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.” Through conversation, photographs and film clips, the career of Cattrall moves between the lines of a girl motivated by theatre and a woman looking to free herself from her sex symbol status.

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For Cattrall, a door in the room of her life first opened when her great aunt took her to see As You Like It. “I think it happened when I was 10. That’s when I got the tingling for it,” says the British-born, Canadian-raised actress. The Shakespearean classic certainly inspired a thespian calling in Cattrall, who recently concluded her Toronto run of Noël Coward’s Private Lives at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. She readily admits to being covered in stage makeup to mask the bruises she’s acquired playing Amanda, a role considered a departure from the insatiable Samantha Jones of Sex and the City. “Actors find their voice in film. I always had a voice in theatre,” says the classically trained stage actress. The Richard Eyre revival of the romantic comedy was a hit at The Vaudeville Theatre in London, and is now playing at New York’s Broadway theatre.

Dressed demurely in a black sheath dress and turquoise pumps, Cattrall looks down and squints her eyes bashfully after a clip from the 1980s romantic comedy Mannequin has her dream girl character, Emmy, sashaying across a gleaming department store in clothes that reveal her younger figure. While a tinge of proud sadness settles across her face, Cattrall effervesces with the kind of confidence that can only be achieved through age and experience. “A lot of things go through your mind … your youth, the fashion, it’s bittersweet.”

The conversation between Cattrall and Lang unfolds effortlessly over the hour, carried by Cattrall’s earliest forays into acting. After leaving Canada to live in New York on her own at 16, she was cast in Otto Preminger’s Rosebud. Other films include Porky’s and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. But her film career never mired her passion for the stage, having starred in theatrical productions over the years that include Anton Chekhov’s Wild Honey. “Acting was about community – not stardom,” says Cattrall, who describes herself as an introvert hiding behind her characters.

While a part of her misses playing the role of such a bold character in the Sex and the City series and its corresponding movies, Cattrall hopes to break free from the perception that her talent doesn’t get deeper than the designer-wearing, man-eating part that shot her to stardom. The versatile actress recently peeled off the haute couture and makeup and gained weight for her performance in Meet Monica Velour, where she plays a veteran porn star living in a trailer. “The role frightened me,” says Cattrall. “It was the underbelly of sexuality … and I wanted to explore that. My objective was to give Monica dignity.”

Among the private moments of her life, Cattrall recalls a night in Toronto from her past, where she was co-starring in a movie with Jack Lemmon. “I asked him, how do you get longevity? And he answered: ‘Continue to take things that scare you and challenge you.’ And I think that’s been the secret for me.”

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.”

Originally opened in 1910 by Carlo Guastaffero, Carlo’s Bake Shop was purchased by Valastro’s father, Bartolo Valastro Sr., in 1964. When the senior Valastro passed away in 1994, it was up to 17-year-old Buddy to pick up the torch and carry on his father’s legacy. With his mother and four older sisters, Valastro grew Carlo’s into an internationally recognized bakery and television phenomenon.

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Mixing various types of cake with his “dirty icing” technique and multi-coloured fondant, Valastro has baked and frosted everything from a scaled-down replica of Walt Disney World’s Cinderella Castle to a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, complete with fireworks and a ring of fire; to a life-size model of his wife, Lisa. Valastro’s imagination simply knows no bounds.

With the release of his second book, Baking with the Cake Boss: 100 of Buddy’s Best Recipes and Decorating Secrets (Free Press, 2011), Valastro gives readers a taste of that creativity, providing a tutelage that progressively guides readers from baking basics to cake mastery. “This book is all about the process of making a cake,” says Valastro, who recently attended the inaugural Canada’s Baking and Sweets Show in Toronto, and toured the GTA to share stories and techniques featured in his new book.“In Baking with the Cake Boss, I get to show people how to make some of our signature store cakes.” From cookies to pastries to cakes, Valastro gradually kneads the essentials into readers’ repertoire, so they’re primed for even the most demanding recipe. You can try your hand at a Valastro cake with the Snowflake Winter Wonderland recipe (p.60) that’s featured in his book.

While Valastro’s modern techniques are rich with originality, he never strays from the basic ingredients that built his family’s business. “I use all of our original recipes – we prefer our traditional methods, because they’ve worked for over 100 years.”

www.carlosbakery.com

Snowflake Winter Wonderland Cake
MAKES ONE 9-INCH CAKE

For this cake, you will need two 10-inch Bundt or Bundt-style pans, 3 inches deep. Note that they should be aluminum, and must not be nonstick or the cakes will collapse while cooling.

Two 9-inch cakes, filled with your choice of filling
4 cups white Decorator’s Buttercream (see “Decorator’s Buttercream”) in a pastry bag fitted with the #7 interchangeable tip
3 pounds baby blue fondant
6 ounces white fondant
1/2 cup crystal or coarse sugar
Pearl luster dust

TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT - Snowflake cutters or plunger cutters, assorted sizes Paintbrush Steamer

1  Prepare the cake: On a turntable, prepare a double-layer cake on a doily-lined cardboard circle, filling it with the filling of your choice and dirty-icing it without the tip (see “Dirty-Ice the Cake”). Note: After dirty-icing, keep the buttercream in the bag for affixing design elements to cake and creating the shell border.

