Biana Zorich and Marc Thuet's blog: Grandma's Thanksgiving stuffing

2:26 am

Seems like just days ago we were blogging about the start of September and now it’s already October! Time is flying.

We’re just about at the halfway mark on Conviction Kitchen (airing Sunday nights at 10 p.m. on CityTv). It’s still a surreal experience watching the show. The upside is all the feedback we’ve been getting from folks all across the country who are tuning in. It’s great fun to hear people’s (very diverse) reactions to the show.

The first episode where Marc demonstrated how to butcher a lamb was certainly a polarizing moment for many. Stay tuned for more drama to come…

Like most Torontonians, we’re finding it hard to say goodbye to summer, especially in a year like this when the weather was so uncooperative. We spent some very rainy days at a cabin up North with the kids. While it made for some very successful fishing expeditions, the arrival of Fall seems a bit hurried. As we prepare to pack up the patio, it’s time to start thinking about pumpkins, pies and all the goodness associated with the harvest season.

I have a hunch that we’re not the only ones who are caught off-guard by the quick dip of the thermometer that’s thrust us firmly into autumn. At Petite Thuet we’re quickly gearing up to help out with holiday celebrations.

Marc’s created a Thanksgiving menu featuring traditional favourites available to simply take home and heat such as: roasted Ontario butternut squash potage, slow roasted and maple glazed ham, Ontario heirloom beets, goat cheese, orange segments, and maple pumpkin seed salad, and, of course, slow roasted turkey with crab apple stuffing and a less obvious but mouth-watering option, Beef Wellington.

To help take the guesswork out of your Thanksgiving meal prep there’s two full-course options ranging from $26 to $28 per person, in addition to an extensive menu of a la carte items. All dinners come in oven-ready containers and cooking instructions. Our best advice is to order early and enjoy the holiday!

Marc wanted to share one of our favourite family recipes of the season. When he was a young boy in Alsace, during the hunting season, the children were in charge of picking the apples in the orchards. These apples were used for numerous preserves, sweet sauces, desserts and his grandmother’s favourite stuffing made with apples, boudin noir and chestnuts. Marc still uses her recipe for this special dish. We hope your family enjoys it as much as ours.

Roasted goose studded with crab apples, boudin noir and foie gras

Servings: 4 to 6

Ingredients:

1 goose (3kg)
150g crab apples, peeled and cut in half
6 boudin noir
100g of raw foie gras
6 shallots, finely chopped
1 sprig of sage, snipped
120g butter
3oz aged Calvados Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Soak the crab apples with the aged Calvados and set aside for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Sauté the shallots, boudin noir and apples in half of the butter for 8 minutes. Add sage.
Softened the other half of the butter and set aside.
Stuff the goose with the apple, boudin noir and shallot mixture and the seasoned foie gras.
With the meat, sewing needle and butcher string, close the back of the bird.
Massage the bird with salt and pepper and the other half of softened butter.
Place it in a roasting pan and place in the oven.
Cook for 40 minutes per kilogram.
Baste as often as possible and the last 30 minutes, baste with hidromel (or replace with a mixture of honey and vinegar).

To dress:

Open the goose and take out the apples, boudin noir and foie gras.
Place the bird in the middle of a serving platter with the garnishes around.

Bon Appétit!

World-renowned executive chef, Marc Thuet, and his wife and business partner, Biana Zorich, will be blogging weekly for PostCity.com about their new show and restaurants.

Wendy Woods' blog: Wrap it up

2:00 am

I was thrilled to discover Lola and Gigi! This online and by appointment boutique caters to women size 12+ who are searching for high quality pieces that look good on their bodies. After perusing the online pictures, I decided I really wanted to have the full senses experience — feel the fabrics, and see the true colours of these beautiful garments. I immediately booked my appointment with Laura, the bubbly and style savvy owner, and made my way north to her 427 and Finch location.

The trip was well worth it! I immediately fell in love with two designers – Anna Scholz and Melissa Masse — who both have collections filled with glorious dresses. Of particular interest to me was this Anna Scholz silk wrap dress with bright yellow lilies that is perfect for a tall curvy woman who wants a piece that can go from day to evening.

The David Kahn jeans also caught my eye, as this is a popular brand I recommend to all my clients with hips. Lola and Gigi is the only store in Canada that carries David Kahn jeans in plus sizes — sweet!

If you’re a 12+ woman who tends to make a clothing purchase only “because it fits”, Lola and Gigi will change the way you shop. At this fabulous boutique, you will fill your change room with pieces that not only fit, but that you love!

Always on the lookout for Toronto’s best boutiques!

