Located on the ground floor of what was a jewelry and fur industry building, TF 1435, this side street outlet, sells brand name shoes ( Cole Haan, DJ Pliner, Mephisto, La Canadienne, Pajar) at unreal prices - less than half of what those brands would cost around the corner on Ste-Catherine St. The merchandise is from previous seasons and the  selection is pretty decent.

Location: 1435 St-Alexandre, main level
Phone: 514-840-3054

Q1: Today you want to talk about Montreal’s fabric district, where is it?

We are lucky in Montreal to have a fabric district. St Hubert Street, north of Jean-Talon, which has evolved from the 1940’s to the 90’s from a couple of stores to two dozen or more great places to find any fabric you could need. Where fashion fabrics once were its mainstay, nowadays with all our cocooning, the split is about 50% fashion fabrics and 50% for the home.

Q2: Who’s shopping here?

The typical buyers are fashion designers and design students, decorators with their clients and without clients (then they can charge much more because they can mark up more), theatrical productions, mothers of skaters and of course, you and me.

Q3: So this is where you would go to find fabrics if you want to have clothes made to fit you perfectly or if you are redecorating your home.

Outside of North America, it is still quite popular, no matter what the income bracket, to have your wardrobe made by the neighborhood seamstress. It makes life so much easier that way, and for those of you who hate to shop, this is the ultimate way to never have to buy clothes again. The clothing will always fit your body properly and you will have the colors or fabrics that you like. For your home this is a treasure trove of designs.

Q 3: If we don’t have the time or patience to go into all 2 dozen shops, can you give us some of the highlights?

Starting at Jean Talon and going north on St. Hubert, here is a small menu of what is sold in the fabric businesses on that street:

7186 - Ultratext (514-271-9929) - ribbons, boas, sequin trimmings, elastic, buttons, fringe, peacock feathers, beads, styrofoam balls, boxes of  zippers
7193/5 - Saratex/Sam - one side dedicated to home fabrics and the other side to fashion fabrics. With its very organized huge inventory chock full of a rainbow of colors and kind, you can find it all - including vinyl, beaded ones, bridal and tassels, and they also can make drapes and slip covers. On the 2nd floor there is a liquidation center with bolts as low as $2.99-$9.99 a meter.
7194 - Draperies Georgette (514-270-2045) - made-to-measure  draperies and bedspreads, upholstery, lace
7196 - Draperies St. Hubert (514-274-0364) - fabric for draperies, sheers, laces and made-to-measure
7207 - Myrlene Decor - sheers, cottons, panels, strings, valences, bedspreads made-to-measure
7234 - B.M.Z. (514-272-4334) - inexpensive fabrics and clothing
7254 - Textiles Debouk (514-276-3278) -this is the little store that grew, and it now encompasses enough floor space to satisfy most of your sewing needs. For re-upholstery, you can choose jacquard, moire and cottons, and pick up foam and Dacron for your cushions. For fashion sewing, the newest fabrics with lycra, stretch leathers, vinyl, and wools, Chinese silk, camouflage and netting and Italian light wools are all here, along with curtain panels, boas, buttons and a room of plastic coated textiles.
7282 - Goodman-Carlyle - Quality fabrics at very low prices (90% off) await you here amongst the 1,000’s of bolts in stock (and more in warehouse). The chock full selection for fashion, home and the theatre includes lots of  glitter and shine, there’s an upholstery room, another room of  woolens including cashmere,wool crepe,boiled wool and jacquards  from England, France and Italy. The rest of the store is full of  brocades, lames, lurexes and sequins and then velvets, Italian linen in all widths, cottons, silks, satins, taffetas, corduroys, nylon, stretch lace, fake fur, polar fleece, plasticized fabric, airfoam, and outerwear fabric all piled 10′ high.
7334 - Joliette Textiles (514-276-5444) - small, one aisle inexpensive fashion
7348 - Beads Planet (514-223-1000) - beads to make costume jewelry
7360 - Textiles Riatex (514-271-6050) - huge store full of fashion and upholstery
7361 - Textiles Couture Elle (514-271-1608) - imported fashion fabrics (related to 7399)
7363 - Rubans Boutons - endless display of buttons and 1,000’s of ribbons
7381 - Trim Cite (514-272-7733) - neat, lots of ribbons, beads, cord, appliques, collars, fringes, lace, sequins, tassels, beaded trim
7390 - A.C. Textile (514-279-6201) - 3 rooms lots of fashion fabrics
7399 - Tissus St-Hubert (514-277-5945) - spacious, airy neat, higher end lines (related to 7361)
7432 - Boutique Bilal (514-278-8007) - ribbons, lace trim and collars, all sizes of  zippers, buttons, interfacing, elastic, labels, fringe, boas
7442 - Tissus Tueni (514-277-4785) - neat, party fabrics, jacquards, wool, silk, laces, men’s suiting
7454 - Accessoires de couture St-Hubert (514-278-9416) - tons of trimmings, costume jewelry, buttons, zippers, appliqués, ribbons, large rolls of sewing machine thread
7479 - Fleche Verte (514-278-8507) - beaded trim, pearls for bridal, appliqués, button covering
7488 - Matar Textiles (514-277-6462) - fabric and trimmings, interlinings, buttons, zippers, closings, belt buckles
7498 - Decotec (514-927-5890) - upholstery, tassels, cord, sheers, drapes, foam, re-upholstery and shop-at -home available
7500 - C & M Textiles (514-272-0247) - granddaddy of street, middle to high end for fashion and home. Upon entering, you are assailed by the luscious selection for gowns and bridal wear: guipure, laces, taffetas, embroideries, organzas, silk shantung, tulle and netting. Then there’s silks, woolens, microfibers, linens and sequins. For upholstery and drapery, check out the racks of samples from the mills of Europe and the chenilles, velvets, damasks, tapestries, cotton prints, lace curtaining, ultra suede, outdoor fabrics, blinds & shades. cmtextiles.com
7515 - Le Marche de Textiles “Elzein” (514-271-6017) - fashion and curtains
7541 - Chaton Beads (514-278-8989) - beads, rhinestones, buttons, pearl trimmings, bridal headpiece parts, frogs, satin flowers, sea beads (see book listing for more details)
7609 - Kava (514-271-2888) - giant spools of threads, some notions, zippers, lace trim

