Soupe à la citrouille

J'ai acheté de la soupe à la citrouille à Laurent il y a quelques jours. Parce que c'est l'Halloween et donc le temps de la citrouille, parce que c'est l'automne et donc le temps de la soupe. Je ne l'ai pas encore mangée, si elle est bonne j'en achèterai d'autres. Je ne mange pas de soupe assez souvent, ce qui est étrange parce que j'en suis assez friand, surtout quand arrive l'automne, surtout pour la soupe à la citrouille. Je n'en fais pas, au lieu de ça j'en achète quand j'en trouve dans les commerces qui ont l'air d'avoir de l'allure. J'avais une coloc, dans mon année à Liverpool, qui avait fait une grosse batch de soupe à la citrouille juste après l'Halloween, ça m'avait sustenté pendant des semaines.

Gourganes

Mon père a acheté des gourganes. Beaucoup de gourganes. Les gourganes, c'est le légume du Saglac, c'est aussi bien entendu la base de la soupe aux gourganes. Un des plaisirs simples de la vie d'un Saguenéen, c'est de manger de la soupe aux gourganes ces temps-ci de l'année, quand vient le temps des récoltes. C'est l'un de mes plaisirs de mon temps au Saguenay dans tous les cas.

Mafalda et la Fête des Mères

 Non, je n'ai pas oublié: bonne Fêtes des mères à toutes. Pour leur rendre hommage, je partage ce gag de Mafalda. Comme quoi tout n'est pas rose pour les enfants, même avec une excellente mère.

Soupe à la betterave

Il y a un mois, lors de ma journée au bureau (la seule jusqu'ici), j'ai eu un souper d'affaires avec notre client principal dans un pub gastronomique. On s'est bourré aux frais de la princesse, autrement dit. Et bourrer est bien le mot: j'ai mangé en entrée cette soupe à la betterave. Elle était très bourrative, avec de la crème et si je me rappelle bien une huile aux truffes. J'aime la betterave, sous toutes ses formes, mais je crois que c'est la première fois que j'en mangeais en soupe. Ce ne sera pas la dernière. Sauf que la prochaine fois, ce sera tout mon repas.

Halloween Magazine (£1)

 Sometimes, I stumble on something that I can buy on the cheap and it stays with me forever, turning out to be a great return on investment. This was the case for this Halloween Magazine, which I got for one quid in a corner shop, back in 2015. Sure, a lot of it is coupons and advertisement stuff for various brands (see on top), but there is so much more in it: Halloween recipes, an article about witches in history, another about haunted places and of course party ideas. There is even a few Halloween stickers, which Wolfie hasn't found yet. I made a few recipes in there and I will make more this year if I have time and the articles on the paranormal are great inspiration for a few scary stories. So this magazine sits with my pile of Halloween books.

Bagel and smoked meat

I took this picture at the St-Viateur Bagel on Mont-Royal Avenue about six years ago already. I think I made half a dozen trips there during that stay and for one meal, I had decided for some reason not to have the classic bagel with smoked salmon, but the one with smoked meat. Smoked meat sandwich is another great gastronomical institution of Montreal, so I thought this could be the perfect mix. I must say, I was disappointed. The meat was too fatty and it kind of spoiled the experience. The bagel itself was excellent as ever though. So from then on, and I know I am not being original or very adventurous, and I know there are other good bagel combinations, but I stick to the classic one.

Spooky Spiced Pumpkin

For today's countdown to Halloween post, we will talk about seasonal food. Or, to be precise, Covent Garden's soup of the month. Every month, they have a special soup made with seasonal stuff, and every October it is of course Halloween related, made with pumpkin and something else. Even the container looks really spooky, with a Jack O'Lantern on it! As you can see for yourself on this picture. Every October, I buy at least one carton of their soup of the month and I try to blog about it for the countdown. Because sometimes you eat pumpkins, when you don't carve them.

So anyway, they have a different recipe every year, which sometimes is used again. This year it is the Spooky Spiced Pumpkin. Which I think I might have eaten before, under this name or another. It has a bit of spice in it, but not too much, just enough to give it a good kick. My wife, who does not like soup or pumpkin (but sometimes enjoys Covent Garden products), actually enjoyed this one very much. She has a cold at the moment and she said it made her feel much better. Not sure if it's the spice or the pumpkin. Or the garlic bread, which we often have to go with soup. Be that as it may, if you love Halloween, I think you need to have Spooky Spiced Pumpkin soup on the menu at least once this month, if you live in an area that sells it (which is I guess the British Isles, not sure if they are anywhere else).