Wendy

As a personal style coach with THE REFINERY, Wendy Woods translates the world of fashion into a personal style that makes her clients shine! A true expert in her field, Wendy has been featured on CosmoTV, SunTV, CTS, Sweetspot, BlogTO, Yummy Mummy, Modern Urban Mom Magazine — amongst others. She holds workshops at boutiques around the GTA, for students at McMaster University, York University and Seneca College. Through Wendy’s guidance, her clients discover their own REFINED. sense of style and a new found confidence in themselves.

Robert J. Sawyer

10:32 am

The idea for one of fall’s biggest TV shows was born of the high school memories that sifted through Robert J. Sawyer’s modest Thornhill condominium 14 years ago.

Sawyer, then a struggling science fiction writer, was hosting a 20-year reunion for his Northview Heights Secondary School science fiction club.

As he and his friends reminisced, it occurred to Sawyer that none of them, himself including, had ended up where they thought they’d be.

One man was supposed to be a cop; he became a cordon bleu chef. Another wanted to be a movie director and instead worked as a legal counsel for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Sawyer, who always thought he’d write sci-fi as a hobby, didn’t exactly live up to his dreams of dusting dinosaur bones as a paleontologist.

“Everybody who came to that party — and I mean everybody — was saying the same thing. If I’d only known 20 years ago what I know now, today, my life would have been better,” recalls Sawyer.

That’s when the light bulb went off in Sawyer’s outer-worldly mind, and he had the premise of his next novel, Flashforward: what would happen if we could see our own futures?

Two years later, Sawyer finished the book and sent it to his agent in L.A. Eventually, the novel found its way into the hands of Brannon Braga, who produces 24, and David S. Goyer, who wrote Batman Begins. From there, it was a short step to becoming a TV series.

Flashforward premiered on Sept. 24 on ABC, first in its time slot, beating out ratings juggernaut Survivor by 1.3 million viewers. The show, filmed in L.A., stars Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) and John Cho (Star Trek) as two of the men who glimpse their futures six months ahead — and grapple with the notion of whether destiny can be avoided.

“To have it go in front of the cameras is quite literally like winning the lottery,” Sawyer says.

He rose to sci-fi fame in 1996 after his book The Terminal Experiment won The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s Nebula Award for best novel of the year (what Sawyer calls the “Academy Award of the science fiction field.”

Since then, he’s been on the Globe and Mail’s best-seller list for Calculating God, and Flashforward won a Canadian science fiction Aurora Award. In total, he’s written 19 science fiction books, and is currently working away on his twentieth, Wonder. Science fiction, says Sawyer, is a genre that interests him because it asks the big questions, with Flashforward being no exception.

“The question of whether or not even having foreknowledge would even allow us to evade our destinies is, I think, one that people find profoundly interesting,” says Sawyer, today, from his upgraded digs in Mississauga where he’s lived since 2000.

“Who doesn’t have some degree of cold feet on their wedding day, wondering if they’re making a mistake? Is this person the right person? When you choose this job or that job, this house or that house, this major or that major in university, every one of us would want to know: ‘Am I making the right choice?’ It’s a universally compelling question.”

Sawyer’s personal belief is that, like physics, fate is fixed. He compares one’s destiny to the end of a movie that’s already been written.

He just wishes someone had told him that 20 years ago.

“I would have been much happier to know what my future held. Twenty years ago, which would have been now going back to 1989, is just when I was packing up and getting ready to move to Thornhill. My first novel hadn’t yet been published or sold 20 years ago. It sold early in 1990. In fact, I sold my first novel just after moving to Thornhill,” he says.

“I had an enormous amount of self-doubt about whether I was doing the right thing, pursuing this dream of making my living as a writer.”

Sawyer was born in North York in 1960 and came of age during the space race. He remembers watching 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes with his father and being intrigued by the prospect of something beyond his North Toronto life.

“It looked very much to me, as a young man, as a young boy, that the future of humanity was going to be in space and was going to involve science and technology. So I was naturally drawn to writing stories about those things, about what the future was going to hold,” he says.

In 1975, as a student at Northview Heights, he formed the science fiction club where he met his future wife, Carolyn Clink. After graduation, he worked as a freelance journalist in the 1980s, writing for the Toronto Star and the Financial Post, among others. But Sawyer wasn’t satisfied with ephemeral stories and decided to try his hand at full-time science fiction writing.

Thornhill, it turns out, was a great place to start. Near to his Bathurst Street and Centre Street condo — called Forest Hill North, which was also the titular inspiration for the Forhilnor aliens in Calculating God — was Sci-Fi World, then Canada’s largest science fiction bookstore, at Steeles and Dufferin. There was also the Vaughan Public Library and a Chapters Superstore, at Steeles and Yonge, where Sawyer spent many a day during his eight years in the area, from 1992 to 2000, perusing the competition.

But mostly, it was a place far from the fantasy worlds he chronicles.

