Mag Ruffman

10:20 am

It was at 17, while at a summer camp north of Richmond Hill, that Mag Ruffman found the first of her two great lifetime loves. It was inside the camp’s large, wood-panelled and wood-floored communal shower facility where she discovered it in the most unlikely place — born out of dirty and damp necessity on the shower room floor.

Needing a place to hang towels while she and her cabinmates showered, Ruffman used an old hand-cranked screwdriver and slotted screws — all tightened so the grooves lined up horizontally — to install towels hooks on the shower room walls.

“I just thought, ‘I can put up hooks,’” she recalls. “And if I can put up hooks, I bet I could put up shelves. It just made me feel not helpless. I was on fire. I thought it was hot.”

For any Canadian with a television set during the early to mid ’90s, Ruffman is immediately recognizable as her Road to Avonlea character, Olivia King Dale, the role she played opposite Toronto’s Sarah Polley (as Sara Stanley) from 1989 to 1996. And while it might be easy to assume that the role — set in the fictional small town of Avonlea, P.E.I., in the early years of the 20th century — was foreign to Ruffman, the environment in fact bore a striking resemblance to a place she knew very well.

“Richmond Hill was Avonlea when I was a kid. It was the tiniest little town. Everybody knew everybody, and everybody gossiped. And there was a person who was just like Eulalie Bugle, and there was another that was just like Rachel Lynde. It just absolutely was Avonlea.” Ruffman has fond memories of those days — of growing up on Highland Lane and attending McConaghy Public School, the 12-mile bike rides to Bruce’s Mill as an 11-year-old and captaining the cheerleading team at Richmond Hill High School “back when you didn’t need to be pretty, you just needed to be loud.”

“I loved my childhood,” she says. “It was all fields and rivers and open land. And we would just be gone at dawn, and we wouldn’t get home until the street lights went on. We’d always pack something to eat and just roam. It was a fantastic childhood. I loved it.”

Acting was hardly the plan for Ruffman. She enrolled as a physical education student at the University of Toronto, but it was a different kind of career that first brought her onto the stage and into the spotlight. Looking to pay her parents for tuition after graduation, Ruffman entered Yonge Street’s Limelight Dinner Theatre to apply for an advertised receptionist job. A high school friend, however, had other ideas and suggested Ruffman audition for the theatre’s next show.

“I fell into acting,” she says. “I was supposed to end up teaching phys. ed., but fate intervened.”

A slew of movies and commercials followed until eventually Ruffman met producer Kevin Sullivan, who would cast her in Avonlea. The rest, they say, is historical fiction.

While on a trip to California in the fall of 1989, Ruffman met Daniel Hunter, a construction worker, at a Halloween party. The two were married three weeks later.

In Hunter, Ruffman had found both her second great love and, in the process, rediscovered her first, found at camp years before. “Daniel couldn’t take time off every time I was home, so I’d just go to work with him so we could be together,” she says. “I’d fly to California any time I had a few days off from shooting.”

For the next seven years, Ruffman worked alongside her husband on construction sites, eventually obtaining her contractor’s licence. When her work on Avonlea ended in 1996, Ruffman moved into home repair shows, trading Olivia’s corsets and bonnets for coveralls and boots in the process.

“Olivia is inside me, and I can pull back a few of the shutters on this big room and let Olivia come out, or I can close those and let the little hellion jock with a giant reciprocating saw come out,” she says. “We all have a billion facets.”

Combining her onscreen talents with her love for working with her hands, she spent five years as creator, producer and host of the do-it-yourself show A Repair to Remember and later the Gemini-nominated workshop show Anything I Can Do on W Network. She is the author of two books, How Hard Can It Be?, a collection of home improvement and repair jobs for beginners, and We’re All in This Together, a biography about her close friend Steve Smith (of Red Green Show fame). ToolGirl, her latest adventure, is an online resource containing “luminous prose about power tools, home repair, creativity and making stuff.”

