Simply Divas 2012 wrap up

The seventh Simply Divas event to benefit Family Association for Mental Health Everywhere (FAME) took place at The Great Hall a couple of weeks ago and it was just as fabulous as ever. It was my second year there. Read everything I’ve published about the event in my blog.

This year’s post-event wrap up is going to be short because I arrived late and wandered between the performance area (spectacular again!) and food and silent auction area (ditto!) so I didn’t give myself the full experience and took few photos.

Here are some highlights:

• Danica Brown and chef Carmone Accogli of The Big Ragu – also a Juno Award running musician, I learned at the event – did fantastic jobs as co-hosts. You can watch video of the two of them performing the Ika and Tina cover version of Proud Mary. The video was taken by Danica’s father. I found it when I googled “Simply Divas”.
• It was great to see many chefs return from last year, chefs such as Chef Pepe Hadid from Frida Restaurant, Chef Jose Arato of Pimenton and Chef Pedro Quintanilla from Bloom Restaurant. It was also great to see new faces, such as Matt Basile of Fidel Gastro’s serving a trio of sandwiches.
• Chef Rossy Earle knocked it out of the park with her salted dulce de leche tarts with bacon. It’s nearly 3 weeks later and I remember how buttery that tart shell was. She made it with local Stirling Creamery butter. Seriously, I rarely remember this stuff. I need to take notes or rely on other people’s accounts. Rossy’s dessert made a lasting impression.
• This year’s 4 “divas”, singing hit as Ella Fitzgerald, Tracy Chapman, Adele (of course), Linda Ronstadt, Janis Joplin, Gloria Estefan, Anne Murray and Maria Callas did a great job, along with their back up singers and the band, and the “pillbox hat girls” and “dashing dudes”.
• “Dashing Dude” (that’s what they’re called, the boys in tuxes) Richard seemed surprised that I remembered his Lady Gaga performances last year. I said, “I’m sure you’ve been hearing this all afternoon, but I still remember…” but, no.
• Host Danica Brown sang a moving medley alongside a video that paid tribute to female artists that we lost this year and in years passed. Today we can add another to the list of female artists lost, as Donna Summer lost her battle with lung cancer today. She was covered at Simply Divas in 2010 in a performance of Hot Stuff (have I mentioned that the singers are high school students?)
• Christine Cooper, Executive Director of FAME, gave a speech that nearly made me cry. She pointed around the room and related the mental health stats to what we could tangibly see.

Photos and video from last year here.

Videos on YouTube from “Simply Divas” search.

I’m thrilled to report that this year the event raised $31k, which topped last year’s total.

Here are some mental health stats from the Canadian Mental Health Association:

• Mental illness indirectly affects all Canadians at some time through a family member, friend or colleague.
• 20% of Canadians will personally experience a mental illness in their lifetime.
• Mental illness affects people of all ages, educational and income levels, and cultures.
• Approximately 8% of adults will experience major depression at some time in their lives.
• About 1% of Canadians will experience bipolar disorder (or “manic depression”).
• Schizophrenia affects 1% of the Canadian population.
• Anxiety disorders affect 5% of the household population, causing mild to severe impairment.
• Suicide accounts for 24% of all deaths among 15-24 year olds and 16% among 25-44 year olds.
• Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in both men and women from adolescence to middle age.
• The mortality rate due to suicide among men is four times the rate among women.

Again,  I encourage you to make a donation to FAME. I’ve pledged $50 and I’m going to up that to $100. If you’ve donated, let me know in the comments, or go donate and then let me know,

Read all the tweets, via Storify, embedded here behind the cut:

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Food Revolution Day is This Saturday! Participate now!

WHO is taking part?

Schools, businesses, chefs, restaurants and food lovers all over the world will take part, and we’d love you to get involved too. Food Revolution Day is open to anyone in the world who wants to take the steps towards a healthier lifestyle and better education. You can raise awareness and fundraise for food education programs by hosting or attending Food Revolution Day events, which will focus on locally sourced, fresh food and promote the need for better food education. If you have food knowledge to share, why don’t you create a local food event, find an event near you to attend or have some fun by hosting a dinner party.

WHAT is it?

Food Revolution Day is a chance for people who love food to come together to share information, talents and resources; to pass on their knowledge and highlight the world’s food issues. All around the globe, people will work together to make a difference. It is about connecting with your community through events at schools, restaurants, local businesses, dinner parties and farmers’ markets. We want to inspire change in people’s food habits and to promote the mission for better food and education for everyone.

WHEN is it?

This Saturday, May 19, 2012

WHERE is it happening?

In a word, EVERYWHERE.

