Celebrating our village’s history

12:00 am

IT IS ONCE again time for arts, crafts, music, fun, games, military re- enactments and great food. With September comes the excitement of the annual Thornhill Village Festival, this year brought to you on two Saturdays: Sept. 19 and Sept. 26.

I first attended the Thornhill Village Festival with my family 25 years ago, but it has been a successful annual event for over three decades. The 2009 Thornhill Village Festival will feature the Craftfest on Sept. 19, with the craft fair, children’s events and entertainment. Musicfest will be on Sept. 26, featuring military re-enactments, music, art and the opening of the MacDonald House and the Armstrong House.

When it comes to keeping our community spirit alive, few things are as important as making sure that residents can come together to celebrate the history and character that make Thornhill such a wonderfully unique community to live in. The Thornhill Village Festival is just such an opportunity, and that is why I am pleased that, thanks to the Society for the Preservation of Historic Thornhill, we will be able to immerse ourselves in Thornhill’s rich history at the most important community event of the year.

As a parent who raised his children in Thornhill, I know the importance of the annual festival for all those who call Thornhill home, and I hope you and your families will come out to enjoy it.

I would also like to express my appreciation to the organizers and volunteers who are once again spending countless hours getting the festivities ready. Without your commitment to our community, events like the Thornhill Village Festival would simply not be possible, and I thank each and every one of you for your dedication.

For more information, please visit www.thornhillhistoric.org.

Georgina Reilly

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WHEN GEORGINA REILLY moved to Toronto at age 16 from her native Surrey, England, she left something behind.

Her British accent.

“I know, it’s so weird!” the 23- year-old actress says with a laugh during a recent chat. “When I came [here], it just sort of went away. But if I’m home and around English friends, I have an English accent…. It’s all very confusing!”

Dubbed Canada’s “next big thing,” by a host of media outlets, including the celebrity star- making website du jour, She Does the City, she certainly has the charisma to follow in the footsteps of other breakout stars like Nova Scotia’s Ellen Page or Vancouver’s Seth Rogen, both of whom have seen their careers take off in the past two years. (Page’s Whip It will debut this month at the Toronto International Film Festival and Rogen’s Funny People opened in July).

It doesn’t take long after meeting Reilly — who has a wonderful sense of humour — to realize that there’s something behind the buzz.

One can’t help but notice that the actress appears poised for stardom. She finds herself at TIFF again this month, starring in Dev Khanna’s short film A Hindu’s Indictment of Heaven. In the film, shot on location in Guildwood Park in Scarborough, she plays a woman standing at the gates of heaven, who refuses to enter until her soul mate can join her.

“It’s kind of a dark comedy,” Reilly explains. “She says she’s going to wait outside the gates of heaven with Saint Peter, and then she finds out that her boyfriend actually found a new soul mate. It’s kind of funny. She’s, like, ‘I’ve been waiting here for 10 years for you!’”

Heaven comes on the heels of her leading role in Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool, which debuted at last year’s TIFF.

Reilly’s got plenty to look forward to, as well, with the lead in McDonald’s latest collaboration with Don McKellar, This Movie Is Broken, which intercuts a fictional story with local Toronto indie band Broken Social Scene’s summer Harbourfront concert.

Growing up in England’s idyllic countryside, the acting bug caught the fresh-faced brunette at an early age.

Various stints in musical theatre followed.

“I’m a sucker for musical theatre!” she gushes, citing Guys and Dolls and Thoroughly Modern Millie among her favourites. “It’s always great when there are good songs to sing,” she says.

Her first foray into television came in the form of an animated character on the popular BBC children’s series — Number Time. “I was 10 at the time and loved it. I would record songs in my PJs,” she says.

While a lot of Britons take trips to Paris, Rome or the Swiss Alps on vacation, Reilly recalls her family always came to Canada.

“When I was younger, we always went to Vancouver and Victoria because we have family here in Toronto,” she recalls fondly, adding, “I just remember loving the beaches there when I was little.”

While her parents’ decision to move to Toronto was based partly on her father’s career, she’s quick to point out that the whole family fell hard for the country as well.

“I love the people here,” Reilly says. “They’re very chill and friendly.”

Like a lot of women her age, shopping is among Reilly’s hobbies. She also loves to read and keep in shape by taking classes at the local gym.

“Do you know what else I love?” she asks. “Rainbow Cinemas. On toonie Tuesday you can go to the movies for, like, four dollars.”

And, being English, a love of Indian food is a definite must.

The Reillys always order takeout from the Indian Kitchen, a local restaurant. “The butter chicken is amazing there,” she says.

The family home — which Reilly describes as being different from her home in England, what with all the open spaces and modern design — sounds like the perfect environment for a budding actress to hone her craft.

Her father, a writer and composer, spends his time these days working on screenplays. Her mother concentrates on the production side of the industry. Her older brother is a DJ, among other things.

And of course, Reilly’s two “wiener dogs,” Bodie and Alfie, serve as great sounding boards when she is reading through scripts.