“I mean, I know there’s a bit of innuendo to it,” she says of her new moniker and title of the site. “It sounds a bit like a porn name or something like that. It’s just playful to me. I really love tools. I love them to a crazy extent. I think they’re so cool, and I want everyone to know how to use them.”

Ruffman is currently in talks for a 25-stop, cross-Canada television production next year to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Habitat for Humanity, an organization she has been involved with since 2003.

“I’m finding my way back to TV, which is really nice, and I’m doing it in a really backdoor way,” she says.

“Some of the stories I hope to be shooting are those small-town stories that will be just as touching as Avonlea but with real people who are going through stuff.”

According to Ruffman, the show will help plaster a hole in current home repair programming, the gap between hard-core home renovation shows, such as Holmes on Homes, and home decorating ones, such as Sarah’s House.

“There’s this whole grey area in the middle where people need to know how to put up shelves, but they don’t show you that on either show,” she says. “So that, to me, is the area that I come in — it’s home improvement for beginners; it’s home improvement for people who aren’t confident; it’s home improvement for the rest of us.”

And from the response she has received so far — from sold-out home show seminars to being constantly approached and thanked on the street — “the rest of us” seems like a pretty big demographic.

“I hear it every time I go out in public,” she says: “‘Because of you, I did this.’ I mean, I don’t count them up or keep track of them in any way, but it’s nice that what I’m doing is effective.”

Laura Vandervoort

10:05 am

Laura Vandervoort has high cheekbones, blue eyes, blond hair and the kind of curves that usually see her cast in bikinis. But the 25-year-old bombshell from Bayview says she was a tomboy growing up, and that when she spotted Colin Farrell at the Windsor Arms Hotel during the Toronto Film Festival, she immediately turned beet red and had to force herself not to turn tail and hide.

“I’m not used to doing red carpet stuff, and when I see people like Colin Farrell or Keanu Reeves or Robin Wright Penn, I usually just say, ‘Hey, I love your work!’ then go text my sister,” says Vandervoort, who got her first big role on Goosebumps, while she was a 13-year-old theatre geek at York Mills Collegiate. Soon, she will be coming to American and Canadian prime time TV as the star of V, a 2009 freshening up of the ’80s sci-fi cult smash. “It would be cool if I was recognized someday, and I hope people like my work, but I’m the same girl who worked at American Eagle at the Fairview Mall — at least I get recognized there.”

Growing up, Vandervoort was more interested in karate than makeup, and she earned a double black belt at Northern Karate on Don Mills and Eglinton where she also worked as an instructor.

“I was the only girl in the dojo, so, of course, nobody wanted to fight me,” says Vandervoort, with a laugh. “That pissed me off when the guys would go half-assed, so I’d sock them as hard as I could.”

After catching the Macaulay Culkin film My Girl, the young Vandervoort grew smitten with acting, and she’d spend afternoons with her sister putting on plays.

“We have VHS tapes of Laura hamming it up in front of the video camera at three years old,” says Laura’s mom, who used to join her daughter on sojourns to Los Angeles for pilot season when her daughter was just 13. “Laura was always focused and determined to do well. She was always prepared; she didn’t need her dad and me for that. It can be tough on a young actor to get so many more noes than yeses, but Laura knew what she wanted. She kept at it, and we were there for her with hugs and support.”

Luckily, for the budding thespian, there would be many more yeses than noes, and she’d spend four years as a lead on Instant Star in Canada before landing her first big role in the States. According to Vandervoort, it was hard being a teenager auditioning in Hollywood, but she talks about finding an inner reserve.

“It’s tough when you don’t know yourself and you’re auditioning against 25-year-old women and, you know, I’m from Bayview — I was still impressed by the palm trees,” says Vandervoort, who nevertheless wowed producers enough to land the part of Supergirl in Smallville, the hip television re-imagining of the Superman franchise. Even though the series would introduce her to U.S. audiences, it also introduced a problem Vandervoort would struggle against her entire career: casting agents refused to see beyond her good looks.

“If I’m blond and blue-eyed, they think I can’t play a deep emotional role,” Vandervoort says. “You get typecast, and even in Smallville, I was playing an anatomically enhanced idea of what people thought I was. It’s crazy how much stereotyping happens. More often than not, it comes down to a physical thing.”

