A treasure (for pirates?)

My parents went to Quebec City for a few days and sent me many, many pictures. I am sharing some of them, which fascinated me. One of them is this one, of a open treasure chest full of coins with the fleur de lis. I wished this chest had been there when I was a child. Because back when I was very young, we often went to Quebec City for a few days during the summer holidays, or indeed any holiday. For me, it was the tourist destination and even though it was only a two hours drive, Quebec City felt at the edge of the world. There was something about the place that fired up my imagination. Back then, I often play pirates with my brothers, as a make belief game and our stories often involved treasure hunt. Boy would I have loved to see that treasure back in those days.

Manon (le dessert)

Mon père n'est pas allé de main morte avec les photos prises à Québec, il a aussi décidé de m'envoyer encore plus de food porn, dont des photos prises à la Chocolaterie E.L.. Cela dit, j'en partage quand même une: celle-ci. J'ai déjà entendu le terme Manon pour désigner un dessert, mais je ne sais pas ce qu'il y a dedans. Quelqu'un pourrait m'expliquer, s'il le sait?

Socks for the railway journey

Maybe because we will not go there any time soon, I spend a lot of time looking at the online shop of the National Railway Museum of York. And I found this pair of socks, with the colours and image of the Flying Scotsman. Now I hate clothes shopping, but shopping whatever in the shop of a museum, that is a different matter entirely. And these are very cool socks, so when I go back to the Museum, whenever that may be, I will buy some. It will be my new pair of socks to wear on railway journeys.

L'Hôtel de Ville de Québec

Mes parents sont à Québec pour quelques jours, ils ont pris quelques photos, dont celle-ci de l'Hôtel de Ville. Ce que j'aime (surtout) de la Vieille Capitale, c'est l'élégance de son architecture. Ah oui, et on peut lire sur le mur "Ayowentsa' Yawenda", qui est je crois en Huron. Il était un temps où je pensais que la ville de Québec, c'était le bout du monde.

Fish & chips in Quebec City

My parents are in Quebec City and they sent me a few pictures. They had fish and chips (they did not tell me where), so mum sent me this pic of her meal (and her thumb). Now I find this particular plate of fish and chips a bit odd (a salad?), but all the same, it looks good enough. And it struck me that I did not had fish and chips since Good Friday. Today is Friday, it should mean Fish Friday, so maybe I should have some tonight.

"Soleil rouge"

Mon père m'a envoyé cette photo du coucher de soleil il y a quelques jours. Et puis rien d'autre. Il a titré le courriel "Soleil rouge".

Taekwondo

My wife has been watching the Olympics. She always does for some reason, even if she never follows any sport any normal time of year. Nevertheless, she follows the football's World Cup and Euro Cup, tennis at Wimbledon and... the Olympics. I don't, except distractly, sometimes, the winter ones, if a Quebecker is playing. But anyway, so to my and my wife's surprise, she spent a lot of time enjoying taekwondo. I know nothing about this martial art, except that it's Korean. I do remember, when I was doing Krav Maga (I need to get back to it by the way) that some of my fellow students had done taekwondo in the past. They had stopped for the same reason: a martial is very nice as a competition sport, but it's at best limited as a self-defence method. Still, it's weird to see my very sweet wife enjoying a violent sport.

Bleuets et framboises en dessert

Nouvelle photo de food porn, j'en ai bien peur, de mon père encore une fois . Cela dit, des fois, c'est de saison: c'est le temps des bleuets, ce sera bientôt le temps des framboises, si ce n'est pas déjà le cas, alors ila fait un dessert bleuets et framboises. Avec de la crème et du sirop d'érable. Et du sucre d'érable aussi. Rien que ça. Faudra que je prépare des trucs du genre à petit loup, même s'il n'a jamais besoin de se laisser convaincre pour manger des fruits. Dans tous les cas, c'est une belle coupe.

Mushrooms: new sign of autumn?

It's been hot, then it's got cooler (but still quite warm), overall this summer so far has been bearable. But I am here to talk about the earlysigns of autumn, although maybe it is wishful thinking. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I saw leaves changing colours already. In July. A few days later, walking back home after some errands, I saw these mushrooms. Again, maybe it is wishful thinking, but mushrooms are one of the signs of autumn. In July, it is still a fairly unexected sight. Maybe it was just because of the wet weather we've had this month. All the same, I think we might just have an early autumn.

Les Sorcières (le vin)

Il y a une épicerie fine tenue par un Français dans la petite ville anglaise où je vis. Je vais parfois y acheter du vin, parce qu'il a une assez bonne sélection. Je suis tombé sur celui-là la dernière fois, qu'il m'a recommandée pour aller avec je ne sais plus quoi. Je suis philistin en ce qui concerne le vin, alors je l'ai acheté à cause du nom et de l'étiquette. J'espère qu'il va l'avoir en stock à l'Halloween, car j'ai déjà décidé que ce sera mon vin de l'Halloween.

First family gathering?

 My wife's brother contacted her yesterday, asking about our availabilities in the coming weeks. So we arenow planning for a full family gathering, the first since... Well, since a long time ago. If everything goes well, there will be grandma and daddad, the sister-in-law, her boyfriend and their son (Wolfie's little cousin), th brother-in-law, his wife and if we are really lucky our niece. And us of course, somy wife, Wolfie and me. I hope it works out for everyone, because that has been long overdue.

