OCT/NOV 2021
There’s no food like comfort food
PLUS! A vegetarian Thanksgiving they’ll gobble up P 74 Louise Penny’s killer instinct + 47 of the season’s best books P 46 A beginner’s guide to weed gummies P 64
Every kid grows up thinking they can change the world. We’re counting on it.
All young Canadians should have the chance to reach their highest potential. That’s why we’re helping remove financial barriers and investing in their future, Canada’s future. Over the last five years, we’ve offered nearly 1,800 scholarships to youth attending post-secondary education. And since 2017, we’ve awarded 300 grants to organizations making a difference in the lives of thousands of youth.
Through the Ted Rogers Scholarships and Community Grants, we’re supporting youth as they continue their education and develop the skills to succeed, lead, and make their dreams possible. Learn more at Rogers.com/GenerationPossible.
Eight women reclaiming their stories. P 12
Contents
Oct/Nov
Volume 94, Issue #07
chatelaine.com
81
Home 32 Notes How to buy a couch without sitting on it first. This lip balm is a reader fave. P 19
34 Artists in residence A creative family turned their Manitoba home into a sanctuary for work and play.
74 Meatless feast
Health
A turkey-free Thanksgiving menu they’ll gobble up.
42 Silent timer
82 All caps
Most women will suffer from fibroids—but for Black women, the threat is greater and more insidious.
Four recipes showcasing the mighty mushroom.
88 Apple watch A classic cocktail gets a fall spin.
45 Notes A new website helps navigate the maze of breast cancer screening guidelines.
Life
89 Down to earth Fresh new ideas for root vegetables, all grounded in deliciousness.
94 The dinner plan
We’ve added icons to indicate products from brands that are Canadian and/or owned by Black people, Indigenous people or people of colour (BIPOC). CANADIAN
4
BIPOC-OWNED
In every issue
60 The uncanny optimism of Louise Penny
6 Editor’s letter
11 Agenda
The bestselling mystery writer from Knowlton, Que., is always looking for the bright side.
8 You tell us
Style 18 Notes Why there’s no better time to try laser hair removal, reader beauty reviews and more.
CHECK THIS OUT
Five easy weeknight meals.
Hit the couch with one of fall’s best new books.
Notebook Your month in culture.
Every one of our recipes is tested multiple times to make sure it’s delicious and foolproof.
46 What to read now
98 Humour How I’m embracing fall.
64 A guide for the gummy curious Everything you need to know about weed gummies.
Food
20 Are you ready for knits? Chic picks for sweater weather.
70 Notes
21 Reinvention tour
Pink mushrooms, Canadian salt and more.
Want to refresh your wardrobe? Find a good tailor. Here, six gorgeously refreshed pieces and the stories behind them.
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1011
72 Racism is bad for business Many Chinese-Canadian restaurants are struggling to survive.
ON THE COVER Photography by Erik Putz; creative direction by Sun Ngo; food styling by Ashley Denton; prop styling by Christine Hanlon.
ADVERTISING Managing Director, Sales TRACY MILLER tracy.miller@stjoseph.com Sales Manager NICOLE ROSEN nicole.rosen@stjoseph.com
MAUREEN HALUSHAK EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
SUN NGO CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Deputy Editor GILLIAN GRACE Executive Editor DENISE BALKISSOON Senior Editor CHANTAL BRAGANZA (ON LEAVE) Senior Editor, Style and Beauty ANDRÉANNE DION Associate Editor RADIYAH CHOWDHURY Assistant Editor ISABELLE DOCTO CHATELAINE KITCHEN Food Content Director IRENE NGO ART Art Director STEPHANIE HAN KIM Deputy Art Director AIMEE NISHITOBA PRODUCTION In-House Photographers ERIK PUTZ, CHRISTIE VUONG Digital Colour Specialist NICOLE DUPLANTIS Production Manager JOYCELYN TRAN CONTRIBUTORS AMINA AL-SAIGH, ALI AMAD, NAOKO ASANO, LEANDRO AVANCO, RICHELLE BERGEN, DONNA BOROOAH, NADIA BROPHY, CHAD BURTON, CHELSEA CHARLES, LEEANDRA CIANCI, ALICIA COX THOMSON, FLANNERY DEAN, ASHLEY DENTON, EMILY EVANS, MERCEDES FINDLAY, JAKE TOBIN GARRETT, LYNETTE GIESBRECHT, DANIELLE GROEN, CHRISTINE HANLON, SHELANNE JUSTICE, CAITLIN KENNY, MARIYAM KHAJA, EMILY KICHLER, IVY KNIGHT, STACY LEE KONG, RAMONA LEITAO, MICHELLE LUCAS LARVING, EMILY MACCULLOCH, NATALIE MICHIE, ESHUN MOTT, MORGAN MULLIN, AMIL NIAZI, SARAH RAUGHLEY, WENDY RORONG, LEAH RUMACK, VIVEK SHRAYA, KEVIN JOHN SIAZON, ISABEL SLONE, SHARINE TAYLOR, MIKAËL THEIMER, ROBERT WEIR, CHRISTAL WILLIAMS, JUSTINE WONG
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letter from the editor
Also in this issue
Comfort cooking
Happy fall,
The cutest little bungalow I love everything about this sweet Manitoba home—and so, apparently, does Glennon Doyle (page 36).
A new tool in breast cancer prevention A genius, just-launched website helps you navigate when to get screened (page 65).
Louise Penny’s uncanny optimism The prolific Quebecbased crime author is always looking for the bright side (page 60).
Maureen Halushak @maureenhalushak letters@chatelaine.com
Why ChineseCanadian restaurants need our support The pandemic and a rising tide of racism have been very bad for business (page 72).
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CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
HALUSHAK PHOTO, ERIK PUTZ. MAKEUP AND HAIR, ROBERT WEIR FOR P1M.CA.
I’VE BEEN THINKING a lot about comfort food lately— which foods qualify, and why they leave such a lasting impression. One of my most distinct comfort food memories dates back to the ’90s, when I was still living at home in Thunder Bay, Ont., going to school and working at the customer service desk at Zellers. I had a vicious cold one day and was beat from my shift, so I went straight to bed once I got home. A while later, my mom brought me a toasted cinnamon raisin bagel with butter. This was just a generic grocery store bagel, nothing special, but to this day it remains my platonic ideal of a bagel: both salty and sweet, the perfect amount of chewy and generously buttered—exactly what I wanted to eat in that moment, and made with care. I recently spent a day in the kitchen, cooking a bunch of food to bring to a loved one who was going through a very bad time. The recipes I made weren’t fussy: apple crisp, lasagna, the pumpkin cinnamon buns from this issue’s cover. But for a few hours, the act of doing this kept my mind busy and made me feel a little less helpless—the food was as much a comfort to make as I hoped it would be to eat. Whoever you’re feeding this month, and for whatever reason, you’ll find recipes galore in this issue: for chicken and root vegetable tagine (page 92), for mushroom pizza (page 86), for a turkey-free vegetarian feast (page 74— but don’t worry if you still want the bird; we have many, many great turkey recipes on Chatelaine.com). I know they’re all exactly what I want to eat this season, and I hope you’ll enjoy them, too. One more note: This issue marks the departure of our beloved executive editor, Denise Balkissoon, who is moving on to an exciting new journalistic adventure. Denise is a top-notch editor as well as a top-notch human, and I want to thank her for the incredible impact she’s had on this brand and on our team.
you tell us
FEEDBACK
[ T H A N K YO U , T H A N K YO U ]
[ MORE KIND WORDS ]
Helpful and hilarious I have never written to you about an article, and I’ve been receiving Chatelaine for as long as I can remember (I even read my mom’s magazines in the ’70s!). But I just had to give a huge round of applause to Kate Rae for “An ex-agoraphobe’s guide to leaving the house” [September]. Her sense of humour and sound advice are deeply appreciated. And I agree 100 percent that masks should be worn, especially until we figure out how to keep kids and workers in schools healthy. Until then, max vaxxed and masked, babies! — Julie Durocher, Woodstock, Ont.
of being an amazing cook . . . thanks to you! I made this dish [Peach Salad with Bellini Dressing, July/August] with Okanagan peaches, and it was fresh and delicious. — Céline, Vancouver One-stop read
Farm to table
I love that I find it all in my favourite magazine: articles on social issues, fashion, culture and food. I’ve made numerous meals inspired by your recipes, and I now have the reputation
Great article [“Ground work,” September] about women in agriculture in this month’s Chatelaine. So interesting and about so much more than agriculture, too! — @other_jane
Nanna’s cooking
All the things I feel and miss about my nanna, especially her cooking. Thank you Carla Ciccone for this beautiful piece of writing [“She fed us all,” September] that I can relate to in so many ways. — @jennapettinato Sweet praise
I loved reading “It’s her jam” [September]. So many great tips and tricks from Camilla Wynne. — guidedwellness byangela
We love hearing your feedback on the magazine—please keep it coming. Send your thoughts to letters@chatelaine.com.
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CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
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8 THINGS TO DO RIGHT NOW
Guest star Jully Black (left, as Nina) and Vinessa Antoine (as Marcie Diggs) in Diggstown.
PHOTO, DAN CALLIS; COURTESY OF CBC.
1 [ L E G A L E AG L E ]
Take a trip to Diggstown
Nova Scotia lawyer Marcie Diggs doesn’t care what you think. Instead, the anchor of the deeply watchable legal drama Diggstown spends her time figuring out what success and justice mean to her. As CBC’s stealth hit returns for its third season, fans already love Diggs, played by Vinessa Antoine. She’s an archetypal strong woman in the tradition of Shondaland’s Olivia Pope and Annalise Keating, trying to balance community, a personal life and her career. Fans also know that Diggs will have both wins and losses at Halifax Legal Aid, and that the show is making history this season: Halifax’s own Juanita Peters is the first African Nova Scotian woman to direct an episode of a Canadian prime-time drama. But what they might not know? Thanks to acquisitions by both Fox and BET, Diggs is about to become bigger than ever. — Morgan Mullin Season 3 of Diggstown premieres October 6 on CBC and CBC Gem.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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agenda 2 [ FLIP THE SCRIPT ]
Hear her side of the story Written by STACY LEE KONG
In 2006, Carey had eight Grammy nominations and won three.
In
2019, against her wishes, the masters for Taylor Swift’s first six albums were acquired by divisive talent manager Scooter Braun. Owning a master means you have the right to make, sell and distribute copies of a work, so Braun can now approve or deny any licensing requests—and collect related fees. Now, Swift’s taking control by re-recording the albums to create new masters: the first re-release, Fearless (Taylor’s Version), dropped in April; the second, Red (Taylor’s Version), comes out in November. These aren’t just new versions of old albums; they’re also Swift’s attempt to reclaim her narrative. And she isn’t the only woman in entertainment who’s taken back her power. Here are seven others who have switched up the story—and won. Red (Taylor’s Version) comes out November 19.
1997: Mariah Carey Upon her 1990 debut, music critics routinely identified Carey as white. That wasn’t exactly an accident—in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, the music icon revealed that her exhusband, music executive Tommy Mottola, tried to “wash the ‘urban’ (translation: Black) off of [her].” Only after her marriage ended in 1997 was she able to unapologetically claim her biracial identity.
2002: Monica Lewinsky For a while there, everyone knew Lewinsky’s name, and not in a good way. The former White House intern was the subject of cruel jokes for years, despite several attempts to clear her name, including Monica in Black and White, a 2002 HBO documentary produced with Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the team behind Inside Deep Throat, Party Monster and RuPaul’s Drag Race. As a producer on the recent Impeachment: American Crime Story, she’s still working to change the narrative.
2020: Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie For years, the socialite pals were the definition of vapid, thanks to their hate-watch-worthy reality TV show, The Simple Life. But both women have since proven themselves to be adept at business—and Hilton’s 2020 documentary, This Is Paris, tried to contextualize some of her behaviour by revealing that she had experienced abuse at boarding school.
2021: Megan Thee Stallion The rapper sued her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, twice this year. In March, she alleged that her contract is “unconscionable” because it gives 1501 huge chunks of her income (including 60 percent of her royalties!). Over the summer, she went to court because 1501 was trying to block her from appearing on the remix of BTS’ “Butter.” She won that battle— and is still pushing for a better deal.
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CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
agenda
SWIFT, CAREY, LEWINSKY, RICHIE, HILTON, RATAJKOWSKI, SPEARS, MEGAN THEE STALLION PHOTOS, GETTY IMAGES. TV PHOTO, ISTOCK PHOTO. NOTEBOOK OF NO RETURN IMAGE, KELLY SINNAPAH MARY, NOTEBOOK OF NO RETURN, 2017. ACRYLIC PAINTING ON PAPER, 43.2 X 50.8 CM. PRIVATE COLLECTION © KELLY SINNAPAH MARY.
4
3
Kelly Sinnapah Mary, Notebook of No Return, 2017
[ LO W- K E Y D E VA S TAT E D ]
MAKE SURE ISSA AND MOLLY MAKE UP Lawrence? Andrew? Whatever. What we want from the last season of Insecure is for Issa and Molly to repair their fractured friendship, the real opposites-attract love story of this funny, spicy series. The first four seasons followed the BFFs and their crew around Los Angeles as they navigated career bumps, baby bumps, the gentrification of historically Black neighbourhoods and messy, messy men. They also put Issa Rae—the show’s creator, producer and star—on the A-list, where she belongs. Season 5 of Insecure premieres October 24 on Crave.
2020: Emily Ratajkowski As a model, Ratajkowski’s job is to be seen—but last year, she wrote a powerful essay for The Cut about what it feels like when other people own the rights to your image and they abuse that power. It was an eye-opening look at the underbelly of a seemingly glamorous career.
2021: Britney Spears Whether she was considered a pop princess or a problem child, Spears has been the subject of speculation for years. But this summer, after she testified in court about her conservatorship for the first time, people finally began listening to what she has to say about her own life—and now everyone wants to #FreeBritney.
[ BIG PICTURE ]
See the mosaic of the Caribbean come together A new exhibition colours in a pale definition of the region’s history and presence “You’ll see that all of the videos are slowed down,” says curator Julie Crooks, about the video installations included in “Fragments of Epic Memory.” The intention, she says,“is forcing people to slow down. To watch and think about the Caribbean as a place that you have to pay attention to.” Crooks is the inaugural head of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s new department, Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora, and this is its first exhibition. It’s unapologetic and uncompromising, displaying work by more than 30 artists born in the Caribbean or its diaspora, alongside the recently acquired Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs, a compilation of more than 3,500 portraits, landscapes and tourist views dating back to 1840. The result is an intimate invitation into Caribbean people’s history, one that both celebrates resilience and interrogates the legacies of oppression, demanding viewers reconfigure their conception of the region outside the familiar grounds of paradise. The tensions that exist in the region are exposed: This collection is less interested in representation and more invested in unnerving the confines of a particular kind of imagined Caribbean. Crooks has taken fragments of a place often dismissed and misunderstood, and pieced them together to make a closer, expansive whole. — SHARINE TAYLOR “Fragments of Epic Memory” is on at the Art Gallery of Ontario until February 21, 2022, ago.ca/exhibitions/fragments-epic-memory.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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agenda The bangles-on-bangles-onbangles mean everything to me because they represent the femininity that Sabi learned from their mom; the excess amount of them tells me they’re screaming to the world to be read as feminine. But then there are jackets and coats layered on top so they can hide if they need to. At the queer bar, Sabi can express their bolder, riskier fashion choices. And we have a few pieces sprinkled throughout the season that embrace their South Asianness, which was incredibly important to me. I didn’t want to reinforce an idea that all young brown people with immigrant parents are ashamed of their culture.
Aden Bedard (as Henry) and Bilal Baig (as Sabi) in Sort Of
5 [ FAC E T I M E ]
Witness Canadian TV history This month, playwright Bilal Baig becomes the first queer Muslim star of a Canadian prime-time series, Sort Of. The sweet, sincere comedy focuses on Sabi Mehboob, a gender-fluid twentysomething figuring out romance, family, identity—and babysitting Interview by VIVEK SHRAYA
I recently heard you say that you hate acting and were unsure of acting on Sort Of. What don’t you like about it, and what led you to being the star of the show? My relationship to acting is so complicated because I struggle with being looked at, or watched, but I love building characters and embodying them. I suppose I wanted to run away from acting—especially being the lead of a TV show— because it was nerve-wracking to occupy that much space, that much spotlight. But the cultural impact of having someone like myself . . . be the centre of a television experience ultimately felt like something I wanted to be in service of.
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Marginalized artists are often confused for being the characters we write. How did you deliberately push against any reading of you and Sabi being one and the same? At some point in the writers’ room, we discovered that Sabi went to electrician school a few years before we meet them at the start of the season. And that was my way into understanding this character in deep psychological ways that feel very different than how I understand myself. The trauma of navigating a male-dominated learning environment as a person who’s feeling their gender in new ways, that still lives in Sabi’s body. Being in service, to everyone, their whole
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
life, how does that affect someone’s body and voice? We’re also at different points in our gender journeys. There is enough difference in our life events that propels Sabi and myself away from each other, which made them so much juicier to play. I admire Sabi’s style, especially the casually glamorous denim jacket they wear on the pilot. How much of a role did you play in Sabi’s styling, and did you have any specific goals or desires? It was a really collaborative effort to nail Sabi’s look. It was important to me that we are watching someone who is figuring themself out in every way—including in how they dress and accessorize.
One of the central issues tied to transness is visibility—the lack of it, the need for more of it, etc. I loved how you flipped this on its head by having Sabi’s cisgender boyfriend claim that he doesn’t feel seen. From the children Sabi babysits to Sabi’s mom, many of the other characters desire Sabi to see and validate them. Can you speak more to this choice? The notion of seeing others and being seen is something that is played with through the entire season—really seeing someone for who they are, versus who you wish they were or who you want them to become. There’s labour in really, truly seeing someone, but often it goes unacknowledged. And if you spend all your time seeing other people, when are you making time to let people see you? What are your biggest hopes for the show? If this show can unlock or pave the way for more nuanced conversations around how all people are constantly changing, and how that’s the most normal thing ever, I’d feel really great about that. I really hope audiences love the world of this show, and feel good and full watching it. I really hope people can see themselves in the characters, and also feel seen by the characters, too. This interview has been condensed and edited. Sort Of premieres October 5 on CBC Gem and November 9 on CBC.
agenda 6 [ FA S H I O N C R I M E S ] [ T H U M B WA R ]
Sink deeper into your couch If shorter days have you seeking indoor pursuits, that’s okay! These Nintendo Switch games will let you go on an adventure without having to leave your house
See Gaga on the big screen (where she belongs) 7
A Short Hike by Adam Robinson-Yu
OPPOSITE PAGE: PHOTO, KERI ANDERSON; COURTESY OF CBC. NINTENDO IMAGES: A SHORT HIKE IMAGE, ADAM ROBINSON-YU; COZY GROVE IMAGE, SPRY FOX; DONUT COUNTY IMAGE, BEN ESPOSITO. MIGHTY PHOTO, YUNG YEMI.
You’re a bird on vacation, and your first task is to reach the summit at Hawk Peak Provincial Park to get cell reception. But there’s no rush! This world will have you exploring hills and valleys as you climb, hike and fly, interacting with other curious hikers and discovering hidden treasures. $8.
Donut County by Ben Esposito Wreak havoc on an unassuming town via an ever-growing hole in the ground controlled by a raccoon. Yes, you read that right. Complete each level by moving the hole to swallow every home and resident in sight. This puzzle game is perfect for anyone who needs a break from fourth-wave anxiety. $13.
Cozy Grove by Spry Fox If you want to love Animal Crossing but are overwhelmed by its daunting tasks, opt to camp on the haunted island of Cozy Grove instead. The hand-drawn world is colourless until you begin helping its magical animal spirits by collecting resources that bring the island to life. $15. — ISABELLE DOCTO All games are available at nintendo.com.
HAUTE COUTURE, dark conspiracy and a whole lot of Italian accents abound in House of Gucci, a biographical crime drama that marks Lady Gaga’s big return to the silver screen. The pop star’s second leading role has her joining a cast of fellow Academy Award faves, including Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek and Al Pacino, most of whom portray members of the Gucci family that founded the iconic fashion house. Based on the book by Sara Gay Forden (for more on that, see page 52), the movie goes behind the scenes of the trial of Patrizia Reggiani (Gaga), who was convicted in the late ’90s for plotting the assassination of her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci (Driver), former head of the Gucci empire. It’s a story of love, ambition, scandal and murder, and a star-studded must-watch—whether you consider yourself a Little Monster or not! — KEVIN JOHN SIAZON House of Gucci is in theatres (we hope!) November 24.