Pumpkin soup for Halloween

Once upon a time, I used to have pizza every Halloween night: it was eaten quickly, then I could go off and wander into the night for trick or treat. That was before I grew up, became a responsible adult (sort of adult anyway) and moved to England, where I discovered New Covent Garden Soup. I blogged about the brand in the past, as early as 2008, my first year as a blogger, in 2014 and 2015 as well, among other times, always around Halloween. Because the company makes a soup of the month and every October this soup is a variation of pumpkin soup and of course it is inspired by Halloween, for my greatest pleasure. It has become one of the staples of my Halloweens in this country: every year I have their pumpkin soup at least once. Even my wife, who never liked soup much, actually enjoys them.

This year's soup of the month of October is a simple creamy pumpkin. Apart from pumpkin, it has carrot, cream, honey and a bit of coriander. It tastes quite nice. I love a good hearty soup on a cold October night like the ones we have now.So this will be our dinner for Halloween.

Time for bagels

No time in Montreal would be completed without tasting proper Montreal bagels. We've had a few bagels already, particularly at breakfast, but we all wanted to experience it from a real restaurant and be served and everything. So today, the family had its first meal at St-Viateur. I had the traditional smoked salmon bagel of course, which you can see here. Wolfie stuffed himself and of course we had no baby wipes with us. I am going to miss Montreal bagels when we go, but there is hope for us expats: I learned that an expat has started a Montreal-style bagels shop in Scotland. St-Viateur influenced, no less. It's a bit far from where we live, but it will make me feel closer to home.

Retour à la Panthère Verte

C'est devenu un arrêt obligé à chaque fois que je reviens à Montréal: je mange au moins un repas (parfois plus) à la Panthère Verte, le restaurant végétalien et biologique. Cette fois-ci, j'ai fait ma visite dès dimanche. J'ai pris un repas complet: falafel traditionnel (le meilleur de Montréal), une soupe au céleri et autre chose qui m'a presque réconcilié avec le légume (je n'aime guère le céleri) et un smoothie "Baloo Berry". Copieux, mais santé. Et avec l'orgie de viande qui constitue mes repas lors de mes séjours chez moi, ça fait du bien de se désintoxiquer le système. J'en ai parfois bien besoin.

Scream of Pumpkin

For tonight's countdown to Halloween's post, I have decided to plug tonight's dinner: the soup of the month of New Covent Garden Soup Co. Which is called this year Scream of Pumpkin. If this sounds familiar, it is because it is. I blogged about these Halloween themed soups before and I think I might make it a tradition every year, make one post of the countdown about the soup. A tradition within a tradition, in a way. So in 2012 I mentioned the Ghoulash, in 2014 the pumpkin, Stilton and sage soup (unimaginative name, but still my favourite so far) and as early as 2008 the Hocus Pocus (I don't remember much about this one).

So, how does Scream of Pumpkin
compare to the others? It is not as thick or as filling as the Stilton one or the Ghoulash. It has interesting ingredients: apart from the pumpkin (always good in a soup), carrots and the tomatoes, it also has blood orange, which gives it an unusual flavour. It also has garlic, apparently to keep the vampires at bay. So it is tasty, albeit not as hearty as I'd except an October soup to be. We had it with garlic bread, our usual accompaniment with soup. So we had extra garlic to keep vampires away.

Homecoming meal

I am back in Montreal since yesterday. This is the meal I had yesterday evening: traditional bagel from St-Viateur, smoked salmon, capers and all, with a soup on the side. The perfect homecoming meal for a Montrealer. I cannot express how delicious it was, how good it felt and I thought I would taunt you with it.

The St-Viateur Experience

Today, my wife and I went to St-Viateur Bagel on Mont-Royal Avenue for lunch. It was packed with people. And I do mean packed: there was a very large queue that ended at the entrance of the restaurant. And this was not counting the people coming to buy bagels at the counter. I don't remember ever being there when it was that busy, even though St-Viateur is one of the most popular café/restaurant on the Plateau. So we waited. I wouldn't have wanted to eat anywhere else. Not today, not any day. When I crave bagels, I cannot consider eating anything else. Anyway, we didn't have to wait long: it certainly rolls fast At St-Viateur. The service is both efficient and friendly, as they always are. So I had the usual: the traditional bagel with smoked salmon, capers and so on. With a soup on the side (beef and barley). Unfortunately I forgot to ask for the bagel to be toasted, but it was delicious nevertheless. The clientèle was mainly French speaking, among them French persons, with a few English speakers, including the odd Brit (brought there by me). This was, in sum, the St-Viateur experience.

Halloween soups

This is tonight's Halloween post, about my new Halloween meal: pumpkin soup. As a child, before my brothers and I went trick or treating, we used to eat pizza for our early supper.But now as an adult, and as an expat living in England, I eat the soup of the month of Covent Garden Soup Co on Halloween night, and in many nights leading to it. Usually, their special October recipe is Halloween themed. It has pumpkin with whatever else. I accompany it with garlic bread, just to be decadent. This was last year's soup, with Stilton and sage.