Reilly has decided to postpone university indefinitely and is instead focusing on acting classes and taking up smaller TV roles in lesser-known series like Beautiful People, Runaway and MTV’s upcoming Valemont. But She attended her final two years of high school at North Toronto private school Havergal College. “It was kind of like the movies for me,” she says of her experience, “with all the lunch tables and cliques and stuff. The school uniform was like a Britney Spears outfit!” Spoken like a true actress.

And now, reflecting on the just completed shoot for This Movie Is Broken with McDonald, famed for such cult flicks as Highway 61 and The Tracey Fragments, she says the film was a great way to flex her acting muscles, performing under the hectic conditions of a live concert.

“It was just so confusing,” she says. “Bruce was dealing with like 20 red cams on the stage to shoot the show, and we were running around with Don and a handheld camera, and he would just shout at us, ‘Now do this!’ ‘Light your cigarette!’ It was just go, go, go, and it was really funny, because we would look at him, and he’d be, like, ‘No, don’t look at me!’ It was really interesting and just kept us on our toes.”

She plays Caroline in the film, a girl visiting Toronto on break from a study abroad program in Paris, who is conflicted over starting a romantic relationship with her long-time friend on the night of the concert.

“It’s just about this couple going to the concert and also intermixed with their confusion about each other and whether she’s going to leave or stay,” she says. “It kind of works beautifully with the music of Broken, just the feel of their stuff.”

She does admit that she doesn’t fancy watching herself onscreen.

“I know some people find it very beneficial for critiquing, but I find it very difficult. I end up looking at how my face moves instead of what I’m doing. You can’t always be constructive in your criticisms.”

Regardless of her process, the future looks bright for Georgina Reilly. With a few future projects in the works (How to Be Indie and Majority Rules), she is most certainly one to watch.

Wherever the future takes her, chances are she’ll always enjoy coming home for a trip to the Indian Kitchen for her favourite butter chicken.

Danny Dichio

12:00 am

IT’S A SUNNY EVENING at a soccer park on the eastern edge of Thornhill, and Toronto FC’s star forward is planting slalom poles into the ground. Around him clamours a group of nine- and 10-year-old kids clad in soccer kits, eager to get their training started as they juggle balls with their feet. Finally, Danny Dichio blows his whistle.

Practice at the Thornhill Soccer Club has officially begun.

With military efficiency, the team falls into single file. One by one, they duck and weave between the slalom poles.

“Don’t touch them sticks!” bellows Dichio in his thick London accent.

Course completed, each kid scoops up the ball and heads it over to Dichio at the far end of the obstacle course, where they’re rewarded with a quick high five.

At 6’4” Dichio towers over the tykes, but he’s got a gentle manner that belies his tough-guy character. When a young player approaches Dichio with an untied cleat, the superstar quickly descends to one knee and fixes the problem — a gesture you might not expect from the man who strides the field like a colossus.
Training tomorrow’s stars of the pitch has become a significant part of the life Dichio leads beyond the bright lights and cheering crowds of BMO Field. In his role as technical director of Thornhill Soccer Club, Dichio puts in two to three nights every two weeks, developing new training regimens and spotting young talent for the club’s competitive squads.

“It’s fantastic,” says the veteran footballer, 34, of his job. “It’s something I definitely want to get into and this is a great experience for me, for what I want to achieve when I’m finished playing.”

Dichio is still a commanding presence on the field, notching three goals and two assists so far with TFC this season, but he confirmed in March that the current season will be his last, making now a perfect time to start the transition to coaching.

With permanent resident status here in Canada, a house in Toronto and baby number four due in October (“I’m working on a five-a- side squad,” he jokes), it looks like Dichio and his family are here to stay, which bodes well for both TFC and TSC in the years to come.

“I’m here until I get kicked out,” he says. “We’re here as a family. My kids and my wife really like it and they’re settled here. We’ve been made to feel welcome here. I’ve got a rapport with the fans and with this club, so for me and my family to be happy off the pitch is an even bigger bonus.”

Dichio’s connection to the club began informally last year, when he was introduced to the Thornhill Soccer Club through a contact at local sports apparel shop. Towards the end of the season Dichio sat in on training sessions and gave some input on how to improve the players’ technique. Then, last May, the relationship was finally made official, and the club couldn’t be happier to have him.

“He works exceptionally well with the children,” says Thornhill Soccer Club president Gerry Salvati. “He’s got the respect and the attention of the kids all the time. There are a lot of awestruck kids, there’s no question about it. But once he starts the training, the kids are attentive. They’re like sponges and they pick up everything he has to say. He speaks with authority without being domineering. It’s an all-around positive experience and that’s what we’re here to provide.”

For Dichio, it’s simply a matter of paying it forward. Dichio grew up with a love for the beautiful game with his Italian dad and English mom and sister in West London. Dad, a diehard AC Milan fan, saw talent in the boy at an early age and set out to make sure his natural prowess didn’t go to waste. Life as a kid was therefore somewhat strict (other boys were allowed to play in the street well past his bedtime), but looking back, Dichio admits his family did him a good turn, given the payoff. At 9, Dichio was signed to the Queen’s Park Rangers (or QPR) youth system.

