I swear I will start eating salad soon...

In a city full of incredible bakers and sweets, I went looking for the personal touch, the nicest atmosphere, and perfect pieces of confectionery bliss.

"Cooking is an addictive game, one that is gourmet and so very sensual....Enjoyment is the key word of this book, one I've wanted to write for a long time and which is my own way of receiving you all at my table." -Josée di Stadio, A La di Stasio

Before I moved to Montreal I met a Quebecoise girl playing a music gig around a lake at sunrise for two weeks in Northern Ontario. The whole thing may have been a sleep-deprived hallucination, but I vividly remember a long conversation over lentil soup. The soup was fine, but it was the garnishes that were surprising. Fresh mint and toasted coconut. The coconut brought out the nuttiness of the lentils, and made you feel like you were eating a whole meal in a small bowl. Maybe also my stomach was fooled because lunch was at 8am and supper was at 2pm, but I'm pretty sure I started loving lentils at that moment. Until then I had only thought they were what vegetarians ate because they didn't know what they were missing. Sorry, vegetarians, but I now admit the error of my ways. So from whom did the idea of toasting coconut come? They deserved an award. In fact, the mysterious chef already had six.

Montreal Festival en Lumière can be ridiculously expensive. So make your own Portuguese dinner and sit down to gourmet bliss in the comfort of your own home. Sure, you could pick up some chicken and fries at (insert your favourite Montreal rotisserie chicken place here. Touchy subject...) but this dish was shared by Canada and Portugal long before a chicken even thought about walking into a St-Hubert.

It's days like this that remind me why I love this city. You can walk through an underground shopping mall and find 40 Quebec cheese producers snuggling up with Portuguese wines, spend $5, and create your own personal happy hour anytime between the hours of 11:30am and 7pm on Friday the 19th and 11:30am and 5pm on Saturday the 20th.

For two weeks at the Montreal Highlights Festival (Festival Montreal en Lumiere) it's basically like the joy of Christmas has come again in the form of the most gourmet food and talent the city can offer or import, but left the stress and ridiculous knitted sweaters behind in a snowbank. Around this time every year Montreal goes from being a place with great food and restaurants, to absolutely busting at the seams with haute cuisine.

Starting this Thursday, February 18th and running until the 28th, the tastes of the Eastern Townships will be somehow combined with Portuguese wine, New Orleans spice, table d'hote dinners, lunches, 40 Quebec artisanal cheese producers, cooking demonstrations and happy hours across the city, all under the direction of guest Portuguese chefs and our own local culinary miracle-makers. So after salivating for days over the event schedule, crying at the ridiculous prices, sighing over the impossible array of options, and analyzing how to make the most of the event, these are the festival top picks:

I love Valentines Day. I don't love anyone in particular, but I love the hallmark holiday of special treatment for someone you care about, or the excitement of someone new. Basically the excuse for a romantic day or evening where you show in some way, big or small, that you care about someone else. Call me a romantic, or call me naive, but I really believe that any excuse to celebrate is one worth taking, so why not spend the day trying to make someone else happy?

Then in walks the prix fixe dinner concept.

(4631 Boulevard St-Laurent) | Crudessence (105 Rachel West)

THE CRITERIA: flavour, vegan innovation, and price
THE CATEGORIES: Best burger, best wrap, best juice/smoothie, best service, best dessert
I know this is maybe not a fair comparison, since Aux Vivres is vegan and Crudessence is vegan, organic, and most importantly, raw, but both have surprisingly similar, meat- and dairy-free menus. The big difference is that Aux Vivres uses an oven, a grill, a steamer and a lot of tofu and beans, while Crudessence doesn't cook a thing, and sticks to fresh or dehydrated vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and their oils. So no flour, no beans, no lentils, no rice, and no steamed, boiled, sautéed, or roasted vegetables, but 'raw' means a whole lot more than salad. Yes, you can use sunflowers to make a paté. Yes, zucchini can substitute for lasagna noodles. No, you don't need to cook sundried tomatoes to make a marinara sauce. So should you go vegan, go raw or stay home?

...with roasted red peppers and cilantro

This is definitely a week to stay in and make soup...

Olives et Épices
7075 Casgrain Avenue, Jean-Talon Market
●●●●●●●●●○ 9 out of 10

I needed 2 dried New Mexico chili peppers. I've been here a year and a half and by now I'm a devout believer that any culinary problem can be solved by Jean-Talon. For example, I want to make a Spicy Sweet Potato Soup. I knew I could wander up St-Laurent and find an Epicerie specializing in Latin American products that may or may have exactly what I'm looking for, or I could stumble upon a wall of dried chilis at Jean-Talon's Olives et Épices.

Soupesoup (multiple locations)
●●●●●●●☺○○○ 7 1/2 out of 10

Soupe Café (2725, rue Notre Dame Ouest)
●●●●●●○○○○ 6 out of 10

THE CRITERIA: Flavour, quality, soup innovation, and price.

A good soup is a tricky thing. I'm not talking Lipton and Campbells. So I set off on my first Midnight Poutine culinary adventure in search of extraordinary soup. What I found was Soupesoup and Soupe Café working so hard to improve the days of all those Montrealers who, like me, think winters here need an emergency exit.

Quand vient le temps de choisir un bon hamburger, une grande quantité de variables doivent être prisent compte afin d'arriver à un résultat satisfaisant. La cuisson, la qualité du pain, l'agencement des condiments et biens d'autres éléments sont importants.

C'est ce que je croyais jusqu'à ce que j'aille manger chez M:brgr...