Framboise Preserves

It is Friday night in Montreal; there's the Les FrancoFolies, Osheaga music & arts festival, Otakuthon anime festival just to name a few... One friend invites me to dinner - he even promises to cook... Another friend invites me to go to the Les FrancoFolies... I chose instead to stay home and make Raspberry preserves... Sometimes I want to just be by myself and reflect... Why not get some canning going on in the mean time...

Canning had been on my mind for almost a year now - reducing environmental footprint ou queleque chose comme ca... It turned out good... It was my first time canning... It is easy, but time consuming... And really I don't know how environmentally sustainable this is... I first boiled the jam for about an hour and between that and all the sterilization of jars and then heat processing used up quite a bit of electricity.... My bro called me Gandhi Gee, said I was taking this self-sustenance thing too far... He suggests I move into the wilderness and try making my own clothes and all (which, I reminded him, I am able to do and I have done in the past)

It was great though... the next morning they were shining in the sun like this... the seals were properly vacuumed and the preserve itself had proper consistency... Oh did I mention, no preservatives at all... just sugar and our farmers' market raspberries... yum... yum....

Stay tuned for Raspberry Souffle tomorrow... No! the raspberries were not on sale, I wanted to make Raspberry souffle and ended up buying a whole lot because, well... , they were on sale... Hey it is Framboise season...!!!

PS. ironically tomorrow's (Saturday's) Gazette had an article about us, the do-it-yourself'ers... well, they're some steps ahead of me...

La Parysse

There was a time, I'd go here every Tuesday for dinner, after badminton... a vege burger and a Boreale Blonde... We had a good time!

Just pour Rire

Yesterday was not a good day... I woke up and just could not get myself to be... For sometime there I thought I was slipping into some form of depression - I have read about how people won't feel like getting up or leaving the house when they are setting in to clinical depression. I guess the difference for me was I totally panicked and thought I have to, have to, have to, get out of this before it sets in... It is one of those times that I felt like 'yes there are all these people around me, waiting to be beckoned; all these people who enjoy my company... and yet I feel alone :

when you are lying right beside me is when I'm most alone" - John Denver, Seasons of the Heart

Finally after much fuzzing around, I pulled myself together, got dressed and went out... there's the Just pour Rire, Just for Laughs fest, I thought I'd head that way... So I was walking up St Denis... and there were all these people, all these performers on the street, some funny and some so so, but all trying to have a good time... and all that energy set the mood right... and I thought in this city one can never slip into clinical depression... I love Montreal... And on Sunday I was good as new... This time I headed out to the Just Pour Rire with my camera...


And yes this is French country, which means there are laws, but few people pay attention to it... (which btw, is something I actually like about these people), but if they say no parking, on a day of a parade on the parade street, they mean it people!! And they will bring in all the city's tow trucks and the private ones too, to tow away your car... good riddance I say!

International Fireworks Festival

Today was the Quebec/Canada day of the international fireworks festival, titled Royal Pyrotechnie. Pictures of fireworks are always misleading. I must say out of all the fireworks I saw this year, this was the best. It had quite vigor - most fireworks get carried away by prettyness and forget the good old 'bold' aspect they used to have. Not our Quebec fireworks... Two weeks ago, China/Hongkong or Argentine did hearts; not to be outdone, Quebec did hearts within hearts... Take that world!! :)

Romantic Quebec

Land of fairy tales... and the first time I was able to totally get away speaking only French in Quebec...




















Chateau Frontenac and a rare instance here in Quebec, where both the Quebec and Canadian flags fly high. (The Federal government pays for the maintenance of this national heritage site)

















joie de vivre - one of the many street performers in Quebec. He insisted I take this picture, I took it just to please him, but it turned out pretty good.... And it never dawned on me that 'American Pie' had such wonderful lyrics...