Un bouquet de fleurs

Bon, petite photo de fleurs pour faire changement de la food porn. Mon père acheté ce bouquet pour ma mère. Il y des lis (enfin je crois) et ce qui ressemble à des chardons jaunes, en plus joli. Les chardons que l'on trouve dans la nature ont toujours un air assez sauvage. Mais bon, peut-être que ce n'est pas du chardon, allez savoir, je suis mauvais en botanique. Dans tous les cas, ça ajoute de la couleur à leur salon et à Vraie Fiction, en plus d'avoir une apparence vaguement automnale (c'est le jaune foncé et l'orange) alors je partage.

Sockeye salmon filet

 My dad sent me a few pictures of his meal two evenings ago. He had sockeye salmon. I love all fish or almost, I love salmon especially, although I don't eat it very often now. I don't have the cooking skills of my dad and since I live with a vegetarian and Wolfie is not too sure about fish unless it's in a fishcake. I cannot complain: since lockdown my wife has been on a cooking mood so we have been trying a lot of new delicious recipes and we have beene ating very well. All the same, when I see dad sends me a picture like this one, I seriously crave salmon.

Menaud, maître-draveur

À chaque année, je cite Menaud maître-draveur, de Félix-Antoine Savard. C'est toujours la même citation. Je tiens cependant à dire que j'ai lu le roman au complet, l'un des grands de la littérature québécoise. Je crois que c'était en 1990. Je sais que c'étaitl 'édition Fides que vous voyez ici sur cette image, sauf qu'elle était aussi couverte d'une jacquettes avec pour image un tableau de Riopelle, je crois. Je n'ai pas retrouvé cette autre image. Mais enfin bref, c'est une tradition sur ce blogue, alors je partage aujourd'hui la citation de Menaud: "À la Sainte-Anne les bleuets sont mûrs. C'est le raisin de chez-nous, fils du feu; du sol humble et pierreux c'est l'offrande; c'est le miel des crans sauvages, le frère des éricales dans le royaume infini des sphaignes et des tourbières." Avec la page couverture du roman, ça fera changement des photos de bleuets.

Mozart: The Man Revealed

Here is a bit of a reading suggestion for classical music lovers. Those who may not be artists or specialist themselves, but are not totally clueless. Anyway, my wife bought me last year for my birthday a biography of Mozart: Mozart: the Man Revealed, by John Suchet. I had asked her to get me a book about Mozart, not specifying which one in particular, just any biography of Mozart would do, providing it is a good one. She got me that one and I was not disappointed. In fact, of all the books I read last year, it is the one I read wih the most interest. I got through it really quickly and I wished I had taken more time to enjoy it. Suchet made the subject really accessible to anyone with even the slightest interest in classical music. Apart from one point of contention (he seems to think little of the brilliantly subversive plot of Cosi fan tutte), I thoroughly enjoyed it. Suchet also made me far more knowledgeable about Mozart, his time and his entourage, whether familial or professional. Anyway, I cannot end a post on Mozart without sharing a piece of his music. Here's the opening duet from Le Nozze di Figaro, with Markus Werba as Figaro and Golda Schultz as Susanna. At the moment, Schultz might actually be my favourite soprano, for many reasons, but this is for another post.

Les bleuets déjà

Mon père m'a envoyé cette photo hier. Il semblerait que même si ce n'est pas encore la Sainte-Anne, les bleuets du Lac sont disponibles. Bon, je le savais déjà, mais quand même, c'est toujours plaisant de le voir, en photos, même si je ne peux pas en profiter. Et je partage la photo rien que parce que c'est le fruit emblématique de ma région et que je demeure un Saguenéen très attaché à celle-ci.

Hoping for a Storm

 I don't like the heat of the summer and I am getting quite fed up with it. There is one thing I still genuinely love about summertime and it's a good thunderstorm. I was waiting for one a month ago, it didn't happen. Recently, there's been a few alerts on the BBC in our region and elsewhere in England, forecasting heavy storms. So far they missed us. I cannot wait for it, as it would cool down the temperature overall. And it will look gorgeous. It might happen today, although we are going out to see some friends, so it might not be the best time for us. Maybe I should be careful what I wish for, but all the same, I can't help but hoping for a thunderstorm.

Le chocolat aux bleuets, cuvée 2021

Photo prise sur la page Facebook des Pères trappistes. C'est pas la meilleure, mais c'est ce que j'ai pour l'instant avant que mon père m'envoie des photos de ses achats. Tout ça pour dire que le chocolat aux bleuets est maintenant disponible, en fait il l'est depuisle 22 juillet. C'est très tôt, bien avant la Sainte-Anne. Pour ceux qui peuvent, vous pouvez donc vous sucrer le bec.

N.Y. Chase (Mr X in New York)

My readers know that one of my favourite board games is Scotland Yard, which features the Met against the mysterious and elusive criminal Mr X. The stock villain fascinated me as a child. Now I found out years later Scotland Yard had a number of sequels (can we say sequel when it comes to board games?), among them N.Y. Chase, where Mr X goes to New York. I must say I am quite curious about it, but I am skeptical. I've read in a number of reviews that the game is too easy for the detectives, who can use road blocks and other means. Mr X becomes a trivial fugitive, not the master criminal I always imagined him to be. Also, if you change settings, you also change dramatically the atmosphere of the game. The original channels on old English crime fiction, a certain nostalgia in a city that is still for many timeless and exotic. You kind of lose this if you switch London to New York. All the same, I am curious about it.

L'ours

Bon, on va faire autre chose que de la food porn, alors je partage une photo d'ours prise sur les caméras de surveillance du lot de mes oncles. Belle bête quand même.