In Search Of Montreal's Best Lemonade

When you are thirsty on a hot summer day, ice cold, slightly sweetened lemonade is a great way to refresh yourself. Inspired by a Nightlife.ca article on the Top 5 Best Lemonades in Montreal, I set up a MEETin event "In Search of the Best Lemonade" to sample three of the five lemonades featured in the article and decide for ourselves. 

First on our list was the classic lemonade at La Petite Cuillère on St Denis, across from Square St. Louis. A quiet, eclectic cafe, they offered three different kinds of lemonade, along with tempting cakes and snacks. Deciding that there was only one fair way to compare, we all ordered the classic lemonade and grabbed a spot on the terrasse. Served in frosty mason jars, our drinks were tart, lemony and topped with frothy slush. While everyone appreciated the distinct lemon flavor, most of the group started looking around for sugar after their first sips. 

Next was D'Liche, winner of last year's "In Search of the Best Cupcakes" event. This also turned out to be a snack stop for most of us, since we had to try their version of the cronut and some had to verify that D'Liche still had the best cupcakes. We almost forgot that we were there to try the lemonade! The lemonade was slightly less lemony than the first one, but everyone appreciated that it was just the right sweetness. It was a nice balance to the rich cronut and paired nicely with a lime mini cupcake.

Stuffed with our delicious treats and two glasses of lemonade, we were happy to walk over to St. Laurent for the final place on our list. Laïka is part cafe, part bar, part hangout. When we sat down, we were surprised that lemonade was not on their menu. We showed the server a printout of the Nightlife.ca article. She verified that it was all true... and recommended we try the house iced tea as well. Half the group ordered lemonade and half ordered iced tea. While the lemonade was fresh, it was the least lemony of the three. Since we could barely taste the lemon, sweetness was not an issue. The iced tea was the better pick. Made with properly steeped tea, we could taste a hint of lemon and mint and it was sweetened just enough. 


In the end, we decided D'Liche had the best classic lemonade of the three places we tried. If you like your lemonade really tart or want to customize the sweetness, I would also recommend La Petite Cuillère. Order the iced tea at Laïka. 

There may be another contender in the near future. While walking along Duluth, one member of our group stopped in at Blüming Gateaux and discovered that they also have interesting house-made lemonades. We may have to repeat the event before the summer is over.

Homage to a Great Pair of Hiking Boots

My faithful hiking boots - destroyed!

My faithful hiking boots of nearly 13 years were destroyed by the Cup and Saucer Trail on Manitoulin Island. For our 10th anniversary, D and I spent a week at the same cottage where we spent our honeymoon. We decided to hike the Adventure Trail along the Cup and Saucer Trail, since it was so much fun 10 years ago. Well, 10 years is a long time and we were not 100% sure where the Adventure Trail started, so when we saw the sign for the alternate loop under the cliffs, we thought that might be it.

Alternate "trail" not on the maps... That sounded like a great idea!

It wasn't the Adventure Trail, but it certainly was an adventure.  It was a very rough, loose rock path along the limestone cliffs. I was happy to have my boots since the ground was unstable and covered with poison oak.  We eventually got back to the main trail and called it a day, returning two days later to finally do the Adventure Trail. Unfortunately, time had eroded big sections of that trail, so it wasn't as much fun. Still, the views along the Cup and Saucer trail are as rewarding as ever.

On the way back after the Adventure Trail - June 2013

Adventure Trail - Manitoulin Island - July 2003

It was only after the second hike that I saw how destroyed my boots were. The soles of both were completely ripped. All that was left to do was take a couple of photos, deposit them in the garbage and reflect on their 13 years of amazing service.

When I moved to California in 1999, I started to do a lot of hiking. It was during the dot com boom, so friends from Canada were in the area regularly.  We would find an interesting park and go explore. By the summer of 2000, it was clear I needed to invest in some proper hiking boots, so bought them while attending a friend's wedding in Prince George, BC. Back then, digital cameras were just coming out, but I remained faithful to my Pentax ESPIO 928 35mm.  As a result, I don't have many digitized photos from 1999 to 2002 when I started getting CDs made with my film development.

