From Boreal berries to bush tucker spices: cultivating a forest-inspired kitchen garden. My little Boreal forest "props" in pots • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio I have always been enchanted by forests, even when they frightened me. As a child and teenager, the woods were a playground. Later, as a young adult, my friends and I were “outdoor freaks,” camping and hiking in the mountains almost every weekend. From Québec to the western provinces, those adventures remain u

Whether harvested from the wild, cultivated in a garden, or purchased at the market, these four woodland native berries are sure to bring...

How a backyard becomes a creative studio, turning food and flowers into endless props . Picking fresh props in the backyard •...

A chicken roasted with a bouquet of herbs and garlic, a perfect recipe for a cloudy summer day. I really love a roast chicken from time...

Here are my feathered pals, and what they've taught me since I joined the poultry world. Keeping backyard poultry is a great hobby that...

Capturing the essence of Mount Tumbarumba Vineyard across all the seasons and elements... Tumbarumba is where we currently live. It is...

Let’s have a first wander in our garden, and start with the original established plants and trees. Bottlebrush front tree • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2017 In 2017, we bought our home in Tumbarumba, a charming little town in a cool climate wine-growing region by the Snowy Mountains. It was love at first sight for the 1940s partly renovated little white bungalow and the quarter-acre garden with established trees, shrubs and floral patches. The place is at the edg

Bringing the Canadian sugar shack tradition to Australia: a Snowy Foodie winter mission! Maple taffy on snow in Australia • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2020 Yes, it is snowing in some regions of Australia in winter! In June, July and August, white flake days always bring great excitement to people here. I find it funny as I grew up in a Québec region “where snow was invented” (folks say). Sometimes we could not see anything from the window as the snow was piled up s

How I managed to reproduce a traditional Canadian brunch at home... in Australia! After a few years living abroad, I was missing...

How country life sparked my interest in capturing organic and cultural food stories. Food photography is designed to make people hungry,...

The story of a wine and cheese cocktail photo session made at our friends' vineyard in 2020. Early March 2020, soon after the end of the...

Captured memories of the lost Sugar Pine Walk, from the first to the last steps... The Last Walk in the Sugar Pines • Photography ©...

Backyard gardening can be more than just a hobby, here’s why you may want to dig in too . Pottering in the backyard • Photography © Matt Beaver/SVC 2021 Growing up in a mountain and lake region of Québec and loving outdoor activities, nature has always been essential. Love and timing can sometimes bring you somewhere unexpected. One day, it brought me to live in Montréal city for 15 years (when I expected that to be temporary for a year only), and here I have been for 10 yea

A must-have ingredient, worth growing in the backyard and never leaving behind! I love growing garlic for many reasons. I might not...

As a Canadian food enthusiast in Australia, I passionately blended influences from both cultures to create Snowy Foodie. Here is a little more about the unique project. Australian and Québec ingredients: a blended composition • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2020 The province of Québec, where I’m from, and the High Country region of New South Wales, where I now live, are both featured throughout this blog. This project began during my first year as an expat. Initially

Inside the story of Québec’s pure maple syrup and its iconic illustrated tin. A can of pure maple syrup • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2020 The maple leaf is the symbol of Canada, and the sweet syrup coming from the trees is a source of Canadian pride. Produced all over the eastern North American woodland regions, especially in Québec, maple syrup is the country’s most important native food ingredient. It is said that Indigenous peoples were the first to cultivate

How life in the opposite hemisphere brought the inspiration to create "Snowy Foodie". Living seasons upside down, when moving from the...

More than fries, gravy and cheese, a poutine is a Québec cultural touchstone. Poutines with cheese curds, homemade in Australia • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2018 Living abroad means moments of homesickness, and for most expatriated Canadians, especially from Québec, this is the best food remedy! Not that it is impossible to make homemade poutine, but outside Québec’s dairy and cheese makers' zone, it can be challenging. This probably sounds like a funny thing if yo

The old “Terroir” term comes from the French winemaking industry and there is no equivalent English word... but means everything for...