my affection of Quebec is epitomized by...

The Poutine - The Holy Grail of Canadian Cuisine

I don't know if I would love this Canadian food staple if I hadn't grown up in Montreal, but when I look at that photo, my stomach automatically yearns to be caressed by those oily fries, meaty gravy, and soft cheese curds. It's been a long time since I've had a REAL poutine...mostly because I can't justify it as a meal and also because good poutine around here is hard to find. I was compelled to write this entry after doing one of the mental gym exercises for the Test the Nation: Watch your language thingermagigger... ("A for Astute" by the way! Muahahaha...), which asked about the origins of poutine. Apparently, according to the ever-trustful Wikipedia, the dish began with someone who had ordered fries and was waiting for cheese curds and decided it would be brilliant to combine the two...

There are so many kinds of poutine, but the one that caught my eye involved peas and shredded chicken. That may sound hella nasty to some of you...but to me, it smells of my Chinois-Quebecois childhood. At school, one of the cafeteria specials was a hot chicken sandwich...essentially shredded chicken between two slices of white bread and gravy and peas all over it. MMMMMmmmm=) Pure heart-clogging goodness.

Speaking of foods of my childhood...here's a question for ya: What is Pate (insert appropriate punctuations) Chinois? - No Googling!