The most impressive hikes I have done were in Yosemite National Park, attempting Half Dome twice and completing the Glacier Point/Panoramic Trails twice. Yosemite is still my favourite place on earth so it was a natural place to take my first photo vacation with my Nikon D60 DSLR in 2008.

Nevada Falls on the way up to Half Dome - Yosemite National Park - Sept 2001

The friendly stalker bear on the Panoramic Trail - Yosemite - Fall 2002

Photogenic squirrel - Yosemite - Sept 2008

Living in California also gave me many opportunities to hike along spectacular seashores, giant redwoods and to get to know wonderful people along the way.

Garrapata State Park, CA - Fall 2002

D and I at Point Lobos - Spring 2003

Last hike before moving away from California - Tennessee Valley - April 2004

After moving to Vancouver, I did a lot of business travel for the first 18 months. Still, I found time to hike in the area, visiting Buntzen Lake and Lynn Canyon the most.  I finally converted to a Kodak compact digital camera in 2006, but all the photos from my time in Vancouver were backed up on a hard drive that is now failing, so I can't post any right now. At least the best of them have been printed!

After moving to Montreal, my wanderings became more urban, but vacations still take us to more rugged areas. My faithful boots took me through Zakros Gorge in Crete, through some parks in rural Quebec, and even back to California.

Zakros Gorge - Crete - May 2009

Saguenay National Park - July 2010

Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve - May 2012

I will invest in another pair of good hiking boots and I can't wait to see where they will take me!

Summer Mini-Bloggiesta

Rainy summer weekends are perfect for reading and writing, so it's the ideal time to participate in a mini-Bloggiesta. What is a mini-Bloggiesta? Well, it's the same as the regular event, just shorter and with fewer mini-challenges.

Here's what's on my to-do list this weekend:

1. Write two planned posts for this blog.
• One done. Postponing the other until #2 is done.
2. Write at least one new post for my business blog.
• Done Monday night. Whew! 
• While I was there, I updated my featured posts on the front page.
3. Send the Knowledge Event themes to the volunteers for the for the PMI Community of Practice blog I edit. 
• Done!
4. Find a blog post to republish on the above blog. 
• Done! Just waiting for permission...
5. Participate in the Twitter chat at 10pm today.
• Done!
6. Promote my Sockets and Lightbulbs Facebook page (including this link doesn't count).
7. Do the following Bloggiesta mini-challenges:
• Comment, Comment, Comment by Mom's Small Victories
• Done!
• Easy SEO Tweaks by On A Book Bender
• Done!
• alt motives by Spamantha
• Done!
8. Break apart an old post into three separate posts so I can share them separately.
9. Write custom Blog Follow Email and Comment Follow Email texts.
10. Start an article for an online magazine that had approached me for a contribution.
11. Reconnect with another blogger for a potential guest post.

If I think of anything else to add over the weekend, I'll just update this list.  At the end of the weekend, I'll also update this post with what I accomplished.

Time to get some tea and start writing!

Making The Best Of Business Travel

I didn't blog much in May and June because I was away a fair amount - twice on business.  Like everyone early in their career, I thought business travel would be so sexy.  Then I got a job where I had to travel every month.  That's when I learned that it can take a lot of energy, so I learned a few things about how to make the best of business travel.

Downtown Frankfurt after a day of rain

In May, I spent a week in Frankfurt for work.  Fortunately, D and I spent about 24 hours in Frankfurt about 20 months earlier.  We saw more then than I did in my week in May - I was working that much.  How can you make the best of a situation like that?

1. Bring your camera
• I was lucky to get a room with a great view and was able to go for a short walk around the hotel.  By having my travel camera with me, I was able to get a great shot of downtown Frankfurt on a moody night (above) and feel a little like a tourist during my walk.  During my last visit, D and I saw a life-sized Batman statue on a street I knew wasn't far from the hotel.  So, I was on a mission to get a picture.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find it again - but the quest was fun!
2. Practice your German
• I got to practice - just a little bit. Still, it was fun to practice the language... and help a colleague buy his dinner.
3. Eat like a local
• In Germany, the main meal is traditionally at lunch with sandwiches and cold cuts in the evening.  The company I was working with always made sure we had a decent lunch, often with food Germans typically eat. For dinner, I raided a grocery store near the hotel, buying bread, cheese, wine, chocolate and an antipasti plate.  Yeah, antipasti is Italian, but cultures are crossing borders in Europe, just like in North America.  

