Hear ye hear ye! I feel like I’m Mrs Claus sometimes! Here is the second of our Twelve Days of Christmas competitions. And today I have a lovely hamper of goodies for you! Here is a hamper with a bit of a difference. In this hamper, which can sort out any sort of corporate or personal gift, this is full of hand picked artisan goodies from the NSW region. Yep artisan products, not a mass of supermarket items.

The Artisans of NSW hamper

Now I know I have a tough job as I had to taste test every one of these products and I happily did so. The slab of Rochford chocolate dotted with cocoa nibs was delectable, the award winning Crooked Creek cheese biscuits were crumbly and moreish, the Lomondo Extra Virgin olive oil was delightfully fresh and the Lakelands sun dried olives (made the proper way without any shortcuts) were of course appropriated by olive loving Mr NQN.

Then there was the delicious rhubarb and raspberry jam by The Jammery, the Honest to Goodness tamari roasted almonds which proudly proclaimed “no nasties added”, the gorgeous Nicholson wild hibiscus flowers and a lovely Cuttaway Creek raspberry sauce. And after dessert I finished off with the petit fours: chewy rich caramel bon bons from Sweetness and some amazing Leppington Farm Chocolate coated figs which had a crunchy almond in the centre. And the best thing about these apart from the taste is that when you flip the packet over and have a look at the ingredients, there are no numbers, preservatives or nasties added, just real food!

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I thought these houses were so cute!

I tend to familiarise myself with a city by shopping in it. At least this is what I tell Mr NQN. I will of course use any excuse to buy things and my main aim while I am here in Quebec is to buy up vast quantities of maple syrup. After all, it’s only when you’re actually in Canada that you appreciate the amount of maple syrup there is on offer and the things that they have devised for it! After familiarising ourselves with the general area of Quebec City with our guide Elyse, Mr NQN and I were dropped off in the centre of Old Quebec city to do a little exploring and discovering on our own.

We start by browsing the numerous little boutique stores that pepper the area. Most of the shops and wares are quite touristy but then again so are most of the people wandering around (including us!). We spy maple body products in a store that stocks anything and everything to do with maple syrup. I’ll be back for you after lunch I say! People are very friendly here in Quebec City and as far as the city area goes, many speak very good English and some even apologise for not speaking more English whereas I was ready to break out my very rusty French.

A cute store window with a bike covered in lollies

A pretty street with an end view of the harbour

As we pass so many restaurants we start to get peckish so we give into curiosity and temptation and take my friend Gina’s advice and go for lunch at Aux Anciens Canadiens (literally “The former Canadians”). It is one of the most famous restaurants here and is known for serving traditional Quebecoise and Canadian cuisine including a lot of game. It is also one of the most striking. Housed in Quebec’s city’s oldest house built between 1675 and 1676, it is a white building with red roof and red accents with small front windows reportedly because their original glass came over from France packed in barrels of molasses!

Gina advised going there for lunch and we check out their sign for a three course lunch with wine  or beer for $19.95. When we peruse the dinner menu we see that it was good advice with main dishes for dinner ranging from $32 to $72 which is very expensive for Quebec. We walk in and it’s like a step back in time. A woman in traditional costume greets us and shows us to a table even though we don’t have a booking.

There are two dining rooms and every table but one has fellow tourists seated. There are displays of vintage glasses and plates and the wooden tables are laid with thick blue napkins and placemats. The waiter is very friendly and speaks fluent English and we take a quick look at the menu. For the fixed lunch one can order the soup of the day or a pea soup and then choose a main. Many of the mains are $19.90 (which includes the wine, soup and dessert) but you can also upgrade to larger or more elaborate mains. We choose a couple of good examples of their cuisine and the wine and freshly squeezed orange juice comes out quickly. Laguiole cutlery sits on the table and classical music plays in the background.

Bread and whipped butter

A bread basket follows and it is filled with regular supermarket wholemeal sliced bread and cold garlic bread croutons which we figure are to be used for the soup. They come with whipped butter. I take a quick trip to the ladies room where there is (oddly) a television that isn’t switched on and magazines in a rack.

Split pea soup

The soups come out quickly. I prefer the split pea soup which isn’t bad but I have to be honest, it didn’t wow me.

Tomato and zucchini soup

I was even less wowed by this. In fact I asked to swap this back with Mr NQN as it just tasted like tinned soup to me.

Pheasant legs and beans $19.90

However things turned around rapidly with the pheasant leg which came with a whole potato and absolutely delectable beans sweetened with the meat juices, maple and molasses. I spent much time chasing around these little beans (if you’ve used Laguiole cutlery, you can imagine how difficult it is to pick up tiny beans with their steak knife and fork). The pheasant is soft and slow cooked so that it falls off the bone and it goes well with the beans although the beans are my favourite part of the dish. It’s a huge dish with the two meaty pheasant legs.

St Jean Meat Pie $19.90

We selected the St Jean meat pie instead of the regular meat pie as this one contained caribou, stag deer and wapity which is elk. It comes out minced with diced potatoes and encased in a flakey pastry. It is accompanied by a steamed butternut squash and an unusual fruit compote which has tomato, peach and maple syrup. Mr NQN loves this and the slight gamey flavour and I admit it is very good but I am still obsessing over those beans and he kindly swaps back with me.

“Have you decided on dessert?” the waiter asks us as he is clearing our plates. Ha! Of course! He tells us that there is always maple pie and a sherbert (sorbet) on offer as well as a fruit pie which is strawberry for today so we choose both pies.

Strawberry Pie

I know, it looks a little sad and despondent yes but the pastry crust on this was delicious and the strawberries and cream went well together although we couldn’t possibly finish the generous amount of cream on the plate. Just ignore the presentation

Maple Pie

The maple pie is unusual and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I try some and tell Mr NQN it’s too sweet for me. It’s similar to a pecan pie filling just without the pecans- you know that syrupy sugary caramelly toffee filling between the pecans.

Teehee-not much of a view from this window!

They offer coffee or tea ($1.75 extra) but we demur and instead do some more sightseeing. Old Quebec city is set on two levels and each level can be accessed either by walking up or down the stairs (down is preferable, trust me) or taking the “furniculaire”. We visit the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac hotel which overlooks the St Lawrence river. We buy some chocolates from the Cupidon chocolate store inside the hotel. I choose  a coconut chocolate and an Earl Grey jelly chocolate ($2.30 for both).  Costumed ladies glide by and everyone takes photos of them.

Artist’s laneway

Back on the streets of Old Quebec, there is an artist’s lane where artists sell their painting, sketches and drawings. We watch street artists perform-hey you never know as the Cirque du Soleil founders were stilt walkers that were discovered at the Quebec Summer Festival!

I’m transfixed by the spray of water mist in the heat!

In the heat, we refresh ourselves on fresh lemonade and snow taffy which they make fresh for you. They grind up ice to simulate snow and then dispense some liquid maple taffy onto it. You pick it up and wrap it around a paddle pop stick and suck on the liquid taffy while shaping it on the cup of ice that they give you.

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