Kim Cattrall and The City

In the dusk of Toronto’s King Street West, the TIFF Bell Lightbox stands aglow as guests hurry in from the cold and into a packed auditorium. The impending event emits a palpable energy that runs between every cushioned seat of the Allan Slaight playhouse.

Within moments, a rapturous applause announces the arrival of Kim Cattrall, who at 55, is no less radiant than when she first began acting as a teenager. She joins the evening’s “In Conversation With … Kim Cattrall” host and CBC senior business correspondent Amanda Lang onstage to partake in a tribute to her career co-presented by TIFF and the Canadian Film Centre. The crowd is soon eating from the palm of her manicured hands. “I can’t believe we’re going to do this in such a short amount of time – I’ve had such a long, long career,” she says with a laugh. “And I remember every single moment.” Read more

Cake Boss: Bartolo “Buddy” Valastro Jr.

If there’s one thing fans of the hit reality TV show Cake Boss will attest to, it’s that there are cakes, and then there are Cake Boss cakes. The difference? A Cake Boss cake is layered, shaped and coloured with such whimsical novelty they’re almost too pretty to cut – but too delicious to resist.

It’s the artistic hand of Bartolo “Buddy” Valastro Jr. – a man who speaks with such Joe Pesci-like bravado that he may seem more street tough than master baker – that produces this lip-smacking beauty. “We really enjoy using our creativity to design custom cakes,” says Valastro, a fourth generation baker who heads the kitchen at Carlo’s Bake Shop, his family’s bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey. “It’s a merger of traditional methods of decorating and using new technologies to do things like make them spin or light up.” Read more

David Rocco: All in the Family

It’s one of those dog days of summer, when humidity is hard to deal with and precipitation doesn’t help your case, that celebrity chef David Rocco arrives at a Toronto studio. He’s breathless and clammy after having had to circumnavigate a tricky maze of staircase and hallway before reaching his intended destination.

Slightly dishevelled but intact from his journey, Rocco reminds us that sometimes life isn’t all apple pie and sunshine – even if others wistfully think you’re living the sweet life uninterrupted. “Are you kidding? Yesterday, on my birthday, I had one of the toughest days at work – we’re doing a new series – and there were some issues that came up. I have a business, a production company, and like any entrepreneur or business person, you have challenges,” says the eponymous host and producer of David Rocco’s Dolce Vita. “Nothing’s easy. The harder you work, the luckier you Read more

Spice things up with Sheryl Crow

If it makes you healthy, it can’t be that bad. Singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow was living the typical rock star life – on the road touring the world as she promoted her latest hits. Her influence on the music industry became undisputable, with nine Grammy awards and other accolades confirming her talent. During that time, though, she was eating on the run, ordering off hotel room service menus, and snacking on chips and Diet Coke in her dressing room. When jolted with the shocking news of breast cancer in 2006, Crow quickly changed her tune. “My cancer diagnosis was a real game changer for me … Never once in my life had I really considered what I put into my body as having a direct connection to my wellness,” she writes in her season-inspired cookbook If it Makes you Healthy (St. Martin’s Press, 2011). Co-authored by produce lover and chef Chuck White, their guide to good food is packed with vitamin and Read more

Q&A: Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida

The insight of a musician is often nuanced by a lyrical approach, with words tumbling into themselves to uncover unspoken thoughts. Times that by two, and an engaging interview with Canadian singer-songwriters Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida transpires. Married to each other and to their craft, the pair has hits like Feels Like Home, Surrounded, Clumsy and Somewhere Out There between them, but the soundtrack to their lives isn’t solely based on music. With Kreviazuk planning her next album, and Maida releasing his upcoming solo and Our Lady Peace records, the two somehow hit a high note in other areas of their lives. Balancing studio time with three kids and an innate approach to philanthropic endeavours, Kreviazuk and Maida have the synchronicity and grace it takes to turn the ugly into something beautiful. Read more

