Best picks

Earth’s Own Naked Oat Everything you love, none of the ingredients you don’t. Earth’s Own Naked Oat is made with just four simple ingredients: filtered water, gluten- free organic oats, sea salt and amylase (a natural enzyme). Plus, Naked Oat is certified organic, which means only clean and pesticide-free ingredients for a healthier earth. Suggested retail price: $6.49

earthsown.com

Fundraiser for the Ottawa Hospital Wearing a mask in public is becoming the new normal and artist Darlene Kulig believes that if one must wear one, why not make it joyful? The artworks printed onto the masks were carefully chosen to emulate a smile and incite happiness but best of all, the profits are going to the The Craig Kulig Memorial Fund for cancer research, at the Ottawa Hospital. Made from a two-ply material with a woven filter to prevent droplets from spreading, the masks feature a comfort band to create less pressure around ears and a better fit. Darlene’s masks are available for sale on her website, darlenekuligartist.ca

Mom's Homemade salsas Before turning her salsa into a home-based business, making salsa was a tradition for Cheryl Wilcox and her family. Preservative free and sugar free, Mom's Homemade sells out regularly at more than a dozen locations in and around Ottawa. Keep an eye out for their upcoming fourth flavour — Mom's Wrath, made with Carolina Reaper peppers! Visit Mom's website for a full list of retail locations.

momshomemade.ca

Earth’s Own Oat Culinary Edition Earth’s Own Oat Culinary Edition For the home cook looking to add a creamy texture and richness to soups, sauces or baking, the Earth’s Own Oat Culinary Edition has all the flexibility of dairy, none of the strong flavours of coconut plus, a plant-friendly environmental footprint. Suggested retail price: $4.99

earthsown.com

Earth’s Own Oat Cafe Edition An oat-licious creamer that is just like dairy! This plant-based creamer uses the natural plant-based goodness of oats to create a creamy-yet-neutral taste specifically formulated for coffee drinkers. Simply pour into your cup-a-joe and let the creamer do the rest. Suggested retail price: $3.99

earthsown.com

PHOTO: ANGELINA DUNN

Must-have summer ingredient ReaLemon, introduces ReaLemon Flavour Infusions – Garlic. It’s the classic ReaLemon you know and love with a hint of garlic! ReaLemon Flavour Infusions – Garlic will be your perfect cooking companion this Canadians, this proudly Michael Hothi of Trico Canadian brand is excited to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and is honoured to contribute their resources to Melita coffee makes refreshing summer drinks Summer is here so ditch your mug Melita Cold Brew Concentrate pick me up. Melita coffee is perfect 16oz cold, fresh water summer as it adds an exciting hint of garlic YUNAL COVID-19 app to every bite while taking the hassle out of YUNAL is a free smartphone app that is the adding both lemon flavour and garlic to your brainchild of Ryan Rogrigs, a grade 10 from favourite dishes. Available at select retailers. Ottawa. The app informs people about the Suggested retail price: $1.89 virus, how to follow preventative measures, realemon.ca and a built-in AI geolocation delivers custom safety measures and push notifications based on your location. YUNAL includes live alerts and reminders to practise good hygiene by Ottawa’s Trico self-assessment tool, allowing users to check is making PPE their health status and receive medical contact Trico Packaging and Print information based on the results — it helps Solutions Inc has transitioned to you take the necessary precautions to prevent personal protective equipment the spread of COVID-19. The application is (PPE) with the launch of their intended for anyone and everyone and is new line selling surgical face available on Android and IOS. masks. Marketed towards dryan.tech/YUNAL.html washing your hands. YUNAL also features a protect the lives of Canadians. President Mike Riceberry — a whole grain rice Hothi saw a golden opportunity to pivot the that's a whole lot of delicious commercial printer, industrial packaging and Full of antioxidants, Riceberry is a hybrid rice product supplier into a position where his with a beautiful rich purple hue. Thailand team could support Canadian efforts in the produces tens of thousands of varieties of rice pandemic. TricoPPS is expected to become but Riceberry’s nutrient-dense qualities and one of the largest manufacturer of PPE in nutty flavour has made it popular around the North America. As a leading manufacturing world. The bran and germ in Thai Riceberry and distribution firm, Trico promises carefully Rice has not been milled off so it is high in made masks ready to wear at an fibre and bran oil which are known to aid affordable price. digestion, lower blood cholesterol as well tricopps.com as glucose levels. Best of all, it cooks up like regular white rice. With an exceptionally fragrant aroma, slightly nutty flavour and smooth texture, Thai Riceberry Rice can be substituted for jasmine or white rice in many of hot coffee for a refreshing cold Ingredients: 2/3 cup (60 grams) fresh, ground Melitta coffee (we like to use Colombian) meals. thinkricethinkthailand.com when brewed cold, it also makes Preparation: In a pitcher or jar, add 2/3 cup ground Melitta coffee to 16oz of cold water. Stir until all the grounds great cocktails including Cold Brew are moistened. Cover and let rest in the fridge for 4 hours (or longer for bolder taste). Concentrate! Remove from refrigerator, uncover and stir vigorously. melitta.com Fold a Melitta #4 filter at the crimps and place in a Melitta pour-over cone. Set cone atop an empty pitcher or jar. Pour the coffee/water mixture into the pour-over cone. Wait for all of the liquid coffee to filter through the cone and drip into container below. This may take up to 5 minutes. Repeat pour-over process until all of mixture is filtered.

