Strawberries are a sure sign of summer, so head on over to the St. Lawrence Market to celebrate with the Market’s annual Strawberry Festival! Today from 10am until 1pm, you’ll have the opportunity to sample chocolate-dipped strawberries, grown by the Market’s farmers (well, the strawberries are grown by the farmers – the chocolate isn’t quite so home grown!) This annual festival is free, so revel in the taste of summer!
For more information go to www.stlawrencemarket.com!
One of the most delicious events of the year, the 12th Annual Taste of Little Italy gets started today! Continuing until Sunday, June 19th, this much-anticipated event takes place on College Street between Bathurst and Shaw. Catch musical performances, enjoy the wares of crafters/artisans, and of course, don’t miss your opportunity to taste the well-loved food of the Little Italy neighbourhood! Participating restaurants include Teatro, I Feel Like Crepe, La Forchetta Ristorante, Urban Thai, Golden Wheat Bakery and Pasta, LOL and many more!
For more information on Taste of Little Italy, go to www.tasteoflittleitaly.ca.
What’s the best way to eat gourmet meals while sticking to a grocery budget? By using one ingredient in multiple different ways! In this “hands on cooking class,” Chef Geraldine Cutajar will teach you how you can use a chicken to make multiple different meals. Learn how to make a perfectly roasted chicken, which can then be used to make chicken stock and a delicious roasted chicken salad!
The two-hour cooking class is hosted by the St. Lawrence Market Kitchen, and starts at 6pm. To register, call 416-860-0727, or email kitchen@stlawrencemarket.com. This class is $65 per person.
Ever wonder which snake has the longest fangs? Or what the difference is between venom and poison? You’ll find the answers to these questions and many others at the Ontario Science Centre’s exhibition, Reptiles: The Beautiful and the Deadly.
At this exhibition you’ll come eye-to-eye with living reptiles from all corners of the earth; meet deadly snakes, brightly coloured lizards. and even alligators and crocodiles! You’ll learn interesting reptile facts, and grow to appreciate this often misunderstood class of creatures.
Reptiles: The Beautiful and the Deadly continues until September 5, 2011. Entrance to this exhibit is included in the admission to the Ontario Science Centre ($20 for adults, $13 for kids, and $16 for students, youths, and seniors). Enjoy this and other Ontario Science Centre exhibits from 10am until 5pm every day of the week. For more information, go to www.ontariosciencecentre.ca!
The sequel to the hilarious “Women Fully Clothed,” “Women Fully Clothed: Older and Hotter” presents Robin Duke, Jayne Eastwood, Kathryn Greenwood and Teresa Pavlinek, called “the funniest women in Canada” by Eugene Levy. The show explores everything from mother/daughter relationships to cross-border shopping to craft shows, making the ordinary extraordinarily funny!
“Women Fully Clothed: Older and Hotter” starts today at the Royal Alexandra Theatre and continues until June 19th. Tonight’s performance is at 7:30pm; tickets range in price from $39 to $64. For more information or to purchase tickets, check out www.mirvish.com/shows/womenfulyclothed!
Starting today and continuing until June 19th, this year’s NXNE (North By Northeast) Festival and Conference promises to present the best Canadian and indie talent around. With 650 bands, 40 films, and 50 panels, NXNE 2011 is bigger and better than ever! With alumni such as Broken Social Scene, Feist, Black Rebel Motorcyle Club, Sufjan Stevents, K-os, Ron Sexsmith, Billy Talent, Blue Rodeo, Great Lake Swimmers, Hidden Cameras, K’naan, Kathleen Edwards and many more, you never know what “next big” artist/band you’ll be witnessing before they’re catapulted into fame!
There are all kinds of passes and wristbands to purchase to make sure you get the most out of NXNE; a Priority Pass goes for $200 online, giving you priority access to all NXNE club shows, film screenings and afternoon interactive sessions. You can purchase a 5-day or 1-day wristband, a Film Festival wristband, an Interactive pass (for the 3-day interactive conference from June 16th-18th), attend Workshops, or get the “Mundo Combo” which includes a Priority Pass, Interactive Pass, and all Workshops for the full NXNE experience! Of course, you can also buy tickets for specific shows.
For more information, a full schedule of performances, and the opportunity to buy wristbands and passes online, go to http://nxne.com!
“Pairing cuisine and compassion,” Toronto Taste celebrates our city’s top chefs and beverage purveyors while raising support for Second Harvest.
