Nourish

And so to continue along the Maccha trail. . . 

We headed to a beautiful little spot called Nourish at the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific.

 

The food is beautiful and tasty and I love their philosophy. From the Nourish website:

Manifesto
Nutritional ingredients increase Physical Performance.
A holistic diet facilitates Emotional Empowerment.
Conscious eating promotes Environmental Respect.
Nourish Yourself From The Inside Out.
Vision
To Help People Eat Healthier
Guiding Principles
Create connections through food.
Eat with people you love.
Listen.
Be Considerate.
Take time to do things well.
Questions yourself every day.
Recycle.
Embrace simple pleasures.
Accept Change.
Laugh.

 

I had this lovely benny with lots o' delicious kale. And yes, they serve Maccha!

This place is really going to rock in the summer because there's a patio and this is your view:

There's a tiny wonderful gift shop selling these awesome bird feeders made by a staff person at the garden.

There are also locally made skin creams made with natural ingredients.

So you can see that I just want to move in and live in this garden! I see that as of Feb 15, Nourish will be open for dinner. Awesome!

My friend loved her breakfast sausages so much we headed to the red Barn Market to buy some.

The sign says Valentine's Day: her/flowers/bacon; him/bacon/bacon.

The Maccha Trail

This weekend I had a lovely respite in Victoria B.C.. While the cyclists were geared up and following the Galloping Goose Trail, my friends and I followed the Maccha Trail, which inevitably started at the Jagasilk tearoom, where they are all about the maccha. (Actually, we found the Galloping Goose Trail and the Maccha Trail intersected at various points.)

Teas are expertly and lovingly prepared and served in gorgeous handmade ceramics.

 The Jagasilk tea room has recently expanded so that there is now seating available upstairs as well as on the main level. The space is very calm and meditative, which is perfect for getting all gunned up on maccha madness!

There are also treats available, baked at Fol Epi.

 Here are some of the places I passed by on the Maccha Trail.

Dude, where's my maccha?

There's mo' maccha at Silk Road, but I bought Tanzanian Gold for my beau and some "mermaid oil" pour moi-même. I think the lavender and petit grain in the mermaid oil is really good medicine for lifting one's spirits at this time of the year. They also have mermaid bath salts which are DIVINE. Peter really likes that Tanzanian Gold tea, a full-bodied black tea which "brightens the mind."

 I had a lovely time shopping at the Victoria Winter Farmer's Market. I bought some local fleur de sel for Peter from the Vancouver Island Salt Company.

 I stayed in a whimsical retreat with a beautiful eucalyptus tree in the back yard and a noisy little hummingbird.

 I also made friends with the resident cat, Eddie.

 Unfortunately Fry's was closed on Sunday, but we headed to the baking district and visited Lone Tree Bakery and Fol Epi.

Our final maccha was at the funky Spiral cafe, which we decided lacked the potency of other maccha drinks on our trail.

To be continued . . . .

Nourishing Teas from Montreal

Near the UQAM Metro Station there is a tea room that sells Manga and books related to Japanese culture called Manga Thé.

I found a cute cookbook called Mes Petis Bento by Laure Kié which combines influences from her Japanese and French heritage.

I thought this would be a good incentive for my son and I to practise our French and make his lunches more exciting.

Just around the corner from Manga Thé is Montreal's premier tea shop and tea room, Camellia Sinensis. I decided to buy some herbal teas because they are unique blends made locally.

I love the way the teas are packaged with very detailed information about how to prepare the tea. This Exhilerating blend is made from fennel, anise hyssop, bee balm (monarda), and orange. I love this blend because it contains both hummingbird bumble bee and honeybee plants and it tastes wonderful.

I also bought "La Nourricière" (The Nurturerer) which is a healing tea containing vitamins and minerals with mint, nettle, cornflower, and pansy. These are butterfly and bee plants.

The final tea I purchased was poetically called "La Bergère" or "The Shepardess." It contains oats, catnip, mallow and lavender which aids digestion and soothes and relaxes. The teas are fresh and beautiful, with colorful dried flowers that nurture and heal. You can order their teas online. Sadly, I didn't have time to sit and enjoy a tea in their tea room. I love that you are asked to be quiet while enjoying your tea and if the room gets too noisy, someone bangs a gong to remind you to keep it down!

Petit Dejeuner

 Okay, so it's time for breakfast in Montreal. What will it be? Should I choose a buttery chewy pastry from Breton called Kouign-Amann? (It's pronounced queen ahmahn.)

Shall I pop down two blocks and buy something from Boulangerie Guillaume baked with locally milled flour? There are several kinds of brioches and breads studded with different kinds of chocolate, or you can choose from the savory options loaded with nuts, seeds, cheese, figs, etc.

 I could go next door to Sardine and pick out some yeast raised donuts with attitude.

 So many options, so little time!

We could stay in and my hosts could serve me a big bowl of oatmeal porridge with homemade yogurt, brown sugar, and whatever else we can heap on, followed by freshly made beet and ginger juice.

We could go for a donut sandwich at Chez Boris where they fry your donuts to order. Fresh sweet donuts are 75 cents a piece.

I love that they store their tea samples in maple syrup jars.

Isn't that 49th Parallel parked on the shelf?

 We could go to a little hole in the wall called Le Vieux Vélo and chow down on a BAB Bennie: brie, avocado and bacon.

And I haven't even mentioned wooden-oven baked bagels, fresh and warm in a brown bag in your arms on a bright and sunny November morning.

Juliette et Chocolat

 Juliette et Chocolat is a chocolate shop that has a few locations in Montreal. I had time to kill before my rehearsal near UQAM, so I had lunch at the location there. What you see here is my spinach Galette de Sarrasin--a buckwheat crepe. As with other food I had in Montreal, I kept thinking, now THIS is le vrai chose, this is real crepe, not some wimpy facsimile. This crepe had gutsy flavors and as you can see, a good portion of salad on the side. This is a proper lunch.

 I was on a budget, so didn't try their chocolates, but I did drool all over the glass case.

These babies come with a scoop of ice creme and caramel sauce.

 These are the machines to look for if you want an amazing chocolat chaud. I have never seen three of them in a row!!!

 I was a bit puzzled by the chocolate lipsticks--are they for adults or children? I can imagine they could go both ways.

 So dessert in a jar is also a big thing at this shop. There were lots to choose from. I choose caramel pudding, garnished with bits of the brownies that they make. They make ten different brownies and have an extensive dessert menu. Brownies are a big thing in Montreal right now, it seems every chocolate shop I visited makes signature brownies.

Juliette et Chocolat also makes a decent cup of tea. You choose your loose tea from samples in a chest brought to your table and then they put it in a bag for you to steep. I had a good cup of heady jasmine green.