All Dressed Ruffles

These ridged potato chips may look just like ordinary chips to the casual observer...

but one bite will make you crave more!  Like the whole bag more!

Thanks to Mary's recent post for a sandwich shop in the College Area, I was dumbfounded to find that this particular chip flavor was now available in the U.S.! Have I been living in a cave or what?
Soon after reading her post, I had to go to Vons for myself...

Treats from Canada

TC and I were so excited when we saw a big box on our porch...

It was a belated Christmas gift from our good friend C from Life on Manitoulin

Tourtiere + bacon soda & a beer float - THE Last Canada 2012 post

It's been nearly two years since our Canada trip...

and after much procrastination, the very LAST post is now finished...

Canada 2012 Day 10 - Corned Beef Torta and return to Mum's Bakery

We arrived super late last night from our epic drive from Ottawa...

After a good night's sleep, we met up with Uncle (C's father) in the kitchen who whipped up some breakfast with a brand of corned beef that is now one of my favorites...

On the way back to the Island

Once again, we hit the open road...

passing by the town of Sturgeon Falls, home of the Step Dance and Fiddle Festival, the sign which was last seen during on our way to Ottawa earlier that week...

President's Choice

I admit I went a little overboard at Walmart buying all those snacks and candies.

 Right when I thought we were going to leave, C had her husband stop the minivan and park so we could check out this Canadian supermarket, President's Choice...

Shopping at North Bay - Walmart

It's already 2014 and I am still not done with my Canada 2012 trip posts...

(Somewhere in western Ontario)

I resolve to tie up any loose end and finish those posts this year, haha.

We'd been on quite the journey, traveling out from Ottawa that very morning and then making a few pit stops along the way. This was another one of those much needed breaks before heading back to the Island...

Return to Mattawa (another drive by)

Ya down with OPP?

"Yeah, you know me!"  - In this case, the OPP stands for the Ontario Provincial Police!

C and I had a larf whenever we passed by those yellow signs...

Canadian Tire

We were glad that the good Samaritan dude from Tim Hortons stopped us as we were backing out. He noticed the brakelight wasn't working and of course, that was quite worrisome for FarmerJohn.

He learned from the same man that there was a Canadian Tire store just down the highway. C was telling us, this is totally Canadian and that we had to go there!

The road back to Manitoulin - Tim Hortons at Deep River

With our breakfast of Montreal style bagels from Kettleman's fortifying us, we set off on the long road back to the Island.  We headed out of Ottawa in C and FJ's trusty minivan and headed west to Ontario...

where we passed miles and miles of farm land, forests, and...

bales of rolled up hay. For us SoCal's, it was quite the contrast from the sandy beaches, palm trees and the Pacific Ocean...

The trip back was quite lengthy but of course we had to make a pit stop...

Canada Day 9 - back to Ottawa: Kettleman's Bagels

We slept as well as we could knowing that we would have to get up early the next day to make the long drive back to the Island...but before that, C's friend's husband (whom I shall refer to as "J") took us on another quick tour of Ottawa...

in the neighborhood known as The Glebe and where we would also pick up some breakfast...

Basilique Notre-Dame, Montreal

Can you believe I'm actually resuming my Canada posts?

It's about time too, eh!

Well now...to refresh your memory, it was a damn hot day that day we were in Montreal. We were with FarmerJohn seeing some of the sights and thought we'd see this famous basilica before leaving...

Refreshments and snacks of the maple kind

If you ever take a trip to Canada, or more specifically Montreal or Quebec, you will find tons of maple syrup products everywhere, from the grocery store, farmer's market to the airport. Here, at one of the sidestreets near the Marche de Bonsecours in Montreal, we saw the ubiquitous "Sirop d'erable" (maple syrup)...

Our attention wasn't really piqued until we got to the end of the vendor's table...

Old Montreal during the day

It's back to the last bits of our Canada trip from last year...

That was one of the best vacations we've had, especially since we got to spend time with blogger friend, C and her family as we traversed their great nation via minivan!

Earlier that day, we'd enjoyed smoked meat sandwiches at Schwartz's Deli and just recently had some awesome desserts at juliette & chocolat. At this point in the day, tt was time for their daughter's nap so her husband reparked the car to a shadier spot while C and her daughter stayed behind to rest....

Maple Syrup pie once again...

Last night, TC helped me make our second Canadian Maple Syrup Pie...

I wish I could bottle the smell as it came out of the oven...

juliette & chocolat

We were still on the same street and noticed this arresting red sign...

The word "chocolat" caught our attention,  so of course we had to stop in...

Au Pain Dore

After our awesome lunch at Schwartz's Deli, we ventured out into the blazing heat...

while enjoying the many street murals scattered throughout the boulevard...

Schwartz's Deli - Charcuterie Hebraique de Montreal Inc.

My Canada posts have been drawn out longer than the entrails of a medieval torture victim. After more than a year since our summer visit, I've finally reached the Schwartz's Deli post.

This was THE place that we just had to go. Even C and her husband FJ (seen here carrying LO on his back) agreed. We could not miss going to Schwartz's...

We had our first smoked meat sandwich a few days earlier at Canadian chain La Belle Province, but Schwartz's is considered the most famous purveyor of Montreal style smoked meat...

Walking around in Montreal...

On the (crappy) freeways in Montreal...Slush Puppies are the Canadian equivalent to Icees or Slurpee and are the most popular ice slush "in the world" according to their company website.

TC thought their mascot was amusing...

I will never complain about the roads in San Diego again! The freeways in Montreal are atrocious! Worse traffic than LA (during rush hour), millions of pot holes, etc...

Luckily, our drive to get to downtown Montreal didn't take long and before we knew it, we were there scoping for parking...

Canada 2012 - Day 8 - Breakfast buffet @ Aloft, Montreal

Having spent our first and only night at the Aloft Hotel, we were ready for a big day to explore Montreal again...

but this time in the daylight. We had an idea of what we wanted to eat that day which included some iconic Montreal fare, but first...