Still, if Vandervoort ever felt discouraged, she had a secret weapon in her arsenal from back home. While shooting Goosebumps, she was sitting outside her trailer with her mother when a Canadian icon recognized her mom. It was Gordon Pinsent, a distant relative, and the two have been close ever since.

“Laura’s early questions were the usual ones asked by a very young person: ‘How do I get into acting in the first place? Agent questions come early. Where, how do I start?’ Since then, she has found out so much more, by listening, watching, and making sure her craft is in place for when each new job comes along,” Pinsent says. “Physical beauty is one thing, but just think how much more beauty there is when they can see the complete inner story of you as well.”

Vandervoort would get her chance to flex real acting muscles when she appeared opposite Jeff Daniels and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Lookout, her first real dalliance in big-time Hollywood moviemaking.

“That was such a big thing for me, to learn about the film industry, and I almost preferred it to television because movies are done so much faster,” Vandervoort says. “In a movie, you enthrall yourself in a character then move on to a new project. On a series, four years can go by, and you’re still playing the same thing.”

After The Lookout opened to rave reviews, Vandervoort and her Canadian boyfriend moved to a small place in Burbank, Calif., in anticipation of her next big movie deal. However, her most recent film was made much closer to home — by a graduate of York Mills Collegiate.

“My only memory of Laura from high school is that of a girl standing alone by a set of lockers eating lunch,” says filmmaker Josh Koffman, who cast Laura as the lead in his film The Jazzman, a biopic of his grandfather, the legendary Canadian sax player Moe Koffman. The experience opened her eyes once again to the joys of feature filmmaking, but Vandervoort won’t have much time to pursue the silver screen. What was originally cast as a small one-off part in V became a lead role after producers caught her performance.

“I play a visitor from another planet, and my job is to bring humans over to our side of the fence,” Vandervoort says. “I’m supposed to be anatomically appealing to humans, even though I’m really a reptile underneath.”

The role, of course, once again plays on the stereotypes of Vandervoort’s features. But she has shown both the will and the ability to expand. Taking Pinsent’s advice, she recently died her hair black and sported an armful of tattoos for Riverworld, a new Canadian miniseries, which recently wrapped.

It’s been a long time since Vandervoort first started making billboards for Pizza Pizza (her first gig). But with her anticipated new series about to launch in November and a slew of screenplays to read, the bombshell from Bayview may be entering a new phase in her career. Who knows, during next year’s film festival, it might be Colin Farrell, Keanu Reeves and Robin Wright Penn texting their own sisters when Vandervoort walks by.

Susur Lee's blog: Savour the flavour for fall

9:22 am

Fall is the best time of year to cook, because the flavours are so intense. At Madeline’s, my new Fall Harvest menu is all about using local produce in recipes that are homey and sustaining. It’s comfort food! We have a Prix Fixe menu from October 5th through the end of the month, with three courses for $40.

One of my favourite appetizers on this menu is  crusted Ontario pear  filled with blue cheese and walnuts.  I stuff the pears with cheese, encrust them in crushed walnuts, then bake them. The pear is served warm. Another appetizer is hot-smoked salmon, which I smoke myself on hickory wood and serve with Chinese scallion pancake and  crème fraiche.

When it gets colder outside, you want something to stick to your ribs, so one of my mains is slow-braised beef. It’s so tender you can eat it with a spoon.  It comes with butter pappardelle and sautéed garlic Cremini mushrooms. Another main is roasted chicken roulade, which I prepare with de-boned chicken legs (the dark meat is more flavourful!), and present with pureed local squash and wild blueberry preserves.  The third main is a French-Chinese duck breast  in a lotus crepe — we call it that because the crepe looks like a lotus petal — served with mango-ginger chutney, chili honey and shallot.   

Looking towards November at Madeline’s, I’m very excited about doing an all-Canadian shellfish menu — PEI mussels, East-coast lobsters and oysters, and champagne by the glass. Maybe I’ll call it "Madeline’s–By-the–Sea!"

