Mile End

Sorry about not posting for a while but we're still figuring out Internet.

We ordered our iMac, but now we need to find an Internet provider. And it has to be the same one as our telephone provider. And since we are only renting this place for 4 months, we don't know who the provider is. Our landlord suggested we could surf the waves of the wireless connection of our downstairs neigbours (Peter & Cheryl) but they seemed a bit worried about their bandwith (and they don't even know about my unquenchable thirst for new music). So we'd better get an Internet connection of our own instead of wasting valuable dollars in Internet Cafes.

But let me tell a little bit more about our neighbourhood. It's called Mile End and it's situated north-north-west of downtown, an hour walk or 15 min by bus. It's squeezed in between the ultra-hip Plateau, upper-class French residential area Outremont and Little Italy (no need to explain here). It's multi-ethnic, a lot of Greeks, Hassidic Jews and both French and English Canadians. Although at first glance it's a bit downtrodden, there are lots of signals of the full potential this quartier will rise up to. Hip restaurants, pricy condos and amazing deli's.

It's also a foodies delight. There's an excellent Jewish bakery Cheskie (chocolate croissants and even pistolets, a Belgian invention), smoked meat from Lester's, and world famous bagels from the places where it all started: Fairmount and St Viateur Bagel.
And of course all the small Italian deli's, fruitstands, souvlaki-joints and sushi on every streetcorner. So I feel right at home ;-)

I'll quickly give you my new Mile End BLT (Bacon - Lettuce - Tomato) recipe.

Mile End BLT makes 2
2 bozo bagels (triple size bagels from Fairmount)
roman lettuce
tomatoes
2 eggs sunny side up
mayonnaise or Miracle Whip (it's a little bit sweeter)
honey mustard dressing (basically runny honey, French dijon mustard, little bit mayonaise, black peppar, salt and some finely chopped flatleaf parseley)
crispy fried bacon

Slice the bagels in half and grill on 1 side. Spread them with mayonaise. Put some big leafs of lettuce, some slices of tomatoes (you can add some dill pickles as well), then the bacon with the dressing on top and finish with the egg and finally the other bagel halves. You may need a toothpick to keep everything together. Oh and the actual eating is very messy, but that makes it so grrrreat.