2  Cover the cake: Drape the cake with baby blue fondant, smooth it in place with the smoother, and trim it (see “Apply the Fondant to the Cake”).

3  Make snowflakes: Roll the white fondant out to a 10-inch square, 1/8 inch thick. Use a small snowflake cutters or plungers to make 18 to 20 snowflakes. Use a small brush to paint the flakes with luster dust.

4  Apply frost to the cake: Steam the cake and sprinkle 1/4 cup of the sugar to make a 1-inch border around the top edge of the cake; steam it in place. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup sugar around the bottom of the cake to make a 2-inch border, then steam it into place.

5  Apply the snowflakes to the cake: Pipe buttercream dabs onto the top and sides of the cake and use it to affix the snowflakes to the cake.

6  Pipe kisses: Use the same bag to squeeze-and-pull kisses around the cake.

Buddy’s Techniques – DECORATOR’S BUTTERCREAM
7 1/2 cups powdered (10X) sugar
2 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water

1 Put the sugar, shortening, butter and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and paddle at low-medium speed until the mixture is smooth, with not lumps, about 3 minutes.

2 With the motor running, add the water in a thin stream and continue to paddle until absorbed, about 3 minutes.

The buttercream can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Buddy’s Techniques – DIRTY-ICE THE CAKE
“Dirty-icing” is Carlo’s Bake Shop-speak for what most bakers call a “crumb coat.” It refers to a thin layer of Decorator’s Buttercream that’s laid down as a frosting to help fondant “stick” to the cake. The proper name, “crumb coat,” refers to the fact that you can see crumbs through the icing. It’s not important that your dirty-icing be perfect, just that it be thin and cover the entire cake. To dirty-ice a cake, first ice it as you usually would. Then use a piece of poster board to finish the job, getting as close to the cake as possible. After dirty-icing a cake, refrigerate it until the buttercream stiffens, 30 to 60 minutes.

Buddy’s Techniques – APPLY THE FONDANT TO THE CAKE
1 Set the rolling pin at the far edge of the fondant circle and roll it back toward you, spooling the fondant up onto the pin and gently knocking off any excess cornstarch.

2 Bring the pin over the cake, unspooling the fondant and lowering it over the other side, letting it drape over the sides and onto your work surface. Smooth the top with a smoother, then pull and press down gently on the sides to make the fondant taut all around.

3 Caress the fondant with your hands to smooth it against the cake, stretching and pulling it tautly over the top and down the sides, turning the cake and using your fingers to be sure it’s smooth all over.

4 Use a pizza cutter or sharp, thin-bladed knife such as a paring knife, to cut around the base and remove any excess fondant. Lift the excess ring up and over the cake. Ball up the excess fondant and return it to its storage bag; it can be reused.

5 Put the cake on a turntable. Use a smoother to smooth out the fondant on the top and sides. Inspect the cake; if you find any dry spots (they will appear arid and veined), rub a little vegetable shortening over them, then smooth with the smoother.

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 get. And it took some time for me to realize that.”

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Before flipping the page to a new calendar year that will take him to South America to begin filming David Rocco’s Dolce Brazil, Rocco is looking forward to a different kind of adventure. He and his high school-sweetheart wife, Nina Rocco, are expecting their third child, a boy, a sibling to their twin daughters Emma and Giorgia, 3. Having waited a long time to be father to a growing household, Rocco knows that the family who eats together, stays together. “At the end of the day, no matter how good or bad work is, it’s only television, it’s not a big deal. Nothing seems to be a big deal when you look at coming home and seeing your kids. They’re my heroes, they’re my inspiration, my love.” And for Rocco, motivation embodies the sweet life. As if on cue, his girls burst into the studio, shrieking “Daddy!” as they race to their father for a hug. Ever their father’s daughters, the girls shyly respond “risotto” when asked what their favourite dish is. “They’re deliciousness,” he smiles, adding that he hopes nothing more than his children to grow into compassionate, independent adults. “My legacy is my kids. Everything else is gravy.”

With hectic schedules, the Roccos know a thing or two on teamwork to achieve their dreams. “I took a backseat to the show,” says Nina, who co-produced Dolce Vita before the girls were born. With Rocco completely consumed with production, Nina stays focused on the children and the plans surrounding a new home in Toronto they will soon move into. “I don’t know how we could have achieved or attempted to achieve these things if we didn’t divide and try to conquer,” says Nina. Exposed to the beauty of travel and delicious food during gastronomical journeys with Rocco, Nina certainly has had a taste of the good life. But when you ask her what’s most important, she takes a page from her husband’s book. “I say family. The other stuff is very nice, but the best production is Giorgia and Emma and now … I don’t have a name yet. We’ve been calling him ‘baby boy.’” The new family addition is due at the end of November.