Chef Susur Lee maintains two successful restaurants in downtown Toronto – LEE and MADELINE’S — and now has a restaurant in New York (Shang) and Washington (Zentan).

Liisa Winkler's blog: My first 'shop affair'

9:21 am

One of my favorite things about working in Manhattan was a store called Anthropologie. I remember rushing from a job with various stages of makeup removal going on in the back of a taxi while listening to a curious driver talk incessantly about his brother’s six-year-old daughter who wants to be a model, why all other taxi drivers should have their licenses taken away and why he hates wonton soup.

I arrived at the Soho store with literally 10 minutes to power shop since my flight home was just two hours away — but it was Air Canada and LaGuardia Airport and almost always (with my luck travelling ) either delayed or even cancelled.

I always managed to find that special something that I just could not resist importing. I once brought back a very fragile and heavy lamp that I carried with me all swaddled in bubble wrap — it was just one of those "must haves."

Another time I was terribly distracted by an Orlando Bloom sighting and spent my whole ten minutes "shopping" at the front of the store where he sat waiting for some lucky person. With all these happy memories, you can imagine how happy I was to hear that "my store" would be coming to Toronto.

The baby comes with me as I head to the Don Mills location. It is everything I love in a store. Colorful and quirky dishes and tablewear. Unique eclectic looking quilts of such appeal that I just could not decide with which one to bless my lucky bed (so I walk away from the temptresses with lust in my heart and a burning urge to buy something).

I could live in this store. I pick up a creamer shaped like a yellow bird and a butter dish that I dont need but feel rather strongly about.

And then there is still the clothing. Although I could shop here and never even look at the clothing, it’s also pretty great.

There’s some cool bags with colorful prints, beautiful jewelery and a nice selection of casual yet a bit "where did you find that top?!" type stuff. They even have a small kids section… but until the little one can ask for it, I will save this store for just me. And the rest of Toronto.

I have to wonder, will my lust for this store decrease now that it is sitting right there in my backyard and not a New York indulgence? Is my lust a tad obsessive and strange? Looking around at all the lovely merchandise, I must conclude no. Anthro (as I so lovingly call it) will always be my first "shop affair" and as it is with that first love, will always have a special place in my heart.

Liisa Winkler is one of Canada’s biggest supermodels and mother of two beautiful children. Her blog appears bi-monthly at Postcity.com.

Dean & Dan Caten

3:40 pm

For a decade and a half, Dean and Dan Caten, identical twins from Willowdale have dominated the catwalk with their world-renowned clothing line DSquared2. Now they’ve done the same with a sidewalk.

Mind you, it’s not just any old promenade. The Caten brothers were immortalized in their home and native land with a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame on Sept. 12 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. It’s a long time coming for the Catens, who are often mentioned in the same breath as Gianni Versace, Jean Paul Gaulthier and Oscar de la Renta.

But Dean and Dan haven’t always lived their lives in the lap of glitz and glamour. Born Dean and Dan Catenacci, the brothers grew up in a crowded house on Otonabee Avenue, a suburban stretch south of Steeles Avenue between Yonge Street and Bayview Avenue. As the youngest of nine children with no mother to speak of (Dean does not volunteer the reason why), money was tight and space was even tighter.

Their father, a Neapolitan pipefitter and welder, encouraged curiosity during their upbringing, one in which the twins quickly learned that you earn what you get and you cherish what you have.

“We grew up in a medium-poor household,” says Dean on the phone from Milan, Italy, where the brothers now live. “We were quiet as kids in the sense that we were kind of the have-nots and we were surrounded by the haves. We didn’t have a lot of means. We had something inside us, I think maybe God-given, a sensibility to the job that we’re doing now — because you can’t learn good taste in school — and ambition. And I think the less you have, the more you want. In that sense, it puts a fire that burns under your ass to ensure that you can do it. We have a successful business now as a result of that, and when your country acknowledges that, it’s great.”

