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Multi-tasking mom a real-life Energizer Bunny

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Screenshot2009 08 07at2.19.14PM
Screenshot2009 08 07at2.19.14PM

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STUDENT Racheal McCaig
GRADUATED North Toronto Collegiate, 1990
BEST SUBJECT History
WORST SUBJECT Math
CURRENT JOB Writer/producer/photographer/mother

WITH ALL THE laughing and squealing in the background, it’s hard to make out what exactly Racheal McCaig is saying.

Since getting her two kids out the door this particular spring morning, McCaig’s been hard at work on her popular website, EnergizerMummy.com, which is part of former MuchMusic DJ Erica Ehm’s online mothers’ resource, the Yummy Mummy Club. McCaig writes nearly every day about life as a modern working mom, and her website receives about 40,000 visitors each month.

But before long, it’s off to her son’s nursery, where she volunteers part-time, a duty that sometimes includes playground supervision.

Which helps explains all the noise.

Once recess ends, our first task is to nail down McCaig’s job title, which proves difficult.

“A slashie,” she finally offers.

Sorry? “You know, a writer-slash-producer-slash-photographer-slash-mother. A slashie.”

In October 2008, marketers at Energizer (of batteries fame) saw opportunity in McCaig’s unique “slashie” skill set. She had just staged her play Nursery School Musical, a spoof of the High School Musical series, to positive reviews at the Toronto Fringe Festival where it won the Best of the Fringe Award. Meanwhile, she was doing freelance photography and writing, serving as a community leader with Mumnet.ca, a popular Toronto-area not-for-profit mothers’ support network, and raising her family with husband Brett.

Recognizing the growing trendiness of the blog as a marketing tool, Energizer latched onto McCaig, bestowing on her the official title of “Energizer Mummy,” with orders to blog about daily life as a do-it-all modern mom.

“[Racheal] has a ton of energy and a lifestyle that fits well with our brand,” says Energizer’s Karyn Percival-Brand. “She is a busy mom with lots on the go, which supports our brand promise of ‘Keep going.’”

But for all of McCaig’s extroversion, she says she was a quiet kid at Northern Toronto C. I. Still, she remembers her history teacher, Mr. Sherk, for his ability to get his students to emote.

“He would have these five-minute crazy sessions where he’d play loud ’50s tunes, and we’d all stand up and dance around. He called them ‘Sherk-outs.’ It was all so he could keep our attention, and it worked,” she says.
These days, that’s no easy task. Conversation over, and Racheal is back to hopping from one job to the next — and continuing to give the Energizer Bunny a run for his money.

The born supremacy

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Gradmay09TH
Gradmay09TH

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STUDENT Ariana Birnbaum
GRADUATED Thornlea Secondary School
BEST SUBJECT Math
WORST SUBJECT English
CURRENT JOB Founder, Becoming Maternity

WITH A LAW degree from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the University of Chicago, Ariana Birnbaum sports the credentials of someone you might expect to see leading a Fortune 500 company or arguing a high-profile case in court.

Then again, Birnbaum, 38, who graduated from Thornlea Secondary School, did give the corporate world a whirl, working as a management consultant for a few years. But once she and her husband conceived their first baby, Birnbaum noticed that there wasn’t much in the way of a central hub for expectant parents seeking support and information.

There were classes in various church basements but nothing consolidated with a focus on community, she says. So Birnbaum directed her considerable smarts at creating the Becoming Maternity and Parenting Centre.

Located on Eglinton Avenue at Avenue Road, the centre is a one- stop resource for parents, from the time they find out they’re pregnant to the time the child begins school.

Birnbaum teaches some of the classes herself, but she mostly manages the business side of things. A registered nurse and perinatal specialist provides medical expertise to the group.

Classes cover topics such as preconception, early pregnancy, Caesarean section, breast-feeding,
new parenting and more.

Now, nearly four years after opening the centre, Birnbaum is looking to open up a second location.

Starting a business is no easy task, but Birnbaum learned a thing or two about entrepreneurship during her time at Thornlea Secondary.

