{"id":7132,"date":"2026-07-22T01:41:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T08:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/?p=7132"},"modified":"2026-07-23T01:42:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T08:42:49","slug":"restoring-french-faith-in-quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/2026\/07\/22\/restoring-french-faith-in-quebec\/","title":{"rendered":"Restoring French Faith in Quebec"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASRS<\/a> in Montreal this year gave us a second chance to revisit French food and culture, but with shorter travel and better weather. Westley and I arrived Wednesday to check into our upscale AirBnb<\/a> apartment. Despite limited late dining options, we found a French bistro<\/a> with respectable onion soup and escargot compared to our recent Parisian experience. On Thursday, we battled hordes of summer campers at the Montreal Science Center<\/a> to learn Nanualuk skills, perform virtual surgery, and browse comedy wildlife photos. After pho from Pho Bang NY<\/a> and pineapple buns from Patisserie Coco<\/a>, we scaled lofty rope courses aboard 18th century pirate ship replicas at Voiles en Voiles<\/a>, where Westley managed to conquer even the double-black diamond course. We shared Nouilles de Lan Zhou<\/a> for dinner, then mingled with Duke friends at a\u00a0rooftop reception<\/a> before Melody arrived. I gave my talk on Friday morning, then joined my family at the Notre-Dame Basilica<\/a> and lunch at Le Central<\/a> food court where we shared tagliatelle from Ragu<\/a> and lobster roll and crab poutine from Gaspasie<\/a>. We shopped for Korean cosmetics<\/a> in Chinatown and souvenirs along Rue Saint Paul and Marche Bonsecours<\/a> in the afternoon, then napped until dinner with my auntie Kin<\/a> at Kam Fung<\/a> followed by mango slush<\/a> and dragon beard candy<\/a> (including a peanut-free version for Westley). We overslept Saturday morning, but made up the lost time breezing through the Biodome<\/a>, Botanical Gardens<\/a>, Planetarium<\/a>, and Insectarium<\/a>. We remembered the beaver habitat from our last visit, but the massive French tacos at Chivetos<\/a> put Melody and me to sleep through most of the Black Hole<\/a> feature. Revisiting Au Pied du Cochon<\/a> almost 20 years later brought us back to foie gras heaven with foie gras nigiri, duck-in-a-can, and an amazing pig’s foot stuffed with sweetbreads and more foie gras, of course. Our post-dinner Cirque du Soleil<\/a> show Echo<\/a> featured high-flying acrobats, comedic box stackers, and a giant red mannequin that kept Westley in giggles and awe. We awoke Sunday to skyline views of the city from Kondiaronk Belvedere<\/a>, then hiked down the grand staircase of Parc du Mont-Royal<\/a> to Mile End<\/a> to secure our 5 lbs haul of PC The Decadent cookies<\/a> from Maxi<\/a> and compare bagels from Fairmount<\/a> and St Viateur<\/a> (we preferred Fairmount’s), queue up for Marche Hung Phat<\/a> banh mi, and bargain for an Inuit basalt muskox by Kupapik Ningeocheak<\/a> and Iroquois soapstone heron by Eric Silver<\/a> at an art gallery<\/a>. We watched the FIFA finals<\/a> on spotty WiFi aboard our VIA rail<\/a> to Quebec City, then checked into the city’s iconic Fairmont Le Ch\u00e2teau Frontenac<\/a> to catch Spain’s win over Argentina at the hotel pool. We passed crowds enjoying the last day of the FEQ<\/a> festival en route to dinner at Le Hobbit<\/a>, and supplemented our free beignet dessert with Cows<\/a> ice-cream while listening to the headliner’s<\/a> concert from our hotel window. After our breakfast buffet at Place Dufferin<\/a>, we spent Monday exploring picturesque Quartier Petit Champlain<\/a> sampling goat cheese soft-serve<\/a>, touring La Citadelle’s<\/a> military installations, learning maple syrup production from animatronic beavers<\/a>, and dining on rabbit pot pie from La Lapin Saute<\/a> and Quebec-style shepherd’s pie from La Buche<\/a>. We returned to old town after sunset to snap selfies, watch street performers, and enjoy more ice-cream before bedtime. On Tuesday, we took advantage of our Chase Edit<\/a> benefit for another breakfast buffet and take-out meals, enjoyed a morning stroll along Terrasse Dufferin<\/a>, then rode the train back to Montreal for our flight home. Between our high-flying adventures, art gallery treasures, and amazing meals, our Quebec journey helped restored our faith in French cuisine and culture again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ASRS in Montreal this year gave us a second chance to revisit French food and culture, but with shorter travel and better weather. Westley and I arrived Wednesday to check into our upscale AirBnb apartment. Despite limited late dining options, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7132"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7151,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7132\/revisions\/7151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}