We got into Montreal LATE Tuesday afternoon and had just enough time to feed Suji before hopping into the car and making the hour drive to east end for our dinner reservations at Vin Mon Papillon.  Although I was feeling somewhat better, I still wasn’t 100%, so I paced myself on this evening…

A very solid meal although the service was a little slow.  I know, it may seem like a lot, but I actually ate less than either my sister or Akemi.  (P.S. the beef tartare was my favorite).

Dessert was also solid, although I would have preferred my Paris-Brest without the tart fruit component.  The sasaarin (buckwheat cake) with cheese tuile was….interesting.  Akemi was a big fan and happily took home the leftovers.

And I ended up sleeping surprisingly well that night, propped up at a 45% degree angle like a passenger trying to get some shut-eye in coach.  Were my problems behind me?

Spoiler alert: NO!

The next day, we had lunch at a place called Mama’s Dumplings on the West Island, sampling five different varieties of dumplings.  Although I usually go pan-friend, I decided to err on the side of caution and went with the steamed varieties.   I was surprisingly hungry – and perhaps ate a little more than I should have….and immediately regretted it.

I wasn’t super hungry for dinner (as has been the case of late), but we had reservations at my favorite Au Pied de Cochon.  Given how well last night’s dinner game plan worked out (We enjoyed a variety of dishes, but didn’t over indulge), I ran it again…

Foie gras nigiri, foie gras parfait, duck tartare – all delicious!

We went with two desserts.  The chocolate one was your typical chocolate fondant with the obligatory fruit coulis to ruin it.  The pouding chomeur, a long time favorite, was a bit of a disappointment.  It’s usually served bubbling hot – alarmingly so -with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.  This one was served warm sans ice cream.  When we asked, we were informed that their ice cream machine had broken that day.

Overall, a fabulous meal though, and I went to bed satisfied but not overly full.  I propped up my pillows and went to bed, Air Canada economy-style…

Slept fitfully, battling a brewing nausea, then woke up at 3 a.m., stayed up until 5 am, then drifted off and slept in until 8 a.m. when I woke up feeling awful.

Today, my lunch was comparatively plebian: chicken soup, boiled chicken, and a sliver of mom’s almond torte.  Then a little bit of chocolate we picked up from Chocolats de Chloe (white chocolate matcha, dark chocolate praline, and a couple of assorted).  The chocolates were by far the high point.

Put in a call to my doctor and look to go in early next month.  Thanks to this blog and m twitter queries, I have crowd-sourced some excellent potential diagnoses ranging from GERD to giardiasis, gal bladder to heart issues.  Food for thought and worry in the lead up to my appointment!

Hope you’re all feeling much better than I am and enjoying the holidays with family!  I’m off to enjoy a chicken soup dinner and some ginger tea!