These days, Rocco is relishing in some much-deserved family time after flying back and forth between his Toronto home and New York for a developing series, and to appear as a guest judge on Iron Chef America. Not just yet, Rocco will return to the U.S. in November for a promotional tour on his second upcoming cookbook – “We’re very proud of it, it’s a continuation of our first book, which was a Canadian bestseller” – Made in Italy (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.). As well, Rocco spent most of this summer in Italy on the series David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway, which is scheduled to debut next year. And if you’re not someone who’s patient, you can catch Rocco in November as he joins his colleagues in the Chef’s Challenge, a cooking combat to raise funds for Mount Sinai Hospital. With so much on his plate, it’s easy to see how deadlines and the stress of undertaking new projects adds up. “Behind the scenes, I work 18 hours a day. And it’s great because I think working that hard really grounds you and lets you appreciate some of the sweeter things in life. It sounds glamorous, and it is, but … I go away from home and miss my family … it’s difficult.”

No stranger to working just as hard as the second time, Rocco doesn’t take shortcuts to the top. “Our new series in the U.S. is just as hard to get off the ground, you think it gets easier? Our second book? Just as hard. Our first book [David Rocco’s Dolce Vita] was so successful, that there was this nervousness, this anxiety, of how do we top this? So I had to work harder, I had to push the team to do better, the photography had to be better, which was a tall order because our first book was so nice. And I see that in almost every aspect of my life – I have to push myself.”

If you’ve ever tuned into David Rocco’s Dolce Vita, you’ve seen how Rocco courts the Italian countryside for local produce and original recipes, and just as he does in his day-to-day, enjoys espresso breaks with friends new and old. He knows that there are those that view him as living the carefree European lifestyle in Toronto, but just as others have  to sweat to climb ladders, Rocco’s right there with them. “I just turned 41 and to me it’s the best time of my life because I realize my potential now – 10 years ago I was not completely aware of the work ethic that needed to be brought to this stage or to life in order to accomplish things. It’s funny because I’ll go to the office at 6 a.m. and have a coffee break at 7:30 and then back to the office at 8, and people will see me with my coffee and say, ‘Ahh, la dolce vita.’ And I just smile and say, “Hey, it’s not bad.”    www.davidrocco.com

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Mom’s Reconstructed Chili
1 tbsp canola oil, preferably expeller-pressed
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 lb ground soy burger alternative
2 tbsp cumin
1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp smoked paprika, optional
1/2 tbsp dried red chili flakes
1 12 ounce can light beer, at room temperature
1 1/2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 14 – 15-ounce cans chili hot beans with can juices, preferably organic
2 14 – 15-ounce cans pinto beans, preferably organic, drained
2 14 – 15-ounce cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes, preferably organic
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp dried oregano
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fat-free saltines or cornbread for serving, optional
Hot pepper sauce, for serving, optional

1.  In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat and when hot, sauté the onion and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the ground soy and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up the soy further and encourage even cooking. Add the cumin, chili powder, paprika, and chili flakes and continue to cook, stirring, until the spices are slightly toasted and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
2.  Using a wooden spoon to prevent sticking, stir in half of the beer and the soy sauce. Add the rest of the beer and stir to mix.
3.  Add the chili hot beans, pinto beans, tomatoes, and 1 cup of water and mix well. Add the bay leaves and oregano and stir to mix.
4.  Bring the chili to a low boil over medium-high heat and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so until the stew is well blended. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently until cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes, until the flavours blend. Stir the chili occasionally during cooking. Adjust the heat up or down to maintain a simmer. Serve hot, with crumbled saltines or cornbread, and some extra hot sauce, if desired.

SP: As Canadians and co-writers of I’m Here (A Song for Canada), what emotions are you feeling?

CK: It is romantic. I get to do something special for the country with my husband. Raine and I have really gone through this life and career and kind of paralleled our artist lives together and separately, so to me [the song], is really authentic, lovely … a challenge to have together.

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SP: Chantal, what has Raine taught you about music?

CK: Raine has taught me not to be impulsive. Because he is by nature more of a critical thinker than I am, and I am more to act on emotion. That is the nature of my personality and that tends to sort of slip into the studio, as well as the writing process. Raine will be a little bit more effective by you know, thinking about it longer, reflecting a bit more. He will also implement something ironically more theoretical than me – even though I’m classically trained. He’s helped me get better and better as a writer and as a musician.

SP: Your turn, Raine.

RM: This isn’t a cop-out, but, pretty much the same thing. Because what happens when you are working with someone else or writing for someone else, I find it much easier to be that person that is kind of pushing. When you are writing on your own – not that I get lazy, but I do – it’s pretty easy just to be in the moment and think, ‘you know what, that felt great, sounds amazing, done.’ But it usually isn’t. So Chantal, she fills that same need. That’s why our partnership as writers is so amazing, because we are able to have it start from a seed that is really pure and genuine; it is never forced.

SP: Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?

CK: Some of the things that I think we have both written about, separately, together, has come from chaos. There is no manual for life, and our relationships derive from worlds colliding, whether it’s from your own parents or the relationships you make in school that might last a lifetime. We are all sort of from our own little planets and the stories come from those relationships, and all of a sudden you have these stories of life. I think that everything is that strange, organized chaos that we all live. I can look at so many of the songs that have designed my life and my career, – or just the songs that I have loved – if you find out the story of them, they come from a place of disarray or adversity … There is strangely an incredible beauty and creativity that will come from a lot of ugliness in life, things that you would not invite into your life, you know?

RM: I don’t know if I’ve ever written a song when I’m just feeling happy and sitting around just enjoying life.

