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the MTL Kitchen Collective is featured in an amazing video made by Bruno Floring about Restaurant Day on August 17th. We hosted a pop-up restaurant in Jeanne-Mance park and served buttermilk biscuits, fresh Quebec strawberries and vanilla bean whipped cream accompanied by elderflower spritz or earl grey spritz.

See you at the next edition of Restaurant Day November 15th!

#mtlkitchencollective #food #restp #restaurantday #restaurantdaymtl

gardening tip: eggshells.

I recently started growing food in my garden and have been enjoying stepping outside for fresh herbs, greens, and tomatoes to cook with! However, growing organic food in the middle of a city has its challenges and I have been testing different methods to tackle some of these issues (slugs, for example, i particularly loathe), and eggshells have been incredibly useful! Here are some ways you can use eggshells in your garden this summer.

1. Eggshells are very useful in tackling slugs. When i stepped out for fresh basil last week I noticed holes in some of leaves of my basil plants and discovered that slugs were feasting on them. After cracking an egg for breakfast I keep the shells in a jar to use in my garden. For this particular problem I crushed some up and sprinkled them in the soil around the basil plants. The crushed shells are sharp and will deter the slugs from slithering up to your basil leaves as it cuts their tender bellies. I also sprinkled some around various other greens in the garden (kale, radishes, swiss chard, etc) that the slugs had been feasting on.

2. Add crushed eggshells to your compost to help add calcium to the soil, an important nutrient for plants.

3. I added crushed eggshells to the bottom of the pots in which I planted my tomatoes and hot peppers. These plants are susceptible to blossom end rot, which is caused by a calcium deficiency. Although this disease most often occurs from improper watering, when there isn't enough water to bring calcium from the soil up into the plant, adding a bit of calcium near the plant's roots can't hurt! As the eggshells break down they will nourish the soil and your plants.

Happy gardening!

#food #resto

beer mustards.

the MTL Kitchen Collective has been busy testing new recipes for an upcoming event in June. We have been doing some experimenting with mustard and these are our batches of IPA mustard and an apricot beer mustard. I enjoyed the apricot beer mustard in my sandwich today and can't wait to share it at our upcoming event in June!

#food #resto #mustard #IPAmustard #beermustard #beer

the MTL Kitchen Collective

I am very excited to present a new project that my friend Violaine and I have recently launched; the MTL Kitchen Collective, which aims to create community through food by bringing creative culinary events to Montreal.

We recently took part in Restaurant Day where we hosted a pop-up restaurant stand, which featured beet-feta-basil burgers accompanied by refreshing hibiscus-ginger iced tea.

We have many fun events planned for the summer so stay tuned and check out our Facebook page for more information!

#food #resto

Devo's t-shirts: support local products.

My friend Devon Munro Menegon is a great artist, he does illustration and graphic design and has recently launched some simple Ts that feature his minimalist designs.

"As long as i could remember i was always interested in the simple things as far as imagery goes; shapes, line work, the appreciation of negative space. My work is simple but still visually pleasing."

His t-shirts can be found at local menswear shop, Savoie Fils, on the corner of Saint-Viateur and Jeanne-Mance. Go check out his t-shirts and support a local product at your neighbourhood shop!

click here for more of Devo's work!

#art

Restaurant Day May 17th: beet-feta-basil burgers and iced tea stand.

Come join us on Saturday May 17th for Montreal's 2nd Restaurant Day Montréal Carnaval Culinaire for a springtime lunch pop-up! We'll be serving up beet-feta-basil burgers with tasty fixings and refreshing iced tea. We'll be ready to serve you at 5359 Avenue Esplanade as of 12:30 and will keep going until supplies last. Looking forward to seeing you! Joignez-vous à nous le samedi 17 mai à l'occasion du 2e Carnaval Culinaire Montréal. Nous vous proposons de délicieux burgers aux betteraves-feta-basilic ainsi que du thé glacé rafraichissant. Nous seront prêtes à vous servir à partir de 12:30 (jusqu'à épuisement de nos stocks). Au plaisir de vous y voir! x Violaine & Emily / MTL Kitchen Collective ______________________________________________ We are excited to present our new collaboration, the "MTL Kitchen Collective", which aims to create community through food by bringing creative culinary events to Montreal. Stay tuned for our upcoming events this summer! _______________________________________________ Restaurant Day describes itself as “A food carnival where anyone can open a restaurant for a day. It is created by thousands of people organizing and visiting one-day restaurants in cities worldwide. The idea of the day is to have fun, share new food experiences and enjoy our common living environments together.” (restaurantday.org)

