meat, grease & pickles

We have a long weekend coming up here next weekend...the weekend before your Memorial Day weekend (for all my American buddies) is our Victoria Day weekend. Otherwise known as 'May Two-Four'...named after a case of 24 beer..no joke. Leave it to Canadians to name a holiday after a case of beer just because the actual date is around the 24th of May...

But, the weekend is virtually all about that. Beer, BBQ and fireworks. Oh yeah..and that's when we plant our gardens because MOST places in Canada haven't any snow by then....

We're hopping on Ontario's biggest headache...a.k.a. Hwy 401 and heading EAST to La Belle Province of Quebec...specifically Montreal. Why you ask?

Smoked Meat, of course.

Oh yeah, we lived there briefly, and my husband grew up there. Yeah it's nice to see family and friends while we're there. But c'mon, ya gotta EAT, right??

So, Smoked Meat. Schwartz's downtown has the best, hands down. But, there are MANY close seconds to choose from, and all serve mile-high smoked meat on rye with a LOAD of fries, slaw & a pickle.

BUT, it doesn't JUST come on a sandwich. You can get it on your spaghetti and on your pizza, too.

The fries? Dark and greasy. The way fries are SUPPOSED to be. I don't know how long these places go before they change the grease in their vats, but it' working.

The best part about the fries is the sound they make. You know, the sound of your arteries slamming shut when you eat them??

The slaw? Well, that depends. Sometimes it's yummy, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it looks and tastes like someone in the kitchen has actually taken the time to make it, and other times its like Joe in the back hollers "crap! I forgot to make today's slaw!" and they just whip it together and it's as dry as a bone.

But, the pickle? The outstanding pickle. I don't think I've ever had a better pickle than the pickles I've had in Montreal. When you can smell the garlic rising from your pickle off your plate, you KNOW you've got a good pickle. It's worth it to pay for an extra pickle or two.....trust me.

So, there you have it. Our plans for the upcoming long weekend. We're driving 5 hours to savour a couple of heart attacks on a plate.

Hopefully our friends and family can join us :)