Golteez was the toy store located inside Caplan-Duval. They are really good at stocking the trendy toys. The store has moved to the Cote St Luc shopping center now and you can find so many more things in their bigger abode by: ALEX, Bakugan, Barbie, Bruder, Crayola, Disney, Fisher-Price, Galt, Ganz, Gogo’s, Gund, Hello Kitty, Hot Wheels, LEGO, Little Tikes, Mega Bloks, Melissa and Doug, Nerf, Parkerbrothers, Play-Doh, Playskool, Reebok, Russ, Transformers, Upperdeck, Yomega. They also have a balloon service now.

So if the kids are driving you crazy indoors, maybe it’s a good time to take a look at their new premises and buy something to keep them occupied.

Location:  7075 Cote St. Luc Rd, Cote St. Luc
Phone: 514:486-6668
Hours: Mon-Wed & Fri, 10-6, Thurs 10-9, Sat 9-5, Sun 12-5

Q1:  Everyone is so busy these days that they don’t even have time to prepare dinner, and its so cold to go out, you say that you have some solutions for this dilemma

Located in the Jean Talon market, Milliner is preparing french-inspired home-cooked meals for you or you can enjoy Comfort Meals which are home-cooked meals by a husband and wife team. Both companies deliver them to your door and make all the meals from scratch with no additives, coloring, fillers, etc.

Q2:  How does it work? What kind of food do they cook?

You can look online or call them up and order ahead.

Milliner prepares 75 different dishes (350 gr. $9-$13) in its open kitchen using grain fed chicken, Quebec AAA beef, but no additives, colorings or preservatives. Start drooling over the  lamb with apricot, blanquette de veau, Thai chicken, bbq baby back ribs, cassoulet de fruits de mer, pork with prunes or even beef cheeks with mashies. 70% of them are even gluten free. You can also buy box lunches or use them for catering. Home delivery is available.

