Category Archives: Finding Home

Vanier Snack Shack – Poutinized!

Posted in Finding Home, Food, Fun, Life by

This evening, I ate a cheese-stringy, gravy covered, steaming hot bite of the neighbourhood at The Casse-Croute Vanier Snack-Shack. That’s right, we poutinized our evening and discovered another charming go-to destination amongst the streets of our new home. (And I watched a networking/marketing master at work – talk about having people invest in your business . . . oh my goodness, it was fantastic.)

Here’s the thing about Vanier that’s awesome, and what I never really anticipated before moving here. This area of Ottawa has a whole lot of community sunk right down deep into its streets, venues, and parks. And bit by bit – through the neighbours Zsolt gets chummy with, the fellow who bikes around with his trailer and waves hello, the dad who plays with his daughter every morning outside, the house that’s covered in ornaments, the park that hosts a spring-time sugar shack, and now our night excursion to the snack shack – we are learning more and more about this community.

I’m going to tell you about this Vanier Snack Shack right now, because I feel like it’s only right. You’ll see why in just a second.

Okay, this evening I had planned on baking salmon (still marinating and raw in the fridge at this moment) to eat along with the Naosap Harvest wild rice I was given at the Shesconnected conference this past weekend. Very healthy, no? Yes. But through a combination of feeling damn lazy, a wee bit discouraged from an unexpected bill (can you say, “whoops, I spent how much?!”), and being about a day away from my period – I was like, screw the salmon! I want to visit that remote snack house we noticed the other day by chance.

Zsolt wisely consented.

So we were off! Walking along the dark streets of the neighbourhood, we pass through an empty lot and approach the snack shack. Thankfully it’s open (we’ve tried to visit before and failed), which I can tell because there’s light coming from inside and there are little Christmas lights around the doorway and window.

In we go!

First impression: Inviting. There are little neon coloured poster boards all over and in different sizes advertising various food deals – two steamed hotdogs and small fries for 3 bucks, something called a bacon cheese hotdog, a variety of burger sizes, a poster for an American hotdog (?), an arrangement of styrofoam containers up on the wall with different prices, situated above a chest-high wooden counter, behind which is the kitchen, a fellow in an apron, a young lady looking on, and the owner – Serge.

And here’s why I think I have to write about this restaurant. (Not including the fact that Zsolt has labelled this his favourite poutine so far in Canada, citing the “harmonious mix” between the cheese, gravy and fries.) We were given such a warm welcome. Serge asked me firstly whether I was French, because I had a French sounding accent . . .I blame this on the word ‘poutine’, which I happen to say in a way that’s rather French. If ‘poutine’ and ‘croissant’ were the only two words I ever needed to say in French, I could be mistaken for a native speaker. . . anyhow, he then asked if we were new to the neighbourhood, advised us to buy property as Vanier is about to boom, talked with Zsolt about his new patent job & the office move, let us know there’s tons of art and music festivals in this area and we’re welcome to contribute if we have any ideas, and gave us a tour of his entire menu. All the while the young lady was trying to get our order, bue Serge wouldn’t stop telling us all about the area and his snack shack.

We did eventually get a big poutine. Not the biggest poutine, but a fairly large one nevertheless. Before leaving he gave us his card, and said he was looking into the facebook thing but never had any time for it. I’m not surprised. This fellow strikes me as sunk into his community and his restaurant. He’s organizing festivals, recruiting whoever walks through the door, and running what seems to me a successful small business. So no, he’s not online as of yet, but you can find ratings for the Vanier Snack Shack at www.urbanspoon.com – which he asked me to visit and rate, if I was so inclined.

So, are we going to go back? Duh. He made us feel like part of the community – he welcomed us to Vanier, and his long-waiting-customer-behind-us (apparently they are old friends) welcomed us to Vanier too; from now on, going to the Snack Shack will never just be about a harmonious poutine, it is  about being part of the neighbourhood. (But of course, the yummy food  also matters!) Brilliant welcoming – brilliant marketing – and just plain brilliant poutine.

