BEDA 12: Egg day at the Sugar shack and a visit with the giants

hello everyone

On day twelve of BEDA I went to the sugar shack as it has been tradition in my family for years. You know religion is losing its touch when all churches are empty on easter and you see people reserving a year in advance to go to the sugar shack.

The sugar shack is basically a restaurant in a shack in a country setting. The food is typical Quebec (french canadian) meal, we usually go for brunch or rather bruncher (breakfast-lunch-dinner), i invented a new word, since it is so easy to over eat that you don't get that hungry for dinner after.

The meal start with traditional french canadian pea soup, some sugar shack now have vegetable soup. I suppose for the ones who do not like pea soup. than people dressed in old time clothing bring eggs (omelette), ham, mini sausages (it depends on the sugar shack some may not have that), potatoes (some sugar shack the potatoes are cooked with onions making it even yummier). beans. And it is all you can eat, usually it is an occasion for families to get together and therefore people reserve for big groups, since it is all you can eat you can always ask for more of one of the things they bring.

Some sugar shack also make their own home made ketchup, this is made of awesome, not all of them do it though. And you put maple syrup on everything. For dessert, my favourite is the crepes, the sugar shack i go to and most quebec sugar shack, the crepes are fried and crispy, I prefer that to the traditional american pancakes. Simply delicious.

At the sugar shack we went to this year, they also had another traditional french canadian thing, galette sarrazin, this is made with a different kind of flour and is flat. We usually put butter and molasse on it. And they also had maple syrup pie.

I ate one galette sarrazin and of course pancakes, this is one of the main reason I love going to the sugar shack, that and the taffy.

Taffy is amazing. They usually boil the sap to make maple syrup and boil it some more and you have taffy, they pour the mixture on snow, and yes there were still some snow where my parents live, though they manage to find some snow in the summer somehow because some sugar shacks are open in the summer, people from france actually came to experience this in the summer.

If you want the true experience of sugar shack I would suggest the province of Quebec, I went to one in Ontario and no offense but it WAS NOT the same, perhaps because I am used to the ones in Quebec and am picky.



I took a picture of myself replacing my face with the Paper Towns book. I received an email from Hank Green that he was asking everyone to take Paper Towns everywhere we go and take a picture with the book, in a way to celebrate the release of paper towns and send it to him. It said he would write a song and use the pictures that people sent him. I received this because i once signed on to the mailing list to receive news concerning the project for awesome.

Here my picture of sad margo at the sugar shack in Mont-Carmel.



After the sugar shack, I went to visit some giants. Not really giants just cousins but they are so tall that they look like giants compared to me, 5'1", I shook their hands and was afraid mine would be crushed. It was great to see them, I hadn't seen them in forever, the last time I believe I was perhaps 16. I didn't recognized them at all.

Well, since egg day is over, tomorrow I take a four hour trip back to Ottawa. As much as I love visiting my family, I can't wait to go back because I love Ottawa. It also means back to work but that is ok.

Day 12 of BEDA done, see you tomorrow.

BEDA 11: Easter, a celebration of new life

Hello everyone

Today will be a short picture blog. I went to the mall because every easter is a tradition, I need to see the little easter farm. With easter comes spring and new life, newborn rabbits, birds, poney, goats, etc.

Easter has to do with the celebration of new life, as the easter egg represents the beginning of new life and the easter bunny represents the creation of new life since bunnies reproduced quite quickly to multiply and proliferate their kind.

Here are some pictures of the animals including me holding  the cutest little black baby bunny with my favourite store in the background (garage clothing).

That is it for the eleventh day of BEDA.
See you tomorrow.

BEDA 9: Chocolate Long Weekend

Hello everyone

Day 9 of BEDA, I am currently packing to go visit my family, four hours away from where I live. It is currently 10 pm and I am still packing, I am such a last minute person. 

On Friday I am taking a four hour trip to visit my parents in light of this easter four day long weekend. Well-deserve I might add, this week has been tiring. 

How will you celebrate easter, if you celebrate it?

I know it is traditionally a religious day where a lot of people go to church. As for myself I do not. So easter is mainly about chocolate, I need my chocolates of course. Also, the main easter tradition in my family is to go to the sugar shack. 

I am originally from Quebec and churches aren't so popular anymore, not many people are so religious or practicing by going to mass. In fact, we often joke that during easter you need to reserve a year in advance for the sugar shack and churches parking lots are completely empty. 

For those of you who would not know what the sugar bush is, i will explain. Basically it consist of a restaurant, a shack in the wood where you eat traditional quebec meals and drown everything in maple syrup. 

I know that doesn't sound that healthy or good for your weight that is why we usually only go once a year.  My favourite thing at the sugar shack is the taffy on snow. That is MY reason to go.

Some sugar shacks have live music as well.

I decided to do some research about the history of easter, instead of just believing blindly that it is only about jesus' resurrection and here is what I found out.

Did you know?

There are a lot of pagan elements in the modern easter celebration. The word "easter" derives from Eostre, the anglo-saxon lunar goddess. Eostre feast day was held on the first full moon following the vernal equinox and a sam calculation is used for easter among western christians. 

Two of Eostre's most important symbols are the hare and the egg. The hare being a symbol of fertility and because ancient people saw a hare in the full moon.  The egg, which symbolizes the growing possibility of new life as in spring time, trees and flowers bloom, usually animals have newborns as well. Curiously those are symbols that christianity hasn't really incorporated in its own mythology preferring to make it about the resurrection of christ.

American christians continue to celebrate easter as a religious holiday but public references of easter almost never includes religious elements. 

Christians and non-christians alike celebrate easter in non-christians ways: chocolate and other forms of easter candy, easter egg, easter egg hunts and the famous easter bunny. Most cultural references include these elements which are pagan in origin and have become commercialized, sometimes sadly a little too commercialized.

I am one to be curious and wanting to know the truth and therefore always try to do research before accepting something that is told or taught as being the truth. I would rather find out the truth for myself.

So basically for myself, my easter celebration is associated to going to the sugar shack and spending time with family as it has been my tradition in my family for years.

I hope you will all have a great easter weekend, however you celebrate it. 

That is about it for this 9th day of BEDA. 

See you tomorrow.

DID YOU KNOW?

Giant Pandas generally eat bamboo--for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! In their native habitat, more than twenty varieties of bamboo are available, so they do have some variety in their bamboo diet. Giant Pandas DO eat a few other edibles on occasion, such as mushrooms, crocuses--even fish and rodents.

And nothing could be cuter than watching a Giant Panda consume a bamboo stalk! Pandas sit with feet outstretched in front of them, bamboo in their hands, eating.

- C. Herold