Dean and Dan got their academic education at Lillian Public School, Northmount Junior High and various other secondary institutions after that. But the twins credit their father for the creative streak that guides their hands-on work. A natural craftsman, Dad built the house on Otonabee and designed jewellery on the side for his girlfriend. Dean also recounts his father building a sculpture of an eagle on his front porch. (“Not practical at all but very beautiful,” he says, laughing)

“He was a very creative guy and we get a lot of it from him,” Dean says. “Dad would give us presents and ask us, ‘How did they make it, and how do you make it better?’ So we grew up to be our father’s sons by asking the same questions about fashion. Why am I wearing this? Why am I not wearing that? What qualities does this garment have? What is it about this piece of clothing that makes you want to keep putting it on? So it comes from the heart. We’re very real about what we make. We don’t pretend.”

It’s that sense of genuineness, forged during their youth, that brought the brothers to the top of the fashion world and keep them on their game, says Dean.

In 1991, the brothers moved to Milan seeking work in the fashion industry, but it wasn’t until 1995 that they unveiled their own label, DSquared2, at their show Homesick Canada Collection. The next year the pair created the collection Napoli, inspired by their father’s hometown.

The attention didn’t end there. The Catens designed outfits for Madonna’s 2001 Drowned World international tour and her video Don’t Tell Me. (Dean says they’re great friends with the Material Girl.) Two years later, they saw more big-venue pop concert work, fashioning Christina Aguilera’s wardrobe for her Justified and Stripped Tour 2003. Indeed, the DSquared2 brand has been seen on many celebrities, including Justin Timberlake, Lenny Kravitz, Ricky Martin and Nelly Furtado.

Dean will be the first to admit that it’s all too easy to get a swelled head when your circle of friends and clientele includes such A-listers, but they never forget about home, and their work reflects it.

Channeling early memories of camping in Algonquin Park, the Catens’ men’s 2010 spring and summer collection took on an outdoorsy fusion of function and fashion, with models parading hiking boots, fisherman and trucker hats, body warmers, plaid shirts and camo pants with bright neon and fruit-red blends among earthy green tones.

“We take realness with us,” Dean says. “It’s what sets us apart from the superficial people who live in the world that we live in. We’re very down-to-earth. We’re very appreciative and thankful that we made it. There’s nothing superficial about us. When we go home, our family treats us the exact same way that they did before we became famous. We’re still the babies. We’re still called “the boys” — and I’m 45 years old.”

Indeed, family has been with them throughout. When the brothers opened up a 500-square-metre store in Milan in 2007, they even had a say in designing the architecture of the shop. Dean points to that moment as the zenith of the brothers’ successes.

“The first show we ever did was cool and everything, but the biggest clincher for us was opening up the monogram store in the heart of the shopping district,” Dean says. “I cried when I first came into the store. I just thought, ‘Wow. We’re here now and we’re not going anywhere.’ We’ve seen a lot of other friends and designers come and go, but we were fully planted in this city with this huge beautiful shop that looks like nobody else’s, a store that represents Canada, Italy and who we are. It’s something that we can be proud of.”

You’ll witness more of the Catens’ work at high-profile events in the future. The twins are currently drafting outfits for the opening and closing ceremonies of Vancouver’s Olympic Winter Games in 2010. The Catens are also sketching three-piece travelling outfits for Spanish club Barcelona FC to wear at press conferences. “It was supposed to be a secret,” Dan says with a laugh. “Oh well, it’s out now.”

But before they move on with those projects, Dean and Dan will take some time out to bask in the glory Canada has been lavishing upon them.

“It’s amazing,” Dan says. “I think honestly, it’s one of the most overwhelming awards we’ve ever received in our career. To understand that your country respects and appreciates what you do is a huge honour. We’re always waving our flag. It’s what makes us and our work unique, and it’s great when your country backs you up. We’ll live forever, in a way. We’ll both be gone, and that star will still be there on the sidewalk giving inspiration for young kids.

“The sky’s the limit.”

