A Glimpse Of Montreal

H and I spent a couple of days in Montreal earlier this month. Here are a few pictures that I took during our trip.


A view of the city from my sister's balcony...



Inside the Chalet du Mont-Royal



A view from the Chalet du Mont-Royal overlooking downtown Montreal in the distance.



Looking out through a window of the chalet



The cross atop Mount Royal



View of downtown Montreal



Montreal Biosphère



One of the city's top attractions- The Montreal International Fireworks Competition



The Atwater Market's tower



The Lachine Canal cruise



Parking signs in French



Old Montreal is a major tourist attraction and is rich in history, beautiful architecture and culture.









View of the entrance to the Notre-Dame Cathedral



Inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral, Old Montreal



The Altar



Candles burning brightly...



The stained glass windows of the basilica






Montreal City Hall



Flags of Montreal, Canada and Quebec, outside City Hall, fluttering in the breeze

Blueberry Cornmeal Cake

Berries are in season now and I usually buy whatever it is that’s on sale in my grocery store. Last week, I picked up 2 pints of blueberries. After leaving them sitting in the refrigerator for almost a week, I finally decided to make a blueberry crumb cake using a recipe I’d come across in a magazine.
Now, I’ve never been one to follow any given recipe exactly- I usually just take the general idea and go from there. This time too it was no different. I started out by making a couple of minor changes to the original recipe. By the time I was done though, I’d tweaked the recipe to such an extent that it looked nothing like the original- what started out as a recipe for a blueberry crumb cake ended up becoming one for a blueberry cornmeal cake! But it turned out pretty well, and so I wanted to document it for myself.

Here's what I used-

Dry ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup fine white cornmeal
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
A pinch of salt

Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
½ cup sour cream (I used light)
¼ cup oil
1 cup brown sugar (use more for a sweeter cake)
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of one lemon
1 pint fresh blueberries

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a foil-lined round pan/baking dish with oil.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, sour cream, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest until smooth.

Add flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; whisk gently to combine.

Toss in the blueberries (reserve a few for topping the batter) and mix gently.
Pour the batter into the pan; sprinkle the remaining blueberries on top.

Bake until the cake is cooked and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Cool, cut in wedges, and serve.