This
past December 27th was the premiere of Nuit Blanche (All-nighter) in
Quebec, a special night where stores were open late and activities
were planned throughout the city. Coincidentally, it was also one of
the biggest snow storms of the year. The event took place at
the Marché du Vieux Port (Old Port Market), Place Royale and
the Quartier Petit-Champlain. Due to the storm, we had to leave the
car at home, so we decided to just take the bus to one location,
which, of course, had to be one of my favorites: The Old Port Market!
(or should I say, it's more like we choose to go there because it's
indoors! XD)
Since
we didn't go to the other two locations, I can't really say what they
were like; I only know that there was supposed to be some ice
sculptures shown, a DJ, some live performances, and late-night
boutiques until 2h. At the market where we went, they featured a live
gospel choir that sang until about 22h30. Besides that, it was also a
great oppotunity to explore some boutiques and food vendors in the
late hours (since the market usually closes at 17h).
Smoked
duck (on the left) and deer truffle (on the right)
The
minute we walked in, people came over to offer us some hors d'oeuvres
right away. Since this event was free, we did not expect to get any
delicate hors d'oeuvres like these.
上圖從左到右為: 燻鴨肉、鹿肉
一入會場，馬上就有工作人員很友善的招待我們一些一口塞小點心，由於這個活動是免費的，我們壓根兒沒想到可以吃到這樣精緻的食物，對於蕭貪的我簡直樂翻天了！
(閱讀中文請看續文)
The
Marché du Vieux-Port is the oldest and largest farmers market in
Quebec, and it's the only one here that is open all year-round. Due
to the change of seasons and produce, you'll find different vendors
there throughout the year. One of my favorite times to go there is
during the Christmas season. Even though you won't have as much fresh
fruits or vegetables, you'll get to see lots of other vendors selling
things like cheese, wine, holiday baked goods, jam, maple syrups
products, jewelry, Christmas items, and locally products - you name
it. I highly recommend visiting during this time of the year, and if
you're lucky enough to be here at the right time, maybe you'll get to
attend the next Nuit Blanche!
Smoked
mackerel with potato (on the top) and smoked salmon (on the bottom)
「不眠之夜
」
這個活動是去年12月27日第一次在魁北克舉辦，分別在好幾個不同地點落腳，讓有意前往共襄盛舉的民眾，在特殊的夜晚裡不但可以盡情享受購物，同時也可以觀看一些精彩的表演。巧的是，那天也是入冬以來第二次下過最大的暴風雪。活動舉辦的地點包括:老港市場
(Marché
du Vieux Port)、皇家廣場
(Place
Royale) 以及小尚普蘭街(Quartier
Petit-Champlain)。因為暴風雪的關係，我們決定專攻其中一個點就好! 不用説! 我當然是選擇我最喜歡的老港市場囉！(是説其實也是因為那地點是在室內比較暖啦！XD)
另外兩個點沒機會去，所以無法分享給大家，只聽說它們開放到半夜2點，主要是以一些那附近的精品店、DJ、歌唱表演、冰雕展覽..等等的戶外活動來招攬遊客，而我們去的老港市場，雖也有歌唱表演，但卻是以品嘗與購買食品，和手工製品為主重點。市場一般都在下午5點就打烊了，但這個特別的活動，讓遊客們可以盡情的逛到晚上10點~11點呢。
We
were also given some red wine (to keep us happy... and buying! XD)
還供應紅葡萄酒
(讓顧客喝到不醉不歸(?)，就會多買一點，這招厲害~厲害啊~ ヽ(´▽`)ﾉ)
There's
a cute little cheese shop inside the market. They're there all year
round and the quality of cheese is quite good!
市場裡有間可愛的乳酪店，這間店一年365天都不打烊，而他們所賣的也都是優質的乳酪。
They
have all kinds of cheese as you can see in the display case
種類也非常多。
They
always have plenty of oysters here. I personally don't enjoy eating
them, but you oyster eaters would be pretty happy!
因應大眾的需求，架上總能看到許多的生蠔。
They're
big on salmon. You can find a variety of salmon and gravlax here. We
got some gravlax that day and to be honest, it was just ok. I didn't
feel that it was very fresh tasting.
他們賣的燻鮭魚也琳瑯滿目，我們那天就買了一點，但説實在的，味道不怎麼樣，吃起來似乎沒有很新鮮 :(
Different
kind of smoked fish, and on the bottom shelf, they even have smoked
calamari and smoked mussels in small containers. That'll be for the
next time!
