spring flowers at 3 femmes et 1 coussin

I’ve been landscaping like crazy at home: taking up sod and digging compost into new perennial beds, piling my bedside table with gardening books, getting all dreamy eyed when I contemplate seeds. I get antsy if I can’t get my hands in dirt at least once a day. I’ve got spring fever, for sure.

And I recently discovered a store where I can assuage my feverishness when it’s too wet or cold to get into the garden - and indulge my love of flowers, color and beauty year round.

3 femmes et 1 coussin began designing (and later importing) collections of porcelain dishes in 2001. Three women had a common vision for high-quality dinnerware in colorful yet simple patterns. They settled on flowers as their motif, and focused on wholesaling to restaurants.

Soon, orders from chic Montreal restaurants turned into interest from patrons who wanted to buy the plates for themselves. When an opportunity to move their showroom to a storefront location arose, they made the leap to retail, opening the Rue Gilford shop (in the Plateau, just off St-Denis) in October, 2004.

They originally carried cushions as well (3 Femmes et 1 Coussin means 3 women and a cushion).

They now focus solely on table arts, supplementing their gorgeous porcelain with accessories from internationally acclaimed companies, such as FACES - a collection of products for the kitchen and table developed by Ferran Adrià, chef of the three star Barcelona restaurant elBulli.

But the fanciful floral designs are theirs. Colors are vivid, and pieces have exquisite, and sometimes surprising, shapes - fuchsia allium petals on a flat sided teapot, for example, or a single leafy green branch splashed across a platter.

They continue to custom-print floral motifs for the hospitality industry and for retail clients. They also sell place settings and serving pieces in basic white.

The shop is a must-see for serious flower-lovers, as the details are lovingly recreated, and for minimalists looking to introduce new shapes (triangle bowls, half circle platters) onto their all-white tables.

783, Rue Gilford, at St-Hubert, M: Laurier. (514) 987-6807. Open M-W 10am-6pm; Th F 10am-7pm; Sat 10am-5pm; closed Sun.

rhodia notebooks at arthur quentin

One of the reasons I love the Plateau kitchen and table ware store, Arthur Quentin, is that so much of what they sell is French. A few of my favorites this year are the Guy Degrenne teapots with a stainless cozy (sizes range from 2-8 cups), and the Upla bags, made from indestructible nylon with leather trim.

And - I know this may seem silly - I was ecstatic when I saw their new supply of Rhodia notebooks.

Why get excited about such a small and simple thing? These orange notebooks from the French Alps are all about order and aplomb. The color is fun, full of energy, and just a little bit eccentric, especially when they were first made, in the 30s.

The notebook’s inner pages, with their light gray grid, speak to my predisposition for order. The tidy squares promise that the small problems of the world will fall (ever so gently) into line: lost dogs will be reunited with their owners; unpaired socks will at long last find their match; too long to-do lists will self-organize into categories, with a timeline to follow.

I remember the first time I opened a Rhodia pad, and the cover folded back - and stayed put. For the first time, I understood good design. It felt good in the hand and in the mind. It solved a small, every day problem, only noticeable by the user.

The scored cover, made of quality paper, didn’t impede my progress. It didn’t flop, rip, curl or spring back. It folded quietly out of the way until I was done sketching, listing, or doodling. Then it folded flat again - flat! Ditto with the pages inside. I pick up an orange Rhodia pad now, and I’m back in France, younger and eager to know the ways of the world, and reasonably sure that I will.

This year marks the company’s 75th birthday, and the Rhodia folks are still helping us organize ourselves colorfully. They’re making plans for an upcoming calendar, and want fans to help choose the images - models wearing clothes and accessories made from, or resembling, Rhodia products. Photo credits.

cocoa délices - fine chocolates for gift giving

Now that the Easter sugar rush is over, let me turn once more to chocolates and gift giving.

Montreal’s newest chocolaterie, Cocoa Délices, is a hotbed of flavor, with a focus on baby showers. Confused? I was, too, until I made my way to the back of their posh showroom and bit into a ganache flavored with mango, mint and coriander.

Full and rich, with bursts of sweetness and delightful savory undertones, the complexity helped prepare me for a few of their other specialties: lime-pastis, and feu sud américain - South American fire.

So naturally I wondered what these exotic flavors had in common with a blue paper boat setting sail on a nearby shelf. The ship’s hold was filled with individually wrapped chocolates, each decorated with its own blue bear. Nearby were delicate pink foil squares topped with rocking horses.

There are adventurous chocolate eaters, and lovers of tradition, I was told.

Adventurous types can choose their favorite flavored ganaches, naked, from the counter. Lovers of tradition will find milk chocolate, hazelnut, and praline at the counter too - and wrapped as specialty gifts, enrobed in demure blue and pink foils for baby showers, births and baptisms.

It’s a great marketing move, as there are at least three stores on the street dedicated to outfitting babies.

For shoppers looking for chocolates in more grown-up wrappings, elegant brown and copper foil boxes can be filled with the selection of your choice.  A bit staid for birthday presents (unless it’s for a grandparent), the boxes make lovely hostess gifts.  

And for the young person who likes sweets, try the nougats, wrapped in cellophane.  The pastel colors of the candy are their own reward - until you sink your teeth into their chewy, salty-sweet goodness.

Dark and light, adventurous and traditional, the chocolates are hand made in Quebec and delivered to the store a kilo at a time, to assure freshness.

123 Laurier Ouest.  Open T-Th 11-6pm; F Sat 11-6:30; Sun 12-5.  Closed M

celebrating april 1

The French celebrate April 1 with Poisson d’Avril, or April Fish. Traditionally, there is one practical joke:  French children surreptitiously tape a picture of a fish on their schoolmates’ backs - then yell “Poisson d’Avril” when the prank is discovered.

Far be it from me to play jokes on my friends.  But where in Montreal might we find some surprising fish?  

Think chocolate, seafood, art, and more.

Les Chocolats de Chloé celebrates fish all year long, with their homemade sardines pralineés - wonderfully detailed little fish packed with milk chocolate and hazelnut paste. These are one-person delicacies, and if truth be told, I bite off the head, then the tail, then work my way through the plump body. When I mentioned this to Chloé, she said: Just like a kid.

546 Rue Duluth Est
(514) 849-5550

Chocolats Privilège is a rather serious place - so I was surprised this weekend to see that they had lots of fat, jolly, dark chocolate molded fish, from petit (gone in a few bites, but still bigger than Chloé’s) to gros (meant to be shared, or savored over the course of a week.) Wrapped in cellophane and tied with a bow, they make lovely gifts.

7070, rue Henri-Julien, at the south end of Jean Talon Market
(514)276-7070

Poisson Rouge is a comfortable and cozy BYOB, and the food, mostly fish and seafood, is creative, and delicious. Today’s specials (though not necessarily in honor of April 1), include wild sea bass, tuna, and scallops. The table d’hôte - 5 courses for $37 - is a good value. Which is why it’s always a good idea to reserve.

1201 rue Rachel Est, across from Parc Lafontaine
(514) 522-4876

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has fish…where?

If you find one at the museum, or anywhere else in Montreal, let us know!

1380 Sherbrooke Street Ouest
(514)285-2000