“My father was a major mentor, very soccer-crazy as Italians are,” laughs Dichio. “It’s different over here, where you’ve got a lot of different sports to get involved in at a young age. There’s hockey, baseball, football or whatever. In England, 99 per cent of the kids want to be a soccer player. It was a dream that came true for me. I had to work hard at it,but I had a good family behind me that was very disciplined with me. Sometimes too hard, but looking back I see that they did it for a reason, and I thank them for that.”

Dichio got his big break in 1993, when the Rangers called him up to play for the senior club in the English Premiership, the top soccer league in Britain and one of the most lucrative in the world in which to play.

Along the way, Dichio played for various community clubs, including Forest United, where he first matched wits with childhood friend and soccer demi-god David Beckham. The friendly rivalry continues to this day whenever Beckham comes to town. “We go for coffees whenever we see each other,” says Dichio. “He’s not keen on all the attention he gets. He’s as shy now as he was then.”

For fans on this side of the pond, Dichio’s most notable achievement came on May 12, 2007, a moment otherwise known to fans as “23:13.” — the time on the clock at which Dichio scored TFC’s first-ever goal. The goal sent the BMO Field faithful into a roaring frenzy, prompting those in attendance to hurl their commemorative seat cushions onto the field in celebration. To this day, fans sing and chant his name when the game clock strikes 23:13.

“Yeah, the fans remind me of it. I’m surprised they do after the beers they’ve drunk,” Dichio laughs. “It was a hot day for an Englishman, and the crowd was on top of their game as usual. I remember the whole scenario happening in slow motion. The ball came across, and I caught the defender marking me napping and I put it in. Then about 2,000 seat cushions hit me on the back of the head. It could have been anyone that day. I’m a very lucky man. That’s up there with my favourite moments. It was a tremendous feeling.”

In all, then, it’s a tremendous coup for the Thornhill Soccer Club to nab a veteran of both English and Italian soccer at his most intense and competitive. He has staked his claim with authority in both, and has become one of Toronto FC’s most celebrated players.

Back at the soccer pitch, the kids are put through their paces. But Dichio’s objective, he says, is to find the balance between pointing out what can be improved while making sure players don’t get discouraged.

“A kid might hit the target seven times out of ten,” he said. “But if I can correct them a little bit so that they hit the target nine times out of ten, that works better than telling him he’s doing something wrong. They might go home not angry, but thinking they’re not the best player in the world, which many do at that age. And we don’t want that. We don’t want to just build their skills. We want to build their character.”

Pamela Wallin

12:00 am

YOU’VE JUST SAT down for dinner at a friend’s place when your cellphone rings. Embarrassing. And then you answer it. Rude. But it’s the prime minister, and he wants you to become a Canadian senator.

Oh.

So what’s next?

“I agreed,” says North Toronto’s Pamela Wallin with a laugh. “It’s amazing what happens when you say ‘yes’ to things that you hadn’t contemplated, [when] you didn’t know you were the right person or up to the job. But if someone gives you this opportunity, you just take it, just run with it and do the best you can,” she says.

As a senator, Wallin will divide her time between Ottawa, her hometown of Wadena, Sask., and her beloved Midtown neighbourhood. “I live in airports,” she says with a long exhale. “It’s insane.”

When in Toronto, Wallin will continue to call Midtown home. “One of the things that is so compelling about big cities is the energy that they just generate,” she says. “[The area] is a great neighbourhood with shops and stores and restaurants and coffee places and all the rest of it,”

It was probably that kind of Ontario-friendly comment that recently prompted one Regina academic to call into question the validity of Wallin’s connection to Saskatchewan, the province she represents as senator. It’s an argument that Wallin has little time for.

“Nobody that I’ve spoken to, save the one gentleman, has raised any concerns about whether or not I’m an appropriate representative of the province,” says Wallin. “I’ve spent most of my life as the unofficial ambassador of Saskatchewan regardless of where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing.”

The province can lay claim to another title, too: launching pad for one of Canada’s most high- profile accidental journalism careers.

The year was 1973, and Wallin had just graduated from the University of Regina with a degree in psychology and political science. She was working at a maximum security prison as a social worker when, out of the blue, a friend from CBC Radio called to see if she’d be interested in filling in as a weekend host. With zero radio experience but no shortage of ambition, 20- year-old Wallin simply said, “Yes.”

A match was struck. Within a few years, Wallin was hosting her own radio program and working the federal political beat for the CBC. By 1978, she was covering Parliament Hill for the Toronto Star and doing guest spots on CTV’s Question Period.

Wallin was clearly a natural reporter and interviewer, but she had her share of missteps. At one point in her young career, she found herself across the table from then–prime minister Pierre Trudeau, whose approval numbers were at an historic low. Live on television, and “with the arrogance of youth,” she says, she pointed out that the PM had lost the moral authority to govern and should therefore resign.

