Ottawa and poutine

On Friday, we ventured into Ottawa to shop at the open-air farmers’ market, watch the Changing of the Guard on Parliament Hill, and try some traditional Canadian food.

Poutine is a common Canadian snack dish (originally from Quebec), made with French fries, topped with brown gravy, and cheese curds.

The group wanted to know if I was going to post a recipe for it. I suppose that if I loved the stuff I would do so, but frankly, I found it rather disgusting.

For that reason, here is the best I can give you as far as a recipe goes; Purchase a bag of frozen fries, a can of brown beef gravy, and a bag of cheese curds, which can be found at Whole Foods. Bake or deep-fry the French fries and heat the gravy, place fries on a serving dish, sprinkle with curds, then pour the heated gravy over the top. There you have it, Poutine, the favorite snack food of Canada. Enjoy!

I had expected the Changing of the Guard in Canada to be similar to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace in London. Again, not quite so. There was still plenty of pomp and circumstance, maybe even more, but don’t expect the same sort of stoic affair.

These guards not only smile and speak, but they will also pose for pictures with you as well. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that they aren’t actually “guarding” anything. The photo above shows the Canadian Guard, while the photo below shows the British Guard at Buckingham Palace.

Next, we went up to La Chapelle du Souvenir (The Memorial Chamber) inside the Peace Tower. The Tower’s cornerstone was laid by Edward Prince of Wales on September 1, 1919.

The tower stands as a symbol of peace and the Chamber is dedicated to the memory of Canadians who have died in military service and testifies that the struggle for peace comes at the cost of human life.

In the center of the Chamber, there is an Altar. Protected in a glass-topped case and watched over by statuettes of kneeling angels, sits the first Book of Remembrance. Inside are inscribed the names of the 66,655 individuals who lost their lives in the First World War. Since that book was completed, six more books have been made.

The pages are turned each day until each book reaches its last page, then the books begin at page one again. On this day, the book was turned to the O’s page. I found an entry with my maiden name, Otter. When I return to Arizona, I’ll have to ask my dad about Wensley Scott Otter.

Before going into the Chamber, the elevator takes you to the top of the tower. You look out the banks of windows just below the clock face.

The 365-degree views of Ottawa are stunning.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Marché.  Byward Market is Canada’s oldest continuously operating farmers’ market.

The market building is open year-round, and open-air stalls are operated in the warmer months offering fresh produce and flowers.

Thank you, Paul and Kim, for an outstanding day in Ottawa! xoxo