The Waffle

Friday night, the best deal in town for oysters was not the Metropolitain (1$ an oyster, 4 to 7), it was not Whalesbone (they rarely have them below 2$ a piece), and it was not Big Daddy’s (they also offer a buck a shuck Happy Hour).

No, the place to be was l’Institut Canadien-Français d’Ottawa, located on Dalhousie.  Founded in 1852, the ICFO held its first annual oyster dinner in 1870, an event that has been held every year uninterrupted to this day.

After a great sales’ pitch by a long-standing member who happens to work at my curling club, the Royal Canadian Navy Curling Club my team mate Ken and I decided to go for it - we both enjoy oysters very much, he being half-acadian, me being an athlete needing energy.  For good measure, Ken brought two of his anglo neighbours and I was hoping to show them some French Canadian good times.

So for 40$, you could enjoy cold cuts, beans, cheese, pâté, shrimp, salmon, chowder, and all the oysters you could engulf. As long as you could open them, that is!

Because unbeknownst to me, this dinner is no fancy affair - it is a good old-fashion shuck’em yourself if you want to suck’em shingding.

I had never shucked an oyster before. Its not super hard, but it can be tricky and you can cut yourself if you are not careful. I could give you tips, but I do not want to be responsible for you slicing your hand, so feel free to scroll down to see how it’s done.

So the four of us started with a few drinks to warm up while the folks at ICFO prepared the tables for the feast. When ready, along with over 180 other happy Frenchies and a few wannabes (most of them hanging with me for interpretation purposes!), we started shucking and sucking.

The oysters were Malpèques, which were proclaimed “the Best in the World” at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900. Their popularity is on the rise because the Malpèques have a very mild taste as far as oysters go, fairly light-bodied with a clean finish. You can get a hint of sweetness, no bitterness at all on these.  They can go with almost everything, but I mostly enjoy them with a couple of drops of lemon.

We had a grand time.  The oysters were fresh, and though there shape was not good enough for most restaurants, it is often in them that you find the best ones.  Overall, we stayed there for over 5 hours, feeling at home amongst our new friends from l’Institut.

We had a loaf of bread which wasn’t getting any fresher.

The week before, we had bought a loaf of chocolate and coffee bread made with egg dough. From Artisan Baker Grains de Vie in St-André-Avelin, it is made with half-sweetened black chocolate and reina michim fair trade coffee. At 5.50$ a loaf, it is not cheap, but it is a very dense bread. Toasted, with butter, it is perfect.

As you can imagine, we didn’t want to waste it.

So I had the idea of making a Quebec classic: a bread pudding.
It is simple and delicious.

Ingredients

• Half a loaf of bread, roughly diced
• 750 ml of milk
• 250 ml of brown sugar
•  5 eggs
•  A few drops of vanilla extract
•  Butter

1. Warm milk in a pot, then dissolve brown sugar in it;
2. Distribute the bread pieces evenly in a baking dish;
3. Remove milk from heat, whisk the eggs into the milk, add vanilla;
4. Cover the bread with the milk mixture, make sure all bread pieces are moist;
5. Add butter to taste on top of the bread;
6. Bake in oven for about an hour at 350°F .

Et voilà!  Traditionnaly, in Québec, bread pudding is served with maple syrup.  But you can serve warm with ice cream too.

Today you can eat for free at KFC!

Yes, for free!

KFC Canada is giving away a quarter of a million Boneless Chicken Fillets!!

The new premium, all-white meat, skinless, boneless, chicken(less?) fillet features Colonel Harland Sanders’ Original Recipe of 11 herbs and spices.

“We are extremely excited about giving away a quarter of a million chicken fillets during our nationwide Chicken Fillet Giveaway - one of the largest free product offers in KFC Canada’s 57-year history,” said Steve Langford, president of Priszm Income Fund, the largest KFC Canada franchisee.

Not as excited as I am, Steve!!!  Tell me more!

“The new Boneless Chicken Fillet is so fantastic that we want thousands of Canadians to try it as soon as possible and for free. I am certain that customers will love the new Boneless Chicken Fillet so much that they will soon return for more!”

Ah ah!  It’s a ploy to get us addicted!!  Shame!!  The Waffle will check it out and report back, putting his health and his life to the service of the community!

Here are the details on KFC Canada’s nationwide Chicken Fillet Giveaway:

- free Boneless Chicken Fillets will be given away from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
on Sunday, November 1

- KFC express locations are not serving the Boneless Chicken Fillet
product and will not be participating in the giveaway promotion

- limit one Boneless Chicken Fillet per customer (Only one!  Shame!!)

- customers in line at 4 p.m. will still qualify to receive the product
while supplies last

- should a restaurant run out of Boneless Chicken Fillets during the
designated two-hour time period, customers will be provided with a
rain cheque that can be redeemed from November 4 to November 15

- no purchase necessary

.

I came down to Hochelaga today to help Jean-Claude Rocheleau’s team to plan and execute the final stretch of the by-election campaign.

After a briefing on where things were at - and things are looking pretty good - I had a lunch meeting with the campaign director.  Location? Two steps from the HQ:

The New Caza de la Pizza.

And what is the specialty of the New Caza de la Pizza?  Why, Pizza!

The place was not very busy, and since it is fairly big, we had no trouble to pick a quiet corner. A tv was showing the highlights from yesterday’s hockey games. Before we started discussing further the strategy and the communication plan for the reminder of the campaign, we peered at the menu.  The campaign manager picked the classic pizza-ceasar combo. Me, I had no choice but to go with the Spéciale “New Casa” :  Tomato sauce, mushrooms, bacon, green peppers, pepperoni, onions, green olives and cheese.

I ordered a small. (11.75$ before tax and tip). It took about 15 minutes for the pie to came. Unfortunetaly, I was very distracted, as my phone kept ringing and my blackberry kept buzzing.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy the pizza, it was loaded well, the bacon was crispy and the green olives weren’t salty. With a tad bit of tabasco, I had no problems to finish it.

.

Since I pointed out the US’ McFarthest point earlier, I think it is only appropriate to raise this.

McDonald’s has franchises in 119 countries in the world… but not for long.  In fact, McDonald’s is already writing off one country before it officially shuts down.

Because after Midnight this coming Saturday, Icelanders will no longer able to enjoy a Big Mac under Reykjavik’s Midnight Sun.

Iceland’s economy is in deep, deep trouble.  The low value of the Krona, tariffs on agricultural product imports and high commodity prices has brought the demise of the burger giant in Iceland.

A Big Mac is now sold for 650 Kronur in Iceland. (5,55 C$ at today’s exchange rate). Although it is the not the most expensive Big Mac in the world, the current owners of the franchise didn’t see any future in the chain.

And McDonald’s does not see any future in Iceland either, apparently:  “The unique operational complexity of doing business in Iceland combined with the very challenging economic climate in the country makes it financially prohibitive to continue the business.”

McDonald’s move comes 10 months after their main competitor, Burger King, shut down its operations in Iceland.

So what to do?  A Hamburger Today is recommending Hamborgara Búllan which boasts the Offer of the Century with a Burger, Fries and a Soda for 1190 Kronur!

.