Five things Toronto needs to do right now

2:22 pm

Toronto the good has the potential to be Toronto the Great. Our city needs a realistic plan for the next 10 to 25 years that will instill confidence in investors and hope for residents. It would provide a common vision that all former municipalities of the mega-city can embrace. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we can apply best practices from other cities to resolve current problems.

There are five areas for Toronto to focus on: economic development and tourism, a better fiscal plan, quality of life, transportation and infrastructure.

It is vital that the mayor and council show the business community that they are a priority. If the business tax in Toronto was immediately decreased to have parity with the tax in the 905, it would decrease the number of businesses leaving. To attract international investment, Toronto should be marketed as part of the GTA region. Measures should be taken to reduce red tape. The city needs to work closely with small business and create entrepreneurial opportunities, especially with newcomers. Our 905 neighbours are our first tourists and we should think before adding barriers such as road tolls or removing the Gardiner Expressway.

Contrary to what you read and hear from city hall about a shortage of money, the $8 billion operating budget should be adequate. It is a question of priorities and not trying to be all things to all people. Many services beyond the municipal mandate were added since amalgamation. This has grown the corporation, and 80 per cent of the funds are used for salaries and benefits.

Despite recent contract changes, employee morale is rampantly low. Better communication needs to begin between city employees and the administration. The employees should be asked the question: “How can we save money and deliver service in a better way?” When the workforce knows they are truly part of the corporation, morale will soar and savings and productivity will result.

"Our 905 neighbours are our first tourists and we should think before adding barriers."

More needs to be done with the downtown core. The visible homelessness on the streets tells visitors that the city is not working as it should. We need to develop a plan that successfully rehabilitates vulnerable people who are dependent on institutional assistance and guide them to independence. The province should accept responsibility for the mentally ill and addicted persons who are difficult to house. City housing residents should be encouraged to move up and out. A plan that keeps people busy and off the streets with life skills, counselling and job training using proven methods of other cities is the solution.

To accommodate future growth in the city, Toronto must invest in public transit. The focus cannot be solely on streetcars, and it is worth the investment to build subways, which would reduce competition at the surface. When a streetcar is disabled, the others cannot pass. We require seamless travel across the GTA. Public transit needs to be accessible to all parts of the amalgamated city.

The infrastructure backlog of road and bridge repairs needs to be financed through city funds and federal grants. The recent announcement of $190 million from the federal government is welcome news, but the city must manage construction on budget and on time. The 2015 Pan Am Games could bring $1.4 billion of government and private support for sports infrastructure.

Elected representatives should communicate with constituents and vote based on majority opinion in their wards. Public consultation seems token at the moment. Major decisions should require town hall meetings and an option to vote before it reaches city hall.

The city’s motto, "Diversity is our strength," focuses on our differences. The time has come to embrace what we all want to be in Toronto: "Together in unity."

Post City Magazines’ political columnist, Jane Pitfield, was a Toronto city councillor for eight years. She is now involved in several volunteer projects.

Give 'em the boot

1:22 pm

1st PLACE – CLASSIC COMFORT

Frye, Maxine gaucho boot, $400
The iconic Monika Schnarre has graced the pages of the world’s best magazines, and her new line of clothing, Tall by Monika Schnarre, will launch on the Shopping Channel this fall. She knows style, and she loves these Frye boots because they’re comfortable, casual and “the more you wear them, the better they look.”
Where to get it: Ron White, Bayview Village, 2901 Bayview Ave. 416-221-7002

SIMPLE & SUPPLE

Ralph Lauren, Seranna boot, $1,295
“This is a really beautiful, classic riding boot. I love that. ”
Where to get it: Davids Footwear 66 Bloor St. W., 416-920-1000

COWGIRL COOL

Extreme Milano, suede boot, $175
“I like the idea of a cowboy boot. I have a cowboy hat, and I roll with it a lot.”
Where to get it: Town Shoes at Promenade 1 Promenade Cir., 905-889-7610

DISTRESSED TO PERFECTION

Steven by Steve Madden. Riens boot, $190
“I’ve never seen this sort of distressed leather in a boot before. I think it’s really unique.”
Where to get it: In Style Shoes 1758 Avenue Rd., 416-783-0239

A BEAUTIFUL BASIC

Circa Joan & David, CJ Hearty boot, $320
“These are nice and simple. I like things that don’t have a lot of bells and whistles.”
Where to get it:Madison Shoes & Accessories, Shops at Don Mills 3 Karl Frasier Rd., 416-384-0801

A nice slice of rice

11:13 am

1ST PLACE
THAT’S AMORE!

