YAM magazine Jan/Feb 2022 by Page One Publishing

ISSUE 76 JAN/FEB 2022

yammagazine.com

VICTORIA’S LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

THE

COLOUR ISSUE PEOPLE FOOD

DÉCOR CITY FASHION

All Allelectric. electric.All AllAudi. Audi. Experience Experience Experience the the the fully fully fully electric electric electric e-tron e-tron e-tron today. today. today.

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Nestled on the edge of the Salish Sea with spectacular views of the Gulf Islands, San Juan Islands and Mount Baker, Sidney offers a fascinating array of fun and memorable things to do. Here’s what we recommend: TAKE IN SOME PUBLIC ART

Sidney offers an abundance of arts and cultural attractions. Start your day on Sidney’s main street, Beacon Avenue, home to stunning three-dimensional murals and life-like bronzed statues. EXPLORE THE GREAT OUTDOORS

To explore by sea, the entire Peninsula is rich with life above and below the waves. You can rent kayaks, standup paddleboards and even a sailboat from local marinas or companies like Blue Dog Kayaking, Pacifica Paddle Sports and A Paddle In The Park. If exploring by land, cyclists have access to the 9.3 km bike trail around the airport, plus Lochside Trail, which stretches all the way from Victoria to Swartz Bay. BROWSE THROUGH BOOKTOWN

Enjoy a little retail therapy in Canada’s only booktown. Sidney Booktown has a great selection of new and second-hand titles in six unique bookshops, all within easy walking distance of one another. EAT!

With its relaxed West Coast ambience, Sidney and the Saanich Peninsula are home to lots of restaurants and cafés with a focus on all things local — and a taste of the international, too. Be sure to save room for a treat that Sidney does especially well: DONUTS! The Sidney Bakery is famous for the best apple fritters you have ever tasted, baked fresh every morning. But get there early — they sell out quickly because they are just that good. Find out more about Downtown Sidney at ExploreSidney.ca

THE COLOUR ISSUE

CONTENTS

on the cover

UP FROM DOWN UNDER Savour the sunny cuisine imported to Victoria by our friends from Australia and New Zealand. By Cinda Chavich

VIVIDLY VICTORIA From teal-green roofs to blue poppies to red-and-gold gates: we soak in the brilliant colours that define our beautiful city. By Joanne Sasvari

HOW TO SAVE YOUR SANITY Last year was tough. This year doesn’t have to be. Five experts share their tips for making the best of 2022. By Kim Pemberton

COME ASHORE. STAY A WHILE The welcome is as warm as the scenery is wild at Indigenous-owned Klahoose Wilderness Resort. By Linda Barnard

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

STYLE WATCH Page 52

A NEW VIEW FOR

A NEW YEAR

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THE COLOUR ISSUE

CONTENTS

12 EDITOR’S NOTE 15 HERE + NOW

YAM’s latest finds in home décor, fashion, lifestyle and food.

22 IN PERSON

For theatre artist Kate Rubin, the play’s the thing. By David Lennam

24 HOME + LIFESTYLE

Restoring a Tudor cottage to its origins. By Danielle Pope

52 STYLE WATCH

Make a statement with bright, bold colours. Styled by Janine Metcalfe

64 SCENE

Singer Chrissy Steele rocks it out — again. By David Lennam

66 DO TELL

A Proust-style interview with truffle-maker David Booth. By Aldyn Chwelos

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

R O YA L R O B B I N S

KÜHL

FIG

PA C S A F E

EAGLE CREEK

T R A V E L L I G H T , T R A V E L L I G H T LY , T R A V E L W E L L .

560 Yates Street

250-590-6381

www.adventureclothing.ca

1 7 0 0 M T. N E W T O N C R O S S R O A D , V I C T O R I A

UUNNIIQQUUEE OOPPPPOORRTTUUNNIITTIIEESS »»

$15,500,000

$11,975,000

SOLD

NEW LISTING

$8,900,000

$9,800,000

3155 Beach Drive, Oak Bay

1980 Schoolhouse Road, Nanaimo

377 Seymour Heights, Salt Spring Island

East Coast Vancouver Island, Nanaimo

1700 Mt. Newton Cross Road, Victoria

BEDS: 5 BATHS: 8 11,900 SQ.FT 1.67 ACRES Lisa Williams PREC 250.514.1966

12.90 ACRE LOT

BEDS: 7 BATHS: 8 7,324 SQ.FT 71.17 ACRES Dean Innes 250.686.0279

4.00 ACRES

BEDS: 5 BATHS: 10 17,576 SQ.FT 20 ACRES Glynis MacLeod PREC 250.727.5448 Kirsten MacLeod 250.686.3385

Logan Wilson PREC

250.857.0609

C O N D O S & TOW N H O M E S »

Alenzo Winters

250.858.9395

« SSIINNGGLLEE FA FAM MIILY LY HHOOM MEESS »»

RECENTLY SOLD

$854,000

SOLD

$799,000

$3,300,000

$8,880,000

$3,200,000

303-104 Dallas Road, Victoria

206-330 Waterfront Crescent, Victoria

4035 Locarno Lane, Victoria

554 Beach Drive, Oak Bay

236 Stevens Road, Victoria

BEDS: 2 BATHS: 2 1,573 SQ.FT

BEDS: 2 BATHS: 2 1,260 SQ.FT 0.03 ACRES Dave Hatt 250.888.0204

BEDS: 5 BATHS: 6 6,044 SQ.FT 1.01 ACRES Peter Crichton 250.889.4000

BEDS: 4 BATHS: 4 3,026 SQ.FT 0.20 ACRES Kirsten MacLeod 250.686.3385 Glynis MacLeod PREC 250.727.5448

BEDS: 4 BATHS: 3 2,935 SQ.FT 10.00 ACRES Beth Hayhurst 250.896.0766

Brett Cooper

PREC

250.858.6524

SSIINNGGLLEE FA FAM MIILY LY HHOOM MEESS »»

$1,999,000

$1,998,000

$1,989,888

$1,644,000

255 Government Street, Victoria

822 Cuaulta Crescent, Colwood

5165 Duncan Bay Road, Campbell River

3951 Trailhead Drive, Sooke

BEDS: 3 BATHS: 3 2,845 SQ.FT 0.14 ACRES Sandy Berry 250.514.1966

BEDS: 4 BATHS: 4 3,400 SQ.FT 0.75 ACRES Harley Shim 250.881.3601

BEDS: 4 BATHS: 3 2,593 SQ.FT 5.00 ACRES

BEDS: 3 BATHS: 3 2,779 SQ.FT 2.91 ACRES Samantha Jensson 250.818.2006

Harley Shim

403.313.6683

Connect with your local experts. Alenzo Winters

Andrew Maxwell

Victoria 250.380.3933

Andy Stephenson

Beth Hayhurst

Salt Spring Island 250.537.1778

Brad Maclaren

Brayden Klein

Vancouver 604.632.3300

Brett Cooper

Christine Ryan

West Vancouver 604.922.6995

D’Arcy Harris

White Rock 604.385.1840

Dave Hatt

Dean Innes

Whistler 604.932.3388

Don St Germain

Glynis MacLeod

Kelowna 250.469.9547

Harley Shim

Jacob Garrett

Sun Peaks 250.578.7773

Move Beyond Your Expectations S O T H E B Y S R E A L T Y. C A 3 4 9 0 B E A C H D R I V E , O A K B AY

«« UUNNIIQQUUEE OOPPPPOORRTTUUNNIITTIIEESS

$5,100,000

$7,899,999

SOLD

NEW LISTING

INTRODUCING

$3,600,000

$2,450,000

$688,000

Sear Island, Gulf Island

511 Soriel Road, Parksville

3490 Beach Drive, Oak Bay

6790 Bell Mckinnon Road, Duncan

789 Lily Avenue, Saanich

BEDS: 9 BATHS: 4 4,180 SQ.FT 27.00 ACRES Nico Grauer PREC 250.228.3858

BEDS: 5 BATHS: 8 9,844 SQ.FT 1.31 ACRES Brayden Klein 250.588.2466

BEDS: 6 BATHS: 5 4,649 SQ.FT 0.63 ACRES Sean Farrell 250.588.2377

2.00 ACRE LOT

7,178 SQ.FT LOT

D’Arcy Harris

250.686.2375

Natalie Zachary

250.882.2966

«« SSIINNGGLLEE FA FAM MIILY LY HHOOM MEESS INTRODUCING

$2,888,000

SOLD

$2,500,000

$2,350,000

$2,750,000

2024 Troon Court, Langford

5640 Batu Road, Saanich

8805 Forest Park Drive, North Saanich

Deep Cove Home, North Saanich

BEDS: 4 BATHS: 4 4,280 SQ.FT 0.33 ACRES Brad Maclaren PREC 250.727.5448

BEDS: 5 BATHS: 6 5,983 SQ.FT 4.99 ACRES Andy Stephenson PREC 250.532.0888

BEDS: 5 BATHS: 4 4,220 SQ.FT 16,223 SQ.FT Robyn Wildman 250.818.8522

BEDS: 4 BATHS: 5 4,205 SQ.FT 1.00 ACRE

Christine Ryan

778.533.3205

«« SSIINNGGLLEE FA FAM MIILY LY HHOOM MEESS SOLD

$1,590,000

$1,399,000

SOLD

$1,150,000

SOLD

$1,099,000

1446 Merritt Place, Victoria

3-1004 DeCosta Place, Esquimalt

174 Olive Street, Victoria

3755 Ascot Drive, Saanich

6920 East Sooke Road, Sooke

BEDS: 6 BATHS: 5 3,790 SQ.FT 0.24 ACRES Andrew Maxwell 250.213.2104

BEDS: 2 BATHS: 3 1,400 SQ.FT 0.05 ACRE Marnie Ross 250.514.4363

BEDS: 4 BATHS: 3 1,627 SQ.FT 0.14 ACRES Don St Germain PREC 250.744.7136

BEDS: 4 BATHS: 3 2,715 SQ.FT 0.27 ACRES Kersten St Germain 250.532.3869

BEDS: 1 BATHS: 1 732 SQ.FT 0.66 ACRES Tom de Cosson 250.858.5841

Kersten St Germain

Kirsten MacLeod

Toronto

Kris Ricci

Paris

Lisa Williams

Logan Wilson

New York

Marnie Ross

Tokyo

Marsha Graham

Natalie Zachary

Hong Kong

Nico Grauer

Peter Crichton

Montréal

Robyn Wildman

Samantha Jensson

Sandy Berry

Sean Farrell

Tom de Cosson

S OT H E B YS R E A LT Y.C A

Independently Owned and Operated. E.&O.E.: This information is from sources which we deem reliable, but must be verified by prospective Purchasers and may be subject to change or withdrawal. PREC is Personal Real Estate Corporation.

EDITOR’S NOTE

A Colourful New Year Our in-depth knowledge of the market and personalized strategies will put you in the best possible position when buying or selling a home in Victoria.

Properties in Victoria Professionals ™ Sarah West and Bill Ethier The Real Estate Team You Trust for Life w: propertiesinvictoria.com I p: 250.920.7000 Personal Real Estate Corporation

Our in-depth knowledge of the market and personalized strategies will put you in the best possible position when buying or selling a home in Victoria.