“Thornhill is, was, a wonderful place to be a writer,” says Sawyer.

“A writer may write about exciting places, but a writer needs peace and quiet to get his or her work done. And Thornhill certainly afforded that while having the advantage of being so very close to the hubbub of downtown Toronto when I needed to go there.” Not to mention a trip or two to L.A. where Flashforward is currently under production. Sawyer, who’s visited the set, has been consulted on all episodes and will pen number 16, if it gets picked up for another season. He’s also shared a lunch date with star Joseph Fiennes.

“It is very exciting. The actors are fabulous,” he says of his recent visit. “It’s been an experience that has brought literally tears to my eyes as I watched it happening on the set.”

As for the future, Sawyer doesn’t have any plans to rush off to Hollywood just yet. Or ever, for that matter.

“I can’t stand the air quality in L.A. I can’t stand the heat in L.A. I can’t stand the traffic in L.A.,” he says. “Greater Toronto will always be my home. I love this area.”

Mag Ruffman

10:20 am

It was at 17, while at a summer camp north of Richmond Hill, that Mag Ruffman found the first of her two great lifetime loves. It was inside the camp’s large, wood-panelled and wood-floored communal shower facility where she discovered it in the most unlikely place — born out of dirty and damp necessity on the shower room floor.

Needing a place to hang towels while she and her cabinmates showered, Ruffman used an old hand-cranked screwdriver and slotted screws — all tightened so the grooves lined up horizontally — to install towels hooks on the shower room walls.

“I just thought, ‘I can put up hooks,’” she recalls. “And if I can put up hooks, I bet I could put up shelves. It just made me feel not helpless. I was on fire. I thought it was hot.”

For any Canadian with a television set during the early to mid ’90s, Ruffman is immediately recognizable as her Road to Avonlea character, Olivia King Dale, the role she played opposite Toronto’s Sarah Polley (as Sara Stanley) from 1989 to 1996. And while it might be easy to assume that the role — set in the fictional small town of Avonlea, P.E.I., in the early years of the 20th century — was foreign to Ruffman, the environment in fact bore a striking resemblance to a place she knew very well.

“Richmond Hill was Avonlea when I was a kid. It was the tiniest little town. Everybody knew everybody, and everybody gossiped. And there was a person who was just like Eulalie Bugle, and there was another that was just like Rachel Lynde. It just absolutely was Avonlea.” Ruffman has fond memories of those days — of growing up on Highland Lane and attending McConaghy Public School, the 12-mile bike rides to Bruce’s Mill as an 11-year-old and captaining the cheerleading team at Richmond Hill High School “back when you didn’t need to be pretty, you just needed to be loud.”

“I loved my childhood,” she says. “It was all fields and rivers and open land. And we would just be gone at dawn, and we wouldn’t get home until the street lights went on. We’d always pack something to eat and just roam. It was a fantastic childhood. I loved it.”

Acting was hardly the plan for Ruffman. She enrolled as a physical education student at the University of Toronto, but it was a different kind of career that first brought her onto the stage and into the spotlight. Looking to pay her parents for tuition after graduation, Ruffman entered Yonge Street’s Limelight Dinner Theatre to apply for an advertised receptionist job. A high school friend, however, had other ideas and suggested Ruffman audition for the theatre’s next show.

“I fell into acting,” she says. “I was supposed to end up teaching phys. ed., but fate intervened.”

A slew of movies and commercials followed until eventually Ruffman met producer Kevin Sullivan, who would cast her in Avonlea. The rest, they say, is historical fiction.

While on a trip to California in the fall of 1989, Ruffman met Daniel Hunter, a construction worker, at a Halloween party. The two were married three weeks later.

In Hunter, Ruffman had found both her second great love and, in the process, rediscovered her first, found at camp years before. “Daniel couldn’t take time off every time I was home, so I’d just go to work with him so we could be together,” she says. “I’d fly to California any time I had a few days off from shooting.”

For the next seven years, Ruffman worked alongside her husband on construction sites, eventually obtaining her contractor’s licence. When her work on Avonlea ended in 1996, Ruffman moved into home repair shows, trading Olivia’s corsets and bonnets for coveralls and boots in the process.

“Olivia is inside me, and I can pull back a few of the shutters on this big room and let Olivia come out, or I can close those and let the little hellion jock with a giant reciprocating saw come out,” she says. “We all have a billion facets.”

Combining her onscreen talents with her love for working with her hands, she spent five years as creator, producer and host of the do-it-yourself show A Repair to Remember and later the Gemini-nominated workshop show Anything I Can Do on W Network. She is the author of two books, How Hard Can It Be?, a collection of home improvement and repair jobs for beginners, and We’re All in This Together, a biography about her close friend Steve Smith (of Red Green Show fame). ToolGirl, her latest adventure, is an online resource containing “luminous prose about power tools, home repair, creativity and making stuff.”