Andre Agassi: BREAK, FAULT, LOVE

At his last Wimbledon appearance in 2006, the same tournament that embraced him with his first Grand Slam win, he stepped onto the sacred grounds of the All England Club wearing a necklace given to him by his son, a choker of block letters spelling ‘Daddy Rocks.’ He certainly did cause seismic effect in his young days, juxtaposing the very essence of tennis refinement by sporting hot lava tights, denim shorts and mullet toupees. During that tumultuous period of his life, however, he was just a boy, tormented by his hate for the lonely sport of tennis; a man-child choked by his unfound identity while finding his volleys and fine-tuning his backhand. Long before his departure from the game, the American athlete did break free from breaking convention with the clothes his enthusiasts often imitated; with John Varvatos and the sentimental accessory that spheres his neck now part of his signature look. He didn’t know then who he was as he took centre court, but the sport and his devotees certainly Read more

Simon Helberg: Funny as Helberg

When told I would be interviewing Simon Helberg, best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz on the hit TV show The Big Bang Theory, I thought it was because our female writers were just too afraid of being seduced by an overly sexual, Jewish aerospace engineer. Not one to be afraid, I stepped up to the dish, only to be delighted by a witty conversation with a humble and humorous actor.

Q. Howard’s the most sexually forward character on the show. What’s the worst pickup line you’ve ever used on a girl?

Oh gosh. You know, I never was somebody for pickup lines. I think my flaw was being too honest. I didn’t have the game that Howard has; Howard may have a terrible game, but he has a game. I would walk up to talk to somebody, a girl at a party, and then immediately tell them I loved them, and I think that we could be Read more

In the Moment with Laura Di Battista

When she’s not keeping Torontonians in on the news, Laura Di Battista has her own story to tell, one that involves how she loves her city well. “There’s a few places that you can look at in Toronto where you just see nothing and then the horizon. It’s just so calming,” says the life-long resident of the Beaches area, where she lives with her husband and daughter.

The Toronto-born journalist is most known for making waves as an on-air personality, asking the questions we all want the answers to, without having the courage to ask them ourselves.

It’s mid-morning and Di Battista scans the dailies, sweats out a workout and dives into research before going live at 3 p.m. “The best part of my job is that I leave here every day …  and get to, you know, explore all these great stories in the city.” As host of Read more

The Unseen World of Lisa Ray

Lisa Ray is in her own world right now. The acclaimed Canadian actress appears faraway from the photographer, videographer and stylists that have formed a tight circle around her. Even the intense stare of studio lights can’t assuage her green gaze as she ironically sways to the orchestral sound of Arcade Fire’s Empty Room. Wearing Christian Louboutin shoes on her feet, a white silk-chiffon Réva Mivasagar dress on her body and the lyrics When I’m by myself, I can be myself on her face, Ray’s angelic feathers are as unruffled as it gets.

With a self-assurance and practiced poise that’s poetically performed, you would never guess that the spirited 39-year-old considers herself an introvert. “I need time alone. I’m quite shy at my core and at my being and I don’t really invite attention,” says Ray. That’s not the case, however, when the red light Read more

Life’s Simple Pleasures: Gwyneth Paltrow’s My Father’s Daughter

When you’re an actress-turned-mom-turned-blogger-turned-singer, you’re bound to have a lot on your plate. But Gwyneth Paltrow just couldn’t resist adding yet another entree to her CV – a cookbook author.

With her statuesque figure and peaches-and-cream complexion, the award-winning actress is just at home in her kitchen than she is on the stage, having developed a passion for food after sharing treasured moments cooking alongside her late father, filmmaker Bruce Paltrow. Stretching beyond her role as actress, Paltrow’s adoration for food imparted by her dad culminates in My Father’s Daughter (Grand Central Life & Style, 2011), which is now a bestseller. “For me, I kind of feel like everybody in the whole world has passions that they should be pursuing … if people see me doing different things … maybe they would think, Read more

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