Saint Andrew's Day's Treats

I am sure nobody noticed, but it is Saint Andrew's Day today. Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. I often forget it, Google reminded me today that it was Saint Andrew's Day. It is also the end of November, which means it was absolutely frantic at work today. I didn't have time to go to the local sandwich shop. My colleagues and I had to ask our Kiwi colleague to go and buy our sandwiches for us. Still, I had my usual treat: chicken baguette, with tomatoes, lettuce, salt and pepper, Coca Cola and cashew nuts. And for breakfast, as it was a colleague's birthday, there was a heavy, absolutely decadent chocolate cake available. The last day of November was exhausting, but overall enjoyable.

Friday treats

Okay, so after last week's disappointment, I had decided to change slightly my sandwich lunch. I had a baguette, with Coca Cola and cashew nuts. But I had chicken instead of smoked salmon. chicken, lettuce, tomatoes and real mayonnaise on top. Simple, but delicious. Then before I hit home, I stopped at the pub local Irish pub, where I had a pint of  Bateman's Spring Goddess. Delicious, even though it didn't feel much like spring today. And for supper, I had pasta (linguine pesto, I was too lazy to do anything else) and a glass of the Chardonnay I had won last Tuesday. I earned this one, after a hard, exhausting but fruitful month. So I had my treats today. Maybe not the ones I have been dreaming about (these days that would be a meal at L'Express, don't ask me why) but enjoyable ones nevertheless.

Getting tired of Friday treats

There I said it. I just don't enjoy my sandwich as much. I didn't enjoy it today anyway. I had almost the usual: smoked salmon baguette with horseradish sauce, Coca Cola and cashew on the side. Except that there was not enough smoked salmon so I got my baguette filled with what was left of shrimps, or prawns as they call it here. So Smoked salmon, prawns, horseradish sauce, red onion, tomatoes, salad... And it did nothing to me. I mean yes, I enjoyed it, but it barely registered. And I don't feel like a special customer anymore and I don't feel like it is special either. So I need to change my treats, maybe even change my Friday blog posts topics altogether.

Sandwich treat for Friday the 13th

It was (is still) Friday the 13th. I don't think I am superstitious, but maybe this is why I decided to play it safe with the sandwich treat: smoked salmon baguette, horseradish sauce, the usual trimming, Coca Cola and cashew nuts on the side... I am not being original. And the funny thing is that I had smoked salmon bagels earlier on this week, so it's not like I was craving something I didn't have for a long time. But expected pleasures are no less pleasurable. Not much to say, then, except one thing: this Friday the 13th didn't jinx my lunch. It was still delicious.

Friday treats (the usual)

Quick blog post about what I had for lunch, because it is now a weekly tradition. I am not being very original here or very adventurous. But I go for what is safe, especially since it was a rough Friday (end of the week, end of the month), so I needed tried and trusted comfort food. I had the usual, like every single working Friday: smoked salmon baguette, horseradish sauce, lettuce, red onion, tomatoes, salt and pepper, lemon juice of course. On the side, cashew nuts and Coca Cola. This Friday was busy, tiresome, the day was sunny but cooler than this week, enough to feel it. I really enjoyed my lunch.

The usual treat

Tomorrow I have Friday off again. So I will take it easy again and try to finally get over that cold. But this means that my end of week sandwich treat was, this week again, on a Thursday. So I had the usual: smoked salmon baguette with horseradish sauce and all the trimming, cashew nuts and Coca Cola. Nothing spectacular, but it was needed as my working day was exhausting. So the sandwich was good. I am not sure I enjoy the sandwich shop as much as I used to. They used to be all serviceable and friendly. They used to call me "sir". Now I am just a usual client.

Early sandwich treat

Today is the Ides of March, but I am all obsessed about my nasty cold and about ways to forget about it until it goes. Thankfully, I am on holiday tomorrow and Monday. Not on sick leave, just on holiday. I intend to rest. It was about time: today as I was coughing like crazy, a colleague told me: "I won't get any near you, I don't want your germs". To which I replied: "And I thought you could borrow them for a while". This is I think another great unknown line, and the third one in a row that is related to my cold. I need to change topic soon.

Anyway, this holiday means that my week was ending today, so instead of my Friday treat, I had a Thursday sandwich treat. But it was the usual: smoked salmon baguette, salad, tomatoes, red onion and horseradish sauce. With cashew nuts and Coca Cola. I thought the horseradish sauce would be easier to taste with the cold. I was right. That I managed to taste something was an enjoyment in itself. I enjoyed it even more that I snearly didn't have it: as I was working late into my morning, I thought I could only take my lunch break when the sandwich shop was closing (it happened before). In the end I just made it. And it tasted oh so much nicer because obtaining it seemed so uncertain. For the everyman, small victories over minor adversity can be epic. I survived a cold, hunger and a tasteless job. I survived the Ides of March.

Sandwich treat (average results)

So I had my usual sandwich treat for Friday: smoked salmon baguette, but with soft cheese instead of horseradish sauce. And, since there was no white bread baguette anymore, I had a brown bread baguette. It does not taste nearly as nice and not nearly the same. The taste of the brown bread gets in the way of the salmon. I had cashew nuts on the side, at least this was just as enjoyable as usual. But I don't know, overall I didn't appreciate this lunch as much.