Sarah West* and Bill Ethier

*Personal Real Estate Corporation

The Real Estate Team You Trust for Life

w: propertiesinvictoria.com The Real Estate Team You Trust for Life p: 250.920.7000 Sarah West, PREC and Bill Ethier w: propertiesinvictoria.com p: 250.920.7000

ello, 2022! We’re so glad to meet you. Rarely has it been such a relief to see the back end of a year, and to welcome the promise of a bright new one. We’ve been craving warmth and light these past few months, but most of all, we’ve been yearning for colour, for joyful bursts of sunshine yellow, for the pretty pastel tint of cherry blossoms, for the soothing greeny-blue hues of long seaside walks and rambles through the rainforest. So we thought: Why not begin the year with an issue of YAM themed around colour? And that’s just what we’ve done. Welcome to a colourful New Year! That gave us the opportunity to dream of vivid fashions and delicious travels Down Under, where it’s summer right now. It also allowed us to revisit some of our favourite spots around Victoria, including the rainbow-coloured homes of Fisherman’s Wharf and the sunny new seats along the Dallas Road bike path. Just thinking about those jaunty hues has made us feel cheerful. Colour is a wonderful way to lift your mood (though if it “A neutral doesn’t work, we have some other tips in our piece on five palette is ways to save your sanity). In colour psychology, shades of practical. blue evoke tranquility, harmony and calm. Green is fresh, clean and healthy. Yellow catches your eye, then lifts your Classic. spirits — that’s why it’s the colour of both optimism and taxi Timeless. cabs. Pink is young and playful, while purple is regal and a But aren’t little bit mystical. And red is the colour of love, of passion, of the perfect lipstick and all those heart-shaped chocolate you craving boxes you’ll see on Valentine’s Day. something There’s been a lot of grey, white and black in fashion and new?” décor these past few years. A neutral palette is practical. Classic. Timeless. But aren’t you craving something new? Maybe a beautiful soft grey-green? It’s what almost every paint company has flagged as its colour of the year, and I for one want to splash it all over my walls. It’s also the colour of spring and the tender buds that are just starting to emerge, assuring us that brighter days are just around the corner. We can hardly wait — and we’re so glad we can share this hopeful season with you.

Joanne Sasvari, Guest Editor editor@ yammagazine.ca

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

“Mere colour can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.” — Oscar Wilde

You are unique, your home is unique, and Luxe is not your typical furniture store. At Luxe Home Interiors, we believe in curating an inspiring shopping experience where customers can see, touch and feel great treasures that cannot be found anywhere else. We believe in shopping local, and relish the beautiful human connections that happen with in-person shopping. All of our sales people are skilled designers. Let us help you tell your unique story. Visit us at our new home at 564 Yates Street, conveniently located across from the Bastion Square Parkade (first hour free)!

564 Yates St 250.386.7632 luxevictoria.ca

The beauty of west coast living.

VICTORIA’S LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

PUBLISHERS Lise Gyorkos, Georgina Camilleri GUEST EDITOR Joanne Sasvari DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Jeffrey Bosdet PRODUCTION MANAGER Jennifer Kühtz DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER Amanda Wilson LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER Janice Hildybrant ASSOCIATE GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Jo-Ann Loro, Caroline Segonnes CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Carla Sorrell EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Aldyn Chwelos MARKETING COORDINATOR Claire Villaraza ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Rebecca Juetten ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Deana Brown, Cynthia Hanischuk, Brenda Knapik FASHION EDITOR Janine Metcalfe CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Linda Barnard, Cinda Chavich, David Lennam, Kim Pemberton, Danielle Pope CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Joshua Lawrence, Michelle Proctor PROOFREADER Merel Elsinga CONTRIBUTING AGENCIES Alamy p. 42; Dreamstime p. 40; Getty Images p. 12, 18, 36, 41, 43-45, 48, 51; StockFood p. 18; Stocksy p. 46, 49

523 Fisgard Street | 250-382-4424 | www.fantanvictoria.com

GENERAL INQUIRIES info@yammagazine.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR letters@yammagazine.com TO SUBSCRIBE TO YAM subscriptions@yammagazine.com ADVERTISING INQUIRIES sales@yammagazine.com ONLINE yammagazine.com FACEBOOK facebook.com/YAMmagazine TWITTER twitter.com/YAMmagazine INSTAGRAM @yam_magazine

ON THE COVER Shift Out of Neutral See story on page 52. Photo by Jeffrey Bosdet.

Published by PAGE ONE PUBLISHING 580 Ardersier Road, Victoria, B.C. V8Z 1C7 T 250-595-7243 info@pageonepublishing.ca pageonepublishing.ca

Printed in Canada by Transcontinental Printing. Ideas and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Page One Publishing Inc. or its affiliates; no official endorsement should be inferred. The publisher does not assume any responsibility for the contents of any advertisement, and any and all representations or warranties made in such advertising are those of the advertiser and not the publisher. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in all or part, in any form — printed or electronic — without the express permission of the publisher. The publisher cannot be held responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement #41295544

ADVERTISE IN YAM MAGAZINE YAM is Victoria’s lifestyle magazine, connecting readers to the distinctive lifestyle and authentic luxury of the West Coast. For advertising info, please call 250-595-7243 or email sales@yammagazine.com.

1023 Fort Street | 250.920.7653 | heartandsoleshoes.ca

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

HERE + NOW

Glidden’s Guacamole

Valspar's Blanched Thyme

COLOURS OF THE YEAR

2022

PPG’s Olive Sprig

Sherwin-William’s Evergreen Fog

Creative. Courageous. Transformative. Calming. That’s the mood of 2022, according to the colours of the year defined by the major paint and graphics brands. For instance, Pantone, the global colour authority, has chosen Pantone 17-3938 Very Peri, a periwinkle blue with a “vivifying” violet undertone, as the hue of 2022. Pantone notes that it “displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expression.” Expect to see Very Peri everywhere in fashion and décor. It’s especially beautiful as an accent to all the gorgeous shades of soothing, natural green that comprised almost all the other official colours of 2022. We at YAM love soft greens like Benjamin Moore’s silvery October Mist 1495, which pairs beautifully with periwinkle, as well as Valspar’s springlike Blanched Thyme 6001-4A, the pretty pastel Breezeway MQ3-21 by Behr and the bright, cheerful Breakfast Room Green No. 81 from Farrow & Ball. Green or blue, colour this year is fresh, optimistic and a very welcome change from 2021.

Farrow & Ball’s Breakfast Room Green

VERY

Benjamin Moore’s October Mist

Behr’s Breezeway

We love Pantone’s Very Peri paired with Benjamin Moore’s October Mist.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

PERFECT SETTINGS Why you should let The Proper Table design your next dinner party.

BETWEEN FREEDOM & CONFINEMENT

he first thing that strikes you in Denyse Thomasos’ artwork is the lines. They are dark, thick, tight, sometimes claustrophobic, like the bars of a jail cell or the strands of African weavework. But there is also colour, vibrant, bright and hopeful. It’s that juxtaposition that makes her abstract wall murals so haunting and compelling. “The work is subtle and refuses to show us what we expect to see,” writes Victoria-based novelist Esi Edugyan in an essay for the catalogue that accompanies Denyse Thomasos: Odyssey, an

exhibition of more than 50 works on display at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Thomasos was born in 1964 in Trinidad, emigrated to Toronto at the age of six, and studied at the University of Toronto and Yale School of Art. Tragically, in 2012, at only 47, she died suddenly from an allergic reaction during a medical procedure. Throughout her life, she travelled extensively and studied the histories and legacies of oppression. Slave ships, prisons and burial sites

Above: Denyse Thomasos (1964–2012) Untitled, 2012, acrylic on canvas 45.7 x 61 cm, private collection. Right: Sparrow, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 152.4 x 182.9 cm, Atkinson Family. Images Courtesy of the Estate of Denyse Thomasos and Olga Korper Gallery.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

all heavily influenced her work, as did Caribbean and African textiles. Shortly before her death, Thomasos wrote about being struck by the “premeditated, efficient, dispassionate records of human beings as cargo,” stating: “In my artworks, I used lines in deep space to recreate these claustrophobic conditions, leaving no room to breathe.” The AGGV is the only Western Canadian stop for Denyse Thomasos: Odyssey, which runs through February 20. For more information, visit aggv.ca.

JEFFREY BOSDET/YAM MAGAZINE

In a mesmerizing exhibition at AGGV, muralist Denyse Thomasos captures the tension of the African experience.

A properly set table is a beautiful thing, especially when it’s Barb Walker who is setting it. “I love dinner parties,” says the co-founder of The Proper Table, a tableware retail and rental business in Oak Bay. “I think there’s this new appreciation for having people in your home.” Walker, who is also the founder of French Kiss Events, launched The Proper Table as a COVID pivot with her business partner Shara Zimmerman Jawl of Bash Specialty Rentals. There wasn’t, after all, much demand for big events the last two years. But small dinner parties? That’s a different story. The duo started renting out beautifully curated table settings that include plates, flatware, glassware, candles and napkins, then launched a “Supper Series” featuring custom cocktails from Twist and food from Toque Catering. “It’s a really easy way to have a dinner party,” Walker says. When their clients kept asking where they could buy the rentals, the retail store was born. Right now it’s operating mainly as “a fun weekend pop-up shop,” where customers can pick up, among other things, elegant stoneware by Hudson and Oak, gorgeous barware and napkins galore. “One of our goals is to be the napkin hot spot,” Walker says with a laugh, adding, “We love everything to do with dining and entertaining.”

CHILL AT THE CABANA / Cozy up in the cabin Whatever décor you desire, two stylish new hotspots have you covered: Superflux’s sunny modern super flex or the ski chalet chic of Eva Schnitzelhaus.

Roxana Velásquez

The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) made her life her greatest artwork. This rich book offers a fascinating overview of both, illustrated with rarely seen paintings and iconic favourites.

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: KING PLEASURE

CHATSWORTH, ARCADIA NOW

Told by his family and illustrated with neverbefore-seen paintings and photos, this landmark volume captures the story of the groundbreaking African-American neoexpressionist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988).

Enter Chatsworth, the finest of English country houses. This book tells its story in stunning photos of the Duke of Devonshire’s home, historic grounds and its collection of priceless art.

Lisane Basquiat, Jeanine Heriveaux, Nora Fitzpatrick, Ileen Gallagher

John-Paul Stonard

Golden Slumber

JANIS NICOLAY

These artful volumes from Rizzoli New York’s spring 2022 lineup will have you turning pages all year.

FRIDA KAHLO: THE MASTERWORKS

If your favourite aspect of skiing is the aprés part (just us?), you’re in luck, because there’s a new haus in town that’s all about charming ski-cabin chic. At Eva Schnitzelhaus (509 Fisgard Street), co-owner and executive chef Maxime Durand — formerly of Agrius — cooks up playful interpretations of classic German-Swiss fare like raclette and schnitzel. Plus there is German beer and a New/Old World wine list compiled by super-somm Kaylund Mons, ex of Vancouver’s Bauhaus. But we’re there as much for the cozy cabin vibe: think exposed brick and wood adorned with vintage posters, paintings, ski paraphernalia and kitschy beer steins. Prost!

The cheerful hue of these linen sheets is sure to inspire happy dreams.

Linen sleep set in Marigold

magine sleeping blissfully in a soft golden cloud. Actually, you don’t have to, because you can just snuggle up in sunny, marigoldtinted linen bedding from Flax Home instead. Flax Home — formerly called Flax Sleep — is a Vancouver-based online retailer that launched in 2017 when Anna Heyd couldn’t find quality, affordable, Canadian-produced linen bedding. So she and her friends Oana Papuc and Vivian McCormick created their own. They’ve since added bath and table products, and recently opened a showroom, always keeping linen at the heart of all they do. “I really like the way linen looks. It’s not for everybody, but I really like that natural, relaxed, Flax Home founders, from left, Vivian lived-in look,” Heyd says. “It’s temperature McCormick, Anna Heyd and Oana Papuc regulating and will adapt to your needs. It’s cozy celebrate their love of all things linen. in the winter and cool in the summer. It also uses a lot less water and pesticides in its production than cotton.” And, she adds, “People really do like this colour.”