ICHIBAN, 15 Spring Garden Ave., 416-512-9014
For our experts, the recipe is simple: slice some hearty chunks of ocean-fresh sushi and add a dollop of roe, then lay it all on a thin disc of lightly deep-fried rice and chop it into pizza-style slices. Presto! Sushi pizza in four easy steps. Ichiban’s version earns top marks from Lee, for its generous cuts of salmon and tuna, while Prevedello praises the perfectly crispy rice: “It’s just like pizza. If you don’t have a good crust, nothing works.” Clearly, this one does. Price: $10.95

2ND PLACE

Nami, 55 Adelaide St. E.
Both are fans of the gentle spiciness of this elegant offering, and the crispy rice is superb, says Prevedello, but there’s just too much roe for their liking. “Still, so far so good,” says Prevedello. Price: $13.56

THIRD PLACE

Edo-ko, 431 Spadina Rd.
Thinnest rice of the bunch, but a bit too much roe. Still, the generous salmon portion earns a third-place finish. Prevedello likes the crunchiness of the rice. Price: $10.12

FOURTH PLACE

Akasaka, 280 West Beaver Creek Rd.
High point is presentation (thick sushi and elegant roe topping) but flatlines on taste. Would they go back for more? “OK, but not rushing to it,” says Prevedello. Price: $11.30

FIFTH PLACE

Ginza Sushi, 7330 Yonge St.
Lee’s eyes light up when he sees the huge chunks of fresh salmon, but Prevedello finds the rice “not clear — too sweet and not crisp,” which drops it a few rungs. Price: $6.72

Kim Newport-Mimran's blog: What you must have in your closet

8:44 am

1) "Can I still wear some of my summer sun dresses into the fall? How can I update them for the cooler season?"

Keep them for summer and vacations and pack them away after labour day.

2) "I have a lot of stuff to tote around — work papers, toys my kids forgot in the car, cell phone, makeup, etc. But when I haul it all around in a big shoulder bag, I look frumpy. What sort of bag would have the space I need, but look stylish at the same time?"

Invest in a tote bag for toys and work papers and use a hand bag for make-up, keys, and cell phone, this can be a fashion or investment bag. A great nylon or canvas tote is perfect, I’d go with a neutral color that goes with everything. Lonchamp has a great classic tote.

3) What fashion staples should I have in my closet?

LBD (little black dress) on hand for cocktails or an unexpected date. You can never be overdressed or underdressed in a little black dress. Make sure it’s a great fit!
White Shirt — The classic PINK TARTAN Newport Shirt is always in the collection, a perfect fit, and it withstands the harsh reality of laundry.
Black pant of the season — this fall either the cropped pleat or the cigarette silhouette.
The seasons fashion shoe – pick one that’s comfortable for you. I love a great oxford with a heel or a classic pump that is always polished — never wear scuffed shoes!

Kimberley Newport-Mimran is the Co-Founder, President and Head Designer of Pink Tartan. Her blog is dedicated to answering your style questions. Email them to us here. To check out Kim’s blog at Pink Tartan click here.

Franco Mirabelli's blog: Just shoot me

9:36 am

We just put to bed the photos to our latest advertising campaign for the Spring/Summer 2010 Collection. It seems like Spring 2010 is so far away but it’s only six months from being delivered to the stores.

I always try to shoot our campaigns here in Toronto. When it comes to choosing a fashion photographer, a hair and makeup artist, stylists, I really believe in the quality of our local talent.

However, shooting in the city can sometimes be a challenge as I want locations that are special and not over-used or over-exposed.

