Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2015 i Zoomer Magazine

THE WORD ZEITGEIST exemplifies our content this month because its very definition – the spirit and mood of a certain period of history as demonstrated by the ideas of the time – can also be said to describe style, the theme of the issue. Of course, style goes beyond mere fashion – social trends and mores, tastes and movements create the feel, therefore the style of the moment – though fashion is an excellent place to start. The great paradox of fashion is that, despite the facts that one has to get dressed in the morning (after all, we cannot proceed in an Eden-like state) and that fashion is a global industry that employs millions, significantly contributing to the GDP not to mention the culture, heritage and spirit of many…

IFIRST STARTED thinking about clothes about the same time I started getting interested in girls, the mid ’50s. My immigrant family didn’t have the money to indulge me in a range of duds, so I decided on a few items, mostly black, not a colour easily found in kids’ stuff. I chose black because it was functional and also because, without being fully colour-blind, I see a more limited palette than most (and what are purple or chartreuse, anyway?). As a result, I’ve always preferred bold chunks of strong contrasting colours. So I started to wear black and because it was at the time associated with the post-war Parisian Left Bank and American beatniks, people started commenting on it which, of course, reinforced my choice. I became the guy who…

It’s a sure sign that summer is over in Toronto when, on a clear night, you can spot a constellation of stars – not the celestial breed but, rather, the stellar order that counts Clooney, Streep and Hanks among its set. Each year, film festival season – or “autumn” for non-cinephiles – brings Hollywood’s hottest celebs north for a slew of screenings, highlighted by September’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and prominent fests in Vancouver (VIFF), Calgary (CIFF), Edmonton (EIFF) and Montreal (the Montreal World Film Festival, which didn’t get the memo about matching acronyms). But for film fans across the rest of Canada, there’s no shortage of big-screen bashes this fall. September also sees Halifax transform into Hollywood East with the Atlantic Film Festival, while the Cinéfest Sudbury International…

IF SUMMER books are dubbed “beach reads,” what do we call autumn releases? “Leaf reads”? “Harvest hardcovers”? This year you might just call them “maple must-haves” because you’ll be stuck on these September releases until the very last page. “When you’re young, you can see things in very black and white terms, and purity seems like something to aspire to,” best-selling author Jonathan Franzen said during an interview at Book Expo America when talking his new novel, Purity(Sept. 1). The book, centred on a young woman’s search for her father, takes the reader on journeys both literal and generational. Awardwinning scribe Salman Rushdie’s Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights (Sept. 8) marks his first work of adult fiction in seven years and tells the mystical tale of strange…

LINE UP The smoky eye never gets old (even if we do), so keep up the look with YSL Beaute’s Couture Kajal self-sharpening crayon. It comes in four dark shades including black, navy, deep green (shown) and petrol blue. The conical shape allows you to mix it up as a precision liner, smudgy eye shadow stick or sexy kohl on the inner lids. SHADOW PLAY Taking its colour inspiration from nature – think moss, pine cones and eucalyptus – Chanel’s fall eye shadow palette, Les 4 Ombres in Tisse d’Automne combine matte, satin and highlighting finishes to sculpt eyes. MAGIC WAND The latest in the CoverGirl LashBlast series is the Super Sizer, and it lives up to the name. The secret is in the brush – or Lash Styler, as…

I LIVED IN PARIS almost 30 years ago when I was 25. Back then my wardrobe was a thing of improvisation – Kensington Market vintage mixed with shopping mall specials. I couldn’t afford salad so I ate two camembert sandwiches a day chased down with chocolate biscuits; it’s the only time I’ve been chubby. As for Frenchmen, I barely knew how to talk to them. Cue Paris Take Two: this time as a woman. My clothes are upgraded. My diet is improved. I’ve never been so ready to consort with Frenchmen in my life. Here’s how it happened... The only existential crisis I’ve ever really had started with the basics but escalated rapidly to my love life. It began on a frigid Toronto night late last February. I was trudging…

IT’S THE KIND of milestone I associate with our parents’ generation. Doug and I are celebrating 25 years of marriage. “To the same person!” he quips every time the subject comes up. Did I mention that one secret to a long union is laughing at your husband’s jokes? What is astonishing to me, in fact, almost surreal, is the stark fact of how much time has passed. Where did it go? We decided to mark the occasion with a big party and, interestingly, the planning has provided an opportunity to take stock of how much has changed and what endures. We both have great jobs that we appreciate all the more after recovering from mid-life career setbacks. Doug just started a new role in a new organization – the most…