“I mean, I know there’s a bit of innuendo to it,” she says of her new moniker and title of the site. “It sounds a bit like a porn name or something like that. It’s just playful to me. I really love tools. I love them to a crazy extent. I think they’re so cool, and I want everyone to know how to use them.”

Ruffman is currently in talks for a 25-stop, cross-Canada television production next year to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Habitat for Humanity, an organization she has been involved with since 2003.

“I’m finding my way back to TV, which is really nice, and I’m doing it in a really backdoor way,” she says.

“Some of the stories I hope to be shooting are those small-town stories that will be just as touching as Avonlea but with real people who are going through stuff.”

According to Ruffman, the show will help plaster a hole in current home repair programming, the gap between hard-core home renovation shows, such as Holmes on Homes, and home decorating ones, such as Sarah’s House.

“There’s this whole grey area in the middle where people need to know how to put up shelves, but they don’t show you that on either show,” she says. “So that, to me, is the area that I come in — it’s home improvement for beginners; it’s home improvement for people who aren’t confident; it’s home improvement for the rest of us.”

And from the response she has received so far — from sold-out home show seminars to being constantly approached and thanked on the street — “the rest of us” seems like a pretty big demographic.

“I hear it every time I go out in public,” she says: “‘Because of you, I did this.’ I mean, I don’t count them up or keep track of them in any way, but it’s nice that what I’m doing is effective.”

Laura Vandervoort

10:05 am

Laura Vandervoort has high cheekbones, blue eyes, blond hair and the kind of curves that usually see her cast in bikinis. But the 25-year-old bombshell from Bayview says she was a tomboy growing up, and that when she spotted Colin Farrell at the Windsor Arms Hotel during the Toronto Film Festival, she immediately turned beet red and had to force herself not to turn tail and hide.

“I’m not used to doing red carpet stuff, and when I see people like Colin Farrell or Keanu Reeves or Robin Wright Penn, I usually just say, ‘Hey, I love your work!’ then go text my sister,” says Vandervoort, who got her first big role on Goosebumps, while she was a 13-year-old theatre geek at York Mills Collegiate. Soon, she will be coming to American and Canadian prime time TV as the star of V, a 2009 freshening up of the ’80s sci-fi cult smash. “It would be cool if I was recognized someday, and I hope people like my work, but I’m the same girl who worked at American Eagle at the Fairview Mall — at least I get recognized there.”

Growing up, Vandervoort was more interested in karate than makeup, and she earned a double black belt at Northern Karate on Don Mills and Eglinton where she also worked as an instructor.

“I was the only girl in the dojo, so, of course, nobody wanted to fight me,” says Vandervoort, with a laugh. “That pissed me off when the guys would go half-assed, so I’d sock them as hard as I could.”

After catching the Macaulay Culkin film My Girl, the young Vandervoort grew smitten with acting, and she’d spend afternoons with her sister putting on plays.

“We have VHS tapes of Laura hamming it up in front of the video camera at three years old,” says Laura’s mom, who used to join her daughter on sojourns to Los Angeles for pilot season when her daughter was just 13. “Laura was always focused and determined to do well. She was always prepared; she didn’t need her dad and me for that. It can be tough on a young actor to get so many more noes than yeses, but Laura knew what she wanted. She kept at it, and we were there for her with hugs and support.”

Luckily, for the budding thespian, there would be many more yeses than noes, and she’d spend four years as a lead on Instant Star in Canada before landing her first big role in the States. According to Vandervoort, it was hard being a teenager auditioning in Hollywood, but she talks about finding an inner reserve.

“It’s tough when you don’t know yourself and you’re auditioning against 25-year-old women and, you know, I’m from Bayview — I was still impressed by the palm trees,” says Vandervoort, who nevertheless wowed producers enough to land the part of Supergirl in Smallville, the hip television re-imagining of the Superman franchise. Even though the series would introduce her to U.S. audiences, it also introduced a problem Vandervoort would struggle against her entire career: casting agents refused to see beyond her good looks.

“If I’m blond and blue-eyed, they think I can’t play a deep emotional role,” Vandervoort says. “You get typecast, and even in Smallville, I was playing an anatomically enhanced idea of what people thought I was. It’s crazy how much stereotyping happens. More often than not, it comes down to a physical thing.”

Still, if Vandervoort ever felt discouraged, she had a secret weapon in her arsenal from back home. While shooting Goosebumps, she was sitting outside her trailer with her mother when a Canadian icon recognized her mom. It was Gordon Pinsent, a distant relative, and the two have been close ever since.

