’s, Dancing, Dance lessons, Concerts, Art challenges – all yours to enjoy. And the city parties hardy till dawn.

In June – The Grand Prix takes over the city – the truly wealthy rub shoulders (and the occasional Ferrari) with the locals, and the roar of the F1 cars can be heard over the hum of the big city.  The next weekend our world-famous Jazz Festival takes over the Quartier des Spectacles – free concerts by the famous, and not so famous on every corner. Couple that with indoor concerts by the truly famous and you have events worth a special trip to Montreal.

In July – The multi-lingual Juste pour Rire (our Comedy festival) rolls into town and out onto the streets. Comedy – and not just verbal either – remember we’re the home of the Cirque de Soleil – becomes the reason to visit – and to return. And our terraces (places to eat outside) are open – when your summer is short – you must make the most of it. Some local’s joke that you missed summer – it was yesterday! And as with most jokes – there’s a grain of truth. My Dad came to visit in early July – and wore everything he brought – at the same time.

There are multiple film festivals in multiple languages, Balloon Festivals, Dance Festivals, and Parades for any and all occasions.

In August – We even have a Graffiti festival! Talk about taking fun to a new – and legal – level.

So come and enjoy our festivals – they are as Montreal  – as the 2 cheek kiss – and a cafe aux lait!

Vote for me

Drop Everything to see Jacques Brel is Alive and Living in Paris


Seriously –  immediately call and get tickets to see this stunningly delicious piece of theatre. A group of very talented young Montreal actors (2 male, 2 female – plus 4 musicians and a sound crew) used Indiegogo to raise the money to make this event possible – and it is up to us – their audience – to support their efforts.

http://www.mainlinetheatre.ca/fr/spectacles/jacques-brel-is-alive-and-well-and-living-in-paris

For those unfamiliar with Jacques Brel, he was a composer and singer of the like of Leonard Cohen – with the same down and beaten story telling motifs, great lyrics, and wonderful rhythms, but without the religious overtones. Jacques Brel composed his songs in French, but they were translated into English many years ago – and for most of us, the ones we recognize are the English versions.

This production by In Your Face alternated between English and French, with a bit of Flemish thrown in with “Marieke”. But it isn’t just about the songs – it’s about what the performers with their live musician backup are doing while they are performing the songs. This behind the singer action is often the highlight of the piece. Another highlight – Jacques Brel’s songs were written to become more and more emotional as they go on – and the older of the male performers was particularly committed to that escalation of energy, commitment, and anguish.

It would be impossible to fairly pick one favorite song – standouts included “When I am Dead”, “Carousel”, “Brussels”, “If we only had love”, “Au Suivant”, “Sons of” – there are so many brilliantly executed pieces to enjoy – but I walked out humming “Marieke”.

Go – please go. You won’t be sorry – and who knows when another opportunity to enjoy such an over-the-top theatrical piece will come our way.

(I was in the Audience on Friday, March 23)

The Clone People – Dawson Studio Wins Again


I do get confused by the Dawson Theatre’s way of describing exactly which group and which class is doing which production. In this specific case – the program credits the 2nd Year Studio – the website (http://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/2012-2013/4th-studio-the-clone-people) refers to it as a production by the 4th studio. Honestly – I’m so confused.

But ignoring my confusion as to which group is doing what to whom in the library – the truth is that these productions are a wonderful value for the money. They are ‘pay what you can’ – so essentially free – they are generally excellently directed (the staff at Dawson are clearly of extremely high calibre), and I totally love the idea of seeing young people strut their stuff in front of family and friends.

The play itself is a very good story. You are introduced to a ‘hollywood’ couple – a husband and wife very much in love with each other, a neighbor who is over the hill and over the top, and the ‘managers’ of the couple. The wife, who at the start is on location, suddenly runs away from her location and drives home to hide out. She is complaining of headaches and has serious concerns about some of her staff and what they may have done to her in the past.

Clearly – since the title is “The Clone People” – we’re going to be seeing some clones – and naturally that’s what happens. The cast has a lot of fun switching behaviors to carry the illusion of the clone’d people, with the clear star being the female lead. She ends up having to have 3 different personalities in order to convince us that she’s been ‘clone’d’ – and she does an excellent job.