“[I remember him] looking back at me and saying, you know, ‘Interesting theory of democracy, Ms. Wallin,’ and giving me a civics lesson live on television that I never forgot. [He] taught me that very fundamental lesson in journalism, which is to think through what the answers to your questions might be. Just do your homework.”

Wallin proved to be a quick study. In 1992, she was wooed back to the CBC to become the first woman to co-anchor the nightly national news program Prime Time News, alongside Peter Mansbridge. However, the coed anchor team failed to resonate with viewers accustomed to a single (male) anchor, so Wallin was reassigned to the nightly magazine segment of the show.

Then suddenly in 1995, Wallin was fired from Prime Time News. Internal politics and Wallin’s confrontational style were said to be at the heart of the highly publicized dismissal.

Still, while the Prime Time News experiment had ended badly, Wallin had cemented her reputation for asking probing, intelligent questions without seeming salacious or muckraking.

Her next project, Pamela Wallin Live, on CBC Newsworld, mixed the celebrity cachet of Larry King Live with the intellectual angle of Charlie Rose and provided the perfect forum for Wallin to showcase those interviewing skills. The show ran for four years.

In late 2001, Wallin’s world was given a shake. As North America was dealing with the shock of 9/11, Wallin underwent surgery for colon cancer. The experience gave her pause to consider the bigger things in life. “It really does offer a perspective, you know, when 3,000 people get up in the morning and simply go to work or get on with their work and their business, and they lose their lives.”

Wallin came out of the surgery thankful to be alive and determined to make a difference. “You really do feel like you’ve been given a second chance and that you better do something that matters with that second chance.” she says. Fortuitously, opportunity came calling in the form of a new challenge. Then-prime minister Jéan Chretien asked Wallin to serve as Canada’s consul general in New York. And so, with another “Yes,” the journalist became a diplomat, a role she held from 2002 to 2006.

Wallin’s performance as consul general evidently impressed Stephen Harper, who came calling in December with a new opportunity: Canadian senator.
During this tour of duty on Parliament Hill, though, she’ll no longer be the one holding public officials’ feet to the fire, but rather the one on the receiving end of irreverent questions from brash journalists.

One question that has already been put her way: With a salary of $130,400 and a generous pension, what’s to stop her from becoming an entitled, toe-the-party-line member of our federal government?

“Well, because I think the prime minister, of sound mind, asked us to sit in the Senate,” she says. “He knew who we were when he asked us to be there. So I don’t think he went in there deliberately and found a group of shy and retiring wallflowers.”

But for all of Wallin’s good intentions, with the position’s perks and its meagre accountability (does anyone actually keep a record of senators’ accomplishments?), it mustn’t take much to lapse into a blasé state of senatorial comfort.

Hogwash, suggests Wallin.

“I’ve had the good fortune over my years in Ottawa covering Parliament Hill to know what the Senate actually does,” she says. “For those of us who have been given this opportunity, it’s an opportunity to work very, very hard if you choose to do it, and that’s what I intend I do.”

Florida food train

12:00 am

VENERABLE MIDTOWN GOURMET food shop Pusateri’s might be making a move south of the border, if reports are true.

Although John Mastroianni, general manager at Pusateri’s, wouldn’t confirm a deal has been struck, he did say negotiations are underway for a potential location in Miami, Florida.

“Our type of market, our business plan is quite unique,” says Mastroianni. “We offer some things some of the stores don’t at present.”

One would think the idea would be to follow their regular customers to their winter resting place, but Mastroianni says he gets as many requests from Florida residents spending time in Toronto, who have found out about Pusateri’s.

“The demand is not just snowbirds,” says Mastroianni, who confirms that most of the Pusateri’s team heads south during the winter, including shareholder Frank Luchetta and, of course, Ida Pusateri, herself.

“It would be a great addition to the area and could result in future growth in the U.S.,” he explains.

According to Mastroianni, if all goes well, an announcement could be made within the next two months.

Berman for Senator

Bob Berman, previously the chef and co-owner of popular bistro Boba, with his wife Barbara Gordon, has quietly taken over the legendary Senator, Toronto’s oldest restaurant and formerly housing a renowned jazz club on the second floor.

The Senator is quite a different game for Berman, who has moved from serving upscale and creative cuisine, to mixing up cozy diner fare for the masses.

Berman chose the Senator for sentimental reasons.

“It was the first restaurant I ever ate at when I came to Toronto,” he explains. But he also believes that it’s the kind of food and atmosphere that Toronto needs more of right now.

“The thing I like about it is that it’s authentic, really an original diner, unique to Toronto. Yonge- Dundas square has become so futuristic and modern, it is nice to have a link to the past.”

In terms of changes to the restaurant, Berman just wants to improve what the Senator has already got going.

“I want to make the Senator recognized as the best diner in the city, with good chicken pot pie or a great sandwich.”

He plans to team up with Cumbrae Butchers to create a special Senator burger blend, which he hopes to get ranked as one of the top in the city. In the end, Berman notes, its just about offering “a food experience that is similar to the actual space: unique, comfortable, elegant and unintimidating.”

