Family Time!

After such a busy week with the yule logs and mousse cakes it was great to spend some time with Emily and her family! I absolutely love her parents, they came here for the weekend from Mississippi and they were just ecstatic to see their daughter and to spend some time in Ottawa. I am very grateful to them for including me in their adventures!

 

I was so thrilled to be included in a wonderful dinner at Signatures Bistro at Le Cordon Bleu. We had a five course meal that was incredible! Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of this tasty dinner nor do I have a photo of the menu, so please bare with me as I try to remember exactly what we had.

 

We began with a duck egg roll which was absolutely delicious. I've had duck once while I've been in Ottawa and I thought it was pretty good but the texture of it wasn't quite my favourite. The egg roll was entirely different. The taste and texture were really incredible, I could have had three more of those! The menu had stated that we would be having scallops for our next course. I was a bit hesitant over this because I've never been partial to scallops. That's why I was so relieved when our server came out to let us know that we would be having B.C. Spot Prawns instead. Wow! These were incredible. There were only two on the plate in a leek sauce but absolutely delicious. Our next course was lettuce wrapped halibut (with some other things but I really can't remember what they were) I can say that this was equally as delicious as the first two courses. Le Cordon Bleu certainly does not disappoint. The main course was a red wine marinated beef tenderloin. I can't even describe to you how amazing this was. I highly recommend that if anyone comes to Ottawa you make sure to eat here.

 

Lastly, our final course was being prepared and Emily and I realized that we would be late for our final demo class for the week. The staff at the restaurant were so accommodating and I can't thank them enough. Dessert was a frozen strawberry parfait we certainly didn't want to miss out on, so thanks to the staff we were able to enjoy it after our class. They were lovely enough to have it prepared in a take out container and it was waiting for us up in our classroom in the freezer. I do have a picture of this one for you.

 

 

 

The red piece on top was similar to a homemade fruit roll up and the meringue cigarettes were brilliant. They just melted in your mouth.





 

We also went on some adventures! On one of our drives we discovered Bank Street. What a cool place! I took Emily and her parents to David's Tea because they don't have it in the States and let's face it, they have the best tea!

 

 

 

All of us at David's Tea!

 

We also went to a little fresh fruit market while we were there. I got some fruit and Emily's dad bought fruit, an assortment of deli meat and cheeses and fiddlehead ferns! I believe we have these growing in our backyard in BC! They are the weirdest things and you can apparently eat them. Emily's parents invited me for Emily's birthday breakfast the next morning so that we could try out the fiddlehead ferns. It was a brilliant breakfast! Her parents came to pick me up and we made breakfast for Emily while she had a nice birthday sleep. We cooked the fiddlehead ferns in a ton of butter and garlic and salt to give them some flavour, then made a platter of assorted deli meats, cheeses and fruit and we baked the garlic bread and Emily's dad made scrambled eggs. Such a good breakfast! The fiddlehead ferns were very bland, though. It didn't seem to matter how much seasoning we put on them, they just didn't have much flavour. They tasted like a combination between green beans and asparagus.

 

 

 

Fiddlehead Ferns!

 

With Emily's family, we went for a drive around Ottawa, we got totally lost at times but found some amazing places! We went to this very ritzy area where all the diplomats and the wealthy live, and let me tell you, some of the houses are absolutely crazy! So many mansions, the wealth in these areas is incredible.

 

This one is for my dad. On our little tour of the ritzy neighbourhood, we randomly came across the German Embassy!! So naturally, I had to get a picture of it!

 

 

 

And of course there is a VW in the driveway!

 

 

 

Stopped to get a picture of this on our drive...

 

 

 

 

For Emily's birthday her parents took Emily, myself and Ana out for dinner. It got kind of late when we left but we found this great place in Little Italy, Giovanni's Ristorante. It's so beautiful inside. The artwork on the walls are incredible, mirrors across the ceiling, chandeliers cascading down and clean white linens across every table. We ordered appetizers and I had a lobster pasta which was delicious. The cocktails were also equally as wonderful!

 

 

On our last day with Emily's parents, we went back down to Bank Street and wandered around, we also went to the Byward Market to show Emily's dad what that was all about. For dinner we ended up at this great little seafood place and ordered so many appetizers to share amongst us all. I love seafood, plus my plate had mashed potatoes and I've been craving them ever since I arrived in Ottawa. I miss mum's cooking!

 

 



Dinner time!

 

After dinner, we went and got ourselves beavertails for dessert! I am Canadian and can say I have never had a beavertail before. I know what they are but have never had one. For anyone who is like me, and never had one or doesn't know what they are, they are fried dough pastries that are hand stretched to resemble a beaver's tail, similar to an elephant ear you get at the fair. They have many different toppings on them, the traditional being butter and brown sugar. I went with butter, brown sugar and lemon. Even though I was so full from dinner, I devoured that beaver tail!

 

 



This was all that was left of mine...just the wrapper

 

 

 

Our first truly Canadian beavertails!

 

A great end to a great weekend with absolutely wonderful people. To Alison, Scott and Emily, thank you so much for everything you did for me while you were here. I was so thankful to be included in your family and it made missing mine a little more bearable. Thank you again, it really was wonderful!