You don’t go to Dawson to see professional theatre – you go to have an enjoyable night out and maybe to see a play you have never even heard of performed credibly. This one was a winner on all counts.

(I was in the audience on Saturday, March 9th)

Montreal knows how to PARTY! – Nuit Blanche Rocks – even for Grannies


For soon to be a senior – the whole idea of Nuit Blanche is a bit frightening. Mobs of people milling around, no toilets anywhere, fast food offerings only, and the events seemingly focused on the younger crowd that finds DJ’s fooling with records entertainment.

But that is so totally different from what Nuit Blanche is really all about. Nuit Blanche is fun. Lots of fun, actually. We started at the Place des Art’s metro station – it’s centrally located, and dumped us right at the heart of the action – Quartier des Spectacles. And what a pulsing, beating heart it was. We were there just at 6:00 – the light shows were happening, there were people roasting hot-dogs on sticks over open fires all around the Quartier, there were people sliding down the ice slide, there were jugglers with fire batons – people playing ‘toss’ with giant balls – and that was just in the short walk from the metro station to St. Catherine’s street. Amazing.

We loved the light shows – heavily animated – entire buildings had become the canvas for animation artists to play upon. There were letters falling out of signs, people walking past open windows which then disappeared (not the people – the windows!), and flashing colors everywhere. We even spotted people writing in neon letters 30 feet tall on another building. It was amazing. And so good-natured. Not a grumpy face anywhere.

We walked down to China Town for dinner – using the underground the whole way so as to avoid any slippery side walks, and after dinner walked back to the one event we’d decided to try. Out of over 1000 activities – this was the one that seemed to us to be ‘our speed’.

Events we decided quickly NOT to try  – Tango Dancing, Gumboot Dancing, anything that mentioned a DJ, anything that wasn’t free (we really wanted free), anything that looked to be mostly in French (our French isn’t that great), anything that started after 10:00 (we’re early to bed kinda birds), and anything that wasn’t near a metro stop. That eliminated a lot of options – but we cut down more by checking if there would be seating (we can’t stand for an hour – not even close), and anything that mentioned ‘experimental’. Hard experience has shown that ‘experimental’ at Nuit Blanche is often smutty.

Out of our short list of about 15 – sounds pretty good choices – we eventually agreed on the Cabaret de la Nuit Blanche. It was being held at the National Theatre School – and there are always seats. And the space has high ceilings and good lighting. And it’s right up the street from where we were going to eat dinner (The Tong Sing – reviewed elsewhere). In a nut shell – perfect – if the advertised acts – Fanfare Pourpour and Les Soeurs Schmutt delivered.

We arrived just at the stroke of 9:00 – just as the band was gathering. We snagged front row seats on the side and settled in to enjoy ourselves. And enjoy we did. The Fanfare Pourpour was quite simply outstanding. I attached a picture – it’s out of focus and not great – and Fanfare Pourpour1it doesn’t even begin to capture the joy they bought to the house. It was in their faces, their voices, and communicated itself throughout the crowded space.

Sharing the stage – and the center of the room – and an overhang in the back of the room were the 2 lovely and extremely flexible young ladies who performed on and off during the evening. Acting as host was a female impersonator – the quite talented Soizick Hebert in the role of ‘Jackie’. Altogether – I was sorry we had to eventually pick up stakes (and purses and coats) and head back home.

Great night Montreal. You sure showed the world exactly how to properly party.

Trad and Cornered – 2 lousy plays in 2 Evenings. Bummer, eh?


I read with great interest Pat Donnelly’s long article in the Gazette – wondering if the fact she’d seen 4 good plays in as many night was a sign of a resurgence in the English Montreal Theatre scene. While I’m all for a resurgence – i don’t think that seeing 4 good plays in a week is a record – I’ve seen play after good play for years.

Unfortunately, while Pat saw great plays – I suffered thru 2 plays in 2 evenings that were both questionable. Both  were so slow-paced they actually had me sleeping. Not good people.