#food #resto #restaurantday #popuprestaurant

Wise Sons: delicious deli in San Francisco's Mission District.

Last January I went to San Francisco to visit my sister for a couple of weeks. She lives in a great spot, in the vibrant and multi-cultural Mission District. One afternoon I was taking a walk along 24th street, enjoying the colourful neighbourhood with it's amazing smells, wafting out of mom and pop taquerías that dot the streets, and beautiful sights, with colourful murals covering the walls and fences of most buildings. On the corner of 24th and Shotwell Street I came across a charming Jewish Deli, which stood out from the predominantly Latin American restaurants along the street. I popped in to check out the menu and my mouth started watering as soon as I stepped through the door. Their famous matzo ball soup smelt heavenly! I got there right before the lunch rush, within minutes of my getting there there was a lineup down the street. The Deli is a favourite spot amongst locals and tourists alike. I ordered their matzo ball soup as well as the pickle plate. The first bite I took was of a pickled beet, and it was out of this world! The beets were slightly spicy,with chilli flakes and the flavour of cloves and ginger lighting up my mouth. The pickled carrots were perfectly crunchy, with a subtle taste of anise star. The pickles themselves were traditional, with dill and mustard seeds and tasted simply delicious. The matzo ball soup was incredibly flavourful, comforting and filling. I walked out of there very happy and full. I will definitely go back to Wise Sons during my next trip to San Francisco at the end of June to explore more from their menu.

"Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen is dedicated to building community through traditional Jewish comfort food. Located in San Francisco’s Mission District, Wise Sons pairs classic Jewish recipes with the best Californian ingredients to make delicious deli fare that would make their bubbies proud.

Wise Sons co-founders Evan Bloom and Leo Beckerman smoked their first pastrami in a San Francisco backyard in 2010. The two Los Angeles natives were frustrated by the dearth of deli food they’d grown up with, and realized there was only one solution: they had to make their own.

Eager to test out their evolving recipes, Bloom and Beckerman gathered folks together for deli dinners, and when these parties quickly exploded from 20 to 200 people, it was clear they weren’t alone in their desire for good deli food.

Bloom and Beckerman launched Wise Sons as a series of pop-up events around San Francisco, and were overwhelmed by the long lines that quickly formed. They’d known the interest was there, but had seriously underestimated the passion people felt for Jewish deli food.

Wise Sons Deli opened the doors to its 24th Street location in February 2012, and the small space immediately flooded with an abundance of support–and opinions, lots of opinions–from the local community." (words from Wise Sons' site)

#resto #food

Restaurant Day is coming up, May 17th, 2014!

(photo by Camilla Stephan- Pop-Up at the Kopenhagen Collective, May 2013)

Are you interested in opening a one day pop-up restaurant? Ever dreamed of having a food stand for an afternoon? Well Restaurant Day encourages you to do so!! Restaurant Day is an international movement that describes itself " as “A food carnival where anyone can open a restaurant for a day. It is created by thousands of people organizing and visiting one-day restaurants in cities worldwide. The idea of the day is to have fun, share new food experiences and enjoy our common living environments together.” (restaurantday.org).

You can host a pop-up restaurant or food stand in your home, front/backyard, a park, your garage, a rooftop, the possibilities are endless!!! It can be a sit-down meal or a food-stand, it could range from a four-course dinner to selling a slice of homemade pizza or baked goods from a stand in your neighbourhood park. Please visit http://www.restaurantday.org/en for inspiration and sign up your one-day restaurant or food stand on the interactive map of your city. If you would rather eat your way through Restaurant Day, rather than be a chef for a day, you can locate the Pop-Ups in your city on the interactive map as well.