Birnbaum switched from a more rigid school in Grade 11, and the transition actually helped instill in her a sense of responsibility, she says.

Mr. Gelman, Birnbaum’s English teacher, taught Birnbaum the value of classroom discussions.

“There was a lot of discussion in the class; he didn’t just stand in front and talk,” Birnbaum remembers. Having open discussions generated interaction — something that is central to the Parenting Centre experience today.

“It’s about providing a supportive, open place for people to go when they’re experiencing one of the biggest changes of their lives,” Birnbaum says. “We’re really trying to make a difference in people’s lives.”

Express yourself

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hero Maytal Jul09
hero Maytal Jul09

When Maytal Michaelov, a Grade 12 student at Westmount Collegiate, was given an assignment to raise awareness of a world issue, she chose instead to follow the mantra, “think globally, act locally.”

Michaelov decided to raise money for “To Write Love on Her Arms,” which is dedicated to helping teenagers dealing with depression and addiction — and raised $400 for her project.

Her real accomplishment, however, is a project called Post Secret, which she hopes will tackle those issues at her own school and in her own community.

Michaelov’s inspiration for the project came from the website of the same name (postsecret.com) where individuals mail in anonymous postcards to be posted on the website, often containing secrets, but frequently bearing words of comfort and advice.

“To see someone else’s secret up there,” she says, “gives you a sense of belonging … makes you feel that there is someone to relate to.”

Michaelov, an avid follower of the website realized how powerful the project was when she was was experiencing her own schoolinduced stress and fell upon a postcard reading: “Embrace life, as it is the best gift given to you.” “It was the most amazing thing I’d ever read,” she asserts. “It motivated me when I felt incredibly lost."

\Michaelov knew that if she could find comfort in the advice of strangers, certainly other high schoolers could as well. She especially wanted to knock down any misconceptions about teenagers in her area as middle and upper class kids without a care.

“People put on a mask and face the world everyday,” she says. “Depression, suicide and addiction are issues facing everyone.”

Michaelov sold postcards at school for 75 cents (with all proceeds going to To Write Love on Her Arms) with instructions to fill out the back with a message of hope, inspiration, or advice, and hide the postcard in one of the library’s most popular books.

The project was an immense success. Once people submitted their Post Secrets, they kept coming back to buy another. The project also garnered attention from the wider GTA student population. Through a facebook group, more and more students from outside of Westmount supported the project and donated to the cause.

Michaelov has plenty of dreams for the future of Post Secret at Westmount. She hopes to see the project grow and continue, and that in ten years, there will be new postcards floating around the books of the library.

Michaelov will be attending York University next year. She plans to continue to think global and act local throughout the rest of her studies, especially by establishing Post Secret-like projects at school.

Everywhere people deal with feelings of sadness, loneliness and uncertainty, she says.

“People are suffering from these issues all over the world, so why not help the ones closest to us also?”

The Post salutes Maytal Michaelov for working to build an open, safe communications network through Post Secret for her peers.

Sunny skies ahead

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gradjul09TH
gradjul09TH

INSTEAD OF BLOWING his first paycheque from MuchMusic on frivolous goods, Bill Welychka did the responsible thing and put the money towards rent, bills and an RRSP. That’s not exactly the wild “I-blew-it-all-in-one-night-on-a-crazy-party” ending you might expect, but coming from the man who built his reputation as the station’s longest running VJ it makes sense.

As a student at Thornlea Secondary School, Welychka had no idea he would one day get paid to interview his favourite bands, such as Led Zeppelin and the Cure, whose photos adorned his locker. He says the biggest influence that high school had on his career was the circle of friends with whom he shared an interest in music. A school project in his last year also wound up having a lasting effect.

“I rented a video camera for a project. I had so much fun with it, I thought, ‘this would be a fun career,’” he says. With the goal of becoming a cameraman, Welychka enrolled in Radio & TV Arts at Seneca College, where he “fell in love with editing,” he says.