“Laura’s early questions were the usual ones asked by a very young person: ‘How do I get into acting in the first place? Agent questions come early. Where, how do I start?’ Since then, she has found out so much more, by listening, watching, and making sure her craft is in place for when each new job comes along,” Pinsent says. “Physical beauty is one thing, but just think how much more beauty there is when they can see the complete inner story of you as well.”

Vandervoort would get her chance to flex real acting muscles when she appeared opposite Jeff Daniels and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Lookout, her first real dalliance in big-time Hollywood moviemaking.

“That was such a big thing for me, to learn about the film industry, and I almost preferred it to television because movies are done so much faster,” Vandervoort says. “In a movie, you enthrall yourself in a character then move on to a new project. On a series, four years can go by, and you’re still playing the same thing.”

After The Lookout opened to rave reviews, Vandervoort and her Canadian boyfriend moved to a small place in Burbank, Calif., in anticipation of her next big movie deal. However, her most recent film was made much closer to home — by a graduate of York Mills Collegiate.

“My only memory of Laura from high school is that of a girl standing alone by a set of lockers eating lunch,” says filmmaker Josh Koffman, who cast Laura as the lead in his film The Jazzman, a biopic of his grandfather, the legendary Canadian sax player Moe Koffman. The experience opened her eyes once again to the joys of feature filmmaking, but Vandervoort won’t have much time to pursue the silver screen. What was originally cast as a small one-off part in V became a lead role after producers caught her performance.

“I play a visitor from another planet, and my job is to bring humans over to our side of the fence,” Vandervoort says. “I’m supposed to be anatomically appealing to humans, even though I’m really a reptile underneath.”

The role, of course, once again plays on the stereotypes of Vandervoort’s features. But she has shown both the will and the ability to expand. Taking Pinsent’s advice, she recently died her hair black and sported an armful of tattoos for Riverworld, a new Canadian miniseries, which recently wrapped.

It’s been a long time since Vandervoort first started making billboards for Pizza Pizza (her first gig). But with her anticipated new series about to launch in November and a slew of screenplays to read, the bombshell from Bayview may be entering a new phase in her career. Who knows, during next year’s film festival, it might be Colin Farrell, Keanu Reeves and Robin Wright Penn texting their own sisters when Vandervoort walks by.

Susur Lee's blog: Savour the flavour for fall

9:22 am

Fall is the best time of year to cook, because the flavours are so intense. At Madeline’s, my new Fall Harvest menu is all about using local produce in recipes that are homey and sustaining. It’s comfort food! We have a Prix Fixe menu from October 5th through the end of the month, with three courses for $40.

One of my favourite appetizers on this menu is  crusted Ontario pear  filled with blue cheese and walnuts.  I stuff the pears with cheese, encrust them in crushed walnuts, then bake them. The pear is served warm. Another appetizer is hot-smoked salmon, which I smoke myself on hickory wood and serve with Chinese scallion pancake and  crème fraiche.

When it gets colder outside, you want something to stick to your ribs, so one of my mains is slow-braised beef. It’s so tender you can eat it with a spoon.  It comes with butter pappardelle and sautéed garlic Cremini mushrooms. Another main is roasted chicken roulade, which I prepare with de-boned chicken legs (the dark meat is more flavourful!), and present with pureed local squash and wild blueberry preserves.  The third main is a French-Chinese duck breast  in a lotus crepe — we call it that because the crepe looks like a lotus petal — served with mango-ginger chutney, chili honey and shallot.   

Looking towards November at Madeline’s, I’m very excited about doing an all-Canadian shellfish menu — PEI mussels, East-coast lobsters and oysters, and champagne by the glass. Maybe I’ll call it "Madeline’s–By-the–Sea!"

Chef Susur Lee maintains two successful restaurants in downtown Toronto – LEE and MADELINE’S — and now has a restaurant in New York (Shang) and Washington (Zentan).

Liisa Winkler's blog: My first 'shop affair'

9:21 am

One of my favorite things about working in Manhattan was a store called Anthropologie. I remember rushing from a job with various stages of makeup removal going on in the back of a taxi while listening to a curious driver talk incessantly about his brother’s six-year-old daughter who wants to be a model, why all other taxi drivers should have their licenses taken away and why he hates wonton soup.

I arrived at the Soho store with literally 10 minutes to power shop since my flight home was just two hours away — but it was Air Canada and LaGuardia Airport and almost always (with my luck travelling ) either delayed or even cancelled.

I always managed to find that special something that I just could not resist importing. I once brought back a very fragile and heavy lamp that I carried with me all swaddled in bubble wrap — it was just one of those "must haves."

Another time I was terribly distracted by an Orlando Bloom sighting and spent my whole ten minutes "shopping" at the front of the store where he sat waiting for some lucky person. With all these happy memories, you can imagine how happy I was to hear that "my store" would be coming to Toronto.

