Café Joe (3068 St-Antoine E.): I spent this long weekend morning having breakfast with 3 people who spend a good deal of time thinking about drains, exploring drains, taking pictures of drains (one of them being my boyfreind). And yes, by "drains" I mean those mysterious tubes of piping that criss-cross the underbelly of the city carrying our sewage, our hormone-addled refuse and our storm water out into the great blue yonder. Despite what you may think, there is less stomping through shit than you may imagine. Regardless, it makes for interesting breakfast-time conversation.
I’ve resigned myself to being the screechy-voiced person who constantly stammers, "Isn’t that dangerous?!", but I’m (secretly?) charmed by it. And we had plenty of time to discuss drains, plus a million other topics, as we waited for our breakfast at Café Joe. It’s a cute place, that kind of sunny, Formica, rag-tag melange that is easier to find in Montreal than most Canadian cities. Danielle, a Francophone who knows her breakfast places, calls it "Anglophone hippie" because it’s hard to find a Francophone place like this these days, even though I associate the Montreal hippie aesthetic with Francophones. Anyway. It was one of the topics we discussed. The point being that we. Waited. So. Long. For. Our. Breakfast. Granted, it was a holiday and they had staffed only for a weekday, but seriously? 20 minutes for our coffees? Add another half hour for an allongé plus our breakfasts which came maybe an hour later. Granted, the food was enjoyable (above average diner fare), and I would possibly go again if I knew the wait wouldn’t be so long. When we were finally finished, they dropped me off at the nearby Atwater Market so that they could do their exploring, and I bought fingerling potatoes, fennel, fiddleheads and the fixings for a Cola Cake.
In the time it took for us to wait for our breakfast, I could’ve baked this cake. The recipe is from "Two for the Road" by Jane and Michael Stern, which I read (devoured, actually) on my train trip back to Montreal last night (thank you to Emily for the recommendation!). Should I feel guilty that I’m excited about eating a slice of this for breakfast tomorrow morning while I wait for the bus on my way to work, which will hopefully be running despite the Montreal Metro strike? I’m leaning towards "yes".
Cola Cake with Broiled Peanut Butter Frosting
Jane and Michael Stern
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
16 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa [I only had uh, Quick at home, and it was fine – I just cut down on a little bit of the sugar]
1 cup Cola with fizz [they list Pepsi, but I used Coca-Cola because I am a Coke kind of person]
½ cup buttermilk [I substituted ½ tablespoon of lemon juice + enough milk to make a half cup]
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup miniature marshmallows
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking pan.
Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl.
In another bowl combine the melted butter, Coke and cocoa and pour into the flour and sugar.
Sir until well blended.
Add the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, vanilla.
Stir in the marshmallows.
Pour into the pan and bake for 40 minutes.
For the peanut butter frosting, cream together 6 tablespoons of butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cups of smooth peanut butter and a ¼ cup milk. They also call for 2/3 chopped salted peanuts, but I didn’t have any, so I added a dash of salt. When the cake has cooled a little, slather the icing on top, and then broil for a few seconds until the frosting starts to bubble. Remove and cool completely.
The cake is moist and sweet and the marshmallows melt into a cloud-like consistency, impossible to discern from the cake.
And, if you want to learn about drains, or at least see beautiful pictures of them and other abandoned locations:
Andrew: http://worksongs.com
Danielle: http://www.uer.ca/~nel58/photos/
Michael: http://vanishingpoint.ca/
I’ve resigned myself to being the screechy-voiced person who constantly stammers, "Isn’t that dangerous?!", but I’m (secretly?) charmed by it. And we had plenty of time to discuss drains, plus a million other topics, as we waited for our breakfast at Café Joe. It’s a cute place, that kind of sunny, Formica, rag-tag melange that is easier to find in Montreal than most Canadian cities. Danielle, a Francophone who knows her breakfast places, calls it "Anglophone hippie" because it’s hard to find a Francophone place like this these days, even though I associate the Montreal hippie aesthetic with Francophones. Anyway. It was one of the topics we discussed. The point being that we. Waited. So. Long. For. Our. Breakfast. Granted, it was a holiday and they had staffed only for a weekday, but seriously? 20 minutes for our coffees? Add another half hour for an allongé plus our breakfasts which came maybe an hour later. Granted, the food was enjoyable (above average diner fare), and I would possibly go again if I knew the wait wouldn’t be so long. When we were finally finished, they dropped me off at the nearby Atwater Market so that they could do their exploring, and I bought fingerling potatoes, fennel, fiddleheads and the fixings for a Cola Cake.
In the time it took for us to wait for our breakfast, I could’ve baked this cake. The recipe is from "Two for the Road" by Jane and Michael Stern, which I read (devoured, actually) on my train trip back to Montreal last night (thank you to Emily for the recommendation!). Should I feel guilty that I’m excited about eating a slice of this for breakfast tomorrow morning while I wait for the bus on my way to work, which will hopefully be running despite the Montreal Metro strike? I’m leaning towards "yes".
Cola Cake with Broiled Peanut Butter Frosting
Jane and Michael Stern
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
16 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa [I only had uh, Quick at home, and it was fine – I just cut down on a little bit of the sugar]
1 cup Cola with fizz [they list Pepsi, but I used Coca-Cola because I am a Coke kind of person]
½ cup buttermilk [I substituted ½ tablespoon of lemon juice + enough milk to make a half cup]
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup miniature marshmallows
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking pan.
Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl.
In another bowl combine the melted butter, Coke and cocoa and pour into the flour and sugar.
Sir until well blended.
Add the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, vanilla.
Stir in the marshmallows.
Pour into the pan and bake for 40 minutes.
For the peanut butter frosting, cream together 6 tablespoons of butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cups of smooth peanut butter and a ¼ cup milk. They also call for 2/3 chopped salted peanuts, but I didn’t have any, so I added a dash of salt. When the cake has cooled a little, slather the icing on top, and then broil for a few seconds until the frosting starts to bubble. Remove and cool completely.
The cake is moist and sweet and the marshmallows melt into a cloud-like consistency, impossible to discern from the cake.
And, if you want to learn about drains, or at least see beautiful pictures of them and other abandoned locations:
Andrew: http://worksongs.com
Danielle: http://www.uer.ca/~nel58/photos/
Michael: http://vanishingpoint.ca/
