Un Peu Poutine

Poutine.  When did this come about?  After all, I was born in Canada and lived most of my childhood here.  We never had poutine when I lived here.  I would remember poutine.

I think I had my first taste of poutine when we were all in Montreal a couple of years ago.  Montreal was the embarkation point for a cruise of the St. Lawrence and Canadian maritime provinces.  The hotel was next to, or over, or beside a mall and we ate in the food court.  Poutine.  And of course, those were the days when I would routinely eat things like that without a second thought.

Oh wait ... are you uninitiated into the wonders of poutine?  Well let me enlighten you ...

Poutine at Legends Sports Bar at Caesar's Windsor, Ont.

Real poutine is french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds.

This poutine was my dinner tonight.  I think it's poutine for Americans, this being a border town and all.  This poutine was french fries with cheddar and jack cheese, covered with gravy, topped with bacon and scallions.

Heart attack on a plate.

And yes, I ate it all.  With that gin & tonic in the picture.  Summer traveling perfection.

I spent the first three days of this trip fighting with myself over my food choices.  I have now given in or given up.  Or I could look at it like this: I'm on vacation and I'm giving myself permission to have what I want.  Or I could just take it on a meal-by-meal basis, quit stressing and do what feels right at the time.  There.  That's probably the right answer.  Or is the right answer trying to stick to my regular eating plan.

Clearly conflicted here.

But not conflicted about poutine.  How could anyone be?  Fries with cheese and gravy?  Honestly ... 

PS  I believe my home state has something that tries to be like poutine called disco fries.  I think that sounds a little too Snookie to even come close to the love in a dish that is poutine.