Some Experiences With Acadian Food

During my early April trip to the Bouctouche area in search of a home for us I was intrigued by a dish listed on the menu of the B&B: Râpée. What I was served was a sort of potato pie and, to be honest, I did not like it. It tasted even worse than it looked. It looked and tasted burnt.



Much as I love potatoes I couldn't eat more than a bite or two; I took the remainder back to my room with me in case my stomach pangs eventually overruled my taste buds, but I ended up throwing it away, painstakingly wrapped to disguise it for fear that the maid would think that I was insulting Acadians by dissing their food. Later during that trip I heard of another Acadian dish called poutine râpée, not available on the B&B menu but said to be really tasty and much better than poutine québécois. I decided to wait to try this Acadian dish with Toad, if and when we moved to the area, which postponed a possible second gustatory disappointment. Our realtor had cautioned me to be sure to get fresh poutine râpée because if it is not fresh it is not good.

A week or so after our move Toad and I made a trip to the Service Canada office in Richibucto and found, also in the mall, a bakery called Cook Nook. We were exhausted and hungry, as we often are, and had been hoping to get a sandwich; we were dismayed to see only sweets and breads on the menu. The bakery has four small tables along the side windows that presented a welcoming spot to rest and have a goodie of some sort. We noticed two women being brought some unusual-looking spherical food and asked the waitress what the dish was. That was our first experience with poutine râpée in the flesh, so to speak. It turns out that the Cook Nook makes a limited amount of poutine râpée every Thursday and it is available first-come, first-served until they run out. We had had the good fortune to find the bakery on a Thursday, at lunchtime. Lucky us! We both enjoyed the dish, especially Toad. Not only is the poutine râpée tasty, it is fairly inexpensive at $2.75 a serving. Since that Thursday we have gone back to the Cook Nook several times for a bite and to buy baked goods or dried legumes from their bulk food section.

If and when we get a kitchen stove and once again have an oven I hope to try my hand at making a version of poutine râpée, modified a bit as far as the filling goes. I'm not really keen on salt pork. The recipe I intend to use as a base is here, along with some history of the dish. It is potato dumpling with salt pork filling, floured and simmered for 2 to 2.5 hours in salted water. The potato dumpling is made of mashed potatoes mixed with grated potatoes ("râpée" means "grated"). Last Thursday when we were in Richibucto for a medical appointment we stopped in at the Cook Nook and I took a few photos of Toad's poutine râpée for posterity.







The third time that we ate at the Cook Nook we split a different kind of Acadian poutine that my sweet tooth and I really enjoy: Poutine à Trou (recipe here). This is a dessert dumpling with a hole in the top ("trou" means "hole") full of goodies; diced apples, cranberries and raisins are placed in a pastry shell that is folded around them to form a ball, a hole is made in the top and the dumpling is baked. When nearly baked, brown sugar syrup is poured into the hole to make the dumpling nice and juicy within yet not soggy. Yum! These I will definitely bake for us when we get an oven! Here are photos of my scrumptious Poutine à Trou at the Cook Nook last Thursday.





And here are a few photos of the bakery itself. Their pies are delicious and are much in demand, as is their bread, in the Cook Nook and in the area co-ops. I highly recommend this bakery and feel very fortunate to have it fairly nearby.

Phillip Toledano photo essay: days with my father

Not everyone has (or had) a father they love and admire as much as Phillip Toledano did his, but most of us can still appreciate the bond between these two men and the beauty of the images and the prose found in the photo essay days with my father. I was moved to tears.

Swollen Knees

Mattawa Royalty: Princesses and Queens in Stitches

At the end of May, during the stress and mayhem of looking for a new home, I had a lovely respite one Thursday evening in Mattawa when I attended the first Blue Sky Stitcher's Ladies Night Out. It had been a busy week, for in addition to arranging the details of the move and the mortgage I had managed my final PEP Talk the evening before and had attended my last MWRC board meeting that Wednesday as well. I was meeting myself coming and going, as the saying goes. So I was very weary on the evening of May 28th, and, to be honest, not looking forward to getting dressed up to attend the fundraising event. But I had promised to buy a ticket from the organizer, and had parted with $10 for it, and some social conscience or whatnot within me prompted me to support the group with my presence as well as my ticket money. It was to be my last hurrah in Mattawa, as I would not be in town for Voyageur Days or any other event. I went.

I went alone, taking for granted that I would see familiar faces to join. As it turned out my friends were either working at the event or were sitting in groups with their friends and their tables were full. I have always been somewhat of a loner and never minded attending anything alone, so I found a seat at the back where I could rest and observe the festivities. The size of the audience was a pleasant surprise. As you can see in the photos there were a lot of women enjoying this night out with the girls, all of us given tiaras at the door and treated like princesses.

My friend Princess Jeannine

Princesses Jeannine and Ginger

view from the back of the room

view from the front of the room following the auction (note basket on table), when most of the crowd had left

Initially we were entertained by a musical family who played and sang while we selected our choice of several tasty-sounding desserts and tea or coffee. And then there was a great build-up to one of the main events (the other being the auction): a 'fashion show' was in store for us, one kept so deliciously secret that we were forbidden to photograph it. Accompanied by pop music selections 'appropo' to each model's outfit, local 'girls' (men in drag) danced and cavorted along the aisle runway as the emcee described their clothing and accessories. I recognized two of the models, but had to ask the woman next to me (a local) who a particularly cute model was. It was my insurance agent, Pierre/Pierrette! Hahaha! He was gorgeous and gregarious--quite a wonderful queen of the night! The fashion show certainly turned what could easily have been a blah event into an evening of revelry and did wonders for my worn spirit. The auction (too rich for my blood) followed the fashion show; many lovely items were up for bid, with the money going to support the Blue Sky Stitchers.

Displayed around the room, but with the majority behind the area where I sat, were dozens of beautiful quilts created by members of the Blue Sky Stitchers. I took photos of several of the quilts and other handiwork, and have shared some of them here. Click on images to enlarge them.

































































There were two very specially crafted items which were lovingly displayed to us by two of the princess stitchers and then placed in the entry for the rest of the evening (see photos). These items were stitched in honor of a member of the group who passed away from cancer several months ago.

This needlepoint is to be displayed in the hospital chapel

I'm not sure where this angel quilt will be permanently displayed

Here in New Brunswick we still are not settled into our house so I have yet to get involved with any volunteer or social organizations. I miss the occasional outings I had with friends back in Mattawa, but have a lot of good memories from my three years there and look forward to seeing my friends when I return to Mattawa for a visit (and to pick up my car) in a few weeks.