Food Revolution Day will happen in kitchens, homes and communities around the world. On village greens and in dining rooms, in restaurants and gardens (and in my case, around a fire on a camp ground), it will spark conversations about real food and inspire people to take steps towards a healthier lifestyle.

See below for a list of events happening in and around Toronto.

WHY have a day of action?

Worldwide, obesity has more than doubled since 1980. For the first time in history, being overweight is killing more people than being underweight, and at least 2.8 million adults around the world die each year as a result of being overweight or obese. We need to get back to basics and start thinking about where our food comes from. We need to become a conscious community and understand the food choices we make on a daily basis. We can do this by improving food education.

Encouraging people to cook from scratch at home is at the heart of this. We all have family and friends who could make better food choices. On Food Revolution Day we can work together to empower people with the skills to improve their diet. Making simple changes to our food choices will improve our quality of life and our children’s. Forty-two million children under five are already obese and we need to reverse this. Let’s make some noise, raise our voices together and have a lasting and positive impact on their lives and ours. Food Revolution Day is our opportunity to get the world to focus on food issues and rally our efforts to bring food education back into schools.

HOW can you participate immediately?

• Visit the Food Revolution website.
• Download free Food Revolution eBooks (tool kits), web banners, logos, promotional material and dinner party starter kit – which, by the way, is brilliant.
• Blog about it. Tweet about it. Share it on Facebook and Pinterest. Share this blog post with all your social networking accounts. There’s a handy set of icons with links below this post, next to the words “share this”, or use this handy Twitter link.
• Follow the Food Revolution on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Google+
• DONATE to the cause. Funds will go towards Jamie’s foundation projects in the UK, US and Australia. More information here.

Events in Toronto and the surrounding area*

*Based on a search of my postal code (midtown Toronto). Enter yours here.

This is a good time for you to read (or re-read) the article that I wrote about Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolution for Bamboo Magazine, in which I also detailed some local initiatives.

Related articles

• May 19 is Food Revolution Day (ted.com)
• Food Revolution Day Cooking Up a Global Food Festival Like No Other (Huffington Post)
• The Renegade Lunch Lady Celebrates Food Revolution Day Throughout May (Huffington Post)
• Food Revolution Day – stand up for REAL FOOD with me! (Eat.Live.Travel.Write.)
• Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day Inspires Millions Worldwide to Stand Up for Real Food (Market Watch/PR newswire)
• Jamie Oliver Talks About Food Revolution Day and Why You Should Participate! (blogher.com)

 Tell me: What will you be doing on Food Revolution Day?

Do you know Dingo? Get it & enter to win $200 for restaurant dining

I wanted to title this post “D-I-N-G-O and Dingo is its name-o” but sometimes I like to forgo the humourous titles for descriptive ones, and then proceeded to change the title multiple times. Good luck getting that song out of your head though. It’s been in mine for a few days.¹

What is Dingo?

Dingo is a local events network that connects and activates businesses, brands, consumers and content experts. It’s a new way for people to find out what events are going in their city and a new way for businesses to track them from start-to-finish.

Share events and plans with your friends and fans. Check out who’s going where and who’s already there.

There are two components, website and iPhone app:

The website lets you search real-time local events based on type, place, popularity and Maven recommendations (see “What’s a maven?” below). Find and post new events. Earn exclusive social rewards. The site’s proprietary Facebook Integration allows users to import a pre-filtered set of friends based on their current city and relationship, share events with them and see who plans on going. You select which friends to connect with.

The app allows you to take this with you. In addition to all the functionality of the website, you can find events based on your location and real-time friend recommendations, using Dingo’s Love it Now! feature. You can also view and share live photos and track an event’s popularity by the minute.

How to Dingo:

1. Login. You will need a Facebook account. For that, I’m sorry. (I know that some people aren’t on Facebook but I didn’t develop the app.)
2. Post an event – any event, it doesn’t have to be something you organized. It can be one you discovered online or on a telephone poll. You post the details in 500 characters or less. (Tip: I often type in a URL for more information.) Attach an event flyer if you’d like.
3. Click on the checkbox that says if you’re going. If you don’t the event listing will say that you recommend it.
4. While at the event, you can check in to let your contacts know that you’re there and you can upload photos in real time to show people what they’re missing.

The process is simple.

Explaining Dingo in another way, meet Kelly:

What’s a maven?

A maven is a trusted expert who seeks to pass knowledge on to others. The word maven comes from Hebrew, via Yiddish, and means one who understands, based on an accumulation of knowledge. Malcolm Gladwell used the term in his book The Tipping Point to describe those who are intense gatherers of information and impressions, and so are often the first to pick up on new or nascent trends.