The Senator is located at 249 Victoria St., 416-364-7517.

Little India meets Queen West

Restaurateur Hanif Harji finds inspiration in the most unlikely places around the world for his globally inspired hot spots, including Queen West’s Nyood and Kultura on King Street East, but he didn’t have to look further than his grandma’s kitchen for his latest operation, Madras Pantry.

Trendy Queen Westers now have somewhere else to drop by for their on-the-go munchies and eclectic grocery needs.

Harji and partner Ryan Fisher are the brains behind Madras Pantry, a combination restaurant and grocery that specializes in dosas, Indian crepes made from rice flour and lentils, usually filled with potatoes or vegetables.

But Madras has their own take on the dosa. “We’ve North Americanized it by doing it in a wrap form,” says Fisher. “This way people can easily walk out with it in their hand.”

In addition to dosas, Madras Pantry serves up lassis (yogourt- based smoothies) and kulfi (cubed indian ice cream made from condensed milk) and boasts a retail section stocked with Indian foods usually found only on Gerrard: spices, chutneys, pickled foods, mixes and Indian sodas.

The shop also features an exciting Indian circus theme, conceived and executed by Commute Homes (who also designed Nyood and Kultura among others) complete with massive posters and even a mini Ferris wheel.

Madras Pantry is located at 877 Queen St. W., 416-777-0026.

La-la-la-la Lola

Named after a great aunt that really knew how to throw a dinner party, Lola’s Commissary has opened on Church Street, just south of Bloor.

“The restaurant has been a true labour of love,” says Therese De Grace, who owns the restaurant with partner Karen Balcom — former owner of iconic bar Pope Joan.

Lola’s will feature whimsical food options such as blueberry cheesecake stuffed French toast for brunch and homespun fettuccine with hemp pesto for dinner.

Lola’s Commissary is located at 634 Church St., 416-966-3991.

The Abbot turns Monk

The neighbourhood favourite Abbot on the Hill, located on Yonge south of St Clair, has changed their name to the Monk’s Table.

While the loss of a partner is partially behind the change, the major reason is confusion with another Abbot on the Hill, separately owned and located at Yonge and Lawrence.

“We let our patrons choose our new name, asking that it be ecclesiastical (because of our selection of monastic ales) and have something to do with our fare,” says current owner Adam Grant. Along with their new name, the Monk’s Table is now going under the title of “gourmand house” rather than “gastropub,” as it was previously known.

The Monk’s Table is located at 1276 Yonge St., 416-920-7037.

Scuttlebutt

Excitement is building for the third annual Picnic at the Brick Works event slated for early next month, Oct. 4. For this year’s event, each food station will combine a chef with a global food background, a chef specializing in local food traditions and a local farmer. Tickets are $110 per person. Go to www.evergreen.ca for further information.

Chef Christopher Palik, of North York’s popular Italian destination Paese (3829 Bathurst St., 416-631-6585) will soon be harvesting his quarter-acre test farm that will provide local produce for a new harvest menu upcoming at the restaurant.

Stay tuned.

Replacing a legend

12:00 am

THE SIZABLE SHOES left by the closing of long-time dining mecca Boba are tough to fill. Wisely, Zin makes no effort to reproduce the modern continental cuisine of its predecessor.

Instead, the newcomer offers a sophisticated Chinese menu. And although the food is a hit, the service has kinks aplenty.

We opt for the famous patio facing Avenue Road, as we are not about to miss one of the rare lovely evenings in this pitiful summer, but the dining room shows little change from its previous incarnation.

The list of starters is a grab bag: eight of the most familiar dim sum dishes begin the carte, each priced at $4, but we haven’t acquired the habit of eating har gow post sunset. Soups, again, touch the well-worn bases. Hot and sour soup is served with shrimp toast, which we devour as the soup has not arrived and our appetites are primed. However, not only has the soup not appeared, one of our entrees arrives without ceremony or explanation. It is soon removed.

The soup ($7) is excellent and genuinely spicy with only a modicum of cornstarch. Had it not arrived tepid the first time, the joy would have been complete.

One of the many servers to appear tableside recommends the stuffed baked avocado. It is a common luncheon dish, and I am curious as to how the application of heat will affect it. It has been stuffed with a mound of shrimp and crab and gratinéd. Pretty and tasty. I am about to give royal assent to this dish but am distracted by a nagging sweetness. This is not the sugar from a ripe mango but a taste that is artificial. The waiter seeks guidance in locating the offending element and finally informs us that it is the mayonnaise that has bound the fish.

One of the major joys of this evening is the fact that Peking duck is listed as a standard item on the menu. As a rule, it is a dish that must be ordered 24 hours in advance, and, let’s face it, who is that organized? At Zin, it is a two- course production rather than the usual three and is available as a half duck ($28) or whole ($48), allowing even greater flexibility.

