Baijiu

Fairly recently, I was made aware of another alcohol I did not know about: the Chinese liquor baijiu. (By the way, baijiu is the word of the day.) Ironically enough, I heard about it through the Japanese anime programs I have been watching recently on Netflix (more on that another day). Japanese anime, even aimed at children, tend to be rather less strict, if not downright permissive, about display of alcohol and drinking in their stories. Anyway, so baijiu is a traditional alcohol and I am getting curious about it. I wonder if it is easy to find here. Anybody tried it? How does it taste like? What's the best way to enjoy it? Please let me know in the comments.

Canards de bois

J'ai déjà je crois partagé cette photo il y a dix ans, mais je suis retombé dessus hier. Les canards de bois de notre foyer.

Cherubs and Cherubino

As you know if you are following this blog, we are during Mozart Week, a festival held in his native Salzburg to celebrate his birth and his life. As I am a big fan of Mozart, I'm celebrating it here too. I took this picture in Salzburg, during our last holiday in Austria. Which was, to me, a pilgrimage. It is a ridiculously allegorical portrait of Amadeus, but I thought it would be fitting for the aria I am sharing today. As there are cherubs visiting him from heaven (maybe to make sure he doesn't get naughty with the lady he is playing to?), I thought it would be fitting to put an aria from Le Nozze di Figaro. Sang of course by Cherubino, who here takes the voice and face of Israeli mezzosoprano Rinat Shaham. There are subtitles for your convenience.

Pâté chinois (authentique)

Mes parents nous ont gâtés lors de notre dernier séjour chez eux: ils ont fait un vrai de vrai pâté chinois. C'est pas mal le meilleur que j'aie mangé depuis des années. Ce qui fait la différence, c'est le maïs en crème.

The Return of the Night Agent

As you may know, I have enjoyed in the past watching the Netflix spy TV series The Night Agent. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's a solid thriller that kept me entertained. It has a few ineresting enough characters, a lot of suspense and it is not too ridiculously far-fetched. I am even curious about the novel it is based on, although I might not buy it any time soon: too many books on my TBR list already. But anyway, there's been two seasons of the series and a third one is coming. It's going to be aired next month. I am really looking forward to it. Have you seen the series? What do you think of it? Tell me in the comments.

Manicouagan (le thé)

 Lors de notre dernier séjour au Québec, j'ai eu la chance d'acheter des produits locaux. J'ai découvert La Route du Thé, enfin j'ai acheté un de leurs produits la veille de notre départ. J'ai donc acheté le (la?) Manicouagan. Nommé en l'honneur de l'autre Manicouagan (l'endroit, pas la chanson). Un thé noir pas mauvais qui est solide quand je veux me réveiller le matin. Enfin bref, je suis heureux de voir que des compagnies de thé voient le jour au Québec.

Queens of the Night

Today is the start of Mozart Week, a music festival celebrating his work held in his native city of Salzburg. And I thought, what better way to show this blogger's love for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart than to share a picture of our last holiday in Austria and sharing an aria for good measure. So yeah, I took this photo in his birthday house, now a museum. These are two mannequins dressed like the Queen of the Night, one of the many emblematic characters in Die Zauberflöte. I also share her most famous aria, sung by Diana Damrau. One of its most iconic interpretations. Side note: which costume do you prefer?

Pêche blanche (je crois)

 Photo prise par ma femme lors de notre retour de La Baie. Ils faisaient déjà de la pêche blanche au début de janvier. Enfin je crois que c'est de la pêche blanche.

Solitary Gloves

 There is something about being the parent of a young child who goes to a primary school: you end up finding lots and lots of lost clothes. Recently, for some reason, it has been gloves. A friend of Wolfie gave him out of the blue a single black glove, all old and worn out, not explaining the significance of this strange gesture. We still have it, not sure what to do with it. Last week when I picked him up for school, I found another glove on the school ground, not from the same pair. Apparently, it had been lying on the ground fora while as it was soaking wet and very dirty. I handed it to the head teacher. Not sure if it will find its owner, but who knows. Anyway, I just find it funny, finding all these solitary gloves all of a sudden.

L'escoufle sur son perchoir

Comme vous le savez peut-être, nous avons des milans royaux comme voisins ailés. Je les aime bien, ils sont jolis et c'est cool d'avoir des oiseaux de proie si visibles. Je les appelle de leur ancien nom français escoufle, parce que je trouve ça plus chantant. Il y en a un qui se perche souvent dans un arbre derrière notre jardin. J'essaie de le prendre en photo à chaque fois que je l'entends. Celle-ci a été prise il y a environ une semaine.