Location: 7010 Henri Julien, Marche Jean-Talon at Mozart
Phone: 514-270-0004
Hours: Sat-Wed 9-5, Thurs & Fri 9-7
www.milliner.ca

Comfort Meals costs only $5-$8 for a 350-400g  of stick-to-your ribs home cooked meal.They are cheerfully delivered to your door, and ready for microwave, oven or freezer. Meals are lower in salt (and can even be no salt) and made with fresh ingredients.

Some interesting choices might be: chicken with apricots or Kiev style, vegetarian lasagne with bechamel sauce, pineapple ham, Hungarian goulash, shepherd’s pie, salmon in Spanish sauce, veal in mushroom sauce or tourtiere. For those cold winter days there’s soups: perhaps pea, barley or lentil. Delivery is only offered in the western end of town with a minimum of 7 meals, and all meals should be ordered on Wednesday or Thursday  for delivery the following Wednesday.

Phone: (514) 713-1951
comfortmeals@sympatico.ca
www.comfortmeals.ca

Q3: Those are good deals but since you’re the Smart Shopper you have an even less expensive alternative - is it really airplane food?

Delta Daily Food use to make food for airlines; Nowadays they prepare meals for schools, cafeterias and even supermarket chains. Dietitians create interesting menus every month. At the end of each month, whatever hasn’t been sold to them, is offered to the public at really inexpensive prices (mostly around $2.50 or less per meal).

I’ve recently toured their premises and they seem more sterile than a hospital surgery room.

Q4:  Okay, I’ll bite, how much do they cost and how do you go about buying them?

My family has been eating “frozen airplane food” for over 15 years. Some of the food is in bulk and others are individual or family dinners. They’re great for: quick dinners, after school (or anytime) snacks for kids, for elderly folks who don’t cook anymore, college students, etc.

If you are ordering the individual meals, they come in packaged in 4/8/10, so an idea might be to form a buying group with friends and that way you can get an assortment. What you might find at a sale:  shrimp in spicy sauce (only $2 per meal), salmon tapenade or beurre blanc ($2.50), chicken in green curry ($1.40), shrimp and scallops ($3.50 each), vegetarian Indian meal ($1), beef Yakaniku  ($1.70), beef with oriental noodles, rice with mango and coconut, chicken a la king, meat lasagna, and lots more…

Location: 26 Seguin, Rigaud
Phone: 450-451-6761
Directions: Exit 9 on Autoroute 40 Ouest
Date and time: Sun Jan 31st and then Sun Feb 28: 10-3
You can be on their e-mail list for future sales, write to: l.brasseur@deltadailyfood.com

Not homemade but if you never wanted to cook again, shop at M&M and you would not have to repeat a dinner for a long time. Some of their new meals to try: slow cooked beef pot roast, veggie lo mein, lemon chicken, sweet potato fries and the shrimp hors d’oeuvres or last year’s hit: hors d’oeuvre quartet - vegetarian hors d’oeuvres (mushroom, spinach, cheese and roasted pepper). If you’re having a crowd, there’s the all time favorites, the oriental party pack and the cranberry brie.

Ten single serving options are available: lasagne, cabbage rolls, chile, mac ‘n cheese. Seasonally you can find their stuffed turkey breast (freezer to table in 2 hours) or the ultimate cream puff selection made with Belgium chocolate or try the new raspberry almond tart or banana chocolate chip cake.

Locations: Pointe Claire: 6321 Transcanadienne, Complexe Pte Claire at boul. St-Jean (514-426-1894); Laval, 3192 boul. St-Martin (450-686-0220); 6295 Somerled (514-485-9913); 3547 boul. St-Charles (514-694-9515); Dorval, 475 Dumont (514-633-9350); 2137 boul. des Laurentides (450-975-9595); 6925 boul. Taschereau (450-926-9518); 8453 boul. Newman (514-363-2929); 7864 Sherbrooke e. (514-493-1444) and more.  www. lesalimentsmm.com
Hours: Regular plus Sun 10-5

Prillo furniture company finally opened up this large space where they sell off their liquidated stock of their traditional lines of couches, arm chairs, dining rooms sets (chairs started at $39), side tables, wall units and grandfather clocks.. Follow the yellow stairs up to the bedrooms, bureaus and mattresses.

