Long fun weekend here. Last Thursday, Maj's brother Brian appeared on our doorstep unexpectedly. He'd been driving across the country from Santa Barbara for a few weeks, stopping to see friends and go camping and rock climbing along the way. Every few days he'd call our home number to tell us when he'd be coming in... but our home phone has had mixed-up wiring since our move on June 1. So his arrival was a really pleasant surprise.
That night we went out to dinner at Ouzeri, the upscale Greek restaurant around the corner. We had been trying to connect with Matt Biddulph and Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, who are visiting Montreal for a month. Matt and I were introduced at South by Southwest by connector Ben Cerveny, and Maj and Alex met separately and serendipitously at Montreal Pecha Kucha. So we did a big dinner at Ouzeri to talk and have fun. Boris Anthony came along, which made for a really great time.
We had a lot of good wines at Ouzeri -- they have the best-known Greek wine cellar in town. We started off with an Ayiotiriki white (in a cool bottle), then a Naoussa, then a Rapsani. All very tasty. Dinner was a mix of appetizers, moussaka, and a big grilled shrimp platter. Boris got a nice-looking slice of lamb, too. Oh, and we got Ouzeri's trademark saganaki: a big raw cheese, doused with ouzo and cooked flambé at the table.
Amita June doesn't like sitting at the table too much, so we took a walk outside so she could burn off some energy. A little bored, I twittered about where we were. Within 20 minutes, both Hugh and Niko cruised in to join us. Power of the Internet, dot dot dot.
We finished dinner and decided to take the talk on the road. Everyone came over to our house at 4690 rue Pontiac and we... uh... opened another bottle of wine and hung out and talked for a couple of hours. By the time the bars were open and active on Mont-Royal, everyone streamed out and Maj and I put Amita to sleep. Good time!
tags: montreal ouzeri mattbiddulph alexandredeschampssonsino borisanthony bencerveny greekwine hughmcguire niko