Sunday Brunch: L'Avenue

What’s better than catching up with an old friend? Doing it over great food of course! This morning my friend Karen and I hit up L’Avenue for a late breakfast. She warned me that there might be a bit of a line, and boy was she right! THe short 15 minute wait was thanks to the fact that we agreed to sit at the small table near the door. We were pretty humgry.

Located at the heart of the Plateau, L’Avenue serves up AWESOME breakfasts, brunches and lunches! The meals are kinda pricey, but the portions HUGE-so you really are getting enough bang for your buck

The ambiance is also really cool-it reminded me of a hip place you would find in New York. It’s small and super narrow, but the entire wall is decked out in a graffiti like design-and there’s a motor cycle suspended from the ceiling!! (not gonna lie, this freaked me out-I tend to dislike large and heavy objects floating over my head)

Most importantly, the food was really good! I opted for a lighter breakfast of yogurt and granola, which was served in a huge parfait glass. Karen tried the goat cheese omelette, which was served with baked potatoes and a fruit kabob. The portion was huge-two could have easily shared! I hear the eggs benedict is supposed to also be popular and delicious and the smoothies super tasty and thick.

Would I go back? Sure. I’m not a huge fan of waiting in line and sitting in tight and narrow spaces, but I would probably make an exception. The Plateau  is adorable and something new from the downtown, St-Catherine area that I tend to stick around.

Final Verdict: I recommend it. Anything that reminds me of New York City makes my “good” list.

Enjoy the last day of break!

- Pam x

Laurier Gordon Ramsay...Now Just Laurier?

Ever since becoming increasingly involved in the twitter community, I’ve begun to notice the perks of this system. I now “follow” newspapers, magazines and breaking news channels, knowing very well that I am more likely to keep informed if I see the news on the web, rather than pick up the morning newspaper or listen to the radio.

The latest piece of information I discovered was via @mtlgazette. On Wednesday, the news channel broke the news that Gordon Ramsay’s participation in Montreal’s famous Laurier BBQ was terminated. Owner Danny Lavy complained that Ramsay was too famous to come to the restaurant and participate in key managerial tasks, and was in the process of removing “Gordon Ramsay” from the restaurant’s new name: Laurier Gordon Ramsay.

Although I’ve never eaten at Laurier BBQ after Ramsay’s arrival, it was certainly on my to do list. I have to say, this news was somewhat disappointing. Lavy argues that

“[Laurier BBQ] is a local restaurant with a lot of heritage. We want to respect the clientele and deliver what they want when they come here. He didn’t understand what was important to us” (Montreal Gazette).

Being a management student, I understand Mr. Lavy’s point. The key to success in the restaurant business is keeping the customer happy. However, many customers liked this new flair that Laurier offered. Maybe they were driven to try the popularized visions and creations of a celebrity chef?

I for one would have loved to.

What do you think? Are you happy or disappointed with Ramsay’s departure?

I’ll link the online article so everyone can read it.

Looking forward to your feedback!

Happy reading week fellow students!

Love always,

Pam x

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Celebrity+chef+Gordon+Ramsay+appears+done+Montreal/6159135/story.html

Pinterest Pandemonium!

Ask anyone of my friends, and they will tell you I am pinterest obsessed. I first discovered this site in the summer, when midterms and extra curriculars did not dominate almost every minute of my life. However, do not worry, I still find to browse…daily.

Pinterest is defined as a “photo sharing website,” designed to connect everyone from around the world based on the things that interest them. You pin your favorite photos to a board, a collection of pictures on a given topic, and voila-your photos are saved and ready to share.

Pinterest classifies its photographs and videos in order to be found easier, so as you can imagine, my favorite section is clearly the “Food and Drink.”

All types of tantalizing, mouth-watering dishes from around the world are displayed, and better yet, following the picture’s link will lead to you the recipe and original source of the photo. More often than not, the picture is redirected to a blog of some sort, whether it be lifestyle, fitness or just food themed in general.

With over 2 million active users a month, posting a picture and linking a personal blog is an excellent way to gain exposure and generate traffic on your site. Small businesses could flourish by posting pictures of their products and hoping that pinners are intrigued and captivated by their images to check out the link. You can even link your account to a twitter account and facebook page, doubling potential exposure instantly!

Pinterest is another awesome way to use the internet and information mediums to promote yourself or business without added costs.

I’ll provide the link to pinterest in addition to the link to my “Favorite Recipe” board.

However, I do warn you all, it’s highly addictive.

Happy browsing (and Friday woo!)

http://pinterest.com/

http://pinterest.com/pamela_poulakis/favorite-recipes/

Blog of the Week: The Pioneer Woman

It is no secret that I have a blog addiction. I often peruse through food blogs, getting hungrier and hungrier as the pages move forward. My latest blog discovery is one worth sharing. The blogger’s name is Ree Drummond, otherwise known as The Pioneer Woman.

She identifies herself as a  “ lover of butter and Ethel Merman” blogging about her home, garden and most importantly, southern cuisine. In fact, this pioneer has been on quite an adventure in the past few years. Ree’s blog was named Weblog of the Year in 2009 and 2010 at the Annual Weblog Awards and has been featured and discussed on Good Morning America, The Today Show and the View. In addition to writing articles for the Ladie’s Home Journal and Southern Living magazine, Ree published her first cookbook in 2009, stemming from some of her most popular online recipes, and now stars in her own daytime television show on The Food Network entitled, Pioneer Woman.

The rapid success of her blog, which only started in 2006, reportedly earned over 13 million page views a month!! This number grew in 2009, as her monthly reach exceeded 23 million viewers!

I admire Ree’s determination towards success. Time magazine named The Pioneer Woman one of the top 25 best blogs in the world in 2009, an outstanding accomplishment for such a small town girl (or anyone for that matter!)

In my opinion, the visually descriptive recipes and high quality, captivating images is really what drives viewers towards her blog daily.

The tantalizing images of southern cuisine seem so real, that you almost feel as though you can reach into the page and take a bite!!

Through blogging, twitter, a facebook page dedicated to the Pioneer Woman and a TV show, Dee is an inspiration to any blogger wishing to hit it big! Putting yourself out on the internet can be difficult at first, and southern cuisine does not appeal to everyone (especially the health conscious, do you have any idea how much butter is used? Yikes!) However, Dee has successfully used information systems to promote a brand and lifestyle that is flourishing year after year. The key is to use multiple sources on the net in order for a multitude of people to connect with your product. Now, she’s spreading her knowledge (and recipe for beef with creamy cheddar gritz) for the world to learn how easy it can be to be a chef, home-maker and woman on the frontier.