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

JANIS NICOLAY

Picture Books

LILLIE LOUISE

Co-founder Adam Henderson describes his newest venture, Superflux {Cabana}, as “cool and intriguing with a bit of lavish, highend flavour thrown in there.” Superflux {Cabana} (804 Broughton Street) is the Victoria outpost of the super-popular Vancouver craft brewery, only with full-service, upscale-casual dining and colourful mid-20th-century-inspired décor courtesy of Studio Roslyn. That’s the same Vancouver-based design firm behind Superbaba, only this time going full retro-hedonistic Las Vegas hotel diner. The fun décor pieces include an indoor water feature and quirky takes on Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. It’s the happy design trend we didn’t know we needed.

TASTES + TRENDS

NET ZERO

By Cinda Chavich

Pizza Purveyors Pizza night is a family tradition, but when you don’t want to go out or wait for delivery, frozen pizza fits the bill.

Zero is the word of the day — zero waste, zero sugar, zero emissions and zero ABV (alcohol by volume) drinks.

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here are plenty of supermarket options, but none can compare with the new generation of local pizza purveyors selling their frozen and ready-to-bake beauties around town. Bicycle Pizza works out of the Beauregard Commons shared kitchen in Brentwood Bay, where it sells fresh takeout pizza and prepares frozen pies for sale at independent retailers, including Pepper’s Foods, Red Barn Market and Urban Grocer. You can even join their frozen pizza subscription service and get five (or more) pizzas delivered every month to stock your home freezer. They’re also working on new compostable packaging to become plasticfree as their frozen pizza business grows. Zambri’s restaurant jumped into the take-away pizza business this year, too, with several combinations available from the restaurant. The Queen (tomato/bocconcini) or pepperoni pizzas can be found in the freezer section at The Market Garden, Niche Grocerant and other local retailers. You can find Devon Thor’s Vagabond Pies in retail freezers, too. Thor wanted a bricks-and-mortar pizzeria,

but COVID shifted her plan to frozen pizza and now her mostly vegan sourdough pies are made in the shared kitchen space at Neighborly, the local grocery/café at KWENCH. Find frozen Vagabond pizza in the freezer at Belle General Store, For Good Measure and Pepper’s Foods. The pandemic also birthed new take-away pizza options from Agrius and Fol Epi bakery downtown, the chewy crusts made with fresh-milled organic flour and topped with their

own house-made charcuterie. Call ahead to pick up one of their creative options, or find them in the bakery cooler. And if spinning a pie from scratch is more your style, you can buy pre-made pizza dough from many local makers. You’ll find 900° pizzeria dough (both organic and gluten free) at the Langford restaurant or from grocers including The Root Cellar. Other local sources of fresh pizza dough include Ottavio and Bicycle Pizza. That’s amore!

COASTAL COCKTAIL

PROFIMEDIA/STOCKFOOD

The Shaft is a staple of Victoria’s cocktail and brunch menus — a creamy combination of vodka (or sometimes whisky), Kahlúa, Irish cream liqueur and coffee. Now there’s a new way to up the Shaft’s Vancouver Island profile, with a shot of new Forty Creek Nanaimo Bar Cream liqueur. Made in Ontario, it starts with Forty Creek whisky and fresh cream, with notes of milk chocolate, vanilla custard, graham crackers and coconut, a little like your mom’s famous squares in a bottle. Try it in a Nanaimo Bar Shaft Cocktail: 1 ounce of Canadian whisky, 1/2 ounce of Frangelico (or Ampersand’s nutty walnut liqueur, Nocino!), 1/2 ounce of Nanaimo Bar Cream and 2 ounces chilled coffee. It’s a tasty twist on this cool and creamy classic.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Trend watchers say ZERO-PROOF “dry” spirits and LUMRUM other non-alcoholic MOJITO beverages are at Recipe courtesy the top of consumer of Lumette! lists for 2022, an apparent backlash • 1.5 oz LumRum to quarantine • 0.5 oz lime juice indulgence and a • 0.5 oz simple quest for better syrup health. • 3 oz club soda Several local • 6 mint leaves companies are • Garnish: 1 fresh getting in on the mint sprig and zero-alcohol action. a re-useable Lumette! — the straw alt-spirit offshoot In a Collins glass created by awardpartly filled with winning Sheringham crushed ice, add Distillery in Sooke all ingredients — now comes in except soda and original Bright Light garnish. Stir three botanical flavour, times, top up the a juniper-forward ice and fill the London Dry style glass with soda to mimic gin, and water. Garnish LumRum, made with molasses and natural with a sprig of mint (slapping it botanical distillates. first to release Sea Cider its aromas) and continues to make a reusable straw. waves with its Serves 1. Temperance series of non-alcoholic sparkling ciders, including bubbly white Eden, pink Roxie (blended with raspberries and lemon) and blackberry-infused Bonnie, named for Dr. Bonnie Henry. Philips Brewing has added zero-proof mocktails to its Sparkmouth line of zerocalorie flavoured sparkling waters. Look for fizzy mocktail Margaritas, Mimosas and Moscow Mules in four-packs of singleserve cans. All are designed to promote balance and well-being, a trend coming to a cocktail bar near you.

Wine and Cheese 2.0

I believe that every customer deserves the best care and service.

If you’re a fan of fine cheese and all things fermented, L’Apéro Wine & Cheese Bistro may be your new favourite hangout.

heesemonger Guillaume Kieffer and business partner Page Loten recently launched this casual downtown bistro, an extension of Kieffer’s “cheese experience” workshops and cheese catering business. The compact space has a well-stocked cheese counter and a cheese-centric menu featuring daily soups, salads and sandwiches for lunch, and pop-up evening wine, cheese and raclette dinners. Share one of their generous cheese and charcuterie boards with friends or watch the cheesemonger scrape an oozing wheel of melted raclette cheese over a plate of potatoes and pickles in classic Swiss style. Kieffer grew up in Lyon, France, and has a special affinity for French cheese and wine, but also specializes in artisanal cheese from Canadian and international makers. At the L’Apéro deli counter, there’s a wide variety of cheese to try, from bloomy Pizy farm cheese from Quebec to tangy Murcia al Vino, a Spanish cheese aged in red wine. Check out their website, laperobistro.net, to order a cheese board, The Cheese Essentials box (a beautiful gourmet gift) or join The Cheese Collective and have three new cheeses, with tasting notes, delivered to your door every month. As the name suggests, L’Apéro is a convivial evening ritual, and a place to share a delicious apéritif with friends.

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IN PERSON

Drama Without the Drama All the world has quietly (and beautifully) become theatre multi-disciplinarian Kate Rubin’s stage. By David Lennam | Photo by Jeffrey Bosdet

ate Rubin remembers her first day showing up for work at William Head, the minimum-security federal correctional institution where the country’s only inmate-run theatre program is in its 40th year presenting plays to a paying public. She was one of the witches cast by director Ian Case for a production of Macbeth. “Yes, there was some trepidation. A little bit,” she says. “But once I had my first day there, though, all trepidations were gone. I was welcomed and treated with respect. And continue to be. I’ve learned a lot working there.” It was a seminal moment for Rubin. The longtime Victoria theatre multi-disciplinarian found new inspiration working with William Head on Stage Society (WHoS), one that has resulted in a 17-year relationship with the prison artists as actor, director, writer and dramaturge.

TRANSFORMATIONAL ACTS Rubin’s work was recognized in October with a Greater Victoria Regional Arts Award, specifically for her ongoing work with WHoS (though it could really be celebrating her 30plus years building a solid theatre community in this town). The 67-year-old says doing theatre with the inmates seems like it’s giving them a really good, long drink of water when they’re thirsty. “For some of these guys, I will say the word, it is actually transformational. I don’t go in with that objective, but it can potentially change their life trajectory. And for me, that’s really rewarding and heartening. I feel like this work is important.” But, she quickly adds, she doesn’t want to get self-important about it. “It isn’t just me,” says Rubin, acknowledging that Case, as well as Kathleen Greenfield and Ingrid Hansen of SNAFU Society of Unexpected Spectacles, have been just as instrumental with WHoS. Case recalls Rubin being a tad nervous that first day, through the whole process of screening, training, getting ID, going through those ominous gates and learning all the protocols and “rules of engagement.”

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

“But,” he adds, “Kate was a rock from the very beginning and through the process of rehearsing I could see how she started to fall in love with what the WHoS program offers to the inmates and the community artists involved in the process.”

TEACHING RESILIENCE Rubin has been omnivorous in her involvement in the arts, working with almost every theatre company in town — teaching, directing, writing, performing, hanging lights, probably even setting out the chairs. By Rubin’s estimation, she’s helped guide more than 5,000 kids through all aspects of theatre for 23 years at her own drama school, and before that working with Kaleidoscope Theatre. She sold the Kate Rubin Theatre & Drama Studio in 2017 to Theatre SKAM, which she calls a natural fit to continue offering the intrinsic value of theatre to children, teaching them through, essentially, play. “Giving [kids] an avenue that allows them to voice different opinions, perspectives, characters, life experiences, I think, regardless of whether you’re going to be an artist, just gives you so many skills and psychological skills and skillsets about collaboration, creative thinking, being able to be flexible, especially now in a world that has become increasingly inflexible,” says Rubin. “It also develops the right brain, where our school system is so loaded up in developing the left brain. I believe in both sides of the brain being supported — you get a smarter, more resilient human being when you do both.”

TIME FOR COLLABORATION No longer running a school has meant more time to collaborate with other artists, not only at William Head, but with companies like Theatre Inconnu. Her work with their production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won Rubin more honours, as she was recognized by local theatre critics for her deft and daring direction of that standout production. She’s taken on some new projects with WHoS as well. Rubin was part of a cohort

that started devising original work with the inmates, allowing the prisoners to put their own stories on stage, resulting in works such as 2015’s HERE: A Captive Odyssey. Productions like this, says Case, have encouraged the growth of storytelling and devised work, “something which has really flourished and benefitted the inmates involved in WHoS by allowing them to more personally connect with the artistic work they’re doing and to tell their own stories. Prior to her work at WHoS, I don’t think this kind of theatre work was being explored to any great extent.” Currently Rubin is overseeing the completion of a film project, again with the inmates and her regular collaborators at SNAFU. Common Threads comprises three short films based on the experiences of those incarcerated, and is scheduled to get a public screening early in 2022. For the new year, an opportunity to put her degree in environmental education to use will see Rubin team up with her daughter Ariel on her farm on the outskirts of Victoria, where they will explore everything from expanding their small organic cut flower business to teaching sustainable food production. (Rubin was one of three women who started the Gorge Tillicum Urban Farmers 13 years ago.) And yes, there will be theatre. The Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival, for which Rubin has directed several plays, spent last summer rehearsing at a studio on the farm. It’s a bit of a throwback to the five post-teen years Rubin spent on Lasqueti Island, living an off-grid lifestyle and dabbling in the then-novel idea of sustainability. It might be said she fully embodies the Bard’s line about all the world being a stage and in her time playing so many parts. Case probably speaks for the entire theatre community when he praises Rubin for developing so many well-trained and sensitive theatre artists, for employing so many artists, for bringing them together and for being that artist, so rich of diversity and flavour. “And,” he says, “she’s done all this quietly and without expectation of awards and acknowledgment. It’s especially gratifying to see her, and her work, finally getting the recognition it deserves.”

