There's a new restaurant on Crescent Street with a big screen behind the bar, but it doesn't show Montreal's hockey games or UFC. Well, that didn't work for Taverne Crescent, the location's last owner, so with a new sleek design, a re-vamped cocktail menu, a sophisticated happy hour and a late-night party atmosphere, CAMP is hoping to have better luck.

In response to some comments on the best carrot cake in Montreal, I went out, and stayed in, to try a few more renditions of one of my favourite desserts.

The contenders: A raw carrot cake from Crudessence and TWO vegan carrot cakes from Bonny's Vegetarian and Organic Cuisine. One JUST vegan, and the other both vegan and gluten-free.

It's trying to be nice outside, and that means dreams of ice cream and sunny days spent outdoors, at least until the game starts and you want to be inside near the screen. Bilboquet and Havres aux Glaces are both great glaciers, but it's so easy to make your own frozen treats, no ice cream machine required. This way you can use your favourite yogurt or cream and decide how sweet you want it to be. For this recipe all you need are some cans of lychees, some sugar, some yogurt of your choice, and a blender, and your freezer will soon be full of home-made lychee frozen yogurt.

If you're vegan and looking for a butter substitute, your list of options just got bigger. Margarine giant Becel has introduced a new animal-free product called Becel Vegan. Yes, they actually put vegan in the name. Where Earth Balance Buttery Spreads have long reigned over vegan pocketbooks, Becel is stepping into the ring. Seems great, but is it really all it's cracked up to be?

Qing Hua
1767 avenue Lincoln
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7 out of 10

There's just really nothing else that comes close to Qing Hua. So you can either go here, or try to make your own dumplings that squirt juice all over you. Probably best to go here first, to see what you have to live up to, before you try this at home, like I did. Or just keep going here. I mean, come on, they have frozen take-out.

Avid readers of Amie's food posts may be wondering how our experiment with slow-cooked pulled pork turned out. Well, if the title of this entry didn't already give it away, our joint efforts produced one of the greatest foods I've ever consumed in my entire life. No exaggeration here. I really think pulled pork could be the eighth wonder of the world. Actually, you know what? Screw the Colossus of Rhodes, it was only 34m tall anyway. As far as I'm concerned, pulled pork IS one of the seven wonders of the world. I would do something pretty seriously ridiculous for a pulled pork sandwich right now.