Souvenirs de Quebec

At the end of June, we had the opportunity to visit Québec City for a few days. It is our tradition to buy a Christmas ornament from each destination we visit, and Quebec didn't disappoint; there were several Christmas-themed stores offering a wide array of nutcrackers, tree toppers, ornaments and lights. Aside from our tree ornaments, the other items we purchase while on vacation could never be easily identified as souvenirs. For example, while wandering the streets of the Old City, we stumbled across this adorable store, Pot en Ciel (which means "Pot in the Sky"). They sell an incredible collection of kitchen wares just like the dishes, utensils, dish towels, serving trays, and coffee bowls you'd find in France. I could have easily dropped a few thousand dollars in this dreamy store (I wanted one of everything!), but Pascal and I settled on just two souvenirs of Quebec: a jam spoon (also called a honey spoon) and a wine carafe (also known as a decanter).



The jam spoon is designed so that the handle of the spoon can rest on the edge of the jam jar - that way the handle doesn't get sticky. Or, you can dip the spoon in honey and then rest it on the edge of your teacup so that honey drips right into the cup.  

We use wine carafes at all of our cooking lesson parties to aerate our red wines. They’'re quite fragile, and this year alone, we've already gone through five of them. So, we're always on the lookout for well-designed, yet affordable carafes. We couldn't resist the beautiful one we found at Pot en Ciel, engraved with the words: "Grand Vin de France, Appellation Controllée".

Souvenir means "to remember" in French, and it is the motto of Québec: "Je me souviens"  ("I remember", as in "I remember my French heritage"). The great thing about our souvenirs is that they'll do double duty. Each time we use our jam spoon or wine carafe, we'll be reminded of a glorious afternoon spent in old Québec City, but we'll also be using them as tools to create new memories in our own kitchen.