“CHEQUE PLEASE”

ZIN
90 Avenue Rd.
416-923-1515
Dinner for two excluding tax, tip and alcohol:
$75

The third time it arrives (there had been two unscheduled deliveries), we are ready. The mahogany half duck sits pristinely on a platter, soon to be accompanied by a steamer basket of delicate rice pancakes. Two side dishes appear — one with batons of cantaloupe and honeydew and the other with shards of green onions and slender carrot sticks. And, of course, hoisin sauce.

The bird is delicately carved, and the server assembles a stuffed pancake for each of us and I swoon. The skin of the bird is so crispy and the roasting is so superb that there is zero fat attached to the crackling.

For the second course, I am obliged to choose to have the remaining duck meat served with fried rice or in noodle soup and I opt for the former. This proves to be a wonderful side dish.

Shrimps in Thai red curry sauce ($22) works well after the duck. Six giant shrimp are swimming in a succulent ocher pool glistening with rivulets of chili oil. Perfect.

Ah, the service. Aside from dishes arriving at the wrong time and temperature, these guys need to relax. When I decide I want another stuffed pancake, the waiter leaps to my side and takes the fork from my hand. Just try to grab another scoop of rice without attracting attention. We have been trained in the free-for- all atmosphere of Chinatown and this formality is cumbersome.

Zin has the potential of being a top-notch restaurant. The kitchen has the skills, but the servers need to match that standard.

From the ground up

12:00 am

WHAT SEEMED LIKE an unfortunate event in the life of Rema Tavares would actually be an opportunity for her to find her life’s calling.

In 2007, Tavares’s graduate program in neurolinguistics was cancelled, and she felt lost and uncertain about her future.

“The one thing I knew,” says the local resident, “was that I wanted to work in the not-for-profit sector.”

After calling her cousin Lara Tavares, who is the founder of Sky’s the Limit, she packed up and moved from a small town outside of Ottawa to Toronto. She became the project co-ordinator for the group, which raises funds to buy refurbished computers for under-resourced youth.

The mission of Sky’s the Limit is to help eliminate that divide and provide young people with the computers they need.

“Most of these kids cannot even afford the Internet, let alone a computer,” Tavares says. “This is a huge challenge as most schools assume kids have computers at home and ask they do homework and research on their home computers.”

“ My favourite part is definitely seeing how excited they are when they get the computers.”

Sky’s the Limit purchases refurbished computers from IBM and distributes them through their partner organizations. While these computers are considerably more affordable, choosing refurbished computers also has positive environmental impacts: reducing the carbon footprint by avoiding the amount of fossil fuels necessary to manufacture new computers as well as diverting used computers from landfills. And while it is important to Tavares to be part of an environmentally conscious organization, it’s the impact that Sky’s the Limit has had on youth that moves her.

“My favourite part is definitely seeing how excited they are when they get the computers,” she says. “Most of them have never received an expensive and big gift before.”

Being able to take part in delivering the computers continues to be the most powerful part of Tavares’s job.

“Going into the students’ homes and seeing where they live and how they live definitely brings you down to earth,” she says. On one day, Tavares delivered computers to a home in Regent Park.

“All the power was off, and there were no emergency lights in the building,” she recalls. “It was completely dark and almost impossible to deliver the computers. All I could think about was that this is the kind of thing these kids go through on a daily basis. It’s so easy to not even think of it.”

Outside of her time with the organization, Tavares enjoys playing soccer, painting and reading in her North York home. She spends a lot of time with her family, who are all involved in Sky’s the Limit.

Tavares isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. She seems to have stumbled upon her destiny and says she sees great things for her future at Sky’s the Limit: “We have already delivered our 1,000th computer and are working toward 2,000 sometime this year,” she says.

Post City Magazines salutes Rema Tavares for diverting computers from landfill to give to local students.

Giving students that extra boost for success

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WHAT SEEMED LIKE an unfortunate event in the life of Rema Tavares would actually be an opportunity for her to find her life’s calling.

In 2007, Tavares’s graduate program in neurolinguistics was cancelled, and she felt lost and uncertain about her future.

“The one thing I knew,” she says, “was that I wanted to work in the not-for-profit sector.”

After calling her cousin Lara Tavares, who is the founder of Sky’s the Limit, she packed up her belongings and moved from a small town outside of Ottawa to Toronto. She became the project co-ordinator for the group, which raises funds to buy refurbished computers for under-resourced youth.

“There’s a term that comes around these days called ‘digital divide.’ It refers to the polarization of society into two groups: those with access to technology and those without,” says Tavares, 26. The mission of Sky’s the Limit is to help eliminate that divide and provide young people with the computers they need.

“ My favourite part is definitely seeing how excited they are when they get the computers.”

While it’s important to Tavares to be a “green” organization, it’s Sky’s the Limit’s impact on youth that moves her:

“My favourite part is definitely seeing how excited they are when they get the computers,” she says. “Most of them have never received an expensive and big gift before.”

Outside of her time with the organization, Tavares plays soccer, paints and reads in her York Mills home. She spends a lot oftimewithherfamily,whoareall involved in Sky’s the Limit.

Tavares is isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“We have already delivered our 1,000th computer and are working toward 2,000 sometime this year,” she says.

