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Why Buy Perrier? Fizzy Water Is Easy To Make
If tapwater leaves you flat, home carbonation devices will add fizz to your drink and loonies to your pocket.
WASTE NOT | Last summer I had dinner at the home of a stylish and gracious friend whose table setting included a tall glass pitcher filled with tapwater, ice cubes and slices of lime. It was refreshing in every way: simple, elegant and thirst-quenching. For a more casual presentation, another friend recycles the rubber-stoppered bottles from French lemonade, filling them with tapwater that she keeps chilled in the fridge. You can buy similar stoppered bottles without the lemonade (Bella Vita in Park Royal has attractive ones in green or blue from Maxwell & Williams for $5.95).
The advantages of tapwater are well known—better regulated and better for you than bottled water, better for the environment, really really local—yet having imported bottled water on the table has become almost as essential as knowing what wine to serve. Perhaps it’s the bubbles. I’m not a fan of fizz myself, but many of those who are have been turning to home carbonation devices. Read more
Eat, Read, Swim—Ms. McIntosh Does YVR
Culinary personality Barbara-jo McIntosh shares her favourite “free, cheap or worth it” things to see, do or buy in Vancouver.
The owner of Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks, Barbara-jo McIntosh has served on the prestigious James Beard Awards cookbook selection committee and received a Vancouver magazine lifetime achievement award for her many contributions to the local culinary scene. McIntosh reveals a softer side in her recently published third book, Cooking for Me and Sometimes You: A Parisienne Romance with Recipes. It’s a tale of “cooking with tenderness in Paris,” says fellow food writer Mia Stainsby in The Vancouver Sun, who thinks its sweet words and delightful recipes will inspire readers to cook more mindfully—and with love. Read more
Ruthie Shugarman’s Clothes Swap Party
Former event planner Ruthie Shugarman shares what she knows about hosting clothing exchange parties.
EXPERT ADVICE | When Ruthie Shugarman switched careers a few years ago, she wanted a memorable way to mark her shift from event planning to real estate sales. “I was staring into my closet one night thinking about the fact that I really needed to de-clutter when the idea for throwing a clothing exchange party hit me.” Frock swapping could be a win-win situation, she reasoned. “I could use the evening to tell friends and business associates about my new move, and they could use it to trade in things they never wear for things they might wear a lot.” Read more