8 [ IT’S A SHE THING ]
DANCE WITH THE QUEEN Fresh sounds from hip hop’s Haviah Mighty
Two years after winning the Polaris Prize, Haviah Mighty has dropped Stock Exchange, a mixtape that you can’t miss. Bringing electric beats together with ruthless bars, she switches it up from hip hop to dancehall and back again, all in service of creating club-worthy bop after bop. Mighty has invited global guests along, from the U.K.’s Yizzy to North Carolina’s Jalen Santoy. She drops the mic on her challengers with wicked rhymes reflecting her Brampton, Ont., upbringing and Black Canadian experiences, delivering hard-hitting truths about feminism and racism with confident energy and rapid delivery. When she raps, “I’m still the queen of the house,” you believe her. — SARAH RAUGHLEY Stock Exchange is out November 12.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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AN ECOFRIENDLY WAY TO REINVENT YOUR STYLE
page 21
TEXT, ANDRÉANNE DION.
[ S I G N AT U R E S C E N T ]
Montreal state of mind You’re hiking up Mont-Royal wrapped up in your favourite scarf, leaves crunching under your feet. Quick: What does this smell like? Inspired by such a walk through the streets of Montreal, Autumn Vibes is the latest addition to Maison Margiela’s Replica collection. This musky juice bottles up the essence of a crisp fall day with a cozy mix of woodsy cedar and earthy moss, plus hints of spicy nutmeg, pink pepper and cardamom. $72 for 30 mL eau de toilette, sephora.com. OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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style
NOTES
Beam me up
1. How does it work?
4. How quick is it?
3. Who is it best for?
4. How do you prep?
5. What does it cost?
Energy from the laser gets absorbed by the pigment in the hair follicle, heating it up and destroying the root, which helps reduce future growth. Laser hair removal can be performed almost anywhere on the face and body, but the underarms, bikini line and legs top the most-lasered list, says Jeremy Tebbutt, founder of medical aesthetics clinic Skin6 in Toronto. The feeling is often described as a warm pinch. Many machines offer built-in cooling tech, though your skin may still be red and swollen for a day or so afterwards.
The sessions themselves go by in a flash (ha!), but laser treatments don’t produce instant results— it takes a few days to a few weeks for the hairs to shed, and several visits to target different stages of growth. You may see a dramatic decrease in growth after the first session, but consistency is key. It takes, on average, six treatments spaced four to six weeks apart to reap the full benefits—that’s six to nine months for a full course of treatment. That’s why you should aim to start laser hair removal during the colder months.
“The ideal candidate has dark hair,” notes Dr. Sonya Cook, a board-certified dermatologist. She warns that blond, red, grey and white hair doesn’t respond well to laser hair removal due to the lack of pigment. And, unlike in the past, today’s lasers are suitable for all skin tones—they can penetrate deeper to zap hairs without causing injury to pigmented skin. “Lasers work on a specific wavelength to affect the hair follicle, and the technology has evolved so that it can now be tailored to different skin tones,” explains Tebbutt.
The day before your appointment, shave the areas you’re getting lasered. Avoid waxing, sugaring and plucking. “You don’t want to pull the hair out at the root because that’s what the laser targets,” says Cook. Avoid sun exposure and self-tanners before a treatment and for at least a month after, as you want to have as little pigment in the skin as possible. It’s also recommended to avoid hot showers, sweaty workouts, steam rooms and saunas for two to three days following each appointment.
There’s no way around it: Laser hair removal by a certified provider is a major investment. In urban centres, expect to pay around $100 to $150 per session for small areas, like your underarms or bikini line, and $300 to $600 per session for larger areas, like your legs. In many cases, laser hair removal is not completely permanent: You may need touch-up treatments, so factor in the cost of upkeep. It’s also worth noting that hormonal changes, such as from pregnancy or menopause, can cause new hair growth.
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TEXT, ANDRÉANNE DION. MAIN PHOTO, GETTY IMAGES. ILLUSTRATIONS, ISTOCK PHOTO.
It seems counterintuitive, but fall is actually the best time to start laser hair-removal treatments, if you’re so inclined. It’s much easier to avoid sun exposure (a crucial step), plus it means you’ll be super smooth by the time summer rolls around again. Here’s what you need to know
Athleta is here
Beauty talk
Upgrade your activewear drawer with go-anywhere, do-anything styles from Athleta, now in Canada. Shop duty-free online today, and in-store in Toronto and Vancouver this fall. Try cult faves like the stretchy Brooklyn pant (right) and buttery-soft Elation tights. More good news: Athleta is a Certified B Corp and committed to fair trade. Available in sizes XXS to 1X, athleta.ca.
READERS SHARE THEIR FEEDBACK ON OUR FAVOURITE NEW(-ISH) PRODUCTS
ON THE PILL
Save your sweaters
SWEATER PHOTO, GETTY IMAGES.
Has your favourite knit seen better days? Kick off sweater season with a rescue operation Master wash day
Hold a stretch
Fight the fuzz
Laundering knitwear by hand in cold water is always a good idea, but some pieces can be washed in a garment bag on a delicate cold cycle, says Erin Gravelle, inventory and studio manager at Fabcycle, a Vancouver organization that upcycles textile waste. To keep the yarn soft, she recommends using a tiny amount of regular detergent or a tablespoon of vinegar. Once your sweaters are dry, keep them folded so they retain their shape.
Heat causes shrinkage, so always skip the dryer. If your sweater comes out of the wash child-sized, here’s how to restore it: Start by soaking it in cold water for 30 minutes. “The water makes the yarn thicken, which allows you to stretch it out,” says Gravelle. Lay the sweater out flat and pull the fibres in all directions. This technique works well for synthetic yarns but not usually for wool.
Fibres are most likely to break and form pills in areas that experience friction—the underarms, elbows and stomach area are all hot spots. The key is to catch them as early as possible. Pulling on pills will create more over time and weaken the fabric, so Gravelle recommends clipping them with small scissors or, for larger areas, using a fabric shaver. This compact design makes quick work of pills. $18, indigo.ca.
Aveeno Calm + Restore Triple Oat Serum, $26, walmart.ca. “I love the lightweight texture of this serum—it’s not sticky or greasy, and it absorbs quickly into the skin to leave it soft and supple.” — Grace, 19, Winnipeg
Biossance Squalane + Amino Aloe Gentle Cleanser, $34, sephora.com. “This cleanser has a fresh scent and lathers up nicely without stripping or irritating the skin. The formula rinses off easily and leaves my complexion clean, refreshed and radiant.” — Neeta, 40, Richmond, B.C.
LIXR Tinted Lip Balm in Bulgarian Rose, $28, lixrs.com. “My lips feel nourished for hours after application, and I like that it’s made with all-natural ingredients. The floral scent is divine but not overpowering, and the sheer pigment can be layered for a more intense colour.” — Jennifer, 49, Barrie, Ont. Want to join our roster of beauty testers? Email us at style@chatelaine.com.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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SHOP CANADA
Are you ready for knits? 10 chic Canadian picks (whatever your feelings re: sweater weather) Cable company
Ship shape
Sweater, $144, masmontreal.com. Boat neck pullover with shoulder detail, $80, rw-co.com.
Scoop, there it is
One and done
Green living
Stylish matching
Made from
separates make for
renewable raw
an effortless outfit.
materials found in seaweed.
Wrap cardigan with tie, $98, ca.oakandfort.com.
Wilfred turtleneck sweater dress, $198, aritzia.com.
Suit yourself
Cute as a button
Textured cropped sweater, $90, frankandoak.com.
Tunnel vision
A thong detail reduces the bulk, so you can wear it under your fave skirt.
Rib-knit turtleneck, $195, rib-knit pants, $295, shopsmythe.ca.
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Slim-fit knit bodysuit, $195, houseofknot.ca.
Merino wool cardigan, $180, vallier.com.
Twik tunnel-collar sweater, $50, simons.ca.
PRODUCED BY EMILY MACCULLOCH. HOUSE OF KNOT BODYSUIT PHOTO, ERIK PUTZ. HOUSE OF KNOT BODYSUIT STYLING, CHAD BURTON.
Cable-knit sweater with balloon sleeves, $34, joefresh.com.
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TAILORING
We’re buying more clothes—and wearing them for less time—than ever before. One way to make the most of what you already have? Working with a tailor to update a beloved piece or a vintage find that needs some TLC. For inspiration, here are six gorgeously refreshed pieces, and the stories behind them
As told to ISABEL SLONE Produced by ANDRÉANNE DION and AIMEE NISHITOBA
Photograph by CHRISTIE VUONG
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DR. LIZA EGBOGAH like to wear bright, vibrant outfits, especially at the clinic where I work as a manual osteopath, because it puts people in a good mood. A few years ago, I went on a trip to Dubai with my mom. Whenever I travel, I like to treat myself to an item of clothing or an accessory. Those are the only kind of souvenirs I collect—it’s like wearable art. While visiting the city’s famous souks, I found myself gravitating towards clothing stalls filled with beautiful bejewelled pieces in vibrant colours. The owner of one of the stalls served us black tea with sugar as he showed us a selection of gorgeous caftans. Two really stood out to me: a cobalt blue and a fuchsia, both made from a beautiful sheer silk chiffon. I immediately thought “I need to have
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that.” The only problem was that they were floor-length. I’m all limbs, so short dresses that highlight my legs tend to look better on me. I knew that if I had them shortened above the knee, they would be more flattering on my figure and I would be able to wear them to cocktail-attire events. I had the caftans tailored at the stall I bought them from, and it added a youthful vibrance to both. In the past decade, I’ve gotten a lot of wear out of them, either with a matching slip dress to a friend’s wedding or over a sports bra and bike shorts on nights out. I love the details on the neckline because they add a bit of sparkle to any outfit without being over the top. Every time I wear the caftans, I feel amazing and I’m reminded of a great trip with my mom. Photograph by CHRISTIE VUONG Makeup and hair by WENDY RORONG
ACCESSORIZING (DR. LIZA EGBOGAH, JUDITH KENNEDY), CHRISTAL WILLIAMS.
TAILORING
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TAILORING
JUDITH KENNEDY y husband took many trips up to Northern Ontario in the late ’60s. In 1969, he travelled to Moosonee, a town just south of James Bay on the banks of the Moose River. There, he met a Cree woman who did traditional beadwork, and he had a pair of deer-hide and fox-fur-trim moccasins custom-made for me. After that, I never owned another pair of slippers. I wore them every day, and as the deer hide got thinner and thinner, I patched them up with epoxy glue and duct tape. I would lovingly caress them, saying, “Don’t go!” But even though I had worn holes in the leather, the floral beadwork looked as good as the first day I got them. My granddaughter introduced me to her friend Olivya Leblanc, a Toronto-based Wendat artist and beadworker with French-Canadian and
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Photograph by CHRISTIE VUONG Makeup and hair by WENDY RORONG
Slovenian roots who runs a business called Harvest Moon Designs. At the time, she was perfecting how to make moccasins, and I asked her to repair mine. Olivya replaced the worn leather with sturdy moosehide from an Indigenous-owned company called Tribal Spirit Music in Quebec and got the fox fur from Bill Worb Furs, a furrier in Winnipeg. She even tried to locate the woman who made them. While she couldn’t find her, Olivya did recognize the beading as a classical Cree beadwork pattern. When she returned the repaired moccasins to me, I held them to my chest and started to cry. My husband passed away five years ago, and these moccasins are so dear to me. They represent 55 years of memories. They’re one of my most treasured possessions. OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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A D E L E T E TA N G C O hen I was a kid, my parents used to take me on trips to the Philippines, where they’re from, and on our way back to Canada we’d always stop over in Hong Kong. In the markets, they had stalls where you could get clothing tailored on the spot. So I was familiar with that practice from a young age. I’ve always loved fashion—my style is a cross between Dorothy in The Golden Girls and Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters II—and when I fall in love with something that doesn’t quite fit, I’ll buy it anyway because I know I can always get it tailored. My dad retired in 2006 from his job at Fields, a chain of department stores in Western Canada, where he was a buyer for over 20 years. He wore suits to work every day. I particularly remember him wearing an olive-green one
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that was quite big on him—it was the style of suits back in the ’90s. When my mom cleaned out the closet and got rid of all of his old work clothes, I swooped in to rescue a few pairs of business slacks: the olive-green ones from my childhood, as well as basic black trousers. This was around the time when baggy trousers made a comeback. I brought them to my tailor so she could alter them to fit my five-foot-11 frame. I had her slim down the silhouette, shorten the inseam and take some extra fabric out of the crotch. I sent a picture of myself wearing the pants to my parents, and they thought it was funny. My dad couldn’t believe I was wearing his old pants. It feels nice to wear something that belonged to my dad—it made me feel closer during lockdown last year when I couldn’t see him. Photograph by SHELANNE JUSTICE
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TAILORING
KAREN CLEVELAND hortly after I married my husband in 2014, my mother-in-law, Sheri, asked me if I would be interested in her mother’s mink coat that had been kept in storage for years. I never had the opportunity to meet Pearl—she passed away before I met my husband— but I always heard stories about what an amazing woman she was. Of course I said yes. I was worried it wouldn’t fit— they were both petite women, barely five feet tall and quite slender, while I’m five foot four and have a more muscular build, but I lucked out because the coat was quite voluminous. The roomy, floor-length style had been very popular in the ’50s, but it felt dated, so I asked Sheri what she thought about updating it to a more modern silhouette. We share the philosophy that there’s no point in owning
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Photograph by CHRISTIE VUONG
beautiful things if they’re just going to be collecting dust at the back of your closet, so she agreed. I took the coat to be altered at Charisma Furs, a furrier in Toronto. To turn it into a contemporary everyday piece, they shortened the sleeves, fitted it through the chest and waist, and took up the hem to hit just above the knees. Then, I had the remaining fur turned into a shawl that I like to wear over a leather jacket. I’m quite a low-key dresser, but I wear the coat all the time. It’s a statement piece, but it’s also the warmest one I’ve ever owned, and it was customized to my body, so it fits perfectly. Pearl was an amazing woman—she was a fierce advocate for seniors’ rights—and I feel connected to her every time I wear it. OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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TAILORING
J A N U YA S O T H A R A N verything I wore to weddings, family events and church growing up was made with love; in Tamil culture, we handmake and tailor almost all of our clothes. When my mom left Sri Lanka because of the civil war, all she carried with her was her wedding sari and two others that belonged to her mother. There’s a picture of me on my fourth birthday wearing an outfit made from one of those saris. Four years ago, I got sick and my weight started fluctuating. I started dressing all in black to hide. As a woman of colour, I’ve been taught to minimize myself, and I realized that was translating into the way I dressed. I stopped buying all black clothing and started looking for vibrant, bright items that I could have tailored to fit my body.
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I love thrifting because you can find unique pieces. I got this multicoloured plaid blazer at Value Village for $2.50. It had shoulder pads and a built-in shirt panel, but the pattern reminded me of the ’90s movie Clueless. My tailor shortened the sleeves, updated the silhouette and neckline, removed the shoulder pads and swapped the buttons with vintage brass ones I salvaged from a different thrifted top. Having something that fits me perfectly is exhilarating. When I put on this jacket, I feel alive. It makes me think, “I am here, I am colourful, I am bold.” I feel a sense of self-confidence that I know radiates outwards. In those moments, I need the world to hold space for me because I’m commanding it. Photograph by CHRISTIE VUONG Makeup and hair by LEANDRO AVANCO
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TAILORING
O D E S S A PA LO M A PA R K E R s a teenager, the most exciting thing I could do was trek to downtown Toronto from Scarborough with a group of friends and spend the day wandering along Queen Street, going in and out of all the groovy shops that used to be there. I started buying vintage clothing when I was in high school in the mid-’90s. My style trademark involves lots of colours and patterns, all mixed together. I was instantly drawn to this dress’ structure, the cute pussy bow at the neckline, and the hectic pattern. I hadn’t seen a colour combination like it before. Even as a vintage aficionado, it really stood out to me. It’s from Leslie Fay, an American department store brand from the ’50s and ’60s, and there’s a label inside that notes that it’s union-made.
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Photograph by CHRISTIE VUONG Makeup and hair by WENDY RORONG
The dress fit perfectly everywhere except for the sleeves, which were far too short and made me look like an adult dressed up in kids’ clothing. One thing you learn pretty quickly while vintage shopping is that the clothing proportions were different back then. I had a friend with a sewing machine take the sleeves off for me. Tailoring gives you the option not only to buy an incredible vintage piece that no one else is going to have, but also to personalize it to your exact measurements. Buying vintage is also a way for me to have the variety I need in my closet while reducing my environmental impact. I know it can be intimidating because you don’t necessarily know where to start or what you’re going to find, but if you let go of your expectations, it can be such a freeing way to shop. OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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CHATELAINE SHOPS TSC What is it about crisp air that makes us crave time in the kitchen again? Get back to batch-cooking with these handy meal prep tools picked by our Chatelaine editors. All available at tsc.ca.
SMOOTH OPERATOR Whether it’s berry smoothies from your summer trip to the pick-your-own farm or veggie soups starring the best of the fall harvest, the Vitamix makes healthier blends a snap. Vitamix 7500 Blender with Dry Grains Container Item# 560-977, $839.90
(Counter clockwise from top) TAKE A STAND Having a stand mixer will make you want to bake all the things—including the new batch of Chatelaine holiday cookie recipes that will be here before you know it (sorry not sorry). Shop the KitchenAid collection at tsc.ca. FRY GUY The air fryer hype is real: This cool appliance gets you perfectly crispy chicken wings and restaurant-quality frites using a fraction of the oil. Wolfgang Puck 9-Quart XL Digital Air Fryer Item# 489-540, $199.99 DINNER COMPANION The Amazon Echo speaker, powered by Alexa, keeps you company while you chop and prep— whether it’s cooking along with Curtis Stone or taking notes for your grocery list. (Bonus, Alexa doesn’t sass you the way teenagers do!) Amazon Echo Show 10 Item# 689-106, $329.99
MODERN RETRO Want to add a little warmth and colour to your countertop—and maybe pretend it’s the1950s again? These SMEG small appliances will do the trick. SMEG Kettle Item# 555-381, $339.99 SMEG Espresso Machine Item# 555-387, $789.99 SMEG Coffee Grinder Item# 486-914, $399.99
Shop tsc.ca
Truth be told. Our communities are powered by local newspapers. Celebrate how trusted journalism sparks important conversations at nationalnewspaperweek.ca. This artwork was created by Canadian artist Ola Volo in celebration of National Newspaper Week from October 3-9, 2021.
News Media Canada Médias d’Info Canada
INSIDE A CREATIVE FAMILY’S COZY PRAIRIE HOME
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P ro t i p! Can’t choose between plain and tufted? Reversible cushions make it easy to switch up your style.
[ TA K E A S E AT ]
TEXT, CAITLIN KENNY.
Think inside the box Taking its cue from the mattress-in-a-box boom, the latest sofa trend is all about practical design. Delivered in sets of small boxes that fit through narrow doors and staircases—and with the promise of easy assembly—your next couch is, like almost everything these days, just a mouse click away. “It’s more convenient to shop online, so a lot of companies have made it easier in creative ways,” says Toronto-based designer Brenda Danso. Canadian mattress maker Endy is now branching out into living rooms with stylish modular seating that comes together in minutes—no tools required. Flip the page for expert tips on how to buy a sofa without sitting on it first. From $600, endy.com.
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COUCH SURFING The go-to spot for laid-back afternoons and snuggly movie nights, the family couch is a big deal—and a big purchase. “When you’re putting your space together, the couch is one of the most important pieces to buy because it gets the most use,” says designer Brenda Danso. While shopping online lets you browse dozens of designs faster than you ever could in person, the downside is that you don’t get to do the decisive sit test. Here’s what to look for before you add that couch to cart Written by CAITLIN KENNY
P ro t i p!
Measure twice You’ll need the boxes to fit through your doors and hallways. Most retailers include dimensions for the packaging; grab your tape measure and double-check that you’ll have a clear path to bring in your new couch.
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Click, click, couch Our top picks to shop online
Ikea “Äpplaryd” sofa with chaise, $1,299, ikea.ca.
Article “Sven” sofa in grass green velvet, $1,899 for three-seater model, article.com.
Cozey “The Cozey Corner” sectional in dark grey, $1,690 for five-seater model, cozey.ca.
Sundays “Daydream” leather sectional in cinnamon, $8,800, sundays-company.ca.
Kavuus “Shelby” sofa in deep water blue, $3,887 for standard width, kavuus.com.
ONLINE SHOPPING 101
No sit test? No problem Whether you’re buying a couch-in-a-box or something that ships in one piece, follow these tips to make sure you get it right
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Nail down your needs
Check that it fits your space
Pick a durable fabric
Consider the frame
Get a second opinion
“One of the first things you want to do is assess your lifestyle, so you know what type of sofa to get,” says Danso. A sectional is great for comfy lounging with the fam, while a standard sofa plus a pair of chairs is perfect if you love to host. And if your sofa is likely to be a play spot for your kids or pets, it’s worth paying a little more for a sturdy build and an easy-to-clean fabric.
