I’ve been on the road for more than a week - attending a trucker trial in Ottawa, being part of an amazing book signing event at the Bikers’ Church, and addressing two community groups that kindly invited me to tell them about my Thank You, Truckers! book on very short notice.
This past Saturday, dear friends brought me to an old-school Quebec sugar shack - Sucrerie Lavigne, in Rigaud. I’ve enjoyed pancake breakfasts with unlimited maple syrup at a few Ontario sugar shacks over the years, but this experience was in a whole other league.
First you’re fed magnificently - with two kinds of eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, meatballs, cretons (pork pate), baked beans, toast, home fries, pea soup, condiments, coffee and tea. Massive jugs of maple syrup are on every table. In this instance, the syrup featured prominently in the dessert course - it was poured lavishly over smaller-sized pancakes accompanied by slices of maple sugar pie. Ooh-la-la!
Woodsmoke filled the air, billowing out of the building where raw sap was being boiled down in the traditional manner, via an enormous wood stove. French-Canadian music and horse-drawn wagon rides added to the ambiance. So fabulous!