After two successful Pop-Ups, one in Copenhagen last spring and our latest last fall in Montreal, Violaine and I will be taking part in our third Restaurant Day, stay tuned for what we have planned this spring in Montreal!!

#resto #food

Open House at Lufa Farms: world's first commercial rooftop greenhouse in Montreal

Two Sundays ago was the first warm, sunny day of spring here in Montreal and it was the perfect day to visit what is reputed to be the world's first commercial rooftop greenhouse farm. Lufa farms held an open house to take the public on a tour of its commercial urban farm located right here in Montreal (click on name for link to site). This commercial farm grows a range of vegetables such as cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, a wide variety of tomatoes, rainbow chard, lettuces, beets, cabbages, carrots, and many different herbs. The urban farm offers weekly food baskets consisting of a variety of foods ranging from vegetables and herbs to freshly made pasta, juie and bread as well as homemade chocolate and other treats, all made locally. By collaborating with numerous local food producers (dairy farmers, bakers, chocolate makers, etc) Lufa Farms is able to provide a complete lot offering; their goal is to minimize people's reliance on grocery stores by offering the possibility of customizing your basket and offering a wide selection of products weekly. They ensure the products in their baskets are of the best quality; the vegetables are harvested the morning of delivery and the pasta, bread and juices are made fresh that very morning as well. They do this by working in very close collaboration with their local partners. So far, the farm delivers 4000 baskets a week at various pick up locations throughout the city.

The farm uses hydroponic cultivation methods; this means the plants grow in water rather than soil. They grow their food without the use of chemical pesticide, herbicides, or fungicides. Rather, they use biological controls to fight pests. They introduce beneficial insects (ladybugs) into the rooftop greenhouse to combat the crop-harming pests, such as aphids. This means they can offer food that is produced free of chemical pesticides (hydroponic growing methods are currently not eligible for organic certification and as a result Lufa Farms does not advertise as being organic).

What's more, they keep bee hives as a method of pollination throughout the greenhouse and use rain catchment water that is then recirculated so as to ensure water conservation.

The farm began its operations in 2011 near the Marché Central and recently opened a second location in Laval.

In order to reduce food miles and provide accessible food sources in the heart of cities, urban agriculture is becoming an important element in our food systems. Within this, rooftops, generally unused and wasted spaces, offer an immense possibility for growth within urban agriculture. Rooftop gardens are now commonplace in many cities across the globe but rooftop greenhouses are far less common. However, they are a growing phenomenon and Lufa Farms is playing a key role in this as they are expanding their production to Toronto and Boston. These commercial rooftop greenhouses respond to a growing demand for fresh local foods and offer an alternative to large-scale industrial food production.

Please check out their site for more information on what sorts of products they offer and sign up for their weekly basket!!

#resto #food

Stromae-Papaoutai

#music

Fish n' Chips at Købyens Deli, Meatpacking district, Copenhagen.

In a small hole in the wall in Copenhagen’s meatpacking district, Kødbyens Deli is a nice little take-away restaurant that specializes in a handful of dishes; Fish n’ Chips, chili con carne, fish cakes, salads, various burgers, daily specials and a fridge full of a variety of beers and wines to help wash it all down. Accompanied by homemade remoulade, Kødbyens Deli’s Fish n’ Chips box makes for a perfect lunch or dinner in the summertime when you can sit outside or take your box and beer to the park nearby.

Located in Copenhagen’s Vestebro neighbourhood, at the heart of the city, the Meatpacking District is a great place to go out. As the name suggests, the district was previously home to Copenhagen’s butchers but underwent a transition in the early 2000s and is now a “creative cluster”, host to many restaurants, bars, galleries and still some butchers today. With a very vibrant nightlife, the Meatpacking district is one of the most popular spots for going out.

