I deeply apologize for not having a blog entry for Saturday; it nagged me all day but I had a good excuse, I swear! The LSC and I were in Montreal as part of our monthly big city-trip.

It wasn’t like you were missing anything huge anyway. Just some roasted zucchini for lunch. Yup, some nicely roasted zucchini that paired well with some Thai tuna…

I have figured out that if there’s something you want me to eat, especially a vegetable, all you gotta do is roast that sucker.

Before we left for Montreal, I had done some research as to places I’d like to eat at. One of these places was a vegetarian restaurant called Cafe Santropol, a sort of funky fun bohemian place from what I could understand. It wasn’t entirely walkable from our hotel so we decided to drive there instead, figuring on a quick jaunt over and back. Oh how very wrong we were. I am married to a man who is NOT a driver nor a fan of it and he was behind the wheel. He turned into Mr. Hyde as he spent nearly a half-hour motoring down confusing one-way streets, closed-off streets and various other obstacles.

After the white-knuckle ride through the streets of Montreal, we finally arrived at the restaurant. It was a very interesting space; lots of wood, vaguely hippie-ish upholstery and wall hangings, the sort of thing I feel would not have been out of place at the height of Haight-Asbury. We asked to be seated at the patio but they did us one better! Past the tables and off to the side of this disturbing fountain, there was a tiny two-seater. The LSC and I were very hungry, having eaten in the morning, so after perusing the menu, I chose the Killer Tomato sandwich (which got rave reviews on Yelp). On some very nice whole wheat bread, it consisted of a tomato-ey cream cheese, sundried tomatos and topped with fresh tomatoes and lettuce. I actually just found the whole thing merely okay, sadly. My beef was mostly with the sundried tomatoes, which can be overpowering in excess.

When my husband and I go out to eat, it’s usually agreed that I end up ordering something that he likes better than his own dish. Not so this time out. He ordered the Pepper Island sandwich which featured that same bread but with pesto cream cheese and red pepper jelly; he also asked for ham on it because he felt like he deserved a treat from the stress of driving. All in all, we felt that our experience at Cafe Santropol was adequate and even though it wasn’t great, if we were in the neighborhood, it might warrant another visit.

I apologize for the dearth of photos from this trip. I ended up forgetting the camera in the room most of the time. And though I don’t have photographic evidence, here’s a quick rundown of the weekend:

* A visit to the Contemporary Art Museum which included an exhibit that was a giant room of nothing but old and empty iron-wrought baby cribs. Of course, they lit it spookily and of course, I found it unnerving.

* an afternoon viewing of the Sam Raimi film, Drag Me to Hell, which I was onboard with until there was a cat sacrifice. Then I just wanted the film to end.

* some light shopping, which included my trip to Lush.

* a dinner at buffet in Chinatown that I quite enjoyed but the LSC less so.

* drinks at the Saint Bock, where we were able to observe the Montreal nightlife of St-Denis in near full-swing.

The LSC woke up a bit hungover on Sunday so that sort of tarnished the morning.  When we checked out of the hotel, we headed to Atwater Market, where a long-standing food dream of mine was realized…

…a warm almond croissant from the patisserie.

It was lovely and just the thing. On the left is the palmier that the LSC ordered. He was pleased with it—though I suspect he was more pleased it stayed down.

But of course, there is no place like home. We took our sweet time getting back (much to the chagrin of the cats) so I made dinner a little later than we are used to. My original idea for dinner—which I will feature on Wednesday—was vetoed but this was my back-up and it passed muster.

I don’t know if I have bought this up before, but I have discovered that here in Sherbrooke, there is no decent Mexican food. Hell, there isn’t even any decent Tex-Mex food, which will do in a pinch. So I make my own. Even though this version has meat in it, you can handily sub in any veggies you like, but I would probably saute them a bit first.

Chicken Enchiladas

2 cups cooked chopped chicken

8 oz. frozen corn, thawed and at room temperature

8 oz. sour cream

1  1/2 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese, divided

2 tbl. chopped fresh cilantro, divided

10 6-inch corn or flour tortillas

1 (10 oz.) can enchilada sauce

1 cup salsa

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine chicken, corn, sour cream, half of cheese and half of cilantro. Wrap 5 tortillas in a damp paper towel; microwave them for about 30 seconds to soften. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Place about 1/3 cup mixture on each tortilla and roll tightly. Arrange in baking dish, seam side down. In a bowl, combine enchilada sauce with salsa; pour over tortillas. Top with remaining cheese and bake 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese melts and enchiladas are heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro.