The French Interlude

I know… It’s been quite a while since my last posting… For this delay, I blame my cousin Lan. She came over from Paris to spend 10 days with our Phamily to visit my ailing grandfather, to get a bit of R&R and of course, shopping!

I love having family over… All of a sudden, good food gets cooked and we’re actually allowed to eat it! We get a truce from the argument: ”Don’t touch it! It’s for guests only!”. During her stay, we indulged in a decadent foodfest: a welcome dinner with the whole Phamily, a mandatory brunch at the all-you-can-eat buffet, and the best, my uncle’s incomparable termidor lobster… As you can see in the picture below, I *cough* reluctantly obliged =P

Above: Lan and I eating Pinchy's relative

For every visiting European, one of the best activities to do in Montreal is shopping. Not willing to be the exception, Lan has also put this activity on the top of her list. Being gracious hosts, we took turns taking her shopping. Having lived here in the past, she had requested a visit to Winners. I also took her to the giant 3-floor La Senza and to my favourite store, the overpriced Lululemon in Westmount.

We stocked up on (lacy and racy, you wish!) unmentionables (thanks to a great sale at La Senza!) and she brought back a selection of Quaker oatmeal packets for her bf, including plain. I don’t really like oatmeal (especially plain oatmeal!), so for me, it was kind of amusing to see that this particular item was actually worthy of luggage space… Then again, I asked her to bring me some Chipsters, a popular kind of potato-flake snack (ie: Chips) that is not sold here…

After 2 solid days of succumbing to impulses of pure capitalist consumerism, I must say that I was pretty shopped out =P Can you imagine, me!? Getting tired of shopping?! Who thought this could ever happen? But, do not panic, I recovered quickly and can now be found strolling along St-Catherine Street daily…

Since all good things must end, we took her to Trudeau (the old Dorval) airport on Sunday and as I soon discovered, it’s the best place to see Quebec “stars” (I am using the term very loosely since they fly coach).

In line at the Air Transat (aka Air Sardines) counter for check-in, we saw Chantal Petitclerc (the award-winning wheelchair racer) and Stephanie Lapointe (that ordinary-looking gal that won Star Academie 2004 – She used to work at the petshop next to Wal Mart in Brossard). As we were standing in line, we were joking that she had a star filled flight and the only celebrity missing was Garou, her favourite Quebec singer.

Well, it almost came true… we were at the bookstore and who was behind us looking for a book? Garou! We couldn’t believe it! Being a very popular singer in Quebec and France, I was kinda surprised to see how well he blended in with us commoners, minding his own business. Nobody was harassing him and it was as if no one recognized him. I pride myself on the fact that, in Montreal, we respect other people’s spaces, celebrity or no celebrity… Let me rephrase that: we were too shy to ask him for a picture…

It was a packed 10 days of eating, spending and star gazing… Lan went back to Paris with her Quaker oatmeal and tons of underwear in her bigger-than-me suitcase as well as the sweet souvenir of a close encounter with the better-looking-in-person Garou…

Now that this interlude is over, it’s back to boring and harsh ordinary life and I am now on the “tomates et endives” diet to give my liver a break from the rich, and oh so delicious, foods we overstuffed ourselves with…