So I found Ewan McGregor so funny in this movie and couldn’t seem to take him seriously. Every time he had one of his passionnate tirades about the battle between science & religion (and he had many!), I just expected him to break into a song any second now. See, everytime he acts the “passion” emotion, he only knows how to act it in 1 way: it transcribes as these big blue innocent eyes looking straight at you with, apparently, “passion”! In “Moulin Rouger”, he had the exact same puppy-dog look, he would passionately stare into Kidman’s eyes & break into a love song. So naturally, anytime the Ewan-McGregor-Passion-Eyes came out, I’d naturally expect a song to follow!

In fact, I think i might have enjoyed Angels & Demons way more if McGregor HAD ACTUALLY broken into a song & a dance now and again!

When you walk in, the restaurant is very quaint, you have to walk up a few steps and pull an old heavy door. The romantic atmosphere can be felt as soon as you walk in, with wood and candlelight visible from the entrance foyer. There are stairs that lead to the upstairs level, but we were seated one the first floor (I’ve been upstairs before, it’s nice too, more of a modern feel whereas here below, it feels nice and retro).

Fondue is originally a swiss dish that comes in very different varieties, but the 1 common thing is that it’s about putting a piece of something onto a long fork and placing it into a pot of a boiling liquid and leaving it there for a little while.

There is the cheese fondue where you put bread into liquid melted boiling swiss cheese. There’s Chinoise and Bourguignonne ones where u put raw meat into either boiling oil (bourguignonne) or broth (chinoise) to cook your meat. then there’s the ever fabulous chocolate fondue for desert.

So, at Fondue Mentale you can choose any one you like, there have different variations on each. And of course, if there are many of you, you can each take something different for a variety of samples. But what i really recommend you should do it take the menus, you have to be a minimum of 2 people for each menu though.

L’ aventure is the cheapest, at $29 per person, and there’s also La Romantique at $33 per person. We were four people, so we took one of each. For starters, you get a cheese fondue (a smaller portion), but still it’s a very filling dish, and we puposely ended up leaving a little at the bottom of the pot, to save place for the rest of the food. The good thing is, since we get 2 portions of Cheese Fondue (since we had 2 menus), we had a different type of cheese in each fondue.

Then came the fondue Chinoise, where we got dishes of raw beef and chicken (L’ Aventure) and a dish of raw beef, chicken, shrimp, salmon and calamari (La Romantique), that you have to place at the end of your long fork (you get 2 forks per person so you can be more productive)…

Of course, I made sure to tell my dinner companions that, when i was in Switzerland, i had been taught that the rule for fondues was: if a piece drops off your fork (i.e. you pull your fork out of the pot and there’s nothing attached to it), you have to pay a penalty… and the penalty can be anything from kissing your neighbor to handing over a piece of food in penalty

Oh! and rule no2 (way more important if you care about your tummy): with cheese fondue, NEVER drink ice water while eating the fondue, because then the melted cheese solifies in yuor tummy and well, not good! So, ice with no water (small sips only, otherwise effect will be the same, and you’ll be full by the 4th bite) or better yet, a nice bottle of white wine (always good to use this as an opportunity to try a german or swiss wine).

Desert was a fruit fondue, perfect end, a little pot of hot melted chocolate and a plate full of cut up fruit to dip into it. FABULOUS!

Anyway, so, conclusion: for this restaurant, my tips are: go with a group, be adventurous, come hunry, stay away from too much water, stay close to lots of wine, and find a way to maximize the different dishes you end up with. The menus are GREAT ideas because they are designed for maximum sampling. HAPPY FONDU-ING!

FondueMentale is located at 4325 Saint-Denis (between Marie-Anne and Rachel) - (514) 499-1446 - http://www.fonduementale.com/ - open from 5.30 to 10pm (weekdays) and until 11.30pm (weekends).

