Midnight Poutine
Because of the anti-inflammatory drugs I take for my knee (that still hurts BTW), I can't drink. And most of you know I like my ale/vino/scotch/mojito. The world is quite different sober :-))
But this weekend, I made an exception coz our friend Eric from Trois-Rivières (or from Joliette, coz he's from Joliette but lives in Trois-Rivières now .... and actually there is only one river in TR ... anyway ... slip sliding away from the topic) came over.
T. needed to interview someone for one of her courses, and Eric volunteered (well, he was promised dinner and so gladly to oblige). Anyway, since we wanted to go out afterwards, I tried not to make a big fuzz about dinner (and that's hard for me). So I went down to Chinatown to buy Peking duck and the works. And since I know Eric is quite the beer lover, I found a couple of good Belgian beers in the SAQ downtown.
So after the interview we sampled some Orval, Maredsous and Chimay Bleu, we had spring rolls, Peking duck in pancakes with spring onions and hoi sin sauce (with a great recipe a nice chinese chef gave me), and some sauteed vegetables (cut with my cool wavy knife from Dollarama).
In the meantime it started snowing again outside .... aaaargh ... so we needed something to comfort ourselves so we headed down to HELM, the brewpub around the corner. Feeling quite better after a pint we went to a bar called Les Passages where our friend Fernanda was having her birthday party. And after a lot of pitchers of Boréale we called it a night.
But not before a midnight poutine (well it was more around 3am) @ La Banquise. This grease spoon is open 24/7 and wacks up the best poutines of Montréal (or so I've heard). Besides the basics: fries, gravy and cheese curds, poutines come in different ways, topped with peppers and mushrooms, chicken and peas, bacon and sausages and I've even heard of poutine with foie-gras! I think poutine is the religion of Québec.
So we finally hit the sack around 4am, and next day .... hangover! (although the poutine sucked up most of it). And what better way to end the hangover day with some retro comfort food: macaroni with cheese & ham!
And before I forget, be sure to visit my brand new myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/29yearsincommunicado
300
A couple of days ago we went to see 300. Unfortunately the IMAX version was already sold out so we settled for the 'regular' one. 300 is based on Frank Miller's comic books (remember Sin City) and also a bit on that other small book 'Homerus' ;-)). Just like Sin City, 300 uses the same cinematographic technique: real acting in front of blue and green screens and all the other content is added later on by computer. What's a bit special about this film is (and bet you didn't know this) is that this film is kinda a Québec film. The film was entirely shot in some old warehouse in Montréal (as a soundstage) and all the CGI were developed and added in Québec (so not on Skywalker Ranch or something).
The film is just COOL! It's visually stunning, got liters of virtual blood splashing of the screen, lots of action and adrenaline going and some nudity (hurray for that)! Ok, it's not always grand acting, the story is a tidbit over the edge, the actors look like they're on steroids (T. thought it was a gay movie) and Gerard Butler (the lead actor, playing the part of Leonidas, remember the chocolates?) has a slight lisp ... but most importantly: the flick is ÜBERCOOL!
I already wanna go back for the IMAX version!
Besides that, my knee kept on aching and to put an end to my doubts and to bore my readers no longer with complaints about my knee, I decided to go see a doctor. But since we do not have a family physician yet, and most of them don't take new patients and the ones that do give you an appointment only a month later, I went to the Emergency of the Sir Mortimer B Davis Jewish General Hospital. (what's in a name, right?). A bit of an old hospital with no clear signs or indications what to do (unlike Gasthuisberg ) but also a teaching hospital (so just like Gasthuisberg). I soon figured out I had to go to triage first were a nurse determines the urgency of your problem. In my case: I could sit there all day. I also was kinda apologetic about it. I mean, I didn't wanna claim my priority if you have other people around you with respiratory problems or or elderly folks that come in with chest pains. Anyway, you're given a number and when your number is called, you have to go to the registration desk to take all you personal details down.
Since I have no provincial health insurance, but a private one, the hospital might send me and invoice and then I have to claim it back. But they might send it to my insurance as well since it's Canadian insurance. Anyway, unlike the US, you need to have health insurance in Canada and all Canadian residents have a provincial or state medical insurance and usually employers offer, as perks, extra health insurance benefits. But since I got a private insurance, I am completely covered, also hospital. Of course, these things don't come cheap, but when I saw a visit to the E.R. costs about 500 $ CAN and the 24hours rate (in case you need to stay) is about 2000 $ CAN, I was really glad my ass (and every other body part) was covered!