The first was ‘Cornered’ at my absolute favorite English theatre Venue – the Bain St. Michel. I’ve seen such great theatre there – and I have the greatest respect for Guy Sprung. But Cornered was directed by Paul Van Dyck – and it was a terrible let-down. For starters – the accents of the actors was so heavy – so ‘put-on’ that it left a great many of the customers the night I was there wondering what was going on. And the answer was – not much . It’s a rather pointless story, with little to recommend it, spoken by good actors putting on such heavy accents as to render the story incomprehensible to an English speaker. And if English wasn’t my first language – which was the case for most of the underwhelming small crowd of people there on Wednesday night – well – it was a complete waste of time.

My 2nd loser – the heavily advertised, and well re-reviewed ‘Trad’ at Centaur. The set was lovely, the music fun – but again – the actors put on fake Irish accents – and unfortunately – in doing so rendered huge sections of the play almost incomprehensible. I got the idea – they are both old – and thus live in a past that is more exciting than the current present. But was it absolutely necessary to tell the story in accents I didn’t understand. What is the point. It didn’t make me think better of the characters – it just made me go to sleep. Again – audience discussion tended to agree with me – This was not a great production. It wasn’t even a good one. Sorry Sidemark and Centaur. You may have delivered for Pat – but you didn’t deliver for me. Or the people sitting in front of me.

But good news – There’s more English theatre here in Montreal this week – including the Mahalia Jackson tribute at the Segal Centre that has garnered rave reviews from several of my friends. Lots to hopefully enjoy. Just please, please, please – don’t put me to sleep.

“The Matchmaker” – Dawson 3rd Studio students give it all they’ve got – and it’s quite a lot!


I love going to the theatre – you just never ever know what will strike your funny bone – bring a smile to your face – or tears to your eyes.

What I truly love to see, however, is heart and soul on the stage. When the performers do their very best to convince me that this is their very best – I’m pleased, entertained, fascinated, and enthused.

And Dawson Year 3rd Studio Students delivered.

http://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/2012-2013/3rd-studio-the-matchmaker

The pay as you go performance of “The MatchMaker” I attended was packed. Every seat in the lovely Dawson theatre was taken. The sets were definitely at Dawson standards – they managed to convince you that you changed location – by just moving bits and pieces around. My favorite ‘directing’ bits were the interludes while the crew moved furniture in the background. In one interesting piece of theatre business – the cast grabbed suitcases, brought them to the ‘train station’ and the proceeded to use them as seats. Some sound effect later – they were off – jiggling down the line – going from the country into the ‘big’ city. Great bit of business – and carefully timed to cover up the set changes.

The performances, as can be expected of studio students, were far from professional quality – but what they lacked in polish, they made up in a keen desire to please the audience.

Like many ‘amateur’ performances I’ve seen and enjoyed – the cast grew stronger and stronger as the evening progressed – and the rousing final act was a delightful farce – enjoyed by everyone. (Thanks Adrienne for the spell check!)

Next  up at Concordia is the 4th Studio students in “The Cone People”.

http://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/2012-2013/4th-studio-the-clone-people

After just a few years of training – these guys and gals are good. And like their less experienced fellows – generally bring to the stage an enthusiasm for being there that can be lacking in the performances of more jaded professionals.

Prices are great too.

Best Sugaring-Off Spot Ever!


Quebec Sugaring Off

Primitive Wood-Curving showing an old fashioned Sugaring Off

I’ve done sugaring off many many times – and my absolute favorite place is Festin de Campagne & La Cidrerie du Petit Saint-Joseph.

First – an explanation for my non-Quebec Followers. Sugaring Off is a Spring Time ritual here in Quebec. The sap starts to run up and down (up during the day – down at night when it gets cold) in the Maple Trees. People with Maple Stands tap the trees (literally a tap goes into the tree – and when the sap goes up and down – it also flows out the tap either into a bucket (very old-fashioned) or into blue tubes that have a bit of suction in them), gather the sap, boil it down for days – and bingo – Maple Syrup.

Given that 75% or more of the world’s Maple Syrup is produced here in Quebec – you can imagine the vast numbers of trees, taps, and blue hose involved. It’s quite the sight. But that’s not Sugaring Off. As part of the taping, gathering, and boiling tradition – there’s an eating tradition – and that’s Sugaring Off.

Festin de Campagne – despite the fancy name – is one of the traditional cabins snuggled right in a Maple Stand. It’s used only for about a month a year – small, cozy, clearly built by the family, and lacking in any pretension. There’s no petting zoo, no buffet line, no polish. But there is an awesome group of performers – La Famille Laporte – who are completely irresistible – music that you absolutely must dance to. And the food – ah, it’s really about the food.