Free IT training launches in Ottawa ComIT is a Canadian non-profit company providing free IT training for those unemployed or underemployed who wish to expand their professional skill set and begin a career in the tech sector. This free service helps build the technical and soft skills required to succeed in the marketplace. Many of the graduates of ComIT had no previous experience in the field but with the help of ComIT's part time schooling, many are now successfully in long term jobs and careers. Now is the perfect time to begin your education to guide you to the IT career you are interested in and gain the relevant tactical and soft skills that will attract future employers. comit.org “How to mask your face, not your style. As we enter the new normal, how do you wear a mask and not look like a surgeon who’s just escaped from the ER? That’s just what Julie Buen, one of Ottawa’s favourite marketing, communications and media personalities thought just before she pulled out her sewing machine, rummaged through her stash of fabric and got to work.

Through friends, she’d heard about Operation Ramizieh, a grassroots charity delivering food to vulnerable seniors and economically disadvantaged families. She sewed for two days straight and delivered 70 masks to be distributed with the emergency food aid. “I can do more than this. But I need help,” she said to herself.

Progegenics Cord Blood Cryobanks Progenics Cord Blood Cryobank is a Toronto based facility whose mission is to cure and treat diseases with regenerative medicine such as cord blood and tissue. After many years of research, it was discovered that the previously discarded cord blood is not waste, but a way to treat over 80 diseases using the stem cells found in the blood. Progenics Cord Blood aims to provide their clients with consistent and high quality service. They will process cord blood and tissue within 24 hours, guaranteeing efficiency. Storing your child’s cord blood and cord tissue can help treat illnesses that may occur in the future and can be donated to save lives.

progenics.ca

COVID-Budding artist The looming threat of being under lockdown in March, lead our fashion editor, Alexandra Hunt, to pick up a paintbrush and pursue her creative side. Alex’s bright, colourful and happy florals can now be found gracing the walls of many of her client’s homes. Follow Alex on Instagram at

Being a fashion face + giving back never looked so gorgeous

@alexhuntstudio or at alexhuntstudio.com

After a second week of cutting, sewing and mailing masks on her own, help arrived. Long-time friend and graphic designer Lissa Constantine created a logo, set up an e-commerce store and strategized.

AboutFace Masks then hired local seamstresses who had lost work due to the lockdown to help them produce their mask. As a result, they don’t compete with massproduced drop-shipped or cheap imported masks. They don’t even try.

AboutFace Masks are reusable, washable and made 100 per cent local. With every sale, masks are donated to Operation Ramizieh, vulnerable seniors and their families at Bruyère Village and Bruyère Clinic, as well as other charities.

aboutface-masks.com

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