a duo birthday weekend with no kids in sight!

Yesterday, it was a duo birthday celebration! Not only was it a friend's son's birthday (Happy Birthday S-dude!), it was also Mr C's birthday as well. They share their birthday with David Bowie and Elvis. Now that's big right?

We were lucky to have Miss B invite Keira over for a sleepover yesterday evening. It meant that Mr C and I were able to go out together and celebrate his birthday, adult-style. Now you all know we love making sure all of our activities and celebrations are family style.. but occasionally, it's just great to get out and not have to end up at any 'kid' friendly restaurants. We ended up meeting up with Mr C's brother and head out to a pub together first. Like in ye olde days!

There were 3 pubs/brasseries we used to frequent every Saturdays (pre-Keira days):  L'Ile Noir (no longer open sadly), Dieu du ciel! and l'Amère à boire, and from there, decide on where and what restaurant we wanted to try out. We ended up at the latter brasserie serving up mostly czech beer located on St Denis. St Denis is a diverse street, long servicing the students attending UQAM and an eclectic, unique and diverse clientele. There are simple & cheap eats, some more sophisticated restos and tons of unique shops. St Denis and St Laurent streets were my favourite go-to's in my new wave high school days. There were so many friperies (second hand shops) and cool spots that I was able to buy all my clothing there on my meagre clothing allowance (and by meagre I mean 20 bucks). I was able to buy my jeans for 10$ and tops at 5. There was one friperie I absolutely adored. It was called "I Buy All Your F%$#ing Clothes". Yep. And inside, it was a black painted clean interior, incredibly well spaced & separated second hand clothing shop. I bought my 50's era high school prom cocktail dress there (spending only 30$)!

I first asked our waiter this: "As-tu une blonde?" which had Mr C and his brother laughing out loud. I had just asked the waiter if he had a girlfriend! I meant to ask 'as-tu une bière blonde' which is just a type of beer. In Québec, 'une blonde' is usually slang for 'girlfriend'. Well.. he was cute after all. heehee!

So, while the 'men' talked politics, sports etc.. I blissfully watched passerby's on the street outside the pub window and sank into Cerná Hora bliss. I was also hungry and 3 gulps of that beer sent me slightly reeling. Eventually, the 'so, where are we going to eat?' question came up and before we could think of anything, my brother in law suggested a new bistro on Ste Catherine called Le Balmoral. A new bistro at the Festival Internationale de Jazz building (located right beside Place des Arts). So we ended up walking there.

I loved the exterior windows of this building! Ray Charles, Oscar Petersen, Tony Bennett among other greats..

Occasionally, if we end up at a new restaurant, we'll order a familiar appetizer and depending on how well (or bad) the dish tastes, we'll know how our evening will end up. We ordered calamari as an appetizer and when it appeared on the table, we were very hopeful! It was only slightly battered, tender and light. The accompanying sauce had a creamy zing to it. Mr C and his brother ordered the braised veal cheeks and I ordered the Angus beef Tataki whiskey infused salad. The braised veal fell apart by the touch of their forks.. it was so tender. And my salad? Divine! with a hint of maple syrup. My beef was sliced thinly, just seared and infused with maple syrup as well. Everything melted in my mouth.

We also had a wonderful view of the Sphères Polaires installation right outside the bistro windows. Huge snow globes that changed colour, images and sounds as you walk by (there are sensors installed on the globes).

All in all, a wonderful magical night together. Happy birthday to my wonderful Mister!

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