架上是不同種類的燻魚，最底層甚至還有燻魷魚及燻蚌殼。實在有太多可以選了，只好留到下次再試嘍~
A
must-try in Quebec, cidre de glace (apple ice wine). It is basically
made from frozen apple juice, and it's one of my favorite alcoholic
beverages.
來魁北克必試的 - 蘋果冰酒，這是一種以冷凍蘋果汁發酵的冰酒，也是我個人非常喜愛的一種酒。
Cider
donuts - this is one of our favorite vendors. Whenever we go there,
we always stop by and pick some up from them. They're usually freshly
made, but because of the late hour, they were getting ready to leave
and had already packed away all their equipment. We still bought some
from them, but they were not warm and soft like they usually are. My
favorite is the cinnamon flavor, which is coated with cinnamon sugar
on the outside, and when it's fresh and warm...yum!
蘋果汁甜甜圈
-
這是我們最常光顧的其中一項食物。這些甜甜圈通常都是現做的，但由於時間已晚，店家已把全部的儀器收起來了，準備收攤。雖然只剩下這些冷掉沒賣完的，但我們還是佛新來的捧場買了一點。肉桂通常是我最喜歡的口味，甜甜圈外表滾一層肉桂糖，當它剛出爐還軟軟微溫時，真是超級無敵好吃的啦！
Another
must-try in Quebec, tire d'érable (maple
taffy, sugar on snow). They were offering these to all the people
there that night. Yes, hard to believe they're giving them away for
free!) If you've seen my earlier post, Cabane
à sucre (Sugar Shack), you're
probably familiar with it. It's basically made with hot maple syrup
that has been boiled to about 112° C and then poured over a bed
of fresh ice. As the syrup starts to harden over the ice, you take
a popsicle stick, press it onto a maple syrup strip, and slowly roll
it up. It is one of my favorite Quebec local foods!
這是魁北克最富盛名的Maple taffy - 這間楓糖專賣店在那天晚上為遊客免費提供超多的Maple
taffy ，如果你已經看過我之前寫的 Cabane à sucre(SugarShack/楓糖小屋)，你對這甜品就不陌生了。它是將煮沸至約112℃的楓糖漿倒在新鮮冰床上製成的，當滾燙的糖漿碰上極低溫的冰時瞬間冷卻後，可以將短木棒放在糖漿條上慢慢捲起。它吃起來有點像麥芽糖，但比麥芽糖要軟多了，是我最喜歡的魁北克名產之一。
Maple
pearls - These are little round white chocolates that are coated with
maple sugar on the outside and filled with maple butter inside. A
perfect sweet treat for maple syrup lovers!
楓糖珍珠 - 是一種小小圓圓的白巧克力，外層撒上一些楓糖粉，巧克力裡面是滿~滿的楓糖醬，楓糖狂熱份子快點來試試看喲！
A
small wine shop that is also there all year round. They have a very
nice variety of local wines along with olive oil and vinegars. The
man who worked there was quite patient with us and let us take our
time when they were about to close.
這間小店與上面介紹的乳酪店一樣，老闆很愛錢(?)全年無休。他們有許多各式各樣在魁北克當地製造的酒，店裡也有少量的橄欖油和醋
。即使已到了快打烊的時刻，店員還是很友善也很有耐心的向我們說明店內各種不同的商品。
The
wine shop even sells honey, jam and preserves.
店內也有賣蜂蜜和五花八門的果醬。
Strawberry
wine - also a must-try local item from Quebec! I never tried this
brand before, but I've tried one from Marché de Saint-Foy, and
the strawberry flavor was quite good!!
草莓酒
-
這瓶也是來此市集地必嘗的喔~
我沒有喝過這一瓶，但是我在另一個市場(Marché
de Saint-Foy)有買過
，酒裡帶點草莓味，挺不錯的！
This
is from a vendor that sells only blueberry products. I love those
cute jars with the blueberry design. The blueberry spread even comes
with a little spreading knife.
這一攤專賣藍莓製品。我好喜歡這些可愛的果醬罐子跟包裝，左手邊的還附有果醬刮刀。
I've
never seen blueberry butter before. That would be the next thing I
try!
沒看過這種藍莓醬(
Blueberry butter)，要不是家裡還有一堆果醬，我一定會把它買回家。 XD
These
are dried blueberries inside dark chocolate. Looks good too!
