FME day 2 photos are on Ride the Tempo here. Check out a few favourites below!
Month: September 2016
FME Day 1 Photos
Here are a few of my favourite photos from Thursday of FME. You can catch the full gallery here at Ride the Tempo.
What I Ate At FME
I can’t go to a music festival and not talk about what I ate there, so here we are with some of the stuff I had in Rouyn. It was amazing how well-taken care of we were by the festival. A few of these things were free.
The moment we arrived through the front gates of the festival, chunks of meat were seen BBQing on this thing. It was served to all media and industry!
Yum, free roasted meat, potato, pasta and veggies!
This signature FME drink had blue curacao and tasted like blue freezie. Warning: may cause hangovers.
An FME experience isn’t complete without experiencing Chez Morasse once (or 4 times). It was recommend you stick with the regular poutine, though my friend liked the À Tibi poutine with beef and green onions he ordered by accident.
We were greeted each morning with a classic continental breakfast from our Hôtel Albert that was key to sustaining myself for the day.
Mmmm bourbon lemonade from Bonsound. I might have had more than a couple of these.
They also had a BBQ corn station with fancy spicy or basil butter you could roll your corn in. It was worth getting corn stuck in your teeth in front of people.
Our hotel gave us these coupons for a place called Pizzadelic that we couldn’t seem to find until we realized it changed it’s name to Pizzé, a place which was literally right beside the hotel. I think Pizzadelic is a cooler name but maybe people don’t get it in French or something.
On the plus side, a fancy pizza place means I can order this summery mimosa with my pizza. It was literally called a Summer Mimosa, I don’t really know what’s in it, except a cherry.
I ordered the Di Rucco pizza with tomato prosciutto, boccocini, mozzarella, rapini and a balsamic vinaigrette. I liked all the fresh ingredients and the flavour of the balsamic really went well with it. The crust had just the right amount of crunch.
On Saturday, we went to this crazy party for industry that literally had like piles of food. There was a pile of roasted brisket, pile of salad, potatos, salmon, eggplant. It was the first time I went to a party where the food was served in piles.
I created my own pile on my plate! Hah.
On Sunday I took a walk thinking I could explore the town and totally forgetting that everything closes on Sunday because it is very Catholic in Quebec. Sadly, two of the candy stores I wanted to visit were closed. Instead, I went to a random convenient store in search of local soda and found this Bec Cola. It was very interesting because it was flavoured with maple syrup which blended with the cranberry flavour that I chose. It was refreshing for my walk around town.
Luckily, restaurants were open and I visited Le Saint-Exupéry, a Petit Prince themed café. My friend ordered a “Grilled Cheese du Business Man”, pictured above.
I can’t resist Benny’s at brunch so I went for “Le Concept” which had a swiss cheese infused sauce and potatos on the side.
Le Gisement was the only candy store that was open because it was also a bistro.
Look at all those chocolate!
To avoid breaking my wallet, I chose 6: almond white chocolate thing, caramel, mocha, hazelnut and some things I ate too fast to remember.
On our final night I noticed that Chez Morasse also had ice cream so I had some Ferrero Rocher gelato.
Random Photos from My Trip To Rouyn
Last weekend’s flight to Rouyn-Noranda was on a 10-person private plane. I had never been on one before and it was slightly frightening to feel every little movement of the plane.
Rouyn-Noranda is a copper mining town in southwestern Quebec. It is surrounded by Osisko Lake and the town has free bike rentals if you want to bike around it.
This was the lovely press mansion where we picked up passes, had a party and also drank copious amounts of alcohol.
Enjoy some more photos of Rouyn below!
Falling in Love With Animals at Refuge Pageau
While I was in Rouyn-Noranda Quebec for FME, the nice people at Abitibi-Témiscamingue Tourism offered us fun activities to do in the area. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see animals at Refuge Pageau.
On our way there, we made a stop where we climbed up a super high staircase to look at this beautiful view.
It took us over an hour and a half to get to the refuge but it was worth the wait. The refuge is a shelter for wild animals who were injured or orphaned. The employees care for the animals in hope to some day return them to the wild, or provide longterm shelter for those who can’t survive in the big world. The animals were fed with food that supermarkets were going to throw away, some of which still looked perfectly fine (which says a lot about consumerism). Hopefully, more stores catch on and do the same!
We fell in love with a lot of animals but particularly this porcupine named Chewbacca:
My friend Matt had been here before and he reacquainted himself with a coyote named Alex:
Enjoy more photos of animals below:
Back in Toronto
I’m pooped but back in Toronto now. I went with the coolest gang and we all became the best of friends. Stay tuned for FME recaps.
Last Day of FME
I can’t believe it is Sunday already. I am loving it here in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec so it will be bittersweet to have to return home tomorrow.
I have a ton of photos to share from my trip so the next week is going to be full of posts about my adventures.
Don’t Let Go Of The Potato
Since I am currently in northern Quebec, I’m being immersed in French. I’ve taken French classes of some sort until I was 22, so I have a decent comprehension of the language but since it’s not a daily thing, I have to think a bit before I can form a sentence as a reply. Being in a place where you’re required to speak is actually helping a lot. Learning or keeping a new language is definitely easier if you can use it practically!
Anyways, there are some things that becherelle’s and dictionaries can’t teach and that is phrases and sayings. My favourite so far is “Lâche pas a la patate”, which in English literally translates to “Don’t let go of the potato”. However, it is a funny way to say “Don’t give up”.
Dance With Me on September 14!
I helped book this semi-last minute super cool show at The Silver Dollar on Wednesday, September 14th! Come out and dance with us .
Off to Rouyn-Noranda!
I’m off to Rouyn-Noranda for my first music festival in Quebec. We’re flying in a chartered plane and it will be my first experience doing so. I’ll keep you posted on my adventures but you can follow along live on social media.
Tiana Feng 