Travel tends to sharpen taste. It introduces new ideas, uncovers unforeseen obsessions, and offers the occasional epiphany – nudging your sense of beauty and your grasp of craftsmanship in new directions. For Ryan LeClair, founder of Makoto Watch Company out of London, Ontario, it was travel – and specifically a trip to Japan – that transformed his infatuation with watch collecting into his initiation of a brand built on craft, restraint, and everyday practicality.
Today's mainstream luxury watch world is largely defined by restraint: staid aesthetics, conservative design, and glacial progression. Place a vintage Rolex Submariner next to its modern counterpart and try to spot the difference. Not easy, right? Repeat this action with a vintage Omega Speedmaster and you'll find the same pattern.
I'm a sucker for multi-tools. They colonize my life the way good gear should: a cycling tool in every bike bag, a handful of Swiss Army knives rattling in kitchen drawers, and at least two larger multi-tools permanently stationed in my Land Cruiser – one in the centre console, another tucked into a rear compartment beside a plug-in pump (for inflating river tubes in warmer months) and a heavy-duty tow strap (for hauling neighbours out of snowbanks when winter tightens its grip).
‘I’m so excited for this first bite,’ Cai announces as she slices her spoon through a thick layer of emmental and into the steaming broth below – a wonderful mélange of rich meat stock, gently fried onion, and sourdough crouton. I am not surprised that she’s pumped. After all, I’ve heard Cai wax poetic about french onion soup for years.
In late May the TOQUE team took on the lavish task of completing the trail in a single day (or two). Did we succeed? Was it tasty? What’s bacon popcorn, anyway? Follow along to find out.
What’s better than receiving a bouquet of flowers (as a treat from yourself or from someone else)? Receiving a bouquet of flowers that are locally-grown and fresh-cut, of course. And on the regular, too. For the past four years Emily Harman (with help from husband Andy Harman) has been making this experience a reality by offering Flower Subscriptions – including Springtime Tulip Subscriptions and Harvest Subscriptions (available now) – for folks across Wellington County.
IN LATE MARCH THE TOQUE TEAM TREKKED OUT EAST TO OUR FAVOURITE MARITIME PORT OF CALL, HALIFAX, FOR BUSINESS (AND, AS IS ALWAYS THE CASE, SOME PLEASURE). TO BE PRECISE, WE TRAVELED TO NOVA SCOTIA TO ATTEND THIS YEAR’S JUNOS, WHICH TOOK PLACE AT SCOTIABANK CENTRE IN DOWNTOWN HALIFAX, AND WHERE TOQUE PARTNER CAI SEPULIS HAD BEEN INVITED TO SERVE AS A JUDGE FOR THE CATEGORY OF ‘ALBUM ARTWORK OF THE YEAR’.
By the time I arrive at the bakery the sun has only just risen. All across the region bleary- eyed school children are being roused from their beds while an army of commuters fill thermoses with hot stuff before loading into vehicles and heading off to work. The day is just beginning. And yet at Roux Bakehouse – a cute bakery-meets-café-meets-grocer nestled into Kitchener’s vibrant Belmont Village strip – things have been rolling for hours.
WHETHER YOU’RE HOSTING FRIENDS & FAMILY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON OR LOOKING FOR THAT PERFECT GIFT FOR FOLKS WHO MIGHT BE HOSTING YOU, THE EXPANSIVE AND INTERNATIONALLY-ACCLAIMED ST JACOBS FARMERS’ MARKET IS YOUR ONE- STOP DESTINATION FOR HANDCRAFTED GOODNESS.
The leisurely activity of sauntering storefront to storefront, gauging shops' wares through glass from the promenade of a bustling thoroughfare – downtown Stratford's Ontario Street is built for this. In this festival city that caters to upwards of two million out-of-town visitors each year, the proprietors of small businesses along Ontario (and so many other walkable streets in and out of Stratford’s downtown core) have perfected the art of dressing windows. Building out themes.
Travel tends to sharpen taste. It introduces new ideas, uncovers unforeseen obsessions, and offers the occasional epiphany – nudging your sense of beauty and your grasp of craftsmanship in new directions. For Ryan LeClair, founder of Makoto Watch Company out of London, Ontario, it was travel – and specifically a trip to Japan – that transformed his infatuation with watch collecting into his initiation of a brand built on craft, restraint, and everyday practicality.
Almost nothing we carry defines us more clearly than the books in our bags: tactile objects filled with ideas and stories – testimonies to time well spent. They tag along with us, mark our days, and shape the rhythm of how we move through the world. In Uptown Waterloo, three long-standing independent bookstores – Carry-On Comics & Books (46 years young), Words Worth Books (42 years), and Old Goat Books (25 years) – offer distinct ways to build this bracket of everyday carry: a nostalgia-driven comic haven built for the thrill of discovery, a curated literary hub grounded in conversation, and a densely-packed used bookstore where the search is part of the reward. Together, these enduring fixtures map a reading life – charting not just what we read, but how we come to find it.
In my line of work – as writer, photographer, editor, regional explorer – EDC isn't a trend. It's infrastructure. Most days I'm in motion: tracing backroads toward a brewhouse, mapping my way to an artist's studio, or sliding into the corner of a coffee shop where I turn field notes into final copy and RAW files into photographs that will pop on paper. My office is wherever I set my bag down. My tools make it possible.
Stratford – and, by extension, Perth County – lends itself to takeaway. A coffee to carry, a sandwich in hand, something sweet tucked alongside – then out into the streets for window shopping, into the theatres for a performance, or down to the riverbank for a nosh.
