EATING OUT MONTREAL

Montreal is all about food (and great winter coats by the way - c'est tres chic).
Before every visit, Shit LeMar and I have serious discussions about EACH meal we will ingest while we are there. I will even print out a list of restaurant sugggestions for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes I get fixated on a particular dish and pursue it with a dogged determination. In the summer, it was the infamous Montreal steamie. I was looking for the ultimate taste sensation and not a single steamie joint escaped my deranged culinary hunt. Shit LeMar, bless his little heart, understood my obsession and drove me to every neon-flashing hot dog-smelling place in the city.

I never quite got the raging bagel debate until I hooked up with Shit LeMar. Being from Vancouver, bagels there were always a huge, doughy bun-like affair. When he took me for my first trip to Montreal, the very first stop we made was to St. Viateur to pick up a dozen black and white and then over to Fairmount to finish up the taste test. I will never be a doubter again.
There are a set of bagel rules as well. Never, ever put them in the plastic bag when they're hot. That's why in the shop, the smiling bagel men put them in a paper bag with a plastic one tucked in for later. And always eat one while walking out of the bagel place when they are nice and warm.
The pastries in Montreal are by the far the best in Canada - even the kosher bakeries. Shit LeMar's father tipped us off to one in Outremount and I must admit it's pretty good. Shit LeMar was practically trembling with delight in the shop and we walked out with enough baked goods to last us a week. We finished the sweets in a day and a half with the help of Shit LeMar Jr. who takes after his dad and appreciates a good cinnamon roll when he sees one.
These are non-negotiable treats we must have while in Montreal: bagels, smoked meat from Lester's (athough Jr. made us wait in line for Schwartz's this time since Lester's was closed), steamies, bone marrow from L'Express, kosher baked goods and souvlaki from Arahova.
Happy eating and Happy New Year. Nice hair, hope you win!

WHO'S DANIEL CRAIG?

IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES...AGAIN

It's winter and what does that mean? GAMES. That's right, faithful CRD readers...get ready for more games. In seasons past, we jumped into emotionally charged rounds of RISK, relatively stress-free Scrabble (except when Canary cheated), and boisterous nights of Charades. We even puffed our way through The Amazing Race, TO version and took a hard look at Capture the Flag, though we never managed to get it together with that one.
Beyond our beloved classic parlour games, CRD is reintroducing the games of our childhood. What self-respecting 80s dweller doesn't know the rules of Pac Man? Remember Red Dwarf? Err...you don't? Well, perhaps it was just Babs and I hanging out on Granville during our walk-arounds, walk-arounds.
Nors is right on the retro bandwagon with her incessant talk about Simon, the deceptively simple, old school electronic game that came out in the late 70s.

The year was 1978. Disco was in its heyday and Simon, the electronic game of "Simon Says," was the "must have" sensation. The game debuted to the world at Studio 54 in a launch party attended by a number of '70s celebrities who played SIMON game (trashed out of their heads with a little blow) while dancing to the beat of disco and the flashing of SIMON lights.
Editor's note: Now, how friggin' awesome does that sound? CRD will recreate this scenario at Shanghai Alley. Details to come. How can you NOT be excited?

Nors' newest passion is Dance Dance Revolution (how cheesy is that? I lurve it! Leave it to the freaky Japanese), known to aficionados simply as DDR. Urban Hikes will never be the same because good old CRD has unearthed 2 locations where this funky disco arcade game lives.

Bab, our man in Miami, remembers the games craze well and was probably one of the first kids on the block to become addicted to Space Invaders. CRD sent him an online version and his response?
first try 24,000
Which means in the SI parlance: I haven't lost my touch.

HAPPY YEAR OF THE PATCH

Happy Chinese Year, dear CRD readers and a special Gung Hey Faut Choy to the newest addition to our ever-growing membership...Akaash. So cute! So little! So milky-smelling! So not a Charades player! (But he did get a taste of an Urban Hike with Dr. Quack in a snowstorm over the Bloor St. bridge).
Due to the overwhelming response of faithful readers to news of the cancellation of yearly festivities at Shanghai Alley, CRD will reschedule a night of Scotch and Charades very, very soon. Stay tuned for more details.
What does the Year of the Dog have in store for you? Check it out here.
Remember...no bad words must come out of your mouth on January 29th...even if you do run into the recently elected, Plastic Faced Man With Rubber Lips and Spooky Zombie Eyes. Give him a jolly old Gung Hey and ask for a Lai See Foon.