Location: 3400 Cremazie Blvd. East
corner: boul. St-Michel
Phone:514-722-1890
Hours: Regular plus Sun 10-5

Don’t moan because the ice and snow prevent you from heading out and getting some exercise riding around on your bike. Help is at hand right downtown at at a bike shop that has been helping customers for 79 years. They have a contraption that can change your outdoor bike into an indoor exercise one.

Customer satisfaction, competitive prices and keeping up with the latest trends have been the key ingredients that have made this store last since 1931 (in the same family!). Everything from tricycles to a huge selection of commuter bikes  can be found here, with all the helmets, hydration systems, clothing, kid trailers and car racks (no charge for installation). Go up to the 2nd floor for the racing bike section.

A bicycle repair service is available. Forget the Bixi and support a local family.

Location: 5584 avenue du Parc
Phone: 514-276-1305
Hours: Regular (closed for 3 weeks after Christmas)

Q 1:  We’re tired of  being stuck in our homes all winter, you have some ideas of outings that are Free to the public.

With our budget stretched tight after paying for holiday fun, it’s terrific to be able to go out on the town and not have to pay a cent. Museums which are nice and warm inside have a Free days and you can spend hours exploring.

Q 2:  Of the art museums, which ones are open for Free and on which days?

Musee d’art contemporain du Montreal - This museum focuses on modern art, so the color and forms are usually quite appealing to children and its always free for kids under 12. This month there is an exhibit on urban architecture that dominate modern life. It examines the city, its buildings and its activities.

Location: 185 Ste. Catherine St. W.
Phone: 514-847-6226.
Free Hours: Wednesday 5 - 9 pm. Always Free for children under 12
www.macm.org

Musee des Beaux Arts: The entire permanent collection in the building on the north side of Sherbrooke is always free to the public. You can see art work by Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Rembrandt, Renoir, Dali, Corot, Courbet and more. Temporary shows are 1/2 price on Wednesday evenings.
Showing now is an exhibit on Global Warming: Scenes from a Planet under Pressure and Ben Weider’s Napoleon collection.

Location: 1379 Sherbrooke St. West
Phone: 514-285-1600
Free Hours: Everyday but temporary exhibits are ½ price Wed evenings 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Children under 12 are always Free
www.mmfa.qc.ca

Q 3: Some people don’t enjoy going to see artwork, what other options are there for them?

McCord Museum of Canadian History: Come here to see costumes, textiles, decorative arts, ethnology, drawings, photographs and First Nations collections. Collections goes from the 18th century to the present. On now: Being Irish in Quebec and one about Norman Bethune.

Location: 690 Sherbrooke St. West
Phone: 514-398-7100.
Free Hours: 1st Sat each month 10 a.m- noon. Children 5 & under are always Free.
www.mccord-museum.qc.ca

Canadian Centre for Architecture: It’s focus is architecture, urban planning, landscape design research and collection dating. Nowadays the CCA galleries are transformed into cinematic screening rooms to present a range of artistic, scientific, and experimental films on speed and space. Selected by curators from the archives of NASA, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM), the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and UbuWeb, the films explore the impact of velocity and technology on our past, present and future.

Location: 1920 Baile St.
Phone: 514-939-7026
Free Hours: Thurs eves 5:30- 9. Students and children are always Free
www.cca.qc.ca

Redpath Museum on the McGill University campus is in a gorgeous grand home. It holds real gems, dinosaur bones,  sea shells, skulls. skeletons , stuffed animals, fossilized plants and Egyptian mummies as well as African musical instruments.

Location: McGill Univiverstiy, Sherbrooke St. at McTavish St.
Phone: 514-398-4086.
Free Hour: Always Free
www.mcgill.ca/redpath

Q4: You haven’t spent anything for your entrance but you haven’t yet stepped into the gift shops, is it good idea to shop in them?

At the Musee des Beaux Arts de Montreal  you can find prints of the artwork., jewelry counters sporting original designs by Quebec artisans, artist-inspired objects such as the brooches from parts of Impressionist paintings, toys stationery, serving pieces.