From Top … Oh, the agony. Being fitted for a bra horrified my teenaged soul, but I walked out of the store with a fancy new bra and a useful tip. “Lean forward and adjust the bra,” the expert saleswoman had said. Works like a charm – everything falls right into place. If gravity seems to be winning, it’s time to see a bra fitter, as I did decades later. The fitting specialist from Triumph International, a company with nearly 130 years of experience, measured the diameter of my body just below my bust. After measuring the fullest part of said bust, she consulted charts and found my new band and cup size. Bra-fitting strategies: Fasten the band on the outermost hooks. It should stay snugly below the shoulder blades…

1965. Paris. Karl Lagerfeld stands with Marisa Berenson, a Zelig of the Zeitgeist at the time. The designer, then quite tender, sports a thick, black beard that wouldn’t be out of step in the juice bars of 21stcentury hipsterville. He is in a tux. She is holding flowers, looks sufficiently coquettish. The synergy is palpable; he the designer still in the throes of ascent, and she – the gal Elle would soon crown “the most beautiful girl in the world” – showing a genius for popping up at precisely the right place at the right time. Berenson. Berenson. The actress, the granddaughter of the legendary couturier Elsa Schiaperelli, just then coming into her own, had been taught to dance by Gene Kelly and groomed by the one and only Diana…

G. Bruce Boyer, the legendary men’s fashion editor who at various times held the sartorial reins at Town & Country, GQ and Esquire, published Elegance: A Guide to Quality in Menswear in 1985. The book became a classic for those looking for sartorial guidance and, while much has changed in the world of men’s style, some still aspire to the elegance of the past. The biggest change, Boyer says, is how quality has decreased over the years. “To be fair, it’s a vicious cycle: if people want more instead of better, that’s what retailers will sell them. Many people today would rather have six pairs of cheap shoes rather than one pair of good shoes.” But not all is lost. Some men are once again embracing classic style, and Boyer…

cHANGING THE CANCER BLUES into pinks, corals, reds and every brilliant colour of the cosmetic rainbow is what Beauty Gives Back is all about. “Twenty-five years ago, I never would have known that a little bit of blush and lipstick could do as much for my psyche as for my appearance,” says Sherry Abbott, a 56-year-old cancer survivor and the executive director of the Canadian Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association Foundation, which operates as Beauty Gives Back. “I would say now that it’s even more important,” she says, explaining how cosmetics and beauty workshops can make a difference in the lives of women coping with the stress, side effects, isolation and lack of control that accompany cancer treatment. When Abbott was diagnosed with Stage 4 small cell ovarian cancer in…

“Something about glamour interested me. All my schoolbooks had drawings of women on terraces with a cocktail ...” —Bill Blass SOME DRINKS EXUDE sophistication. An oldfashioned (muddling cubed sugar, whiskey, bitters) in the hands of Mad Men’s leading guy, Don Draper, fits like a well-tailored suit. James Bond’s “shaken-not-stirred” martini is as suave as his pickup lines. There’s constant drinking in Rick’s Café in the movie Casablanca, but the most swish cocktail was the French 75s. Each particular cocktail is embued with its own sense of style based on its provenance and history. That style is then bestowed on the one who orders it. Fashion seems to be part of the DNA of many Italians, and their choice of drinks is no exception. Aperol, invented in 1919 in Padua, Veneto,…

WHAT’S HOT IN COFFEE these days is actually cold. Cold brewing, steeping coarse-ground beans in cold or room temperature water for 12 or so hours before straining, results in lower acidity and a smoother, less bitter-tasting coffee. The technique is a part of the socalled third wave of coffee whereby brewing is focused on coffee’s subtle flavours, not flavour shots. It’s perhaps no coincidence that Starbucks didn’t take hold in Melbourne where this purist’s movement is booming. Chef-turned-coffee-aficionado Chris Hamburger visited Toronto’s annual Terroir Symposium recently to sample the cold brew served at Melbourne’s Stagger Lee’s Café (stag gerlees.com.au) where he is head chef. “There’s been a real groundswell of people doing really good things with a product that’s been quite overlooked and mundane for many, many years – that’s…