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STUDENT Bill Welychka
GRADUATED Thornlea Secondary School, 1985
BEST SUBJECT Geography
WORST SUBJECT Calculus
CURRENT JOB Weather Anchor for ‘A’ Morning Ottawa

He landed the job at MuchMusic as an editor just one week after graduation. Then, in 1992, he moved in front of the camera for the first time, taking over for someone on maternity leave. He did so well that they kept him on the show as a co-host when she returned. Over the next few months he was given more hosting duties, and he eventually become an on air-fixture.

In 2000 he moved over to MuchMoreMusic to focus more on the journalism side of the VJ role.

By 2005 he needed a change. He felt like he had already interviewed everyone he’d ever wanted to meet and had traveled to over 30 different countries along the way.

“I was done with entertainment and didn’t want to do it any more,” he says. “It became less about music and much more tabloid: who’s screwing who and everything had to be about that.”

That dissatisfaction prompted him to relocate to Edmonton, where he spent a year anchoring Breakfast Television, before making the move to Ottawa. Since 2006 he’s been working for ‘A’ Channel as a weather anchor and host of the weekly segment show, Bill’s Excellent Adventure.

This past March he started working on the ‘A’ morning show, when the evenings news casts were cancelled.

“I’m used to be going to bed at 3:30 a.m.,” he says. “Now I’m getting up at 3:30 a.m.”

Out-of-this-world Cantonese

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emperor
emperor

“CANTONESE IS THE best Chinese food in the world,” claims Emperor Fine Chinese’s owner and manager. “We take the best from every different kind of Chinese cuisine and make it our own.”

“It’s all here,” he says, gesturing to the four menus and neon handouts at our table for two that list appetizers, noodles, barbecue, abalone, shark’s fin, sea cucumber, fish maw dishes, soup, poultry, beef, pork, vegetable, set meals and chef’s suggestions.

Overwhelming does not begin to describe the choice. Comparatively, the large main banquet-style room is generally calming — save for a few oddball decorative touches such as the disco ball and multiple rings of neon lights (blue, red and yellow) that set off a recessed ceiling and two unlit ornate chandeliers.

The set meal for two people was created months ago ($68), but it remains their most popular dinner special. And although the plates cover much ground, the various elements are only sometimes successful.

A bowl of fish soup brings a broth dense with bits of crabmeat, whitefish, fish maw and egg. A few dribbles from a separate ramekin of watery, but kicky, sweet dark vinegar completely changes the overall flavour and colour.

“CHEQUE PLEASE”
EMPEROR
9019 Bayview Ave.
905-882-9388
Dinner for two excluding tax,
tip and alcohol:
$130
 

The most interesting and unusual dish of the evening is also the most impressive and flavourful. A seemingly endless amount of scallop, shrimp, whitefish and cheese in curry seasoning hides within a conch shell. Baking renders the top layer somewhat crispy. A real triumph! A single fresh crab claw acts as a delicate handle for a ball of tightly packed crabmeat, the lot expertly battered and deep-fried.

More deft deep-frying contributes to the goodness of a main of battered, deep-fried sole pieces over balls of cantaloupe and green melon in a bird’s nest basket made with rice flour. The fish is well timed, the fruit fresh, and the nest airy and grease-free.

A dotted line of excellent candied walnuts and sesame seeds separates the nest from the other half of the plate: half a lobster and claw under a glut of garlic and scallions. The crustacean is immaculately cooked, but the flesh lacks that natural sweetness.

The other half lobster appears with our second main: another bird’s nest cradling fantastically fresh snow peas and cubes of the most tender beef in a mouthwatering teriyaki basting. The meat yields to a fork without a hint of resistance. A sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds tops all.

Pineapple-fried rice fills the starch quotient. Much can be said about the variety of textures and colours — crosscuts of kai-lan (Chinese broccoli), egg, pineapple, pine nuts — but overall the dish falls flat in the flavour department.

The attention we received from the small army of efficient servers feels genuine. A popular dim sum lunch fills both rooms midday.

Ratings are on a scale of one to five stars

Celebrated tenor left acting career for opera fame

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grad 2
grad 2

OPERA SINGER ROGER HONEYWELL is booked solid for the next three and a half years.

