Chocolat chaud (observations)

Il y a des principes irréfutables dans la civilisation humaine. L'un d'entre eux: si les adultes ont le thé et le café, les enfants ont he chocolat chaud. C'est le breuvage chaud de l'enfance. Petit loup s'en est fait servir un à notre dernière visite chez ses grand-parents maternels (vous le voyez sur la photo), il s'en est fait servir un autre encore plus décadent en fin de semaine dernière à la fête de son meilleur ami. Autre principe: les grand-parents sont indulgents envers leurs petit-enfants.

Where is Café2U?

Some of my very long time readers might remember that a decade ago or so, I sometimes used to blog about Café2U. It was, it is, a franchise of coffee vans delivery coffee and other hot drinks at offices. We used to receive the visit of the van every few days, back in my old, old job. I mean the job I had between 2010 and 2017, so four employers' ago. I loved their very decadent hot chocolates and sometimes I treated myself with one cup of them (as I loathe coffee). Now that I work from home, I don't buy myself treats from coffee vans, but I see them sometimes around in the neighbourhood, going to the various business estates in our little town, while we are on the school run. But I haven't seen a Café2U van in a decade or so. I checked their website, and the company still exists. So where are the vans? If you know the business, if you once drank their coffee, or their chocolate, tell me in the comments.

Dites-le avec un chocolat chaud

Tout d'abord: joyeuse Saint-Valentin à tous. Cette photo a été prise de la page Facebook de Première Moisson: un chocolat chaud choco-framboises. Vendu bien entendu pour la St-Valentin. Ils offrent vraiment des belles affaires pour la journée. Ma femme est une chocolique avouée et je trouve qu'ici le choix pour la Saint-Valentin n'est pas vargeux. Il faudrait vraiment que je célèbre à Montréal un jour.

Chocolat chaud maison

 Les avantages de se retrouver en famille, pour petit loup, c'est de pouvoir profiter des talents de barista mon frère Andrew. Pas pour du café, bien entendu, parce que petit loup est bien entendu encore trop jeune, mais pour le chocolat chaud. Alors donc, il a eu droit hier matin à un authentique chocolat chaud maison, un grand bol, la taille de son bol de céréales, c'est dire. Fait à la machine, avec du cacao, pas de l'instantané. Nous assistons peut-être au début d'une nouvelle tradition familiale.

Epic Hot Chocolate

I try not to share pictures that are not my own, but sometimes I can't resist. Anyway, the Strawberry Grove published on social media this photo of their hot chocolate and I know now what I want to do as soon as we can: go to one of their coffee shops and try that. I haven't crave hot chocolate for ages, but this is the kind of epic hot chocolate I want to try: with lots of whipped cream and marshmallows. If it's only half as good as it looks, I'm in for a treat.

Un chocolat chaud, avec le sourire

Ma femme s'est acheté une machine à café avec l'argent que lui ont donné mes parents pour sa fête. Cette machine peut aussi faire des chocolats chauds. Je lui ai également acheté en cadeau à Noël des trucs pour faire des motifs avec du cacao saupoudré sur la tasse. Quand petit loup a vu ça, il a voulu boire sa tasse de chocolat chaud avec un motif dessus. C'est ce que ça a donné. Pas mal, pour une première fois. Ce qui est bien, c'est que la machine à café sert maintenant deux membres de cette famille.

The stocks of Second Cup's hot chocolate

 I don't know if it is because she is an Englishwoman, but my wife really fell in love with Second Cups when she visited them the first time she came to Montreal. So when I traveled home and she had to stay at home, circa 2015-2016, I bought her not one, but two tubs of hot chocolate. I think I made one of the tubs a birthday present. I was all happy about it, but there was just one problem: my wife loves the coffee of Second Cup.It's chocolate, not so much, especially if it is not prepared and drunk there. I guess most of all, she loves the Second Cup experience. So I recently found out the two tubs in our cupboards, one of them unopened and... both out of date. I checked if we could still drink it, apparently not after more than a year, especially if you see small white grains in the mix (which I did). Moral of the story: I won't bother stocking on them, but we will visit one of their coffeeshops when we are back in Montreal.