Anyway, after registration, I waited for 2,5 hours (not too bad considering HUMO was keeping me company), and then was finally called for.
One of the residents checked my knee (I wished I was wearing a more sexy boxershort), called in another doctor and he taught her something more about my knee, where the bones fit into eachother, how you can feel it, etc. So turned out to be: my miniscus was bruised or teared. If it's on the outside, it will heal properly, if it's more on the inside, I might experience knee problems again when doing sports (yeah, that one time a year!). Worst case scenario: surgery and removing my miniscus.
But for now: ice it 6 times a day (snow and ice are still abundant in Montréal) and take inflammatory drugs and afterwards some stretching exercises.
So my first encounter with the Canadian Health system wasn't so bad after all. And I helped teaching a resident (indirectly) to become a successful doctor saving millions of lifes. (If she doesn't go into plastic surgery that is).
My other plans for this week: have a beer with some of my old CSC buddies and get my Québec driver's license on friday (well, merely exchanging my Belgian one for a Québecois).
Oh yeah, I rediscovered Elliot Smith, a very good friend of mine that took me through a lot of exams. And he still sounds great. Still miss you E!
Spring is in the air ... pause ... pause ... NOT!
Past week we have been enjoying "warm" weather .... er ... meaning temperatures ABOVE zero (Celsius that is, of course). Until friday, Mr. Freeze was back and snow befall upon us once more!
We were supposed to go on a snowshoeing weekend with some friends, but bailed out coz my knee is still hurting and T. had a sudden outburst of her eczema. And none of her wondercreams seemed to work anywore. So called a doctor to get an appointment .... first date possible was 17th of April!! So, ok, our Belgian health system might be expensive and there are many physicians out of work, at least you don't have to wait a friggin' month for an appointment!
Luckily we discovered that there's a clinic for students of the UDeM, but they're closed fridays and over the weekend. So Tinneke will go on Monday first thing. And pharmacies carry a lot of stuff that would be prescription drugs in Belgium, so we were able to buy 0,5% hydrocortisone ointment. A temporarily relief.
But if my knee keeps on hurting, I figure go see a doctor as well (well in a month time that is ;-)
So we had a weekend laying low, watching some movies ... BORAT is funny, but nothing new. Avid fans of Da Ali G. Show are familiar with the character already, and I felt the best jokes were in the trailer. THE PRESTIGE with Christian Bale (yummy according to T.) and Hugh Jackman (aka Wolverine) by one of my favourite directors Christopher Nolan (remember Memento?) was much better. And also much darker than that other magician movie THE ILLUSIONIST with Edward Norton. Finally, CASINO ROYALE. You know kinda what to expect wit a bondflick, but this one had some nice twists and clin-d'oeils. (origins of the Bond Martini, BOND coming out of the water (wink wink nudge nudge Ursula Andress) and lots more.) And gotta admit, besides the pecks and sixpacks of Daniel Craig (T. drooling all over the couch), he brings back the old fashioned sway a real Bond needs to have. Furthermore, I watched AFTER LIFE again, a movie I saw 9 years ago in Cartoons in A'pen. A great Japanese movie about having to pick the happiest memory of your live as your only memory when you're actually dead.
Have a great week ... I hope I will (I'm actually getting bored already)! Though I like doing all the chores around the house (washing, cleaning and cooking is very exciting!!), I still feel some kind of anxiety. Coz when I work, I long for MORE TIME to play around with my website, music and whatever more, and when I do get all THAT TIME, I actually don't feel like doing it anymore ... SIGH. I'm probably just overcomplicating things.
TBL - BEL
With some analog delay ..... last week we went to the CD launch of The Besnard Lakes, the latest Montréal music prodigy. This was their second gig we saw. (Remember "M for Montreal").
Maybe our expectations were a bit of the charts coz, the whole thing could be generally described as: disappointing. No more tight perfect harmonic vocals, too much BS between the songs and a PA that sucked bigtime. Our fellow FM (for Flemish Montrealer, a particular species on its own) agreed. Fortunately the new CD "The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse" really makes up for it. So we haven't given up hope just yet. And some people in Belgium seem to agree, so make up your own mind on May 27th in AB Club.
I know I'll be there, coz we'll be enjoying the grey rainy delights of a Belgian early summer from 15th of May until 3d of June. T. will be coming a few days earlier coz she'll be attending a seminar in Brussels. So get your agendas out and let us know when ur available!