這是乾燥藍莓，外層裹著苦甜巧克力，看起來就超好吃搭 ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ
I
usually see more than one, but this was the only fur boutique I saw
that night. They were offering 20% off on all those slippers and some
other items. I wanted to take more photos, but the boutique owner
told me that because some organizations are against fur, they don't
really allow people to take close-up photos. Since Quebec is so cold
and much furthur north, they wear a lot more fur than people in the
States. The practice seems rather common here.
這是一間手工毛皮製品的店，那天全館拖鞋、帽子等用品一律八折優惠。我原本想多拍些照片，但商店老闆告訴我，因為有些人反對使用毛皮的關係，他們禁止顧客拍照。在魁北克這種極度嚴寒的地方，和其它國家比起來，他們確實有較多的毛皮需求，所以這些毛皮製品在這裡算是相當普遍。
These
are little nougats that have nuts and and dried fruits inside. We
bought some last year and they were quite good, just a little bit
pricey. The texture is a bit chewy. I remember the pistachio one was
my favorite flavors.
這是當地的牛軋糖，質地有點嚼勁，與一般大眾熟悉的牛軋糖口感相近。裡面是堅果跟果乾。去年我們買過幾次，相當好吃，開心果是我最喜歡的口味，但就是貴了點.. 嘖!
These
beautiful vinegar bottles immediately grabbed my attention. The name
Épicéa means the fir from the pine tree, and all their
vinegars contain different varieties of fir (as you can see in my
photo of the bottles). It looks very pretty and I love the wax seal.
We were able to sample all the flavors and I wanted to buy every one
of them! It was that good! With the fir, it adds a distinctive flavor
but without over-powering the other flavors. It's quite unique.
From
the left: Garden vegetable and Jack pine dressing, Maple and Scots
pine dressing, Strawberry, mint and white spruce dressing, Black
spruce and Lac-St-Jean blueberry dressing, Raspberry, cranberry and
Balsam fir dressing
當我看到那一罐罐美麗的醋瓶，馬上就將我的注意力吸引過去了!! 品名Épicéa是松針的意思，所有的醋瓶內都有松針，也因為如此，再加上瓶口是以紅色的蠟封閉，看起來非常漂亮。我們很不要臉的嘗試了所有口味，每一瓶都相當有特色啊! 讓我每一瓶都想買! (媽呀，真是折磨人！早知道就不要每種都試
> 口 <") 因為加了松針，使得每種口味裡都增添了一種很獨特的味道，是我從未嘗過的！
酸醋沙拉醬的口味有(從左至右)：蔬菜與傑克松針、楓糖與Scots松針、草莓薄荷與白雲杉針、藍莓與黑雲杉針、紅莓蔓越莓與香脂冷杉針。
Another
reason I wanted to buy from them is because the product is made by
women with mental health difficulties, and because of that, their
sales profits go to support their home too. It is a good cause!
另外，讓我想跟他們購買的另一原因，是因為此產品是由心理有障礙的婦女們所製，銷售的利潤，每分每毫都直接回饋給她們的療養中心，捧個場順便做善事也挺好搭
！
Toque
& Tablier is a little boutique that specializes in Christmas
fruit cakes. The owner is very friendly!
Toque
& Tablier是一間專賣聖誕水果蛋糕的小店舖，老闆人非常的好。
Chocolate
and dark beer fruit cake. We sampled it and it was very yummy.
黑啤酒口味的巧克力，味道很讚喔~ 巧克力迷一定要搬個10盒回家搭!!
A
classic fruit cake with rum
加了萊姆酒的典型原味水果蛋糕。
As
it turned out.....the classic fruit cake won! It was our choice!
嘗試的結果是…原味水果蛋糕贏了！我們買了這個...
I
love their packaging; it is so simple and elegant. We wanted to buy
the mini classic, but there were only mini chocolate ones left.
另外還有迷你size！我好喜歡他們精美又簡單的包裝，原本想買迷你就好，但只剩下巧克力的口味...
Other items we bought:
我們還買了這些：
(Left)
A red wine with spices. We bought this the year before for the
holidays and it tasted so nice when it was served hot. A perfect wine
when it's snowy outside!
(左)有放香料的紅葡萄酒，我們前年有買過這一瓶，加熱之後，在這種寒冷的天氣下喝起來更好喝，整個身體都會暖起來喔！
(Right)
Raspberry, cranberry and Balsam fir dressing
(右)
紅莓
、蔓越莓與香脂冷杉葉酸醋沙拉醬。
So
there, you can see how hard it is to resist buying all these yummy
Quebec local items (especially after a little wine!)
有這麼多美味的魁北克當地土產，怎能不看到眼花撩亂呢？（尤其是在喝了一點酒之後！）
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