“Giving [kids] an avenue that allows them to voice different opinions, perspectives, characters, life experiences, I think, regardless of whether you’re going to be an artist, just gives you so many skills ... ” YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

HOME + LIFESTYLE

A Character in the Making A ROCKLAND RENOVATION RETURNS A TUDOR-STYLE HOME TO ITS FORMER GLORY.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

By Danielle Pope Photos by Joshua Lawrence*

ebbie Bortolussi and her husband spent nearly two years searching for their ideal Victoria property before discovering the Rockland estate they would call home. The pair had already moved from the mainland to Port Alberni, but Victoria was their retirement dream. With a surging market and then a global pandemic adding barriers to the quest, it wasn’t until they learned of an unexpected estate sale in early 2020 that they found their match. “We weren’t going to move until we found what we wanted, but we kept turning up emptyhanded,” says Bortolussi. “We wanted a character home we could restore — we didn’t want to tear down a house — and we had a number of nonnegotiables, like a fireplace and room for gardening.” When their Realtor flagged the 1940s Tudor-style character house on a quarter-acre lot, a “Cotswold cottage” designed by the renowned Victoria architect P. Leonard James, the couple was enchanted with it. Although the pandemic complicated everything from the sale to key exchange to moving, Bortolussi says her faith never wavered. “I never thought it wouldn’t happen — I knew this was the property because of the curb appeal and even through the overgrown bushes I could see its potential,” she says. “The space was important, because I’m an avid gardener, but we knew it needed some changes and it needed love.” With COVID at its peak and with some previous experience in landscaping and interior design, Bortolussi set about planning the changes from the outside in. The first task was bringing the grounds up to period-specific style by clearing the land and putting in a boxwood hedge, along with hiring Gary Wade Masonry to create authentic stone entry pillars to match the esthetic. The pair laid a cobblestone drive and hired RE-LY Metal to custom-fabricate black steel fencing, which included scrollwork and a signature emblem, to install around the property. Things started to take shape when two dilapidated outbuildings were replaced with an entirely new garage and gardener’s cottage. *Unless otherwise noted.

This 1940s Tudor-style house was in dire need of renovations, and the homeowners drew on their previous experience in construction, design and landscaping to make many of the improvements. Among them was setting a cobblestone walkway to match the property’s original esthetic.

Debbie Bortolussi took on the interior design herself, with a vision to recreate the classic black-and-white Tudor look. The couple refinished the hardwood floors, transforming them from darkened orange to their natural look. They repainted the dining and living area walls with Benjamin Moore’s Oxford White, with black beams accenting the space. Dated cupboards were torn out and black-framed French doors were added to create a natural transition between rooms. Heritage framing gives each room visual interest in the ceiling architecture and Bortolussi has outfitted the guest room with classic Dutch blues. The homeowners decided to leave some original touches, like the patterned hall wallpaper, to maintain the period esthetic.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

“Debbie has a real vision for the property. The main thing was coming up with buildings that suited the existing house. When you’re combining new materials and heritage structures, the design challenge is always building in that consistency,” says Gary Streight, design principal with Studio Ink Residential Design, who worked on the project. “The backyard was terribly overgrown with blackberry bushes, shrubs and a variety of native trees, so we had to liaise with the city and an arborist to make sure these buildings could work.” The exterior’s black-and-white Tudor theme then moved indoors, as Bortolussi and her husband took on the tasks of repainting the large black beams in the living area, refinishing the floors, tearing out dated cabinetry for space and adding French doors to transition between rooms. “Because this house was built in the 1940s, it actually lacks a lot of the character you see in older homes,” says Bortolussi. “People were away at war, so these houses just don’t have the millwork and other features you’d see earlier.” Still, the original fireplace, with a custom iron horse design, adds a classic touch. To bring in more character features, Bortolussi has big plans for the kitchen, powder room and connecting rooms of the house. “Part of the plan is to restore the original features of the house,” says Bortolussi. For instance, she plans to rebuild an awkward 1970s kitchen addition and make it a functional space for cooking and hosting. This will transform the tight galley with its awkward addition into a vaulted space with all-white, Parisian-style accents, custom millwork and oversized Tudor-style windows that look onto the grounds. “The load-bearing walls will remain the same, because we like that separation, but partitions will come down to accommodate a new laundry area and mudroom.”

A KITCHEN WITH CHARACTER

JEFFREY BOSDET/YAM MAGAZINE

Plans are underway for Debbie Bortolussi’s character kitchen reno, with the overarching vision to bring in a light, functional design and period-specific touches that will match this 1940s Tudor-style home. Combining 16-foot vaulted ceilings with to-the-floor custom heritage windows and practical but thematic heating options, the future of this kitchen is looking bright.

Pre-renovation

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1) Lighting: Coast Industrial pendant lights will be placed over the kitchen island (Hinkley Lighting 4844 – Crew 1 Light Medium Pendant from Canada Lighting). Additional lighting will include vintage holophane lights by Mullan Lighting (available from Etsy). 2) Paint: Simply White by Benjamin Moore for cabinets and walls. 3) Oven: La Cornue range (C1WN CornuFé 110 dual fuel). 4) Cabinets: Shaker style with additional trim outside. 5) Fireplace: A Windsor arch front Valor gas coal fireplace with black fluted liner will be added to the kitchen. 6) Countertops and Backsplash: Quartz Carrara marble. 7) Faucets: Artifacts Bridge Faucet by Kohler.

Left: The original fireplace, with a custom iron horse design, was one heritage piece the homeowners opted to preserve in this space, bringing in functional character charm and effective warmth for the house. Above: Bortolussi is an avid collector of fine antiques and heritage pieces. The dining area’s set and glass display cupboard fits well with the era of the home and allows Bortolussi to showcase her collection of fine china. Modern touches, like the dining pendant, punctuate the style of this space.

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BATHROOM BLISS

JEFFREY BOSDET/YAM MAGAZINE

The home’s powder room is another spot slated for renovation. The designer will work with the small space to highlight the pre-existing windows and enhance the elements of classic architecture that are lacking in this 1940s build. Pre-renovation

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NEW LANGFORD STORE OPENING SOON! 2830 Peatt Road

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YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

1630 Store Street, Victoria 250-590-6637

1) Lighting: GlucksteinElements Ashbury two-light bathroom vanity fixture with reeded milk glass and rich black finish. 2) Tile/Backsplash: Carrara marble subway tile on the walls, 36 inches up from the floor all around bathroom; shower will have white subway tile. 3) Faucet: Kingston Brass Classic 8-inch widespread two-handle bathroom faucet in chrome. 4) Paint: Simply White by Benjamin Moore. 5) Floor Tile: 12-by-12inch hexagon mosaic.

Kris Ayres, owner of Koala Construction, worked with Streight and the homeowners on the creation of the outbuildings, and is looking forward to what’s coming up inside the home. “Some of these buildings, like the sunroom off the back of the house, are out of step with the design and were tacked on over the decades,” says Ayres. “Getting the chance to recreate high hand-pitched roofs is really fun, because you don’t see that in modern structures — and you get to use those trigonometry skills. The kitchen will feature those same high peaks to keep it consistent with the design.” Bortolussi says while there’s more work to come, she’s smitten with what they’re creating as they transform the property into an authentic home that aligns with their life. “The way you make a decision on a house like this really comes down to location. Is it in a neighbourhood you love? Does the community feed you? Does the house have potential?” she says. “We knew our answer was, ‘yes.’ My husband calls this a RIT11292__RIT003_YAM Ad_X1a .pdf 1 2021-12-02 9:58 AM happy house, and it is. You can tell when someone really cares about a place.”

Above: The gardener’s cottage and accompanying garage were newly built to match the existing structure in style and period — including the diamond-paned windows and Tudor tones. The cottage will become an arts and crafts studio play space for Bortolussi to work on her paintings, garden projects and floral arrangements. Vintage doors appear here to recreate a classic Tudor look, and the cantilever window adds architectural intrigue.

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YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Up From Down Under

Savour the bright, sun-soaked cuisine imported by Victorians from New Zealand and Australia. By Cinda Chavich

JEFFREY BOSDET/YAM MAGAZINE

At Bear & Joey Café, co-owner Peter Wood shares the coffee culture of his native Australia.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

t this time of year, when the Earth’s axis tilts us away from the sun, I yearn for the land Down Under. It may be winter here in Victoria, but it’s full-on summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and the sunny South Pacific calls, with its coral reefs, surfing beaches and fresh, tropical flavours. Australia is one of the last places I visited before we were all locked in place, courtesy of a press trip to Brisbane and environs to explore Australian cuisine. At the annual Noosa Food Festival on the Sunshine Coast, we feasted on wild foods foraged by Aboriginal elders and paddock-to-plate creations from top chefs, featuring exotic fruits such as bubbly finger limes and local seafood including giant barramundi, sweet Spanner crab and Moreton Bay bugs, the lobster-like crustaceans that are fried and served in Bug Roll sandwiches. Aussies love their meat pies, barbecues on the beach (there are literally hundreds of free gas and electric barbecues in public parks), Lamingtons (little sponge cakes rolled in chocolate and coconut) and oddball ingredients — think yeasty Vegemite to spread on toast, Pigface fruit, kangaroo, green ants and other “bush tucker.” The antipodes might be far away, but there are strong local connections, too. Victoria’s sister city is Napier, New Zealand, while Cairns, Australia, the gateway to Queensland’s Barrier Reef, is paired with Sidney here on Vancouver Island. And, of course, some of our favourite local food people hail from their sunny shores.

At Bear & Joey, the pikelets (pancakes) are made bright with rhubarb and berries.

COFFEE CULTURE At Bear & Joey Café, Peter Wood is serving up a sunny taste of his childhood home, a bit of Australia’s famous coffee culture in the middle of a Victoria winter. Even on a drizzly day, the place feels lush and light. A brunch of electric green avocado toast with smashed peas and a soft poached egg, alongside a pale blue Butterfly Latte, is as fresh as the surroundings, where mid-century chartreuse seating and tropical palms pop against a soft pink and mint palette.

“

I wanted colourful things on the menu.

Wood and his wife Stephanie (the Canadian “bear” of the family business) designed their café with brunch in mind. While coffee is key — from the iconic Aussie “flat white” to other espresso-based drinks made with imported Australian beans — the menu is original. The fluffy ricotta pikelets (a.k.a. pancakes) arrive with poached rhubarb, lemon curd and fresh berries, and the golden corn fritters are served on bitter greens with smoked salmon and a hit of heat from kasundi, a spicy Asian tomato and mustard sauce. House-made blue pea flower concentrate colours the creamy lavender latte, shot with vanilla mint syrup, dusted with beet powder and garnished with edible 24-karat gold. The café also offers fresh salads, sandwiches and breakfast bowls to go, including their granola with coconut panna cotta and mango coulis or bruléed banana. “The café is a place to slip in for coffee and something to eat, refuelling for the day and recharging, or for a catch-up and a little relaxation,” says Wood. “Brunch for us isn’t a grand event or a big boozy affair. The menu is very produce-forward, with a lot of salads, bowls and healthy options.” It’s a similar scene at Iluka Espresso on the west shore, where Salina Salter is channeling a tropical, beachy vibe and colour palette in her waterfront café, hidden within a rental apartment complex along The Gorge waterway. Salter spent a decade working in cafés and coffee shops along Australia’s Gold Coast and opened her pretty space in April, inspired by the coffee culture there. “I wanted colourful things on the menu,” she says, pointing to her quinoa Iluka Bowl, topped with beets, carrot and greens

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

JEFFREY BOSDET/YAM MAGAZINE

and the electric green smashed Avo Toast, topped with fuchsia pink pickled red cabbage and arugula. Her lattes and smoothie bowls arrive in an array of pretty pastels — the grassy green, soft blue, pale pink and vibrant yellows of her milky brews come from matcha tea, spirulina and beet or turmeric functional food powders — while the Iluka Bun is her Down Under take on a classic cinnamon roll, with the addition of coconut and macadamia nuts.

