ElsieD

The steak package appears to be a regular listing on costco.com. Sadly, it does not appear to be something costco.ca carries. If they did, I might be tempted to order it at the sale price.

@Ann_T you make the most amazing bread!

@Alex Great article. In the late '60s I used to fly between Ottawa and Toronto, which is a short hop. Without fail, a hot meal was served with real silverware, china, etc. I don't know how they managed it, but they did, every single time. Flying to Eurooe you'd get dinner and breakfast, and a snack in between if you so desired. What gets me now, though, is paying for a seat. My husband and I travel together and to make sure we sit together, we pay to reserve two seats. I mean, really? It's not as though you can stand on the way to wherever.

We have the annual family bocce tournament today in Mayberly. A SIL always brings me apples from her trees. No one knows what kind they are, the trees are very old. I make apple butter and applesauce for one if my sisters and me. Great stuff. Edited to add: I make lousy pastry too so I avoid making it.

Too bad we are away all day or we could get together for dinner. We are at the family annual bocce tournament and won't be back in time.

We're on the wrong side of the building to be able to wave otherwise I would flash some lights to say hi. We face west. If you see a tall building with what looks like an M on the roof, that's us. We are at Island Park and Scott if you remember those streets, in a section of the city called Westboro. How long are you here for? If you are here tomorrow night you might want to check out Beckta for dinner or Atelier. Both are very good. Beckta is on Elgin Street spitting distance from your hotel while Altelier is a short cab ride.

Are the lights out where you are? We are only a couple of kms. west of where you are and the lights are on here. You can probably see our place from your window. That afternoon spread looked pretty good, except for the hummus.

Sold out.😕

Hard to believe that there is going to be a really really ugly addition put on to the Chateau Laurier much to the dismay of just about everyone in this city.

But with a lot more leg room!😃 So Kerry, where are you going for dinner?

Ouch! I kinda like it here. About the train - I too love the train. When I was working and attending meetings in Toronto, others used to fly. I always took the train. When you factor in the time to the airport, arriving early for security and once in Toronto getting downtown, the train was almost as fast - and a lot more pleasant. The food was pretty good too.

I am so going to make these. Thank you for the link.

I wouldn't think the innards, head, feet and feathers would make up the three pound difference, but I could be wrong.

Thank you. That's close to ours if my memory of 1.2 kilos us correct. Maybe ours are 1.4 kilos which would bring the size to the same as yours. I wonder why the article kept referencing 6 pound birds?

"Bird weights are expected to continue rising, presenting a problem for Costco. Costco needs birds around six pounds to cook in stores." That is the quote from the article above. I'll ask again because I'm curious - are the rotisserie chicken in the United States Costcos really 6 pounds? I think ours are around 1.2 kilos, a far cry from 6 pounds and they charge $7.99. Still a good buy and we both like them.

That's what happens when you shake Mississippi punch after a Mai Tai (or two). 😀

Are Costco rotisserie chickens in the US 6 pounds in weight as the article seems to suggest?

We have only gone to Atwater once and decided we preferred Jean Talon. Did you see/talk to the mushroom guy? He had an astounding variety. I hope you enjoyed Montreal. If I remember correctly, you were planning on eating at Joe Beef?

@blue_dolphin.. Thank you. I have a couple of scales that weight really teeny amounts of stuff and since he gives ingredients by weight I won't have a problem. I'll watch for this book. I'm guessing the reviewers don't weigh ingredients. I do, at least the important ones.

I think it depends on the day of the week. We have gone the night before and hit the market first thing and then fled for home. That works out well. Weekends are not too bad. Weekdays are not so great, especially if you have to take route 15 to get on the 40. The traffic won't stop me from going as I think it is a fabulous market and most of the vendors are keen to tell you about their products. Nice produce shots.

I just read some of the reviews on the Vetri book. Does it really ask for yeast to be measured in 1/132 and 1/128 teaspoons as some reviewers stated?

This is not part of the farmers market per se but it is one of the reasons we went there, mainly so we could go to Schwartz's and also Patisserie Kouign Amann. At Schwatz's John had the smoked meat sandwich (I don't know what happened to the picture but the sandwich was huge) and we bought 4 pounds of smoked brisket and a big jar of their pickles. At Patisserie Kouign Amann we bought a 12" kouign amann and 2 chocolatines. All in all a great day except for the driving in downtown Montreal. Edited to add: the picture of Schwartz's is for @rotuts. It was taken when we left the place. When we first got there, the restaurant was jammed and I'd guess there were at least 50 people lined up to get in.

In this same market, there are butchers, a place that sells olive oils and olives, a shop devoted to nothing but spices, eggs, charcuterie, maple syrup, more cheese, etc. There are also places where you can grab a bite to eat, including a place that sells arepa, churro, empanadas and the like. It is very diverse which is why we like to go once or twice a year. We'd probably go more often but the traffic there is nuts, absolutely bonkers. At the market we purchased the following items: 1 pound Scotch Bonnet peppers for hot sauce At the mushroom place we bought some fresh yellow foot chanterelles, wild mushroom oil, wild grape "balsamic" and wild mushroom vinaigrette. At the olive oil store, we bought three different kinds of olives, not shown. The last picture is of Portugese eggs tarts and canelles. This place was next to the place that sold churros but we ate those before I remembered to take a picture.

We went to the Jean Talon market in Montreal yesterday. It is about the size of a city block, maybe bigger with an assortment of shops around the perimeter. I took some pictures to show you the diversity of goods on offer. I did not take any pictures of the vegetables because I figure once you've seen one carrot, you've seen them all. In addition to the vegetables, fall fruit was on offer, including many varieties of apples. Here are some of the more interesting items for sale: The first two pictures is of our favourite stand - hot peppers. Next is a pastry shop, followed by flowers, one of several cheese shops, a stall specializing in mushrooms and a display of oysters at a fishmongers.

@Kim Shook I thought I was the only one who doesn't go weak at the knees over chocolate chip cookies. Just thought you might like to know that there is one other person in the world who feels about CCC the way you do.