Tourist Trap

We spent the past few days in Quebec City. I had heard its a must see...the closet you'll get to Europe in North America...I also heard that it was expensive and since we were staying in a hotel I did not want to spend a ton of money eating out...and that gets old after awhile anyway.

Well, it is very much like Europe, Vieux Quebec is a walled port city complete with a citadel and a changing of the guard. There's been some waterfront investment, but most of the city is a snapshot from colonial settlement. Outside of the walls, it's a typical upscale urban neighborhood but there is bit of green space and a couple of suburban college campuses. 

Much to the chagrin of my husband, we didn't explore the region. We fell into the tourist trap of walking about the city, taking pictures, and spending money. As I walked, I reflected on the fact that these European monuments that we are all so enamored with, are actually symbols of oppression and hegemony...but that's a topic for another blog. The food is what really matters...

We stayed in a "boutique hotel" 10 minutes from the old city. We generally don't stay more than 2 nights in a hotel, so I needed to get creative in the "kitchen" and my gadgets came in handy. My husband insisted that we bring our mini-Keurig machine and some k-cups and it's a good thing we did because although the hotel provided a Nescafé machine...the coffee and tea were $2 each. I packed my Cuisinart Griddler (which hasn't seen the light of day in 5 years) to make paninis for one of our meals each day and as we were walking out the door we grabbed the Magic Bullet and our csa kale for green smoothies for breakfast. 

I packed everything in a tote with paper products - paper towels, plastic spoons, plastic cups, and heavy duty paper plates and bowls - I knew disposable products are expensive in Canada. We also packed cereal and snacks...real food is relatively cheap in Canada...processed food isn't. We spent less than $70 at the grocery store and had breakfast for 4 days and dinner for 3 days, plus drinks and dessert. Conversely we spent $200 on lunch for 3 days in the city and another $20 for dessert one day. 

The food we ate out was good but not spectacular...I wrote Yelp reviews about our experiences. The paninis however, were quite delicious. We had a loaf of multigrain bread and a loaf of quinoa & spelt bread. I used garlic butter, Caesar mayonnaise (regional speciality), spinach, natural smoked turkey with no fillers or preservatives (the deli meat is labeled quite clearly with the ingredients ie 16% meat protein), and shaved asiago cheese. Now the family wants to get back on the panini kick...if only I could find quinoa & spelt bread locally....