To help visualize the couch’s size in your home, note the dimensions and mark them out with painter’s tape. You’ll want to make the most of your space—a toosmall couch in a too-big space is a common mistake, says Danso—while still leaving room to walk around. “People often look at how wide it is but not the depth,” she explains. “You want to make sure that you’re keeping the passageways clear.”
To find a couch that will stand the test of time, check the fabric’s Martindale score, a lab-tested rating of how much abrasion it can handle. “The ideal rub count is 25,000 for frequently used pieces,” says Danso, noting that you can get away with 15,000 if it won’t be your main couch. If that info isn’t available, you can generally count on leather or microfibre, and some companies will send you a swatch so you can see and feel it before you commit.
What’s inside your couch matters. “Look at what the frame is made of,” Danso recommends. If your budget allows, opt for strong woods such as maple, walnut or teak. Plastic, metal and particle board frames are more affordable but not as durable. As for the filling, feathers are the cushiest, but more and more couch makers are using high-density foam for a firmer feel and a shape that lasts.
The internet wormhole isn’t always a good thing, but it comes in handy when you need to crowdsource a big purchase. Read the reviews: Is the couch actually comfy? How’s the colour in real life? You can also dig through a brand’s tagged photos on Instagram to see the sofa in people’s homes. The best backup plan? A flexible return policy, which many brands now offer.
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SMALL SPACES
Manitoba artist Richelle Bergen with her husband, Ryan, daughter, Sunnie, and bernedoodle, Posie.
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SMALL SPACES
Artists in residence A creative family turned their small Manitoba home into a sanctuary for work and play
Written by EMILY EVANS Photography by LYNETTE GIESBRECHT
LTONA, MAN., is the sunflower capital of Canada. The small city, 100 km southwest of Winnipeg, has an annual festival celebrating the happy blooms, as well as a giant replica of Vincent Van Gogh–style sunflowers. It’s also where linocut artist Richelle Bergen and her husband, Ryan, a graphic designer and screen printer, live. The creative couple shares a modest two-bed, one-bath house with their three-year-old daughter, Sunnie, and black-and-white bernedoodle, Posie. Over the past eight years, the pair has renovated and redecorated just about every inch of their home— and Instagram has taken notice. Richelle ( richellebergen) has more than 31,000 followers (roughly seven and a half times the population of Altona), including bestsellThe couple added a 400-square-foot garage ing American author Glennon Doyle. to their home to create “You could say it’s an art studio and sleeping loft. farmhouse with a
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SMALL SPACES
side of English cottage and a dollop of this and that,” says Richelle of her decorating style. Thrifted pieces and hand-me-downs from friends are mixed with furniture made by Richelle’s father, Richard. Ryan and Richelle purchased the 570-square-foot bungalow in 2013 and added a 400-square-foot garage—which serves as an art studio with a loft above where the family sleeps—two years later. “I was first drawn to the house’s cottage vibes, but I think the only thing that my husband found charming was the low price tag,” jokes Richelle, who makes the most of every inch with practical-yet-beautiful organizing solutions. Large windows and an open layout also make a world of difference in the compact quarters. In the Bergens’ backyard, Ryan and Richard built a quaint tool shed with cemented stone on the bottom and cedar shakes on top, as well as an adorable A-frame playhouse. Simple homemade garden boxes surrounded by wood-chip paths are an oasis for birds—like chickadees, robins and finches—butterflies and bees. “It’s stunning in July and August, when the flowers are in full bloom,” says Richelle. From bluebells and buttercups to the wheat fields and leaves of Manitoba, nature is at the heart of Richelle’s artwork. And with a variety of flora and
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Top: All of Richelle’s prints are originals, which she titles, numbers and signs. Bottom: Richelle’s favourite part of the printmaking process is carving her design into the linoleum block. “I get to slowly see my vision come to life,” she says.
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3. Richelle thrifted or inherited most of the furniture: “Sunnie’s high chair was my mom’s, so it’s a true family heirloom.” 2. Shelves, peg rails and baskets corral everyday items and objets. 3. The house’s original bedroom is now Sunnie’s playroom. Sunnie uses her Canadian-made Cushy Couch for reading, forts and obstacle courses. 4. Richelle painted the staircase up to the loft where the family sleeps a dark green (Backwoods 469 by Benjamin Moore). 3
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Sunnie’s dad and her grandfather built her adorable playhouse.
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1. Richelle’s husband and her dad designed and built the stone-and-cedar tool shed. 2. Wood-chip paths and a white picket fence surround the wildflower garden. 3. Cosmos, zinnias and bachelor buttons are Richelle’s go-tos. “They are true cutand-come-again flowers, easy to grow and full of colour,” she says. 2
fauna in her own backyard, she doesn’t have to look far for inspiration. When it comes to her work, Richelle—whose mother is a painter—says she fell in love with “the smell of the ink, the process of painting every piece by hand and the variations of each print.” Although she’s been spending less time in her home studio since becoming a parent, Richelle, who tried to get pregnant for four years, couldn’t be happier. “Infertility was the hardest journey to walk through.” After a round of IVF and a miscarriage, Richelle and Ryan decided to explore adoption. Shortly after, Richelle got a life-changing Facebook message from an old summer camp friend she had lost touch with. They rekindled their friendship, and a few months later, Richelle’s childhood friend—who she now refers to as Mama Oon—got pregnant and asked Richelle and Ryan to parent her baby. “It was all so wild,” Richelle says. “Who would have thought those two grade 9 girls would end up with this story?” In 2018, Richelle and Ryan adopted baby Sunnie, whose middle names are Eleanor, after Richelle’s mom, and Oonniq Alaittuq, an Inuktitut tribute to Sunnie’s birth mom and her birth mom’s grandfather. “Our home has changed quite a bit since Sunnie was born, and I love creating new spaces to serve our evolving needs,” says Richelle. Sunnie’s favourite activities are jumping on the trampoline, playing imagination games and making art—just like mom. “Sunnie loves when we paint together,” says Richelle. “It’s been very cool to watch how her approach to painting and creating has changed in the last year. I just love it.” For the Bergens, home is where the art is. 3
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MAKING SENSE OF CANADA’S MAMMOGRAM GUIDELINES
TEXT, DENISE BALKISSOON. PRODUCED BY AIMEE NISHITOBA. PHOTO, ERIK PUTZ. STYLING, CHAD BURTON.
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[ P O N D E R E P L AY ]
Smooth operator You want to green your period, but you don’t want to get intimate with a menstrual cup or non-applicator tampon on heavy days. Well, this tampon applicator looks like the classics but comes unloaded: You insert a fresh tampon into the slot, then wash the applicator after use, tuck it away in the carrying case, and repeat. It’s sold by Only, a Canadian company that offsets the emissions of its deliveries. Applicator and 16 organic cotton tampons, $11, getonly.ca. OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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SILENT TIMER Most women will suffer from fibroids in their lifetimes—but for Black women, who are often neglected in health care settings, the threat is greater and more insidious Written by MERCEDES FINDLAY Illustration by CHELSEA CHARLES
health
n an early march morning in 2010, I awoke to a pain that felt like a metal fist crushing my abdomen in its grasp. This sensation would repeat in an endless loop for three weeks. I was 32, four months pregnant and afraid. I didn’t know it then, but growing alongside my son were unwelcome guests: multiple uterine fibroids, benign tumours attached to the lining of my uterus. They’d ballooned during the early weeks of my pregnancy—one as big as a grapefruit—and were now “dying.” At the time, I didn’t even know what fibroids were. After my emergency hospital visit, I tried to but couldn’t secure an extra appointment with my gynecologist, since the receptionist took it upon herself to decide I didn’t need one. I later learned that my first ultrasound had revealed the fibroids, but I hadn’t been told. Despite my concerns, my doctor dismissed the tumours, a fact that disappointed me first and angered me later. My healthy son arrived on time, albeit by emergency Caesarean section. I didn’t receive follow-up treatment for the fibroids, and I wouldn’t for years. Though it seems unbelievable, my story may be familiar—especially if, like me, you’re a Black woman. Most fibroids grow in the uterine wall, though they can also grow outside it or in the uterus itself. Up to 40 percent of women older than 40 have them, and prevalence increases with age until menopause. Around 20 to 50 percent of fibroids are symptomatic, boasting a group of symptoms that include heavy periods, anemia, pelvic pressure and chronic pain, as well as fertility and pregnancy challenges. Fibroids can enlarge or misshape the uterus and aggravate the bowel or nearby organs like the bladder. Degeneration, which I’d endured, often happens during pregnancy, as the blood feeding the fibroid diverts to the baby. For Black women, fibroids are a numbers game— we’re two to three times more likely than white women to have them; we’re also more likely to have related symptoms. Almost 25 percent of Black women between 18 and 30 have fibroids, compared to about six percent of white women the same age, according to some U.S. estimates. By age 35, 60 percent of Black women have fibroids. Our tumours are also two to three times more likely to be large and abundant, develop at a younger age and require hospitalization. The data is clear: Race is a risk factor. No one knows what causes fibroids or how to prevent them, so it’s like carrying around an explosive device with an invisible countdown to detonation. If nine people report one experience but a 10th reports the opposite, that result is probably an outlier,
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right? But if you’re that one in 10 experiencing daily pain and discomfort, you want a doctor who doesn’t make assumptions. Otherwise, the help a patient needs can be trapped on the other side of an individual doctor’s opinion. Dr. Jamie Kroft agrees. An ob-gyn and surgeon at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto who treats fibroid and endometriosis patients, she notes that once doctors mischaracterize fibroids as harmless, they’re more likely to be dismissive when women ask for help. “Seventy-five percent of women report painful periods, so unless your doctor screens for other symptoms or commonalities, dismissal is possible,” says Kroft. “Add how little women know about what’s ‘normal’ for periods and you have a problem affecting their quality of life left untreated for years.” Jonsaba Jabbi, 31, a communications specialist and writer in Toronto, was surprised to learn in 2018 that she had a fibroid, following an ultrasound for abdominal pain she’d thought was a flared appendix. “The doctor told me I had a medium-sized fibroid on my uterus, and I was alarmed,” she says. “I think of myself as a healthy person, and suddenly, I wasn’t.” Jabbi grew up hearing about fibroids from her mom, who had several removed in the 1980s. Jabbi tried to follow up with her doctor in September 2020 after noticing changes in her periods. The doctor, explaining that she had no serious symptoms, told her to wait until the pandemic subsided to schedule an ultrasound. They did notice hormonal changes, but told Jabbi those changes could be attributed to weight gain. “It’s just really frustrating because I feel like I’m waiting for something to happen instead of being proactive about my health.” For many, the symptoms of fibroids can be demoralizing. But when you’re a Black woman, advocating for yourself in the health care system is necessary, especially when experiences of neglect and disbelief have long been documented. Imagine living with chronic back pain, digestive challenges or the onerous fatigue of chronic anemia, or missing out on social or career opportunities because your heavy periods demand it, and being made to wait until your circumstances are urgent and dire. Meanwhile, your quality of life crumbles. The surprise was more violent for Sabrina Young Blair, a 44-year-old licensed social worker and psychotherapist from Ajax, Ont. “I was six months pregnant when I felt a sudden, unrelenting abdominal pain,” she says, speaking of her first pregnancy in 2012. “I called my midwife, scared.
FIBROIDS
UP TO 40 PERCENT OF WOMEN 40 AND OLDER HAVE FIBROIDS.
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“MEETING THAT DOCTOR CHANGED EVERYTHING. HE TOOK MY SUFFERING SERIOUSLY.”
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She said, ‘It’s your new normal. Sounds like round ligament pain,’ which sounded like ‘Suck it up, buttercup.’ ” Young Blair already knew she had fibroids, but they’d been downplayed by her family doctor. “The doctor didn’t seem to care, so neither did I.” Her midwife never followed up on her abdominal pain. Instead, Young Blair went to the emergency room, where they diagnosed her degenerating fibroids. The attending ob-gyn took her on as a patient on the spot, putting her on bed rest until her full-term delivery. She has never received treatment for her fibroids. According to Kroft, it’s common for the pain to go away after pregnancy, which is what happened for Young Blair—though flare-ups persist to this day. Few options exist to treat uterine fibroids, and for the most part, a hysterectomy is the only permanent solution—approximately 30 percent of hysterectomies in Canada are done to treat fibroids. Procedures like uterine artery embolization, which cuts off the fibroid’s blood supply, or laparoscopic myomectomy, which removes only the fibroids, preserve fertility and delay more invasive methods. But with these options, there’s a 40 percent chance the fibroids will return within five to 10 years. Access to these procedures varies across Canada, as do the comfort and knowledge levels of doctors. Both factors influence whether you receive timely and appropriate treatment. Add in racial bias, and the outlook is more dismal. Research data proves that racial bias in pain perception influences treatment recommendations. Even some experienced medical professionals perceive Black women’s pain as less serious than that of white patients because of pervasive false beliefs about biological differences. All the women I interviewed for this piece are Black, but there are substantial gaps in the race-based health data collected in Canada. A report on inequities in health for Black Canadians, released in September 2020 by the Canadian government, states plainly that health inequities are more than just a difference in numbers—they result in unjust differences in care. Still, the lack of sufficient data means we have an inaccurate picture of the health realities and experiences of Black Canadians. In their study “Dying to Learn: A Scoping Review of Breast and Cervical Cancer Studies Focusing on Black Canadian Women,” researchers including the University of Toronto’s Aisha Lofters, Onye Nnorom and Nakia Lee-Foon found a dearth of health research on breast and cervical cancer in Black Canadian women, with women from sub-Saharan Africa appearing to have lower cervical and breast cancer screening rates, likely putting their health in greater jeopardy. Lee-Foon noted that insufficient data means the inability to prove claims of race-based discrepancies regarding treatment and care. After enduring the long list of physical, emotional and societal effects of fibroids, apathy from those qualified to help adds insult to injury.
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
A hysterectomy was one of the only treatments offered to Nadine Djimbi Ayaba, 37, a mutual investment company vice-president based in Montreal. Diagnosed with lupus in 2006, she had a checkup in 2016 that sparked her fibroid journey. “My session was quick,” she says. “The doctor told me I had fibroids, but I spent more time talking to the resident. They didn’t take the time to explain or answer questions. I left feeling dismissed and lost.” Three years later, she was back for answers, and an ultrasound revealed five fibroids. This time, hysterectomy seemed to be the only treatment offered, even after she asked her doctor for other options. “I was just asking questions,” Djimbi Ayaba says. “I told her I hadn’t decided whether I wanted children and wanted to keep the option open. She jumped to a choice that’s mine to make.” My mom, Yvonne, a 69-year-old retired registered nurse living in Unionville, Ont., had heavy periods that caused years of pain, chronic anemia and migraines. She wasn’t diagnosed with fibroids until 1975, after immigrating to Canada. Her suffering continued until a fateful referral to a new ob-gyn for my siblings’ births. “Meeting that doctor changed everything,” my mom says. “He took my suffering seriously, saying, ‘Let’s talk when you’re finished having children.’ ” They did. At 33, my mom had a partial hysterectomy—no more fibroids or symptoms. My mom doesn’t understand why, a generation later, her daughters’ experiences match hers. My sister has fibroids, too. This past May, the largest of her five fibroids wrapped itself around one ovary, causing acute abdominal pain. She ended up in the ER and had the offending fibroid removed via an emergency myomectomy within two days. Despite the often dark outlook, there is light on the horizon, teasing brighter days for fibroid sufferers. Kroft is hopeful about trends in research, care and treatment. “I’m excited by the focus on early and less invasive treatments, more patient-centred research and exploration into possible genetic factors.” She adds, “This all leads to improving the quality of life for sufferers, faster.” I think the most exciting changes have little to do with data. “I’ve noticed a cultural shift in medical training with more engagement and sensitivity toward ethnic groups,” says Kroft. “Incoming residents are more cognizant of race and gender bias and misinformation. It’s very encouraging for the future of care.” Things are moving in the right direction, but it’s hard to keep faith when the progress is slow and finding answers remains a non-priority. Until I can say with confidence that you won’t have an experience like mine or those of countless other sufferers, that you’ll get the treatment you deserve at the time you need it, we continue to wait while the silent timer ticks.
health
SCREEN TIME A new website helps navigate the maze of provincial and national breast cancer screening guidelines
2018, 47-year-old Adriana Ermter found a lump in her armpit. Her doctor referred her for a mammogram, but the clinic said it was likely just a calcification in her breast tissue. After months of requests for additional screening, the Toronto resident received a second mammogram, an ultrasound, an MRI and a biopsy. The biopsy confirmed the lump was cancer. “If I hadn’t advocated for myself, under the guidelines I wouldn’t have had regular mammograms until I was 50,” Ermter says. “Who knows what stage of breast cancer I would have progressed to?” Although Ermter caught her cancer early enough, her story is familiar to Jennie Dale, executive director of Dense
PRODUCED BY AIMEE NISHITOBA. PHOTO, ERIK PUTZ. STYLING, CHAD BURTON.
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Written by MARIYAM KHAJA Paper art by ALI HARRISON OF LIGHT + PAPER
FOUR THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT SCREENING 1
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Family history isn’t everything.
Age increases risk.
There isn’t always a lump.
Patients have the final say.
In the early stages of breast cancer, you may experience other symptoms—such as changes to the size and shape of your breast—or none at all.
If you’re in your 40s, your doctor can’t deny you a mammogram referral. You can also ask to know your breast density if this information isn’t disclosed to you.
Women with a family history are at higher risk of developing breast cancer, but 75 percent of patients have no family history of the disease.
Yes, women in their 20s and 30s get breast cancer, but risk increases with age—which is why women in their 40s should have annual mammograms.
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Breasts Canada, a non-profit that advocates for breast density awareness and better screening. She’s spoken with countless women who were diagnosed with later-stage cancer because they weren’t screened earlier. Mammograms can spot cancer two to three years before physical symptoms develop, but the guidelines for referrals vary between provinces—which is why Dense Breasts Canada just launched mybreastscreening.ca, a website that helps navigate those guidelines. Women who are 40 or older in British Columbia, P.E.I., Nova Scotia and the Yukon, for example, can refer themselves for a mammogram. But, in provinces that require physician referrals, patients might not know how to self-advocate if their doctor doesn’t recognize a need for screening. And only six provinces inform all women of their breast density—a crucial piece of info, as women with dense breasts are at higher risk of breast cancer and have extra tissue that can make it harder to spot cancer on a mammogram. Finding cancer early, says Dale, shouldn’t depend on your postal code. The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care recommends that women start regular mammograms at 50, a guideline that’s been called outdated and dangerous. Many experts, like Dr. Anat Kornecki, head of the breast imaging division at Western University, say women should have annual mammograms in their 40s because that’s when the chances of finding breast cancer increase. The task force also doesn’t advise women with dense breasts to get additional screening, nor does it recommend doing self-exams—practices that 130 Canadian breast cancer experts recommended in a 2019 letter criticizing the guidelines. The task force’s recommendations also don’t address racial disparities: Black women, for example, are more likely to develop aggressive forms of breast cancer than white women, and at younger ages. The new site suggests raising these disparities with your doctor if you’re refused a referral. With some MDs following guidelines that don’t reflect widely established expert advice, women are finding cancer later— which can be deadly. Ermter, who has been cancer-free for three years, is an advocate of early testing. Kornecki agrees: “I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to see cancer diagnosed at advanced stages, usually as a result of no screening.”
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READING LIST
What to read now Tea. Book. Couch. As temperatures drop, that’s how you’ll find us, along with a few of these 46 amazing new reads
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Best buzzy books
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Fight Night by Miriam Toews
WILSON-RAYBOULD PHOTO, DEAN KALYAN.
The latest novel from beloved Canadian author Miriam Toews (All My Puny Sorrows, Women Talking) is a ferocious, funny story of intergenerational living that feels perfectly timed. Following nine-year-old Swiv and her grandmother as they navigate life, loss and massive change in their cramped Toronto home, Fight Night offers up the compassion, determination and optimism necessary to get through this autumn of uncertainty. Out now.
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FROM A MUCH-ANTICIPATED FOLLOW-UP TO A GOTHIC DEBUT, THIS FALL’S MOST BUZZED-ABOUT BOOKS GIVE YOU SEXINESS AND SUSPENSE—AND ARE SURE TO MAKE THE COMING WINTER A LITTLE LESS SCARY.
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
“Indian” in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power by Jody Wilson-Raybould
Sally Rooney’s fans and critics alike won’t be disappointed by the Irish writer’s third book, Beautiful World, Where Are You, one of the most feverishly anticipated novels of the year (an advance copy sold for US$200 on eBay this summer). This wry, pointed exploration of friendship, lust and the last plaintive yawns of youth follows friends Alice, Felix, Simon and Eileen through heartbreak and healing. Out now.