Post City Magazines salutes Rema Tavares and Sky’s the Limit for helping students gain access to the resources they need for success.

Make your voice heard

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THE RESOLVE OF the people of Bayview and North Toronto areas was evident during the recent strike. People demonstrated that resolve in many ways, by reducing waste, finding creative ways to store it, by finding alternative solutions to lost daycare and other programs. And in vast numbers, people expressed their opinions in many communications to elected representatives.

Almost everyone would have preferred not to have a strike, particularly in the summer. Your e-mails and calls offered many ideas to deal with the issues it raised and to settle it in a fair manner — although there remain varying views of what is fair.

Private and public sector strikes differ. If General Motors is on strike, you can still buy a Toyota. But in a public sector strike, some services simply have no alternative source, such as issuance of building permits, issuance of licences, enforcement of property standards and delivery of water.

Personnel continued some vital services, but the city shut down others completely. By agreement, some services were deemed essential, such as emergency medical services, and were continued by unionized employees. Some services have alternative sources, like garbage collection, but the city chose not to utilize them.

Another difference is in the cavalier treatment of customers. Generally, you pay whether or not you get services. For example, the city continued to collect taxes everywhere while garbage collection in our area stopped and Etobicoke’s continued. However, with the opposition of Mayor Miller, tax and garbage fee rebates are unlikely. In any event, the recent strike resulted in so many undesirable outcomes that most residents now believe we need new approaches to these matters. I welcome your input at councillor_jenkins@toronto.ca or 416-395-6408.

Infrastructure gets a big boost

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WITH STIMULUS FUNDS delivered, massive city building projects are getting underway with great fanfare. The Union Station overhaul finally has the go- ahead. For drivers, a new route out of downtown opens up when the extension of Simcoe Street to Lakeshore Boulevard will be unveiled. And all three orders of government will be fighting for the shovel, and the credit, when the Sheppard LRT line begins construction.

An equally big project began this past winter without much fanfare, but is just as important as any. The first of 30 projects to improve North York’s storm water management began in Don Valley East in a ravine near Sheppard Avenue East and Leslie Street. Nearing completion as the summer closes, the project replaced a washed out storm water culvert and the water infrastructure leading to the culvert. The new sewer pipes and culvert are now designed to deal with 100-year storms like the one North Yorkers experienced in 2005.

We’ve endured the inconvenience of contractors taking over our streets to flush water mains or reline our sewers. But 2009 will go down in history for the residents surrounding the culvert project at Sheppard and Leslie as ‘the summer to forget,’ due to the invasive nature of the project. A review of the project is now required.

The greatly improved culvert is now fully installed. It absorbed all of the extreme rains of Aug. 8 and 9. But the city owes it to the remaining residents waiting for basement flooding mitigation projects to conduct a thorough review of the first job done. I will be requesting this review in September. Future contracts must include more safeguards and greater sensitivity to the families and children who live alongside these projects.

Nina Dobrev

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NINA DOBREV’S FIRST words from her cellphone, which she’s using to call from Atlanta, Ga., are a clear indicator of just how quickly this young actor’s star is rising.

“I just got this car, and I’m really excited about it,” she says, as she drives the new Audi to work. “It’s my first car,” she says with pride. “I’ve never had a car before. I’ve always driven my mom’s Toyota Corolla.”

But for Nina Dobrev, there’s a lot more than a new car to be excited about.

The 20-year-old brunette is driving her pride and joy (“It’s triple black — black in every way except there’s a silver trim”) to the set of The Vampire Diaries, a teen TV drama set to premiere this fall. On top of that, September will mark the world premiere of her latest film, Chloe, at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, directed by Atom Egoyan, stars veteran actors Liam Neeson, and Julianne Moore as well as up- and-comer Amanda Seyfried.

Chloe, a remake of a French film called Nathalie, is about a successful doctor (Moore) who suspects her husband (Neeson) is cheating on her. She hires an escort (Seyfried) in an effort to procure information about her husband. Nobrev plays Anna, the girlfriend of Moore’s character’s friend, Michael. The actress said she couldn’t help being a little star- struck working with such heavy weights as Neeson.

“C’mon,” she says, “Schindler’s List? Unbelievable. I never thought I would work with him.” Neeson’s name made headlines during filming when his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, died in hospital after sustaining a head injury while taking a ski lesson in Quebec this past March.

“Unfortunately, because of the tragedy that happened with his wife, while we were shooting, all the scenes were cut out that we were supposed to do,” Dobrev says. “But I got to meet him, and it was a huge pleasure and he was so sweet and so wonderful to be around, and Julianne Moore was just the same.”

Nobrev only has kind words for the star of the film, Amanda Seyfried. “Amanda and I are friends now, but she’s such an incredible actress, and she’s someone I was star-struck about, too,” she says. “I mean, c’mon, Mean Girls? Mamma Mia!? She was unreal.”

Though Dobrev is in awe of her colleagues’ accomplishments and talent, this young starlet isn’t far from joining their ranks.

