Saturdays with Charlie

The best face in town

Yesterday was the first day off from work in twenty-one days. I woke up late in the morning to discover that I had slept for twelve hours straight. I think I was tired. It was one of those weird days where it threatens to rain all day, but the sun did hold out for my walk with Charlie. One of the interview questions I was asked during my residency interviews was, "What is your idea of a perfect Saturday?" Although it was an unexpected question, it is one I have asked myself a number of times, so I was able to spew out my answer with perhaps a little too much unbridled enthusiasm.

I think yesterday came pretty close to perfection. Sleeping in, picking up a latte, heading to the park with Charlie. Home to read and putz about, mini-outing to Broadway where I picked up some white coconut balsamic vinegar from Oliv (it is eye-roll-back-in-your-head good), and an almond croissant at Il Secondo (of course). The day was capped off with some BBQ and watching World War Z with friends. The best part of any Saturday though? Is the fact that it is followed by Sunday, and in this case it is a Sunday where I don't have to work. High five!

Croissant and a book...The Devil in the White City

As of one month ago I had six books on the go. Oops. One of those books is "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." I'm not sure, because I haven't finished it yet, but I'm pretty sure not finishing things that you start is not a habit of highly effective people. The San Francisco escape did at least afford an opportunity to whittle that list of six books down to five. I was engrossed in the book, "The Devil in the White City," which I have since learned from the interwebs, might potentially be made into a movie by my junior high heart throb, Leonardo DiCaprio.

Picture break. This is from Wikipedia. 

I was trying to broaden my horizons by reading more non-fiction, and this book was an excellent starting point. It reads like a novel in many ways, and at times the pace of the book reminded me of "In Cold Blood." I have had multiple people recommend a number of different books by Erik Larson and I opted for Devil in the White City because of my new-found love for Chicago after visiting there last October. Briefly, the book tells two parallel tales about Daniel Burnham, one of the principal architects behind the 1893 World's Fair, and Dr. H. H. Holmes, a serial killer who resided in the city at that time and whose sociopathic behaviours escalated around the buzz of the World's Fair.

One of my favorite aspects while reading this book was the vision that the author manages to create of Chicago in the throws of preparing for the World's Fair . I loved the contrast of the grittiness of a young industrial city with the lofty vision of the architects for the spectacle of the buildings. The shaping of American identity felt entwined within the events of the this decade, and the World Fair comes across as an important milestone in this regard.

However, the focus on Holmes exposes a darker underbelly of the city and perhaps provokes us to rethink the sanitized version of history that we often receive. Holmes represents darker elements within the city, and the description of his manipulative, sociopathic pursuits are bone chilling. I did get the sense that sometimes the account of Holmes' actions were somewhat fictionalized, but this is probably due to the fact that there was little reliable information on him to begin with. It is the story of Holmes that quickens the pace of he book, and leaves you engrossed and unable to put the book down (except when you need to pause because Holmes is giving you the heebie jeebies, because that might just happen).

I have developed a rating scale for by book reviews and on a scale of 1 to 5 literary pugs I rate this book a 4. I will caution however, it's not a book for someone who is easily creeped out, because Holmes is as creepy as they come. If and when this is made into a movie, he will be a terrifying character to see brought to life.

4 out of 5 literary pugs recommend "The Devil in the White City"

The Croissant Returns

So a number of months have passed and I have been blissfully eating croissant without taking pause to post. I have taken pause to photograph my food, in good first-world fashion. I usually remember to do it before I take a bite, but not always. Today's picture plays homage to Soleio Foods, which closed up shop in Saskatoon about a month ago. It caught me completely by surprise. There weren't any whispers in the city that I caught wind of to warn me of it's impending closure - I just happened to visit there on it's last day before I flew out for a week of more croissant indulgence in San Francisco (Oh hay 30th birthday week!). Needless to say, I was pretty gutted to learn that Saturday morning croissants at Soleio were going to be a thing of the past. It was a nice bright and sunny space, with great coffee to accompany their baked goods. Overall, I find there is a dearth of these types of cafes in Saskatoon. In the weeks since Soleio closed I have felt it's absence. On the plus side, I guess this means I'll just have to start perusing the city's pastry joints again.

Croissant and a Movie: Amour

Okay, this is really a thinly veiled attempt to incorporate my movie love into the blog. I'm not watching movies with croissant, nor have I ever done so, but it's quite possible that it might happen some Friday night if I'm feeling particularly wild and crazy. However, in light of the upcoming Academy Awards this Sunday night I thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce the "Croissant and a Movie" column on the blog, which I plan on having as a recurring feature.

While in Edmonton last weekend I rounded out seeing the list of Academy Award best picture nominees by watching "Amour". It was the only film I hadn't managed to catch so far, and in order to flesh out my predictions for this years winners I made an effort to catch it before heading back to Saskatoon. The film has a very theatric feel - the entire plot takes place within the apartment of an elderly couple. I can easily see this story being performed live on a stage.

"Amour" touches on a number of themes that are near and dear to my heart - namely, aging, health, frailty, and end of life care as examples. I'm sure these are all areas many people can relate to as they see their parents and grandparents aging. In addition, I recently finished a month of in-patient neurology and my experience from that rotation resonated with the plot developments early on. At the outset of the film, the wife experiences a stroke that leaves her paralyzed down her right side, although her mind and language are preserved (NOTE: medically, this makes no sense to me - normally, anyone with arm and leg paralysis would loose language function as well but I guess I have to allow for a little creative license). She comes home from hospital and forces her husband to promise that he will never take her back to hospital. It is clearly expressed that any further set backs she faces as she approaches the end of her life are to be spent at home. Her husband promises and therein he makes his biggest gesture of love to her. I've heard the movie described as a beautiful love story - and I get how it can be viewed that way, but I think it shows the darker side of love too.