SP: Is there an experience that has affected your songwriting?

CK: I lost a friend of mine to suicide and I, in my own family, have had a lot of adversity. There is a member of my family who has struggled with emotional, mental, behavioural addictions, and that has really defined a lot of my life and who I am. And I think, while it has been a really tragic thing to witness and be a part of, it has also shaped a lot of compassion and understanding and insight I have in life and people … I lost my cousin who was my best friend and she was only 36 when she left her two and four-year-old children behind. These are just three examples of what has made me tick as a human being, every single day.

SP: When was the moment that you decided to dedicate yourself to philanthropy?

RM: I think it was because of the people. I joined Amnesty [International] and Green Peace when I was growing up, and coming out of Peter Gayville concerts I learned about those things, from U2 as well and REM … those bands who were socially conscious back then. But you know, when we got a chance to meet and travel with Samantha Nutt from War Child Canada – first trip we did Iraq – you kind of see the inner workings of a very grassroots Canadian [non-governmental organization] and it’s like, it was the beginning and the end of us searching out any other NGOs because that relationship, the fact that it is so transparent and Canadian, and you get to know all the people that work there and see all the programs first-hand. The program we started in Darfur (Sudan) is still up and running, one of the few that stayed around, even though the awareness has kind of dropped on Darfur, obviously genocide really hasn’t.

SP: As a public figure, do you feel you have the responsibility to give back?

RM: I don’t, personally. I think as Canadians we kind of do. It’s kind of this intangible. When you think of Canada, it’s always had more of that in our blood and social fabric than other countries.

CK: When you become an artist of relevance, all of a sudden, wow, the requests come in: ‘Hey Raine, hey Our Lady Peace, do this’; ‘Hey Chantal, can you come out and help us?’ Nobody has to say yes. You don’t have to, there is not a law … But for me, I was fascinated and engaged from the moment my career began and again, a really defining moment [was] Samantha Nutt coming up to me at MuchMusic when I had just started and had my first couple of songs. She presented herself and her school and her beauty and her interest in healing to me and for me, gave me an opportunity to manifest all that skill set that had been implemented from when I was very little. So, you know for some people it’s just yeah, I’ll show up and it’s natural. But I believe it’s something that comes from a whole lifetime of experience.

SP: What do you hope to teach your children?

CK: I hope being a model, because it’s not something you can say, it’s who you are and the trip you take, and it’s the knowledge you share with them day-to-day that will create that compassion or not. I can’t tell them to do it, I have to be doing it. For us, that’s what we do.

SP: Do any of your kids (Rowan Michael, 7; Lucca Jon, 6; Salvador (Sal) Daniel, 3; display musical talent?

RM: They all take music lessons … they have a teacher.

CK: I do a lot of work with them in the music room though, and then try to kind of, like, forge through with their teacher, you know. Their teacher brings in his own kind of curriculum and then I say, ‘Well hey, they are really interested in this song of Raine’s right know and so we kind of work with him. They do singing, piano; they write songs already. Our children are writing songs. I wasn’t writing songs at this age so it’s actually incredibly inspiring and exciting to watch.

RM: It’s important to note that our expectations are nothing further than that they have music as a vice or tool. It will be, I think, a lot cheaper than Prozac in the end. We’re not trying to start a little band or anything like that – it’s just something I think they will value throughout their lives.

SP: Were your parents involved in music?

RM: My dad loved Elvis, so I, you know, when I think about music, to me when I was growing up it was watching old Elvis movies.

CK: My family was very musical. In the old farm house of my father’s, there was a 100-year-old piano and we’d gather around it – all the 60 cousins because my dad comes from a family of 12 kids – and we’d always play the piano … My grandparents played the piano, they played the violin and the harmonica together. It was very normal for me to sit on my grandpa’s lap while he played the violin … I feel like Raine and I are this incredible manifestation of my grandparents playing music together … They were great players, and I think it probably very impacted me as a kid.

SP: Raine, how do you respond when people label your music as cryptic and poetic?

CK: I agree, I’m always saying, ‘What is that about, honey?’

RM: I think it is just a reflection of my personality, I am definitely more introverted and analytical … In some form, I think it gives my songs longer shelf life … it is not just put out there for you. I think with a lot of the songs I grew up loving, I didn’t know exactly what they were talking about and you could make it feel like it was integrated into your life and taken on as your own thing, you know. A lot of pop music just lays it all out there and you kind of know what it is and you either like it or you don’t and you can be over it once the song is over.

SP: Who’s is your favourite artist or a song that you like?

RM: Probably “The Unforgettable Fire” by U2. I always thought that, even if you look at the record as a whole, that was one of the defining records for me growing up. Because it just had this colour to it and this majesty but I really didn’t know what it was about. I just took these moments that kind of related to me, you know.

CK: Umm, a favourite song, You know what, that is a really tough one for me. In this moment, I am going to say umm, how about…how about “Gypsy” by Fleetwood Mac I don’t know why I am saying that, it is a favourite song of mine, it moves me, it’s a bit dark, the instrumentation, the production, Stevie Nicks, you know its one of those songs. It has a lot of meaning to me, because my cousin introduced me to Fleetwood Mac before she passed.