The baby comes with me as I head to the Don Mills location. It is everything I love in a store. Colorful and quirky dishes and tablewear. Unique eclectic looking quilts of such appeal that I just could not decide with which one to bless my lucky bed (so I walk away from the temptresses with lust in my heart and a burning urge to buy something).

I could live in this store. I pick up a creamer shaped like a yellow bird and a butter dish that I dont need but feel rather strongly about.

And then there is still the clothing. Although I could shop here and never even look at the clothing, it’s also pretty great.

There’s some cool bags with colorful prints, beautiful jewelery and a nice selection of casual yet a bit "where did you find that top?!" type stuff. They even have a small kids section… but until the little one can ask for it, I will save this store for just me. And the rest of Toronto.

I have to wonder, will my lust for this store decrease now that it is sitting right there in my backyard and not a New York indulgence? Is my lust a tad obsessive and strange? Looking around at all the lovely merchandise, I must conclude no. Anthro (as I so lovingly call it) will always be my first "shop affair" and as it is with that first love, will always have a special place in my heart.

Liisa Winkler is one of Canada’s biggest supermodels and mother of two beautiful children. Her blog appears bi-monthly at Postcity.com.

Dean & Dan Caten

3:40 pm

For a decade and a half, Dean and Dan Caten, identical twins from Willowdale have dominated the catwalk with their world-renowned clothing line DSquared2. Now they’ve done the same with a sidewalk.

Mind you, it’s not just any old promenade. The Caten brothers were immortalized in their home and native land with a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame on Sept. 12 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. It’s a long time coming for the Catens, who are often mentioned in the same breath as Gianni Versace, Jean Paul Gaulthier and Oscar de la Renta.

But Dean and Dan haven’t always lived their lives in the lap of glitz and glamour. Born Dean and Dan Catenacci, the brothers grew up in a crowded house on Otonabee Avenue, a suburban stretch south of Steeles Avenue between Yonge Street and Bayview Avenue. As the youngest of nine children with no mother to speak of (Dean does not volunteer the reason why), money was tight and space was even tighter.

Their father, a Neapolitan pipefitter and welder, encouraged curiosity during their upbringing, one in which the twins quickly learned that you earn what you get and you cherish what you have.

“We grew up in a medium-poor household,” says Dean on the phone from Milan, Italy, where the brothers now live. “We were quiet as kids in the sense that we were kind of the have-nots and we were surrounded by the haves. We didn’t have a lot of means. We had something inside us, I think maybe God-given, a sensibility to the job that we’re doing now — because you can’t learn good taste in school — and ambition. And I think the less you have, the more you want. In that sense, it puts a fire that burns under your ass to ensure that you can do it. We have a successful business now as a result of that, and when your country acknowledges that, it’s great.”

Dean and Dan got their academic education at Lillian Public School, Northmount Junior High and various other secondary institutions after that. But the twins credit their father for the creative streak that guides their hands-on work. A natural craftsman, Dad built the house on Otonabee and designed jewellery on the side for his girlfriend. Dean also recounts his father building a sculpture of an eagle on his front porch. (“Not practical at all but very beautiful,” he says, laughing)

“He was a very creative guy and we get a lot of it from him,” Dean says. “Dad would give us presents and ask us, ‘How did they make it, and how do you make it better?’ So we grew up to be our father’s sons by asking the same questions about fashion. Why am I wearing this? Why am I not wearing that? What qualities does this garment have? What is it about this piece of clothing that makes you want to keep putting it on? So it comes from the heart. We’re very real about what we make. We don’t pretend.”

It’s that sense of genuineness, forged during their youth, that brought the brothers to the top of the fashion world and keep them on their game, says Dean.

In 1991, the brothers moved to Milan seeking work in the fashion industry, but it wasn’t until 1995 that they unveiled their own label, DSquared2, at their show Homesick Canada Collection. The next year the pair created the collection Napoli, inspired by their father’s hometown.

The attention didn’t end there. The Catens designed outfits for Madonna’s 2001 Drowned World international tour and her video Don’t Tell Me. (Dean says they’re great friends with the Material Girl.) Two years later, they saw more big-venue pop concert work, fashioning Christina Aguilera’s wardrobe for her Justified and Stripped Tour 2003. Indeed, the DSquared2 brand has been seen on many celebrities, including Justin Timberlake, Lenny Kravitz, Ricky Martin and Nelly Furtado.

Dean will be the first to admit that it’s all too easy to get a swelled head when your circle of friends and clientele includes such A-listers, but they never forget about home, and their work reflects it.

Channeling early memories of camping in Algonquin Park, the Catens’ men’s 2010 spring and summer collection took on an outdoorsy fusion of function and fashion, with models parading hiking boots, fisherman and trucker hats, body warmers, plaid shirts and camo pants with bright neon and fruit-red blends among earthy green tones.