The meal starts with everyone sitting down on long family style tables – pre-laden with jars of homemade pickles, pickled beets, Coleslaw, and homemade Ketchup. There’s a quart jar of maple syrup per group of 6 – a bottle of fresh milk, and a jug of water. Quickly you get served your choice of vegetable or pea soup – my entire family opted for the pea soup – homemade (like everything else) – with pieces of lard floating among the peas. I added maple syrup – it was delicious.

Next comes the pate – maple syrup infused of course, with fresh bread.

Now the best part – the omelet, ham slices, baked beans, boiled potatoes and my personal – I wait all year to eat these – Grillades de lard or more familiarly called – Oreilles de crisse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreilles_de_crisse). Deep fried pieces of pork jowls – amazingly delicious – and eaten with more maple syrup of course. A quick word about the omelet – I’ve had flat omelets, I’ve had puffy omelets, I’ve had omelets cooked by celebrated chefs, I’ve had omelets made at home – but this omelet is the best I’ve ever eaten. Maybe you can blame the maple syrup – but it’s the puffiest, softest, pillow of an omelet made from eggs you can imagine came from chickens running around on the farm next door.  I’m serious – this is one great omelet.

Did I tell you this is all ‘eat all you want’? I meant to mention that. Want 2nd, want thirds – no problems!

Dessert is a choice of Pudding Chômeur (it’s sweet), Apple Crumble (it’s sweet), or Pancakes (guess what – you add more maple syrup to them too!). You can have one of each if you’d like – or do like my Grand-daughter – just focus on the pancakes!

Then – there’s the Tire. And the dancing. I’m a fan of both – so first I dance to the wonderful music of ‘La Famille Laporte’ till my feet hurt, then I go outside where they are pouring hot maple syrup onto Snow. You stick a Popsicle stick in the rapidly cooling syrup, and twist to make your own lollipop. I had 4. I didn’t count how many my grand-daughters enjoyed – but I know they went down the line more than I did. These ‘lollipops’ are sweet, soft, crunchy, a little warm, a little cold – and completely irresistible.

Eventually you either ride the tractor drawn wagon back to your car – or walk. In our case – we walked slowly – making snow angels as we found our way back to our car – and eventually back to Montreal.

Interesting is trying La Festin de Campagne? You can reach them by phone at 450-623-0687, or try this link:

http://www.domainedupetitstjoseph.ca/#!cabane-a-sucre

It’s no more than a 45 minute drive North West of Montreal – and for a place so ‘back-woods’, relatively easy to find. Be sure to say hello to Simard Paquette for me – she’s the hostess who makes up for her lack of height with a huge smile, and a warm welcome. Can’t miss her!

Yo Tohu – Stripped down Cirque – but so much fun!


I’m such a sap for the Circus – both old school (with animals) and new school (acrobats, jugglers, and the like). Which is why Pista del Tango was such a disappointment. How dare you ruin the Circus for me?

Thank goodness for Tohu. I always assume that everyone knows what I’m talking about when I say Tohu – but based on the lack of audience on Thursday (2/27/2013) night, I’m guessing that maybe I need to start off with a – how to find the Tohu.

Where/What is Tohu

Start by checking out their website – there’s both an English and a French version – you can get tickets, check the dates of different performances, and get a list of all the free stuff that happens there. I can personally recommend just about anything that they put on – I’ve never had a bad time – and frequently had a great time. This is NOT Cirque de Soleil, despite the physical closeness – those tall buildings to the right as you drive in are the Montreal headquarters of the Cirque de Soleil – and clearly there’s money and financing cross-overs. But Tohu is clearly independent – and rather feisty about that.