SP: What’s your day-to-day life like?

CK: Raine?

RM: The truth is, music kind of is every day of our lives. We are working on so many different projects, we are always working on our own projects – right now we’re three quarters of the way done through an Our Lady Peace record, my solo record is pretty much done, Chantal is thinking about doing a new record, she’s [done a live symphony record] and an HBO [Canada documentary]. And all these other projects that we are developing and writing songs for other people, it kind of is always music in a way.

CK: But then, where the kids are concerned … now from the mother (laughs).

RM: It’s important to know we work at home

CK: Oh my god, yes.

RM: Whenever we’re in the studio it’s not like we’re in downtown L.A. or someplace up north in Toronto, we are at home and our kids have total access to us.

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Five years into his retirement, Agassi is now officially part of tennis history, having been inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame and the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame in July 2011. “I fell in love with tennis far too late in my life, but the reason that I have everything that I hold dear is because of how much tennis has loved me back,” said Agassi during his induction ceremony speech in Newport, Rhode Island. “I’ve grown up in front of you. You’ve seen my highs, my lows, I didn’t always live carefully. I didn’t always pay tennis the respect it deserved,” continued the 41-year-old, who met his wife, German tennis legend and fellow Hall of Famer Steffi Graff, at a tournament. The couple shares two children, Jaden Gil, 9, and Jaz Elle, 7.

The famous face of tennis will also be one of four tennis greats to take part in the inaugural Rogers Legends Cup this August at the Rexall Centre. He will be joined by former peers John McEnroe, Michael Chang and Jim Courier. “It’s a great way to stay connected with people I spent a lot of time with over the years and come up there to Toronto and be able to sort of play, hopefully well enough, to create a little nostalgia,” said Agassi in a recent news conference. “Everything about the Canadian Open [now the Rogers Cup] fit my game. I love the surface, I love the court speed,” said Agassi, who in 14 visits to Canada won three titles. “Agassi is still one of the top drawing players in the world, even though he is retired,” says Karl Hale, the tournament director for the Rogers Cup in Toronto. “Our fans really wanted to see him … the feedback has been absolutely tremendous … ticket sales have gotten much better than in 2009 when we had the women here last.” A former player and coach, Hale caught his first glimpse of Agassi when he participated in the same tournament as him decades ago. “He was the young up-and-coming star that everyone was watching and looking out for. Even back then, everybody knew he would be something special, which obviously he turned out to be.” This year, Canadian tennis breaks ground as a combined televised event, with the ladies tournament in Toronto and the men’s tournament at Montreal’s Uniprix Stadium to be aired simultaneously.

Lovers of the sport still can’t shake just how right it felt when Agassi recaptured the glory of his No. 1 days in 2003 as the world’s oldest (33 years old) top ranked seed. Nor can they fail to overlook the highlights of a glorious career that continues to be remembered by die-hards and gives budding players a forum to study upon. “I watched many, many of his matches and he was very inspirational to me,” says Canadian Milos Raonic, the nation’s first to reach a career-high rank of No. 25. The 20-year-old sensation from Thornhill, Ont. won’t be participating in this year’s Rogers Cup due to hip surgery to correct an on-court injury, but remains encouraged when I tell him how Agassi, who underwent wrist surgery and suffered from sciatica during his career, recently praised his game by telling me that he has, “Everything it takes to be at the top of the world.” A flattered Raonic reciprocates the feeling. “I really appreciate him saying such kind things about my game, especially someone of his stature that played some great tennis and won so many Grand Slams and achieved so many great things in tennis. It’s motivating – it makes me want to get on the floor and want to do the right work to get better and to achieve those levels and hopefully be as good as he thinks I can be. I think it’s something special when you hear these kind of great comments from the guys you watched and you grew up hoping to be like so much.” Raonic also reminisces about Agassi’s legendary battles with arch-nemesis Pete Sampras, American greats that sparked the sport with the energy of competition. Today’s tennis has Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Spain’s Rafael (Rafa) Nadal as their replacements, with Hale paralleling Agassi’s aggressive baseline style, strong service return and flair to the latter. Who can forget the final of the U.S. Open in 2002 – the final final between one of the most intense rivalries in tennis history. Sampras is one side of the grid, geared to thrash his classic serve. Agassi leans forward with a tightly strung Prince, the baseline genius ready to scorch through his opponent’s most deadly weapon. Fans grip their seats at Arthur Ashe Stadium, eager for a fifth set, to take the game’s best server against the game’s best service returner to a battle past midnight, one last time. A final win for a retiring Sampras leaves an era of golden men’s tennis not seen since the days of Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe-Jimmy Connors to the history books.

With his own story to tell, Agassi revealed the pendulum of emotion he endured while swaying from rock bottom – his 1995 loss to Sampras at the U.S. Open was his hardest psychological hit – to his victorious culmination in perhaps one of the best sports autobiographies around, Open (Random House of Canada Limited, 2009). With the help of Pulitzer Prize winner J.R. Moehringer, Agassi pens shocking personal confessions, such as his loveless marriage to actress Brooke Shields and lying to tennis officials about his use of crystal meth. The book moves like an all-court player, with Agassi’s painstaking photographic memory detailing his swift return to the top in 1995, the year he proclaims to be the ‘Summer of Revenge,’ after falling from No. 1 to No. 141 and reading rancorous remarks from Boris Becker in the newspaper.