“We take realness with us,” Dean says. “It’s what sets us apart from the superficial people who live in the world that we live in. We’re very down-to-earth. We’re very appreciative and thankful that we made it. There’s nothing superficial about us. When we go home, our family treats us the exact same way that they did before we became famous. We’re still the babies. We’re still called “the boys” — and I’m 45 years old.”

Indeed, family has been with them throughout. When the brothers opened up a 500-square-metre store in Milan in 2007, they even had a say in designing the architecture of the shop. Dean points to that moment as the zenith of the brothers’ successes.

“The first show we ever did was cool and everything, but the biggest clincher for us was opening up the monogram store in the heart of the shopping district,” Dean says. “I cried when I first came into the store. I just thought, ‘Wow. We’re here now and we’re not going anywhere.’ We’ve seen a lot of other friends and designers come and go, but we were fully planted in this city with this huge beautiful shop that looks like nobody else’s, a store that represents Canada, Italy and who we are. It’s something that we can be proud of.”

You’ll witness more of the Catens’ work at high-profile events in the future. The twins are currently drafting outfits for the opening and closing ceremonies of Vancouver’s Olympic Winter Games in 2010. The Catens are also sketching three-piece travelling outfits for Spanish club Barcelona FC to wear at press conferences. “It was supposed to be a secret,” Dan says with a laugh. “Oh well, it’s out now.”

But before they move on with those projects, Dean and Dan will take some time out to bask in the glory Canada has been lavishing upon them.

“It’s amazing,” Dan says. “I think honestly, it’s one of the most overwhelming awards we’ve ever received in our career. To understand that your country respects and appreciates what you do is a huge honour. We’re always waving our flag. It’s what makes us and our work unique, and it’s great when your country backs you up. We’ll live forever, in a way. We’ll both be gone, and that star will still be there on the sidewalk giving inspiration for young kids.

“The sky’s the limit.”

Five things Toronto needs to do right now

2:22 pm

Toronto the good has the potential to be Toronto the Great. Our city needs a realistic plan for the next 10 to 25 years that will instill confidence in investors and hope for residents. It would provide a common vision that all former municipalities of the mega-city can embrace. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we can apply best practices from other cities to resolve current problems.

There are five areas for Toronto to focus on: economic development and tourism, a better fiscal plan, quality of life, transportation and infrastructure.

It is vital that the mayor and council show the business community that they are a priority. If the business tax in Toronto was immediately decreased to have parity with the tax in the 905, it would decrease the number of businesses leaving. To attract international investment, Toronto should be marketed as part of the GTA region. Measures should be taken to reduce red tape. The city needs to work closely with small business and create entrepreneurial opportunities, especially with newcomers. Our 905 neighbours are our first tourists and we should think before adding barriers such as road tolls or removing the Gardiner Expressway.

Contrary to what you read and hear from city hall about a shortage of money, the $8 billion operating budget should be adequate. It is a question of priorities and not trying to be all things to all people. Many services beyond the municipal mandate were added since amalgamation. This has grown the corporation, and 80 per cent of the funds are used for salaries and benefits.

Despite recent contract changes, employee morale is rampantly low. Better communication needs to begin between city employees and the administration. The employees should be asked the question: “How can we save money and deliver service in a better way?” When the workforce knows they are truly part of the corporation, morale will soar and savings and productivity will result.

"Our 905 neighbours are our first tourists and we should think before adding barriers."

More needs to be done with the downtown core. The visible homelessness on the streets tells visitors that the city is not working as it should. We need to develop a plan that successfully rehabilitates vulnerable people who are dependent on institutional assistance and guide them to independence. The province should accept responsibility for the mentally ill and addicted persons who are difficult to house. City housing residents should be encouraged to move up and out. A plan that keeps people busy and off the streets with life skills, counselling and job training using proven methods of other cities is the solution.

To accommodate future growth in the city, Toronto must invest in public transit. The focus cannot be solely on streetcars, and it is worth the investment to build subways, which would reduce competition at the surface. When a streetcar is disabled, the others cannot pass. We require seamless travel across the GTA. Public transit needs to be accessible to all parts of the amalgamated city.

The infrastructure backlog of road and bridge repairs needs to be financed through city funds and federal grants. The recent announcement of $190 million from the federal government is welcome news, but the city must manage construction on budget and on time. The 2015 Pan Am Games could bring $1.4 billion of government and private support for sports infrastructure.

Elected representatives should communicate with constituents and vote based on majority opinion in their wards. Public consultation seems token at the moment. Major decisions should require town hall meetings and an option to vote before it reaches city hall.

The city’s motto, "Diversity is our strength," focuses on our differences. The time has come to embrace what we all want to be in Toronto: "Together in unity."

