Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i Zoomer Magazine

OH, WOE IS US, the purveyors of the plunging loonie. From its once mighty perch on par, it has devolved into a poor cousin of the G7 currencies – panic in the oil patch, indeed. A shiny new national vision embraces the usually dark (deficits) and stormy (raised taxes), while the minister of finance announced that the federal fiscal picture is not as rosy as it was believed to have been. Little wonder there is a new urgency to being penny-wise and not pound-foolish when it comes to investments and assets. Given that many of us are considering the view beyond our peak earning years, our eighth annual Money Issue with an editorial package dedicated to all matters of your wallet is just the thing. The message is to Keep…

(AND DOWN) Proof that you can’t put a price on true love. Though, if you wanted to try, it works out to around $8 A South Carolina couple celebrate their 68th wedding anniversary by returning to the hotel where they spent their wedding night and are afforded the same $8 rate they paid in 1947. Loving kourtships or kradlerobbing? You decide Kourtney Kardashian, 36, and Canuck pop superstar Justin Bieber, 21, have reportedly “hooked up” while momager Kris Jenner, 60, dates Bieber’s sometime tour manager, Corey Gamble, 35. American researchers discover that Viagra may help prevent diabetes in seniors You know what that means – no more guilt when enjoying those post-coital Werther’s Original candies! When you’re feeling down, just close your eyes and repeat over and over, “More sex…

SKIN Keep Calm and Carry On “At menopause, skin changes quality,” says Toronto’s Dr. Diane Wong of Glow Medi Spa. “It thins so you’ll see more of the facial vessels which we call telangiectasia, resulting in more visible redness.” In addition to a steady diet of anti-inflammatory omega-3 rich salmon and walnuts to boost the skin’s barrier function and calm redness, choose products with soothing ingredients to strengthen skin and calm inflammation. Try: Elizabeth Arden Superstart Skin Renewal Booster, $88; Aveeno Ultra Calming Nourishing Night Cream, $20-$23; Vichy Neovadiol Advanced Replenishing Care, $51. Feed Your Face While sunscreen is the best “ounce of prevention” anti-ager there is, “Free radicals in the air negatively affect the skin by destroying collagen and elastin,” says Wong. An antioxidantloaded serum or moisturizer protects from…

WATCHING THE throne speech is like watching paint dry: it takes the time it needs and we already know what colour it’s going to be. Despite the requisite pomp and circumstance, there was surprisingly little drama and few surprises since the announcements tracked the government’s election promises. The lack of surprise was, well, surprising. We have watched throne speeches with bated breath wondering if the government would act on what was promised in the campaign, so accustomed were we to promises not becoming government priorities. Sometimes, the speeches recited what the government had already achieved. A throne speech is meant to be the government’s vision through the windshield not the rear view mirror. It was refreshing to check off election promises converted to government plans. The top priorities for CARP…

Bert Archer is a Toronto-based writer and author of The End of Gay and the Death of Heterosexuality. He’s contributed to several anthologies and various publications including En Route, Toronto Life and the Globe and Mail. These days, he spends his time travelling around and pondering this brave new world that has such deals in it. For his first Zoomer assignment, he offers up a top 10 list of money-saving travel tips in “Economy Class” (pg. 60). Reporting on travel, beauty, lifestyle, culture, and design, Viia Beaumanis’s byline has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Forbes, Fashion, Condé Nast Traveler and the New York Times, among others. She can’t speak a second language but she can read upside-down and sometimes brags about her champion single word score in Scrabble (266).…

Call it a three-step inside-and-out makeover. Give your pantry a once-over and rid it of unhealthy choices, then fill it with smarter picks. (For the downside of bad choices, go to www.everythingzoomer.com/the-disease-of-kings for a story on gout.) Choose plants over red meats more often. Finally, kickstart your body’s natural ability to detoxify with healthier food options. Sound easy? Lisa Bendall tells you how. Your weight, your blood pressure and your cholesterol levels will thank you FIND YOURSELF in spring-cleaning mode? Want to tidy up your food intake? No matter what you may have heard, a detox diet is not the way to do it. Your liver and kidneys are already designed to eliminate toxins (see “House Call,” page 28). Doing a detoxification cleanse can make you sick with cramping…

MOST PEOPLE REMEMBER the moment they meet Dan Aykroyd. It’s just that, at the time, they might not realize it. “He was in character, talking like he was from Rochester and a truck driver,” Michael Budman, co-founder of the Roots fashion label, says of their introduction during a party at Toronto’s Global Village Theatre in 1972. Fellow Canuck funnyman Martin Short met Aykroyd at a party for Gilda Radner at the same theatre in the early 1970s, where, alongside comedic partner Valri Bromfield, Aykroyd claimed to be Gilda’s uppercrust father from Detroit. “Of course you knew they weren’t the real parents because they were 22,” Short quips. “But … I’d never seen anyone improvise like that. I thought, ‘Boy, is he original and is he funny.’ It was one of…

SPRING IS IN THE AIR! It’s not just the time of the year to spruce up the home and organize closets, it’s a great time to tidy up cluttered financial matters. To help us get started, we asked six expert financial advisers for tips on how you can get your financial house in order. Jennifer Tweddle, Wealth Adviser, CIBC Edmonton 1 Obviously you want to start by paying off credit cards but, even if you can’t, consider talking to your bank about a line of credit or a lowinterest rate loan in order to consolidate and reduce debt. 2 Budgeting is a great way to manage spending, but it’s hard to be disciplined or sometimes even take the first step. Start by tracking spending for a month or two and…