Few politicians of late have been as impactful or as electrifying to watch as Jody Wilson-Raybould. The former Liberal MP and minister of justice now sits as an independent after being removed from caucus in the fallout of the SNC-Lavalin affair, and she’s outspoken about the “toxic” state of Canadian politics. This book is required reading for anyone eager to understand the inner workings of Ottawa. Out now.
Made-Up: A True Story of Beauty Culture Under Late Capitalism by Daphné B. (translated by Alex Manley) “Made-up, ensconced in my bed . . . I’m filling my Sephora cart to the brim”: This refrain from Montreal poet Daphné B.’s treatise on capitalism and beauty culture will be familiar to many. The book will leave you both laughing in recognition and wincing at the reality of the beauty world’s impact on our collective psyche. Out now.
“Canada desperately needs more women, including Indigenous women, in leadership. “Indian” in the Cabinet shares my experiences in politics in the hope that individuals will be encouraged to take on leadership roles and have their voices heard.” —Jody Wilson-Raybould, “Indian” in the Cabinet
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“My book meticulously details January 2020 to June 2021 to ensure that what happened can’t be erased from public memory and that those responsible for the ravages of the pandemic may be brought to account.” —Nora Loreto, Spin Doctors
Any Canadian glued to Twitter for COVID news over the past 18 months or so will recognize Nora Loreto’s name, as the journalist and activist kept detailed tabs on the virus and connected the dots between Canada’s COVID death rate and long-term care homes. Loreto’s sharp new book is a critical look at how Canadian media and politicians failed to tell the full story of COVID’s impact. December 1011.
The Pump by Sydney Warner Brooman
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
Canadian author Sydney Warner Brooman’s debut collection of short fiction instantly cements the non-binary writer as a name to watch. Their gothic tales of fantastical creatures and forged family is magical realism at its best. Drawn from Brooman’s upbringing in Grimsby, Ont., the stories feel rooted in both the mythic and the modern, touching on parenthood, loss and transitions. Out now.
Novelist Ann Patchett’s latest book of essays touches on everything from children’s books and iconic cartoon character Snoopy to her unlikely but life-altering friendship with Tom Hanks’ assistant Sooki. Fans of Patchett will once again be transported by her ability to make even the minutiae of life feel impossibly compelling. November 13.
Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen
On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint by Maggie Nelson
Jayne Allen’s first novel is a funny, frank look at what it means to “have it all” as a young Black woman. Protagonist Tabitha Walker thinks she’s figured out the secret to modern success—until her desire to have kids starts to look out of reach. Her journey to salvage her future tests her friendships and pushes her far outside her comfort zone. Out now.
What does the concept of “freedom” mean today? Is its purpose encompassed by the jingoistic rally cries of the far right? Or is it something entirely intangible? Nelson, author of The Argonauts, attempts to unravel the many ideas and experiences of freedom and its impacts, from climate change to the war on drugs, in this thoughtful examination of one of modern life’s most nebulous yet desperate desires. Out now.
Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas by Omar Mouallem
Spin Doctors by Nora Loreto
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With the 20th anniversary of 9/11 having just past, and the fallout from the occupation of Afghanistan reverberating across the world, journalist Omar Mouallem’s new book feels timely and necessary. Tracing the little-known history of Islam across the Americas, this book provides critical context for how Muslims have shaped cities and towns from Edmonton to Inuvik. Out now.
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DIMALINE PHOTO, WENZDAE BREWSTER.
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune Ruthless lawyer Wallace Price is dead. He suspects it when a reaper shows up; it’s confirmed when he meets Hugo, who offers to help him cross over in seven days. Thus begins this haunting story of life, death, grief and love. Out now.
Best fantasy books
Among Thieves by M.J. Kuhn
Hunting by Stars by Cherie Dimaline
Hired blade Ryia Cautella lives in a kingdom of magic and malevolence—a place where gangs battle and trust is tough—in this thrilling heist fantasy. Ryia has to rely on a mismatched band of cons and criminals who need each other in order to survive. Out now.
This sequel to the award-winning The Marrow Thieves continues the harrowing story of a dystopian world where residential schools harvest the dreams of Indigenous kids. How far will 17-year-old French go to be free? October 19.
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WITCHES AND DREAM HARVESTERS AND DEAD LAWYERS, OH MY! FALL’S EAGERLY AWAITED FANTASY TITLES LET YOU ESCAPE TO AN ALTERNATE REALITY—AND WHO DOESN’T WANT THAT THESE DAYS?
White Resin by Audrée Wilhelmy (translated by Susan Ouriou) In this poetic, imaginative tale about the relationship between nature and industry, one child is born at a convent in a Quebec forest, another at the nearby Kohle Mine Co. Is their life story the story of creation? Out now.
Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper A witch with dwindling powers heads home for her family’s spellcasting tournament. There, she finds herself drawn into a love-triangle-turnedrevenge-plot involving her best friend, her former crush and a tantalizingly sexy dark witch named Talia. October 5.
“I want people to be breathless, to be angry and excited and anxious and hopeful. I want readers to take away the knowledge that Indigenous brilliance can—and has—overcome great systems of oppression. And that through it all is the understanding that the only true survival of self is the survival of community.” — Cherie Dimaline, Hunting by Stars
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THOSE LOOKING TO LOSE THEMSELVES IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS ARE SPOILED THIS SEASON: CHOOSE FROM INSPIRING COMINGOF-AGE NARRATIVES, JUICY CELEBRITY TELL-ALLS AND PERSONAL STORIES THAT SHINE A LIGHT ON URGENT CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE AND RACISM.
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Best memoirs and autobiographies
“In my months of captivity in the desert, I’d sit under an acacia tree, despair slithering through the burning sands. I held on to one thought: As long as there’s life, there’s hope. I wrote my story to say this.” —Edith Blais, The Weight of Sand
BLAIS PHOTO, KRYSTEL V. MORIN.
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The Weight of Sand: My 450 Days Held Hostage in the Sahara by Edith Blais, translated by Katia Grubisic In 2018, Edith Blais and her Italian companion, Luca, were kidnapped by terrorists in Burkina Faso. Remarkably, after 15 months, they escaped. Blais offers a vivid account of her captivity—and unlikely journey to freedom. Out now.
Disorientation: Being Black in the World by Ian Williams
Mennonite Valley Girl: A Wayward Coming of Age by Carla Funk
Ian Williams, who won the 2019 Giller Prize for his novel Reproduction, documents and scrutinizes his experiences as a Black man in a collection of essays. His reflections— spanning life in Trinidad, Canada and the United States—deserve to be read widely. Out now.
There’s so much to love in this hilarious coming-of-age memoir set in an isolated Mennonite community in British Columbia in the 1980s. Funk writes candidly about angst and awkwardness—and longing for something beyond her small-town adolescence. Out now.
Talking to Canadians: A Memoir by Rick Mercer A delightful and warm-hearted memoir from one of Canada’s most beloved TV personalities. Rick Mercer, known for being guarded about his private life, shares his own story—from his childhood in Middle Cove, N.L., to the heights of show business. November 2.
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Over the Boards: Lessons from the Ice by Hayley Wickenheiser Nobody can make you feel unaccomplished quite like Hayley Wickenheiser. She’s one of hockey’s greats, and she just became a doctor, finishing medical school while working on the pandemic’s front lines. The Canadian icon offers lessons for success by way of stories from her own life. October 12.
“After a free-range childhood and a failed scholastic career, comedy saved my life. This is my story. It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever written, written by the luckiest man I know. I can’t wait to share it with the country.” — Rick Mercer, Talking to Canadians
MERCER PHOTO, JON STURGE.
Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke The activist who founded the #MeToo movement recounts coming of age as a young Black woman in the Bronx. Her story, at once painful and powerful, takes her from shame and trauma to becoming a champion of healing for all survivors. Out now.
No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) by Kate Bowler When she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at 35, Winnipeg-born Kate Bowler realized her life wasn’t a series of limitless choices. In this moving memoir, she shares how she’s learned to forge on while being mindful that time is finite. Out now.
You Got Anything Stronger? by Gabrielle Union Following the success of her debut memoir, We’re Going to Need More Wine, Gabrielle Union returns with another collection of raw, honest—and really funny—stories from her life, opening up about surrogacy, motherhood, aging and facing racism as a Black woman. Out now.
Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance by Jesse Wente Writer and broadcaster Wente delves into his past and examines the value of storytelling in reclaiming Indigenous identity. Concluding with an evisceration of reconciliation as offered by politicians, he provides his own vision of an equitable Canada. Out now.
Permanent Astonishment by Tomson Highway Born in the subarctic as the 11th of 12 children, playwright and novelist Highway was sent, with his brother Rene, to residential school as a boy. Highway’s beautiful and tender portrait of his youth is also a loving and joyful depiction of Cree culture. Out now.
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Best nonfiction books
“The Gucci saga is truly an epic tale that intertwines the drama of both the family and the business and shows that no one who has been involved with Gucci’s evolution— even to the present day— has been left untouched by the experience.” — Sara Gay Forden, The House of Gucci
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Against White Feminism: Notes on Disruption by Rafia Zakaria
THESE THOUGHT-PROVOKING READS ON RACE, FASHION, THE ANIMAL KINGDOM AND INSTAGRAM WILL KEEP YOU TURNING THE PAGES WELL INTO THE NEW YEAR.
On Animals by Susan Orlean
Rafia Zakaria, a Pakistanborn lawyer, activist and author, challenges mainstream feminists to see how many of their aims are limited by white, middle-class interests, a POV that often erases Black and brown women’s voices and anti-capitalist politics from the cause. Zakaria isn’t the first to take up this fight, but she gives it fresh urgency. Out now.
New Yorker writer Susan Orlean confesses to always being “a little animalish,” in the introduction to her new book, a collection of essays about an array of beasts—both domestic and wild—and the humans who love them. From Orlean’s own chickens to celebrity whales, On Animals illuminates all the ways in which animals fascinate, mystify and endear themselves to humans. October 12.
The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times Magazine
Sara Gay Forden digs into the 1995 murder of Gucci grandson Maurizio, whose ex-wife served 18 years for orchestrating his killing. First published in 2000, this richly detailed tale—part fashion history, part family drama—has been reissued in advance of the film starring Adam Driver and Lady Gaga. Out now.
The 1619 Project, first published as a special issue of the New York Times Magazine, asserts the significance of 1619—the year the first enslaved Africans were brought to the U.S.—and explores the myths that surround 1776, the year the U.S. declared independence. November 16.
Out of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling by Esi Edugyan In this book of essays, the two-time Giller Prize winner addresses the ways in which Black humanity has been erased: in art, in culture, in history—even in ghost stories. It’s a compelling meditation that reveals how much we know about white culture’s history of wealth and expansion and how little we know about anything—or anyone—else. Out now.
No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram by Sarah Frier You won’t be able to stop scrolling through this deep dive into the origins of the highly addictive photo-sharing app. The book provides an inside look at the culture of Silicon Valley and its billionaire icons, as well as insights into Instagram’s relationship with its celebrity influencers like Justin Bieber and Ashton Kutcher. Out now.
FORDEN PHOTO, MARK FINKENSTAEDT.
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WALSH PHOTO, BETTY WANG.
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Best suspense books
BOOKS
SEX, MURDER, JEALOUSY AND GREED: THESE ARE THE SEASONINGS THAT GO INTO COOKING UP A JUICY THRILLER. HERE ARE FOUR SUREFIRE WAYS TO SATISFY YOUR HANKERING FOR DARK DRAMA.
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins
All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris
Billy Summers by Stephen King
Pull Focus by Helen Walsh
A young man is found dead on a houseboat moored along London’s Regent’s Canal. Who did the dark deed? Four troubled candidates emerge as suspects. U.K.-based Paula Hawkins, author of the bestselling The Girl on the Train, has a knack for depicting the inner lives of the haunted. This bloody page-turner is filled with surprises. Out now.
Lawyer Ellice Littlejohn has spent a lifetime keeping secrets. The murder of her lover, however, sets her on a path that sees private truths—and traumas— come out. Split between Ellice’s troubled past and rocky present, Secrets is a twisty contemporary debut from Wanda M. Morris, a former corporate attorney. November 2.
Billy Summers is a battle-worn hitman who only kills bad guys. Summers— who considers himself akin to “a garbage man with a gun”—is on his last gig when things take an unexpected turn. In classic Stephen King style, the direction is dark (and marked by certain dated plot points) but highly entertaining nonetheless. Out now.
Jane Browning is promoted to CEO of the Worldwide Toronto Film Festival after her boss is turfed for sending explicit pics to his staffers. Jane’s career coup is further marred by the fact that her boyfriend has gone AWOL. Pull Focus—Toronto-based Helen Walsh’s debut—is a slow-burn, #MeToo-inflected workplace drama. Out now.
“Gender and power are intrinsically linked. Pull Focus came out of my experience working in media and entertainment, where that dynamic is entrenched— and sometimes results in sexual violence.” — Helen Walsh, Pull Focus
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Best romance books
The Sweetest Remedy by Jane Igharo Hannah Bailey flies to Lagos for the funeral of the father she never knew and to connect with wealthy relatives she’s never met. Unearthed secrets, a cultural learning curve and a handsome suitor lead her on a journey of self-discovery. Out now.
THE ROMANCE GENRE CONTINUES TO EXPAND, ADDING MORE DIVERSE VOICES WHILE KEEPING ALL THE TROPES AND HEAs (THAT’S HAPPILY EVER AFTERS) READERS ADORE.
The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox
A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli
A Certain Appeal by Vanessa King
California twins Charlie, a reality TV chef, and Cass, a small-town baker, pull a classic switcheroo when Charlie loses her sense of smell in an accident. They both long to escape the lives they thought they wanted—but love has other plans. October 5.
Type A analyst Niki Randhawa does all the right things for her family. When she’s laid off, she books an impromptu trip to Goa—and meets a soulful musician who helps her realize that the straight and narrow path isn’t the only choice in life or love. October 5.
Pride and Prejudice fans won’t want to miss this spicy retelling set in the glamorous world of modern burlesque in NYC. Liz Bennet, dancer by night, meets uptight finance manager Will Darcy, and while we know how it ends, the fun’s in how they get there. November 23.
Portrait of a Scotsman by Evie Dunmore This feminist historical romance is packed with witty banter and steamy scenes. Heiress Hattie Greenfield marries grumpy self-made Scot Lucian Blackstone—they both have their reasons, but love isn’t one of them. Or so they think . . . Out now.
“I want readers to see a wide range of love—familial, romantic and self-love—and how one can’t replace another. Rather, they all have different purposes, helping to shape our lives and identities in distinct ways.” — Jane Igharo, The Sweetest Remedy
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IGHARO PHOTO, BORADA PHOTOGRAPHY.
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WOOLEVER PHOTO, STEVE LEGATO.
7
Best food books
BOOKS
THIS FALL’S NEW CROP OF FOOD BOOKS FROM CANADA AND THE U.S. HAS LOTS GOING ON—EXCEPT IN ONE DEPARTMENT. HERE’S HOPING FOR MORE DIVERSITY IN 2022.
New Native Kitchen by Freddie Bitsoie and James O. Fraioli
Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever
Earth to Table Bakes by Bettina Schormann and Erin Schiestel
Chef Freddie Bitsoie, who’s worked at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and prolific cookbook author James O. Fraioli have teamed up for a cookbook that is encyclopedic in scope, with recipes from the Cherokee, Hopi, Ute and Sioux, among many others. Techniques for roasting chilies, cleaning cactus paddles and butchering rabbits are sprinkled throughout. October 19.
A biography on the late, great chef, writer and television host, done through interviews with the people who knew him best: family, fellow chefs, celebrities and close friends. Recollections range from Anthony Bourdain’s early days in Jersey to his later-life global fame, and are guided by the deft hand of Laurie Woolever, his long-time assistant and collaborator. Out now.
This baking book, by the founding pastry chefs behind Southern Ontario’s popular Earth to Table Bread Bar restaurants, will have you hiking up your sleeves and busting out your rolling pin. Savoury recipes run the gamut from tourtière to Thanksgiving turkey-stuffed croissants; sweet offerings include pumpkin pudding and carrot cake done jelly roll style. Out now.
Hearth & Home by Lynn Crawford and Lora Kirk
Black Food edited by Bryant Terry
Canada’s culinary power couple—you likely recognize Lynn Crawford from the Food Network and Lora Kirk from Top Chef Masters— specializes in homestyle takes on high-end restaurant classics. The recipes in their latest book include Crown Roast of Lamb with Hollandaise, Brown Butter Croutons, Cheese Soufflé, Lobster Thermidor, and Chocolate Cherry Pavlova. October 5.
This is the first title from the renowned American chef and educator’s new 4 Color imprint, which aims to amplify BIPOC voices in non-fiction. The stunning hardcover incorporates art, essays and poetry among recipes for a cornucopia of dishes, from grits and gumbo and green tomato chow chow to jollof and jerk. Toronto’s Suzanne Barr is one of the many contributing chefs. October 19.
At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes by Carolyn Phillips Picture it: Taiwan in the 1970s, marrying into a Chinese family, and embarking on a journey to acceptance through traditional Chinese dishes. That’s the story Carolyn Phillips, a highly respected cookbook author and illustrator, tells in her follow-up to All Under Heaven, the first English-language cookbook to examine all 35 cuisines of China. Out now.
“Over the course of three years, I spoke with 91 people who knew Tony throughout the span of his extraordinary life. Despite having worked closely with him for nearly a decade, I learned something new about him in every interview.” — Laurie Woolever, Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography
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BOOKS
Local bookstores from coast to coast YUKON
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NUNAVUT
Well-Read Books
The Yellowknife Book Cellar
Inhabit Books
This shop is one part used bookstore, one part museum of Yukon history. Lose yourself in its collection of Northern first editions, including works by poet Robert Service, a.k.a. the Bard of the Yukon. Whitehorse; yukonbooks.ca.
Judith Drinnan moved to Yellowknife in the 1970s to work as a teacher, but her love for books prevailed. Four decades after she opened The Yellowknife Book Cellar, it remains a one-stop destination for kids and adults. Yellowknife; yellowknifebooks.com.
This online bookstore and proud Inuit-owned publisher focuses on Inuit and non-Inuit Arctic titles in English, French, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun. Iqaluit; inhabitbooks.com.
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
QUEBEC
ONTARIO
Downtown Comics
Librairie Racines
Glad Day Bookshop
Kerri Claire took over the store from her Spider-Man-loving dad after he passed away. She runs it alongside comic book artist Wallace Ryan, supporting local artists and writers by selling their comics and zines. St. John’s; downtowncomics.ca.
While on mat leave from her job as a social worker, Gabriella Garbeau opened a bookstore dedicated to highlighting diverse stories. Find books on anti-racism and the history of hip-hop in both English and French. Montreal; librairieracines.com.
This shop has been a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community for decades. Today it hosts one of the largest queer and trans literary festivals in North America, and stocks its shelves with a ton of queer lit. Toronto; gladdaybookshop.com.
P.E.I.
NEW BRUNSWICK
NOVA SCOTIA
Seaside Books
Tidewater Books
Venus Envy
Nancy Quinn loves helping readers find what they’ve been searching for among her shelves of used titles—and welcoming newcomers to her seaside shop with free books about Canada. Summerside; no website.
Growing up in rural New Brunswick, Ellen Pickle looked forward to biweekly visits from the bookmobile. Now, she’s the one making people’s days, selling loads of CanLit, as well as nature-themed puzzles and local jewellery. Sackville; tidewaterbooks.ca.
This education-based sex shop doubles as a bookstore. Its collection centres the stories of queer, trans, disabled and BIPOC authors from Halifax—including Francesca Ekwuyasi and Rebecca Rose—and beyond. Halifax; venusenvy.ca.
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BOOKS
THERE ARE OVER 200 INDIE BOOKSTORES IN CANADA THAT ARE THRIVING DESPITE THE PRESSURE OF AMAZON AND E-BOOKS. WHY NOT BUY YOUR NEXT READ FROM ONE OF THESE SHOPS, MOST OF WHICH SHIP ACROSS THE COUNTRY? Illustrations by JAKE TOBIN GARRETT BRITISH COLUMBIA
ALBERTA
Iron Dog Books
Strong Nations
Glass Bookshop
Owners Cliff and Hilary Atleo think of their roving bookstore on wheels as a “food (for the brain) truck” that makes reading accessible to metro Vancouver. They also have a storefront location. Vancouver; irondogbooks.com.
This indie publisher’s mission is to strengthen literacy in Indigenous communities. Aside from selling a lot of books— fiction, non-fiction, poetry—by Indigenous authors, it also offers lesson plans for educators. Nanaimo; strongnations.com.
Glass Bookshop owners Jason Purcell and Matthew Stepanic uplift queer and racialized storytellers alongside other new and buzzy releases in their online shop (bricksand-mortar location coming soon). Edmonton; glassbookshop.com.
