sugar shack
On Frday April 1 we went on a Caban à Sucre with my co-workers at La Branche, which is located in St. Isidore, southwest of Montréal. The drive took about 45 minutes (we got a ride with one of my co-workers) and when we arrived we visited the maple trees first of course. Being a city girl from the west, I expected the maple syrup to be thick and brown, but of course maple syrup is maple tree sap and if it were that thick in the tree the tree would die! It was light yellow and smelled only slightly like maple. I tasted some and it was sappy with just a hint of the maple taste. Next we visited the small barn where the family kept several goats, a calf, chickens and quails. The quails I find the most interesting, as they made this strange electrical peeping sound sound and were very well tempered. We went in the foyer of the restaurant where we saw them cooking and filtering the maple syrup. It smelled lovely, with a maple and woody smell combined.
After we went into the dance hall where we waited to eat supper. While we waited we had a nice talk with Sylvie and Chris, two of my co-workers from the lab next door. We tried some Caribou which is usually consumed at the Québéc city winter carnival and at a Caban à Sucre. We also tried some Cherry beer. We then entered the dining hall and began our meal. Supper consisted of pea soup, picked cauliflower, pickles, coleslaw, some kind of egg soufflé cooked in maple syrup, ham cooked in maple syrup, bacon cooked in maple syrup, pork rinds (I tried one, it was very salty), pancakes, beans cooked in syrup, maple pie and grand-père (a dumpling cake covered in syrup). We tried some Terrible, Fringante, and a nice Beligan beer La Chouffe. At each end of the table there was a bottle of maple syrup and between Dan, myself, Chris and Sylvie we had about 1/3 of a cup. At the other end of the table there were 6 Québecios and they finished their entire bottle!
Afterward we tried some maple toffee (tire d’erable) and got a ride to Longueil Metro on the yellow line which is located on the south shore. This was the first time we took the yellow line. What I found the most amusing was that usually you pass through the wicket far away from the quay and then walk down to it, but at this station when you pass thrigh the wicket you go directly onto the quay! When we arrived at Snowdon Metro we realised that we had just missed the bus and would have to wait for 25 minutes for the next one. We walked home instead, as it was a nice evening.
Being a hypoglycemic person, I must say that although I tried to eat as little sugar as possible I still felt very ill after. I felt shaky from Friday night until Saturday afternoon!