Jean-Talon Market, Montreal

How would you like to have this every day or week to purchase your ingredients?  This is the Jean-Talon market in Montreal and j'adore this place!  We visit my in-laws every Christmas and my brother-in-law takes us here.  It's much smaller in the winter months, but it's still not like anything we have in Lincoln.

This trip was dedicated to picking up ingredients for meatballs from the December issue of Food and Wine.  They were a HUGE disappointment so learning from past experiences I will not post the recipe but still wanted to post to get back in the swing of things.  I love the picture above.  The cabbage reminds me of some kind of alien pod.

Anything you might need, and a few things you didn't.

Michael (a.k.a the fruit bat) was really upset when we moved him from the row upon row of free fruit samples.

And it's not just fruit and vegetables.  A quick walk outside and you get.....

The charcuterie.  That top left corner is the line you have to wait in.  Which is a) worth it and b) dangerous because you can see all the goodies beckoning from their glass cases.  What might you do with blue cheese sausages?  I'm not sure but you're mind will convince you that you will figure something out.  It took great will power just to get the ingredients we needed. 

In the end it didn't matter because Montreal is also home to smoked meat, steamies, and poutine, which I can not even begin to sing the praises of at the moment because I am now on a diet from the EIGHT pounds I gained while in Montreal.  That's not humanly possible but some how I managed.  I like to be an overachiever.  For the near future you can expect some healthier recipes.  Happy New Year.