What a Day!

Yesterday was just about as perfect as a day can get. The only thing that could have made it better was actually seeing Bradley Cooper.

My bff PM came over Monday night and we chilled a bit before going to bed. Tuesday, we got up pretty early and went for an AWESOME breakfast. Then she helped me move some boxes around and we were finally off for our official "Stalking Bradley Cooper" day.

We went straight to the Old Port, seeing as how BC was spotted there this weekend. We walked around a bit and decided to stop at a terrasse for some drinks. The terrasse made me think I was in LA or Miami or something. Wicker furniture, by the water, blue skies, people conducting business meetings... By the way can I say YUM about the drinks? I was a little disappointed that the bar didn't have a blender (no margaritas!) but I decided to have an apple martini. PM had a litchi martini. They were fantastic! So freaking good. As we were sitting there, basking in the beautiful, warm sunlight, we had a great conversation. We talked about EVERYTHING. I've come to realize that I may have only known PM for 2 or 3 years but she's one of my best and closest friends. Lord knows what I'd do without her now.

After the awesome martinis, we spotted geese along the water. I swear to God, I spent a good 20 minutes laughing my ass off about the geese. I don't know why: they were relatively normal. It was just too funny! And these geese were HUGE. I was sad that none of them honked, but they did flap their wings. And stood all in a row. What's up with that? Why were they in a row, just looking at the water. Just staring at it as if trying to decide if they wanted to swim or not. So what was our natural reaction? DO THE CREEP! BEST DANCE MOVE EVER! Yeah, we creeped a bit... and then we got bored and kept walking.

Since we were out and had a camera, we decided to do the tourist thing a bit. You know, pose in front of the scenery. A couple asked us to take a picture of them and then took one of us together. They asked us where we were from and were surprised to here us answer "Uhh, we're from Montreal." You want to know where they were from? CALIFORNIA! They were a really nice couple. So, PM and I kept wandering, taking pictures in front of random scenery. I also snapped a shot of my future condo at Habitat 67. Multi-million dollar condos, but I hope to live in one, one day. When I was little, my dad took me to one of them once. He was installing the tiles for the owner and I had a day off from school. I fell in love with the view at 7 years old.

So we kept walking, hoping to run into BC, but we had no luck. Finally, we were hot and tired so we tried driving by his rumoured hotel, the St-James. We drove by twice and didn't see him, so we decided to head home. In the evening, we went to see the 4th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean films: it was good! Yesterday was just about the perfect day.

Thanks, P!

Lactose Free, not soy

Hi, my name is Michèle and I am lactose intolerant. I know, I know, it's the 21st century, how can I be intolerant of anything? I've heard the joke before.

Anyway, fact of the matter is: I have a love/hate relationship with dairy. I love it and it hates me (or my tummy at least). I won't bore/disgust you with with the details of my symptoms... suffice to say I prefer not putting myself in that situation, especially without Lactaid. It's not a cure-all, but it helps quite a bit. I'd rather deal with the "issues" than drink soy milk, though.

Firstly, soy is a PLANT, not something with udders, something that can be milked. So calling it "milk" is false.

Secondly, soy is NOT tasty. People keep telling me it needs getting used to, or it's an acquired taste. Well, milk shouldn't be. I was one of those kids that LOVED getting milk at snack time in elementary school. In high school and CEGEP (until I realized I was lactose intolerant) I would regularly buy milk or chocolate milk in the cafeteria, not because I needed to but because I wanted to. I never understood people who told me they hated milk and pitied those with lactose intolerance or an allergy to it. Now, here I am, unable to enjoy my favourite food group without popping pills first.

Have you ever noticed how many food items (on menus, let's say) contain dairy? I recently went to Montana's and was astounded by the number of entrees that relied heavily on cheese, cream or some other form of dairy. I'm lucky, I can eat most hard cheeses with my pills, but forget about creamy cheese or cream. It bothers me that my only alternative in mainstream restaurants is to have a vegetarian entree (or simply choose to not have one, which is probably best choice). And forget about a dessert and coffee.

Coffee. I love coffee, it has become a necessity in my life: not yet an addiction, but I do believe I'm on my way. The thing is, I'm okay with that. I'd be even more okay with that, if I could get lactose free milk more regularly. As it stands, I only know a handful of places that will offer lactose free over soy. None of these are Tim Horton's, Dunkin Donuts, or any such coffee place. I don't think they even offer soy milk there, but I'm not sure as I never asked.

I feel I have a better chance at places like Starbucks or Second Cup, although it's hit and miss there too. My pet peeve, though, is that when I ask about lactose free milk, I don't want to hear about soy milk. Had I wanted to know about soy milk, I would have asked about it. So far, in the downtown area, I only know of two places that will give me lactose free milk: the Starbucks in Chapters on St-Catherine (corner Stanley) and the Second Cup on McGill College (near Sherbrooke). There are at least 6 other Starbucks' and 4 other Second Cups on St-Catherine between Aylmer and Wood. There are most likely more, but I haven't frequented all of them.

There are other places in the city that do serve lactose free milk: Starbucks in the Chapters in the West Island (on St-John's) and the Second Cup in Fairview mall (also in the West Island). If anyone knows of any others, I'd love to know.