THE PIE MAN Often described as the Australian national dish, individual meat pies are served hot at football games and gas stations, usually filled with saucy ground or chopped beef. But at Victoria’s Saltchuck Pie Company, Nick Crooks takes traditional Kiwi/Aussie-style pies into Canadian territory, with flavours ranging from classic steak and mushroom to rabbit with ham hock, local fallow deer or pork tourtière. The pie menu changes daily, based on seasonal ingredients, and all pies are available to eat in or take out, frozen or hot from the case in their Rock Bay bakery café, or from their roving vintage turquoise pie truck. “A meat pie is really just a stew in a pie, but a traditional Kiwi or Aussie pie is meat and gravy, no veg,” says Crooks, whose savoury pies also include butter chicken, Korean lamb curry, chicken and kimchi, and vegetarian fillings. The key to an authentic meat pie is the crust, he adds, always made with laminated puff pastry. “Short crust pastry is fine for a fruit pie, but for a meat pie, it has to be laminated puff pastry,” says Crooks, who also sells his buttery puff pastry to home cooks. “It’s comfort food, a humble dish that should be warm and inviting.”

Anzac Biscuits Anzac biscuits are crispy oatmeal and coconut cookies, named for the Australian New Zealand Army Corps. Designed to send to overseas troops during the First World War, these buttery cookies are sturdy travellers and great keepers. • 1 cup all-purpose flour • 1 cup rolled oats • 1 cup unsweetened coconut • 3/4 cup sugar • 10 tablespoons (5 oz.) unsalted butter • 4 tablespoons golden syrup • 1 teaspoon baking soda Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, coconut and sugar. In a small saucepan, heat butter and syrup over medium high heat, stirring, until butter is melted. Stir in the baking soda (it will fizz up), then remove from heat and pour into the flour mixture, stirring to combine. The dough should be pliable and firm enough to roll, but not sticky or crumbly — adjust the flour or butter slightly if your oats absorb more (or less) liquid. Roll dough into small balls, each about 1 tablespoon, and set on the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Press lightly to slightly flatten each cookie, then bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. (For chewier cookies, reduce baking time to 12 minutes.) Cool cookies on a rack. Makes 16-18 cookies.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

“

A meat pie is really just a stew in a pie, but a traditional Kiwi or Aussie pie is meat and gravy, no veg.

IN YOUR GLASS While chugging a can of Fosters is the Australian cliché, there’s a sophisticated drink scene Down Under. Australia is home to some of the world’s iconic red wines (think big Shiraz like Penfolds Grange) and is known for craft brewing (and its intense Galaxy hops), artisan spirits and unique tipples. Barman Shawn Soole brought Aussie cocktail culture to our shores and is still mixing up spirited drinks at Clive’s Classic Lounge. With access to so much fresh tropical fruit, Soole says Australian mixologists love to muddle, but also take their cocktail cues from exotic Asian ingredients. “The Japanese Slipper Cocktail comes to mind,” he says. The fruity, electric green classic was created in Melbourne in 1984 and is made with equal parts of Midori melon liqueur, Triple Sec and fresh lemon juice. Soole says iced coffee outsells CocaCola in Oz, and flavoured milk — strawberry, banana, choccy, toffee, pineapple — was his childhood treat, while the soft drink of choice for adults is lemon, lime and bitters, a combination of sparkling lemon soda (Sprite, Fever-Tree lemonade, Sparkmouth lemon), with lime juice (or Rose’s Lime Cordial) and a few dashes of Angostura bitters.

Roast Squash, Leek and Walnut Pie Chef Nick Crooks of Saltchuck Pies shares this recipe for a colourful vegetarian pie, perfect for a mid-winter feast.

Paul and Lincoln’s Salad This healthy green bowl from Bear & Joey is named for two of Peter Wood’s former culinary colleagues in Sydney. Enjoy it as a starter, a vegetarian lunch or topped with chicken, smoked salmon or a poached egg for dinner.

• 1/2 cup butter • 3/4 cup flour • 4 cups milk • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided • 1 large onion, diced • 1 cup sliced leek • 1 stick of celery, diced • 3 cloves garlic, crushed, divided • 1/2 teaspoon each: chopped fresh thyme, rosemary, paprika and salt • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard • 4 cups peeled and diced winter squash (butternut, acorn, kabocha, etc.) • 1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped • 1 cup cooked spinach, drained and squeezed dry • Salt and pepper to taste • 1 egg, lightly beaten, for glazing pies • 1 pound (0.5 kg) purchased Butter Puff Pastry For the filling: Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat and stir in the flour, cooking until it reaches a sandy texture. Slowly add the milk, whisking to make a smooth sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, whisking until nicely thickened. Remove from heat and set aside. In a wide saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and sauté onion, leek, celery and half of the crushed garlic over medium heat until softened. Season with thyme, rosemary, paprika, salt and mustard, stirring to combine. Once the vegetables are cooked and starting to colour, stir in the reserved white sauce. Cool. Meanwhile, toss diced squash in remaining tablespoon of olive oil and season with remaining garlic, salt and pepper. Spread squash on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, and roast in 375°F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until fully cooked. Add squash to sauce. Stir in the chopped roasted walnuts and cooked spinach. Taste filling and adjust seasoning. Roll pastry and line one large (9inch), greased pie tin or four individual (5-inch) tins. Spoon cooled filling into pie, brush rim with beaten egg, and cap with top crust. Use a fork to seal edge and cut a few steam vents into the top. Bake at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes, until pastry is golden brown, and internal temperature is 160°F. Cool pies for 5 minutes before serving. Serves 4.

Salad: • 4 cups arugula or mixed baby greens • 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas • 1/2 cup diced cucumber • 1/2 cup fresh green peas (or frozen, thawed) • 1 avocado, peeled and cubed • 1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves, picked from stems • 2/3 cup crumbled feta, divided Lemon Vinaigrette: • 1/2 cup olive oil • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice • 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar • 1 shallot, peeled and chopped • 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped • Salt to taste Garnish: • 1 tablespoon each: toasted pumpkin, sunflower, black sesame seeds • Lemon wedges

Place salad ingredients in a bowl and toss with 1/2 cup of the crumbled feta. Place vinaigrette ingredients into a blender and blend until emulsified. Add enough dressing to the salad to lightly dress the vegetables and toss well. Divide salad between two individual serving plates. Top each salad with seeds and remaining crumbled feta. Serve with a lemon wedge on the side. Serves 2 for lunch; 4 as a starter.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

AUSSIE RULES

JEFFREY BOSDET/YAM MAGAZINE

While Australia and New Zealand share many of Victoria’s British roots and food traditions, their locally grown ingredients veer into the tropical and exotic. Tom Moore, the Australian-born baker and co-owner of Victoria’s Crust Bakery, specializes in crusty sourdough loaves, cakes and pretty pastries, serving up blueberry, lychee and rosewater danishes, crunchy pavlova filled with passion fruit curd, and a dense orange cake, made with whole, slow-cooked oranges and almonds. Hazelnuts grow in both locales, but in Oz there’s the richer macadamia nut, too. And though berries cross cultures and continents, their fruit bowl includes tropical mangoes, feijoa, guava, passion fruit, Buddha’s hand and kiwi fruit. Salmon berries and mushrooms flourish in our coastal rainforest, but you’ll need to travel to taste “bush” foods such as Davidson (Ooray) plum, lemon aspen (rainforest citrus), lilly pilly berries and Boonjie (wild tamarind). A signpost in Centennial Square points to our Aussie and Kiwi sister cities and, like the humpback whales that migrate from our coast to theirs each season, Victorians have deep connections with our neighbours in the Southern Hemisphere. So, celebrate winter by dining Down Under, and enjoy a ray of summer sunshine on a cloudy day.

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YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Flourless Orange Cake Tom Moore of Crust Bakery shares this recipe for a dense, gluten-free cake that’s loaded with sunny orange flavour and colour. Moore likes to serve it “with plenty of whipped cream and warm, runny, dark chocolate ganache.” Cake: • 3 large navel oranges, scrubbed • 1 cup sugar • 6 large eggs, lightly whisked together • 1 cup almond flour (ground almonds) • 2 teaspoons baking powder Syrup: • 1/2 cup marmalade • 1/2 cup orange juice • 1/2 cup sugar • 1/4 cup corn syrup Place the oranges in a large pot and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 to 3 hours, until oranges are very soft (or until they start to crack). Check regularly, adding more water as needed. Remove from heat and drain. Place oranges in a colander set over a bowl and break them open carefully, using tongs, to release excess juices. Cool to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a blender or food processor, blitz the oranges and sugar in batches (each orange with about one-third of the sugar), to create a smooth, creamy purée (like a smoothie). Add the almond flour and baking powder to the orange purée, then add the eggs, whisking to combine well. (For a slightly lighter cake, separate the eggs and beat the egg whites until stiff. Add the yolks to the batter, whisking to combine, then fold in the beaten egg whites.) Grease an 8- or 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake in the middle of preheated oven for about 60 minutes, until brown and pulling away from the pan. (Check the cake using a skewer after 45 minutes.) Meanwhile, prepare the syrup. Bring all ingredients to a boil and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until fairly thick. Test the viscosity by drizzling a teaspoon of the syrup on a cool plate — it should be sticky, like honey, when cool. If not, continue cooking. When the cake is done, remove from the oven, and carefully pour the boiling syrup over the cake while it is still in the pan, ensuring that the syrup gets into and around the sides of the cake. Let the cake cool thoroughly, and then refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours (preferably overnight) before removing from the cake ring and serving. Serves 8 to 12.

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250 656 0510 2492 Beacon Ave, Sidney

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Business Profile

Calen “Big Wheel” McNeil, Founder

BIG WHEEL BURGER Celebrating 10 years!

hen you start a business, you are always filled with excitement, anxiety and hope that the community understands your concept and supports the enterprise. In the competitive restaurant industry, this support is critical for success. Some of our highlights over the years have been as much about our community efforts as they have been about our burgers, fries and shakes. Big Wheel Burger became Canada’s first carbon neutral restaurant in 2013. To date, Big Wheel Burger has saved 2.9 million kilograms of carbon from entering the atmosphere and diverts 99.1% of waste from the landfill. In 2017 Big Wheel Burger constructed a community garden on the flagship Cook Street Village location. This is a fantastic community space where people can stop and share a coffee and conversation with their neighbours. This coming spring, we will give this space a refresh and introduce a pollinator garden.

We have partnered with many charities over the years, and in 2018 created the Big Wheel Community Foundation. When the pandemic hit, we were in a fortunate position to be able to provide meals to at-risk populations at a time when there was a lot of uncertainty and food insecurity. The Big Wheel Community Foundation is now a registered charity; since the start of the pandemic, the foundation has raised over $200,000 for a variety of charitable organizations on Vancouver Island. These community projects are not possible without the support of our customers, staff and suppliers. Big Wheel Burger understands this only works if the community enjoys our products. From grinding our B.C. grass-fed beef daily, to our house-made veggie and vegan burgers, the product is what drives our success. It can’t be overstated how important the relationship between great food and service is to our business success. As we exit this pandemic, there are many challenges facing supply chains and

IT’S IMPORTANT FOR RESTAURANTS TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT STAFF WAGES, WORKING CONDITIONS AND OF COURSE, GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE. the labour market. It’s important for restaurants to continue to support staff wages, working conditions and of course, great customer service. If you haven’t tried our product, we encourage you to come down to Cook Street Village and let us know what you think. We also have locations in Vic West, Gateway Village (near Uptown) and our newest store in Nanaimo (Bruce and Fifth Street). Very excited to see what the next 10 years will bring.