An Axe for January

 We are getting through the month very quickly, but I thought I would give you a reading suggestion. As you may know, I read "seasonally", by this I mean I try as much as possible to read books set during the time of year I am reading them. It's a method like any other to get through my reading list. Anyway, you probably know I love Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. I try to read a novel of the series at least once every year. There is at least one of its novels set in January, titled Ax or Axe. Because someone gets murdered with an axe. If you think you need to fight gloom and doom with gloom and doom, as a sort of literary vaccine, this is for you. It's suitably dark and it's a short, gripping read.

Dites-le avec un bouquin

Bon ben, vraiment, une fête chasse l'autre: j'apprends via sur la page Facebook des Bouquinistes qu'ils préparent déjà la Saint-Valentin. Ils ont même changé leur photo de profil le 15 janvier pour celle-ci, avec des pétales de roses pour faire plus romantique. Je trouve ça un peu tôt, mais je vais quand même admettre qu'un livre est plus original que des chocolats ou des fleurs. Donner un bouquin, c'est toujours une belle preuve d'amour.

"Blue Monday"

As you may know, today is Blue Monday, allegedly the most depressing day of the year, although this is pure hoghwash. Most years, I don't care, for the reasons stated here. There are of course exception, such as last year's Blue Monday, which truly was depressing to me (and, I suspect, others too). But this year, that should not be the case. Because I'm still unemployed, for one. Also, because there is quite a lot of movement on the job front: recruiters and employers are calling me and I have some job prospects. Therefore I am in a fairly good mood. I quite like January, even in this country, I find Mondays more bearable when I don't have to go to work anyway, so... yeah. Happy "Blue Monday" to you, hoping it's not too blue.

Red Champagne pour tous

Chaque fois que je retourne au Saguenay, j'essaie de profiter des produits de la région, dont le Red Champagne.Pas tant que j'aime particulièrement son goût, mais parce que c'est un produit régional unique et difficile à trouver ailleurs. Lors de mon dernier séjour, j'en ai donc acheté une bouteille. J'ai dû partager son contenu avec ma mère, ma femme et... petit loup. Ils ont tous été curieux et ont tous aimé, plus que moi je dois dire. Morale de l'histoire: la vie est pleine de petites ironies.

Labyrinth (the board game)

You know I love board games, although I seldom play them anymore. Well, I Wolfie and I received at Christmas Labyrinth. I have been curious about it since childhood. It's a medieval fantasy themed game set in a maze, where the walls change. If you ever played it, tell me about your experience in the feedback. I think it will be great fun, and it might also give us some inspiration for future games in our D&Dr campaign.

Grand Marnier

Lors de notre dernier séjour chez mes parents, mon frère Andrew a trouvé une vieille, vieille, vieille bouteille de Grand Marnier. Je ne crois pas avoir jamais bu de Grand Marnier, cela dit je me rappelle de cette bouteille, très distinctive avec le sceau et le cordon rouges. Il datait de quelques décennies, mais les liqueurs sont encore bonnes après des années, alors mon petit frère l'a ouverte et a fait le service. Parce que j'étais encore un peu secoué par le décalage-horaire, je n'en ai pas bu. Grosse erreur. Je suis certain que c'était très bon. Jolie robe, dans tous les cas.

Papagena

January is the birthday month of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and it struck me that I haven't blogged about it yet this year. A shameful oversight, especially since I have so many great pictures from our holiday in Austria. I took this picture in a park in Salzburg. Because Mozart was born there, the whole city is very much haunted by Mozart's ghost, his loved ones, as well as the many characters of his operas. So yeah, there was a statue of Papagena from Die Zauberflöte. Of course, I had to accompany this post with the famous duet where she is featured, here sung by Elisabeth Boudreault (she is from Saguenay like me)and her fiancé Huw Montague Rendall. Aren't they cute together?

Les Bouquinistes (panoramique)

Photo prise sur la page Facebook des Bouquinistes, ils l'ont mise il y a quelques jours. Je suis encore triste de n'avoir pas pris le temps de visiter la librairie lors de mon dernier séjour. Je me rappelle encore quand elle faisait à peu près la moitié de ça, sinon moins.

The Traitors in a nutshell

 My wife has developed in recent year an addiction to the binge-watching reality TV The Traitors. The British version, but also its many other iterations, which she tries to watch wherever she can. She saw the Canadian one (English and French), the French one, the American one, what have you. She also discovered a number of fans of the series among the mothers in our son's school. So she was discussing it with other mums yesterday morning to others. One of the mums had not seen yet and asked what it was about. My wife explained that it was like psychological warfare on a daily basis, with traitors and faithfuls, manipulation from both sides, and so on. The other mother said: "Sounds like what I have everyday at home really." It made us all laugh and I think it deserves to be a great unknown line. On a side note, I don't watch it. I don't care at all about game shows.

Question existentielle (400)

 Première question existentielle de l'année. Première question existentielle depuis un bail, en fait:

-À partir de quel moment en janvier est-ce qu'on est de retour à la normale, au train-train quotidien?