The Musee d’Art Contemporain de Montreal gift shop showcases cutting edge designs: costume jewelry designed by Anne-Marie Chagnon, Vanessa Yanow (look at her zipper necklaces), Michel de Bellefeuille, Sonia Ferland, Racine, Marianne Alexandre, and Carole Rivet. There are purses made out of recycled 45-rpm records, pens and desk accessories, Atelier Entre-peaux re-cyled sacs, Toma vases, glass objects, kitchen gadgets, Scrap Postal albums, key holders, Cloe dolls, wooden mind puzzles, note cards, and toys.

At the Musee Pointe a Calliere  which is all about archeological history, you can buy Amerindian jewelry, wampum pouches, quill pen sets and Inukshuks.

Those who must follow a gluten-free diet have to spend a lot of time reading package ingredients. What a relief to be able to shop and buy anything fresh frozen or canned without worry.  At Les Glutineiries Get ready to chow down on cereals, rice cookies, ice cream, pate, sausages, salad dressing and ready to serve meals: veal meatballs, mac & cheese, chinese chicken & veggies and lasagne.

Location: 7800 boul. Taschereau, Marche Village
corner: boul. Rome
Phone: 450-672-2919
Hours: Mon-Wed 9-7, Thurs & Fri 9-9, Sat & Sun 9-6
www.lesglutineries.com

Henry Aubin is The Gazette’s regional-affairs columnist wrote this and I was as surprised as him. I am passing it along for you to think about:

I used to think I was making a better world for my grandchildren by using compact fluorescent bulbs. Now I’m not so sure. It’s not that I doubt the claim that they use a quarter as much energy as regular incandescent light bulbs and last many times longer.

(Aside from me: However people have had to raise the heat in their homes at the bulbs used to help warm the house. So we might be taking a step forward but also a step back . It’s like taking a medicines but haning to put up with its side effects.)

Nor is it that I don’t applaud their utility in fighting climate change: The Washington-based Worldwatch Institute says that if everyone in the U.S. alone were to replace traditional bulbs with the corkscrew fluorescent sort it would reduce greenhouse gas as much as taking 30 million cars off the road.

No, one of the things that’s giving me second thoughts is this summer’s advice from Health Canada. The bulbs contain a tiny amount of mercury, a cause of birth defects and harm to the nervous system, kidneys and the liver. If I were to paraphrase the ministry’s startling advice, you’d think I was making it up, so I’ll quote extensively.

In the event a bulb breaks:

1 -Ventilate the room for at least 15 minutes, prior to starting cleanup, by opening windows.”"Do not use a vacuum to clean up the initial breakage, as it will spread the mercury vapour and dust throughout the area and may contaminate the vacuum.
2 -”Wear disposable gloves, if available, to avoid direct contact with mercury.”
“Scoop or sweep up the broken pieces and debris with two pieces of stiff paper or cardboard. Do not use a broom.”
And, finally, this for a ba-da-boom finale:
“Use sticky tape, such as duct tape or masking tape, to pick up any remaining fine glass or powder.”

Oops, did I say “finale”? I’m way ahead of myself. Your work would have just begun. If you can’t shake the carpet outdoors, vacuum it after closing the door of the room and opening the windows. Then: “When the vacuuming is done, remove the bag, wipe the vacuum with a damp paper towel, cloth or disposable wet wipe, and then place the vacuum bag and paper towel in a sealed plastic bag outside. In the case of a canister vacuum, wipe the canister out with a wet paper towel and dispose of the towel as outlined above. Continue to ventilate the room for 15 minutes once the vacuuming is completed.”

But you’re still not done. You’ve got to get rid of the debris you’ve so meticulously picked up. Health Canada says:
“Place the broken glass and cleanup materials in a glass container with a tight fitting lid to further minimize the release of mercury vapour.”
“Immediately place waste material outside of the building in a protected area away from children.”
“Dispose of the waste at a household hazardous waste location as soon as possible.”
You’re thinking, “Phew, at least then I’d be done with the environmental heroics.” Wrong.

