C'est juste moi ou ça n'a plus de bon sens le conflit étudiant au Québec!

La grève dure depuis plus de 100 jours et dans les derniers jours, plus de 2000 arrestations ont eu lieu selon différentes sources.  L'apogée de ce mouvement a été atteinte lorsque le gouvernement a adopté la Loi-78 afin de museler le mouvement de protestation des étudiants.  Ce mouvement qui avait d'abord exaspéré la majeure partie de la population, qui se disait  pour la hausse compte-tenu du sous-financement des institutions d'études post-secondaires et de l'escalade constante du coût de la vie.
Par contre, le gouvernement avait sur-estimé son appui face à la Loi spéciale car peu importe à quel point ne sont pas nécessairement d'accord avec une cause et ne l'appuient pas, on est au Québec et ici les gens croient dur comme fer à la liberté. Même la liberté de chialer!  Cette loi semble inconstitutionnelle pour la plupart, car à travers des amendes salées, elle cherche à étouffer le débat sur le bien-fondé de la hausse de la portion des frais de scolarité assumés par les étudiants.  Cela ramène aussi selon moi, au fait que l'éducation (tout comme la santé) a toujours été vue comme un bien commun qui se doit d'être accessible à tout le peuple.  Cela donne une société, en théorie, plus éduquée et donc meilleure.  Cela rapporte aussi à l'égalité des chances, et que donc même si quelqu'un est né au sein d'une famille moins nantie, elle pourra à travers l'éducation s'élever au sein de la société et être un membre qui contribue à part entière au bien-être de celle-ci.

Selon moi, le débat sur les frais de scolarité n'a jamais réellement été que sur ce problème.  Il ramène a quelque chose de plus gros, sur les valeurs québecoises et je suis heureuse que les étudiants ont su se battre assez longtemps pour que d'autres le comprennent et s'y joignent.  Selon moi, le bien commun est au moins aussi important que le bien privé. 
Aujourd'hui, une négociation de la dernière chance aura lieu entre le gouvernement et les étudiants.  Espérons que chaque parti saura mettre de côté un peu les événements des derniers mois et arriver à une solution qui sera bénéfique pour tous les habitants du Québec. 

Pied de cochon's sugarshack

Is it just me or...

Is it just me or it's EXTREMELY hard to not break even new resolutions.  The week after I did my last post on eating better I went to the Pied de cochon's Sugar shack.  For those of you who are not familiar with what a sugar shack is, it's the place where Quebecers (probably also Canadians)  go every spring to indulge in fat and sugary delicacies.  It's basically a log cabin where you go eat omelets, ham, pea soup, and pig ears, all drenched in maple syrup... oh and most have a petting zoo and carriage rides. Fun for all basically! However, the Pied de cochon's sugar shack is a pimped out version.
First off, there are around 10 servings, most based on traditional items you would find at a sugar shack but filled with foie gras and other very delicious  ingredients. So my resolution on eating less meat... TOTAL FAIL!!!

Round 1
To start us off, they brought us  the appetizers which comprised of a paté served with crêpes and salad.  Which was, shortly after followed by a maki style mini hors d'oeuvre, which was to die for.  I knew right then and there that I had died and went to food Heaven...Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhha! [Angels singing] You would not believe how tasty this all was! But it didn't end there, there was still the delicious pot pie, filled with real pieces chunks of meat (I would say beef but it was probably something more exotic) and served with homemade ketchup.  And that, my friends concludes round 1. So far so good, I'm still standing, I can keep on eating!
Sam - 1/ Food- 0

Herring and meat pâté

Maki

Pot pie with home-made ketchup

Round 2
The first entree meal was foie gras vol-au-vent, which was delicious but I'm starting to feel like this is becoming an up-hill battle.  My stomach is starting to fill.   I'm a light weight so I was trying to be careful not to eat too much of each dish.  But it's hard not to devour every plate that is set in front of you when they are delicious, made with the best, freshest ingredients and that they are the perfect balance of flavors. Don't judge me.You try it!!!!
Then came the maple syrup glazed duck served with onion rings.... simply foodgasmic!!!! The skin was perfectly crisp and the meat itself tender and juicy. HEAVEN!!!
But before I can completely recover from the taste-fest happening in my mouth, they were serving the next meal.  And it seemed delicious, in theory anyways, because it was also a very rich one.  It was a lobster and smoked-meat omelet.  That's when it dawned me that I was slowly descending into food hell.  There was more food coming my way but my stomach was running out of space to put it. AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! I tasted a bite of that entree, It wasn't really great for my taste, but, that might also be linked to the fact that I was pissed that I was getting ALREADY  full.  Then came what I call the large bacon, I barely touched that plate but it was really tasty.  I think it was maple flavored, but it was very subtle.  I barely ate it since I took a piece off of  the piece that my boyfriend started eating...
This concludes round 2.  But in this round, the food got the best of me!!!
Sam - 0 / Food -1

Vol-au-vent

Glazed duck

Lobster/smoked-meat omelet

Large bacon

 Round 3
To conclude our night of eating way too much, entered the deserts tray. There were nice maple favored buns with maple ice cream sundae and some other treat I didn't even get to taste.  At this point, I only had a taste of the sundae and I was done.  I lost my fight! I usualy have a sweet tooth but at that point, there was nothing I could do. It was a beautiful ending to a very satisfying meal.
Sam - 0 / Food -1

Result of the fight (Conclusion)
I lost that battle to food but it was a great experience.  The food was beyond-delicious, the atmosphere was relaxed but sophisticated (log cabin look with adidas-suited servers).  The service was excellent.  We even had the right to return with our excess food (which there was a lot of!!!).

Here's 3 tips if you ever want to takkle the Pied de cochon's sugar shack:
1- Reserve earrrrrly!!!: we made reservations in November and had a date in mid-april... I'm just saying.
2- Come as a group: the more the merrier they say and it's just the right atmosphere to share plates, we went as a 14 person group.
3- Try to sample from each dish: It's hard to but if you want to get to taste them all, you have to remember each time that the next dish is right around the corner.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!