Allez poutine!

I have never been to French Canada before. Also, I get as excited about trying local food as my brother does about local beer. In Québec, naturally I was all about poutine.

Really... what could be better? Poutine and beer!

For the uninitiated: poutine is French fries served with heaps of cheese curds and brown gravy (and occasionally additional toppings, such as smoked meat for my brother in Montréal). It's served everywhere from restaurants to street carts, and I think it's delightful.

Lil brother ready to chow down on poutine with smoked meat

This one was special because we tried it at Maison du Bifthèque Main Deli in Montréal. The city is famous for its Hebraic delis, or charcuteries. Some of us quite literally ate piles of smoked meat for dinner, others sandwiches, and Isaac had it with poutine.   

So I was really excited. Don't judge.

It may be 5000kcal per serving (or any other number someone has made up to scare people), but I climbed to the top of a waterfall for this. A big waterfall. 

Poutine at the top of Chute-Montmorency

Certainly not the only thing we ate in Québec, but I think it deserves a post of its own.


If you find yourself curious about other culinary bastardizations in French Canada, I recommend EpicMealTime. Hilarious, based in Montréal and pretty much awesome in every way.

Vermont (Day 1)

The first day of my glorious, whirlwind North American adventure deposited my brother and me in Burlington, Vermont. We flew in on a plane full of marathoners ready to run the Vermont City Marathon, and we were nonplussed because, after all, we were awake at ungodly hours sitting on the floor of JFK Intl., hoping that the loudspeaker would just stop squawking. Not to mention the fact that running anything more than five miles sounds like torture to me.

We were collected by my college friend and co-wreaker-of-havoc from my Hawaii/NZ trip, Mel. Sam and I were both in the sleep-deprived travel haze, so Mel took us downtown and fed us lunch at a little deli. It's a bad state to be in, because I turn into a little robot and pretty much do what I'm told, as long as it doesn't require thinking or strenuous activity on my part. Then we walked the flooded shores of Lake Champlain (no sign of Champ) and Mel took us on a driving tour of Shelburne Farms until it was time to...

WATCH BARCELONA DESTORY MANCHESTER UNITED IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL!!!!


We found an Irish pub stuffed to the gills with people decked out in jerseys and scarves (and not just clothing supporting FCB and MUFC either, but Welsh and Portuguese and all other sorts). We drank some beer, harassed the local Man U fans, and I screamed until my voice was hoarse. Barcelona 3-Manchester United 1.

Just the way I like it. :)

Eventually the family showed up and we had dinner together at the Vermont Pub & Brewery, which is the place that my brother and the internets tell me black IPA was invented. Delicious beer, delicious food.

After dinner we took the ferry across Lake Champlain to New York. It was cold and a little misty and we were not attacked by pirates (still no sign of Champ). We stayed in Plattsburgh, New York. We may or may not have bounced on the beds.

*I don't have pictures of this day because Sam hoarded the camera and we're both dumb when we're tired k.