Dingo Mavens are part of a network of local experts. Every city has an existing base of powerful social influencers and Dingo connects, empowers and cross-promotes them. Mavens help Dingo aggregate, curate and create content.

I feel honoured to be selected. (One of my inner voices is singing, “I am so smart, s-m-r-t” a la Homer Simpson.)

CONTEST!

ALL THIS MONTH go out and have fun eating your way through Toronto’s Events this month. Tell your friends about the contest and see who posts the best momentary lapse of dining etiquette (Dingo’s words, not mine). The winning photo will be selected by The Grid’s photo editor Shelbie Vermette. You pick the winning restaurant.

Login. Go out. Get dingo.

¹Because I’m a horrible generous person who likes to share my ear worms:

There was a farmer who had a dog,

And Bingo was his name-o.

B-I-N-G-O

B-I-N-G-O

B-I-N-G-O

And Bingo was his name-o.

(And if you want to listen, here it is. I feel no need to to embed another video in this post.)

100 Mile Mother’s Day Buffet Brunch at Wychwood Barns

Image credit: Nuria, age 6 of Wychwood Barns Childrens' Art Studio

The Works Danforth NOW OPEN in Toronto. Eat free this Thursday

Grand opening

The newest location of The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro has its official opening tomorrow (Thursday, May 3, 2012) at 888 Danforth, and you’re invited!

The Works believes in giving back to their communities and so each time they open a new location they select a neighbourhood charity as a beneficiary.

As usual, to mark the grand opening, their entire menu will be free (no alcohol, as they won’t have a liquor license until Friday). In exchange, they ask that patrons make a donation to nearby Pape Food Bank. The promotion runs from 11 AM to 2 PM and from 5 PM to 8 PM.

If you’re there tomorrow and you tweet, use the hashtag “#burgercraving”.

What’s in a name?

I was there last month for “naming day”. As a lot of the burgers have different names in each location to “localize” them, I noticed many changes. For example, the “Johnny Be Goat” burger that I ate last month is now the “‘Lite’ Favourite”, named after local radio station CHFI’s tag line, though the “SK8R Boy” (peanut butter, jack cheese and strip bacon) remains named the same.

Other local names:

Nods to neighbourhoods: “A Walk in High Park” has grilled wild mushrooms and gouda cheese. “Bloor West Village is topped with grilled eggplant, ripe tomato, red onion and curry mayo. “Distillery District” has Danish blue cheese, walnut chunks and dijon-haze sause. An ode to Chinatown, “Sum Yung Guy” (funnier to me because I’d just re-watched Wayne’s World the evening prior) is spread with cream cheese, caramelized onions, gouda and bacon. Other neighbourhoods include “Little Italy” and Taste of the Danforth (of course).

Tributes to local sports teams: The “Jay’s Ballgame Blowout” has blue cheese and double smoked bacon with a clever menu description; The Leafs Nation” is reminiscent of Buffalo chicken a bun; and The Stanley Cup burger… well, you have to look at the menu.

References to local celebrities (entertainment and politician): “Fly By Night” (which I believe makes this the second restaurant in the city to pay tribute to Geddy Lee on their menu); “Sexy Sarah Polley Burger” which, for reasons unknown and I wish I’d thought to ask, is circled in the menu; “Neil Young”; “Mercer’s Burger Report”, “Kids in the Hall”, “The STRATUSfying Burger” for Trish Stratus; “Mel Lastman” and Jack Layton. Also burgers with less-obvious nods to The Barenaked Ladies, Ben Mulroney (he named his own and it’s not called the “Ben Mulroney”) and Christopher Plummer.

Breakfast Television and The Grid got burgers named for them.

Locations are referenced in menu names too: “Crappy Tire“. “Union Station” “YYZ”, “Let’s Go to the Ex”.

I’m sure I’m missing some in this giant menu that I’m reading. I had wondered why there was no “Degrassi Burger” until one of the owners pointed out the “Dirty Snake”, named by Degrassi’s Stefan Brogren.

What’s in a bun?

As I noted here, there are 6 different types of patties to choose from: Beef, chicken, turkey, veggie, Portobello mushroom cap and domestic elk. Yesterday I tried the elk and found it moist, though a little more done than I like.

The beauty was the bun itself. I ordered the gluten-free one so that I could report back. Shockingly it was light and fluffy with a hint of sweetness that reminded me of a milk bun, though it was clearly made from white rice flour. I usually remove the top bun from burgers because I find it redundant but I ate most of this one.

Also of note:

Onion rings come as a “Tower-O-Rings” and poutine comes in a trough like metal bucket.

