LOVE Marche Adonis!

On the past weekend while Colin and I were out on our errands (looking for lawn mowers) we decided to stop at Marche Adonis for some fresh steaks to put on the BBQ for dinner.

When we’ve been to Richmond’s house for a BBQ he always buys his meat from there, so we knew we were expecting good beef.

We walked up and down the fresh fruit and vegetables, not since we lived in England and bought from the local fruit market have we seen such beaufiul, undamaged, ripe and perfect produce! That is one thing I’ve always hated about Canada – is that you can only really get good produce for a short period of time each year.

Marche Adonis is Lebanese, and imports much of its fruit and vegetables this time of year (from Spain & Greece), but because they are a small market everything is well taken care of. There was little to none bruised fruit on the counters.

I was very impressed! (Remember I worked in a grocery store, so I’m a grocery snob as it were)

We continued onto the fresh cheese counter, the large Olive and anti-pasto counter, then to the glorious fresh meat counter.

We bought filet minon. 5 huge beautiful and tender steaks for $20.00. There was also fresh made souvlaki and brochettes as well sausages.

We checked out the fresh fish (which all looked great and very fresh!). Then onto the bakery and fresh bread. We picked up a still warm french baguette (that we ate in the car on the way home)

Pickled eggplant, jalapenos stuffed with feta cheese, fresh made spicy steak rub rounded out our purchases.

We quickly went home and got started. Colin being the master of the BBQ got to work on preparing the meat with the spicy steak rub.

I cut the vegetables up so we could grill them too on the BBQ (We have one of those grilling baskets, which is a MUST for anyone who BBQs alot like us)

The meat was by far the most glorious steak we’ve ever cooked at home. It was simply perfect!

The ingredients of the perfect steak are as follows:

• add one Colin who loves to BBQ, and understands the importance of tempurature on the BBQ
• add great and beautiful FRESH meat from a place like Adonis
• add good quality spices

I went back to Adonis last night to pick up some more steak and other fresh meats and vegetables. We plan on BBQing all week!

Yum!

Marche Adonis

4601 Boul Des Sources
Roxboro QC, H8Y 3C5

Phone: 514-685-5050
Fax: 514-685-9268

In the Bag

My first part time job as a teenager was a cashier at the local A&P.  It was the most wonderful part time job I could have ever asked for.  In fact, if I still lived in my home town, I’d still be working there a few times a month at least to keep the benefits.

Tonight I went to the be Loblaws in Vaudreuil Dorian, its a new store.  I spent about $150 getting some goodies for Chris and Christine’s arrivial tomorrow (did I mention we are having guests???)  Normally here in Quebec, you bag your own groceries, as the cashier haphazardly throws your bread and eggs about.   Tonight I was ‘blessed’ with a girl who said she would bag them for me.  She was cut from the same cloth, and proceeded to put things in bags that just shouldn’t have gone together.  . . .

What can I say, when it comes to bagging I AM A PROFESSIONAL.  I had very extensive training on bagging groceries.  (Who would have thought there would be ‘extensive training’ for that, eh?)

So, with that in mind I give to the world tips for bagging your own groceries (or re-bagging them as the case may be)

• Have two or three bags going at any one time.  Bag like items together, or items that will be used in the same room.
  (eg.   Toothpaste and Shampoo together for the bathroom, cornflakes and sugar for the pantry.  Also, be sure to bag hot items together, Cold items together, and Frozen items together)
• Fruits and vegetables together, if there is enough fresh produce try to seperate into what would be put into the fridge, and what would be ripened on the counter.
• Build walls in your bags (this will make them more sturdy).  Use boxes or rigid items to create the walls.
• Heavy items on the bottom, light items on the top (sounds like common sense, hun?)
• Only bag like meats together (beef with beef, pork with pork etc).  Chicken should always be seperate, and wrapped in a freezer bag if available to stop cross contamination and the spread of salmonila.  Fish should also be wrapped in a freezer bag, and bagged seperate.
• Keep small items like gum, mints, greeting cards and magazines aside and bag them last, these are the easiest items to lose and forget.
• Some items should be bagged by themselves, like eggs and lightbulbs.
• Bottles of pop don’t do well in bags with other items.  2 bottles of pop in one bag. (With many store bags you can cross the handles over the necks of the bottles to create a more secure handle to carry the bag with)
• Any item with a snap-on lid etc should be bagged upright to prevent leakage.