#resto #food

Darius & Crayon-Alicia

#music

Photos From My Last Walk Around Copenhagen: Best Sandwich in the City, the Market, Queen Louise's Bridge, and Harbour Hangs.

This post is part of my "my cameras got stolen in Copenhagen AND Portugal so I had to resort to disposables" series. It doesn't quite capture food so well, as seen by the blurry (but delicious) sandwich. However, i am incredibly grateful for the 25 disposables I accumulated over 6 months and 8 countries; they captured some amazing moments.

During my last weekend in Copenhagen this past July, I spent a day by myself to wander the city one last time; i walked all day long, visiting new spots and saying goodbye to my favourite spots and to the amazing city i called home for half a year. During these wanderings I had to satisfy my growing hunger and so I stopped into Smagsløget to enjoy Copenhagen's BEST (at least according to me) sandwich one last time. And as always, it didn't disappoint! The sandwiches at Smagsløget are massive and delicious, and they also offer a student discount without student ID required ;) a blessing in such an expensive city. There are 20 different kinds of sandwiches to choose from, including one or two vegetarian options. Each one is very different and is incredibly fresh, everything that goes in is sliced on the spot. There are a few seats if you wish to eat there but most people take their sandwiches out. Another plus about this spot; from thursday-Saturday it's open until 6am to cater to Copenhagen's nightlife.

I then headed to the Torvehallerne market in the centre of the city and picked up a delicious elderberry juice and sat down in the middle of the market to enjoy my sandwich and homemade juice. The market is always vibrant, especially on a sunny day in the middle of the summer. Copenhagen just bursts alive in the summer; the Danes certainly know how to enjoy life and take advantage of the few sunny days they have each year. For more information about the market please see this post.

I then walked toward the Dronning Louise's Bro, or Queen Louise's Bridge, to sit down by The Lakes to enjoy another of my favourite spots.The Queen Louise Bridge is a favourite local spot where people go with some beers, bikes and speakers to sit out and enjoy a drink outside by the Lakes. During the spring and summer months the bridge is lined with bikes and packed with people out soaking up the sun and enjoying some good times when the sun goes down.

From there, I wandered down to Islands Brygge, a wonderful harbour where you can picnic, get ice cream and go for a dip. I met up with two lovely Copenhagen ladies to say my farewells and go for a last dip in the harbour!! Day and night, this harbour is a wonderful place to hang and have some drinks and food outdoors.

#food #resto

Holiday Canning!

As mentioned in a previous post, I attended a canning and preserving workshop with my mom back in October and was incredibly inspired after the 2 hour workshop with Camilla at the Preservation Society and combined with my tight budget I decided preserves/pickled goods would make for wonderful christmas gifts! A couple of weekends ago I met up with three friends to tackle our first experience with canning; We were quite ambitious and decided to can six batches of the homemade onion and apple chutney we made for the Pop-Up Restaurant as well as pickled beets and pickled carrots.

Below is a sample of all the goods we canned! In total we had 36 jars of chutney, six jars of pickled carrots, ten jars of beets, and lots of jam! The pickled carrots came out with incredibly vivid colours because we used carrots of various shades, including some dark purple ones! I would recommend using these as it makes for a beautiful final product.

interested in trying your hand at some home pickling and preserving? Here are some great books to help you out:

"Saving the Season: A Cook's Guide to Home Canning, Pickling, and Preservin" by Kevin West. For more info click here. West's book is a preserving bible and covers all sorts of amazing recipes and is an inspiring culinary guide, especially for someone like me who has no previous experience in this domain.

"Les Conserves Selon Camilla" by Camilla Wynne, who runs The Preservation Society right here in Montreal. She was the host of the amazing canning workshop and I would highly recommend checking out her site to keep up to date on various events and workshops she hosts. Fresh off the press, her highly creative cookbook reveals some of the secrets to her amazing preserves and pickled goods. For now, it is only available in French but the english version will be out in 2015... "Preservation Society is a small batch preserving company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. We lovingly produce fruit-forward jams, crystalline jellies, hand-cut marmalades, intoxicating chutneys, and addictive pickles. Ingredients are local whenever possible and sometimes even handpicked. People have been known to eat whole jars with a spoon, so watch out... But this is not a secret society of carefully guarded recipes and techniques! Canning is a dying art that must be resurrected! We ♥ canning so much that we want everyone to be able to do it. To that end, we offer monthly workshops and are also available for private lessons. Please see the events page for more info." (words from the Preservation Society site).

