Quebec City - The Pedant on Yesterday and Patisseries

Yesterday we saw the Citadel and the Plains of Abraham, which were
important in the Seven Years' War (aka the French and Indian War) and
were fun to hike but their educational value was somewhat obscured by
three feet of soft-packed snow in which a foolish hiker might sink
into and get snow in his boot, prompting the Sherbs to remind him that
she had warned of this very occurrence just moments earlier.

Venturing outside the old city's walls, we spent some quality time at
the Chocolate Museum Erico on Rue St-Jean-Baptiste, which not only has
the tasty exotic chocolates described yesterday, but as we found out
today, dark hot chocolate up to 75% cocoa. The eponymous blend, 70%
chocolate, is very good without being too bitter.

Also yesterday, we saw the Museum of Civilization, which is as
advertised. We took a guided tour of the "Dragons: Fact and Fiction"
exhibit, which as a Canadian adaptation of a French exhibit did not
mention Trogdor among American dragon legends but did have an
exceptional amount of D&D-looking work by a local artist. There was
also an exhibit on Herge's Tintin and the research Herge did to write
his comics about Tintin in Peru.

Dinner yesterday was at Aux Anciens Canadiens, a restaurant in a 17th
century house. My meal was:

1) Wild game pate with caramelized carrots. This was a meaty but mild
pate of all the best unmentionable parts of animals. It was paired
with a sort of sweet carrot relish, which was a good complement.

2) Tomato and zucchini soup. A savory tomato broth with rice and small
chunks of zucchini. The Sherbs and I shared a tureen of this and I was
glad I could have seconds.

3) "Three Tenderloins" special. Stag, bison, and caribou medallions in
a pink pepper cream sauce reminiscent of the meatball gravy at Ikea.
Delicious sides of wild rice, caramelized beets, and puréed squash. Of
the meats, I liked the stag the best, it had a "beefier than beef"
taste and wasn't tougher than beef like the others.

4) Maple pie. I try to eat the food on a nation's flag, a rule that
stands for all countries save Mexico, Lesotho, Bhutan, and the State
of California. This was maple sugar made into a caramel pie filling,
served in a crust that had at least a stick of butter in it and topped
with creme fraische. Who can complain?

We hit two little patisserie/cafes today; one had a sort of French
bread pizza with blue cheese topping. It was smelly cheese-tastic.

Now I'm relaxing in my new heavyweight Roots button-down sweatshirt
before our pre-New Years' dinner. We're seeing the show in the Place
D'Youville, just outside the city walls. It looks to be a fabulous
spectacle; I'll blog about it tomorrow.