This month, the tenor kicks off performances in the world premiere of The Letter, at the Santa Fe Opera, before taking part in Madam Butterfly at the Opera Company of Philadelphia this fall. Then he heads to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing in The Merry Widow, and that just takes him into the new year.

Given that much of opera is theatre, it’s perhaps not hard to believe that he began his career as an award-winning actor. At Earl Haig Secondary School, Honeywell was a theatre major, spending three hours a day working on his thespian chops.

“My life was about performance,” he recollects. He remembers starring in the school’s production of Reflections on Crooked Walking fondly.

“It was the first time that I experienced the thrill of having a lead in a show and being a part of a show that was much larger than yourself,” he says.
 

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STUDENT Roger Honeywell
GRADUATED Earl Haig Secondary School, 1985
BEST SUBJECT Theatre
WORST SUBJECT Math
CURRENT JOB Opera Singer

After graduation, he went on to study at Ryerson University’s theatre school. Then came his first professional job, a contract with the Stratford Festival in 1988 where he remained until starting at the Shaw Festival in 1992. After five seasons he started doing voice-overs for television and film, between taking part in Theatre Passe Muraille’s The Indian Medicine Show and a rendition of Hamlet that featured Keanu Reeves.

Without any formal singing lessons, in 1998, Honeywell started performing in musicals, including CanStage’s The House Of Martin Guerre, for which he won a Dora Mavor Moore Award (Canada’s equivalent to the Tony Awards). It was during the production that he realized the extent of his vocal abilities, which led him to seek formal training in an artist development program.

“I just auditioned for the Canadian Opera Company,” he says. “They hired me as a young artist in an ensemble program.”

He had his first operatic performance with the company in 2000 and after two years went on to a similar program with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, which helped launch his career internationally. Since then Honeywell’s career as a tenor has led him to perform all over North America, which also has its downside.

“It’s my life, it’s thrilling,” he says from his home in Stratford where he doesn’t spend all that much time. “It’s [also] the most difficult part of the business. I’m on the road between 260 and 300 days of the year.”

But he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I’m not good at anything else,” he says modestly.
 

Rise and shine

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grad 1
grad 1

AT 3:30 A.M., Ann Rohmer wakes up. By 5:30 a.m., she’s live to air, as news anchor for CP24 Breakfast, alongside Melissa Grelo and former MuchMusic VJ Matte Babel. Later, Rohmer will anchor CP24 Live at Noon and, depending on the day, any of three other CityPulse shows: Animal House Calls, Hot Property, and On the Quarter.

Rohmer brings 30 years of experience to CP24 Breakfast, including a 12-year stint as the original host of Breakfast Television, which only recently was updated and given its current name.

Before getting her start in the television industry, Rohmer attended Branksome Hall where she learned to love the English language, with the influence of her favourite teacher, Miss Zimmerman.

“She was young, cool and hip, [which was] unusual at a private girls’ school,” says Rohmer. “She really sparked something in me that made me want to embrace the written word.”

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STUDENT Ann Rohmer
GRADUATED Northern Secondary, 1974
BEST SUBJECT English
WORST SUBJECT Math
CURRENT JOB Lead Anchor, CP24

In her final year of high school, Rohmer made the switch to coed education, transferring to Northern Secondary School.

“I had very smart and passionate teachers when it came to English, and they perhaps saw in me my love of the English language and of books. They were really helpful and influential, particularly at Northern,” she says.

“All the planets aligned, and I had great teachers who took the extra time to help me, work with me, answer my questions, encourage me, and I learned because they led by example."

In university, Rohmer was in a long-distance relationship and as a means of paying for flights and phone bills, she began acting in television commercials. While she enjoyed being onscreen, she found herself wanting to edit and improve the scripts.

“So I thought: ‘Where could I go with this thirst for knowledge and desire to write, but also to present?’” she says.

In 1979, she landed her first gig as the host of Show Biz. She then went on to work for Global Television before making her way to CBC as the network’s first female sports anchor. In 1989, she started at Breakfast Television where she remained until moving to CP24 in 2001.