ONTARIO
MANITOBA
SASKATCHEWAN
Knowledge Bookstore
Tusome Books
Spafford Books
This Afrocentric shop saw an uptick in sales during the BLM protests last year. Aside from its anti-Black racism reading list, Knowledge also sells an inclusive range of graphic novels, kids’ books and puzzles. Brampton; knowledgebookstore.com.
Valerie Chelangat opened this online bookstore that celebrates African, Asian and Indigenous authors—like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jenny Han and Tanya Talaga—to encourage others to expand their reading lists. Winnipeg; tusomebooks.com.
This cozy bookstore is home to a rare 1930s edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, as well as owner Leah Spafford’s rescue dog, Oxford. Explore the aisles to discover 400-year-old manuscripts and art catalogues. Regina; spaffordbooks.ca.
Take cover Outfit your reading nook with these great finds Written by DANIELLE GROEN
THE CANDLE This made-in-Ontario candle burns for days and smells like cedar, coffee and leather— pretty much just like waking up in a rustic cabin surrounded by a bunch of old books. The Hermit candle, $27, shywolfcandles.com.
THE TEA Alberta-based Sarjesa makes its teas on Treaty 7 territory, working with local Indigenous communities to source ingredients, including the lavender in this tasty Earl Grey blend. Earl Grey tea, from $2, sarjesa.com.
THE MUG Want to nurse a steaming-hot cuppa for 80 straight minutes? Ember’s temperature-control smart mug will put an end to microwaving the dregs of your tea. Ember smart mug, $150, bestbuy.ca.
THE TOTE Literary icon + sassy pun + canvas tote = book-carrying no-brainer. This bag comes from our friends at Type, another awesome indie bookstore. Didion tote, $36, typebooks.ca.
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IN PARTNERSHIP WITH RBC INVESTEASE
The no-intimidation guide to robo-investing
You choose your risk tolerance and priorities Getting set up online is easy. Often, the first step is a questionnaire that asks things like: What’s your experience level? How long do you want to tie up this money? You’ll also be asked about your risk tolerance—how comfortable you are with potentially losing some of your investment if the market turns—and your goals for the money, which could be growth-focused or aimed at steady returns. You can choose to invest in responsible portfolios that prioritize companies that perform best on environmental, social and governance factors. The robo-advisor takes all this information and comes up with a recommended portfolio that contains a mix of investments, such as stocks and bonds. It also shares projections for how your money could grow, based on your initial deposit and ongoing contributions.
Could a roboadvisor be the key to investing with confidence?
You can trust that your money is taken care of When it comes to investing the
How does robo-investing work? Roboinvesting uses a computer algorithm (overseen by human experts) to build and manage an investment portfolio based on your goals and risk tolerance. Because your portfolio is rebalanced for you, you don’t have to worry about adjusting your investments when market conditions change. “Robo-advisors are well-suited to anyone
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who wants to invest but either doesn’t have a lot of time to spend or doesn’t have deep investment knowledge, or whose finances are simple and don’t require bespoke advice,” says Flora Do, VP of Term Investments and Savings, VP of RBC InvestEase—RBC’s robo-investing service— and Head of RBC Healthcare. Robo-investing is a popular option: It’s estimated that by 2023, Canadian roboadvisors will be managing $20.7 billion. And you can invest with any registered savings account. Depending on when you need your money, you can use your TFSA, RRSP, RESP or RRIF.
You can start small There’s a common perception that investors need a huge chunk of cash before financial experts will entertain managing their portfolio. Not so with a roboadvisor, which allows you to start with whatever you have. “There are low-cost, low-effort online investing solutions with no account minimum, and our professionals start investing for you once your account balance reaches $100,” explains Do. Plus, the low management fees mean more of your investment gains stay in your pocket. For example, RBC InvestEase has a flat percentage management fee of 0.5 percent, versus the one to two percent charged by typical financial advisors. Those low fees are possible because robo-advisors use passive management and technology to automate the investment process.
money you’ve worked hard to save, leaving the heavy lifting to the pros behind a robo-advisor can be freeing. “Your investments should give you the opportunity to grow your money, while still allowing you to sleep at night,” says Do. “For many, that means keeping costs low and investing in a diversified portfolio that matches their goals.” It’s just one way that robo-investing helps you effortlessly invest in your future and financial independence while you focus on living.
TIPS TO GET STARTED CREATED BY RBC INVESTEASE
1. If it’s challenging to find money to invest, start small and work up from there. The important thing is to begin building the habit of investing, no matter the amount. 2. Make it easier by deciding on a manageable amount to contribute to your investment account each payday, and then automating it. 3. Maximize returns by paying off high-interest debt (approximately five percent or greater) before you step on the gas with investing.
PHOTO, ERIK PUTZ. PROP STYLING, SUN NGO.
HOW CONFIDENT are you when it comes to investing in your future? If you answered, “Not as much as I’d like to be,” you’re not alone. According to a Merrill Lynch and Age Wave survey, 52 percent of women are confident about managing their investments, compared to 68 percent of men. The reasons for this confidence gap are plentiful. For example, statistically lower incomes might make us more risk-averse; also, for generations men typically controlled family finances. That said, studies indicate that women are actually better at saving than men are, and when women do invest, they tend to have higher returns. But the demands of working full-time, raising kids and supporting older relatives can make it tough for women to dedicate time to researching stocks. The good news? Advances in technology—specifically robo-advisors—are eliminating many barriers to investing, making it easier than ever to build wealth.
No downtime to keep up with the stock market?
You can still invest. • RBC InvestEase® is simplified, low-cost, low-effort online auto-investing. • Let our pros pick, buy and manage your investments for you. • Start investing with as little as $100.1 Sign up now and pay no management fees for your first year.2 Visit rbc.com/chatelaine and use promo code AA904. *
RBC InvestEase is a restricted portfolio manager providing access to model portfolios consisting of RBC iShares ETFs with each model portfolio holding up to 100% of RBC iShares ETFs. RBC iShares ETFs are comprised of RBC ETFs managed by RBC Global Asset Management Inc. (RBC GAM) and iShares ETFs managed by BlackRock Canada Limited (BlackRock Canada). RBC GAM and BlackRock Canada have entered into a strategic alliance to bring together their respective ETF products under the RBC iShares brand, and to offer a unified distribution support and service model for RBC iShares ETFs. Other products and services may be offered by one or more separate corporate entities that are affiliated to RBC InvestEase Inc., including without limitation: Royal Bank of Canada, RBC Direct Investing Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., RBC Global Asset Management Inc., Royal Trust Corporation of Canada and The Royal Trust Company. RBC InvestEase Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada and uses the business name RBC InvestEase. The services provided by RBC InvestEase are only available in Canada. * Information in the phone image is for illustrative purposes only, and does not represent the results of any RBC InvestEase Inc. client, past, present or future. Actual results may vary. 1 Your money will not be invested until your account balance reaches $100 or more. Small balances (less than $1,500) may be allocated to a Small Balance portfolio that invests in a limited selection of RBC iShares ETFs and/or cash. Our Small Balance portfolios follow similar risk profiles as our Standard Portfolios while investing in fewer RBC iShares ETFs. 2 To take advantage of this offer you must not have held an RBC InvestEase account prior to October 1, 2021. Accounts opened from October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 using promo code AA904 will not be charged the regular 0.5% management fee by RBC InvestEase for 12 months from the date of account opening. RBC InvestEase will notify clients 60 days in advance of any changes to the fees associated with their account as set out in the investment management agreement. A weighted average management expense ratio between 0.11-0.32% will still apply to the ETFs held in our portfolios. This offer cannot be combined with any other offers. RBC InvestEase Inc. reserves the right to amend or withdraw this offer at any time without notice. 126295 (07/2021) ® / ™ Trademarks of Royal Bank of Canada. VPS108386
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PROFILE
It’s not a surprise that readers would reach for Penny when the world has gone to hell.
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THE UNCANNY OPTIMISM OF LOUISE PENNY She’s sent dozens of characters tumbling to their deaths—and endured her own fair share of despair. But the bestselling crime writer from Knowlton, Que., is always looking for the bright side Written by DANIELLE GROEN Photography by MIKAËL THEIMER
PROFILE
THE RAINBOWS POPPED UP almost as soon as Quebec locked down. They were taped onto front doors and living room windows; they were hand-drawn on sidewalks and checkout-line Plexiglas. Most of the time, they arrived alongside the phrase “ça va bien aller,” which can translate to “it’s going to be okay” or (if you’re feeling casual) “we got this” or (if you’re being formal) “all will be well.” By late March 2020, even Premier François Legault was quoting the slogan in press conferences to soothe stressed-out Quebecers—though he also said reaching for a glass of wine could help. The rainbows took a bit to make their way to Knowlton, a tiny village closer to Vermont than to Montreal, in the Eastern Townships where crime writer Louise Penny has lived for the past 22 years. (And where lockdown had her running laps around her kitchen island to stave off boredom.) But she was already familiar with the reassurance: “All shall be well” is part of a quote attributed to Julian of Norwich, the female British mystic who survived two waves of the Black Death in the 14th century. The phrase is a particular favourite of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, fictional head of Quebec’s homicide division and profoundly decent hero of Penny’s long-running mystery series, which has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. “Ça va bien aller” is a shorthand for his abiding faith in the goodness of people, despite the sky-high body count at Three Pines, the small village where Gamache keeps a home and Penny sets her books. The latest, The Madness of Crowds, tests that faith. In this 17th Gamache mystery, which came out in late August, a charismatic academic named Abigail Robinson shows up in Three Pines peddling a horrific proposal. Canada’s economy and health care system can fully recover from COVID’s ravages, she promises, but not everyone can be saved—certain sacrifices must be made. As her ideas gain alarming popularity across the country, a slogan appears on placards and buttons. You guessed it: Ça va bien aller. All will be well. “I knew I wanted a phrase that speaks to Gamache’s optimism used in a dangerous, vile way,” Penny says. “I wanted that violation.” What she didn’t want, initially, was any mention of the pandemic—Penny had The Madness of Crowds planned out long
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before actual crowds became a threat—but she changed her mind last fall, two-thirds of the way through her first draft. “I was writing about an idea as a virus, and I couldn’t ignore the parallel to the pandemic,” she says. “Then, to see ‘ça va bien aller’ with the rainbows, it all just fell into place.” If a COVID-bruised country considering offing some of its people doesn’t exactly sound like cozy mystery fare, you might not be familiar with Penny’s work. Yes, there are quirky characters and bucolic settings and mountains—truly mountains—of croissants and lemon meringue pie and French onion soup. But her books have explored the opioid crisis, corporate malfeasance and widespread police corruption. There have been ambushes; there’s been PTSD. “Even though they are the coziest stories about murder you’ll ever encounter, and there’s always someone sitting by the fire with a hot ham sandwich, she’s not afraid to have really heavy stuff going on,” says Elizabeth Spiridakis Olson, a New York–based creative director and self-described Louise Penny pusher (16/16 books read; we spoke before this latest release). “But you know you can trust in Gamache, and the books are still hopeful.” That tension between the heavy and the hopeful might be why so many people turn to Penny not just for escape but for solace, to help them get through chemo or the death of a parent or the later stages of a global pandemic. She’s a good companion for difficult times. And her audience only gets larger each year: In 2020, her 16th Gamache mystery, All the Devils Are Here, shot to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, then sold more copies in Canada than any other homegrown work of fiction that year. It’s not a surprise that so many people would seek out Penny’s company when the world has gone to hell. Her books make clear that she knows intimately what it’s like to endure pain, loss and grief. They also make clear she knows it’s possible to come out on the other side.
enny doesn’t seem like someone who’s sent dozens of people tumbling to their deaths. The 63-year-old is hugely affable, quick to joke, to self-deprecate, to swear a little, to charm a lot. “She’s such an open, touchy-feely person,” says her friend and assistant Lise Page. “She knows how to connect with people—it’s incredible to see.” So it’s perhaps surprising that much of Penny’s early life was marked by an unbearable loneliness. She grew up in Toronto and Montreal afraid of basically everything: heights, the dark, other kids. On the rare occasions Penny misbehaved, her mother would punish her by sending her out to play. She landed a job with the CBC straight out of Ryerson University’s radio and television program, working first as a reporter, then as an anchor for CBC Radio. She spent 18 years at the broadcaster. She spent 14 of those years as an alcoholic. “I was very closed off emotionally, physically, and I turned into this tiny little frightened thing,” Penny says. Alcohol stole her friends, her laughter, her self-respect. “I didn’t know how to live. I just got so lonely. And I knew that it was going to kill me, or I was going to kill myself.” She recognized that if she was willing to die, she had to be willing to ask for help. In January 1994, at the age of 35, she went to her first AA meeting. “There was that moment of grace,” she says. “It’s why one of the ongoing themes of the books is to ask for help and it will be there.” A year later, Penny was set up on a blind date with Michael Whitehead, a director of hematology at a children’s hospital, 25 years her senior. He was the nicest man she’d ever met; she says “a room only ever felt complete with Michael in it.” It was Whitehead who convinced Penny to give up the CBC gig and chase her dream of writing a book. She even announced her plan on live radio. And then: five solid years of writer’s block as she slogged away on a historical novel set in pre-Confederation Quebec. She didn’t understand it—there were, finally, no other distractions in her life. She wasn’t working. She wasn’t raising children. (“Michael loved me enough to try, and I loved him enough to stop trying,” she has said.) She was just afraid of screwing it up. “Why wouldn’t it be fear?” she says now. “When else in my life had I not experienced fear?” Penny allowed herself to let go of her need for approval; she stopped worrying about what her mother thought, what her former colleagues thought, what perfect strangers might think. She also let go of the whole business of a historical epic and started writing what she enjoyed reading: crime fiction, like the kind written by Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. And she made her protagonist, Armand Gamache, the sort of
P
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honourable, sturdy, warmhearted man who she’d like to marry—who she did, in fact, marry. There is so much of Whitehead in Gamache, she says, “for me, it is impossible to separate the two.” Once her debut, Still Life, was written, getting it out into the world was another slog: 50 publishers rejected or ignored her submission. Penny says she had essentially given up; she sent the draft off to a British crime-writing contest as a Hail Mary. But then she came second in the contest. And then she landed an agent. And then that agent landed her a three-book deal, with the next manuscript due in just 10 months. Very quickly, Penny’s career hit the stratosphere. Since 2005, when Still Life was published, she has produced a new Gamache mystery every year. The books have won a whackload of awards and been translated into 29 languages, and they routinely top bestseller lists. There’s a Three Pines-inspired walking tour. There’s an Amazon TV series in the works, from the producers of The Crown. Penny was inducted into the Order of Canada. But sorrow wasn’t quite done with her: In 2014, Whitehead was diagnosed with dementia. “I think I lived in a certain denial: I understood rationally what was going on, but getting the heart to accept it was a whole other thing,” she says. Penny moved them out of their lovely home in the middle of nowhere to a one-level condo in Knowlton; she’d cry in the bathroom, tired of making decisions and tired of being brave. She became Whitehead’s main caregiver, but every morning, she still set her alarm for 5 a.m. and wrote till 10. Three Pines was her refuge. “The nice thing was it was a world that conformed to my position—there was no pushback from Armand,” she says with a laugh. “Yes, bad things happened there, but they still had this sense of community, and they could absorb the blows.” In that way, Penny resembled her readers, finding comfort in the community she’d created. “Whenever there is something I have been grieving or feel anxious for, I take a trip to Three Pines, and the warmth of their friendship offers a haven,” says Azita Rassi, a Penny enthusiast (16/16 books read) and literary translator based in Malaysia. “Gamache is someone you wish you had in your life. A lot of the characters are like that.” The crimes, she adds,
are secondary to the compassion of the novels—she’d happily stick with the series if Gamache became a carpenter or a puppeteer. “Reading the books is therapeutic.” And it’s through Gamache that Whitehead, who died at home in September 2016, lives on. When Penny’s fans rhapsodize about her series, they mention the decadent food and the swirling Quebec snowstorms and the satisfaction of a mystery solved, but they linger on Gamache. “Penny’s books are more about kindness and empathy and connecting than they are about these evil deeds, and Gamache is at the centre of that,” says Kerry Millar, a teacher in Toronto (11/16 books read: “I’m afraid I’ll catch up and there won’t be any more”). Millar adds, “In spite of everything that Gamache has witnessed and been through, he definitely believes in the good of humanity.” The same could be said of Whitehead. It can be said of Penny, too. fter Whitehead passed away, a letter of condolence arrived from Hillary Clinton, then in the final leg of her 2016 presidential campaign. Penny was surprised to receive it—and even more surprised that it showed such familiarity with Whitehead’s life and work. “It wasn’t just ‘Dear occupant, sorry for your loss, can I count on your vote?’ ” Penny says. “And Hillary Clinton’s letter shouldn’t mean any more than anyone else’s, but it did lift the heart.” The two struck up a friendship—on Facebook, Penny once posted a photo of them together, mugging in enormously floppy fuchsia hats—and last year figured they’d collaborate on a book as well. They wrote the political thriller State of Terror over the pandemic, and though Penny won’t reveal much before its October 12 publication, she will say that it’s packed with “tiny details that are almost state secrets,” and it was a chance for her to learn more about Clinton’s career in politics. “I try not to think of her as Secretary Clinton and him as President Clinton,” she says. “They’ve obviously got immense experience and stories—all right, yeah, peace in Ireland. But for the most part, they’re just Bill and Hillary. I’m a Canadian. I have nothing to offer them beyond friendship.” It’s not an offer she makes lightly: Penny is careful with the company she keeps. “There are people who are happy to throw shade; I don’t need them in my life,” she says.
A
The 17th Inspector Gamache mystery, The Madness of Crowds, is out now.
She can supply ample self-criticism. She leans on her friends for positivity and support. Again and again, Penny returns in conversation to the importance of optimism. The last time we spoke, it was early July and she’d just flown to London, where she has a flat. All travellers to England still had to quarantine for 10 days and test negative for COVID twice, but Penny wasn’t sure when she’d be sprung from isolation: Her COVID test was lost somewhere in the Royal Mail. She was back to jogging around a kitchen island. She’d ordered groceries; they’d arrived all smashed up. “Every now and then, life is just a clusterf-ck,” she says, laughing. “So I’m running laps and all I can think of is: Everything will be okay. Right? All shall be well.” Okay, but hold on, Louise: How? How shall it be? And how can she hang on to that belief, given everything happening right now in the world and everything that’s happened in her own life? “It’s just faith,” says Penny, who isn’t religious but has what she describes as a deep and private belief. She considers my questions a little longer. Maybe she can sense my skepticism across the Zoom connection; maybe she can see that, 16 months deep into a global pandemic and holding fast at “languishing,” I’m looking for a little advice. “It depends on what you think of as ‘well,’ ” Penny says. Is it a bank account stacked with millions? One of Jeff Bezos’ lesser yachts? Then, no, very likely, all shall not be well. Instead, Penny learned to calibrate her desires. She remembers thinking, “I hope Michael doesn’t have dementia,” and then “I hope he can still talk,” and then “I hope he can walk.” She remembers when those hopes no longer worked. “So then it’s: I hope he’s not in pain. And, yeah, that’s working,” she says. “I hope this can be peaceful. That’s working. I hope he knows he’s loved.” She pauses. “Hope shifts. And if you can have a fluid sense of ‘well,’ then all really will be well.” Her smile is enormous—it’s contagious. “I mean, how wonderful is that?”
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CANNABIS
uide for the g A ous i g um r u my c A cannabis pro and a connoisseur on everything you need to know about weed gummies, from THC to CBD to hybrids Written by LEAH RUMACK
Produced by AIMEE NISHITOBA
Photography by ERIK PUTZ
Prop styling by CHAD BURTON
My pre-legalization experiences with edibles were always an extremely unpredictable split between evenings of giggly fun and completely nauseous, seemingly never-ending dark nights of the soul. But now—thanks to legalization—I can reach for a precisely dosed gummy and know exactly what I’m getting, how much I want to take and how long the effects will likely last. It’s a long way from crossing your fingers while biting into a space cookie made by a hippie in 2002. Canada legalized edibles sold by licensed retailers in October 2019, and while the category encompasses things like teas, chocolate, dissolvable powders, cookies and fizzy drinks, a lot of people who are new to cannabis like to start with gummies— they’re discreet and easy to transport, and they don’t involve smoking or vaping. And due to the explosion of artisanal brands that have hit the market, they’re also increasingly delicious. With the help of Lindsay Lebel, the manager of learning at Ontario-based indie cannabis chain Superette, I’ve created a guide for the gummy curious. Read on for our product picks; but first, some basics.
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life
THC vs. CBD The two most readily available types of cannabinoids in Canada are THC, which gets you high, and CBD, which does not, but is popular for its relaxing and anti-inflammatory properties. You can buy gummies that are THC-only or CBD-only, and also “balanced” formulations that contain both CBD and THC. “The THC-dominant ones are going to bring the high and produce that euphoric feeling,” says Lebel. “The balanced gummies are going to be more of a therapeutic experience with less of a high, and the CBD ones will chill you out and help your body relax.”