IF YOU’VE EVER BEEN in a pretty garden but felt somewhat unsatisfied, that’s probably because the garden didn’t have layers. They’re like scrims in a theatrical set, adding depth and intensity to the design. And there’s no better time to take stock of your plants than in the fall when everything should be at its fullest. A great garden makes you feel as if you’re drenched in textures, scent and colour, revealing its true nature slowly and dramatically and building in energy and excitement. Achieving this effect is more than having a succession of blooms for perpetual excitement; it also means layering the heights as well. PATHS Start with the height most often overlooked – eye level. A great shrub or tree, even a majestic grass or perennial at this…

Wendy Dennis is a journalist, author and vanguard baby boomer who has long documented her generation’s passages and social and sexual mores in Toronto Life, The Walrus, Maclean’s and numerous other publications. She has won many awards for her writing and tackled subjects from the mystery of marriage to the divorce from hell to her unwavering fandom for Bob Dylan. In “Broken” (pg. 78), she reports on the rise of later-in-life divorce. Lily and Lilac are a fashion photography duo and are also identical twins. Born, raised and trained in Montreal, the pair moved to Toronto in 2006. Their editorial work has appeared in Dress to Kill, LouLou and the Globe and Mail, and they count Sears, Danier and Hudson’s Bay among their list of corporate clients. For their first…

In Texas, the term “dude ranch” takes on a whole new meaning After 55 years of dating, two men, aged 85 and 82, partake in Dallas’s first same-sex marriage. Meanwhile a British couple, aged 103 and 91, become world’s oldest newlyweds The big surprise, however, came during their first dance, when the couple tore away clothes and broke into the “Time of My Life” Dirty Dancing routine. JeffGoldblum, 62, becomes a first-time dad with his wife, 32-year-old Emilie Livingston He joins Larry King, Steve Martin and David Letterman in the “dads who look like their kid’s grandfather” club. Broadway has enough lights without the glare from your cellphone Tony-winning Broadway actress Patti LuPone (right), 66, stays in character as she confiscates an audience member’s cellphone for texting during a live…

IN JUNE, as pop sensation Taylor Swift publicly rebuked Apple for its new streaming service’s three-month free trial – “We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation” – her namesake, folk legend James Taylor, 67, notched the first No. 1 album of his 47-year career, Before This World. While most applauded the achievement, The Atlantic attributed Taylor’s chart-topper and similar successes by older artists to “a small army of aging boomers (and maybe their nostalgic children) that emerges from its pop-culture cocoon and buys the new record in a shiny, shrinkwrapped jewel case.” You see, unlike younger fans, who mostly get their music digitally, you boomersauruses still buy actual CDs, artificially propelling these old fogeys to the top…

POMP(EII) AND CIRCUMSTANCE The very mention of the word Pompeii instantly brings to mind a singularly traumatic event that forever scarred humanity: the lousy 2014 film of the same name that reeked of tired cliché and lazy storytelling. That film, of course, was based on the Mount Vesuvius eruption that engulfed entire Roman cities in AD 79, which the Royal Ontario Museum pays homage to with Pompeii: In the Shadow of the Volcano, a major exhibit exploring the chronology of the disaster through art, tools and even food from the tables of those caught in the blast. As far as we know the 2014 film isn’t being shown. After all, hasn’t Pompeii suffered enough? —MC Pompeii: In the Shadow of the Volcano runs until Jan. 3, 2016.www.rom.on.ca…

WATCHING A BASEBALL game earlier this season, I was startled to see the Houston Astros clad in their throwback 1975 uniforms. These outfits now have a retro cool feel but, at the time, they were the ugliest duds in all of sports, an atrocious mash-up of all the Disco Era’s most gawdawful design fails – shimmering white jerseys with Day-Glo yellow and orange horizontal stripes offset with fat lettering and a navy blue star. Seeing these uniforms that day transported me back the 1970s, that era of massive societal upheaval, when many of the institutions we held dear came crashing down around us. The upheaval of those tumultuous times made its way onto the baseball field, transforming the very look of a sport that really hadn’t changed since the 1900s.…

REMEMBER WHEN TALK of a looming digital currency was all the fashion? Flashback to 2009, the big global recession had hit, banks were failing and consumers weren’t sure if their savings accounts would be there in the morning. This unease sparked the launch of Bitcoin, an encrypted digital currency that promised to revolutionize the world economy by ending hard cash, releasing money free from the meddling hands of government regulators and the clutches of rapacious bankers. The currency caught everyone’s interest, becoming the star of the financial pages, and its worth soared, reaching a high of $1,200 per Bitcoin in 2013. But like all economic fads, these digital dineros faded from the headlines. Beset by electronic exchange breakdowns, theft, the closure of Silk Road (the online drug-trading portal that relied…

