Quebec City

Oh, Quebec...

This august I found myself with my family in Quebec, what a city, if you have never been, GO! It is the closest thing to being in Europe without having to get on a plane...well you could take a plane, the car ride is really long....but the idea here is that within the North American Continent you CAN drive to Old Quebec a place where the people are friendly, the streets are clean and the beautiful french language is spoken all around you.

The City is celebrating it's 400 anniversary so the place is action packed. The streets are alive with performers of all types...dancers, musicians and magicians. Action is literally everywhere. The restaurants are truly fantastic with endless options of where to eat.

We stayed right at the port at Hotel Belley http://www.blogger.com/www.oricom.ca/belley, an adorable small boutique hotel with a very salty vintage style.... if you can imagine that. We arrive, check in and walked right out our door into a pedestrian wonderland. The city's walkability is amazing. We parked our car once and didn't use it until we left. With three days in the city and no reservations we had to get creative and assertive in our dining quest.

While my husband and son checked out the street performers I window-shopped all the restaurants, grabbing menus and speaking with friendly hosts. I quickly found that a good meal is easily found, and you don't have to look far for a great meal, although you do need reservations at Saint Amour!

Our plan was to go casual pretty much across the board and chose mostly bistro style restaurants offering outdoor seating, vegetarian fare for my son, a good burger for my husband, and something inspiring for me!

'le lapin saute' at 52 Petit Champlain offered all of that! The burger came with hand cut fries you dip in homemade mayonnaise; the Pasta Prima Vera offers FRESH PASTA with thin ribbons of zucchini, roasted peppers and feta in a garlicky butter sauce that is surprisingly light; and the smoked salmon is done PERFECTLY on this aromatic hard wood plank.
We sat under a canopy on a slate patio, which I noticed was heated for cooler nights!

After our lovely meal we visited many of the galleries located in the petit champlain quarters. Here at galerie d'art du Petit Champlain we met Philip. World's greatest art salesman. I overheard a costumer tell him he could sell Santa the Elves. I thought that was cute. Almost as cute at Philip. www.gapc.ca

Oh, Sunset Lake

My wonderful sister Kelly has a quaint little cottage on Sunset Lake, New Hampshire. Nestled in rural Greenfield, Sunset Lake has become the official headquarters of Girls Weekend.

Girls Weekend has become a tradition, and we try to have as many as the summer (and Bob and Chris, our husband's) will allow us. With warm mountain breezes and a sunny dock calling our names it is easy to drift off into total relaxation, which we do plenty of. But the reality of it is we can't relax, not until we've cooked a feast. Kelly and I are Gourmet Heavyweights and Girls Weekend is when the gloves come off! We pack the back of her wagon with the most unbelievable culinary ingredients available to mankind and head north. Kelly also makes sure we have plenty of top notch white wine to sip during our grandiose gourmet preparations, luscious red with dinner and Patron for pre-preparation margaritas.
Okay, admit it, you wish Kelly was your sister.
Menus are always mapped out before we head North. We plan everything but the produce. Rosaly's Organic Farm will dictate our veggies....

And our Flowers....

Gotta love Rosaly's

Dinner this Evening will be Moroccan Chicken with Dried Apricots and Olives, Roasted Beets, Sauteed Zucchini and Minted Cous Cous (recipes to be posted soon on my website!)


We used Bone in Chicken Thighs for our Moroccan Delight. I like to use the darker thigh meat in ethnic dishes with lots going on. The flavor of dark meat is richer and gamier than white meat. It doesn't get lost in the mix of heavy spices, sweet apricots and tangy olives used in this dish. It's important to allow the chicken to marinade for several hours.

Get your grill going! We use an old school Weber with lots of hot coals, but a preheated piping hot gas grill works just as good.

When our coals are hot we preheat the oven to 350 degrees. The chicken is grilled for 3 minutes on each side, just to char and sear in all the flava-flav. The grilled chicken is then placed in a roasting pan or ceramic casserole dish. A beautiful saute of shallots, butter, garlic, dried apricots, olives and reserved marinade is added to the chicken, and the dish is covered. Bake for 30 minutes.

Summers not over yet, and fall is the best time in the Monadnocks! There will be more Sunset tales to come!