ICONS AND BACKGROUND, ISTOCK PHOTO.
What’s the right dose? You’ve probably heard the phrase “start low and go slow” when it comes to edibles, but what does that even mean? Edibles in Canada are sold in individual packages with a maximum total dose of 10 mg of THC and no limit on the amount of CBD. The cannabis might be in a single high-dose gummy or spread out among
several pieces. For most users, especially newer ones, 10 mg of THC is a lot. If you haven’t used cannabis in years—or ever—I would definitely not suggest going all in with the full 10 mg off the jump. The Cannabis Act actually prohibits brands from telling consumers how much of a product to take, so Lebel usually recommends that newbies start with a gummy that contains 1 to 3 mg of THC. “That’s a good starting dose where you can gauge how your body and mind feel,” she says. The product packaging will say how much THC and/or CBD is contained “per unit,” which means how many milligrams of weed are in each gummy. You’ll also usually see another figure, listed in grams, on the in-store displays or when you’re purchasing gummies online—it’s not generally on the packaging itself—that refers to the actual size of the gummy. (See “What do all these numbers mean?” page 67.) Because edibles take longer to kick in—up to four hours, though more typically within two—than a few puffs on a joint and the effects last longer (anywhere from four to 12 hours), a
CANNABIS
classic rookie mistake is thinking that nothing is happening and then taking more too soon. Do not do this! And, honestly, if it’s your first time, you may want to wait until the next session before upping your dosage. How much THC you want to imbibe totally depends on what kind of experience you’re looking for. I personally reserve the full 10-mg situation for special occasions where I have a lot of time and not much responsibility. I’ve found that 2 to 2.5 mg is perfect for giving me the two-cocktails giggles. I’m also all about microdosing (1 to 1.5 mg) for improving my mood or tamping down aches and pains while still remaining completely functional during the day. And a reminder: absolutely no driving on any amount of THC. Also be sure to store all your edibles securely and out of reach of children and pets— turn the page for a selection of cute lockboxes that will keep your stash safe.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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life
CANNABIS
Okay, so what should you buy? Finally, the fun part! The good news is that gummies give you a lot of bang for your buck—most packages are under $10—so it’s easy to sample a bunch of different brands without breaking the bank.
FOR SLEEP San Rafael ’71 Blaspberry Soft Chews These lower-dose THC chews are Lebel’s personal favourite for sleep. “I give these to my grandma,” she says. “We keep them beside our beds at all times!” These tangy berry chews have a very slight weed taste. My hot tip about using THC for sleep is that it works better—for me, anyway—if I take it within an hour of bedtime, so it hits its full strength while I’m (hopefully) already asleep and helps keep me there. If I start too early in the evening, I just get too high and way too interested in reorganizing my cookbooks. 5 pieces, 2 mg THC each, $9.28 at Superette.
FOR SLEEP Dynathrive CBD Apple Cider Vinegar Soft Chews When friends ask me about cannabis, they almost always want to know about using it for sleep, and some are hesitant to use THC. So, for a CBD-only relaxation experience, I like this mega-pack of 10-mg soft chews. The apple cider vinegar flavour sounds weird, but they really just taste like a tart apple. At first, I was reluctant to make the relatively large commitment of buying 30 gummies at once, but if it’s something you take every night, like I do, those smaller
66
packages run out pretty quickly. If I’m home in the evening, I usually pop one or two 10-mg gummies two or three hours before bedtime. It doesn’t knock me out cold or anything, but it helps me wind down. I think of it as a sleep vitamin. 30 pieces, 10 mg CBD each, $48.95 at Ontario Cannabis Store.
FOR CANDY LOVERS Sunshower Mango Tangerine Soft Chews These are probably some of the tastiest gummies I’ve ever had, which is actually kind of dangerous because if I keep reaching back into that bag just because they’re so yummy I’m in trouble. There is absolutely no weed taste, and they’re slightly bigger than your typical soft chew, too, so, as Lebel says: “You get a little more candy to your cannabis.” They also come in Wild Strawberry and Watermelon Lemonade flavours. 5 pieces, 2 mg THC each, $5.99 at BC Cannabis Stores.
FOR A BALANCED EXPERIENCE Ace Valley Peaches & Honey 1:1 Gummies Gummies that are made with both THC and CBD are called balanced formulas because the CBD theoretically counterbalances the more psychoactive aspects of the THC for a smoother, less “high” experience (I haven’t
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
personally noticed a huge difference, but that could just be me!). Starting out with a balanced gummy is a popular choice for beginners, especially ones who are nervous about THC. A 1:1 ratio means there are equal parts of each cannabinoid, but you’ll also see gummies listed as “balanced” that are THCdominant and also contain some CBD. 2 pieces, 5 mg THC and 5 mg CBD each, $6.99 at BC Cannabis Stores.
FOR A SHORT-BUTSWEET TRIP Wana Quick Orchard Peach Sativa Soft Chews Two of the common complaints people have about edibles are that it takes too damn long to feel their effects, and then those effects, in turn, are too long-lasting. The water-soluble technology used to make these gummies means they act more like a great big glass of wine— easy in, easy out (or, in official terms, “quick onset and offset”). “These are a really cool entryway to gummies without that potential eight-hour commitment,” says Lebel. You’ll start to feel buzzed within 15 minutes (give or take) and you’ll probably wrap up your little vacation in around four hours. The Orchard Peach and Pineapple Coconut flavours are THC only, but Wana Quick also comes in a balanced 1:1 version in Strawberry Lime. 2 pieces, 5 mg THC each, $9 at Ontario Cannabis Store.
FOR WHEN YOU’RE READY TO GO BIG Thumbs Up Brand THC Pineapple Coconut Soft Chew If you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, this delicious 10-mg gummy is a juicy escape to a tropical paradise in your mind. Bonus points for Thumbs Up’s 10% for Good program, which donates 10 percent of profits to help fund cannabis amnesty efforts for the estimated 500,000 Canadians— many of whom are racialized— who still have criminal records for possession. 1 piece, 10 mg THC, $5.95 at Ontario Cannabis Store.
life
CANNABIS
LOCK ON Keep your stash safe from kids and pets with one of these smell-proof, lockable storage solutions.
A discreet and waterproof pouch at a very reasonable price. Canny Mid-Zip Locking Smell Proof Bag, US$23, canny.us.
This minimalist lockbox was designed in Canada by a femalerun company and comes in three chic colours. Ally Lockable Storage Box, $95, theallyco.com.
2 1
Like to keep your options open (and very, very organized)? This pretty pink case is for you. Hush Lifestyle Brand Large Leather Case, $151, hushlifestyle.ca.
ICONS AND BACKGROUND, ISTOCK PHOTO.
3
What do all these numbers mean? On this Ontario Cannabis Store online listing, you can see: 1. The total amount of cannabis in the package (100 mg CBD) on the left. 2. The number of candies in the package (10) and how much each candy weighs (4.6 g) in the green circle. 3. The amount of CBD in each gummy (10 mg) in the product description.
Handmade from vegan leather, this sleek, multi-compartment pouch could easily double as a purse. Margaux and co. Child-Safe Bag with Combination Lock, $50, margauxandco.ca. OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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The world has changed. Our commitment to youth remains the same As the world continues to be deeply marked by uncertainty and isolation, we are aware of the impact on young people, particularly those in marginalized communities and those in situations of exclusion. Now, more than ever, is the time to come together, mobilize our collective efforts and ignite change. The Fondation Michaelle Jean Foundation’s (FMJF) initiatives transform lives and revitalize communities across Canada. More than 1 million young people have participated in the FMJF’s programs Power of the Arts Forum, the 4th Wall, and The National Black Canadians Summit over the last decade - contributing their creativity and skills to create lasting change and build vibrant, inclusive communities.
We share a vision of a Canada in which all youth use their creativity to tackle social issues and build vibrant communities. Help us continue to support young people across the country in achieving their highest potential. Together, We Are Stronger
Visit our website www.fmjf.ca to learn more, and to donate today.
DONATE: https://fmjf.ca/ Since its creation 10 years ago, the Fondation Michaëlle Jean Foundation‘s (FMJF) initiatives have transformed lives and revitalized communities across the country. Help continue to support the mission of the Foundation by visiting our website and donating today.
A TURKEYFREE FEAST THEY’LL GOBBLE UP
RECIPE, IRENE NGO. PRODUCED BY SUN NGO. PHOTO, ERIK PUTZ. FOOD STYLING, ASHLEY DENTON. PROP STYLING, CHRISTINE HANLON.
page 74
[ SUGAR AND SPICE ]
Pump up your buns Take all the sticky, gooey goodness of a cinnamon roll—then give it an autumnal twist. These pumpkin pie buns are the perfect kicker to your Thanksgiving meal, and they come with a maple cream cheese glaze for added Canadian cred. They’re ideal for sharing or for devouring on your own. Turn to page 71 for the surprisingly easy-to-make recipe. OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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food
KITCHEN NOTES
Think pink
A new colour is popping up across the produce spectrum—and we’re here for it. We’re especially enamoured by the stunning Pleurotus djamor, also known as the pink oyster mushroom Written by IRENE NGO
Growing your own? Harvest before the edges of the caps start to curl up.
Pink oyster mushrooms lose their rosy hue when cooked.
BUBBLEGUM-PINK fruits and vegetables are all the rage right now. Pink pineapples crossed our Instagram Stories all summer, and we may see more blush-toned produce, including radicchio, lemons and even mushrooms, pop up soon. These vibrant pink oyster mushrooms are a sight to behold, but you won’t find them in produce aisles. More delicate than what you see at the supermarket, they also have a shorter shelf life. The good news is they’re easy to grow at home. Use grow-your-own-mushroom kits to raise flushes of these delightful beauties on your kitchen countertop. All they need is a warm, humid environment with good airflow (some companies can supply a humidity tent for this) and a daily misting of water, and they’ll be ready to eat in 10 to 14 days. Harvest the mushrooms before the edges of the caps start to curl, and refrigerate up to two days. Pink oyster mushroom grow kit, $29, growmushroomscanada.ca.
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CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
PHOTO, STOCKSY.
Love ’shrooms? You’re in for a treat—turn to page 82.
food Just a pinch
Ba k e the ! cover
Move over, Maldon! Canada’s own hand-harvested flaky and crunchy sea salts are perfect for finishing sweet and savoury dishes.
SALT SPRING SEA SALT Pacific seawater transforms into a fleur de sel that rivals its French counterparts. Natural Fleur de Sel, $12 for 45 g, saltspringseasalt.com.
Pumpkin Pie Buns with Maple Cream Cheese Glaze Makes 12 Prep 35 min; total 3 hrs Dough 1
8-g pkg active dry yeast
1/3
cup warm water, 120F to 125F
2
tbsp granulated sugar, divided (24 g)
1/2
VANCOUVER ISLAND SEA SALT Crumble these salt flakes from the Canadian Pacific over your dish for the perfect finishing touch. Flake Sea Salt, $8 for 75 g, canadianseasalt.com.
cup warm milk, 120F to 125F
3
tbsp butter, melted
2
egg yolks
3 1/3 1
cups all-purpose flour (400 g) tsp salt
Filling 1
COOKBOOK TEXT, IVY KNIGHT. PUMPKIN PIE BUNS PHOTO, ERIK PUTZ. PUMPKIN PIE BUNS FOOD STYLING, ASHLEY DENTON.
1/3 5 1 1/2
NEWFOUNDLAND SALT COMPANY This salt is produced in small, handcrafted batches from the clear waters of Trinity Bay in Bonavista, N.L. Sea Salt, $14 for 40 g, newfoundlandsaltcompany.com.
Find more of fall’s best new cookbooks on page 55.
My New Table by Trish Magwood In addition to fresh and delicious recipes— think Shrimp Succotash, BBQ Broccoli and Sugar Pie—James Beard winner Trish Magwood also delves into design, from kitchen shelving to serving ware. All shot by one of Canada’s most sought-after food photographers, Ksenija Hotić. October 26.
cup pumpkin purée cup packed brown sugar (64 g) tbsp butter, at room temperature tbsp pumpkin pie spice
Glaze 3/4
cup icing sugar (90 g)
½
250-g block cream cheese, softened
1/3
cup maple syrup
2
ICYMI:
KITCHEN NOTES
tbsp butter, at room temperature
½
tsp vanilla
1/4
tsp salt
¼
cup chopped toasted pecans or pepitas (optional)
1. Dough: Combine yeast with warm water and 1 tbsp granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let stand until frothy, 10 min. Whisk in warm milk, 3 tbsp melted butter and egg yolks until just combined. 2 . Fit stand mixer with dough hook. Add flour, remaining 1 tbsp granulated sugar and 1 tsp salt. Beat on low until no flour streaks remain, 1 to 2 min. Increase speed to medium. Beat until dough is smooth and pulls cleanly away from the bottom and sides of the bowl, 4 to
6 min. (If the stand mixer moves around while it kneads, you may have to hold the bowl in place.) Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl and loosely cover with a damp kitchen towel. Let rest until dough is doubled in size, about 1 hour. 3. Filling: Meanwhile, place pumpkin purée in a large non-stick frying pan set over medium-high. Cook, stirring often, until mixture thickens and reduces to 1/2 cup, about 5 to 7 min. (Stir more often in the last few minutes to prevent burning.) Transfer purée to a medium bowl, then set aside to cool completely, about 30 min. 4. Butter a 9 × 13-in. baking pan. Add ⅓ cup brown sugar, 5 tbsp butter and pumpkin pie spice to pumpkin purée. Stir well to combine. 5. Roll risen dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12 × 14-in. rectangle. Spread purée mixture evenly over dough to edges. With the long edge facing you, tightly roll up dough in jelly roll fashion. Use a serrated knife to cut crosswise into 12 rounds. Arrange rolls, cut-side down, in prepared pan. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise until doubled, 1 hr. 6. Position rack in centre of oven, then preheat to 325F. 7. Bake rolls until golden, 30 to 35 min. Transfer to a rack and let stand 5 min. 8. Glaze: Meanwhile, beat icing sugar with cream cheese, maple syrup, butter, vanilla and ¼ tsp salt in a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium, until smooth. Spread over buns. Sprinkle with pecans or pepitas— or both, as we did on the cover. Kitchen tip Grease your pan with the foil wrapper from your butter stick. OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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food
ISSUE
Racism is bad for business With the economic losses brought on by the pandemic and rising anti-Asian sentiment, many Chinese-Canadian restaurants are struggling to survive Written by RAMONA LEITAO Illustration by JUSTINE WONG
M
anzou Bakery almost blends in with the industrial businesses that surround it. What makes the Scarborough, Ont., storefront stand out is that it’s the only one in the quiet plaza with a steady flow of customers. They enter empty-handed and emerge with cake boxes. The store carries nine flavours of chiffon cake—each a creamy, airy, layered delight—including the unique black sesame cake, filled with Japanese black sesame seed-infused cream. For those who can’t commit to just one flavour, the bakery sells boxes of cake cups—mini versions of the coveted chiffons. Sabrina Pan is the daughter of Manzou owners Michael Pan and Michelle Huang; she’s also the bakery’s social media manager. Fluent in all things internet, she used popular memes to help the business gain traction online. That said, she’s cautious of its current success. “There’s always going to be that ‘unknown,’ but for now it’s good,” she says. For the Pan family, facing the unknown in the Canadian food industry is all too familiar. It’s also one of the pivotal reasons why this bakery came to be. Sabrina’s parents originally ran a cake
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CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
factory that supplied Chinese cakes and pastries to restaurants and buffets across the Greater Toronto Area. Then came COVID-19. In March 2020, Ontario enforced a lockdown that included closing all non-essential businesses in the province. “Instantly,” says Sabrina, “we lost our business.” As months went by, the family knew they had to do something substantial to survive. A bakery that sold directly to individuals instead of the now-shuttered restaurants seemed like the best option. And so, after months of recipe testing and a crash course in branding and promotion, Manzou Bakery was born. It officially opened its doors in January 2021. “Honestly, we had no other choice,” Sabrina says. During the pandemic, Canadian food businesses have borne significant losses across the country. Restaurants Canada, an industry association, reports that since March 2020, 10,000 restaurants have permanently closed. But it was Chinese-Canadian food businesses in particular that experienced an almost immediate drop in sales, especially within the first two months of 2020—before lockdowns were announced.
food
Canada Catering Association, a non-profit group that supports owners of Chinese restaurants, says that sales at Chinese food businesses in British Columbia dropped by 50 percent, with some restaurants experiencing an 80 percent drop, in early 2020. Similarly, Chinese restaurants in the Greater Toronto Area reported a 30 to 80 percent loss in revenue in February 2020, according to the Chinese Cuisine and Hospitality Association of Canada. Along with the economic losses brought on by lockdowns, anti-Asian racism has affected businesses, too. A March 2021 report released by several advocacy groups, including the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, revealed that onefifth of all anti-Asian attacks from March 2020 to February 2021 took place in Asian restaurants and other food and grocery establishments across the country. During this time, a total of 1,150 incidents were reported, including verbal harassment, physical attacks, and spitting and coughing on Asian-Canadians. Matthew Murtagh-Wu is the owner of the Dumpling King, a business based in East Vancouver that sells his signature Johnnie Walker–infused pork belly and scallion dumplings to local retailers. He says the pandemic was the “push” for people to discriminate against both Chinese food businesses and the Chinese and Asian community as a whole. “People just need a reason to not like someone,” he says. Murtagh-Wu has patronized Vancouver’s Chinatown all his life, and he believes in supporting mom-and-pop businesses that are facing economic losses and racism. He continues to source his ingredients from Chinatown vendors to create his dumplings.
ISSUE
Social media has been an effective tool in supporting Chinese food businesses in Canada. In April 2020, self-proclaimed foodie Laura Luu created Local 88, a Facebook group that promotes Asian food spots across Montreal and also teaches East Asian and Southeast Asian entrepreneurs to promote themselves through social media and branding. Luu says she created this group because she was afraid that her favourite food spots would go out of business: “If [people] don’t know about them, they can’t go and try their food.” Feigang Fei, owner of the Chinese restaurant Cuisine AuntDai in Montreal, says his customers stopped going out to eat at the beginning of the pandemic—especially his Chinese patrons, who made up the bulk of his sales at his downtown location. The absence of customers in early 2020, plus the lockdown that was enforced in March, resulted in his permanently closing down one of his two locations. What helped the second business, however, was social media. In January 2021, his menu went viral on Twitter thanks to his cheeky takes on the dishes. “Compared to our General Tao Chicken, this one is not THAT good,” he wrote about the restaurant’s orange beef offering. Over 74,000 people have liked that tweet since it was posted. Knowing the current climate, Sabrina Pan recognizes that she and her family are among the lucky ones who have a chance to try again, with Manzou Bakery. “It’s such a privilege to pivot,” she says, noting that a lot of businesses don’t have someone to help them navigate online spaces. “It’s really hard, even for me. Even though I grew up [using social media], it wasn’t that easy to figure it out.” OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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food
ENTERTAINING
Meatless feast Hold the turkey this Thanksgiving. Whether it’s a show-stopping main or delicious sides, we’ve got you covered for a vegetarian spread everyone will enjoy
Wine pro Vidal Wu and beer sommelier Crystal Luxmore played matchmaker for this menu— turn to page 88 for their tasty picks.
Miso Mashed Potatoes
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CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1011
Mushroom Gravy
Butternut Squash Wellingtons WASHED LINEN TABLECLOTH, STONEWARE SERVING BOWL, HM.COM. EZRA AMBER TEA LIGHT CANDLE HOLDER, CB2.CA.
Recipes by IRENE NGO Produced by STEPHANIE HAN KIM Photography by ERIK PUTZ Food styling by ASHLEY DENTON Prop styling by CHRISTINE HANLON
OUI COCKTAIL COUPE AMBER COCKTAIL GLASSES, FLUTED COUPE CRANBERRY COCKTAIL GLASSES, LARGE ORGANIC STONEWARE SERVING TRAY IN TERRACOTTA, SMALL ORGANIC STONEWARE SERVING TRAY IN BLUSH, INDIGO.CA.
food ENTERTAINING
Gingery Green Beans with Crispy Fried Onions
Easy Cranberry Sauce
Fig and Radicchio Salad
Cheesy Creamed Corn
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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food
ENTERTAINING
Easy Cranberry Sauce P 78
You can make the vegetable mixture for the Wellingtons up to 2 days in advance. Refrigerate until it’s time
Buy an extra package of puff pastry if you’d like to decorate your Wellingtons.
