Jan 1 Auberge Saint Antoine – Quebec City – Canada

The Saint Antoine (my patron) is the kind of hotel that gives you decoration ideas. Excellent use of space. Its theme: archeological findings. The auberge has exposed foundations as well as these neat glass cubes within the stone walls displaying “recovered artifacts”. I bid farewell to 2009 with a 6-course meal at Panage (chef executif Francois Blais)… Saint-Sylvestre menu: Duck Foi Gras with Pear and Almond (Vin Gris semi-sweet L'Orfailleur, Canada 2006); Atlantic Scallop with New Brunswick Caviar Mousseline Sauce (Villa Bucci wine, Italy, Reserve 2004); Liquorice Perfumed Veal, sweetbread with Rosemary Sauce and Lemon Pulp (Lithos la Clape, Fench wine, 2007); Nunavut Wild Caribou "En Panade de Cepes" with Porcini Mushroom Mustard Sauce (Ernie Els Wine, Elizabeth Els Vineyard, South Africa, 2004); Organic Blue Cheese "Le Bleu D'Elizabeth" with Candid fruit (In Pincis Wine, Agricola San Felice, Italy 1997); Chocolate, Cigar and Rhum (Ron Santa Teresa).

And before I could start the countdown (distracted by those 5 glasses of wine and a shot of Venezuelan rhum), the New Year was upon me. Personal resolutions: can’t think of all but I’d like to cook more and exercise the art of eating slowly. In addition to my gourmet ambitions I’d like to attempt a photo-video project that involves this blog. My job as an international marketer and recruiter for Algonquin College in Ottawa requires much traveling. I constantly meet prospective college students from around the world and try to lure them to Canada. As I visit all these places, and meet interesting people, taste local foods, I plan to record my personal impressions. A year in snap shots. I aim to quote local authors and explorers who have written about those places while I add my notes as the voice of a curious onlooker. In a previous life, or in the core of my alter ego, I was or have been a writer… my blog shall serve as the window to my personal take on our intriguing world.

Today’s author is Quebec City born Claire Montreuil (1914), popularly known as Claire Martin. Martin is a winner of the Governor General’s award in 1966 with La Joue Droite ('The right Cheek'). Her autobiography "In an Iron Glove" (Dans un Gant de Fer) narrates her nightmerish experience at the Ursulines Convent in QC.

Tip of the day: Quebec City, La Ville de Quebec is a place one must see in this lifetime.
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