In 2012, they had made a ghoulash (see the pun?), which was delicious, but I think last year was their best so far. I think it is because of the Stilton. There is just something about cheese in a soup. I love all pumpkin soups, all variations of it, although I am not sure the taste of pumpkin is very distinctive, as it is not very strong. But it gives the soup a nice colour, if nothing else. And it is nice to use pumpkin as something else than Jack O'Lantern. This year, it is going to be the ghoulash again, and you can find its recipe on their website of you want to try it. Sadly I could not eat the pumpkin soup on Halloween night: I was sick with a nasty cold so I had chicken noodle soup instead. But this year, it is going to be pumpkin soup and garlic bread.

The grilled cheese of Fat Lemons in Totnes

Well, as I am back from the holidays, I thought I would start plugging the food of one of the many restaurants, pubs and cafés I have been to during my stay in Devon. It is Saturday, after all, and plugging something from the menu of a place I loved is a weekend tradition on Vraie Fiction. It was not an easy choice to start with, because there were so many great places. But in the end, I decided to go for something from the menu of Fat Lemons, a vegetarian/vegan café that was maybe my gastronomical discovery. We went there twice, and twice it was nothing short of amazing. The first time, I ordered the simplest option one can order in a restaurant: a grilled cheese sandwich and a carrot soup. It was maybe the best grilled cheese sandwich I ever had: old, mature Devon cheddar and chutney for the filling, perfect grilled, not too melted but warm cheese and the soup just made it perfect. Perfectly simple, perfectly filling, perfectly delicious, perfect comfort food.

The falafel of the Green Panther

What you can see on the picture at your left is the best falafel in Montreal, according to its maker, La Panthère Verte/The Green Panther, a new small chain of vegan and bio restaurants in Montreal. Because it was boasting to prepare the best falafel in town, I had to try it. It was accompanied by a soup (I know, it is at the center of the picture) that had curry in it and tasted just as delicious as the falafel. I am no specialist of vegan food or falafels, but tasting it, thought it tasted pretty much as the best falafel would taste. It has cabbage, sauerkraut, pickles and of course falafel balls, I think it is the pickles and sauerkraut that gives it this flavor. It tasted good and I did not regret one moment not having meat. And the staff is very friendly. I will most definitely visit it again on my next time in Montreal.

The Quick and the Dead

Quick update on this blog, sorry if I might not blog as much as I wanted. I am feeling sick, like I have a shiver and a bit of a cold. On holidays. I hate when it happens, especially now. So today after my short walk, I stopped to buy chicken noodle soup and salty crackers, the only think I can think of eating without feeling sick. When the employee showed me where I could find the whole thing, he told me: "Good luck sir". And I had not even told him why I wanted soup and crackers. So I answered: ."Why good luck? Do I look like I'm at the Gates of Hell already?" He laughed a lot. So this is my new great unknown line. Hopefully not my last.

What I mean by bagels

I plugged relatively recently the bagels of St-Viateur. I went on the one on Mont-Royal Avenue as soon as I got here. And again yesterday, where I toold this picture. Traditional smoked salmon bagel sandwich, with a soup on the side. This is what I mean by bagels. I don't think I can get tired of it. It tastes like home.

Pumpkin Soup

Anybody here into children books? Here is a book you can read as an adult. It is Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper. Because pumpkin is in the title and pumpkin soup is the MacGuffin of the story, it can be one of your Halloween reads. Especially since the look of the very lush pictures is very autumnal. The story is about a cat, a squirrel and a duck living together in a cabin with pumpkins in the garden. With the punpkins, they make... pumpkin soup. The best soup they ever was. The cat cuts the pumpkin, the duck adds just enough salt and the squirrel does the stirring. All is well, until one morning the duck decides that he will stir the soup. Which will bring conflict. A wonderfully simple story about friendship and understanding, with very well rounded characters and beautiful, beautiful beautiful images. There are two other books with the same character, in what is sometimes called the Pumpkin soup trilogy (!). I read them all, they were all wonderful stories and it was great to see the characters again, but the first book remains my favourite.

La minestrone

Petit billet gastronomique de milieu de semaine morne. Comme bien des milieux de semaines. J'ai déjà blogué ce soir sur un sujet beaucoup plus grave, mais essayons d'équilibrer le blogue. Pour le sujet plus circonstanciel, vous pouvez répondre à cette question existentielle.Maintenant, je vais parler de soupe. De minestrone, pour être plus précis. Je ne me rappelle plus quand j'ai découvert la minestrone pour la première fois, ça devait être à Montréal, mais c'est sans doute ma soupe préférée. Une autre des contributions gastronomiques de la civilisation italienne. C'est le genre de soupe que je mangerais bien un soir de semaine morne quand j'ai faim et je n'ai pas le goût de faire à manger. La soupe en général est une comfort food parfaite, la minestrone l'est encore plus. Je ne sais pas trop pourquoi.