When they have their liquor license  it will be a nice place to drink. As I mentioned in my previous post, they strive to use Canadian products as much as possible. Their beer list is Moosehead lager, Hop City’s Mr. Huff pilsner & Barking Squirrel, Cracked Canoe, and Amsterdam’s 416 urban wheat. Their short wine list has wines from Hillebrand and Trius (both are the same winery), Peller Estates and Crush pinot grigio VQA.

Despite 50 flavours to choose from, I skipped the milkshake (seemed too rich) and got an “Upper Canada College Crush”, which is kind of like a fruit smoothie. I don’t know why they named it after Upper Canada College but I had 2 boyfriends who went to UCC.

After a meal of poutine (I barely made a dent in it), burger and sweet potato fries (also barely a dent) I needed nap, or a walk. Walking along the Danforth from 888 to Broadview I noticed the many burger places, some of which I’d never noticed before. As I’ve said before, people love burgers. Burgers are ubiquitous. I believe that there’s room for all of these places and that all will be busy. I look forward to opening of the next to locations of The Works in The Beach and Bloor West.

Being Ocean Wise might be easier than you think

Overfishing is the number one problem facing the world’s oceans.

The world’s marine life is quickly being depleted. An estimated 90% of all large, predatory fish are already gone from the world’s oceans. A recent scientific study predicted a world-wide fisheries collapse by 2048. The only solution is to begin consuming seafood in a sustainable manner. Other issues that plague our marine environment include bycatch and habitat damage.

Sustainable seafood can be defined as species that are caught or farmed in a way that ensures the long-term health and stability of that species, as well as the greater marine ecosystem.

As “Andrea the Gastronaut”, part of my food philosophy is about eating ethically. It’s reflected largely in what I eat, how I live and in my volunteer activities (e.g. I’m part of a committee a synagogue that helped the synagogue become the first in North America to adopt a Sustainable Food Initiative). I don’t always eat ethically, but I like it when doing so is an easy choice. I mean, why wouldn’t you eat ethically? Why is eating unethically even an option? For this and other reasons, I’m a big fan of Ocean Wise. I’ve written about them a bit before (posts that appear blank used to contain images that got lost in transit from one WordPress database to the next when I changed website hosts).

Ocean Wise is a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program created to educate and empower consumers about the issues surrounding sustainable seafood. Ocean Wise works directly with restaurants, markets, food services and suppliers ensuring that they have the most current scientific information regarding seafood and helping them make ocean-friendly buying decisions. The options are highlighted on their menus and display cases with the Ocean Wise symbol, making it easier for consumers to make environmentally friendly seafood choices. The Ocean Wise logo next to a menu or seafood item is an assurance that the item is a good choice for keeping ocean life healthy and abundant for generations to come.

Ocean Wise choices are species that are:

• Abundant and resilient to fishing pressure
• Managed as part of a comprehensive plan based on current research
• Harvested in ways that limit bycatch of other, possibly endangered species
• Harvested in ways that limit damage to ocean habitats.

Ocean Wise currently works with over 450 partners across Canada at more than 3,100 locations including a total of approximately 53 restaurant, supplier, and retail partners in the Greater Toronto Area. This includes 27 restaurants, 10 suppliers, three retail/markets, and 13 other partners (culinary schools, institutes of higher learning, private clubs, etc.). You can find an Ocean Wise partner near you with their iPhone app. The app also allows you to see up-to-date seafood recommendations and lets you search and browse different seafood species.

On Thursdays local chefs officially welcomed new Ocean Wise partner Luma to this group with a tasting event called Tides of Change, at which Luma Restaurant’s executive chef Jason Bangerter featured original dishes inspired by ocean-friendly seafood across Canada. I was there.

Chef Bangerter’s menu

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Upcoming event: Muskoka Brewery’s Hidden Kitchen, Southern BBQ edition

Muskoka Brewery’s Hidden Kitchen, Southern BBQ edition hosted by Ivy Knight and Chef Matt Kantor with special guest Jason Rees.

Hidden Kitchen is a monthly exclusive culinary and craft beer experience, limited to 40 guests. This month, Matt and Jason are finally cooking together! They’re both incredibly talented in their respective specialties.* Muskoka brews some really tasty beers.

This month, the day after tomorrow: Loaded plates of the best smoked meat. Sides of okra and cornbread, the complete selection of Muskoka’s beers. Six course dinner.

I like The Grid’s most recent headline about the dinner: “Esteemed chef Matt Kantor and BBQ champ Jason Rees collaborate on a deliciously hush-hush six-course meal.” Tickets are almost sold out, but there are still a few left. Get yours today! (Links to email.) Location to be revealed on Wednesday.

*I may be a bit biased. Have I mentioned that I’m friends with Matt and that Jason is my significant other? I’m a lucky girl.

Brought to you by Muskoka Brewery and Swallow.