My Pal Rosemary is a Free Spirit

January 26, 2022

(Left to right) Rosemary at work several decades ago in Toronto: In the kitchen at Bumpkin’s Take-Out and behind the bar at the Empire Diner.

(Left to right) Bumpkin’s Take-Out menu. Rosemary at the Varanasi flower market in northern India in 2016 with her goddaughter and stepdaughter. Rosemary in the kitchen.

I can picture her working at Courage My Love in the late ’70s.

With a vintage small black hat perched on her upswept dark hair. And her ivory skin contrasting with red lipstick. Read more…

Holy Trinity Church Does God’s Work

November 8, 2021

Zachary Grant sits on the steps of the Church of the Holy Trinity in downtown Toronto

“loving justice in the heart of our city” – Quote from the Church of the Holy Trinity’s website

(Note: Zachary Grant has asked me to use the gender-neutral pronouns “they/them” and I have agreed.)

Zachary Grant gets the irony.

They are the community director of downtown Toronto’s the Church of the Holy Trinity just a few steps away from the massive, glitzy shopping mecca: the Eaton Centre. Read more…

A Thanksgiving Meal Means Pie

October 6, 2021

Wanda Beaver in front of her bakery-cum-café Wanda’s Pie in the Sky at the corner of Augusta Ave. and Oxford St. in Kensington Market

It’s a beautiful fall day 10 days before Thanksgiving.

The sun is streaming through the open windows at Wanda’s Pie in the Sky in downtown Toronto’s Kensington Market. I’m chatting with Wanda Beaver, the co-owner of the bakery with her husband David, sitting on a tall stool at a small, tall table. Read more…

My Delicious Lunch with the Living Legend Sophia Loren

May 26, 2021

Left to right: Me (Marion Kane), Jenny Barato, Sophia Loren at Trattoria Giancarlo.

This appeared in the Toronto Star as a feature article with the title “Cooking with Amore” on February 10th, 1999. Sophia Loren was in Toronto promoting her new cookbook “Recipes and Memories.” Trattoria Giancarlo closed in 2020 after 30 years – a landmark in downtown Toronto’s Little Italy. In that year, a brilliant film “The Life Ahead” was released starring Sophia Loren as a Holocaust survivor. Read more…

Surviving and Thriving in Toronto’s Kensington Market

February 23, 2021

(Left to right) Potsothy (Pots) Sallapa, Adam Zimmerman, Danny Zimmerman at
4 Life Natural Foods

Whither Kensington?

These are podcasts recorded a few years ago about the changing nature of Kensington Market.

Everyone knows him as Pots. His full name is Potsothy Sallapa. This popular, kind, soft-spoken man has found his roots — literally and figuratively.

His dream is to build a rooftop greenhouse above his store 4 Life Natural Foods on Augusta Ave. in Toronto’s downtown Kensington Market. These are the literal roots. Read more…

Sistering’s Vintage Cookbook Yields a Lovely Lemon Loaf

December 19, 2018

Sistering – a drop-in for homeless and marginalized women – has been a stalwart front-line facility in downtown Toronto since 1981.

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Today, this busy place is located on Bloor West at Dovercourt and, for the past three years, it has expanded its services to be a “low-barrier” shelter. That means that they operate 24/7 and turn away no-one. With the homeless crisis reaching a peak this year and only getting worse, it’s a crowded spot. Read more…

Greek Salad and Whole Roasted Cauliflower are Tops in “The Last Schmaltz”

November 8, 2018

Country Greek from “The Last Schmaltz” is a Salad Comprised of
the Usual Ingredients Plus the Welcome Addition of Chickpeas

What is a nice Jewish boy from North York doing with a mini-empire of quirky restaurants in a gritty neighbourhood of downtown Toronto? Doing pretty well is the short answer. Read more…

Cookbook Author Rob Firing is Leading a Steak Revolution

July 18, 2018

Rob Firing’s barbecued ribeye steak with service berries and garlic scapes

Rob Firing has changed my life. Read more…

Chef Lynn Returns to Scottish Roots with Mince ‘n’ Tatties

October 15, 2017

This recipe is from the excellent cookbook ‘AT HOME with LYNN CRAWFORD’.

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When I was interviewing well-known Canadian chef Lynn Crawford for a podcast, we chatted about our long friendship, her TV career, our joint project that raised $40,000 for a new kitchen at a Toronto homeless shelter for women called Sistering – and what we like to cook at home. Read more…

“It’s Only Shepherd’s Pie But I Like It!” Says Keith Richards

May 1, 2017

Keith Richards liked my article so much, he signed a copy. It appeared in the Toronto Star in the summer of 1994 while The Rolling Stones were living in Toronto rehearsing for their Voodoo Lounge tour. (Update: I’ve recently perfected the ultimate version of Shepherd’s Pie that appears on the Recipes page of this site.)
Read more…