Had a great day yesterday. It was 20C outside in Montreal, so Maj and I had a bunch of friends over for "Sunday brunch" (at 3PM). I call it "bruncher", as a twist on diner and souper, lunch and dinner in Quebecois French, respectively. Our friends Patti and Meg, Anne-Marie and Jeff, Tobias and Cato, Heather and Damien, John Usher, Niko, and Maj's sister Lori were all there.
I fired up my grill and made shrimp skewers, tuna burgers and salmon burgers (courtesy of the president), and tofu sausages, as well as corn on the cob. I prepped up a big green salad and a pasta salad, plus cheese and bread and chips and fresh guacamole. Topped off with a lot of vinho verde and the tasty EXP from Toasted Head, and we had a pretty nice meal.
Oh, and John brought a pineapple, and we had berries and ice cream and watermelon for dessert. Nice.
tags: grilling montreal bruncher
Montessori
This morning Maj and I went to visit a potential pre-school and day-care centre for Amita June. It's the Outremont Montessori school, which was pretty nice inside and had a friendly staff. My three brothers and I were all taught using the Montessori method, and my mother is a Montessori instructor, so I'm probably a little picky about Montessori schools. But the Outremont one is bilingual, and they have all the Montessori method equipment, and a real commitment to it.
The main thing I'm concerned about is that the teachers aren't AMI trained, as far as I can tell. They do a two-month workshop in the method, whereas AMI-trained teachers have one- or two-year degrees.
I think we're going to check out the program and enroll Amita June for the day care (which is less intensive than the pre-school) and see how we feel about it. That is, if we get in: they've got a full school right now, but they might be able to put us on the waiting list.
tags: amitajune preschool montessori teachers
Plattsburgh International
I'm pretty excited about the incipient opening of Plattsburgh International Airport, which calls itself "Montreal's U.S. Airport" (really!). Plattsburgh lies right across the New York (state) border, about 100km from Montreal and about a one to two hour drive depending on border crossing times.
The clear market is for Montrealers seeking discount flights to (other) destinations in the USA. I think that's going to require significantly cheaper flights than are available at Trudeau Airport. Fortunately, that might not be that hard -- Trudeau is really lacking in cheap fares. But will the new airport's fares be cheap enough to justify driving an hour and crossing a land border? I'd be surprised.
(via montreal city weblog, which is awesome.)
ddf says:
Sure, it's a bit of drive. But consider the fact that border customs is way less of a pain than airport customs. I think if you are traveling with a lot of bag and don't want to risk some extensive search before being able to board in Montreal, it might be worth the drive.
tags: plattsburgh montreal airport