Bonne Appetite! And yes, I am glad we moved to Vanier. 😉

P.S. I loved the huge helping of cheese curds. If you have poutine without the curds, you are missing out!
Vanier Snack Shack on Urbanspoon

Our House (Flat)

Posted in Finding Home, Fun, Life by

The flat is finally coming together. Last week we moved to our OWN PLACE! and with us came about 30 boxes and pieces of furniture. Since then, we’ve been wading through cardboard, bubble wrap, books, dishes and dust on the floors. But finally this place seems to be coming together. I’m going to describe it for you, just a little, cause I’m so very pleased to once again be living with my husband in a place we can make our own.

(That gallery I put up the other day was courtesy of my Blackberry, which I don’t use nearly enough and so decided to play with theWordpress app. It’s not user friendly, so writing posts and sharing photographs becomes tricky. However you saw a few bits and bobs – the basket and artwork made by the lovely Barbro of Sweden and Southampton, the slipcover I sewed for my grandmother’s sofas (plus the cushions I sewed with leftover headboard material), the picture I drew ages ago and just discovered in a box, the chairs I recovered, and a rose pattern that was on the dress I happened to be wearing.)

The Bedroom

Right. The bedroom is rather large. It’s also rather sparse. There’s something about bedrooms that I prefer to keep as simple as possible. This has everything to do with my sloppy habits . . . logic goes that if there’s not much in the room to mess up, it doesn’t become a crazy pit of discarded clothing and tissues. Oh my god, you should have seen my room only one year ago – I couldn’t help myself! There’d be so many clothes on the floor that I’d eventually give up walking around the mess, and settle for walking over it. So the bedroom is space with very little decoration except for the drapes with their statement IKEA white-on-black tree pattern, the white & black checked headboard, the blue slip-covered sofa, my Cath Kidson bed sheets (pink roses and blue background) and a picture from Lulu’s old home – this picture is in a beautiful golden frame, and the portrait itself is of a girl reading a book in some fancy Victorian clothing.

I can remember being very young at Lulu’s old home in Montreal and looking at this picture. That was when Lulu had a giant record player in a wooden cabinet, and some silky sofas that would most certainly be called ‘vintage’ wherever they are today. I wondered who the girl  in the painting (print) was, and what she happened to be reading. I wondered if she was really posing for this painting or was it the artist’s imagination? I would look at it and wonder.

Now with it here in this room, I look at it and simply feel calm. Calm is very good.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is also large. Maybe a bit too large? Or maybe I just don’t know how to use space effectively. We have a table (from Lulu’s) accompanied by four colourful chairs that are pushed against the far wall. It is an intermediate room between the bedroom and the living room; it is a place of transition and a place of short-term pause. I like it very much, but amazingly it’s my least favourite room since it receives the least light. Darkness isn’t as soul-feeding as lightness. However, the soup created in this kitchen is totally delish that’s a different sort of soul-feeding.

The Living Room.

My next favourite room after the bedroom-when-the-sun-shines. This room is where life goes down. There is a large desk that Zsolt is currently rearranging because he thinks I’m a crazy messy fool who couldn’t organize a drawer if her life depended upon it. Well, maybe if my life depended on it . . . (But the truth here is that we have different definitions of ‘organization’ and mine involves a bit more creativity while his involves a ton more order.) In this living room, we have a computer and media area (one side of the room) and a life and leisure area (the other side of the room). There’s a HUGE amount of space in the middle, and if I had more inclination I’d fill it with an area rug. But I don’t, so it will stay huge and open and possibly available for spur-of-the-moment dance parties. The front windows are very large, and have a privacy curtain and drapes. This room is particularly fabulous because of the clustering of photographs and artwork on the walls.

And that is that.

Welcome to my new apartment. It’s rather lovely, if I do say so myself.

P.S.

Happy Thanksgiving! This past weekend I was able to take the bus with Zsolt and go into Kanata for a family meal. This is special. I didn’t have to board a plane, didn’t have to fly for hours, and didn’t have to suffer the ache of saying goodbye at the end of the visit because they are close, and I am here, and everyone is reachable. It’s like a big hole in my heart has been filled in. This apartment and my life with Zsolt, that’s another repair that has needed fixing and is now starting to heal. Things are coming together and it warms me up from the inside. Plus, I’m almost done the first draft of my love-child, the Generations story. Wowzers, so many good things – these are all very good things.

P.P.S. I am toying with a new name for this blog, or at least a new look to start. Once I have a list I’ll put up some poll for a bit of fun, but in the meanwhile suggestions are always welcome!