CIMAGES ARDIOVASCULAR or heart disease is the No. 1 killer of North Americans. Doctors can and should screen adults for heart disease – more specifically, atherosclerosis, or plaque build up in the blood vessels, that leads to blockage and heart attack. The Risk Tests Your doctor will ask about your level of physical activity and your diet, since smoking, low physical activity, unhealthy diet and obesity all increase the risk of a heart attack. Those risks include high cholesterol (a blood test, starting at 40 years of age for men and 50 for women of average risk); high blood pressure (starting at age 18); diabetes (a blood test, starting at 40 years of age for men and women); smoking; and a family history of heart attack (in men under 55…

We’re en route to Siem Reap, the pretty inland town that’s sprung up around Angkor Wat. Having spent time here in 2006, I’m astonished at how much it has grown. Checking into Amansara, I discover the hotel is in town. Last time I stayed here, it was just outside town. Built in 1962 as a guesthouse for King Sihanouk’s palace, this garden compound welcomed globetrotters from Charles de Gaulle and Jacqueline Kennedy to Peter O’Toole during its ’60s and ’70s heyday. Designed by Laurent Mondet, it’s still home to Siem Reap’s hippest highend rooms. Beyond the gates, Siem Reap’s namesake river, lined in leafy trees and crossed by walking bridges, lends the city of 175,000 a picturesque charm. Gateway town to the world’s most colossal religious monument, it’s transformed itself…

ONE AFTERNOON a few months ago, I stood in a change room in Toronto, contorted like a Cirque du Soleil acrobat, sweating like a Russian shot putter and more foul-tempered than a supermodel in a cake shop. It had seemed like such a simple task at the beginning of the day: find a dress for a gala dinner that would not cause me or the people at my table to run screaming into the night. You’d think that would be a relatively simple task, wouldn’t you? Apparently not. Every dress I tried on seemed designed for some sylph with less body fat than a flamingo. Bits of my flesh kept trying to escape through zippers and armholes as I frantically stuffed them back in. It was like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice…

I HAVE NO ILLUSIONS about marriage, partly because I’ve been married enough not to have any and partly because I’m familiar with the odds of making it to assisted living these days with the same person you started out with 30 or 40 years before. Still, in spite of everything I know about those odds, some couples seem destined to defy them or maybe I just hope they will, so in 2010, when Al and Tipper Gore split after 40 years together (she was 61, he was 62), the news gave me pause. I was hardly alone in assuming they’d cracked the code: the storybook meeting at the post-prom party, the enduring political marriage, the public displays of affection and the overriding sense that after four grown kids, three grandkids…

AJAX-PICKERING, ONT. (CH 20) Randy Filinski, 905-509-1708, ajaxpickeringcarp@live.ca AVALON, N.L. (CH 1) Edgar Williams, 709-753-1187, carpavalon@gmail.com BARRIE, ONT. (CH 36) Gwen Kavanagh, 705-252-4756, barriecarp@gmail.com BRAMPTON, ONT. (CH 52) Peter Howarth, 647-918-4802, bramptoncarp52@gmail.com BRANTFORD, ONT. (CH 17) David Simmons, 1-888-363-2279 x264, carpbrantford@gmail.com BROCKVILLE-1000 ISLANDS, ONT. (CH 40) Dawn Edgley, 613-802-0424, edgley.carp@gmail.com CALGARY, ALTA. (CH 10) Susan Costello, 403-256-1181, carpcalgary@gmail.com CHATHAM-KENT, ONT. (CH 49) Sharon A. Jubenville, 519-682-1796, carpchathamkent@gmail.com EDMONTON, ALTA. (CH 13) Bernice Rempel,780-450-4802, carp.edmonton@gmail.com FORT MCMURRAY, ALTA. (CH 46) Felix Berube, 587-645-5999, fortmcmurraycarp@gmail.com FREDERICTON, N.B. (CH 27) Suzanne Maltais, 506-455-2620, carp.fredericton@gmail.com GEORGIAN BAY, ONT. (CH 14) Linda Flemington, 705-888-9204, carpgeorgianbay14@gmail.com GREATER BAY OF QUINTE AREA, ONT. (CH 39) Mary Robertson, 613-967-9479, carpbbq@gmail.com HALIBURTON, ONT. (CH 54) Bob Stinson, 705-457-3919, carp.haliburton@gmail.com HALIFAX, N.S. (CH 22) Bill VanGorder, 902-497-8073, chair@CARPnovascotia.ca HALTON, ONT.…