Second Harvest is a non-profit organization that picks up donated perishable food which would otherwise go to waste, and then delivers that food to social service agencies across Toronto. Proceeds raised by Toronto Taste support Second Harvest’s delivery program, enabling the charitable organization to provide more than 16,000 meals to hungry Torontonians each day.
Tickets for Toronto Taste are $250 with a tax receipt issued for $125. The event takes place at the Royal Ontario Museum, and is guaranteed to satisfy your taste buds and your conscious as you help to put meals on the table of your fellow city-dwellers, while indulging in the gastronomic adventure of the year! For more information, go to www.torontotaste.ca.
Here’s an event that both you and your four-legged friend will appreciate – Woofstock in St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood! Today and tomorrow, dogs of all breeds and sizes will gather with their owners to participate in this “wildly popular doggie love-in!” Toronto’s Woofstock is the largest outdoor festival for dogs in this continent – admission is free, so bring Fido along, and get ready for a day of puppy love!
Woofstock events include a Fashion Show, Dog Trick Contest, Ms. & Mr. Canine Canada Pageant, Best Costume Contest, K9 Rescue Me Walk-A-Thon, and the incredible Purina Pro Plan Dog Stars. You and your pup can win great prizes, meet some new friends (two-legged and four-legged), and participate in the (doggy) social event of the year! To learn more about Woofstock, go to www.woofstock.ca!
A multi-disciplinary celebration of the arts, Luminato fills Toronto’s streets, stages, and public spaces with creativity. Throughout the ten day festival, you can catch theatre and dance performances, witness stunning visual art and film, or enjoy fashion and magic as you’ve never seen them before. Luminato embraces artists from across the world, encouraging collaboration as creative expressions emerge from the partnership of artists from different mediums and different cultures.
Luminato includes free and ticketed performances, making it accessible no matter what your summer festival budget! Today’s free events include “The Luminato Reel” – a screening of short and feature-length films; “Sargasso” – an installation by a a visionary architect answering the question “could architecture come alive?” in the Allen Lambert Galleria; “Habit” – a collaboration of live theatre, reality TV and visual arts; “My Name is Raj” – a celebration of Indian film pioneer Raj Kapoor ; “Garden of Roses: Denis Gagnon Interprets Alice” – a line of fashion inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and much more! The fun is just getting started today – the festival continues until June 19th!
For more information, and a full listing of events throughout the whole festival, go to www.luminato.com!
You’re invited to our final Design Talk before we take a break for the summer: Planning for Your Home – Effective Lighting! Lucy Campos-Gentile, Principal Interior Designer at TO Design Co will introduce us to different aspects of lighting as we aim to help you create a well-balanced space.
Lighting seems to be a relatively simple problem to solve; if a corner is dark, you add a lamp, right? There’s actually a lot more to it than that. Different spaces require different types of light fixtures, and different needs demand different solutions. Lucy will teach us about different types of light, bulbs, and light fixtures; lighting for function, decoration, ambiance, and safety; the effect of light on colour; how to choose light fixtures to save energy; and designing with lighting in mind.
Join us on June 9, 2011 at Urban Mode at 7:00pm for the finale of our 2010/2011 Design Talks series (don’t worry, we’ll be back in September with more great speakers and design topics)!
About the Speaker:
Lucy Campos-Gentile started working in Interior Design over fifteen years ago. In the first two years of her career, she worked in largely corporate, retail, and hospitality design. When she was hired by a builder to work in the residential field of the market, her career shifted, and she later started her own design firm, TO DESIGN CO.
TO DESIGN CO is a full-service interior design firm specializing in home renovations, additions, new construction, and remodeling. Lucy provides design services around the GTA including project planning, drawings, project management, and trade supervision. Lucy plans with her clients using a full range of samples and detailed specifications, floor plans, architectural drawings and 3D models, then manages projects, overseeing the selection and purchasing of furniture, products, and materials. TO DESIGN CO clients need only to express their design wants and needs, approve the resulting plans, then enjoy the wonders of a well-designed space that offers function, style and balance!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Thursday, June 9th @ 7pm
Urban Mode—145 Tecumseth St
(Just south of Queen St West)
Spaces are limited. Purchase your ticket at http://effectivelighting.eventbrite.com today to avoid disappointment!
Follow www.designtalks.ca/ and check out our “HW Design Talks” Facebook group for upcoming events and more!