Butternut Squash Wellingtons P 77
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CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
WASHED LINEN TABLECLOTH, HM.COM. GREEN MARBLE BOARD, LARGE ORGANIC STONEWARE SERVING TRAY IN TERRACOTTA, INDIGO.CA. EZRA AMBER TEA LIGHT CANDLE HOLDER, CB2.CA.
to assemble.
food
ENTERTAINING
Butternut Squash Wellingtons Serves 6 Prep 30 min; total 2 hrs ⅔ 2
small butternut squashes, with necks 4 in. long and 3 in. wide
3
garlic cloves
1
celery stalk, roughly chopped
½
small red onion, roughly chopped
1
227-g pkg cremini mushrooms, quartered
1
tbsp olive oil
WASHED LINEN TABLECLOTH, HM.COM. OUI FLUTED COUPE CRANBERRY COCKTAIL GLASS, INDIGO.CA. EZRA AMBER TEA LIGHT CANDLE HOLDER, CB2.CA.
1/2
Mushroom Gravy
cup wild rice
P 78
tsp salt
1½
tbsp finely chopped sage
1½
tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1
450-g pkg pre-rolled puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed in refrigerator overnight (see Kitchen tip)
1
egg yolk, beaten
1. Cook wild rice following package directions. 2 . Meanwhile, make several large slits through squash skin with the tip of a sharp knife. (This will help release air as squashes heat up, and prevent them from bursting.) Microwave squashes on high until skins soften, about 5 min. Set hot squashes aside until cool enough to handle, 1 to 2 min. Cut off bulbs and save for another use. Peel squash necks, then cut in half lengthwise. Set aside. 3. Pulse garlic in a food processor until finely chopped.
Miso Mashed Potatoes P 78
Add celery and onion. Pulse until chopped into ¼-in. pieces. Scrape into a medium bowl. Add mushrooms to food processor. Pulse until chopped into ¼-in. pieces. Transfer to same bowl. 4. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high. Add oil, then vegetable mixture and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables
are very dry and beginning to brown, about 9 to 11 min. 5. Drain rice. Stir rice, sage and thyme into vegetable mixture. Season with pepper. Transfer to same medium bowl and let cool completely, about 30 min. 6. Position rack in centre of oven, then preheat to 400F. Cut out two pieces of parchment large enough to fit puff
pastry sheets. (Some prerolled puff pastry comes with a parchment sheet already attached. Use this if you have it.) 7. Unroll both puff pastry sheets, one on each parchment. Divide cooled rice mixture onto bottom halves of pastry. Form vegetable mixture on bottom half of each pastry into a tightly packed 3 × 8-in. rectangle, leaving a
Get rolling We’re not going to lie, assembling the Wellingtons can be tricky—but all you truly need is a little patience and this step-by-step guide
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Form vegetable mixture on bottom half of puff pastry into a tightly packed 3 × 8-in. rectangle, leaving a 1-in. border around edges.
Arrange two squash halves flat-side down, with tapered ends facing out, over rice mixture on each pastry. Trim squash if needed.
Fold top half of pastry over squash, stretching gently to cover. Press edges together to close, then press with tines of a fork to seal.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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ENTERTAINING
1-in. border around edges. Place two squash halves flatside down, with tapered ends facing out, over rice mixture on each pastry. (Trim squash if needed so that there is still a 1-in. border of pastry for sealing.) If any vegetable mixture squeezes out, press it back under squash. 8. Fold top half of pastry over squash, stretching gently to cover. Press edges together to close, then press with tines of a fork to seal. Trim and straighten edges with a paring knife. Cut out shapes from an extra sheet of puff pastry and arrange on Wellingtons, if desired. Brush beaten egg yolk over Wellingtons. Transfer parchments to a large baking sheet, trimming parchment if needed. 9. Bake until pastry is golden brown, about 40 to 45 min. Transfer Wellingtons to a serving platter. Slice and serve with Easy Cranberry Sauce and Mushroom Gravy. Kitchen tip Thaw puff pastry in refrigerator overnight before using. Puff pastry sheets should measure at least 10 × 10 in. If your puff pastry sheets are smaller, roll them out on a lightly floured surface.
Kitchen tip If you can only find squashes with longer necks than needed, buy the smallest ones, then trim the peeled squash necks to 4 in. long and 3 in. wide, keeping the tapered ends intact. Kitchen tip No microwave? While rice cooks, cut slits into squash skins. Roast squashes directly on oven rack at 400F until skins soften, 20 to 25 min. Set hot squashes aside until cool enough to handle, about 10 min. Continue with rest of step 2.
Easy Cranberry Sauce Makes 11/4 cups Prep 5 min; total 10 min 2
cups frozen cranberries
1
cup orange juice
1/2
cup granulated sugar Orange zest, for garnish (optional)
1/2
tsp onion powder
1/2
tsp garlic powder
1/4
cup unsalted butter
1/4
cup all-purpose flour
1. Combine broth with dried mushrooms in a large measuring cup. Set aside until mushrooms are rehydrated, about 15 min. Whisk in sherry, Dijon, thyme, miso, and onion and garlic powders. 2 . Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high. Evenly sprinkle flour overtop. Whisk constantly until mixture foams and smells nutty, about 1 min. 3. Reduce heat to medium. While whisking constantly, gradually pour in broth mixture. Boil, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens to a gravy consistency, 2 to 4 min. Season with pepper.
Makes 21/2 cups Prep 10 min; total 25 min 2
cups mushroom broth
1
14-g pkg dried porcini mushrooms, finely chopped
BIRD CALLS
Want turkey?
78
cup grated ParmigianoReggiano cheese
2
tbsp chopped chives (optional)
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan set over medium. Add shallots and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 min. 2 . Add corn. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 min. Sprinkle flour and salt overtop. Stir until combined. Add cream. Cook, stirring often, until thickened, 4 to 5 min. 3. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Transfer to a serving dish. Season with pepper. Sprinkle with chives.
Fig and Radicchio Salad Serves 6 Prep 15 min; total 15 min
Miso Mashed Potatoes 1. Combine cranberries with orange juice and sugar in a medium saucepan set over medium-high. Boil, stirring occasionally, until liquid reduces by half, about 5 min. 2 . Mash cranberries with a whisk or potato masher. Continue cooking, stirring often, until sauce thickens to a very loose jam-like consistency, 3 to 5 min. Scrape into a serving bowl and let cool to room temperature. Sprinkle with zest. (Sauce will thicken as it cools.) Kitchen tip Sauce can be prepared 2 days in advance and refrigerated.
Serves 6 Prep 20 min; total 40 min 1.5
1
kg Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces cup 18% cream
1/2
cup butter
1/4
cup white miso
1. Boil potatoes in a large pot of water until very tender, 15 to 20 min. Drain potatoes, then return to pot. Mash with a potato masher to desired consistency. Add cream, butter and miso. Stir until potatoes are warmed through. Season with pepper.
Mushroom Gravy
If you’re not sold on a meatless Thanksgiving, find 13 of our best turkey recipes online at chatelaine.com/turkey.
½
1/4
cup sherry or apera
¼
cup white balsamic vinegar
¼
cup olive oil
1
tbsp honey
2
tsp Dijon mustard
Salad 8
cups mixed greens, such as radicchio and red and green leaf lettuce
6
fresh figs, quartered
250
g ball fresh mozzarella, torn into small pieces
1/2
cup toasted, chopped hazelnuts (see tip on next page)
½
cup pomegranate seeds
½
cup small basil leaves
½
tsp flaked sea salt (optional)
Cheesy Creamed Corn Serves 6 Prep 10 min; total 20 min 2
tbsp butter
2
shallots, finely chopped
1
garlic clove, minced
4
cups fresh or frozen corn kernels tbsp all-purpose flour
1
tsp Dijon mustard
1
tsp fresh thyme leaves
2
1/2
tsp white miso or lowsodium soy sauce
1/2
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
Dressing
1
tsp salt cup 10% cream
1. Dressing: Whisk vinegar, oil, honey and Dijon in a small bowl. Season with pepper. 2 . Salad: Arrange greens on a platter. Top with figs and mozzarella. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts and pomegranate seeds. 3. Just before serving, drizzle salad with dressing, then sprinkle with basil and salt.
TURKEY PHOTO, ROBERTO CARUSO. TURKEY FOOD STYLING, ASHLEY DENTON. TURKEY PROP STYLING, MADELEINE JOHARI.
food
food
Cheesy Creamed Corn
ENTERTAINING
Gingery Green Beans with Crispy Fried Onions
P 78
WASHED LINEN TABLECLOTH, HM.COM. STONEWARE SERVING BOWL, HM.COM. SMALL ORGANIC STONEWARE SERVING TRAY IN BLUSH, SALAD SERVERS, OUI FLUTED COUPE CRANBERRY COCKTAIL GLASS, INDIGO.CA. EZRA AMBER TEA LIGHT CANDLE HOLDER, CB2.CA.
P 81
Fig and Radicchio Salad P 78
Toast hazelnuts in a 400F oven for 5 min. Then transfer to a tea towel. Rub until most of the skins flake off nuts.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2028 • CHATELAINE
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Captain Obvious).
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CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
WASHED LINEN TABLECLOTH, HM.COM. ACACIA WOOD PEDESTAL, OUI FLUTED COUPE CRANBERRY COCKTAIL GLASS, INDIGO.CA. EZRA AMBER TEA LIGHT CANDLE HOLDER, CB2.CA.
food ENTERTAINING
Classic Apple Pie P 81
Even better with (thank you,
ice cream
food
Gingery Green Beans with Crispy Fried Onions Serves 6 Prep 15 min; total 25 min 2 500
2 1/2
cups all-purpose flour (300 g)
2
tbsp granulated sugar (24 g)
1
tsp salt
tsp canola oil
1/2
cup cold lard, cubed
g green beans, trimmed
1/2
cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
2
garlic cloves, minced
4
tsp finely minced ginger
1
tbsp sesame oil
2
tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1/3
Crust
6 to 8 tbsp ice water Filling
cup store-bought crispy fried onions
1. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high. Add canola oil, then beans. Cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 10 to 12 min. Add garlic and ginger. Cook 1 more min. Stir in sesame oil and soy. 2 . Transfer beans to a platter. Sprinkle with onions.
6
cups Golden Delicious apples, peeled and cut into 1/2-in. slices (1.5 kg)
4
cups Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/2-in. slices (1 kg)
1
tbsp lemon juice
2
tbsp butter
2/3
cup granulated sugar (128 g)
1/4
cup cornstarch (32 g)
2
tsp lemon zest
1/4
tsp cinnamon
1/4
tsp salt
1/4
tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Classic Apple Pie
Topping
Serves 8-10 Prep 25 min; total 1 hr 30 min Plus cooling time
1
egg, mixed with 1 tsp water
1
tsp coarse sugar (optional)
1. Crust: Whirl flour, 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt in a food processor until combined. Add lard and pulse until fine, about 12 times. Add 1/2 cup butter and pulse until peasize, 7 or 8 times. While pulsing, add ice water through the feed tube until dough just comes together. Divide dough in half and quickly form into balls. Wrap each in plastic wrap, then flatten into discs. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hr. 2 . Position rack at lowest level of oven. Place a baking sheet on oven rack. Preheat to 425F. 3. Roll one dough disc into a 12-in. circle on a lightly floured surface. Press onto a 9-in. pie plate, then refrigerate. Roll second disc into a 13-in. circle. Transfer to a large plate and refrigerate. 4. Filling: Toss apples with lemon juice in a large bowl. Melt 2 tbsp butter in an extra-large frying pan over medium. Add apples and cook, stirring, until liquid evaporates, 7 to 9 min. Transfer
ENTERTAINING
apples to a second baking sheet and set on a wire rack, turning apples occasionally, until cooled, 25 min. Stir 2/3 cup sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, cinnamon, 1/4 tsp salt and nutmeg in a bowl. Sprinkle over apples and toss to combine. Pour apples and any juices into chilled pie shell, spreading evenly. 5. Place remaining dough over apples, pressing edges of dough together. Trim edges, if needed, leaving 1/2-in. overhang. Fold top edge under bottom edge, then crimp together using index finger and thumb. Cut vents on top. Brush with egg mixture, avoiding vents. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. 6. Place pie on hot baking sheet and bake for 20 min. Reduce heat to 375F, then rotate pie. Continue baking until crust is deep golden brown and a paring knife can be easily inserted into apples, 20 to 25 min. Cover with foil if browning too quickly. Cool on wire rack for at least 2 hrs.
Any way you slice it
FRYING PAN AND HOURGLASS ILLUSTRATIONS, ISTOCK PHOTO.
Apple pie should have a tender and flaky golden brown crust, a filling with good structure and just the right amount of sweetness. It all comes down to four essential factors
3. The crust
2. The apples
3. The essential extra step
4. The cool-down
Your crust should be flaky, golden and cooked all the way through. Our dough combines lard for flakiness and butter for flavour. Baking the pie on a preheated baking sheet at the oven’s lowest level ensures the bottom crust cooks through. Starting the pie at 425F for the first 20 minutes achieves a perfectly browned crust, and finishing off at 375F guarantees tender apples.
The right apples equal the right flavour. (Several types of apples bake up nicely in a pie, so this is truly a matter of preference.) Our favourites? Golden Delicious and Granny Smith. The former provide sweetness, but on their own, they break down and become mush. The latter are crisp and tart but maintain their shape when baked.
You want to avoid a gap forming between the domed top crust and the apple filling. This can be prevented by partially cooking the apples first. While it may seem counterintuitive, sautéing makes the pectin in the apples more heat stable–helping them keep their shape in the oven.
To prevent a runny mess, resist the temptation to cut into a still-warm pie. Letting it cool completely (all day or overnight at room temperature) will allow the filling to firm up, so when you cut it, the pie wedges will hold their shape. To serve the pie warm, reheat individual slices briefly in the microwave.
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MUSHROOMS
All Caps The mighty mushroom is a protein- and fibre-rich staple that adds a bit of umami magic to every meal it touches—including these four delicious dishes
Produced by AIMEE NISHITOBA Photography by ERIK PUTZ Recipes and food styling by ESHUN MOTT Prop styling by CHRISTINE HANLON
SURFACE COLOURS: AURA INTERIOR PAINTS IN HIGHLANDS GREEN 650, PINE GREEN 2051-20, CAPTIVATING TEAL 649, CHROME GREEN HC-189, BENJAMINMOORE.COM.
food
Mushroom, Chicken and Barley Soup P 86
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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Hot Portobello Mushroom Sandwich with Lemon Aioli
P 86
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CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
SURFACE COLOURS ON BOTH PAGES: AURA INTERIOR PAINTS IN HIGHLANDS GREEN 650, PINE GREEN 2051-20, CAPTIVATING TEAL 649, CHROME GREEN HC-189, BENJAMINMOORE.COM.
food MUSHROOMS
food
MUSHROOMS
Mushroom Pizza P 86
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food
MUSHROOMS
MUSHROOM, CHICKEN AND BARLEY SOUP Serves 4 to 6 Prep 25 min; total 1 hr 20 min 200
g shiitake mushrooms, about 4 cups
1
14-g pkg dried porcini mushrooms
6
tbsp olive oil, divided
150
g brown beech mushrooms, ends trimmed and separated
454
g skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-in. pieces
1/2
tsp salt
1
cup chopped onion
1
cup chopped celery
1
cup chopped carrot
1
tbsp chopped garlic
1
tbsp fresh thyme leaves
6
cups no-salt chicken broth
1
cup pearl barley
2
tsp red wine vinegar Celery leaves, for garnish (optional)
chicken to another plate. 4. Reduce heat to medium-high. Add remaining 2 tbsp oil to same pot, then onion, celery and carrot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender and lightly golden. Stir in garlic and thyme, 1 min. 5. Add broth, barley, chicken, and porcini mushroom and liquid mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Gently simmer, covered, until barley is tender, about 30 min. 6. Stir vinegar and mushrooms into soup. Simmer for 5 more min. Sprinkle with celery leaves just before serving.
HOT PORTOBELLO MUSHROOM SANDWICH WITH LEMON AIOLI Serves 4 Prep 15 min; total 25 min Lemon Aioli
1. Remove stems from shiitake mushrooms, then cut mushrooms into bite-sized pieces. Combine 3 cups water and shiitake stems in a small saucepan set over high. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, 20 min. Use a slotted spoon to remove and discard stems. Add dried porcini mushrooms to hot liquid, then set aside to steep. 2. Meanwhile, heat a heavy-bottomed pot over high. Add 2 tbsp oil, then shiitake mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shiitakes are tender and golden, about 3 min. Transfer to a plate. Add 1 tbsp oil to same pot, then beech mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 2 min. Transfer to same plate. 3. Add 1 tbsp oil to same pot. Increase heat to high. Sprinkle chicken with salt. Season with pepper. Add chicken to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 4 min. Transfer
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1
large egg
1
tbsp lemon juice
1/2
tsp Dijon mustard
1/2
small garlic clove, minced
1/4
tsp salt
1/2
cup canola oil
1/2
tsp lemon zest
lemon zest and pulse 10 sec. (It should look slightly looser than mayo but not be runny.) Set aside. 2 . Position rack in top third of oven, then preheat broiler to high. Line a baking sheet with foil. 3. Sandwich: Toss mushrooms with olive oil, 2 minced garlic cloves and salt in a large bowl. Arrange mushrooms, gill-side up, on prepared sheet. Broil until mushrooms are tender, 5 to 7 min. Remove from oven and drizzle mushrooms with vinegar. 4. Spread cut sides of buns with 2 tbsp aioli. Divide arugula between bottom buns. Cut mushrooms in half, then arrange over arugula. Sprinkle cheese over mushrooms. Sandwich with top bun. Serve immediately. Kitchen tip Cover and refrigerate any extra aioli up to 3 days. Use it in other sandwiches or as a dipping sauce for fries.
MUSHROOM PIZZA Serves 2 Prep 25 min; total 50 min Plus overnight resting and rising time
Sandwich
Dough
8
2¼
1/4 2 1/4
portobello mushroom caps, stems removed cup olive oil garlic cloves, minced tsp salt
2
tbsp balsamic vinegar
4
ciabatta buns, split and toasted
2
cups baby arugula
1/4
cup shaved ParmigianoReggiano cheese
1. Aioli: Combine egg, lemon juice, Dijon, 1/2 minced garlic clove and salt in a jar or tall liquid measuring cup just larger than the head of an immersion blender. Start running immersion blender and slowly drizzle in canola oil until mixture thickens. Add
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
3/4 1 3/4 1
cups all-purpose flour, divided (270 g) tsp quick-rise yeast tsp salt cup room-temperature water tbsp olive oil
White Sauce 1/4
cup crème fraîche
1/2
tsp lemon zest
⅛
tsp red pepper flakes
Toppings 2
slices bacon, chopped
1
tbsp olive oil
200
3
g mixed mushrooms, such as sliced cremini, coarsely torn oyster mushrooms or maitake garlic cloves, minced
1/4
tsp salt
30
g fresh mozzarella cheese, patted dry and torn into small pieces
2
tbsp finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2
tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
1. Dough: Fit stand mixer with dough hook. Combine 2 cups flour, yeast, salt, water and 1 tbsp olive oil in stand mixer bowl. Mix on medium speed until dough comes together into a ball and is smooth (add more flour 1 tbsp at a time if needed), about 5 min. Dough should feel soft and slightly sticky. Lightly spray a large bowl with oil. Transfer dough to prepared bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight to rest. 2 . Lightly dust a baking sheet with flour. Divide dough into two equal pieces, then roll each into a ball. Place them on prepared sheet, far apart. Dust tops of dough with flour and drape plastic wrap loosely over. Let dough stand at room temperature until it has almost doubled in size and feels airy to the touch, 2 hrs. 3. Sauce: Stir crème fraîche with zest and pepper flakes in a small bowl. Set aside. 4. Toppings: Heat a large, heavy frying pan over medium. Add bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through but not crispy, 4 to 5 min. Transfer bacon to a plate, leaving fat in pan. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and mushrooms to pan. Increase heat to high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender, about 3 min. Add garlic and cook 1 min. Stir in salt. Set aside. 5. Position rack in centre of oven, then preheat to 500F. 6. Set one ball of dough on a lightly floured counter. Press down in centre of dough, leaving a thicker edge all around. Stretch and press outwards
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Soy-Glazed King Mushrooms
from the centre until dough forms a 9-in. circle, keeping any air bubbles on the edges. (Dough should stretch easily. Let it rest for longer if it keeps springing back.) Repeat with second ball. 7. Set stretched dough on baking sheet. (If your sheet is too small for both pizzas, bake in two batches.) Divide white sauce between pizzas. Spread in an even layer, leaving a 1/2-in. crust. Scatter with mushrooms and bacon. Top with mozzarella, then sprinkle with ParmigianoReggiano and rosemary. 8. Bake until crusts are golden brown, about 15 min.
