Story of the Day - Page 34 of 56

Frugalbits For The Win!!

September 17, 2011/2 Comments/in Culture & Leisure /by Editor

With national nominations for both best online-only magazine and best web design at the 2011 Canadian Online Publishing Awards, everyone in our trenches feels like we’ve already received a prize.

GRATEFUL | This may sound cornball, but being a finalist in two categories at the upcoming 2011 Canadian Online Publishing Awards—best online-only magazine and best web design (consumer division)—already feels like a win to me. Positive national recognition at whatever level is a super confidence booster, not to mention a bonus for business. Read more

Have To Have It: The Joe Fresh “It” Coat

September 15, 2011/10 Comments/in BUY THIS. MAKE THAT., CANADIAN CONTENT, Fashion & Beauty, Shops & Shopping /by Editor

Cool hunting fashionistas have been waiting for this one: the Joe Fresh neoprene topper.

CHEAP & CHIC | Say it ain’t so, Joe Mimran? Tell me you’re going to produce more than a limited number of what had to be the coolest coat on the Joe Fresh runway at LG Fashion Week in Toronto last spring. You know the manteau I’m talking about: the oversize neoprene topcoat that comes in colours so intense and on trend that most Canadian fashion journalists who saw it at the show proclaimed it an instant hit—then promptly stuck it on their need-to-get-one list. Read more

3 Hairspray Products You Need To Try

September 14, 2011/0 Comments/in Fashion & Beauty, Hair & Nails, View All Beauty Stories /by Editor

Here’s why little bit of hairspray in your life is a very good thing—plus top products to try.

BUY RIGHT | Hairspray is often associated with our yucky prom ‘do or wedding hair. But every chic girl should have some on hand, and you won’t find a stylist willing to work without it because after you’ve laboured to create a great look, often the most difficult part is to keep it in place. Men can also use hairspray to hold their styles in a natural, relaxed way—especially good for photos or film.

Nowadays hairspray is not so much for stiffening your coif as it is for perfecting your locks, to rapidly remedy a bad hair day or to tame unruly bangs. Ever had lots of static in your hair and a halo of frizz floating above your head? Or have trouble recreating those perfectly relaxed flatiron curls your stylist showed you or that ultrasmooth blowout? Hairspray is the key. Read more

One Of These Ketchups Is Not Like The Others

September 13, 2011/1 Comment/in Brand X, FOOD, View All Food Stories /by Glenys Morgan

Which of these tomato ketchup brands has chef Glenys Morgan seeing red: Heinz, President’s Choice or Western Family?

Two Top Wrist Wraps From Hermès & Swatch

September 12, 2011/1 Comment/in Classics & Trends, Fashion & Beauty, Shops & Shopping /by Editor

When it comes to the current fashion in bracelets, one good turn deserves another, and another, and another.

STYLE GUIDE | Back in 1991 when Hermès introduced the first double-turn strap on a watchband with it’s now iconic Cape Cod watch, little did the fashion world know the revolution it would cause. Now everyone from Marc Jacobs to Fossil has a multi-turn strap for the timepieces in their line. And what Hermès has done for watch straps it has also done for bracelets. Read more

Chef Michael Smith Shares A Hot Fish Dish

September 9, 2011/0 Comments/in CANADIAN CONTENT, FOOD, Food & Drink, Recipes, View All Food Stories /by Editor

In Chef Michael Smith’s new cookbook, the recipes are full of memorable flavours and the prep work’s a piece of cake.

EASY & DELISH | Michael Smith had us at easy. The celebrated Canadian chef who, among his many other accomplishments has a James Beard award-winning television series to his credit, has just released a new cookbook with the “E” word in the title—Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen: 100 of My Favourite Easy Recipes—and that’s music to our ears. Read more

It’s Hip To Strip Metal Furniture: Here’s How

September 8, 2011/0 Comments/in D.I.Y., DECOR & DESIGN, DIY, HOME, HOW-TO KNOW-HOW, View All DIY Stories, View All Home Stories, View All How-To Stories /by Editor

Stripped bare and pummelled with walnut shells, vintage metal furniture takes on a cool, contemporary look.

THE CREATIVE SOLUTION | Metal home or office furnishings dating from the 1950s are hot accent pieces for contemporary interiors, but painted items must be stripped entirely to the raw metal to bring them right up to date.

There are three ways to strip metal furniture. People with the space, time and muscle can use a biodegradable chemical paint remover such as Heirloom Furniture Stripper. Another method is to sand the paint off with an electric sander using a sanding pad specific to metal. Sanding leaves painty skid marks and a distinct pattern, giving the piece a timeworn look. Read more

When Nature Calls Big Sur Is The Place To Be

September 7, 2011/2 Comments/in Go Here Now, Travel, TRAVEL, View All Travel Stories /by Editor

Jump into the wild by cruising Big Sur, one of the all-time great North American road trips.

TRAVEL ADVISORY | Want to drop off the planet for a few days, ditch the cellphone, skip the Starbucks, take a break from recreational shopping? One of California’s most beautiful and elemental places to get away from everything urban in the fall is Big Sur on the central coast. Big Sur isn’t an exact spot on the map, it’s a road trip: 90 miles of two-lane blacktop that zigzag around the edge of the wind-wracked headlands of the Santa Lucia Mountains mere yards, it seems, before they nose-dive into the Pacific Ocean. Cruising along this jagged, Amalfi-like coastline is—to borrow words from hippie vernacular—a mind-blowing head-trip. It’s impossible not to feel spiritual or to reflect on your place in the cosmos when a natural setting this powerful is shoving itself in your face. Read more

Ooh La La: How To Dress Like The French

September 6, 2011/1 Comment/in Classics & Trends, FASHION, Fashion & Beauty, HOW-TO KNOW-HOW, Styling Tips, View All Fashion Stories, View All How-To Stories /by Editor

With a message that’s right for the times, Parisian icon Inès de la Fressange is the new muse for North American fashionistas.

STYLE GUIDE | Who’s the chicest woman in France? Not Bruni, Gainsbourg or Deneuve. It’s Inès de la Fressange by a landslide, if French newspaper polls are the gauge. Fressange, a French blueblood and former model, returned to the runway this past spring at age 53 to walk the Chanel 2011 show in Paris. Now she’s fashion muse to the masses in North America with the recent English translation of her popular style guide Parisian Chic, a handbook filled with her own whimsical illustrations, lovely how-to-dress-French photos of her daughter, Nine, and amusing single-paragraph fashion pronouncements.

Nonchalant Fressange, a high-low shopper if ever there was one, has great advice on how to think and dress like a style-savvy Parisian without selling the farm (plus insider tips about where to shop in Paree, should you go). Here are five of her myriad useful ideas on how to get “The Look.” Read more

2 Gizmos Good Cooks Could Use Right Now

September 2, 2011/0 Comments/in FOOD, Food & Drink, Tools & Techniques, View All Food Stories /by Editor

The right tools make kitchen tasks easier. Here are two must-have gizmos that infinitely out perform their insignificant price.

Poke, Squeeze, Twist—You can juice a fruit by hand—or by mouth as Oprah did on her now famous televised camping trip with Gayle last October (WATCH HERE)—but a tool devised for this task will extract juice more efficiently.

Stylish low-tech juicers abound, including Philippe Starck’s iconic Juicy Salif, but unless you’re looking for countertop décor, why would you pay a hefty $100 for a Salif, a product that serves but one purpose, when an inexpensive citrus reamer will do the trick and tuck away nicely in a drawer. Read more