We watch as he struggles to cope with first her physical failings, and then cognitive failings. He upholds his promise despite having a daughter who will occasionally visit and feebly attempt to control the situation. Clearly, she is struggling with the slow loss of her mother, but her suggestions felt somewhat condescending from my point of view, since she wasn't immersed in her mother's care on a daily basis. As the wife fails, we also watch the husband's internal struggle with self doubt, frustration, and fear at losing a partner who he shared a life and career with. It was the husband's struggle that I found difficult to understand. He is plagued by nightmares, and sometimes I wondered whether we were watching real events or if he was becoming delirious as his wife gets progressively worse.

Regardless, this movie is depressing and I left feeling rather dissatisfied with it. The film was very well received by critics, which makes me think it must have resonated with some people, but I couldn't help but find it too stylized to really capture what families face with the loss of a loved family member - particularly with that agonizing slow decline. It's such a complicated time, fraught with mixed emotions of love, loss, guilt, anger, frustration, feeling trapped. I think the film tried to convey this complexity with the husband's breakdown toward the end, but that is where I felt the film really faltered. I just felt confused by what he was going through. Perhaps this was the intention? I'm not sure, but I really found the line between reality and dream obscured near the end.

It was interesting to see that Amour was included in the best picture nominations. It's not one I would have included. Looking at the list of the rest of the nominees for the best picture category, I feel really torn between betting on Lincoln or Argo for the win. After seeing Lincoln I was convinced it would be the winner because it had so many features of an Oscar winning film - the biopic advantage, large cinematic scenes, an epic struggle to end a dark chapter in American history. However, when I saw Argo a few weeks later I was really blown away. It was engaging, it felt original, and was well acted and directed. As a whole, I thought Argo was actually better polished, more unified story. I thought Lincoln should have ended earlier - the epic proportions sort of got the better of the film. I also really loved Life of Pi, but I think the other two will make it difficult for Pi to win. Ultimately  I think when it comes down to it, my pick is for Argo as the likely winner. Two more nights until the party starts!

Sally knows how it's done.

Escape to Eddy Beach (Also known as Edmonton, Alberta)

Some of the Canadian provinces have caught onto the fact that going from January to the March/April period when Easter finally arrives without a single day of vacation is nothing short of pure torture. Nova Scotia remains in the dark ages, but now that I am living in the enlightened province of Saskatchewan I got to experience the fabulous February Family Day long weekend. As a result, Friday evening Mr. Croissantnoisseur and I piled into the car and headed further west to Edmonton for a weekend in the big city.

We received multiple recommendations to visit The Duchess Bake Shop in Edmonton. It wasn't until mid-day Saturday that we made it there, and it was evident at first glance that if one wanted to sit down in the bakery it required either arriving upon opening, or gearing up for an intense lurk-and-pounce session in order to nab a table. The popularity is of course a testament to the coffee and food offered at The Duchess.

I opted for the dark chocolate filled croissant, and I was impressed. The chocolate was warm and semi-melted, and the pastry was flaky but not dry. I liked the sweet but slightly bitter flavour of the darker chocolate, which helped the croissant from becoming overly sweet.

Visiting the bake shop is worthwhile simply for the experience itself. The interior reminded me of Paris-meets-Manhattan upscale bakery, which is not something you find everyday in Canadian cities. I also bought a package of the macaroons, on recommendation from one of my colleagues but I am saving those for my post-work treat throughout the week. I might also have an almond croissant tucked away as well...and some florentines. Oops.

Croissantnoisseur: Origins

For about the past two years, I have enjoyed a fairly regular Saturday morning routine. It would begin with a trip to the Farmer's Market in my hometown of Halifax, where I would wander the stalls in search of an indulgent Saturday morning pastry breakfast. Through this, I began to develop a healthy (well, perhaps unhealthy) appreciation for croissant, and I would jokingly tell my friends and husband that I was becoming a Croissantnoisseur.

Last year, I had to travel frequently throughout Canada, and this only made matters worse. Whenever I was in a new city, I sought out croissant recommendations in an effort to find the perfect croissant. Perfection is certainly subjective, but I think it combines a balance of just the right size, density, and flakiness. I have my favourites, but perhaps more on that later. I mentioned to more than a few friends, and my husband, that if I ever had a blog it would be about croissant. I figured it was a lofty comment, without much intention to really put words into action.

My life has been recently relocated from Halifax to the Canadian prairies, and although I find the croissant selection much thinner in my current city, I still love exploring the small bakeries and shops in the heart of the Canadian breadbasket. I figured the smaller selection here really would make the idea of a blog about croissant much less realistic, but when I came home today from work I had a fresh injection of inspiration from my husband.

So, without further ado, here is the first entry from the Croissantnoisseur. Tonight's entry features croissant from Christie's Bakery in Saskatoon. As a Valentine's treat, my husband picked them up to make ham and cheese stuffed croissant with an onion dijon sauce. He baked them wrapped in tinfoil for sixteen minutes, and the finished product was a rich, flaky and tangy treat. I've been impressed with the plain Christie's croissant before, and my survey of the Saskatoon websites thus far suggest they are among the best in the city.

The nice thing about this dinner too is that it was quick and easy, and even if the croissant aren't the best in town or are turning stale, baking them in tinfoil is going to make warm and crispy.

Happy Valentine's!

Stay tuned for future posts as we embark on our first attempts at making homemade croissant.


**I might add that I have no culinary/pastry training whatsoever - so if you're looking for truly expert commentary then you need to keep googling.  I also apologize for the amateur photography - this is a learning process :)