BLUE MOUNTAIN, perched above the southern shores of Georgian Bay, has been attracting vacationers for more than 30 years. And while it’s only fair to imagine there would be good grub to refuel the energetic crowds, it’s only lately that this destination has become known for its thriving food scene. In fact, the area around the Blue Mountains has a long culinary history with select choices. There’s the verdant Beaver Valley – home to some of Ontario’s oldest apple orchards – as well one of Canada’s finest restaurants, Michael and Nobuyo Stadtlander’s Eigensinn Farm near Singhampton. There are a number of farmers markets that feature local cheeses, meats, preserves and honeys as well as some cosy cafés. The Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill at Blue Mountain’s Westin Trillium House is…

FROM TILES TO TABLES, lamps to linens and even wallpaper, hexagons are the geometry of choice in decor these days. The shape is common in nature due to its strength in pattern – think honeycomb. But as the saying goes, what’s old is new again. The hexagon is actually a century’s-old motif used in Japanese design. According to folklore, a tortoise can live 10,000 years so the hexagon, which represents tortoise shell, is used as a symbol of longevity. Here’s to long life and a chic polygon. Shouchikubai wallpaper, $260 (11 yd roll), Farrow&Ball, farrow-ball.com…

HEAD OF THE CLASS I wanted to thank you for “Clean Slate” by John MacKay [July]. It so spoke to the change I made to my life four years ago. I was a senior executive for a fashion retail firm in Montreal who, after 25 years of hard work and accomplishments, realized that I had reached a tipping point. I had always wanted to one day be a teacher but kept putting it off. Like John, I took the plunge and left Montreal to return to my hometown Toronto. I am now a college professor and loving every minute of it. Just wish I had followed my little voice sooner. — Wayne Mclennan, Toronto KEEPING IT REAL I just finished reading “I’m not Hot & Neither Are You” [June] and…

CHARLIE CHAPLIN, Jack Nicholson, Barack Obama and Clark Gable. Imagine these fascinating, stylish male oxen are having a fancy dinner party. Which female ox should crash it? There are so many strong choices. The Chinese Ox has all of this creature’s persistence and puissance and none of its servility. Rosa Parks is a famous ox: in 1955, when she sat on the bus in Montgomery, Ala., she would not be moved. Her stubbornness was rooted in belief, in a deep conviction that would change the world. But as for the dinner party, it’s the queen of this sign – Pam Grier – who must prevail. At 66, Grier remains both stunning and powerful: those of you born under this sign may bemoan your relationship to a beast of burden, but…

WHAT’S THE BEST THING about Canada? Tricky question. Your knee-jerk answer might be something about our free health care. Or, should you happen to be on a 16-month waiting list for a knee replacement, perhaps not. You might want to crow about our sporting achievements. We did, after all, give the world hockey and lacrosse. We also invented the game of basketball, five-pin bowling and ringette. Not to mention the baseball mitt (1883) and the goalie mask (1959). Alas, Canada is also Junk Food Nation. The citizens of Winnipeg and Calgary chug down more Slurpees per capita than any other city. Proportionately, Canada boasts more doughnut shops than any other country. And we lead the world in macaroni-and-cheese consumption. Crispy Crunch? Canadian. Coffee Crisp? Canadian. Nanaimo bars? Do you have…

IT HAS COME TO THIS: unelected senators threatened to defeat the Reform Act aimed at giving MPs some measure of control over their party leader because it would undermine the will of the grassroots of the party. Being unelected is not their fault; having no sense of irony is. Maybe they think no one cares outside the Parliament Hill bubble. In olden times, they would have been right. Didn’t a former prime minister call backbenchers “nobodies” 50 yards from the Hill? Some argue that the current prime minister has made them nobodies while still on the Hill. So it is refreshing that one such “nobody” has made all his colleagues “somebodies” again, using a tool – a private member’s bill – that is mostly capable of expressing impotent outrage unless…

