Return of the Raspberry Social!

Yes, the Raspberry Social is coming back!

 fig. a:  raspberries!

Bigger and badder than ever before, and with a new sense of purpose.

As was the case with last year's blockbuster St-Jean Strawberry Social at Espace Pop, this will be a combination Fruit Social & BBQ Social, featuring the following line-up:

AJ's famous smoky Carolina-style chopped pork sandwich (with all the fixings)

Savouré's wonderful raspberry soda 

AND

Michelle's irresistible trio of raspberries, spongecake, & whipped cream*

 fig. b:  BBQ !

This time, our Fruit Social & BBQ will be taking place at the Marché des Possibles, beginning at noon on Saturday, July 26, until supplies last.

And this time around all proceeds will go to a cause that's particularly close to our hearts:  the Ange-Aimée Woods Memorial Bursary.

Earlier this month, Montreal lost a phenomenal journalist, an ultra-enthusiastic supporter of the arts (and of Montreal's culture more generally), a true gastronome, and as dynamic personality as you are ever likely to encounter.  Many of us lost a great friend, too.

Both Michelle and I had known Ange-Aimée for years,** and she had always been a fan of "...an endless banquet" and a beloved regular of the Foodlab.  Plus, Ange-Aimée was a devoted member of our Montreal Fruit Socialists community--in fact, just last summer, she brought her CBC mobile equipment to our St-Jean Strawberry & BBQ Social and interviewed Michelle right in front of our location at Espace Pop.  Wouldn't you know it?  Within about 15 minutes, we started getting CBC listeners dropping in to partake in the festivities.  Yet another example of the Power of Radio, and a perfect example of the Ange-Aimée Effect.

Anyway, we miss Ange-Aimée dearly and we're big believers in Ange-Aimée Woods Memorial Bursary.  If the bursary reaches $15,000 in donations, it will continue to exist in perpetuity, and it seems fitting that the Ange-Aimée Effect should be allowed to touch the lives of Concordia students (Ange-Aimée's alma mater) for many years to come.

For more information on the Ange-Aimée Woods Memorial Bursary click on this link.

who:  "...an endless banquet" + Mile End/St-Louis BBQ #1
what:  an afternoon of tasty treats and positive action at a market where anything is possible
where:  Marché des Possibles, 5635 rue St-Dominique (corner of Bernard)
when:  Saturday, July 26, 2014, 12:00 noon till supplies last
why:  because you love barbecue and/or raspberries, and this here's a great cause
how:  just drop on by (with an appetite)

aj

* Last year, someone set a new Fruit Social record by eating four servings in quick succession (all for a great cause!).  Will you be the new Fruit Social Champion?

** In my case, I met Ange-Aimée when she took a crazy course of mine on apocalyptic visions in cinema that I taught at the University of British Columbia in the late '90s, on the eve of Y2K.

Raspberry Social Wrap-up

Such a good crowd, such amazing weather, such a great time! And such beautiful raspberries!

fig. a: framboises

From the outside, you might have just thought it was a particularly busy day at good ole Parc Laval.

fig. b: Parc Laval

On the inside, however, you found the sweet, sweet sounds of the Better Late Than Never String Band (version 2.0: banjo + fiddle) and a couple of trained professionals

fig. c: Team Laloux

serving up the most heavenly sponge cake, raspberries, and whipped cream combo,

fig. d: heaven

along with a veritable battery of drink options.

Big thanks to all of you who were able to make it down for our Raspberry Social (including a whole whack of Ottawans!), as well as all those who wished us well from afar. Once again, it was a smashing success (over 100 people!).

Will there be another social before the end of the summer? (The blueberry fanatics* have been clamoring for a Blueberry Social, among other things.) We're still not sure, but stay tuned to AEB for all the latest Summer Social information and updates.

Thanks again to Restaurant Laloux, Café Myriade, and Better Late Than Never (who tore things up!) for their invaluable assistance and their camaraderie. You guys are the best!

aj

* You know who you are!