“I’m just so lucky to have these opportunities, and CP24 is just phenomenal. We are in everyone’s homes, bedrooms, doctors’ offices, bars, gyms — it’s just amazing.”

Court reporter

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grad

THAT KOBE BRYANT and Co. won the NBA Championship in June came as no great surprise to NBA XL co-host Mark Strong. Nor to most NBA fans, for that matter, given the L.A. Lakers’ stellar season and talented lineup. But Strong has a slight advantage when it comes to making such predictions. His show, an NBA lifestyle and culture program, offers an up-close look at players’ lives both on and off the court, which means Strong gets to tag along to players’ homes, on shopping outings and road trips and more. Oh, and he gets paid to attend NBA basketball games.

In June, when Strong and crew taped an episode at the Western Conference finals between the Lakers and Denver Nuggets, he could tell that the Lakers were the team to beat.

“Once we saw them handle Denver, I knew for sure they were on their way,” says Strong. With scores of high-profile interviews now under his belt, Strong, who’s in his mid-30s, says he doesn’t really get nervous around stars any more, but the early going was a bit different.

“The first time I got to talk to Kobe. He was one of the first,” says Strong. “Since Michael [Jordan] left, he’s the best player, so I was impressed by his stature. I got a bit of butterflies, but I got over it.”

In his spare time, the baritone Strong is the voice-over man for the Junos, Canada’s Walk of Fame TV special and more. It’s a natural progression, since it was through radio that Strong got his start, working as a host on radio station FLOW 93.5. From there, it was onto NBA XL.
 

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STUDENT Mark Strong
GRADUATED Oakwood Collegiate, 1990
BEST SUBJECT Theatre
WORST SUBJECT Math
CURRENT JOB Co-host of NBA XL

But only a handful of years ago, he was just an impressionable teen in Ms. Lemberg-Pelly’s English class at Oakwood Collegiate. Today, Strong is thankful for her positive influence.

“She was so determined to make sure that everyone cared about learning. That might sound corny, but in high school, especially today, kids aren’t even coming to class, much less doing the work,” he says. “With her, she would always find some way to find something in our culture or background and relate it to, say, Shakespeare and bring us into the fold of what she was talking about.”

Now, with Toronto Raptors star forward Chris Bosh eligible for free agency at the end of next season, can Strong predict whether Bosh will stay in Toronto?

“If my name was money, I could talk to Chris all day. If my name was championship, sure,” he says. “Those are the two things he wants.”
 

Art for life’s sake

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hero Rasminsky jul09
hero Rasminsky jul09

In the comfort of her basement, Lola Rasminsky created a fine arts kindergarten program with six children in 1979. Fourteen years later, when the venture had grown too big to be contained in her humble abode, she founded the Avenue Road Arts School in an old Victorian house.

And just two years later, Rasminsky took her business savvy and passion for bringing arts education to youth to a new level.

In 1995, Rasminsky founded the Arts for Children of Toronto group, a charitable organization where she now acts as executive director.

The organization provides high-quality arts programming in visual arts, drama, music, dance, film and photography for kids in underserved neighbourhoods.

Last month, Rasminsky was awarded the Canadian Urban Institute’s 2009 Local Hero Award, for her active involvement with the organization.

“I believe the arts are important because you develop artistic, personal and creative skills that are transferable to any part of your life,” Rasminsky says.

The charity also organizes large-scale projects, such as an initiative with the Toronto Transit Commission, where children’s artwork was on display on the outside of selected local buses. To date, around 40,000 children from low-income neighbourhoods have been participants.

“Lola Rasminsky has taught us that children from poorer communities can discover and enjoy art and they can use those talents to give something back, making our neighbourhoods and the city of Toronto a better place for all of us to live,” says Glen Murray, the institute’s president and CEO.

Some of Rasminsky’s numerous other accolades include being named a member of the Order of Canada, in 2008, and receiving the RBC Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2007.

“ The arts are important because you develop artistic, personal and creative skills.”