Tempête dans un Second Cup

Photo datant d'un bout de temps, prise au Second Cup sur Mont-Royal, enfin l'un d'eux, celui proche du métro je crois. Un chocolat chaud et un café, ou deux chocolats chaufs, je ne sais plus.Tout ça pour dire que j'ai lu aujourd'hui quej'ai lu dans La Presse affaires qu'un groupe de franchisés poursuivaient la compagnie. Cette nouvelle risque d'inquiéter ma femme: elle est anglaise, donc forcément elle se sent chez elle au Second Cup, tout en se trouvant dans un café vaguement exotique. Leur chocolat chaud, on l'a en stock et on l'a récemment partagé avec nos amis. Si jamais les cafés changent trop à cause de leurs déboires ou si la qualité se perde (pas qu'elle soit mirobolante, on s'entend), c'est tout Montréal qui va perdre de l'attrait pour elle.

Boire au Second Cup

Cette photo date de notre dernier séjour à Montréal. Ma femme et moi avons pris un café (mocha ou cappucino pour elle) et un chocolat chaud (pour moi, car je déteste le café) sur le Second Cup sur Mont-Royal, celui près du métro. Le passage au Second Cup est un arrêt obligé lorsque nous séjournons à Montréal. Et je me demande à chaque fois si c'est pas quétaine un peu. J'en ferai peut-être une question existentielle (en passant il n'y a pas de réponse aux deux dernières). Cela dit, quétaine ou pas, le Second Cup est un élément assez typique du paysage urbain montréalais, alors il faut bien que je lui rende un peu hommage rien que pour ça. Boire au Second Cup est toujours une expérience plaisante, malgré toute sa réputation de café quétaine bon pour les anglos. Et puis leurs chocolats chauds sont quand mêmes bien décadents.

Café2U is back! (for now)

Today I had a happy surprise in the morning: Café2U was back! I thought they had gone bankrupt. They had stopped coming more than a year ago, in July 2012. I had seen their vans after that when I was walking home, in the little town where I live, back in September or October 2012. That had been the last sight. Then thir morning, a little bit after 10, I get this mailer saying they were here. Sadly they didn't have the delicious chocolate cornetto they used to have, only plain croissants. So I had a hot chocolate as my Friday treat. Not as big as the one they used to make: there was no whipped cream or marshmallows. I think they learned from their mistakes and know they must be more efficient delivering their food and drinks. I hope this time they last, and thrive, because I love their little business and they are lovely people.

The coffee van is gone

I was expecting it, but not so soon. Last Wendnesday, when I bought a brownie at Café2U, I thought the van looked empty and there was barely any of my colleagues there. Today we learned about it in an email: a lack of demand means they are not going to show up anymore, not on mornings, not on afternoons. I am partially to blame, but I am kind of sad. I simply stopped having time, maybe I stopped taking the time, to go there and order something to treat myself. So no more fancy warm chocolate croissants for breakfast on a whim. No more brownies for dessert. No more hot chocolate with all the trimming (marshmallows, whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles) on cold mornings (and there are plenty of those, even now in July). No more impromptu Italian lessons. It is sad. When they first came, I was not even interested and I snubbed their free coffee. I have learned to appreciate them, because of the croissants, the hot chocolates, the staff and the bits of Italian. Well, now they are gone and the days will look a little bit more grey.

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.

An Italian conversation by the coffee van

Yesterday, I made a visit to the Café2U van in the afternoon (I blogged about it before here and here). It is now my favourite food van at my workplace, because it sells sweet things and because I can speak and learn a few words of Italian with one of the employees there. I try not to go too often because I don't want to spend too much on croissants and hot chocolate (this is what I usually have), but on a Monday or at the end of the week (or the middle), it is sometimes a necessary treat to keep the morale. And since the van is quite popular and it takes a while to prepare the coffee, it gives me a nice, long break.

So I had my usual basic Italian conversation, just saying a few polite words (buongiorno, buona giornata, grazie, prego, etc.) with the guy working there and I learned a few more words: hot chocolate is cioccolata calda. I find it fascinating: cioccolato is chocolate, but it is masculine, used for the chocolate bar and the food itself. As a beverage, it is feminine. I joked saying that in a month's time I would be able to speak Italian fluently. As he was preparing my cioccolata calda (with a brownie this time, not a cornetto), we talked a bit (in English) about Italy, the latest news, Berlusconi being chased away from power (good riddance!) and so on. It was a small trivial chat, but somehow it reminded me that I love this country, even when I can't stand it. I still wonder why.