WHEN IT COMES to travel, old habits can be expensive. For instance, I used to be in the habit of taking a taxi to and from the airport. It costs about $60 each way. One afternoon, I found myself with an especially well-timed flight, not too early, not too late. I was packed, had nothing else scheduled and, with three hours to departure, I decided to take the subway-bus connection. The subway was the subway, but I actually liked the airport express bus I transferred onto, with its complement of backpackers and overpackers. I spent my 25 bus minutes or so looking around, trying to figure out where everyone was going, imagining what kind of shifts the four or five flight attendants on board had in front of them. It…

THE BRIGHT AND THE BEAUTIFUL Benjamin Moore’s 2016 colour of the year, Simply White (OC-117), reminded us why we refer to painting as giving our homes a “fresh coat.” It’ll brighten up any space and, used on an accent wall, it’ll make colours pop. And if you like your whites, well, less white, Farrow & Ball has added a new shade to its collection of coloured whites for 2016. Shadow White (No. 282) is a muted choice great for walls or woodwork. And after you’ve applied that “fresh coat,” store small amounts of unused paint in clean plastic water bottles to save space recommends decor writer Alison Jenkins in her book 300 Tips: Painting and Decorating. Read on for more expert advice. TOOLS OF THE TRADE CHOOSE YOUR WEAPONS wisely,…

TAKING IT ON FAITH I’m shocked! I’ve just flipped through the December/January issue of Zoomer magazine and stumbled across “Take Me to Church” (which I read). My husband and I had decided to end our subscription to Zoomer since it was usually filled with such-left leaning philosophies (adultery seems to be okay and sleeping around with different partners is “de rigueur”), never mind Moses Znaimer’s opinion pages proselytizing on the necessity of euthanasia. You know there is a whole world of readers whose views are the total opposite. This is the first issue that even came close (to my knowledge) to entertaining a few of us conservative readers. —Marg Baker, Toronto MIXED MESSAGES In your latest issue, you juxtapose an article on keeping the weight off with the recipe for…

Suit, circa 1977. #Chanel #HauteCouture Two-piece silk caftan and trousers, 1987. #OscardelaRenta Black gown with diamond broach, circa 1997. #PierreCardin Velvet dress with trompe l’oeil necklace, 1989. #BobMackie Chubby, 1980. #WayneClark, pants #Joseph, top #joefresh Catherine Nugent’s wardrobe includes couture from labels like Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin – some purchased decades ago, when Coco and Yves were still alive, making them practically museum-worthy. But the society maven, in her mid-60s, still wears these timeless outfits to events in Toronto. She uses this same approach – longevity and loyalty – in her philanthropic work, having helped organize some of the longest-running charity galas in Toronto. “I like being involved for the long haul,” she says. “You have to keep people [the donors] engaged and interested.”…

COOKING DID not come naturally for Matthew Ravenscroft. Given that he’s the catering chef for one of Toronto’s most popular restaurants, that might seem surprising. At the same time, it’s reassuring for those of us who love to cook but aren’t quite up to improvising, even after a couple of decades of trying. Ravenscroft has cashed in a philosophy degree for a top position at Parts & Labour, the Parkdale restaurant-slash-club that puts the fun in fine dining. Their urban downhome cooking is heavy on shareable comfort food and light on pretention. He chalks up his success to hard work, a lot of cookbook reading and a willingness to make mistakes. “I love my mom’s cooking, but it’s very ‘mom.’ No salt, steamed vegetables, that sort of thing,” he says.…

i DIDN’T MOVE TO PARIS with stars in my eyes; I knew from a stint here in my 20s that I respected and appreciated the city without having a passion for it. “I really like Paris but I don’t love it,” I’d explain, convinced nonetheless that this was the right place at the right time for someone running low on adventure. Definitely, I admired Paris’s prioritization of pleasure, be that from food, wine, beauty, unbridled intellectual freedom or affairs of the heart. I came here to be seduced and seduce: to live as my most stylish, most romantic, most worldly self on as much of an everyday basis as I could manage. In my imagination, many of my frolics and flirtations would take place at one of those classic streetside…

AT FIRST, I thought I heard it wrong. In a radio interview, the science writer Alanna Mitchell was describing how her brother-in-law’s cancer diagnosis inspired her to write her new book Malignant Metaphor. It hit me with a thud. Her brother-in-law John is a good friend. “Last week, an MRI revealed uninvited growths here and there,” John wrote my husband with typical understatement. He had been clear of melanoma for more than five years – the point where cancer patients and their families usually start to stop worrying. For me, the news conjured a cocktail of fear, dread and survivors’ guilt. Despite going through two bouts of cancer and surviving the deadliest form of the disease, the prospect of a recurrence holds a special terror. That is when cancer is…

1 RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY Since 2008, CARP advocated for a supplementary Universal Pension Plan (UPP), starting with a modest increase to the CPP. Canadians are not adequately saving on their own. 12 million are without a pension plan, and 600,000 over 65 live in poverty. In 2013-14, CARP played a pivotal role in the introduction of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP), and we will continue to advocate for a UPP for all Canadians. Now, with a new federal government that campaigned on a promise to enhance CPP, Canadians should expect federal and provincial governments to meet in early 2016 to act on expanding the CPP. Pension reform is urgent. But until then, the federal government should administer the ORPP and let the CPPIB handle the investments. 2 HEALTH…