Health Canada makes it sound as though disposal at a waste location is easy. It’s not. That goes not just for broken bulbs but also ones that are intact but kaput. That’s the second reason I have to wonder about the wisdom of mass use of these bulbs.
Montreal has only six sites - “ecocentres” - where you can take them (as well as old batteries). It’s hard to expect many people to travel to these few-and-far-between locations, especially in the city with Canada’s lowest per-capita rate of car ownership.
Until this year, many stores that sold the bulbs would take back the defunct ones, then transport them to the ecocentres. But now the municipal ecocentres say they’ll only take stuff from ordinary citizens, not from stores. “The city cannot assume the costs that properly belong to merchants,” says a spokesperson. Result: Many retailers now no longer accept old bulbs.
A third reason to question the widespread use of the bulbs (six of 10 Canadian households have some) is the lack of publicity about safety. Health Canada hardly trumpeted its advice. And packages containing bulbs don’t spell out the need to deal with the mercury.
Most people toss old bulbs in the trash. From there they go to the dump. Imagine the effect on the water table.
Meanwhile the federal government has decided that Canada will phase out all incandescent bulbs by 2012. Unless this country launches very serious public-education and recycling initiatives, that’s a reckless objective. The alarming complexity of dealing with busted bulbs is but a small part of the problem.

haubin@thegazette.canwest.com

Q 1 - After the holidays, everyone wants to get back on track with their nutritional needs, what food shopping can you suggest?

Health food stores offer a wide variety of foods that have been carefully grown and produced. This one of the biggest growing segments of the food industry. You feel virtuous shopping there.

Q2 -  Is it really healthier there?

You can make good lifestyle choices in regular supermarkets but health stores often have products that are organically traceable right back to the farmer that grew it. There are networks of 1,000’s of farmers. Be careful of that word “organic” though, as you know Dr. Joe will tell us that everything is organic.

Q3 - Isn’t it much more expensive buying food at health food stores?

It is more expensive to buy food at health food stores, because of the cost of producing smaller quantities and growing without pesticides, etc. There is one place I can mention for deals, though. At Club Organic, if you join their club ($30), you are offered a discount based on the volume you buy each time: a $1-$99 order will yield a 3% discount on your bill, $100-$299 is 5% off, and $300 and up will get you 7% off.

Q4 - What kind of food will I find there, is it all sprouts and tofu?

Your regular supermarket staples are here - grains, beans, flours (spelt, amaranth, kamut, soy, gluten-free), cereals, organic fish, beef, veal and chicken, healthy breads, dairy, candy, chips, freshly ground peanut butter, but also cashew, almond and sesame too, and always lots of teas: green teas, barley teas, tisanes.

There’s even food to go: stir fries with seitan and miso, millet pie, pizza, spring rolls homemade soups, desserts, spelt and seaweed wraps and bbq burgers.

Q 5- What kind of other things might I find there that are not usually found in a corner supermarket?

It’s the harder to find things, not usually found in a corner supermarket, that draw a lot of people to these stores: gluten-free, lactose-free and wheat-free products, goat, soy and almond milk, organic chocolate milk, brown rice pasta or buckwheat pasta, noodles made of soba, spelt and soya, etc.

Q6 - Where are all these stores?

Club Organic, 4341 Frontenac at Rachel, Phone523-0223 Food items bought at this store can be traced back to the farmer who produced them, as these products are certified by Ecocert Canada, an international regulatory network. You can shop without a membership, but for a $30 membership you can buy ground beef, chicken, butter, flour, beans, grains, dates, pasta, oil, nuts, etc., you get a discount. The more you buy the better the deal: a $1-$99 order will yield a 3% discount on your bill, $100-$299 is 5% off, and $300 and up will get you 7%.
www. epiceriebiologique.ca

Tau Aliments Naturels 4238 St-Denis, Phone:843-4420.   Other bigger locations: 6845 boul. Taschereau (450-443-9922); 3188 boul. St-Martin ouest (450-978-5533). www.marchestau.com

Rachelle-Bery, 505 Rachel est, Phone: 514-524-0725  Other locations: 2346 Beaubien e. (514-727-2327); 4810 boul. St-Laurent (514-849-4118); Longueuil, 217 St-Charles o. (450-679-6472); St-Saveur, 105-1, ave Guindon (450-227-3343).  www.rachellebery.com