Canada & Culinary Adventure

Decided to take a risk and *meet* someone up in Canada. Who, and activities pursued will be left politely non-specific, but needless to say...it was a very nice weekend, and leads me to believe that my semi-hermitage should, just perhaps, be relaxed a tad.

Nonetheless, he'd mentioned an odd dish that sounded interesting - so in the spirit of culinary adventure, I ventured forth with him to try this odd new dish "poutine".


Emerging out of Quebec (allegedly in the mid-1950's) it's apparently fairly common across Canada today. The basics are fries, gravy, and cheese curds with assorted optional ingredients added.

We visited a poutine place on Davies in Vancouver, B.C. that shall remain nameless. We both had different varieties. In retrospect, I should have been concerned the moment I saw "vegan gravy" proudly displayed. Within a few hours he was feeling poorly, and my gut was a ticking time bomb.

I have not had such adventure since my initial adventures in Ethiopian cuisine. About midnight, as we were completing the B.C. Bar Tour - my endurance expired and we headed back to the hotel, where I sequestered myself for what I believed would be a brief moment in the restroom.

My gut had other plans. Vesuvius erupted with all the violence and flame-based sensation of the after effects of a Thai 5-star curry w/ the shrimp gone bad...reducing me, by the end, to the occasional whimper and trembling hopes that an end was in sight.

Needless to say, this rather crushed amatory hopes for the evening...and my respect and affection for my amatory partner are only enhanced by his understanding and kindness as I lay there afterwards...exhausted and in pain...with little or no desire to move, let alone pursue bedroom adventure.

I am, however, deeply grateful about the whole issue of timing. Things could have been FAR more traumatic all the way around.

I do believe that this establishes poutine, at least for the forseeable future, firmly on the list of foods that are *not* my friends. This may ALSO establish that "new culinary adventures on a first weekend" are a bad choice.