For the nitty gritty details regarding canning, we often turned to the very handy Bernardin home canning website; very straight forward and useful for beginners. Canning is a science as well as an art and you don't want to mess around!! So please refer to this site to help you with each important step you must take to ensure your canning is a success and that the receiver of your beautiful homemade gift doesn't fall sick, or worse...

And as a birthday gift my friend and canning buddy, Hart, gave me some of his homemade mustard! I have neat friends.

#resto #food

Devo's art

My friend Devo draws some amazing stuff, check out his blog for more of his work!

#art

Jean-Talon Market & Oysters.

Weekends at the Jean-Talon market has been a favourite activity of my parents for a long time and I always enjoy joining them on their weekend excursions. Following our annual tradition, last October we went up to the market in search of local ingredients for our Thanksgiving feast and, as always, went home with arms full of local produce and other goods. The Jean Talon Market is located in the heart of Little Italy and is one of the oldest public markets on the island, dating back to 1933.

" The Jean-Talon Market is known for its numerous local fruit and vegetable vendors as well as the cultural diversity of its shopkeepers. It is one of the largest public markets in North America and its atmosphere is lively whether summer or winter. It’s like a little village, a place where families have gathered and generations have grown, merchants and customers alike. At the Jean-Talon Market, you won’t just find fruits and vegetables, but also flowers, spices, oils, cheese, meat, fish and artisanal bakery goods, and let's not forget all the regional products from Quebec!"(from Marchés Publics de Montréal).

Also part of our annual Thanksgiving shopping at the market is stopping for a snack at La Boîte Aux Huîtres to refuel and enjoy some amazing oysters! It's a small stand with a stand-up bar at the front and it's a popular spot where people order a box of oysters and a bottle of wine or beer and relax amidst the hustle and bustle of the market. It's definitely a favourite amongst many so you can expect to wait a bit before finding a spot, otherwise you can take your box and sit down on the curb in the sun to enjoy the goodness the sea has to offer.

#food #resto

The 151 Pop-Up Resto!

After a couple of months of preparation, on December 1st my friend Violaine and I hosted the 151 Pop-Up restaurant, our first (but certainly not the last!) pop-up resto in Montreal. After the success of our pop-up in Copenhagen we were inspired to host a one-night restaurant in Montreal. Largely influenced by Restaurant Day, we wanted to open the restaurant in Violaine's home and invite a group of 20 people for a warm and cozy four course sit-down dinner. It was a wonderful group of people, largely family, friends, and friends of friends; we were inspired by the laughter coming from the dining room as we cooked. Our ingredients were partially sourced from local suppliers (for a list please see the menu below) and the food was served in a convivial and communal manner, to encourage people to interact and get to know each other throughout the course of the dinner.

We had an incredible group of people helping us throughout the night. A big thank you to the following people:

Julia, for being a amazing bartender. She prepared a bourbon cider twist (bourbon, apple cider and orange twist) and a delicious foghorn (gin, ginger ale, lime, fennel fronds).

Hart, for helping us in the kitchen and dining room as well as preparing the beautiful name tags, as seen in the photos above.

Penelope, for her help in the dining room and keeping things rolling smoothly

and Charlotte, for taking beautiful photos throughout the night as well as her continuous help and support while we took over her kitchen to test recipes.

Without them, the night would not have been the success that it was. And of course thank you to our friends and family for your continuous support in our endeavours!

It was a pleasure working alongside Violaine and an incredible experience overall. It has encouraged us to keep pursuing these sorts of events in the future, so stay tuned!

below are some photos i snapped while testing our recipes!

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Pour débuter: Roasted cherry tomatoes on a bed of ricotta / sourdough