Cook St Village | Gateway Village (near Uptown) | Vic West | Nanaimo Visit bigwheelburger.com for details on where to find us!

Business Profile

BODACIOUS Life is too short to wear boring clothes!

odacious celebrates and encourages women to see their bodies as beautiful and worth adorning in clothing that feels delicious on their skin and flows in a way that makes them feel like sashaying down the street! After over 20 years of curating plus-size fashions, accessories and whimsical gift items, Bodacious announces their NEW LOCATION AT 1965 Oak Bay Avenue. Owner/CEO Lorna Ketler and her team are so excited to welcome you to their bigger and more accessible location, with FREE parking! As Lorna often says, “Shopping and fashion should be fun and life is just too short to wear boring clothes.”

Bocacious owner Lorna Ketler FABULOUS PLUS-SIZE FASHIONS

1965 Oak Bay Avenue // 250-385-8169 // bodacious.ca

Business Profile

DEBORAH B EVENT MANAGEMENT In any event …

eading arts and cultural organizations in Victoria turn to Deborah Bricks at Deborah B Event Management to strategize, communicate and launch innovative events that engage stakeholders, garner donations and build community. Deborah’s recent work includes: a unique classical and jazz music festival; a multi-cultural film festival; and philanthropic events. All engaged Deborah’s competencies in logistical and budget planning, media relations and vendor management. Deborah cut her teeth in Toronto, managing complex events for discerning clients in the corporate, cultural and charity sectors. Capable, creative and communicative, Deborah is a person to know. Bocacious owner Lorna Ketler

By appointment // 250-882-4527 // deborahbevents.com

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

VIVIDLY VICTORIA

A city story told in all the colours of the rainbow. By Joanne Sasvari

Spend any time at all away from Victoria, and one of the first things that strikes you upon your return is just how colourful this city is. Even on the greyest winter day, trees are green, coastal waters are blue and historic buildings are cheerful in pastel hues. But some colours speak to us more strongly of home — and these are some of our favourites.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Teal

When architect Francis M. Rattenbury designed the B.C. Parliament Buildings in the 1890s, he looked to the Old World for design inspiration, PARLIAMENT but relied on the resource-rich BUILDING DOMES new one for his materials: soft grey Haddington Island volcanic stone for the walls, Nelson Island white granite for the front stairs, Jervis Inlet slate for the roof (later replaced by Pittsburgh slate) and, for the four main domes, copper. (The buildings actually have 33 domes in total, and the grand octagonal one over the rotunda is 30.5 metres tall with a statue of Captain George Vancouver on top.) Over the decades since, that copper has reacted with the oxygen in the air to develop the soft green patina that is such a landmark of our provincial capital.

Each February through May, clouds of pink and white petals drift through city parks and streets, marking the end of winter and the welcome arrival of spring. Thousands CHERRY of cherry and plum trees BLOSSOMS burst into bloom and the city is transformed into a vision of delicate bridal beauty. The first 1,000 cherry trees were donated by the Japanese community in the 1930s — Japan, of course, has long celebrated “sakura” season — with more added year after year. Since then, cherry blossom viewing along Moss, Blanshard, View and other petal-powered streets has become a tradition — and so has enjoying the taste of sakura in Sheringham’s Kazuki gin or Silk Road Tea’s infusions.

COLIN SMITH

Pink

Yellow Take a seat and take in the view. The yellow chairs along Dallas Road are one of the city’s brightest OBSERVATION new attractions, and a colourful CHAIRS, DALLAS ROAD symbol of making lemons from lemonade. When the city began work on its much-needed new wastewater treatment plant, they used the opportunity to make an even better upgrade, removing the walkway’s crumbling 60-plus-year-old concrete rails and building a new 2.5-kilometre biking, walking and running path from Clover Point to Ogden Point. Its most popular feature might just be these sunny loungers, which offer a welcome rest and stunning views across Juan de Fuca Strait.

What could be better on a sunny day than hopping aboard a Harbour Ferry and heading to Fisherman’s Wharf to meander among its gaily painted floating homes and businesses? Built in 1948 to accommodate the booming post-war commercial fishing industry, this 120-metre wharf has since the 1970s been one of Victoria’s most unconventional residential neighbourhoods. Today it’s a great place to enjoy an ice cream or fish ‘n’ chips, to take a whale-watching excursion or rent a kayak to paddle the Inner Harbour. Or, of course, to dream of living in a candy-coloured home, gently rocked by the FISHERMAN’S tides. WHARF

Multicolour

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Red and Gold

MICHAEL WHEATLEY/ALAMY

The entry to Canada’s oldest Chinatown is fittingly dramatic. The Gate of Harmonious Interest that spans CHINATOWN Fisgard Street, just GATE west of Government, was designed by Mickey Lam and completed in 1981 to mark the neighbourhood’s revitalization. It’s 11.5 metres high, with lacquer-red supports, a scrolled gold top and hand-carved stone lions standing guard on either side, a gift from Victoria’s sister city, Suzhou, China. Inside those bold red pillars are two time capsules, to be opened in 2081 and 2096 respectively. Who knows what colourful insights they’ll offer the future?

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Blue

The Butchart Gardens boasts many precious plants, but the most famous of them is the rare and elusive Meconopsis baileyi (Himalayan blue poppy). Horticulturalists once considered blue poppies to be a romantic myth, but late 19th century plant explorers spotted them in China and Tibet, and by the 1920s had brought their seeds to the UK. Needless to say, the blue blooms created a sensation. They are famously difficult to grow, but Jennie Butchart, who carved these magnificent display gardens out of the family’s limestone quarry, discovered that they thrive in Victoria’s mild climate. Now as many as 1,000 of the beautiful blue poppies lure visitors to the Japanese Garden, where they bloom each year from mid-May through June.

SAM BARKWELL/NATIVE NORTHWEST

HIMALAYAN POPPIES, THE BUTCHART GARDENS

Using the symbolic colour orange, Tsm’syen artist Morgan Asoyuf created these T-shirts to raise awareness and funds for Indigenous youth in B.C.

Orange In forests across B.C., including those that are home to the Tsartlip First Nation in South Saanich, REMEMBRANCE spots of bright orange flash among the hushed dark green of the trees. Look closer and you will see that these are orange shirts, displayed to recognize the injustices experienced by Indigenous people. Orange shirts are worn on September 30 to honour the tragedies of the residential school system, but the colour has come to signify both grief and resilience year round, and has become a haunting part of our communal human landscape.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Silver Grey GARRY OAK BARK

Few of us likely remember Nicholas Garry, deputy governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company from 1822 to 1835, but we all recognize the tree that bears his name. Tall and gnarly with spreading branches and glossy green leaves, the Garry oak — officially called Quercus garryana — grows throughout the Pacific Northwest, but is most at home here in Victoria. Its distinctive thick, grooved, scaly, greyish bark creates a silvery filigree that scrolls through city parks and neighbourhoods. And we take care to protect it, too: fines up to $10,000 may be issued for each Garry oak tree cut or damaged.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

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Inagural World Cruise 2024 Brick Red HISTORIC BUILDINGS

We think of British Columbia as a place of forests, of logging, sawmills and houses of timber and wood. But in the province’s early colonial days, brickmaking was almost as important a manufacturing process as milling logs. In the 19th century, as many as 150 brickworks operated from Atlin to Sooke, and although almost all have since disappeared, their legacy remains in some of the city’s most historic buildings. Among them are the Fairmont Empress, St. Ann’s Academy and Victoria City Hall. Fly over the city, and their soft red gleam offers a warm remembrance of the past among the cooler neutral tones of the present.

Call our World Cruise Specialists today!

DEPARTURESTRAVEL.COM

VICTORIA 1889 Oak Bay Ave 250-595-1161 BC Reg 61639

SIDNEY 105–9790 Second Street 250-999-9800 BC Reg 75524

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

– HOW TO – save your sanity It’s been quite the ride these last two years. We’ve decided 2022 is going to be better. Here are five ways to make sure it is.

BONNINSTUDIO/STOCKSY

By Kim Pemberton

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

global pandemic, natural disasters, social upheaval — the last two years have left many of us with a crushing sense of loss and ongoing anxiety. But the many crises of 2020 and 2021 have also taught us important life lessons, like being mindful and never taking life for granted. Now it’s time to reflect on the positive and look for ways to bring more joy and happiness into our lives. Here are five ways to make 2022 one of the best years yet.

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NOURISH FRIENDSHIPS

Distancing from friends may be a good way to stop the spread of an airborne virus, but it hasn’t been so good for our mental health. “There’s been a lot more loneliness and reliance on our computers through Zoom and social media,” says relationship expert Lisa Kratz, who has a private counselling practice in Victoria. Those Zoom calls and social media platforms, while helpful for communicating with others, fail to fully enrich our lives. “We mistake social platforms as friends. We communicate through these platforms, but that’s not an intimate connection,” Kratz says. “I’d encourage people in 2022 to ask what kind of connections are important. It comes down to being in community, to sharing and having friends who are witness to our experiences. That feeling is so important.” Kratz notes that a true friend is someone who “has your back, no matter what,” but that people often mistake acquaintances as friends. She advises against putting friendship expectations on your acquaintances, but instead working to develop deeper connections with those who are true friends. “I have discovered most people have a handful of friends and many, many acquaintances,” says Katz. “Reach out and make an effort, and speak from your heart of what you’d like. If you are doublevaxxed, ask if they want to get together for lunch.” She adds: “The best way to have a friend is to be a friend. Put yourself out there and be vulnerable. That’s where we best connect.”

“Put yourself out there and be vulnerable."

Visit our Victoria showroom Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm 2745 Bridge Street

Serving Vancouver Island since 1991

250-361-4714 info@PacificAwnings.ca

PacificAwnings.ca

Putting safety first, always. Driving into the future with tech that protects. All vehicles equipped with in-car cameras. Now offering full driving courses virtually.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Now accepting new patients Dr. Pavel Duhra 778-433-1888 cadborobaydentist.com 3849 B Cadboro Bay Rd. Victoria, BC

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Sales Representatives Sommer Fernandes, Laura Robers (Unlicensed), Lindsay Block-Glass, Sonya Conn, Saira Waters*, Dawn Stoll and Tasha Medve (Unlicensed) * Personal Real Estate Corporation

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

NOURISH YOURSELF

While having friends is necessary for good mental health, experts say it’s equally important to be a friend to yourself — and that means self-care. Besides eating healthy foods, exercising and getting enough sleep, why not treat yourself to something special every week? Visiting a spa doesn’t have to be a oncea-year activity reserved for birthdays or anniversaries. Just ask Marci Hotsenpiller, who opened Ritual Nordic Spa in December. It’s Victoria’s first Nordic-style spa, where guests can enjoy the Scandinavian tradition of hot and cold hydrotherapy designed to strengthen the immune system and soothe aches and pains. At Ritual Nordic Spa, this involves a circuit of going from a hot steam room to a cold plunge pool, then resting in a salt lounge with walls made of pink Himalayan salt bricks. “I come from a Finnish background, and in Finland people go to the spa multiple times a week,” says Hotsenpiller. “We designed it so it could become a weekly wellness ritual. Coming out of COVID there’s a general understanding self-care is not a luxury. It’s vital for healthy living.” Besides, she adds, since we live in such a digitally saturated world, people are excited to take a break from their screens and try something different like a Nordic spa. “Our motto is: Bathing suits on and cell phones off,” she says.