I listen to the news and look at what’s happenning in the US, and everything is so negative, the economy, the borders… listening to lou dobbs (why i do this to myself, is a whole other question), watching Pelosi’s daughter’s documentary today where a bunch of rednecks (they called themselves that, i didn’t) complained about how the world was changing so fast and they still wished black people weren’t heard from and women couldn’t vote… i can’t help but think… u know what? canada’s really figured something out.

i applied for immigration in 2003. the process took 8 months. in feb 04 i arrived at the montreal airport as a canadian resident. Then and there, the officer gave me documentation and flyers on where i could attend free classes on learning / integrating in canada, this included telling us how we could get our driving licenses, our health cards, our social insurance numbers… even the driving license process was fast and efficient, i just exchanged my massachussets license for my QC one. Later as a french citizen, i was sent the address of a joint french-quebec organization that helps french nationals find jobs in QC (yes, for free). Then, i applied for citizenship 3.5 years later, and was canadian before my 5th year living here. The process was fast, the ceremony was emotional and something i will remember forever. i got a certificate, a card, and a warm fuzzy feeling inside. and yesterday, i got an unexpected diploma.

seriously, how often can you say that a bureaucratic process was seamless from beginning to end? let’s take a moment and be grateful for well oiled, well run, efficient democracies with smart, caring and welcoming citizens. Congratulations Canada, you rock!

Very quickly, i wondered if it was all worth it. I mean, how many people was i really affecting? Afterall, i’m not the most famous blogger in the world, so the answer is “less than the famous bloggers of this world”… but even for those famous bloggers… don’t they sometimes think that they’re just talking to thin air?

So then i thought… here we are, in this little bubble of technology… blogs, twitter, social media, etc… but who really cares other than those who know about it? For every 10 twitterers, there are a million that have never even heard the word, let alone understanding it’s power. Does that make them less of a customer or an audience? Should we ignore them?

Too often, when i request feedback on a particular trend or idea, i find that all i get is the feedback of the last person we spoke to. I hear “the trend is to start using this technology”, but actually, it’s not… it’s just that we spoke to 5 people in our own bubble and they all said the same. But what about the rest of the world out there? We seem to forget what “gathering market feedback” really means.

So imagine my relief when i found out that one of those famous bloggers was talking about exactly that, hours later. Read “Get out of your own way” from Mitch Joel. Then come back and tell me, do you agree? Are we just that conceipted that we think that everyone does it the way we do it?

ok, so maybe this is just a marketing ploy, and he’s trying to get me to vote for him. but u know what? it just made me smile all day. because i didn’t expect this, and it just made me feel good.

So let’s take a moment to be grateful for the small things in life that make us happy.

I’m trying to keep to short posts, but stay tuned for my commentary on the entire canadian immigration / citizenship process.

Anyway / anyone know where to find a free download of this?

Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in vanilla and banana. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Blend the banana mixture into the flour mixture; stir just to combine. Fold in walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.

Original recipe is here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brown-Sugar-Banana-Nut-Bread-I/Detail.aspx

Now, i am looking to diversify. I want to make roesti (which is the swiss version of hash brown potatoes), and am looking for a good recipe (although, again, it’s simple stuff, not brain surgery, so…).

Roesti Potatoes (Swiss Hash Browns)

INGREDIENTS

• 1kg / 2.2lbs of potatoes, boiled in their jackets the day before
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1 to 2 medium onions
• salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

In this recipe you can choose to either make one large roesti or 4 individual ones.

1. Firstly peel the cooked potatoes and grate them through a coarse grater.
2. Slice the onions into thin wedges (Lyonnaise).
3. Melt the butter (please resist the temptationto use oil as you will not have the same result!) in a non-stick frying pan and add the onions and sweat them until they look glassy and transparent.
4. Add the grated potatoes and the salt and stir through. Fry while stirring them around in the pan for about 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Press together to form a flat cake and fry over medium heat until there is a golden crust on the bottom.
6. Place a serving platter on the pan and turn the pan upside down, so the Roesti falls on the platter with the crust on top.

Original recipe: http://www.cuisinedumonde.com/roesti.html

I haven’t tried this last one yet. Does anyone have any tips or tricks for making rosti potatoes? What about other brunch recipes, do you have any to share? What’s the perfect dish to bring to a brunch potluck?

