When I was a kid growing up in Kitchener- Waterloo, my dad would sometimes drive the two of us to St Jacobs to retrieve mail for the small publishing company that he and my mom owned and ran. For while my parents worked as professors (at Waterloo’s respective universities) during the daytime, they also ran – as a labour of love – a small publishing house and the business address for their company, Sand Hills Books, was situated along the main drag in the village.
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.
‘So, is there something you enjoyed in particular?’, Chef John Forcier (Director of Culinary Operations at Equal Parts Hospitality) asks us once my TOQUE partner Cai and I have had a chance to sample everything spread out before us on a weighty table at the Aberdeen Tavern – a former-bank-turned-posh-eatery located at the foot of Hamilton Mountain.
‘I’ll grab another ‘Purple’,’ I tell Kat when she moseys onto the covered front porch to check on us. ‘Me too,’ Cai pipes in, ‘and we’ll split an order of nachos.’ Good call. ‘With blackened chicken?’, Kat asks – noting an omission to our regular order. ‘You know us too well,’ I laugh – nodding at the suggestion. Indeed she does.
IMAGINE YOURSELF SIPPING MORNING CAPPUCCINOS ON MAIN STREET WITH A DAILY PAPER. HUNTING FOR FASHIONABLE HOUSEWARE ITEMS AT THE MOST CHARMING LIFESTYLE BOUTIQUE. SHOPPING FOR BREEZY SUMMER DRESSES WHILE ENJOYING A GLASS (OR TWO) OF BUBBLY. SEARCHING OUT THE PERFECT BOUQUET AT THE CUTEST LOCAL FLORIST. CAPPING OFF THE DAY WITH FRESH OYSTERS AND A GLASS OF MUSCADET AT A LOVELY FOUR- SEATER OVERLOOKING THE MIGHTY GRAND.
WHEN ‘FRIENDS OF THE MAG’ RAISA AND JON GAVE THEIR WONDERFULLY-RUSTIC CABIN IN KEARNEY, NORTH MUSKOKA, A COMPLETE MAKEOVER, THEY TRANSFORMED IT INTO PAPER BIRCH CABIN – THE MOST SERENE (AND PHOTOGENIC) THREE-BEDROOM
AIRBNB RENTAL COTTAGE IMAGINABLE. DOCK WITH REQUISITE MUSKOKA CHAIRS? CHECK. SCREENED IN PORCH WITH LAKE VIEWS? CHECK. EXPANSIVE WRAP-AROUND DECK?
It’s the last Friday evening in May and, as per usual, Guelph is alive with activity. On top of College Hill, at the University of Guelph’s 8,500-seat Alumni Stadium, the Toronto Argonauts are preparing to battle the Hamilton Ticats in CFL pre-season action. Closer to downtown, outside Double Rainbow Café, the Ward Night Market – featuring local vendors, live music, and treats – is getting underway.
IF YOU HAVEN’T STOPPED BY WILLIBALD FARM DISTILLERY & BREWERY RECENTLY, YOU’RE OVERDUE FOR A VISIT. CHEF BRIAN MCCOURT’S NEW MENU – WHICH RELIES HEAVILY ON SEASONAL LOCAL INGREDIENTS – IS AMONG THE MOST DELICIOUS IN THE REGION. PORK AND BEEF (FOR THE PASTAS AND BURGERS) FROM AYRSYDE FARMS.
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.
Friday afternoons in the summertime are made for getting out of town: for leaving work early, hitting the open road, and – several hours later – arriving at some idyllic slice of Canadiana for a weekend of great food, cold drinks and, perhaps most importantly, time in nature with loved ones. In theory, at least. The reality tends to go a bit differently. Taking hours to pack the car. The awful traffic heading north.
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).
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.
