Last night, a small group of us treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at Susur before the world-famous chef closed down his Toronto restaurant for good. Cornish hen, bison loin, smoked squab, braised morel, organic strawberry sorbet, and a whole host of other samplings that I not only would never have thought of putting together, but had never even known existed.

The meal was fantastic. Of the 8-course feast, only one of the items on the dim sum dessert wasn't a salivating experience.

Then I saw the bill, and was glad that this was a one-time venture.

I have been seeing a lovely young lady for some time now, and for the long weekend we decided to take our fist weekend away together. After several checks of weather forecasts, some planning, and a lot of re-planning, we finally decided on a visit to Montreal. Since I had lived there for a summer some years ago, I got to play the role of tour guide. We visited some of my favourite spots, I showed her where I used to live and work, and I got to pick some of my favourite restaurants. I hope I was a sufficiently good tour guide. It was also my first time driving in Montreal, which was an adventure.

Most importantly, though, it afforded me the opportunity to get a really big sammich on the terrace at Santropol.