Finance DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY is changing our lives so fast it’s hard to keep up. Taxi drivers stage demonstrations because they feel threatened by Uber. Black’s stores close their doors because the services they used to provide are no longer needed in an era of smartphones and file sharing. Driverless cars will soon reshape the automotive industry. Just as websites like Expedia put thousands of traditional travel agents out of business, new technology threatens to do the same to the wealth management industry. If sophisticated, high-speed programs can handle your investment portfolio with greater efficiency and at lower cost, why do you need a human adviser at all? Meet your new financial adviser – your computer! Several companies in the U.S. are offering what is known as “roboadviser” services. So far,…

WHO TU LY, 50, design director of Moose Knuckles Canada and new resident of Montreal. “My first week at work, the team presented me with a dossier of 101 Restaurants to Eat at in Montreal Before You Die. Right away I knew my culinary experience would change dramatically as a newly transplanted Montrealais.” WHERE I’M EATING Le Club Chasse et Pêche “International, game & seafood in a heritage stone building in Old Montreal.” 423 Rue Saint-Claude Maison Publique “In the trendy Plateau, it’s co-owned by Jamie Oliver. British gastropub fare, it’s the best brunch spot. The pancakes with home bacon are perfection.” 4720 Rue Marquette Tuck Shop “In St. Henri, the newly crowned hipster neighbourhood. It suits all ages with its upmarket comfort food and quaint cosy ambience. Food is…

gAZING THROUGH this celestial gateway, just one of the intricate stone archways high on the paths of Mount Tai, one feels perched at the edge of the earth. The journey up the mountain winds past temples and shrines, through the ochre red walls of the South Gate of Heaven, to this vista of endless blue sky. People once believed that gods inhabited mountains like Mount Tai in the Shandong province of China. Legend says Pan Gu, the first living being, created the world by separating the heaven and the earth from chaos. When he had finished, the strain of his endeavours caused him to disintegrate, and his head became this holy mountain. Mount Tai is now a revered Buddhist and Taoist spiritual destination, drawing more than four million visitors each…

—Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird “You never really know a man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” MY JOURNEY into another man’s life began with a call from my friend Jonathan, who runs a vintage menswear store. He had several suits from a deceased man’s estate. They were my size and included lots of tweeds, which Jonathan knew I was looking for. Many of them were made by Walter Beauchamp Tailors. That meant something to me because Beauchamp had recently made me my first bespoke suit, and I was getting to know their master tailor Alfonso Prezioso. I felt a connection to the suits before I even saw them. With that tailoring experience, I knew…

IT WAS THE AMERICAN FASHION PUBLICIST Eleanor Lambert who astutely predicted that the looming Second World War would shut down the couture houses in Paris and thus put a hold on an annual best-dressed poll that originated there. The savvy Lambert issued her own list in the fall of 1940 with the input of fashion experts in New York. Not only did this manoeuver put Manhattan on the map as a fashion capital, but the esteemed list is issued to this day. After Lambert died in 2003, she left this legacy to be continued by Vanity Fair. The magazine includes a Hall of Fame category that includes several individuals of advanced age. But this is an anomoly. The majority of publications and blogs that issue best-dressed lists, often focus on…

OVER THE LAST two months, I’ve tossed a trio of dinner parties. On each occasion, guests proffered their unsolicited lists of dietary requirements. A couple in the first group informed me that they were “non-gluten pescatarians,” forcing me to quickly ace a Thai fish curry. The second, more casual affair included a woman with a nocarbs edict so austere even vodka was struck from the menu. I laid out do-it-yourself (wheat-free) enchiladas with a buffet of discretionary trimmings. A guest on the third evening issued his “protein-and-greens-only” mandate … three hours before he arrived. I ordered in. Suffice it to say, if you whipped up an elegant truffle risotto for six these days, half your guests would willingly starve. While dinner party meal planning is meant to be fun, the…

AFTER ALMOST a decade of CARP drawing attention to retirement savings inadequacy and pushing for a modest enhancement to the Canada Pension Plan, the end of this long, arduous journey may finally be within sight. In May, when Finance Minister Joe Oliver stood in the House of Commons and said that government was “open to giving Canadians the option to voluntarily contribute more to the Canada Pension Plan to supplement their current retirement savings,” it marked a significant departure from the Conservatives’ longstanding refusal to address the issue. And with the NDP and Liberals both in favour of a mandatory increase to the CPP, it marked the first time all three parties were committed to meaningful pension reform. Below is a timeline of CARP action on pension reform, a product…