But even the best of us, occasionally, have moments when we can’t think of the equivalent word in the other language. So, in my browser, at all times, i have at least 2-3 sites bookmarked for finding the fastest answer.

Until now, my main resource was the “Grand Dictionnaire Terminologique” that lets you enter keywords in either languages. But actually, I find that for the “common” words, it always comes up with so many different uses, that it’s overwhelming.

In the past, i’ve used all the other common ones, Reverso, Babelfish… For those, i found that the interface was not user-friendly, especially for someone like me who uses my keyword for shortcuts and hardly uses my mouse.

In the past few weeks, i’ve been using Google Translate (the one that’s part of Google Dictionary, not the actual Google Translate, just follow this link and select your language choice from the dropdown), and my experience has been nothing compared to what it had been when i had tried it a few years back. It’s perfect now, simply interface, 100% accuracy (for me, so far), with just enough different options, but not too many.

Anyone else out there who translated a lot, all day? What are your favorite free tools? Do you pay for translation tools, and if so, is it worth it? Would love to hear from you.

The first time he impressed me was when he refused to let them participate in interviews during the campaign and when he made it a point to tell people that the kids were not left at home with a babysitter every night, but that their grandmother was the one taking care of them.

A few days before he was sworn in, he wrote his daughters a letter. It was moving, beautiful and loving. But more than that, it was showing what place a father can have in his daughter’s life, how he positions himself as the guardian of her future.

He shows that communication is important, and that while it is not expected that every father write their daughter a letter, you can imagine how this would transcribe, in a normal family setting, to regular conversations between a father and a daughter, him sitting on the side of the bed, saying goodnight to her every evening, giving her the kind of comforting advice she will remember for the rest of her life.

A few days ago, we found out that Barack Obama was a night owl and liked working late. Yet he took the time to have dinner with his family before returning to work. Around the same time, Michelle told the press that her agenda, for the first month, was exclusively to take care of ensuring the transition to Washington was a smooth one for her daughters, and that everything else could wait.

As someone who, I believe, had one of the best fathers a daughter can ask for, i can tell you this. Obama offers something to his daughters that is priceless: security and consistency.

For a child, hearing his parents regularly tell him how much he means to them (the importance of the expressed feeling) and then seeing that message reinforced by seeing his parents come home every night, spend quality time, either at the dinner table or in the living room (the importance of actions)… There is nothing more constructive to shape a child’s future character.

I am Canadian, so whatever policies Obama sets probably won’t affect me directly. But watching Barack and Michelle parent, now that’s something that transcends borders and is truly and concretly inspiring.

Being a good parent is not brain surgery. But it requires love, time and dedication. And for all those fathers that think they are relagated to a secondary role behind the “primary” mother, think again. Watch Barack Obama, he’ll lead a whole new generation of good fathers.

Right. I mean, c’mon, this is so much better than having my mom call me every day saying “did you get my letter? what’s wrong with your postal system?”

So email came along and changed everything. Suddenly, delivery was instant. But we could still claim that we hadn’t “checked our email”, this would buy us response time (a day maximum).

But now we have twitter and text messages, and things are getting even faster.

Here’s my question. Is it because the delivery method is getting faster, that we have to respond right away? And if we respond right away, aren’t we just saying to the sender that we’re available, 24/7? Is that healthy?

Even the busiest gurus agree that we should slow it down, see Chris Brogan’s post “Be Realistic About Time“. Manage people’s expectations. Don’t answer right away.

Try it out. I’m sure you have 1-2 people who email you constantly. Even if you read their email, leave it in your inbox. Wait an entire day (i’m serious) and respond to them the next morning. If they text message you to ask you if you received the email (yeah, cuz that makes sense!), don’t answer. It might take a few times, but they’ll get the message.

Do you agree? Is this a good tactic? Are you someone that is overloaded and wants to slow it down? Or do you thrive on the amount of communication you receive?