And if it makes sense, I didn't feel like I suffered for it enough: the temperature was splendid, warm, so I didn't feel like I was braving a hostile weather and environment to get my grub. Oh well, it could have been worse: on my way there I saw a crashed car upside down, lying on its hood. In a narrow street just before the sandwich shop. How did that happen I have no idea. In any case, I should not complain about not suffering enough. Maybe I just miss the treats I had in Montreal: the wraps and of course the bagels. Comfort food wise, things have been underwhelming since I am back.

This Friday's sandwich treat: the usual

I played it safe this Friday for the sandwich treat. I ordered the usual: smoked salmon baguette, tomatoes, lettuce, red onions, horseradish sauce, salt, pepper, a bit of lemon juice. Coca Cola and cashew nuts on the side. It was nice, enjoyable even, but I felt underwhelmed. A week and and a day ago I was eating smoked salmon bagels from St-Viateur. Now that is a though act to follow. I couldn't help but compare. Sure, the Brits know where to get good salmon. No question about it. I cannot honestly say if Canadian salmon is better than the Scottish one. I am not that much of a connoisseur. But a plain baguette sure is no bagel from St-Viateur. I mean neither the bagels nor the baguettes here can compete with a bagel from St-Viateur! I mean a wrap from Folie en Vrac would have been better too, but eating a salmon baguette a few days after a salmon bagel from St-Viateur is simply a recipe for an attack of homesickness. I guess I asked for it.

Friday treats (sandwich and others)

After the disappointment of last Friday's sandwich treat, I decided to play it safe today: it was a simple smoked salmon baguette, with red onions, Philadelphia cheese, tomatoes, lemon, salt and pepper. Maybe my favourite so far. With Coca Cola and cashew nuts, as usual. And in the morning I had for breakfast a totally decadent chocolate muffin with a hot chocolate, courtesy of Café2U. I could exercise my Italian too. Not much, but it was a nice moment all the same.

The Sandwich treat (lukewarm results)

Maybe it was because of Friday the 13th, maybe simply because I was tired or because I tried to be creative/different too much, but my sandwich treat today for lunch was uninspired: a hot sausages baguette with ketchup (I thought it was HP sauce) and horseradish sauce. With salad. I mean, really, salad. Obviously I had in mind the hot dogs of William Walter in Montreal. I forgot that you cannot recreate it here (real, quality sausage, Dijon mustard, sauerkraut, sliced gherkins). I mean I ate it all right, I was hungry, but it was lacking. I downed it with Coke Zero (bad idea), because I could have a pint of the thing for the price of a can (50% free). At least I had cashew nuts. Oh well, I wanted to try their sort of hot dogs. I cannot get it right all the time. I was also served by one of the less inspired members of the staff. My favourite employee, the most enthusiastic who gets it right all the time as if he knew my stomach, was busy with a lady client, incidentally a coworker.

 What else to say about the experience? Well, I am called alternatively "sir" and "mate". They are always friendly with me, at least. But next time I go with a safe choice.

The sandwich for this Friday

The Apocalypse didn't show up in the end. Not yet anyway. But there was for the first time a hint of snow. Big flakes at some point, which didn't stay on the ground. It felt good. And for lunch, I had my Friday treat: the sandwich from my favourite sandwich shop. I hope my readership does not mind sandwich posts, because yes, this is another one.

I had it, as usual, with Coca Cola and cashew nuts. I was in the mood for something heartier. So today I had a beef slices baguette with fried onions, lettuce, tomatoes, black olives and a bit of mustard/mayonnaise. I rediscovered how much they work for their customers: the man who worked at the till (the same who had given me their phone number when I couldn't get there before closing time) suggested the fried onions and beef, he also had the brilliant idea to mix English mustard and mayonnaise to soften the taste of mustard. I love all mustards see, exceptEnglish mustard because it is surprisingly too strong. So he had this idea of mixing it with mayonnaise. Half and half. It tasted delicious.

I enjoyed my lunch a lot, but the beef was a bit too rough by moments. So far it was my least enjoyable sandwich. So next time I will probably go for something safe, the salmon baguette. The service was still beyond reproach, in fact admirable. I am looking forward for my next Friday lunch, for the food as much as the place.

This Friday's sandwich treat

This is another post about sandwiches, more precisely about the sandwiches I have every Friday. I am turning this non event that is my Friday lunch into a food chronicle. But I discovered that I look forward to my Friday lunch almost as much as I look forward to the weekend since I discovered that sandwich shop.

So last week I couldn't enjoy my weekly sandwich. But this week I got there on time, early enough in the afternoon so the shop was still open but late enough so I could be hungry. On the menu: smoked salmon baguette, with horseradish sauce (something that has been recommended when I first ordered smoked salmon baguette), salad (lettuce, tomaties, cucumber, red onion), a bit of lemon juice, salt, pepper. On the side: salted cashew nuts. To drink: Coca Cola. So the lunch was a nice mix of predictable and unorthodox.

I will not do a critique, only make a few observations: horseradish sauce is actuallty delicious, who would have thought. After a decade in this country, I am always happily surprised to discover that the food can be so good here. I think a part of me keeps a prejudice against British food just to get it crushed by a new gastronomical discovery. The staff was friendly enough, although the guys I saw were not as outstandingly nice like the first time I went. And what a treat in the end! It has become a Friday necessity.