SOY-GLAZED KING MUSHROOMS Serves 4 Prep 10 min; total 20 min 400
g large whole king mushrooms, about 4 to 5
2
tbsp canola oil
3
tbsp unsalted butter
1
tbsp finely chopped ginger
2
garlic cloves, minced
2
tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1
tsp honey
1
green onion, thinly sliced
2
tsp sesame seeds, toasted
1. Cut mushrooms in half lengthwise. Using a sharp knife tip, score the cut side
of mushrooms in a deep cross-hatch pattern without cutting through. 2 . Heat a large cast iron pan (or other heavy frying pan) over medium-high. Add oil and swirl to coat. Add mushrooms, cut-side down, in a single layer. Cook, pressing down on mushrooms occasionally, until bottoms are golden brown, about 5 min. 3. Flip mushrooms. Cook until tender, about 2 more min. Push mushrooms slightly to one side of pan. Add butter, ginger and garlic to other side. Cook about 20 sec, then remove pan from heat. Add soy and
honey. Stir until mushrooms are well coated. Season with pepper. Transfer to a platter. Sprinkle with green onion and sesame seeds.
FUNGI FACTS Look for firm, dry mushrooms that are free of blemishes. Store in a paper bag (which allows air flow) in your refrigerator crisper for 5 to 7 days. Brush off any dirt with a paper towel before using.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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food
LET’S HAVE A DRINK
APPLE WATCH We’ll always say yes to pie, but we also like our apples in a glass. Here, cocktail columnist Christine Sismondo puts a fall spin on a classic Fizz à la Pomme This celebration of the annual apple harvest is a twist on a champagne cocktail. It’s made with sparkling dry cider instead of the usual bubbles, giving it a slightly lighter and fresher quality. oz Boulard Calvados Pays d’Auge VSOP oz St-Germain elderflower liqueur
¾
oz fresh lemon juice
4
oz Brickworks Ciderhouse Rosé Cider
1
apple fan or slice (for garnish)
1. Add calvados, elderflower liqueur and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake for 30 seconds. Strain into a coupe glass, top with cider and garnish with an apple fan on a pick. You’ve got options Almost any dry pink cider will work in this recipe, most fruit and/or floral liqueurs can be swapped in for St-Germain, and you can even use fruit brandy instead of calvados.
HAPPY HOUR
Sip on this You Are My Sunshine, a white vermouth from Guelph, Ont.-based Revel, is the perfect all-season aperitif. Northern spy and reinette russet apples cozy up to springtime botanicals (lemon verbena, horehound) and autumnal spices. Serve on ice. revelcider.ca.
WHAT A PAIR We asked wine pro Vidal Wu and beer sommelier Crystal Luxmore to play matchmaker for our all-veggie Thanksgiving feast (page 74). Here are their tasty picks
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Block Three Brewing King Street Saison This Belgian-style saison from St. Jacobs, Ont., has notes of white peppercorn and light citrus riding on a dry, bubbly body—think of it as the true champagne of beers. It’s a pleasing contrast with this savoury menu. Serve in flutes. blockthree brewing.com.
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
Fahr Copper This malt-forward German-style Vienna lager—brewed in Alberta’s Turner Valley—will take you from the main course straight to dessert. Its bready centre harmonizes with the pastry notes of the squash Wellington, while its caramel ribbon syncs up with the apple pie. fahr.ca.
Rosewood Night Moves There’s a simple reason people say “gamay all day”: It’s delicious! This juicy, dark-fruited Niagara red is structured and herbaceous, pairing well with anything roasted or spiced. It has a perfectly refreshing pop of acid on the finish. rosewoodwine.com.
Pearl Morissette Irrévérence This bone-dry orange wine from the Niagara region is a tangerine dream. Riesling brings a petrol nose while chardonnay and gewürztraminer with some noble rot (a beneficial fungus often used in sweet wines) lend a luscious, honeyed vibe. pearl morissette.com.
FIZZ À LA POMME PRODUCED BY STEPHANIE HAN KIM. PHOTO, ERIK PUTZ. FOOD STYLING, ASHLEY DENTON. PROP STYLING, CHRISTINE HANLON. EVE COUPE COCKTAIL GLASS, CB2.CA. VERMOUTH TEXT, VIDAL WU.
1 ¾
food
IN SEASON
Down to
EARTH Root vegetables aren’t just for roasting (though we love them that way, too). These recipes showcase a variety of our faves—radishes, beets, turnips and more—in a variety of ways, all grounded in deliciousness
Rainbow Radish Steak Salad with Honey Vinaigrette P 92
Recipes by AMINA AL-SAIGH Produced by SUN NGO Photography by ERIK PUTZ Food styling by ASHLEY DENTON Prop styling by CHRISTINE HANLON
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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food
IN SEASON
Chicken and Root Vegetable Tagine P 92
A tagine is a traditional Moroccan ceramic cooking vessel. You can substitute with a heavy oven-safe pot.
90
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
Jerusalem Artichoke and Potato Soup P 93
food
IN SEASON
Rainbow Radish Steak Salad with Honey Vinaigrette
Beet Pasta with Creamy Ricotta, Walnuts and Basil
Serves 4 Prep 15 min; total 1 hr 25 min Parsnip Purée 2
large parsnips, peeled and coarsely chopped, about 430 g
2
tbsp lemon juice
1
small garlic clove, crushed
¼
P 93
tsp salt
Roasted Radishes 15
red radishes, ends trimmed, halved lengthwise
2
tbsp olive oil
¼
tsp salt
Salad ¼
cup olive oil
¼
cup lemon juice
1½
tbsp honey
¼
tsp salt
2
watermelon radishes, thinly sliced (optional)
2
cups packed arugula
1
cup loosely packed micro radish (optional)
Steak
½ 2 ½
large T-bone steaks, at room temperature, about 600 g tsp salt tbsp butter cup mixed chopped herbs, such as basil and mint
1. Position rack in centre of oven, then preheat to 400F. 2 . Purée: Boil a pot of water. Add parsnips. Boil until fork tender, about 30 min. Drain, then transfer to a blender. Add 2 tbsp lemon juice, garlic and ¼ tsp salt. Blend until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 3. Radishes: Toss red radishes with 2 tbsp oil and ¼ tsp salt on a baking sheet. Season with pepper. Roast until tender, 7 to 10 min. 4. Salad: Whisk ¼ cup oil with ¼ cup lemon juice, honey and ¼ tsp salt in a large bowl. Reserve 2 tbsp dressing in a
92
small bowl. Add roasted radishes, watermelon radishes, arugula and micro radish to large bowl. Set aside. 5. Steak: Sprinkle steaks with ½ tsp salt. Season with pepper, then drizzle with reserved 2 tbsp dressing. Let stand 5 min. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large cast iron pan (or another heavy frying pan) set over high. Add steak. Cook 3 min. Flip steak. Cook until steak is medium, about 3 more min. Transfer to a cutting board and
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
let rest 5 min, then thinly slice. 6. To serve, toss salad to combine. Serve steak alongside salad and cooled purée. Sprinkle with chopped herbs.
2 1/2
tsp salt, divided
1
tsp pepper, divided
3
tbsp vegetable oil
2
medium onions, thinly sliced
6
garlic cloves, crushed
1
tsp cumin
Chicken and Root Vegetable Tagine
½
tsp turmeric
Serves 4 Prep 20 min; total 1 hr 35 min
½
tsp paprika
½
tsp cinnamon
½
tsp ground coriander
Tagine ¼ 8
tsp saffron strands skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs, excess fat trimmed
4
medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2-in. pieces
2
medium turnips, peeled and cut into ½-in. wedges
DRIFT REACTIVE INDIGO DINNER PLATE, CB2.CA.
2
2
medium beets, peeled and cut into ½-in. wedges
2
cups chicken broth
1
cup green olives, pitted
¼
cup lemon juice Chopped parsley (optional)
Bulgur 2
tbsp vegetable oil
2
cups coarse white bulgur, rinsed and drained
2
cups chicken broth
1. Position rack in centre of oven, then preheat to 450F. 2 . Tagine: Using a mortar and pestle, grind saffron threads into a powder. Combine with 1 cup hot water in a small bowl. Set aside until ready to use. 3. Sprinkle chicken on both sides with 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Heat a tagine or heavy oven-safe pot (with a tight-fitting lid) over medium. Add 3 tbsp oil, then half the chicken, skin-side down. Cook until skin is golden, about 5 min. Flip chicken. Cook 3 more min. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining chicken. Transfer to same plate. 4. Add onions to same pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 7 min. Add garlic, cumin, turmeric, paprika, cinnamon, coriander and saffron liquid. Cook 1 min. Add carrots, turnips and beets. Sprinkle with remaining 1 ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Stir to combine. Add 2 cups broth, then arrange chicken, skin-side up, over vegetables in a single layer. 5. Bake, covered, 45 min. Uncover, then continue baking until chicken is cooked through and skin crisps up, about 15 more min. 6. Bulgur: Meanwhile, heat a large saucepan over medium. Add 2 tbsp oil, then bulgur. Cook, stirring often, until just toasted, 1 to 2 min. Stir in 2 cups broth and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat
to low. Cook, covered, until all liquid is absorbed, about 20 min. Fluff bulgur with a fork. 7. Divide bulgur among four plates. Stir olives and lemon juice into tagine. Serve over bulgur. Garnish with parsley, if desired.
Jerusalem Artichoke and Potato Soup Serves 4 Prep 15 min; total 1 hr 20 min Artichoke Chips 2
small Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and sliced ¼ in. thick
½
tbsp olive oil
¼
tsp salt
2
tbsp butter
5
shallots, thinly sliced large garlic cloves, crushed
4
large Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and diced
2
Serves 4 Prep 15 min; total 1 hr 15 min
tsp salt, divided
2
1
WE’RE ROOTING FOR YOU
More mealtime inspo
COTTAGE PIE TOPPING Peel and dice a mix of your favourite root vegetables to fill 6 cups. Boil in water until vegetables are tender, 12 to 14 min. Drain, then return to pot and mash with 2 tbsp each butter and cream until smooth. Spread over cottage pie filling in an 8-in. baking dish.
Beet Pasta with Creamy Ricotta, Walnuts and Basil
Soup
1½
occasionally, 5 min. Add broth and remaining ½ tsp salt. Season with pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 50 min. 5. Using an immersion blender, blend soup until smooth. (You can also cool the soup slightly, then transfer it into a blender.) 6. Crème fraîche: Stir crème fraîche with herbs and ¼ cup water in a medium bowl until slightly runny. 7. Divide soup among four bowls. Drizzle with crème fraîche and top with chips.
large potato, peeled and diced 900-mL cartons chicken broth
Herb Crème Fraîche ¾
cup crème fraîche
¼
cup loosely packed finely chopped dill
¼
cup loosely packed finely chopped parsley
¼
cup loosely packed thinly sliced basil
1. Position rack in centre of oven, then preheat to 400F. 2 . Chips: Toss sliced artichokes with oil and ¼ tsp salt on a baking sheet. Season with pepper. Spread out in a single layer. Bake until artichokes are tender and golden, 10 to 15 min. 3. Soup: Meanwhile, melt butter in a pot set over medium. Add shallots and 1 tsp salt. Cook, stirring, until shallots soften, 5 to 7 min. Add garlic and cook for 2 more min. 4. Add diced artichokes and potato. Cook, stirring
3
large red beets, peeled and cut into ¼-in.-thick wedges, about 450 g
3
tbsp olive oil, divided
1
tsp salt, divided
350
g dried fettuccine pasta
1
small garlic clove
3
tbsp lemon juice
1
cup extra-smooth ricotta
¼
cup chopped walnuts
¼
cup roughly torn basil
1. Position rack in centre of oven, then preheat to 400F. 2 . Toss beets with 1 tbsp oil and ½ tsp salt on a baking sheet. Season with pepper. Roast until beets are fork tender, about 45 min. 3. Meanwhile, cook pasta following package directions. Reserve ¾ cup pasta water. Drain pasta and return to pot. 4. Place roasted beets with garlic, lemon juice, reserved pasta water, 2 tbsp oil and ½ tsp salt in a blender. Blend until smooth, thinning with water, if needed. Toss sauce with pasta in pot until coated. 5. Divide pasta among four plates. Serve with a dollop of ricotta, and sprinkle with walnuts and basil.
MODERN BAKED POTATOES Prick unpeeled sweet potatoes several times with a fork. Microwave on high until tender, about 5 min. When cool enough to handle, cut an X on top of each potato, then push out flesh. Top with baked-potato toppings.
VEGGIE SPAGHETTI Cut off the top and bottom of a 1.25-kg celeriac, then slice off its thick peel with a knife. Use a spiralizer to cut long, even noodles. Sauté with 1 tbsp butter and 1/2 tsp salt in a frying pan over medium until almost tender. Use as noodles for pasta.
ROOT VEGGIE SLAW Whisk 1/4 cup white wine vinegar with 2 tbsp olive oil in a large bowl. Peel and coarsely grate 2 yellow beets and 2 carrots. Add to dressing along with 2 cups shredded kale.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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45
[ M O N DAY ]
Steak and Bok Choy with Miso Butter
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CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
PRODUCED BY AIMEE NISHITOBA. PHOTOS, ERIK PUTZ. RECIPES, MICHELLE LUCAS LARVING, IRENE NGO. FOOD STYLING, ESHUN MOTT. PROP STYLING, CHRISTINE HANLON. LINA MATTE DINNER PLATE, CRATEANDBARREL.COM.
food DINNER PLAN
The dinner plan Five easy weeknight meals
minutes or less!
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food DINNER PLAN
[ T U E S DAY ] [ W E D N E S DAY ]
Broccoli Pistou Soup Shaved Fennel and Pear Salad with Roasted Chicken Breast
[ T H U R S DAY ]
[ F R I DAY ]
Roasted Sausages with Sweet Potato Mash
Tuna and Cherry Tomato Pasta
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 • CHATELAINE
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food
DINNER PLAN
[ M O N DAY ]
[ T U E S DAY ]
[ W E D N E S DAY ]
Steak and Bok Choy with Miso Butter
Broccoli Pistou Soup
Shaved Fennel and Pear Salad with Roasted Chicken Breast
Serves 4 Prep 10 min; total 25 min ¼
cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
Serves 4 Prep 20 min; total 35 min 2 1/4
Serves 4 Prep 15 min; total 40 min
cups small broccoli florets cup olive oil, divided
2
celery stalks, finely diced, leaves reserved
4 1/2
skinless, boneless chicken breasts, about 180 g each tsp salt
2
tsp white miso
2
large striploin steaks, about ¾ in. thick and 300 g each
1
onion, finely diced
3
tbsp olive oil, divided
1
900-mL carton vegetable broth
1
tbsp cider vinegar
tsp salt
1
540-mL can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1
tsp grainy mustard
1
tsp honey
cup dried fusilli pasta
1
fennel bulb
small acorn squash, cut lengthwise in quarters and sliced ¼ in. thick
2
pears, halved, cored and thinly sliced
4
fresh figs, quartered
1/2 3
tsp canola oil, divided
8
baby bok choy, halved and washed well
¼
cup cilantro leaves
1. Stir butter with miso in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside. Sprinkle steaks with salt. Season with pepper. 2 . Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high. Add 2 tsp oil, then steaks. Cook for 3 to 4 min per side for medium-rare. Transfer to a plate. Cover and let rest. 3. Meanwhile, wipe pan clean, then return to stovetop over medium-high. Add remaining 1 tsp oil, then half of bok choy, cut-side down. Cook, covered, until deeply browned and tender, 3 to 4 min. Transfer to a plate. Cook remaining bok choy, then return the first half of bok choy to pan. Stir in 2 tbsp miso butter until melted, 30 sec. Transfer to a platter. 4. Thinly slice steaks and place over bok choy. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with remaining miso butter. Per serving 610 calories, 44 g protein, 5 g carbs, 46 g fat, 2 g fibre, 4 mg iron, 600 mg sodium.
96
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
1 ½ 1/3
cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1
tbsp lemon juice
1
small garlic clove
¼
tsp salt
1. Boil a large pot of water. Add broccoli and cook just until tender, 2 min. Drain and set aside. 2 . Heat same pot over medium. Add 1 tbsp oil, then celery and onion. Cook until softened, 4 to 5 min. Stir in broth, 1 cup water, beans, pasta and squash. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, until pasta and squash are tender, 10 to 11 minutes. 3. Meanwhile, pulse broccoli with cheese, lemon juice, garlic and salt in a food processor until finely chopped. With motor still running, add remaining 3 tbsp oil and whirl until smooth. 4. Ladle soup into bowls and top with broccoli pistou. Garnish with reserved celery leaves. Kitchen tip Pistou is a condiment similar to an Italian pesto, but without pine nuts. Per serving 350 calories, 11 g protein, 43 g carbs, 16 g fat, 9 g fibre, 3 mg iron, 1,130 mg sodium.
½
113-g log goat cheese, crumbled
1. Position rack in centre of oven, then preheat to 375F. 2 . Sprinkle chicken with salt. Season with pepper. Heat a medium oven-safe frying pan over medium-high. Add 1 tbsp oil, then chicken. Cook until bottoms are browned, 5 to 7 min. Flip chicken, then transfer pan to oven. Roast until chicken is cooked through, 15 to 20 min. Let stand 5 min before slicing. 3. Meanwhile, whisk remaining 2 tbsp oil with vinegar, mustard and honey in a large bowl. Season with pepper. 4. Trim green fronds from fennel and reserve. Remove and discard core, then very thinly slice. Add to bowl along with pears, then toss to coat. Divide among 4 plates, then top each with figs, goat cheese, sliced chicken and fennel fronds. Kitchen tip If you have a mandolin, use it to shave the fennel. Per serving 460 calories, 45 g protein, 29 g carbs, 18 g fat, 7 g fibre, 2 mg iron, 500 mg sodium.
[ T H U R S DAY ]
[ F R I DAY ]
Roasted Sausages with Sweet Potato Mash
Tuna and Cherry Tomato Pasta
Serves 4 Prep 20 min; total 45 min
Serves 4 Prep 10 min; total 25 min 450
g dried penne pasta
2
tsp canola oil
4
mild Italian sausages
1/4
4
large shallots, halved
2
pints cherry tomatoes, halved
2
firm apples, such as Cortland, cored and cut into thin wedges
2
garlic cloves, minced
2
tbsp tomato paste
fresh thyme sprigs
2
tsp fish sauce or anchovy paste
¼
tsp salt, divided
4
cups packed baby spinach
¼
cup walnut halves, chopped
3
80-g cans chunk tuna, packed in oil
3
3
medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-in. cubes
2
tbsp butter
2
tbsp 2% milk
1. Position rack in centre of oven, then preheat to 425F. Boil a large pot of water. 2 . Heat a large oven-safe frying pan over medium-high. Add oil, then sausages. Cook until browned, 2 to 3 min per side. Transfer to a plate. 3. Add shallots, apples and thyme to same pan. Sprinkle with ⅛ tsp salt. Season with pepper. Cook for 1 min. Return sausages to pan, pushing into apple mixture. Sprinkle with walnuts. Transfer pan to oven. Roast until sausages are cooked through, about 20 min. 4. Meanwhile, add sweet potatoes to boiling water. Cook, covered, until tender, 12 to 14 min. Drain, then mash with butter and milk. Stir in remaining ⅛ tsp salt. Season with pepper. 5. Transfer sausages to a plate. Slice, if desired. Serve with sweet potato mash and apple mixture. Sprinkle with more thyme, if desired. Per serving 780 calories, 22 g protein, 67 g carbs, 48 g fat, 11 g fibre, 4 mg iron, 1,150 mg sodium.
1
¼
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tsp olive oil tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
GET 12 ISSUES – FOR JUST $12
cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional)
1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water, then drain pasta. 2 . Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium. Add oil, then red pepper flakes. Cook 30 sec. Add tomatoes. Cook, stirring often, until they start to break down, 3 to 4 min. Stir in garlic, tomato paste and fish sauce. 3. Add spinach and stir until it wilts, about 2 min. If mixture seems dry, add reserved pasta water. Add tuna and break into chunks with a spoon. Stir in pasta. Divide between plates. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Per serving 580 calories, 29 g protein, 90 g carbs, 11 g fat, 5 g fibre, 3 mg iron, 560 mg sodium.
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one last thing
HUMOUR
How I’m embracing fall Summer is over and harvest season has arrived. Here’s how I’m making the transition Written by FLANNERY DEAN Illustration by LEEANDRA CIANCI
98
• Storing my summer masks and dusting off my fall ones. Yes! They still fit.
• Googling “best bleak Scandinavian crime dramas.” Fall is a mood.
• Monogramming my hand sanitizer for a bespoke feel.
• Preparing for shorter days by cutting an hour from my daily workout.
• Worrying over which unflattering denim trend to make my signature.
• Describing everything I cook as autumnal fare, including Annie’s Mac & Cheese.
• Scouring the internet for a chic jumpsuit with a discreet trap door.
• Two words: root vegetables.
• Priming my metabolism for Halloween by replacing my daily multivitamin with a peanut butter cup.
• Making a list of the epidemiologists I’m thankful for.
• Sprinkling pumpkin spice in the dog’s kibble. It’s PSK season, Benny!
CHATELAINE • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
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