La Croissanterie (5200, rue Hutchison): We are hanging onto the last threads of summer and I'm not quite ready to let it go, so when a summerish opportunity presents itself I will take advantage of it, especially when it comes to outdoor dining. A breakfast on a shady terrace, a cup of good coffee (or an allongé, preferably), a good dining mate, and a newspaper = a pretty perfect Indian summer morning.

La Croissanterie is a cute little breakfast place, maybe a little packed with chi-chi Outremont types, but the people who work there are always super friendly and anyway, it's never bothered me because yes, chi-chi Outremont types are people too, and I like all people, etc. I digress. I like the egg and cheese croissant sandwiches, but you can also get croque-monsieurs or other types of sandwiches. For wintertime reference the insides are just as charming, all pressed tin roofs and wrought-iron, but like with most things, I prefer it in the summer.

A few weeks ago in the midst of a heatwave, Molly and Mike brought us over to Mister Spicee (6889 Victoria, Montreal), a tiny Trinidadian fast food place that specializes in doubles (two pieces of yellow, fried flatbread stuffed with things like chickpeas and goat meat). We picked up a few, along with an order of pholourie (savoury deep fried dough!), and ate the greasy, spicy, delicious mess in a nearby park. When we were done, we ducked into a small Trinidadian market where Molly was in search of a particular masala blend she could use for an attempt at pickled scotch bonnet peppers. While we poked around the store, I found a package of "Tea Chocolate". The small package contained two ping pong sized balls of chocolate, a single nutmeg nut, a few cinnamon sticks and leaves. I bought it.

After some Internet research I discovered that I had purchased Jamaican hot chocolate, a common breakfast drink in Jamaica. The chocolate balls are made of roasted cocoa seeds that have been pounded to a pulp and then rolled into balls. A few days later, I got an email from Molly asking me how the chocolate tea had turned out. At the time it was too hot to even think about drinking hot chocolate, so I waited until now, mid-September, when the air has taken on that early autumn biting chill. I invited Molly over to try it out with me. We skipped ahead and drank the sweet hot chocolate with desert instead of breakfast: my end-of-summer plum crumble, her homemade pistachio ice cream.

(Directions are based on this excellent write-up.)

1 Jamaican chocolate ball
3 tbsp sugar
¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
3 cups water (the recipe suggested a quart, but we found it watered down the chocolate)
A pinch of salt.
Cinnamon leaves
Nutmeg

Grate chocolate ball onto a plate.

Bring the water to boil in the meantime, and then add chocolate and cinnamon to the pot of boiling water.

Allow the tea to boil for fifteen to twenty minutes. Sweeten to taste. Fish out the assorted cinnamon sticks and leaves. Pour into mugs and grate nutmeg to taste into your drink.

And drink. Just a warning - the oils from the chocolate rise to the top of the mug and create a hot slick that you might want to let cool down before taking that first sip.

The package I bought was fairly old, so the flavours were more muted than what I imagine the real thing to taste like. But the grating of the chocolate and nutmeg, followed by a nice slurp of condensed milk makes for a satisfying ritual. With autumn just around the corner, this might be the kind of beverage you want stocked in your kitchen for those days when you need something a little different to cut through the cold.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

It's been awhile, my friends. But what can I say? It was our first summer in Montreal. I was busy doing things.


I made a few loaves of bread.


Some strawberry rhubarb jam.


Tried pickling.


Baked things like these blueberrry muffins.


And a few pies.


Went to the Jean Talon Market (practically) every weekend, on the lookout for the freshest, sweetest and most interesting fruits and vegetables. Became particularly obsessed with finding heirloom tomatoes like this:


(These were in Toronto, though)


Or this (from Jean Talon)


Had multiple barbecues.


Got breakfast cooked for me by friends.

How can you blame me for not keeping this up-to-date?

More soon.