Hailing from a city where anything is possible, the native of Las Vegas struggled with self-induced angst and a devotion to perfectionism before he acknowledged his potential. Turning pro at 16, Agassi was a natural since his infant days, swatting tennis balls in his crib with a paddle his father taped to his hands. Determined to shape his youngest child into a No. 1 tennis champ, the elder Agassi had his seven-year-old son working on his game on a tennis court in the family backyard with a terrifying ball machine Agassi nicknamed the ‘dragon.’ He rebelled before he rose, especially when he was sent away to a famed tennis academy he describes “a prison,” at age 13. While his tennis tightened, his marks tumbled, and he dropped out of school with an eighth grade education. He wanted to quit tennis right from the beginning, but as most reluctant heroes, came undone with thoughts of the bigger picture, acute to the idea that there was a reason for him to stay committed to the sport, to become a legend. “… Something in my gut, some deep unseen muscle, won’t let me,” writes Agassi in the first chapter of his book. “I hate tennis, hate it with all my heart, and still I keep playing, keep hitting all morning, and all afternoon, because I have no choice. No matter how much I want to stop, I don’t. I keep begging myself to stop, and I keep playing, and this gap, this contradiction between what I want to do and what I actually do, feels like the core of my life.” Before winning the Australian Open in 1995, a now-bald Agassi had his hair shaved off – a cathartic release of his personal demons.

As stirring as his career might have been, the unstrung hero of tennis is now considered one of the greatest philanthropists in sports. Instead of cashing in on his prize money and endorsement deal cheques to blend into the landscape of a city shaking with excitement, Agassi chose to give back what tennis gave him by providing a platform of edification for kids to realize their own potential. Receiving the ATP Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award in 1995 for his efforts in helping disadvantaged youths was just the beginning. He went on to establish the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation in 1994, which has raised millions for at-risk youths in southern Nevada. The man who once reinvented the game of tennis in the 90s now attempts to reform the American school system, debuting a much-needed charter school called the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in the suburbs of Las Vegas in 2001.The school is a model of hope, and Agassi wants 75 more schools just like it in the near future. “I think it’s important to all of us, it’s our future … Personally, I found my feeling, a powerful void of lack of education in my life … I felt very overmatched, I felt very overwhelmed by the cultures, travelling the world. I was lucky to fall back on tennis. I really looked at my life and, where would I be if it wasn’t for tennis. Unfortunately, so many children don’t have the opportunity of falling back as a professional athlete, it’s very rare that that achievement happens. So where do these kids end up? … We are failing to educate them; it’s a huge consequence for society,” says Agassi, who dedicates about 70 to 80 per cent of his time towards the school. Before thanking the sport that has given him everything – his wife and kids and the meaning of life – Agassi’s efforts in affecting change were addressed by a sprightly Simone Ruffin, the first valedictorian at Agassi Prep, referring to him as a ‘hometown hero’ before introducing Agassi to the crowd at the Tennis Hall of Fame induction ceremony. A legend off and on the court, Agassi went on to explain that, “Tennis is a lonely sport, probably the most lonely. You’re out there with no team, no coach and no place to hide. That’s why tennis players not only talk to themselves, but answer. And yet all that loneliness eventually teaches you to stand alone.” His role model is Nelson Mandela.

Agassi is the first man to capture four Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal. His wins include Wimbledon, 1992, the U.S. Open, 1994 (he was unseeded at the time), the Australian Open, 1995 (his best year); the French Open, 1999, where he captured the crowd at Roland Garros after a heated five-setter against a determined Andrei Medvedev. His Olympic win, which gives him a Career Golden Slam, came in 1996. “I was flattered with every win, I was surprised with almost all my wins, whether they be a match or tournament, so again, I always felt tennis and winning at this sport was a bi-product of doing a lot of things right,” says Agassi about his method of approach to preparing for Rogers Cup and other major tournaments.  In total, Agassi attained eight Grand Slam singles championships and 17 ATP Master Series tournament wins. But when you ask Agassi to single out an achievement, the athlete measures his success not with the weight of his trophies but with lifting a psychological and physical dumbbell that pushed his endurance to the peak of glory. “I wouldn’t cite one tournament, one trophy or one medal. I’d say I am most proud of the fact that I worked the hardest I could have worked … I didn’t take shortcuts,” he wrote in an email interview in 2008.

During his 2006 curtain call tournament in The City That Never Sleeps – fitting for an athlete that dreamed while awake – his expressive eyes revealed something lacking in the arena of sport: the human element. The former enfant terrible of tennis delivered an endearing speech, bow and signature double-handed kiss to the four corners of the world, for his fans and the game that parented his adolescence. The Hall of Famer is now all grown up. “It’s no accident that tennis uses the language of life: service, advantage, break, fault, love; the lessons of tennis are the lessons of maturity.”

www.andreagassi.com

For Rogers Cup Presented by National Bank schedule and tickets, go to www.lovemeansnothing.ca

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 amazing together … Howard just naturally fumbles everything, I had to work hard to screw it up. So, I never did the pickup lines. I might have had more luck if I had, I don’t know.