Just three years ago, Dobrev was both a high school student and an athlete, competing heavily in rhythmic and aesthetic gymnastics (“It’s like synchronized swimming, only with gymnastics”) with the Canadian Aesthetic Gymnastics team at a Bayview club near Leslie Street and York Mills Road.

“I loved the competitive aspects, and I loved the physical and social aspects of it,” Dobrev says. “A lot of my friends were doing it, and it was fun, it was dancing, it was performing, but it was still a challenge. The training was really intense — anywhere from three to four hours, six days a week.”

Combined with being a theatre student at Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts, performing in front of audiences was a regular part of life for the high school student. When acting coach Dean Armstrong of Toronto’s Armstrong Acting Studio, came to her school to teach a workshop on on-camera studies, she was hooked. Dobrev signed up for private lessons with the acting coach. Soon after, she was ready to embark on her career, with agents and several auditions lined up.

“I auditioned for three things within a week and ended up getting all three things,” Dobrev says.

The jobs were nothing to scoff at: a role as Mia Jones in the Canadian television series Degrassi: The Next Generation and two smaller parts. The first, in Jeremy Podeswa’s Fugitive Pieces, based on the Anne Michaels’ novel, and another part in Sarah Polley’s award-winning directorial debut, Away from Her, alongside Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie.

“I shot them in February, March and April of that same year,” Dobrev recalls. “I was still in high school. It was kind of crazy, the first year while I was doing it. Degrassi started airing and stuff, and things got kind of different — I was on TV and my friends would poke fun at me about it.”

Dobrev had to hire a tutor so that she’d be able to graduate with a high school diploma.

“I basically went back just for prom at the end of the year,” Dobrev remembers. “And it was really fun, but at the same time it felt kind of weird because I felt like I’d missed out on a lot of inside jokes. It was a little odd but I gained a lot of experience that I otherwise wouldn’t have.”

Dobrev has appeared in several other television projects since then, including Eleventh Hour and The Border. Then, this past January, she gave up her Toronto apartment to make the big move to Los Angeles, just in time for pilot season in TV land, where she landed a job almost immediately as the lead in The Vampire Diaries.

If the enormous success of films such as Twilight and the HBO series True Blood is any indication, the newest in vampire entertainment should also be a success. Dobrev plays Elena, who, after being involved in a car accident that kills both of her parents, loses interest in the popular crowd of which she was once queen. Soon, she meets the dark and brooding Stefan, who, of course, turns out to be a vampire. When his jealous brother gets thrown into the mix, things get really complicated.

“It’s a really fun show and has a lot of different aspects,” Dobrev says. “It’s sexy, it’s exciting, there’s a lot of action, there’s a lot of blood, there’re funny parts, there are light moments and dark moments.”

Despite being too busy to visit home quite yet, Dobrev has big plans to make the rounds to her favourite places in Toronto this month when she’ll hopefully have time to come to the film festival.

“Oh my God!I have so many favourite things to do,” she says. “There’s one place right around the corner from my old house, called Johnny’s Hamburger. It’s a hole in the wall; they haven’t renovated since probably the ’40s; and the burgers are massively huge and really cheap and really yummy.”

Dobrev says she also can’t come to Toronto without visiting the Drake Hotel and Café Crepe.

“I have a massive sweet tooth for a banana, Nutella, coconut crepe,” she says.

It’s OK, though, because with her brand new car, the family and friends will come to her.

“My parents are so excited,” she says. “And my brother was, like, ‘Whoa! I wanna come visit and drive your car,’ so he’s going to come, and he’s going to check it out.”

Project showcases young artists

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A RUNNING DEER, a chickadee peacefully sitting, a frog playing while a caterpillar quietly creeps, these are the subjects of three wonderful paintings created by young Torontonians, winners and contestants of Robert Bateman’s annual Get to Know Art contest, now featured in Duplex Parkette.

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to come and see this wall of art recently, I encourage you to do so. The newest mural, painted by six-year-old Truman Wood Lockyer and eight-year-old Philip Nicoletti, is a delightful addition to the work that has been on display since last summer.

This unique feature of Duplex Parkette began through a partnership with Robert Bateman and the City of Toronto’s Clean and Beautiful program. For almost 10 years, Bateman has undertaken a variety of initiatives to encourage young Canadians to get to know nature, including an art contest.

In addition to having winning work featured in a calendar, some of the Toronto-based entries will also have their work displayed in our park.

The project is a fantastic way to showcase the talent and imagination of young people as well as making our public spaces even more beautiful. The intention is to add a new mural each year.

Regrettably, the retaining wall upon which the murals are hung has been a magnet for graffiti and vandalism. On several occasions, our office has teamed up with police from 53 Division and students from Glenview Senior Public School to repaint the wall. Efforts were even made to plant vines on the wall to deter future vandalism, but with little success.

To protect this lovely feature of Duplex Parkette, I ask you to report any graffiti to my office, and we will ensure that it gets cleaned up. But most importantly, take a walk in Duplex Parkette and enjoy the creative landscape.

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