FIT IN FITNESS

LUMINA/STOCKSY

COVID-19? Try the “COVID 15,” that 15-pound weight gain many of us packed on thanks to too little exercise and too much stress eating. (And all those banana bread recipes online didn’t help.) It’s time to reclaim our physical and mental health and bring back the fun, says Michele Shorter, fitness coach and owner of Odyssey, a 24-hour gym in Victoria. She says clients who had to go it on their own for 10 weeks when her gym was forced to close in 2020 can now “dip their toes back in” and start taking smaller group training sessions, from spin classes to aerobics. “Traditionally, inspiration is needed to do what we have to do. People stopped working on their fitness goals [during lockdown], even at the risk of gaining a few pounds,” she says. “The results of not exercising are detrimental not only on your body but also on your mind. Working out builds endurance and strength, and it’s better for your mood and your sleep. When we stopped exercising, any underlying health issues, like high blood pressure, grew worse.” While Shorter says many people set up home gyms during the lockdown, if they are finding “five pieces of clothing on their elliptical trainer,” it might be time to head back to a professional gym for motivation. She also suggests a hybrid approach of getting some of your fitness needs met in the gym, and going for a run or a brisk walk on your own.

Wellness Weekend JANUARY 29 - 31

2022

Led by Catherine Roscoe Barr, BSc Neuroscience, wellness coach, and founder of The Life Delicious, this weekend retreat will lead participants through five in-depth modules on Mindset, Movement, Nutrition, Sleep and Connection. Retreat includes... • Three nights accommodation in an elegantly appointed, oceanview Guest Room at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel • Access to Heated Seaside Mineral Pools, eucalyptus steam sauna and fitness studio • Nutritious and locally-inspired meals, curated by our Executive Chef • Creation of a personalized action plan for an exceptionally energized existence • Guided group exercise • Informational sessions and discussions • Complimentary self-parking, Wi-Fi, Nespresso Coffee and more For more information and to register, visit thelifedelicious.ca/retreats

oakbaybeachhotel

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YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Mental Health affects everyone. Let’s start talking about it.

RETHINK WORK

The pandemic created a huge disruption in our work lives, with many people forced to work from home and change their work routines. That disruption gave people space to take stock of what was — and wasn’t — working for them in their jobs, says Dr. Elango Elangovan, a professor of organization behaviour at the University of Victoria’s Gustavson School of Business. “We can be a bit more critical of the way we are living our lives with that new perspective,” he says. But Elangovan points out that looking for meaning in work and meaning at work are two separate issues. With the former, “meaning” comes from the essence of our jobs. With the latter, it comes from things such as the relationship you have with your colleagues, your boss and your work environment. “Some people could have high meaning at work, but not in the work, or vice versa. If you are lucky, you have both,” says Elangovan. “If you had less meaning in work you could start to think maybe you should be doing something else. Some people can switch to a different job, but for those who can’t, it’s reframing what they do in a different light … Take a step back and look at the essence of what makes you tick and [ask yourself], ‘How do I craft the job to have more of that element to feel more fulfilled?’ ” The pandemic was the reason Elangovan created the recently launched Optimal Work Life project, which brings together researchers, business leaders and professionals to examine how people can achieve their optimal work life. “The end goal is to arrive at a set of core principles to have a work life imbued with a sense of meaning and well-being,” he says.

courtnallsociety.org

BRING JOY HOME

After the pandemic forced people to shelter in place, we were reminded how important our homes are to our well-being. So why not create a home that brings joy and is truly reflective of who you are — whether that be minimalist, maximalist or something in between? “There was so much stress with COVID, so people put more emphasis on their happiness at home,” says interior designer Alexis Solomon of MINT Freshly Inspired Design. Most of her clients are leaning toward minimalism as a way of coping with the additional stress brought on

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Some people are leaning more toward minimalism as a way of coping with the additional stress brought on by the pandemic. by the pandemic. “Since they are spending more time in their homes and working from home, they want to be clutter-free, especially if they are doing a creative job.” But she’s also had clients who have taken the opposite approach, surrounding themselves with objects they love — like the client who wanted to bring in as many plants as she could keep alive and show off her love of birds. Solomon maximized the design, but everything was carefully curated so it didn’t overwhelm the client’s space. “For all design styles, choosing objects that work for you and getting rid of those that don’t bring happiness is a no-cost approach to bringing joy into our homes,” says Solomon. She points out a home improvement that improves a home’s livability — for instance, insulating a cold bedroom, updating your windows or dealing with a mould problem — is also money well spent, which can also bring happiness.

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CLIENT: MAYCOCK EYECARE YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022 PUBLICATION: YAM / DOUGLAS MAGAZINE SHIPPING DATE: OCT 2021; AD SIZE: 4.94” x 9.58”

STYLE WATCH

SHIFT OUT OF NEUTRAL

Forget basic black and boring beige. Warm up the dark days of winter with major pieces in bright, bold, glorious colour. Fashion Stylist: Janine Metcalfe Photos: Jeffrey Bosdet

Pull Dove Violet sweater by Grace & Mila, available at Tulipe Noire. Firebird cigarette pants by Iris Setlakwe, available at Bernstein & Gold. Pink coat by Luisa Cerano, available at Bagheera Boutique. Bordeaux wool hat by Fléchet, available at Waterlily Shoes.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Green silk dress by Banana Republic, available at Banana Republic, Mayfair Shopping Centre. Royal blue Sophie tights by Trasparenze, available at De Mode En Vogue. Cayman pocket crossbody purse by HVISK and Aari drop earrings by ELK, both available at Moden Boutique. Boots by Michael Kors, available at Merchant Quarters General Store.

This page: Marc Bouwer Glamit fuchsia sequin dress and Birks Heavy Heart necklace, both available at House of Savoy. Red opaque Zokki tights by Tabbisocks, available at De Mode En Vogue. Red Destiny boots by Bueno availale at Waterlily Shoes. Opposite page: Red lace top by Hanky Panky and red tank by Suwen, available at De Mode En Vogue. Royal blue pants by Circolo 1901, available at Bagheera Boutique. Django & Juliette Angoria boots in fuchsia, available at Waterlily Shoes.

This page: Cropped basket-weave jacket and pink slim pant by Iris Setlakwe, Dane NYC cami, and bubblegumpink May slides by Malene Birger, all available at Bernstein & Gold. Pink Maddy ring, available at Frances Grey. Opposite page: Orange blazer by Circolo 1901 and cream pants by Raffaello Rossi, available at Bagheera Boutique. Maja top by ELK, available at Moden Boutique. Royal purple Unbelt belt, available at De Mode En Vogue.

Model: Caro Holmes/Lizbell Agency Hair & makeup: Anya Ellis/Lizbell Agency Thank you to our hosts, Saint Franks and Victory Barber & Brand.

AT KLAHOOSE WILDERNESS RESORT, THE WELCOME IS WARM, THE BEARS ARE WILD AND THE INDIGENOUS CULTURAL EXPERIENCES ARE AS MOVING AS THEY ARE AUTHENTIC.

REGAN HATLEY

By Linda Barnard

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Come Ashore. Stay a While

he arrival sets the tone for a resort stay: the warm greeting from front-desk staff, a lei placed around your neck, a round of rum punch at the manager’s cocktail party. But we’d never experienced a welcome like the one we received at Indigenous-owned and operated Klahoose Wilderness Resort. After our boat docked, resort cultural ambassador Klemqwateki “Randy” Louie of the Quw’utsun and Klahoose Nations greeted us with a welcome song and drumming. He translated the words to the song by Drew Blaney of the Tla’amin Nation: “It’s good to see you. Come ashore. Stay a while.” The song marked our coming to both the lodge and the traditional territory of the Klahoose people. From the moment Louie lifted his deerskin drum until we reluctantly said goodbye to our hosts four days later, everything about our stay had the imprint of this wild, spectacularly beautiful and isolated coastal B.C. place and its First Nations people.

Opposite page: An aerial view of Klahoose Wilderness Resort. This page: Wearing a traditional button blanket, guide Cheyanne Hackett drums and sings the Women’s Warrior Song. The resort’s grizzly bear logo, above, was designed by cultural ambassador Randy Louie.

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

A SOURCE OF PRIDE

such an important animal to the Klahoose Nation. Late August to mid-October is grizzly bear season, when guests take guided excursions to Toba Inlet, about an hour away by boat, to observe the big bears from wooden towers spaced along a shallow river. On my September visit, we watched bears enthusiastically fatten up for hibernation in waters churning with spawning salmon.

BEAUTY IN AUTHENTICITY

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

Desolation Sound Marine Provincial Park

Campbell River

Cortes Island

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Clockwise from the top: Klahoose Wilderness Resort is tucked away on the remote shores of protected Homfray Channel. The great room is a cozy gathering space with wood stove and Indigenous art. The route to Toba Inlet travels past forests and waterfalls in a landscape of stunning natural beauty. Guest rooms are simply but comfortably decorated with Indigenous textiles. Inset: Resort cultural ambassador Randy Louie.

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After Louie’s welcome, our group of eight travellers walked into the lodge’s great room, where a fire crackled in the wood stove, and we all picked up glasses of chilled sparkling wine for a toast. With its comfy oversized furniture and the fire always lit, the space became our favourite gathering place. Louie, who is also an artist and a grizzly bear guide, designed the property’s black, red and white grizzly bear logo. He showed us the carving tools he used to make graceful yellow cedar paddles hanging in the great room. His paddles also hang on the walls of the cedar-walled guest rooms and cabins, alongside patterned textiles by Coast Salish artist Simone Diamond and cedar hats by weaver Anita Noble. “The place is already beautiful,” Louie said. “I want to make it authentic.” Our small group got to know each other quickly. Eating meals together added to the camaraderie, whether we were dining on the hearty breakfasts, perfectly cooked prime rib roast or side stripe shrimp pulled from a trap just off the resort dock where the water drops down 300 metres.

Klahoose Wilderness Resort

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We left the stress of daily life on the dock at Lund, the Sunshine Coast community at the end of the road — or the beginning, depending on your perspective. The water was like glass for much of the 50-minute boat ride to the resort, tree-covered mountains reflected in the deep-water channels and hidden bays. “You’d never know there’s a resort here,” said lodge apprentice cook Riley Harry of the Tla’amin Nation as our boat rounded the point from Desolation Sound to enter Homfray Channel. The boat was skippered by Harry’s father, Leon Timothy, a master storyteller and grizzly bear guide. “It makes me proud,” Timothy said. “Some people think we can’t do this as First Nations people. But we made it happen.” The Klahoose Nation’s business arm, Qathen Xwegus Management Corp., purchased the rustic Homfray Lodge in late 2020, and reopened it in May 2021 as Klahoose Wilderness Resort. It is now a boat-in eco-resort offering three- or four-night all-inclusive stays from May through October, with a focus on culturally rich outdoor getaways. And, with only a dozen guests typically staying in the four lodge rooms and three cabins, the resort feels like a private refuge. In summer, the focus is on water activities such as kayaking, swimming and standup paddleboarding. Guests can watch for whales, dolphins, seals and eagles from the 12seat catamaran, Goat 1, named for the mountain goat that is

Activities were spontaneous, like when Klahoose Nation member and lodge caretaker Stephen Whitmore invited us on a backstage tour in the vibrant green rainforest to see the water filtration hut and the raging river that powers the resort’s primary electric system. Later, we hiked a beautiful moss-covered trail with Whitmore to a rocky point. Designed and built by Timothy, who also worked on a stretch of the famed Sunshine Coast Trail in the 1990s, the rainforest path features an Instagram-worthy view of the resort, channel and mountains from the trail’s end. We started our days with pre-breakfast yoga on the large dock, morning mist obscuring the mountains around us. The dock was also a favourite lounging spot for a harbour seal that became a kind of mascot for our group. It was usually joined by a dozen others overnight. The animals liked to hang out here to evade the predatory Bigg’s killer whales (also known as northern transient orcas) sometimes seen in the channel.