This season, we were lucky enough to use the home of two of my best friends, Mary Garofalo (host of the wildly popular 16 x 9 television show on Global TV) and her husband, Angelo MacDonald (uber-trial lawyer from New York City). They own the old gate house to the Eaton family estate, in the Casa Loma area of town. The house is about 100 years old and just feels grand. I love homes with old-world character, they exude charm and warmth.

I assembled the key people that will work on the campaign: photographer David Hou, makeup and hair artist Jackie Gideon, and my wife, Nancy. We then begin the search for a fresh face that will help convey the contemporary modern feel of the clothes I design.

This season we used Leanne Proctor, an Elmer Olsen model. Olsen is the model agent credited with discovering supermodel, Daria Werbowy. We think that Leanne is going to be the next great one, so it’s a coup if we can use her now before she leaves for New York or Paris and explodes by launching the next great photo campaign for a large multinational company.

The shoot was a success. The weather worked in our favour and we were very lucky to turn an early autumn day into perfect summer light. Hope you like it.

With three corporate stores in Toronto, Franco Mirabelli continues to distinguish himself as one of Canada’s strongest fashion talents. Keep up with him by following his weekly blog at PostCity.com or by visiting mirabelli.com.

Mark McEwan's blog: A little space to call my own

8:39 am

“Last year when I was overseeing the layout and design for McEwan Fine Foods it occurred to me that with 20,000 square feet on hand I could probably spare a few for myself. And so it came to be that this spring, after nineteen years in the cramped basement of North 44, I got my first office with a window on the open sky. I like that — but what I like most about my new h.q. up on the second floor of my store is that whenever I have a spare moment I can take a walk through my kitchen next door, and around the aisles of the shop below, and check in on how things are coming along. So far as I can tell they are coming along pretty nicely.

McEwan Fine Foods has been a huge project and it will always continue to be. But whenever I take a walk-about, one of my tours of inspection, I try and focus on the original idea, on what got me started on this course. As you might suspect it’s not laundry detergent or cat litter brands that get me excited — it’s our food offerings, and above all else our prepared foods. This is the product category in which I always thought Torontonians were badly underserviced. And this is where I thought that our restaurant and catering experience would help us excel, and set us far apart from the crowd.

Other supermarkets sell sliced “home-style” roast beef; we roast the finest USDA Prime Black Angus beef we know how to source, season it the same we do at any of our award restaurants and slice it to order. You fancy a curry for lunch and you’ll find a half-dozen varieties stewed that morning in our kitchen upstairs.

Our take on the panini-on-the-go is a crisp sandwich stuffed full of our succulent veal-and-beef meatloaf dressed up with melted cheddar, caramelised onion and our rich barbecue sauce. And if you want something a little more elevated our “Restaurant Meal Replacements” — or “RMRs” as we call them around here — run the gamut from a rustic roast chicken to a spring lamb stew executed with the lightness and precision you might well expect from a group of chefs who also do time at the kitchens of One, Bymark and North 44.

McEwan is a work in progress. There is a lot more to come. But as long as I’m having lunch here every day — and sometimes breakfast, and even dinner too — we’re going to keep building on this great base really fast.

Celebrity chef Mark McEwan is the force behind some of Toronto’s finest restaurants, including Bymark, North 44 and One Restaurant. His latest venture, McEwan, is a gourmet food market at the Shops at Don Mills.

Brad Lamb's blog: East end is where the action is

8:19 am

Toronto’s real estate market is on fire. Every single neighbourhood in the central core is witnessing severe shortages of supply and consequently significant price increases. Is relief in sight, perhaps a double dip?

I don’t see it. It is likely that our economy and that of the world will continue to recover for the better. Real estate prices are leading indicators, meaning they foretell the future of the economy. It will likely get more expensive everywhere for several more years.

Where are this city’s bargains? My pick is the area east of Sherbourne, south of Queen, west of Leslie, and north of Front. In simple terms, the east end is where the action is.

Brad is recognized as one of this country’s most influential real estate professionals. To date, he has been involved in over 13,000 condo sales for over $3.5 billion dollars. For more information on Brad J. Lamb Realty Inc. click here.

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