@#%*!!! HEAT is a four letter word.

Let me begin my post with a "thank you" to my Mum.

My Mum was just here to visit me for 5 days. We didn't exactly have the most ideal weather for a comfortable visit. IT WAS HOT. I am not a hot weather person. I get bitchy when I am covered in that thin film of sweat one develops in 40* weather. I think that I was covered in that film almost the entire time that my Mum was here.

Sorry for being such a brat. I might have figured it out thought. I do this funny thing when I know that some one is leaving soon. I push them away more.I may have done that to you this visit. I guess I think that it's easier to give up early than to get comfortable, relaxed, and ungaurded.If you don't get comfy, it hurts less when the 5 days are up and you don't get to see your mom again for what? A year?

Ok, you get it...I screwed up the visit a bit. It wasn't a horrible visit, it was actually pretty good. It's just that if I could have bucked up a bit, it could have been fantastic.

My mom got in to Montreal on Sunday night. I was excited the whole day. I got her to call me when she got in. After she called to tell me that she was getting in a cab, I hung up the phone and happily shouted,
" My Mum is here!".
" What table is she at?" The cooks wondered.
" NO no no, she is here, in Montreal! But she is on her way to the restaurant."
Ok, so I was a little excited. She's my Mum.

I speedily finished cleaning my station and was heading downstairs to change when the manager walked into the kitchen. He has the cutest French accent (he is Parisian).

"Meegan, your musser is here, she needs money for zee cab."

HA ha ha. I got my wallet and met her in the dining room with 20$. Not all the cabs here take credit cards. After the driver was paid. My Mum waited for me at the bar with a glass of wine compliments of the manager. I got changed and joined her at the bar, making introductions to everyone that I worked with. She was a hit!

We returned to the restaurant the second day, after a heavy day of wondering and shopping. (Thanks for the dishes and the poka dot shirt). Dinner was amazing. I don't get many perks working in this industry. Benefits? No! Coffee or lunch breaks? No! Christmas bonus? As if! But I do get treated like royalty when I go into the restaurant where I am working for diner. We ate like Kings and drank like fishes. Alex, my friend and the sous chef, sent out 7 courses.

We feasted on:
*"spaghetti and meatballs" as an amuse bouche: A tasty little meatball up in a little bed of fresh pasta with a sautted squash blossom
*Grilled Sardine with garlic scapes and fresh mini new potatoes
*Goat cheese, tomato confit and yukon potato stack with rich tomato broth, garnished with truffle oil.
*Petite salade of baby mesclun with pumpkin seeds and apple cider vinaigrette
*Braised beef cheeks in sweet jus with baby organic carrots and yellow beets
*A cheese platter as big as your head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were 6 cheeses, spiced nuts, compotes, fruits...yum
*Alex's grandma's sour cherry tart with crumble topping a la mode...WOW
*"smores" made with house made mashmallows (my recipe)
We had wine with everything. There happened to be a wine tasting that night so we had Jess, the sommelier coming to our table with different delicious wines for us to try. It was a great meal.

Fine dining was out of the question the next day. Food in general. We thought we'd stroll down St catherines, do some window shopping, and eventually hit the Atwater market. The combination of the heat, the food hangover, and our totally opposite sleeping habits were catching up with us. GRUMPY GIRLs. We wondered like wounded soldiers aimlessly down St Catherines St. Sweating like crazy. It was a bad scene.
Something has got to give! We weren't talking at this point. Not politely anyways. Seriously,
not cool (pardon the pun).
I had to take action. I noticed a green light and bounded across the street, mum trailing behind perplexed as I hailed a cab.
"Get in".
We took the cab the rest of the way to the market where we refueled on some fruit, and little atistan chocolates. It saved our day. After the market we went to see a matinee "The Devil Wears Prada" . It great, the theater was AIR CONDITIONED! The movie was pretty good too.

My Dad came up from Ottawa by train the next day. We went for an extravagant meal at a restaurant in the old port. They treated me and Alex to a very generous meal. Thank you thank you thank you. Alex wanted to go out for one meal with my Mum and I while she was here because he knew that she was a foodie. I am sure that he was pleasently surprised to find himself eating foie gras and sipping shiraz with my parents and I at 2 in the afternoon. Yeah, they like food.
It was an awesome way to thank Alex for the meal he prepared for us at Globe. He matched their thank you with a couple bottles of Quebec wines to take back to B.C.

After lunch my Mum and I walked my Dad to the train station and said good bye. I love my Dad. He is a cool guy. It was a super quick visit. No tears though. I am getting better at this.

I worked the last two days of our visit. The first morning we went and had pedicures. The second day I took her to the Jean Talon market. How cool is it there Mum? I picked up some veggies for my specials at work that night and we headed back to my place to grab her luggage. We sat at the bar in Globe and I brained stormed my specials while Mum sipped tea. Prolonging the inevitable, I had to say good bye soon. Oh great, I love doing that!

blah blah blah, hail taxi, kiss kiss, "love you, good bye" no tears, yet.
she's gone.

Thanks for coming Mum, and Dad. You are both so Generous, encouraging, inspiring people that I am (obviously) proud to have as MY parents.

Lots of love
megs