Monday, July 14, 2008

A Weekend in Val-David

My bosom is burnt to a glowing crisp. So are my face, arms, back and feet. I also got a heat rash, which was gracious enough to manifest itself on my face.

But it was totally worth it because I had a great time this weekend at Val-David, Québec, and the annual 1001 Pots ceramics exposition (the largest of its kind in Canada) is a definite must-go for all pottery aficionados/as - or good daughters of of pottery aficionadas, who also happen to need a relaxing getaway! It featured over 100 pottery masters from all over the country, and the amount of ceramic pieces there was just mind-boggling.

But for a die-hard city girl who isn't a potter herself, what is there to occupy me in a little town an hour north of Montréal? All the free food, of course!

On Opening Night of the expo, there were a lot of hors d'oeuvres floating around, courtesy of local restaurant sponsors, as well as all-you-can-drink free wine. It was pretty good - as good as massified food can be anyway (by that I mean food made for a large group of people, like in cafeterias and even at weddings and banquets). I had seared tuna with caviar, crispy wonton shells with salmon sashimi salad, all sorts of canapés...I wanted to take pictures of everything I had, but I was too busy eating!

But what takes the cake in Val-David is their organic farmer's market (where I got fried). It takes place every Saturday/Sunday morning until noon on the main street, and there you can find a huge variety of excellent quality organic foods, like veggies, baked goods (mm...chocolate croissants!), waffles, meats, honey, jams, fair trade coffee, teas...and the best part is, there are samples for virtually everything!

We bought some pâté and baguettes to go with our 12-year single malt scotch whiskey later that night, when we roasted marshmallows. That was the life!

Enjoy the pictures!



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