Raspberry Social!

fig. a: best event ever

Raspberries are here!  We're on! And you're invited!

That's right, AEB's Summer of the Social continues:

fig. b: QC in the house

Raspberry Social
Sunday, July 31st
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Parc Laval (avenue Laval, 1/2 block south of Laloux, between avenue des Pins and carré St-Louis)

gorgeous, height-of-season Quebec raspberries served with Michelle's sponge cake and whipped cream

rhubarb lemonade, iced tea, and iced coffee by our friends at Myriade

live music by the Better Late Than Never String Band

fig. c: BLTN

$10 suggested donation

all proceeds go to Santropol Roulant

See you on Sunday!

aj

p.s. If you missed our Strawberry Social, this is what it looked like!

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

fig. a: sweet dreams

Michelle had a dream the other night. This wasn't particularly unusual--she has dreams almost every night, some of them rather vivid. But this one was a little different.

It was essentially a work dream, but Michelle loves what she does, so any and all stress and anxiety was balanced by feelings of pride and satisfaction. It was also quite a bit sweeter than your average work dream.

Michelle had been asked to make the desserts for a large fundraising gala. She wasn't 100% sure what the cause was, but the guest of honour was none other than René Redzepi, the acclaimed chef of Copenhagen's Noma. The dessert she'd chosen to serve in her dream was a raspberry dessert that she'd been working on in real life earlier in the week, but that she hadn't quite finalized. In her dream, though, the dessert was fully visualized and complete, and she took it to be some kind of sign. So when she went back to work, she made the necessary adjustments--the ones she'd seen in her dream--and promptly placed her new, improved raspberry dessert on the dégustation menu.

fig. b: are made of this

Then she did the only logical thing: she tweeted about it.

Michelle_Marek: Dreamt I was doing a fundraising dinner and @ReneRedzepiNoma* was the guest of honour. What I made in my dream is now on the Laloux menu.

A tad matter-of-fact, perhaps, but that's what you get for 140 characters or less.

Apparently not too matter-of-fact, though, because hours later, she received this response:

ReneRedzepiNoma@Michelle_Marek: what is the dish?

To which she replied:

Michelle_Marek@ReneRedzepiNoma: It's a dessert: raspberries stuffed with creme fraiche, honey glazed puff pastry with orange flower water...

Michelle_Marek@ReneRedzepiNoma: ...raspberry-rose gelee, burnt honey ice cream and a pimenton-rose-mint-pistachio powder sprinkled lightly over it.

If all that wasn't enough, about an hour after this exchange, Michelle got a phone call--not from Mr. Redzepi (darn!), but from someone who asked if she'd be interested in producing the desserts for a fundraiser. For the very first time. You might think Michelle had gotten such invitations before, but you'd be wrong--this was actually a first.

No word on who the guest of honour will be.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. What about the raspberry dessert itself? Well, I loved the whole thing, from the ripe raspberries, to the crispy puff pastry, to the unexpected zing of that pistachio powder, but if I had to single out my favorite element, it was those those raspberry-rose jewels, which had the most delicate flavour, and the most extraordinary texture.

Overall: pretty dreamy.

aj

* If you're not a Twitterer, you should know that Michelle actually typed "René Redzepi"--again, very matter-of-factly. When she did, because she "follows" Redzepi on Twitter, it appeared as "@ReneRedzepiNoma" and linked to his Twitter account.

Up & Running

fig. a: return of the tarte d'été

Remember Michelle's tarte d'été in 140 characters or less?

Well, it's up & running in today's edition of La Presse. You can find it here, along with tweeted recipes from Newtown's Patrice Demers (a roasted peach & blueberry dessert), Olive & Gourmando's Éric Girard (a roasted chicken sandwich named "Le Gustavo"), and others.

Check it out.

You can also find out everything you ever wanted to know about Montreal chefs who tweet.

aj