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Q. Battlestar Galactica’s Katee Sackhoff has showed up several times to give Howard relationship advice. Have you ever actually had a dream about her?

[Laughs] No, it was dreamlike meeting her, because it was just so surreal, getting into a bathtub with somebody you haven’t even really said ‘hello’ to. At the end of it, she said the only thing she could do to keep from laughing was to squeeze her little toe, and I said, ‘That wasn’t your little toe.’ It was definitely pretty bizarre and fun meeting her like that. She’s great.

Q. You and your wife, Jocelyn Towne, have been working on a more dramatic Indie film, I Am I (iamithefilm.com). Have you been looking to try dramatic roles as opposed to comedies?

I’m always looking to do something that’s different and that’s appealing to me, I have no preference, really … It is a little more appealing at this point to do things that are different from Big Bang, and maybe less sort of broadly comedic, and I definitely totally love doing dramas … You find that a lot in theatre and plays that aren’t just dramatic or just comedic, just well-written, human stories … It’s just so much fun doing something when you’re not wearing a turtleneck.

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 CBC’s popular afternoon drive program Here and Now, Di Battista accompanies drivers home with fresh takes on local and world news.

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A famous face on the Toronto scene, she, along with other renowned personalities, was a casualty to the cuts Rogers Communications Inc. made to Citytv last year, where she spent 26 years of her career. “Someone gave me some really good advice after I was let go and it was, ‘you know, there’s a reason someone wanted you in the first place, and that, they can never take away from you, and someone else will want that, too.’” Ever the optimistic, Di Battista was determined to move forward. Her aggressive networking landed her the radio gig at CBC this year. When she’s off the clock at 6 p.m., she explores her passions: reading, gardening, travelling and cooking her favourite meal of risotto with porcini mushrooms for her family.

When she’s not doing what she does best, Di Battista enjoys the best of Toronto, like shopping at Yoka and dining at her favourite restaurants Vivetha and Green Dragon. “Not only do we have great neighbourhoods, we have people who are really passionate about their neighbourhood, and I think also our diversity and our tolerance for each other is really special.”
www.cbc.ca/hereandnowtoronto

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 is flashing. “I enjoy being in front of the camera, and in a weird way that’s a way of deflecting attention. It doesn’t sound like it obviously would be, but it is, because you’re actually just interacting with the camera,” she adds. A resident of Toronto’s Beaches, her mellow vibe and sunny disposition are radiant.

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An admirer of iconic Italian movie stars Claudia Cardinale and Sophia Loren, Ray bears a surreal resemblance to the latter Old Hollywood heroine. Aside from both being lauded for their natural beauty, the ‘two women’ actually have a lot in common. In many ways, Ray’s life is evidence that there are lessons to be learned everywhere, reflecting a similar sentiment to a famous Loren quote: “It’s a mistake to think that once you’re done with school you need never learn anything new.”

Referring to herself as an “accidental actress,” Ray was discovered by a fashion magazine at 16 while vacationing in India with her Bengali father and Polish mother. Practically overnight, she torpedoed into a successful career as a model, with her face strewn across magazine covers and her name inscribed in several publications, including a Times of India poll, which named her the ninth most beautiful woman of the millennium. “Through a combination of circumstances and twists and turns, I thought I’d maybe model for about six months in India, and that turned into a decade,” says Ray, who had aspirations of becoming a journalist at the time. Having shot to superstardom in India, Ray eventually made the next natural career move and starred in the film Kasoor in 2000, followed by Bollywood/Hollywood. “In a weird way, acting and the profession I’m in is almost out of default … I mean, I love acting, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not as terrified of failing at it as I would be at writing,” she says.

After getting her feet wet, Ray stepped onto a global platform, starring in Deepa Mehta’s Oscar-nominated film Water in 2005. Despite receiving critical acclaim for her social-politically driven portrayal of an oppressed widow in 1930s India, she believes her best role was actually in a South African movie called The World Unseen, in which she plays a married mother who falls in love with a woman at the onset of apartheid. “I was just so much more in control of my craft by then and you can just feel the difference as an actor. I kind of know how it was flowing and how authentic it was for me,” she says.

As genuine as her performance might have been, some would say that Ray’s most significant role is actually her most recent one, as a real-life “cancer graduate.” Her life took a turn from actress to activist shortly after she was told in 2009 that she had multiple myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer. Horrifying words for anyone to absorb, but in another series of twists and turns, Ray had a chance dress rehearsal prior to her doctor’s daunting diagnosis.

While taking her dad up to India’s mountains for a 10-day meditation retreat to heal after the death of her mother, she spontaneously decided to enroll in whatever course was concurrently running. The enlightening topic turned out to be death and dying. “It was fascinating … We actually did a visualization where we’d talk through the scenario where you enter the doctor’s office, you sit down and the doctor says, ‘Listen, bad news, you have six months,’ and then you try to figure out what you’re going to do with those six months,” says Ray, still surprised by the serendipitous circumstance.

