Toqué!

One of Montreal's most celebrated restaurants Toqué! is marking it's 20th anniversary with it's first book Toqué! Les artisans d'une gastronomie Québecoise/Creators of a new Québec gastronomy (éditions du passage).  The book launch took place at the very cavernous Arsenal art complex, complete with tasty snacks and purveyors of wine. Yum!

 The massive space used to be a shipyard and now houses the works of two galleries (René Blouin, Division Gallery) and a private collection; all while acting as a host to a variety of events.

Some bites were provided by the Grumman '78 and Nouveau Palais food trucks.  Long lineups ensued.

The very lauded Chef Normand Laprise and his associate Christine Lamarche packed the mighty hardcover not only with the restaurant's unique recipes but also with tales of the journeys from the farms and rivers to the kitchen and on your table.

Photographer Dominique Malaterre shot all the accompanying images for the book; from the atmospheric to drool-worthy.
Above left: a river view at Kamouraska and right: an apple and vanilla grass cocktail.

Street, Lifestyle and Spring13

The very lovely people of streetwear/action sport oriented Agence Royal and Dela Cruz Pr hosted a preview of their SS13 collections.  With a tea in hand I perused the goods.

Why hello again to the west coast cool of Lifetime Collective.  Above their skinny ties show off two prints that will reoccur in the collection.

A newbie in town is the label minimum from Denmark.  The lifestyle brand is laid back/cool with a touch of dapper for men and a touch of cozy slickness for the ladies.  For SS13: matching bowties and pocket squares!

Hi again Generic Surplus!  Love the yellow sole!

 

While I kind of have an aversion to plastic/rubber shoes (Crocs?! *shudder*) I somehow found this teeny tiny Native waterproof boot pretty rad.  Each model is based on a classic shoe design, (Adidas Stan Smith's, Converse's Chuck Taylor's, etc; it is safe to assume this one would be a Sorel).  I also learned you can toss these in the wash and they are smellproof. How convenient.

I actually want that blue VELOUR shoe.  It's from Native's fall collection and it belongs to Audrey from Agence Royal...love it!

Also on show was Stance Socks, the street/skate/snow oriented brand full of prints, patterns, deliberately "mismatched" socks and the ever present artist collab.  As a lover of happenstance, I had to Instagram Audrey and PE who were coincidentally wearing the same pair.

ALDO40

Canadian shoe giant ALDO turns fourty years old this year and is celebrating with anniversary shoes, bags, contests, panel discussions and one giant pop-up exhibit complete with three stories worth of confetti/soon to be new flagship store in downtown Montreal.

Bringing back the Aldo logo from my childhood days

The upper level of the space greeted visitors with confetti and giant props from past campaigns

Giant bottles of Aldo

 Images from Aldo's head offices

A display case dedicated to one of their newest banners Mr.B's, for Mr. Aldo Bensadoun himself.

 A view of the opening par-tay

 Bubbles! Bonne anniversaire!

Domison Mops

I was walking up St-Laurent the other day and saw a dismaying "À Louer" sign in a window.  The space once occupied by Domison, a local stylish furniture design company was now vacant.  The independent store had been open since 2008 and carried not only the company's own line, but other accessories and works by local designers.  While the retail spaces in Montreal and Toronto no longer exist since the summer, I hope the company will unveil their continued existence in showroom form (at least?!) in the future.

Mop sculpture from December 2011

CR Fashion Book

Oh yeah! After pre-ordering this online, look what showed up on my doorstep!

The hefty tome that is the first issue of CR Fashion Book was squeezed into my mailbox just the other day.   Featuring opposing front covers,  CR has a young girl with baby versus Kate Upton cleavage with chicks.  There is a lengthy editorial of Upton and a menagerie of baby animals and if you wanted more there is the Bruce Weber shot video version of it all, complete with a unicorn.

The matte pages of the magazine contains several editorials around the thematic of birth, life and death; the latter visualized as fairy tale photographed by Tom Ford featuring a princess in a crystal coffin.

Above is an image by the very stylish filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (who I raved about here); his contribution was a stunning editorial of fall couture.

FOXTROTT shields ep

It was one of those satisfying nights where you decide to check out some art/music/dance etc. with no expectations and let the night unfold.  One recent night led me to Notre Dame des Quilles, a bar equipped with two mini-bowling alleys, to take in the sounds of FOXTROTT.

Walking in with not even a vague idea of what I was going to hear, the night began with a listening of the Shields EP to the packed bar.  With the opening electronic strains, beats and vaguely reminiscent of Tori Amos vocals, I was instantly hooked and floored at the same time.

 

After listening to the EP's three songs, FOXTROTT took to the alleys and gave us a stripped down acoustic rendition of the album.  Minimal percussion, a keyboard and two french horns interpreted the songs we had just heard in a new, amazing and re-imagined light.  I was TOTALLY STOKED.  And one bonus song later, it was over, as quickly as it had begun. 

Totally satisfying. I would like some more please.

Insta Post

End of summer is nigh!
I share some summer moments from my Instagram, you can click the button on the right if you want to follow the feed!

Delicious yellow watermelon from Les Jardins d'Ambroisie. Public installation at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

An army of Risk.  Skinning/canning tomatoes!

Woodwork and black lines at Hotel Herman.  A swim in the Lachine Canal.