Zombies at E3

In June, I was honoured to be sent to E3 - the biggest trade show in the video game industry.  It was a working trip.  I spent a good part of the three days working in the booth, providing support to press VIPs as they played a demo of our game.  I also spent a good part of my time in the hotel room, answering emails and providing support to the team back at the office.  Still, I managed to walk around the exhibition floor and have some fun outside of the show. Best tips from this trip are:

1. Bring your spouse
• This was the first time D came along with me on a business trip.  I am SO glad he came.  We got him a free affiliate pass (he is affiliated with the video game industry), so he got to take in the show floor and do some networking on his own. Still, checking out the show floor and trying out some games with him was fun.  When a show event didn't work out one evening, we decided to try a delicious urban farm restaurant. I love my colleagues, but I have been seeing them a lot lately, so it was needed change to spend some time with my husband in a work context.
2. Finally meet some people... in person
•  In our uber-connected world, we often do business over email, telephone and web meetings. While it can work well for the day-to-day, it still makes a big difference to meet the people you are working with face-to-face. Since my time was limited, I only met with the people I currently work with and past partners I particularly enjoyed working with.  That is a lot more useful and enjoyable way to spend precious time.
3. Take care of some (long overdue) personal business
• Nothing feels better than being able to take care of some long overdue personal business - no matter where you are! It only took an hour and it's DONE.
4. Bad flight schedule? No problem! Visit a favorite place.
• I was booked on the red-eye flight back to Montreal and I couldn't get D on the same flight. Ugh. Well, LA is only about two hours away from San Diego, so I decided to rent a car and spend the afternoon at the San Diego Zoo.  Last time I visited was 2001, so I was looking forward to taking my DSLR and adding to a collection of photos originally shot in film.  In addition, due to an accident on the highway, it took me twice as long as expected to drive to San Diego, but I was treated to a drive through Cleveland National Forest, west of Temecula.  So, the next time you are booked on a less-than-ideal flight, take the opportunity to visit a favorite place or a new place. 

Turtle photo bomber!

Related articles

• Infographic: Business Travel
• Making the Most Out of Business Travel

Exploring The New Planetarium

More than a year after the old Dow Planetarium closed it's doors, the new Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium opened this month. Having been an astronomy fan all my life, I couldn't wait to explore it.  I posted it as a MEETin event and a number of people were interested in attending.  Several dropped out due for a variety of reasons, one of which was because the Planetarium was BUSY.  The website advises visitors to buy tickets online and they are not kidding.  The 2:30pm show was sold out well in advance and one member hadn't bought her ticket so she bid her farewell and enjoyed the beautiful spring afternoon outdoors.

Planetarium with the Biodome (left) and Olympic Stadium (background)

A friend and I had bought our tickets in advance, so we explored the interactive exhibits on meteorites and life in the universe before getting in line for the first show. Before entering Continuum, the staff give you a bag so you can take off your shoes for a really immersive experience. While it's not mandatory, I recommend giving it a try.  If you are near the front of the line, you also have the option of watching the show from really comfortable bean bag chairs.  The graphics and music are amazing as you are taken on a journey from your back yard, through the universe and to the beginning of life.  It is hard to describe - you will just have to see it.

The next show, From The Earth To The Stars, is a more traditional Planetarium show where a charming narrator acquaints you with the stars currently in the sky above Montreal and then takes you through the solar system, galaxy and universe.  The graphics from the new projector were fantastic.

As great as the shows and exhibits were, the highlight of the visit for me was looking through a solar telescope set up outside the entrance.  

One of those rare moments where I'm in front of the camera

I was even allowed to put my camera up to the telescope and take a picture of the sun.  You can see the solar flares on the edge of the sun.  If you look closely, you can also see a sun spot (a slightly dark spot)  in the lower half near the middle.  That sun spot is about the size of the Earth.

Our sun through a solar telescope

I definitely recommend checking out the new Planetarium.  Just remember to get your tickets in advance.  You can get regular and Quebec resident tickets online.  Student and Access Montreal discounts are only available at the Planetarium, so arrive early.  The early morning shows were not sold out.

Related articles

• Newly built Montreal Planetarium ready to open after 18-month absence