Garlic Festival - St. Anne de Bellevue - Sat. Aug. 20

[Haggisboy]

The online edition of The West Island Gazette has the full details at the link:

http://westislandgazette.com/news/24525

[kpzoo]

Had a fabulous time at the garlic festival this morning.

I had two main goals: find those quick-to-sell-out garlic rolls that someone mentioned in the Food Events 2011 thread, and attend the How to Grow Garlic session.

I arrived early and scoped out all 20-25 or so stalls, and couldn't see anyone who looked like they were selling anything remotely resembling garlic rolls. I asked numerous people and no one had any idea. So I sat down to attend the workshop, which was starting soon. I started chatting with a friendly couple sitting next to me and mentioned the rolls as a last resort. "Oh, you mean that bakery right over there?" Lo and behold, the garlic-roll people had arrived late and had just finished setting up next to the workshop area while we were chatting. The nice couple immediately offered to save my seat while I lined up for garlic rolls. (I just had one with tuna for lunch - delicious.)

The garlic-growing session was very informative and inspired me to pick up several varieties of organic hardneck garlic for planting in October, from the Ferme Coopérative Tourne-sol - http://www.fermetournesol.qc.ca/ The later workshops/demos looked interesting too - did anyone else attend?

I got some lovely veggies at stands throughout the whole farmer's market - which takes place every Saturday in Ste-Anne's - cucumbers, green & yellow zucchinis (because no one has foisted their homegrown ones on me yet this year), small white turnips, red chiles, carrots. There was also lots of corn, canteloupes, and tomatoes to be had, including lots of different heirloom tomatoes.

Had a veggie taco at the Little Mexican Cooking School stand - it was OK if a little bland. The lemonade was good.

I'd definitely go again to this event - highly recommended!

(An unexpected treat was finding Montreal Melon seeds - on sale for under $3 - at an eco-store near the parking lot as I was leaving the area.)

[kpzoo]

Attaching photos of:

- garlic rolls
- garlic for planting (Rocambole & Porcelain varieties)
- Montreal Melon seeds
- veggie taco with tortilla made on the spot

[deborahm]

Thanks for posting....but ugh! The festival is just one day? How could this be?! I'm so sad to only hear about it now but I'll definitely be there next year. I'm curious about your planting of garlic varieties. Are these in pots or in a garden? I'm assuming that you are planting somewhere in the city...and wondered if it's possible to plant garlic in pots. I'll have to go to the workshop next year....

[kpzoo]

Yes, sadly only one day... sorry you missed it!

I'll be planting in my backyard garden but I just did some quick Googling and apparently it is possible to grow garlic in pots. Planting takes place in October in our climate, so you still have lots of time to find some nice garlic for planting! People on the gardening board here on CH may have tips for growing garlic. I've never grown it before so this will be a new adventure for me. Good luck!

[maj54us]

@Kpzoo: Hi, Are the people of the land of garlic-rolls have a store front somewhere to try their food other than at a food fare? I wish I read about this before. grrrrrr!

[kpzoo]

I think their sign said they were from Dunham and I think someone in the Food Events thread said they only make the garlic rolls for the festival, but I'm not sure about that. They had other yummy-looking things but I sadly didn't get down the name of the bakery, sorry!

[kpzoo]

BTW - I keep referring to the Food Events thread but I just looked it up to see if there was any more info about that bakery and it was actually a different thread: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7945...

[TheSnowpea]

My husband asks tremulously: did someone offer garlic ice-cream?

[kpzoo]

I didn't see any but there *was* a garlic dessert contest that I didn't stay for, so maybe that was one of the dishes on offer there! I also saw garlic cookies & what looked like scones at one booth. Is hubby on a quest for garlic ice-cream?

[TheSnowpea]

he's strangely attracted to the idea. I'm more... hesitant.

[FortyMan]

I had one of those garlic-chocolate cookies (2$) on Saturday, it was very good, but I couldn't really taste the garlic in it even though there were a lot of little pieces in it

[jonhall]

Hi kpzoo, I was the one who mentioned these fantastic rolls. I am glad you got there before me and were able to buy some to try them because when I got there, I bought what they had left. Two years ago with my first time trying these rolls, I foolishly bought 4 but they never even made it home as we ate them in the car on the way. When I went back the next week and asked if they had any more, they said that they only made them special for this event. That is why this time, I bought the last 9 of them. After this evening, we have only 2 left.

[kpzoo]

Jonhall - thanks so much for your original tip about the rolls, and glad you managed to snag a bunch!

[Haggisboy]

You'd think that if these rolls have proven so popular that folks are buying out their stock each year at this one day fest, that they'd maybe consider making them available year 'round at their bakery.

[maj54us]

Indeed and where is their bakery?

[ios94]

As someone mentioned he's located in Dunham, his Belgian is really good too.

[maj54us]

my google skills sucks. I searched for bakery in Dunham with no success. If someone has more info It would be great to find out where they are.

[kpzoo]

Try contacting the organizer of the festival: http://goingtoseed.wordpress.com/cont...

[jonhall]

Although he may be the one organizing the garlic festival, he is not the one who runs the stalls as far as I know. The best bet is to hope someone goes to the St Anne's market next Saturday and asks him.

[kpzoo]

Ah! Didn't realize he was there every week. Cool. maj54us - it's the stand with baguettes, croissants, spelt bread, etc. And pretty sure the sign on their stall says Dunham.

[maj54us]

thank you!

[kpzoo]

Guys, I found out who made those garlic rolls. I was at the Ste-Anne's farmer's market today and here's the place:

La perle et son boulanger
3746 rue Principale
Dunham, QC
J0E 1M0
450.295.2068

That's the good news. The bad news is that I confirmed with them that they only make the garlic rolls one day a year - for the garlic festival. However, they make a lot of other yummy-looking things so if you're in the 'hood (either Ste-Anne's for the market on Saturday mornings or Dunham) it would definitely be worth a stop.

Marché Ste-Anne - runs through the winter indoors, outside in the summer/fall
http://www.marchesainteanne.ca/

[fredmir]

Where is the winter market held in St Anne??

[ios94]

This is according to Stairsholme; (as of Oct 8th)
" We are moving: The market will be held on in the basement of the St. Georges Anglican Church (23 Perrault, Sainte-Anne de Bellevue) from 9am till 2pm. "

But according to the Marche St Anne website;

Winter market starts October 29, 2011 and ends May 6, 2012
Winter schedule: Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

[deborahm]

Thanks for posting this info.! Much appreciated.

[kpzoo]

Some more info on the schedule & contests:

http://goingtoseed.wordpress.com/2011...

Looks very intriguing.