http://www.tohu.com

Festival Mondial Du Cirque De Demain

This is the third or fourth time I’ve seen these guys perform – and it is always a huge pleasure. Truly some of the best young (and not so young) performers from around the world come to Montreal as part of this group. There is no pretense at a story, or a theme, or even much of a set. Instead – this is a presentation by 9 different performing teams – each one of which has one at least one award – and in some cases – several awards. So we’re talking the best of the best at what they do. And what they can do is nothing short of astounding. We were 4 – and each of us had a different top act. My husband’s personal favorite was the Starbugs – 3 nutty guys – clowns with tremendous physical abilities. I just couldn’t stop laughing. One highlight – the fake ‘fight’ that started with the 2 guys in ‘contact’, and continued as they got further and further apart. What a hoot. My daughter loved the Chinese juggler/plate spinner who managed to take spinning objects to an entirely new level – and ended his act by pulling a ‘dragon’ out of his basket and spinning that! Another favorite was the Trapeze artist – who did things on a trapeze including several multiple spins high above the audience, unattached to the trapeze at all, that I’d never seen before.

Then there were the 2 male contortionists. I can’t find words to describe their act – except to say that sometimes they looked completely normal, and other times left me sitting with my mouth completely open in stunned surprise.

I particularly like the first act – a quick presentation by the students in the circus school. A teaser to encourage people to get tickets to their graduation performances in April – something I totally recommend that all my followers – and all their friends – do immediately. There are 2 different productions – they split the class in half, and each group gets their group of performances. I’ve done both – and never been sorry.

Finally – I wouldn’t do a fair review of this wonderful evening if I didn’t mention the guy (huge) and girl (tiny) team. The guy essentially tossed his partner around like she was putty – and she let him do it! Her grace was extraordinary, and his control when tossing her was so light and easy – you could easily fool yourself into thinking – I could do that. Word to the wise – Nope, you probably can’t.

Positive Stuff: Cafe at Tohu – little known but completely wonderful place to grab a grilled cheese sandwich, a bag of delicious popcorn, or even a Latté before a performance, Free stuff before the performance – in this case – a pile of circus toys that you could try out – including a tightrope to walk and plates to spin, and inexpensive parking – Just $5. Negative Stuff: Don’t count on the scenery and costumes to blow you away – that’s not the point, There’s not a bad seat in the house – but there are some side seats that are best avoided, and it ends late if there’s an intermission.

Go – Enjoy – Tell’m the Soup Lady sent ya.

Bistro Boris – Dog-gone cute, and delicious food


Bistro Boris Tuna Lunch

Tuna Boris – isn’t it Beautiful?

I have a very upscale friend who seems to know all the best places to eat. So when she invited me to join her for lunch – I asked her to pick the place. She always finds a place I never even knew existed – that’s what makes joining her so much fun. Plus it’s always nice to be brought up-to-date with what’s happening in her life.

But on to the restaurant review!

Bistro Boris is located spitting distance from Square Victoria – in what looks like a tiny space off an office tower. The room is small – I mean seriously small. But they have a huge terrace – which would be a great place to sit if there wasn’t about 4 feet of snow on top of everything. Maybe a revisit in the spring is in order?

Fortunately – my friend had called ahead and made reservations – without which I’m not sure they would have had room. The menu is simple – A selection of entrées – with the lunch special being that for $3 more than the cost of the entrée you get either a soup or a salad, a coffee or latte, and dessert. Diet thrown to the wind – I opted for the entire meal, choosing for my entrée a selection called – Tuna Boris. This turned out to be a huge piece of perfect tuna – lightly seared on the sides, but raw in the center. It was served on a selection of roasted veggies (very sparse on the veggies – but beautiful), 2 wonderful sweet potato crisps, and a perfect sauce below. The result was so lovely – I took a picture. I never take pictures of food – so you get the idea. Those are beets on the side – like the rest of the veggies – perfectly roasted and not the least bit greasy.

Tasted great too. My friend was less thrilled – she ordered something described as a ‘salad’ – but there was no salad (ie: greens) component.  Instead it was served on a bed of simply sliced cucumbers. Easily remedies – she opted to add the $3 ‘table d’hote’ – and got her salad fix that way.

Dessert was simple – tiny scoop of perfect pistachio ice cream and a tiny pastry. Latte (decafe of course) was also perfect.

And I love their website with it’s ‘doggy’ illustrations and lovely pictures. Didn’t look like that when I was there of course – it’s Montreal, It’s February – no terrace is happening – but you get the general idea. It would be beautiful.

http://www.borisbistro.com/bb/index.php

Definitely a place to remember – particularly if someone else is treating.

Boris Bistro on Urbanspoon