The ground was carpeted with maple leaves!

Parc Jean-Drapeau

After the Stewart Museum, we meandered through Jean-Drapeau park, taking in the spectacular foliage in all it's autumnal glory-- a riot of colours from dark reds and varying russets to pale gold.

Musée Stewart

First stop of the day was the Stewart Museum on St. Helen's Island. The museum is housed in the arsenal of the old British military depot on an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence river. The island is connected to the city by metro and road, and has spectacular views of the skyline.

The museum houses a permanent exhibit of the region's history and the grounds are lined with cannons and remnants of military equipage.

Bonjour Montreal

We arrived in Montreal on a foggy and rainy Friday evening. The taxi queue at the airport was massive-- seven trans-atlantic 747s arrived at the same time!! So by the time we checked into Hôtel Place d'Armes, it was well into the dinner hour. We nixed our original dinner plans at L'Express and ended up supping at the in-house restaurant AIX, which dishes up traditional Québécois fare in a rustic and warm setting. TB and I shared a warm octopus salad with pink radishes, tuna tartar, duck magret in a cherry-vin glaze, and charred pork chops with roasted cauliflowers and trumpet mushrooms. All washed down with a gorgeous Ribera del Duero. Then off to bed.

We woke up to a glorious, golden autumn day, and post-breakies, purchased a 3-day metro pass to get us through the weekend.

Montreal sojourn

Hubby is whisking me away for a birthday weekend in Montreal this Friday. Other than two long-standing reservations at the legendary Joe Beef and Brasserie T, we're keeping the rest of the time open to meander and explore and taste our way through the city. So look out for Fat Sister and Tastey Boy's Québécois adventures.

In my Sewing Box: Needlefelt Pincushions

Over the summer, I took a needlefelting class at The City Quilter and have become addicted to this versatile and speedy craft. What is needlefelting you might ask? It is creating felt by taking raw wool roving and continuously punching it with a sharp faceted needle until the wool fibres fuse together to form felt.

You can create flat sheets of felt, or even form the felt into various three-dimensional shapes likes spheres and blocks. Once you master the basic technique, the sky is the limit in its application. Fellow students in my class created round felt beads and strung them together to make necklaces and brooches; some made multi-coloured flat sheets of felt and then cut and sewed them into little pouches and bags; and others used the general starter shapes to make little dolls and animals!

I started off with basic oval and round forms, and then moved onto more complex creations—I'll showcase the wee critters I made in a separate post.

But I held onto the first two forms, embellished them with fern and leaf motifs in linen embroidery thread, and have been using them as handy-dandy pincushions. 

Collard Greens with Pancetta and Blackened Chillies

Unlike a lot of traditional southern recipes, I like my collard greens al dente and slightly chewy. My quick-cook method is full of texture and crunch, and pairs the fibrous greens with crispy bits of salty pancetta and smoky, blackened dried red chillies, all pulled together at the end with the bright, finishing note of lemon juice.

Ingredients 
1 lb [500 gms] Collard Greens
4 oz [125 gms] Pancetta*, diced
1 tbsp Olive Oil
4 whole Dried Red Chillis
2 cloves of Garlic, minced
Salt (to taste)
¼ tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
Juice of ½ Lemon

1. Wash collard greens, remove and discard stems and centre ribs, and cut leaves in half vertically. Stack 4–5 leaves together, roll up, and cut into ½-inch-wide strips. Add collard greens to a pot of boiling water and cook over high heat for 30 mins. Drain water and set aside greens. (You can prepare the collard greens up to this point a day ahead and store in the fridge.)
2. In a large skillet or frying pan, render pancetta over high heat until crisp and golden. Remove pancetta with a slotted spoon and set to drain on a paper-lined plate. Pour out any fat in the skillet and wipe clean.
3. Heat olive oil in the same skillet over high heat until smoking. Add dried red chillies and stir briskly for about a minute until the chillies just start to blacken. Add garlic, and fry for about 1 min, until lightly golden.
4. Add collard greens, pancetta, salt, and pepper, and cook for 5 mins. Sprinkle water if the skillet gets too dry. Turn off heat, add lemon juice and stir well. Let sit for 5 mins before serving. 

*TIP: You can substitute pancetta with bacon or uncured pork belly.