Today, Rasminsky’s Avenue Road Arts School provides lessons for more than 800 youths and adults, including visitors from as far away as Dubai, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

Rasminsky hires a select roster of teachers to ignite creative sparks in their students. That list includes Jenn Gould, who took home this year’s Juno Award for Best Children’s Album of the Year, and David Lapp, who penned the graphic novel Drop-In.

Over the last year, Rasminksy says she’s actually seen an increase in enrolment of children and adults, despite the state of the economy.

“The interesting thing about the school is that during this recessional time our enrolment has gone up, not down,” she says.

In August, Rasminsky will be stepping down from her duties at Arts for Children of Toronto, to spend more time at the Avenue Road Arts School and on her third business, Beyond the Box.

With her husband Bob Presner, Raminsky’s Beyond the Box will teach corporate groups how to think artistically through creative workshops and teambuilding exercises.

The Post salutes Lola Rasminsky and the Arts for Children of Toronto group for helping disadvantaged students develop their creative skills.

Dining with eyes wide shut

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counterC
counterC

AFTER THREE SUCCESSFUL years in Montreal, last month O.Noir opened a Toronto branch of its unique “dine in the dark” restaurant and invites patrons to come and experience a dining experience like no other. “It’s special because people have to dine in the dark, and they are going to use their other senses to experience the food,” says O.Noir owner and founder Moe Alameddine. “They’re not going to eat with their eyes, and this will lead to a heightened smell and taste.”

The concept for the restaurant traces back to Jorge Spielmann, a blind pastor in Zurich, who opened Blindekuh in 1999, to teach sighted people about visual impairment and also to provide jobs for the blind as servers. The Toronto restaurant will employ between 10 and 12 visually impaired servers, who will guide guests to their seats, bring food to and from the tables and take drink orders.

“There is a unique transfer of trust because patrons must give their trust to blind people to do the job,” says Alameddine. “There is a high unemployment rate among the blind, and this is a way for us to give them some confidence and some hope as they work as valuable members of our team.”

He says the menu consists of French- Mediterranean dishes, and he recommends choosing the “surprise dish” option on the menu for either your main course or dessert, to fully embrace the O.Noir experience. O.Noir is located at 620 Church St., 416-922-6647.

Have croissant will travel

Growing up and working in restaurants and pastry shops in his native France, Charles Imteriale knows his way around croissants and baguettes. And local residents are flocking to his new shop to sample his floury wares.

The shop has a 24-person seating area as well as a bar where patrons can enjoy a coffee and croissant. Current offerings include pastries and desserts along with signature croissants and baguettes. Quiche and sandwiches are available for lunch. Plans are in the works for a patio come 2010. Patisserie Sebastien is located at 3306 Yonge St., 416-544-0333.

Long time coming worth the wait?

The McEwan era finally began on June 19 in sleepy Don Mills with the opening of his flagship, one-of-a-kind, super-duper gourmet food emporium. “I want the store to represent something new and different in the food retailing business — something of the same quality and originality that I like to think I brought to the restaurant scene with North 44, Bymark and One,” says Mark McEwan, owner.

The 20,000-square-foot store is located in the new Shops at Don Mills commercial area and will include everything from a butcher’s counter with USDA prime beef and fish counter with restaurant-calibre product from Montreal fish importer Le Mer to an array of fresh produce and breads from artisanal Quebec bakery Boulart as well as a line of prepared foods. The addition of an EDO sushi outlet was an inspired decision. “Everything you need to make a great meal will be right here,” says McEwan. McEwan is located at 38 Karl Fraser Rd. (Don Mills and Lawrence), 416-444-6262.

Cracking the vault

Jesse Letofsky, chef and coowner of The Vault restaurant on Avenue Road, had a couple pretty good teachers. After working in the dishpit of Marc Thuet’s restaurant, Letofsky stuck by the acclaimed French chef for 10 years learning the tricks of the culinary trade from him, but also from another of the city’s leading chefs, David Lee, who ran the kitchen at Centro when Thuet was the owner.