Post City Magazines’ political columnist, Jane Pitfield, was a Toronto city councillor for eight years. She is now involved in several volunteer projects.

Give 'em the boot

1:22 pm

1st PLACE – CLASSIC COMFORT

Frye, Maxine gaucho boot, $400
The iconic Monika Schnarre has graced the pages of the world’s best magazines, and her new line of clothing, Tall by Monika Schnarre, will launch on the Shopping Channel this fall. She knows style, and she loves these Frye boots because they’re comfortable, casual and “the more you wear them, the better they look.”
Where to get it: Ron White, Bayview Village, 2901 Bayview Ave. 416-221-7002

SIMPLE & SUPPLE

Ralph Lauren, Seranna boot, $1,295
“This is a really beautiful, classic riding boot. I love that. ”
Where to get it: Davids Footwear 66 Bloor St. W., 416-920-1000

COWGIRL COOL

Extreme Milano, suede boot, $175
“I like the idea of a cowboy boot. I have a cowboy hat, and I roll with it a lot.”
Where to get it: Town Shoes at Promenade 1 Promenade Cir., 905-889-7610

DISTRESSED TO PERFECTION

Steven by Steve Madden. Riens boot, $190
“I’ve never seen this sort of distressed leather in a boot before. I think it’s really unique.”
Where to get it: In Style Shoes 1758 Avenue Rd., 416-783-0239

A BEAUTIFUL BASIC

Circa Joan & David, CJ Hearty boot, $320
“These are nice and simple. I like things that don’t have a lot of bells and whistles.”
Where to get it:Madison Shoes & Accessories, Shops at Don Mills 3 Karl Frasier Rd., 416-384-0801

A nice slice of rice

11:13 am

1ST PLACE
THAT’S AMORE!

ICHIBAN, 15 Spring Garden Ave., 416-512-9014
For our experts, the recipe is simple: slice some hearty chunks of ocean-fresh sushi and add a dollop of roe, then lay it all on a thin disc of lightly deep-fried rice and chop it into pizza-style slices. Presto! Sushi pizza in four easy steps. Ichiban’s version earns top marks from Lee, for its generous cuts of salmon and tuna, while Prevedello praises the perfectly crispy rice: “It’s just like pizza. If you don’t have a good crust, nothing works.” Clearly, this one does. Price: $10.95

2ND PLACE

Nami, 55 Adelaide St. E.
Both are fans of the gentle spiciness of this elegant offering, and the crispy rice is superb, says Prevedello, but there’s just too much roe for their liking. “Still, so far so good,” says Prevedello. Price: $13.56

THIRD PLACE

Edo-ko, 431 Spadina Rd.
Thinnest rice of the bunch, but a bit too much roe. Still, the generous salmon portion earns a third-place finish. Prevedello likes the crunchiness of the rice. Price: $10.12

FOURTH PLACE

Akasaka, 280 West Beaver Creek Rd.
High point is presentation (thick sushi and elegant roe topping) but flatlines on taste. Would they go back for more? “OK, but not rushing to it,” says Prevedello. Price: $11.30

FIFTH PLACE

Ginza Sushi, 7330 Yonge St.
Lee’s eyes light up when he sees the huge chunks of fresh salmon, but Prevedello finds the rice “not clear — too sweet and not crisp,” which drops it a few rungs. Price: $6.72

Kim Newport-Mimran's blog: What you must have in your closet

8:44 am

1) "Can I still wear some of my summer sun dresses into the fall? How can I update them for the cooler season?"

Keep them for summer and vacations and pack them away after labour day.

2) "I have a lot of stuff to tote around — work papers, toys my kids forgot in the car, cell phone, makeup, etc. But when I haul it all around in a big shoulder bag, I look frumpy. What sort of bag would have the space I need, but look stylish at the same time?"

Invest in a tote bag for toys and work papers and use a hand bag for make-up, keys, and cell phone, this can be a fashion or investment bag. A great nylon or canvas tote is perfect, I’d go with a neutral color that goes with everything. Lonchamp has a great classic tote.

3) What fashion staples should I have in my closet?

LBD (little black dress) on hand for cocktails or an unexpected date. You can never be overdressed or underdressed in a little black dress. Make sure it’s a great fit!
White Shirt — The classic PINK TARTAN Newport Shirt is always in the collection, a perfect fit, and it withstands the harsh reality of laundry.
Black pant of the season — this fall either the cropped pleat or the cigarette silhouette.
The seasons fashion shoe – pick one that’s comfortable for you. I love a great oxford with a heel or a classic pump that is always polished — never wear scuffed shoes!

Kimberley Newport-Mimran is the Co-Founder, President and Head Designer of Pink Tartan. Her blog is dedicated to answering your style questions. Email them to us here. To check out Kim’s blog at Pink Tartan click here.

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