Instead of dwelling over her subsequent diagnosis, Ray began a witty, cerebral blog called The Yellow Diaries, where she discussed her near-daily experiences with multiple myeloma and the chemotherapy, steroids and stem cell transplant that coincided. In an excerpt called “Mane Tamer” from an entry dated Nov. 23, 2009, she writes about her liberating decision to shave her head before side effects shackled her freedom of choice: ‘My stem cell procedure begins on Monday. Tomorrow. So I donned a disciple’s robe and surrendered my hair … I can transcend now. A reinvention. A purification. And a transformation. From the inside out.’

Her site attracted attention from all corners of the globe, with a comment board that howled heartfelt support of all forms, from poems to video montages. Her blog became something much more than a personal outlet of expression. “It was a big breakthrough for me because a lot of my life has been spent on the road and it’s been a very solitary life and now at this phase of my life I’m understanding the power of community and support and reaching out,” she says.

Now cancer-free, Ray credits her stem cell transplant as a saviour and has become a major advocate and philanthropic force for what she believes is, “going to be the next big leap or big wave.” A globetrotter for awareness, she’s not only a face but a voice for stem cell technology in India and Canada, and recently completed the national Make Myeloma Matter media tour.

In addition to her charitable endeavours, Ray is currently in the process of penning her first book, and she’ll be stepping onto the stage again in June with Luminato’s Taj, around the same time Toronto plays host to the International Indian Film Academy conference. She’s also transformed her passion for yoga, which she tributes as a fundamental part of her healing process, into a business by partnering up to launch Moksha Yoga Brampton. “This gives me the opportunity to share and give back something that I feel strongly about,” she says.

Back at the photo shoot, you would never guess that Ray is someone who recently had a life-threatening illness That is, you would never guess, unless you knew – in which case, you’d understand – that the 5-foot-4 firecracker, perched in a warrior yoga pose, is exactly who she is today because of her experience with cancer. “It is very powerful because it changes you on every level … It’s
just sort of a renewed engagement with life now.”

Like words written with sparklers in the air, lyrics to another Arcade Fire song leave a lasting impression: “My mind is open wide, and now I’m ready to start.”

www.lisaraniray.com

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, well I’ve always wanted to, you know, do something like that and they would. I just think none of us should stay in our box and if we have passions we should explore them,” said Paltrow in a recent interview with Jian Ghomeshi on CBC’s Q radio show.

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As a teenager, Paltrow would watch the cooking channel with her father to recreate dishes in the comfort of their California home. Paltrow soon gained success in the film industry, receiving an Oscar in 1999 for her portrayal of Viola de Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love. Her most recent performances include gracing the stage of the 2011 Academy Awards to sing Country Strong, and Cee-Lo Green’s Forget You at this year’s Grammy Awards. But Paltrow won’t fail to remember the contended, concentrated look on her father’s face as they cooked up love and togetherness with food for family and friends. “He helped me realize it’s all about the here and now, that happiness happens on a freezing winter night or in the garden when the weather’s warm, often with a good bottle of wine, and always with the people you love. You just need some good ingredients and a few simple recipes,” she writes in My Father’s Daughter.

Her collection of 150 recipes melt the heart just as they do the palate, staying away from the ostentatious to instead venture into the oh-so-familiar, with dishes like Crispy Potato and Garlic Cake, and Cheesy-Stuffed Turkey Burgers adding new twists to comfort food. The foodie finds balance by using organic ingredients and including healthy dishes such as Slow-Roasted Tomato Soup and Classic Chopped Salad with Anchovy Vinaigrette, along with breakfast treats and delicious family meals such as Oyster Po’Boys and Seafood Paella, Spanish Mama Style. This dish pays tribute to her time in Spain, where Paltrow, the host of the PBS series Spain … On the Road Again, lived for a year as a teenager.

Once you peel back the layers of glitz and glamour, her lifestyle is not that far off from the ordinariness of our days, where a combination of food and family takes the cake as life’s simplest pleasures. In her book she writes: “He [her father] instilled in me the idea that a meal made for your family is an expression of love, a source of
pleasure – not only in the visceral enjoyment of the food, but also in the magic that is created when you imbue food with energy and nurturing.”

www.grandcentrallifeandstyle.com

Crispy Potato & Garlic Cake
Ingredients
2 large baking potatoes (2/3 pound peeled)
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon duck fat (tablespoon for the pan) or butter
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves peeled garlic, 2 crushed, 1 finely minced
Coarse salt
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat the boiler.
2. Boil the potatoes for 20 mins and let them cool before slicing them into 1/8 inch thick slices. Heat a spoonful each of the duck fat and the olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add 1 of the crushed garlic cloves and as many potato slices as can fit in one layer. Cook for about 3 mins a side, or until lightly browned. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and repeat with the remaining fat and potatoes, switching out the garlic cloves when they get too brown.
3. Coat a small (6-8 inch) cast-iron skillet with the tablespoon of duck fat. Line the bottom with a single layer of potato slices, sprinkle with salt, and add another layer. Repeat this process, pressing each layer down hard with the back of a wooden spoon and lightly salting as you go until you’ve layered all your potatoes. Pressing them down is what will keep the cake together, so don’t be too gentle. Stick the cake under the broiler until really browned and crispy, about 5 mins. Invert it onto a plate and scatter with the 1 clove of finely minced garlic, parsley, and bit more salt if you like. Cut into wedges and serve.