Located in a converted bank, The Vault is a French bistro-style restaurant with 60 seats, a patio and a wine cellar located in the bank vault.

Letofsky says entrées are in the $25 range, and his halibut and whole fish are current favourites of the North Toronto faithful who have discovered the restaurant since the soft opening last month. The Vault is located at 2015 Avenue Rd., 416-487-0060.

Viva Italia

Opened on May 27, Thornhill’s Di Manno Ristorante is serving up Italian nouvelle cuisine in a casual fine dining atmosphere, with hearty portions of dishes like linguine pescatore and rigatoni alla vodka proving customer favourites.

Miguel Melo says the restaurant, headed by brother and sister team Joe and Nancy Di Manno, also offers an extensive wine and champagne selection as well as a separate lunch menu, afternoon menu and dinner menu.

Di Manno Ristorante is located at 11 Disera Dr., 905-707-5888.

Scuttlebutt

Marc Thuet made more news last month with the closing of his Atelier Thuet outlet as well as the opening of Conviction, in the location of his flagship restaurant Bite Me. Conviction caused a great deal of buzz when it was announced as a result of former convicts being hired on in the kitchen and as servers to be part of a reality-TV program. Cluck, Grunt and Low on Bloor Street has closed.

Late last month, Trillium Bistro opened up at 1552 Avenue Road in the former location of Locavore, which lasted, say, a couple weeks. Hopefully Trillium Bistro will fair better with its more mainstream Mediterranean and French menu.

In other Avenue Road news, a new funnel cake restaurant is opening up in the old Timothy’s Coffee space, dubbed Fun L Fun. At 579 Mt. Pleasant Road, Florentia, billed as an “authentic Italian restaurant” has opened up (416-545-1220).

The Rubino brothers Guy and Michael have closed down their restaurant Rain for conversion to a new Japanese concept dubbed Ame (Japanese for “rain”) schedule to open mid-July. Jamieson Kerr, owner of Crush Wine Bar in downtown Toronto has opened a new pub called Queen & Beaver Public House. It is housed in an old Victorian building located at 35 Elm St.

Bigger isn’t better

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docmickey childobesity cmyk
docmickey childobesity cmyk

HERE WE GO again, another “evangelist” preaching on the sinful epidemic of childhood obesity. When is enough enough?

Never! In the mid–20th century, scientists were asked to describe what man would look like in the 22nd century. We were described as having a large head on a small body. How wrong they were.

Did you know that the total number of fat cells in the body is determined within the first two years of life? After that there is no increase in the number of fat cells, only an increase in how much they are filled. Therefore the foundation for a tendency toward obesity is laid down very early in life. If we could prevent overweight infants and toddlers, we could probably prevent a great deal of obesity later in life.

But what if your child is only “a little” overweight?

Let us say, for example, your child’s ideal weight is 100 pounds. However, your child weighs 115 pounds. How significant is this? Well, carrying an extra 15 pounds around every day is equivalent to carrying and extra 105 pounds every week. This means every week your child is carrying himself or herself for 24 hours. To put it another way, each week, for a whole day, your child has 25- pound weights strapped around arms and legs. Furthermore, for every excess pound carried, the heart, with each beat, has to pump through an extra mile of blood vessels and lymphatics. Now that is a lot of work!

Of course, many infants and toddlers are overweight to varying degrees. Not all are going to end up being obese. Which children should we worry about?

The answer is in the family history. Look for a history of obesity or close family members with diabetes or hypertension, with early heart disease or cerebral vascular accidents and, lastly, if there’s a family history of a lipid problem.

Children with a family history of lipid problems, in particular, will require lifelong monitoring. I realize how difficult it is to lose weight, even if we are really motivated to do so. How many times have you tried to lose weight? How many diets and exercise classes have you tried and quit? How many nutritionists or other specialists have you visited? Unfortunately, children don’t have even that much motivation, and without motivation, weight loss is next to impossible. There are, however, many things you can do to discourage excessive weight gain in your children.

