Long before 'clean beauty' became a global marketing mantra, Cocoon Apothecary was quietly perfecting plant-based skincare in a basement lab in Waterloo Region.
Taking the reins of a beloved Uptown Waterloo boutique is no small feat, but Vivian Mirani – the new proprietor of Truth Beauty Company – has embraced the challenge with vision and care. For more than a decade this cherished business has quietly built a loyal following for its thoughtful curation of trusted clean beauty products and warm, knowledgeable service. Under Vivian's leadership the boutique is entering a new chapter: continuing to please clients with effective, luxurious, eco-friendly products while strengthening its reputation as a destination for clean (and green) beauty.
Downtown Kitchener doesn't trade on postcard charm. It asks a little more of you: an extra glance, a second pass, the willingness to step through a door you might otherwise overlook.
‘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.
A classic love story: boy meets girl, boy follows girl [to Japan], boy and girl fall madly in love – over the perfect dish. Ramen. In this story boy (Jared) and girl (Miki) dedicate themselves to learning the traditional craft of ramen from scratch and travel Japan for ‘research’ (read: more ramen).
Just a few country blocks from the Kitchener city limits there’s an old farmhouse that sits on a small plot of land tucked into a bend in the road. Its sun-faded siding and concrete front porch are entirely unremarkable, and had I not been looking for the fire number, I would have surely passed it by.
‘Well, this certainly is a new experience,’ I exclaim to Wes Klassen, Odd Duck Wine & Provisions co-owner, while he guides my TOQUE partner, Cai, and me through what’s essentially the restaurant’s kitchen, on our way to the adjoining dining room. To my right, smartly plated entrées wait on the pass.
If you’re one of those special few who have set their sights on purchasing a rural property (a house in the country, a larger farm, or something else outside of town) it’s best to understand the unique opportunities and challenges that accompany these properties – including access to utilities, types of water sources, and allowable agricultural uses.
It’s mid-May, Friday afternoon, and unseasonably hot outside. Just a couple hours remain until the end of the work week, and I’ve got plans for dinner with the family at Willibald. I can taste the weekend – along with Willibald’s magnificent menu of juicy IPAs and farm-to-table dishes – already.
When I was a kid growing up in Kitchener, my dad (also born and raised in the city) loved driving my brother and me past the many landmark buildings that helped grow – and define – our hometown. The Arrow Shirt factory on Benton Street. The AR Kaufman factory at the corner of King and Victoria.
‘Ice cream for breakfast is a good thing, right?’, I ask to no one in particular as Ajoa tops the waffle cone with a spiralled mix of creamy vanilla and chocolate soft serve and hands it to me. I check my wrist – it’s 10:36am – and take a lavish lick. Happiness in a mouthful. ‘Who am I kidding,’ I continue, ‘everyone knows that ice cream any time is a great thing.’
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.
