Thursday...continued

I forgot to mention that I went to "la cabane à sucre” this evening in l’Île d’Orléans. In English, “la cabane à sucre” would be translated something like “sugar shack.” It’s actually where they make maple syrup and serve traditional Québecois food in traditional Québecois style.

Everyone is seated together at long tables, and the waitresses serve one course at a time. Each is passed up and down the table until everyone has served themselves. The menu was something like this:

• White bread with butter
• A vegetable soup called “soupe aux pois” served with bowls of oreilles de crisse (basically just pieces of pork fat fried in butter) :P
• Fèves au lard: baked beans (and not just any baked beans either…they’re made with the maple syrup, so they’re like baked beans on crack - omg)
• Jambon: ham (good by itself, but awesome with the maple syrup)
• Pommes de terre: potatoes (boiled new potatoes)
• Pâté à la viande : meat pie
• Crêpes avec le sirop d’érable: crêpes with maple syrup
• Chilled maple syrup on popsicle sticks

For that last item, we went outside, where they shoveled crushed ice into a trough and drizzled syrup over it to bring it to a sticky, tacky consistency. Then everyone pressed their popsicle sticks into it. Très, très bon.  

There was even live folk music and dancing to accompany the meal, so it was a festive, traditional experience.

But, before we enjoyed all of that, we hiked down the hillside behind the restaurant to look at the corn fields (yeah, I don’t know why…). David, Veronica, and I noticed that several people were walking past the fields and over an embankment. Being the curious sheep we are, we followed them. We ended up being some of the last ones to check out the other side, so there we were, trekking through the tall grass, and then the marsh, and then the deep mud, and then there we were crossing the creek, still not knowing exactly what the view was we were making the journey to see. At that point, we were like, “to heck with French, this is a time for English.” So, we talked in English with the few other students who were making the trek with us, and we actually got to know each other a little more.  

As for the view, we thought it had better be good for everything we were going through to get there. Fortunately, we met a guy coming back down the “trail,” if you could call it that, and he said that we were headed for an incredibly beautiful view of the St. Laurence River. “Just be careful,” he said, “because you’ll be walking through that soft, tall grass there towards the water, and all of a sudden, you’ll realize that the water is above you. The riverbed actually begins sooner than you think.” Good advice, and very amusing, but we were already muddy so we didn’t care anyway. For some reason, we decided to call our adventure, “Indiana Jones and the St. Laurence River.” Bonne idée, non? This video doesn’t do the view justice (it really was worth it).

Anyway, about the time we arrived at the riverside, we started hearing people calling us back. We ran a little farther anyway, just to take in the view (I mean, who cares if dinner’s ready…there are better things to do). You can always use the “I didn’t understand your French because you were too far away” excuse: “Je n’ai pas compris votre francais! Vous étiez trop loin!” Anyway, evidently, the rest of the group had hiked back up the hill without us, and when we reached the base of the hill again, even the group leaders had left. At first I hoped they wouldn’t be mad when we got back, but then I realized that I’d paid for the excursion, and I could look at whatever I wanted. :P We were the last ones to find places at the table after we took over both bathrooms to clean up, but the entire adventure was worth it. Overall, this was one of the best days I’ve had so far.