Children should not be put on a diet restriction until after puberty. What you need to teach is “smart eating.” It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out how to reduce caloric intake. Consult a doctor or nutritionist if you are stuck. And know that childhood obesity is a family affair. You cannot expect your child to adhere to one set of rules and the rest of the family to another. As the parent, you have to set the example.

Physical activity is also important. (I do not like to use the word “exercise,” it sounds too much like work.) Physical activity should be fun. No child is going to go to the gym for a fat-burning workout. You have to find activities that your child enjoys.

Finally, the more you participate, the better the enjoyment and compliance from the child. (By the way, playing soccer by standing in the middle of the field watching the ball go by is not a caloric burner.)

The quality of your children’s lives is in your hands and is determined by what you allow in their mouths.

Post City Magazines’ kids’ health columnist, Dr. Mickey Lester, has been a pediatrician for more than 30 years and is the former chief of pediatrics at Trillium Health Centre.

Terrible twos? Try terrible teens. How to tame the angst

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“I HATE YOU and I’m leaving home.” Is there a parent of teenagers who hasn’t heard those words? We only have two choices when we get that message (or one like it) from our teens. The easy choice is to make it about me. But it isn’t about you. It is as impersonal as when your newborn cried for food. We make those events personal because we’re so invested in our parenting — but take a step back, here’s some perspective:

Teens are hard-wired to oscillate wildly between two selves, the adult self (who they are becoming) and the baby self (who they have been). This oscillation is as inevitable a part of their development as puberty; it isn’t pretty.

The adult self is the one they trot out away from home. The adult self goes to a friend’s house for dinner, says please and thank you and offers to wash the dishes. When you hear about that you wonder: Is that my kid?

The baby self is the one you know better, the self more likely to appear when your teen is with you. In fact there’s an inevitable bounce back: After working hard at being the adult self away from home, when a teen comes home, the baby self often reappears with a vengeance. Where the adult self is calm, co-operative, helpful, thoughtful and rational, the baby self is selfish, lazy and cannot be reasoned with.

The toughest aspect of this violent shifting between baby and adult self is predictable: Set a limit or say no to a teen, and the baby self is in the driver’s seat. It doesn’t matter what the limit is (curfews, computers or chores) or what you say no to (parties, cars or money), the baby self has the same reaction: The teen version of a two-year-old having a tantrum. Say no to a teen and they sulk, they yell, they whine. They repeat, ad nauseam, all the irrational reasons why you’re wrong.

You explain. The baby self pushes back. You explain again. The baby self repeats the push back. You explain again. Your teen pushes back again. The fourth time, your patience frays and you get mad. Which is fuel to the baby self’s fire. Now you’re in a fight that you’ll regret later.

This was a 100 per cent preventable fight. Here’s how:

Every time you set a limit for a teen or say no, the baby self will rear its ugly head, will fight you on it ad nauseam, and can’t let go. After the second time of explaining yourself and defending your decision, if you stay in that conversation, you will get mad, which will not do your relationship any good.

Instead: After you’ve been around the block twice on the subject, leave the room. It sounds awful, but is about 10 times better than yelling at your beloved child, which is the only place it’s going if you stay in the room. On the way out the door, you might say: “We’re done here.” You then need to ignore the teen’s anguished wailing and keep walking. Remind yourself that you have just committed a great act of parental love, that this isn’t about you, and without you there to fight with, the baby self will run out of gas. And likely comply.

The hardest thing here is to accept that, when you try to convince your child why you’re laying down the law, no matter how many times or how logically you say it, your teen still won’t get it. The baby self can’t get it because the baby self isn’t listening. They can’t. Not until they’re about 21.

The nugget of gold here is your relationship with your teen — which you want to preserve and nurture. Yelling at your teen isn’t going to get you there. Where screaming erodes love, laying down the law has no deleterious effects on your relationship. It takes a grown-up to stay calm under these circumstances.

Parenting teens is not for the faint of heart.

Get an iron will and some self control.

Parenting columnist Joanne Kates is the director of Camp Arowhon in Algonquin Park where she teaches 150 staff to parent effectively and acts as “Mom” to 300 kids at a time, every summer.

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