For now, spring seems to be near, coz the thermometre goes above the zero mark during the day. And my career as LWT (Langharig Werkschuw Tuig) is very promising indeed! Cherio ...
Weekend Val Morin
After my last night at work (celebrated by my colleagues with Duvel, McChouffe, Duvel, Orval, Delirium Tremens & Floreffe), my supervisor was kind enough to let me go home earlier. And so the plan was to get a couple of hours of good sleep, then go to the bank, video rental store, supermarket .... Instead, we failed to hear the alarm clock and only got up at 11:30am, discovering there was already a shitload of snow outside (there was a snowstorm warning, but we weren't expecting it until late afternoon).
So we quickly got our stuff together, called the free shuttle service of the rental agency (coz our rental car would be ready at 1pm). 1:10pm, still no shuttle bus, so I called them again and they were gonna send someone over. Only 20minutes later they showed up. And u gotta know they're only 500m from our place. (We didn't walk there, remember all the snow). So finally they picked us up, did all the paperwork and got the car .... COMPLETELY snowed in.
So instead of having the car ready to go, I spend half an hour clearing the snow and getting the car out of his parkingspot. The friggin' car didn't even have wintertires, so no grip at all. Talking 'bout the worst service ever!!
Finally managed to get the car out (2pm) and we had to make a stop at the vide rental store to get some DVD's for the weekend. (We booked a room at a cosy B & B with TV/DVD). After one of our briefest visits ever (coz we wanted to leave ASAP, considering the snowstorm and that Montreal has the worst traffic ever, especially during rush hour), we still needed to buy ski pants.
Luckily our neighbour advised us a good store: Mountain Equipment Co-op. And not that far from our place either. So we managed to get an excellent deal (31 bucks) for a pair of waterproof all activity pants). And for a small 5$ you receive a lifetime membership of the Co-op so you can get the best deals on first quality outdoor equipment (Yeah, we're happy campers all right!).
But suddenly I found something chewing on my leg. It was T. She hadn't had breakfast nor lunch and getting very very grumpy without her caffeine fix. Luckily salvation was near:
They have the best doughnuts ever! And the cool thing is that you can actully see how they're made in the store! Very cool indeed!
So with a large coffee and some yummie tummie stuff, we finally hit the road at 4pm. After an 1,5h bobsleigh ride, we arrived at destination. Some freshing up and ready for dinner at "Le chat noir" in St. Adèle. Turned out to be, because of the bad weather, all tables were cancelled and the restaurant was only open for the 2 of us. Which was nice of course.
Next day, it was time for some action, so a after a very healthy breakfast we went to the Belle Neige mountain for a fresh dive into the snow. We got a personal instructor that explained the basic techniques of snowboarding. And after that introduction that only took an hour, we were on our own. Even T. managed to stay on the board.
After a couple of hours of falling and retrying, T. called it a day (it is a high energy demanding sports, especially for couch athletes as we) but I decided it was time to tackle the big mountain. So I bravely took the ski lift and that's where it all went wrong. When getting of, instead of jumping of the chairs and sliding away from the skilift, my board was horizontally and I fell down. My knee got so twisted that even professional yoga people would hold their breath. CALICE DE TABARNAC D'OSTIE!! (--> that's Quebecois swearing for ya)
Somehow I managed to get down the mountain, high on adrenalin from the pain, I guess. Coz then the pain really started kicking in. The first aid people put some snow on it (wich comes very cheap here in winter), and advised me to go to hospital. Although it hurt, the pain wasn't inbearable, and I was still able to stand on my knee, bend it. And because of the ice, my knee wasn't swelling up that much and didn't look bruised or anything. So we decided to wait and see.
The rest of the day was going to be lazy .... The very kind host of our B & B gave us hot chocolate with marshmellow flavour and a bag of frozen peas for my knee. Though only able to walk up the stairs as a 100-year old, I knew that hearty food would bring some relief. The cold ale, mussels and fries of Spago really made up for it. But at 9 o'clock I was as dead as a rock (I think the nightshifts were still playing tricks on me).
Next morning, we wanted to go cross-country skiing or snowshoeing. Since my knee was still aching, we did an easy snowshoe trail. And it turned out to be real fun. To conclude our great outdoors weekend, we went to have dinner in a very good local restaurant "Le Matou" that serves local produce. Great thing about most restaurants here, is that they are BYOW (bring your own wine or apportez votre vin). So you can enjoy an exquisite meal with a very fine bottle of wine without fear for bankruptcy!
Here are the piccy's, for more, see my photoblog "A snapshot of Montréal".
