Recently, I was watching Instagram stories while preparing a meal from Chef’s Plate, a food-delivery service that ships recipes and premeasured ingredients to customers’ front doors. As the videos scrolled by, I saw that two other friends were also in the midst of putting together their own Chef’s Plate meals. That is, we were all about […]
Category: Features
Something’s brewing: Canada warms up to the luxury tea market
On an early December evening in Vancouver, hundreds donned sparkles and suits to walk a red carpet downtown despite the unusually snowy weather. Supermodel Coco Rocha was a guest of honour and posed with party patrons, as well as with the event’s hosts, Taha Bouqdib and Maranda Barnes. The couple had invited the crowd to […]
Co-working 2.0: The office space race
Nicola Morgan’s co-working space, which she co-founded in late 2014, is in many ways like the others one would find in Toronto and other cities around the world. The big, airy space on Dundas Street West, at the north end of Roncesvalles Village, boasts dedicated desks and shared tables for working as well as private […]
Fit to print: Why shoppers still gravitate to the printed page
Legend has it that after the Bible, the second-most popular book found in homes around the world is the Ikea catalogue. This year, between Aug. 14 and Aug. 25, Ikea will distribute almost 7 million copies of its latest volume in Canada alone. The Sweden-based furniture retailer’s catalogue has been around since 1951, when the […]
Our chairs are killing us, but that’s just the start. Why it’s time to re-think the entire office
There is a workplace where employees can drop off dry cleaning onsite and chat with an in-house doctor before arriving at their desks. Low on cash, they can hit the ATM on the way to the onsite convenience store, or go to the gym for a mid-morning break. There’s no cafeteria here, not in the […]
I hate food: A look at the chemistry behind the crave (or lack thereof)
While I have been known to take the odd photograph of a dish at dinner, and occasionally eat at the most au courant of restaurants, I would never describe myself as a foodie. I’ve had the same breakfast every day for the past 10 years: a glass of green sludge (a powdered supplement mixed with water […]
A tale of two communities in Dubai
During a work trip to Israel and Palestine in 2008, Dubai-based Lina Nahhas was sitting on a bus when she looked out the window at a passing car and had a startlingly simple realization. “It was just like me car at home — a woman driving in front and her daughter, practically the same age […]
Finishing School: Etiquette lessons for the grown woman
Once while travelling in Ireland, I dined solo at a seafood restaurant. When my entree arrived, I began to squeeze a lemon wedge over it. As the juice poured down, the wedge shot out of my hand: destination unknown. I looked around my immediate vicinity—not as covertly as I thought, however, because when I raised […]
Feel the heat: Canadian women on traditions that make baring skin tricky in the summer
Abeer Matar*’s family moved to Montreal from the United Arab Emirates when she was 12, and her parents didn’t allow her to wear shorts or other revealing clothing. Now 24, she lives in Toronto, where she works at Bikini Village. She wears a swimsuit at the beach and shorts from time to time, but not […]
Code Red: In search of the perfect lipstick
The thing with French women is that they can go three days without a shower, then throw on some wrinkled clothes, tousle their un-brushed hair and slap on some red lipstick and still look chicer than any other women on the planet. I want to be able to not shower for three days, you know? […]