BEARS, UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL As Timothy piloted the boat to Toba Inlet for our first day of bear-watching, he pointed out an eagle sitting in a tree. “In our culture, to see an eagle first thing in the morning, you’re going to have a good day,” he said. We passed waterfalls thundering down mountainsides and red pictographs made centuries ago by Klahoose people using berry juice mixed with red cedar. As the boat entered the Toba Inlet, Timothy cut the engine so we could marvel at a humpback whale swimming nearby. At the dock, we were greeted by Cheyanne Hackett of the neighbouring Homalco First Nation, who has been a grizzly bear guide for several years, both in Bute Inlet on her Nation’s traditional territory and Toba Inlet on the traditional territory of the Klahoose Nation. She drew a brilliant red and black button blanket sewn by her grandmother around her shoulders and drummed and sang the Women’s Warrior Song in her language to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

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“I really don’t have the right words to describe exactly how important it is to me that we are Indigenous owned and run, because not very many companies are like that,” said Hackett. She pointed out that several local businesses are Indigenous owned, including grizzly bear-watching guide companies and the Gorge Harbour Marina Resort on Cortes Island, the primary village site of the Klahoose Nation. Her cousin James Hackett, also a guide, told her their ancestors live inside the grizzly bears, “so if we ever come in close contact with the grizzly bear, we would talk to it in our language and then it would slowly just kind of look at us and then back off and just go on their way,” Hackett said. On the short bus ride to the viewing towers, she cautioned us to stay as quiet as possible, to keep low and make ourselves appear smaller and non-threatening if we walked with a guide to another tower. And if we were told to move, we were to do so immediately because, big as they are, bears are incredibly fast. Hackett and Timothy each carried bear spray and walkie-talkies, both for the group’s safety and so other guides could let them know where the best bear viewing was along the river. Within minutes of getting to the first tower, we were watching a bear catching chum salmon. Enormous and powerful, it walked deliberately along the rocky riverbank on its massive paws, stepping into the shallow river to grab for fish. We scared it off with our excited chatter and heavy footfalls and soon learned keeping quiet was our best guarantee to see grizzlies. We were rewarded with two days of excellent bear watching, including an encounter with a male Timothy estimated to be about 10 years old and 350 kilograms in weight. Chestnut brown, a lighter-coloured arc of fur behind the muscular hump, it fished lazily, sat chest deep in the water to eat and was close enough that we could see its massive teeth and claws as it clutched a salmon to strip and eat the fat-rich skin.

Above: A grizzly bear lunches on chum salmon caught in the river just metres from the Klahoose resort guests. Viewing towers that blend into the forest allow visitors to watch the wildlife in safety. Below: A traditional totem pole towers over Toba Inlet.

ACTS OF RECONCILIATION It’s the sort of experience that could only be had here, in what are the traditional lands of the Klahoose Nation. Having the resort under Indigenous ownership means more than being able to share that culture with visitors. It also means employment and training opportunities for the Klahoose people, said Chief Kevin Peacey, who visited the lodge for a traditional cedar bough brushing ceremony for the new Goat 1 catamaran. Randy Louie swept the fragrant boughs over the boat and its skipper to ensure protection for all who come aboard. “I’d love to share with the world what this Nation can do, and any other Nation could do, if you put your heart into it,” he said. Can tourism be an act of reconciliation? “Absolutely, yes,” said Peacey. “I want [visitors] to take away the beautiful territory that we have, the territory that we look after. I’d like to see them have a look at our culture and believe in our culture and have that experience.”

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

SCENE

Rock ‘n’ Roll Redux Three decades after her big break, Chrissy Steele is back and still rockin’. By David Lennam | Photo by Jeffrey Bosdet

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

retend it’s 30 years ago. Chrissy Steele is centre stage in a packed Madison Square Garden. Her band is opening for Jethro Tull and she’s clad in some rock babe outfit, maybe leather and fishnet and boots to the knees. She’s whipping her hair around, belting out “Cry Myself to Sleep” or “Love You ’Til It Hurts” in what the Georgia Straight’s Steve Newton once called “a throaty, pushed-to-the-max style.” It’s the dawn of her breakout to stardom. It’s also near the end. Zenith and nadir colliding. The ink may still have been damp on a justsigned seven-album deal with the British label Chrysalis. There were Juno nominations for singer and album from her hard-rocking 1991 debut Magnet and Steele. There was songwriter, producer and guitar hero Brian “Too Loud” MacLeod, Steele’s friend, mentor and bandleader. There was headliner status, packed arenas, pyrotechnics, smoke machines and videos with too much soft focus all looming as Steele was assuming the mantle of Canadian metal queens Darby Mills and Lee Aaron. Then it all unravelled for the girl from Comox who started out playing Champs and Club Soda, riding the Prairies in vans and buses, doing her best Heart, Huey Lewis and AC/DC. MacLeod, the almost legendary backbone of Headpins and Chilliwack, would lose his battle with cancer in 1992. Steele began to grow tired of the sexpot, biker-chick image. (A piece in the influential music mag Kerrang proclaimed her “a sex goddess.”) Her record company was bought out and folded. Tastes shifted; grunge was replacing hard rock. “It’s difficult to go back and start from scratch again,” Steele says in hindsight. “You can only live the dream for so long if it’s not working out for you.” It was, however, a dream she never really shut her eyes on.

trademark soaring vocals while addressing some dark, almost Nietzschean, material — depression, solitude, being judged and existential struggle. But it’s that big voice that has always been the showstopper. Can we call this a comeback story? Steele is quick. “Yes, we can.” A second chance, maybe. And her Instagram sums it up perfectly: “Juno nominated Ex Rock Star you’ve never heard of.” It goes on to read, “I’ve lived a lot and I’m back with new music.”

RELIGHTING THE FIRE “I left the business 30 years ago,” Steele almost whispers. “I’m afraid to say that number. Is it really 30 years? Who the hell would think you could come back after 30 years?” Steele’s not expecting a label deal or a return to touring with big acts like she did with Jethro Tull and Bryan Adams. “That would be unrealistic. I’m just happy to put stuff out there and say I did it. I always had this constant gnawing feeling inside that bothered me for years. I couldn’t find the right combination of people to work with. It was very frustrating. But I’m doing it now in my 50s.” A more-than-loyal fanbase has motivated her. Since the development of social media, Steele has reconnected with fans, more than a bit surprised to find out they were still there asking her when new material was going to come out. “In 1995 I got a computer and I would kind of search my name and would see these chat boards and message boards with my name on it. They’d be asking things like, ‘Do you remember Chrissy Steele?’ ” They’re still addicted to her take-noprisoners style even though her last big show was in 1992, The Great Canadian Party, outdoors at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium on a bill that included The Tragically Hip, Colin James and (unbelievably) Spinal Tap. Thirty years of marriage proposals and where-have-you-gones ensued. Some of those followers were probably packed into the old Loft Cabaret in Comox, where a teenaged Steele convinced a cover band, Bowser Moon, to let her on stage to sing Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac.” “I didn’t even know the words so I just sang backup.” Tours of duty with West Coast bar bands like Room Service and Reform School followed, before she fronted her own eponymous outfit, inviting the attention of MacLeod and even fronting Headpins for a while. Her determination to re-light that fire has become a DIY experiment. The artist is manager, marketer, social media maven and video editor — a valiant effort to prove to herself she can do it. “It would’ve been kind of sad for me to disappear and not try something again,” she laughs. “In fact, the whole thing is just weird. I just felt like I needed to get it out of me. I wasn’t going to settle for doing something mediocre.”

“I left the business 30 years ago ... Who the hell would think you could come back after 30 years?”

A COMEBACK STORY Steele moved back to Victoria, where she’d lived in the early ’80s. Back to her real name, Christina Southern. And back to a real job as graphic designer. She still jammed with bands now and then, but nothing that would again inform her life. Then, as though the gods of rock wanted to further silence her, Southern was diagnosed with muscle tension dysphonia, a disorder tightening the muscles around the larynx. It took her three years just to get her voice back. Throughout, she never sank into a quagmire of self-pity, but Southern confesses, “I’ve seen the dark side and come out the other end.” The “other end” is today, 30 years later. Southern is back as Steele, and a punchy but brooding new single, “Insidious,” dropped in October 2021 with the promise of more to come. Written by Glen Willows of Harlequin fame, with Steele’s brother Bryan Southern, “Insidious” is a modern rocker that allows Steele some of her

Let’s get acquainted ... with Rebecca Barritt • Singer, songwriter • Wife and mom of two under ten • Daily runner (to keep sane!) “We live in a single family home in East Saanich and I love hiking in East Sooke. One day I would love to have a place in Central Saanich with a wood burning stove and a barn for a music room!”

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DO TELL

Terribly Tempting Chocolatier David Booth shares the creativity, magic and romance of truffles. By Aldyn Chwelos Photo by Michelle Proctor

ith Valentine’s Day around the corner, there is no treat as quintessential to the romantic season as chocolate. “It evokes this kind of passion in people,” says David Booth, owner and chocolatier of Terrible Truffles. “There’s an actual enzyme in chocolate that is the same as the one that’s produced in your body when you fall in love.” Booth, who studied the art of French pastry in Montreal, opened Terrible Truffles after guests raved about the chocolates he served at a family-run bed and breakfast. He and his wife Vlasta bought the historic Birdcage Confectionery on Government Street in 2016, and last year Terrible Truffles joined a collective of chocolate makers to open Chocolat & Co. on Fort Street, a dedicated chocolate shop. Now Booth crafts a variety of truffles (including flavours such as fleur de sel and noisette) and other chocolatey desserts for both locations, constantly trying out new ideas. “The thing with chocolate is, there are endless possibilities and combinations,” he says. “We’ve been playing around with all kinds of flavours. I’m excited for all the things I haven’t tried yet.” His favourite part of the job is introducing new customers to the wonder of artisanal chocolate. “Everyone’s tasted chocolate, but when you taste really good quality and freshness ... I love seeing that experience.” It’s this kind of magic that inspired their tongue-in-cheek name: Terrible Truffles. “The dictionary definition of the word ‘terrible’ is not necessarily a bad thing,” says Booth. “It’s something that creates awe or excitement.”

YAM MAGAZINE JAN/FEB 2022

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Unconditional love. What is your greatest fear? Hurting someone. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Procrastination. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Indifference. What is your greatest extravagance? Whisky and the occasional cigar.

Which living person do you most admire? Why? Nav Bhatia (Superfan). After immigrating from India, struggling to find work in Canada and facing discrimination to becoming the number 1 fan of the Toronto Raptors, Nav has become an ambassador of hope and love for so many people. Check out: superfandoc.com.

Who or what is the greatest love of your life? My wife of 28 years, Vlasta.

What is your current state of mind? Grateful.

What do you most value in your friends? Patience.

Which word or phrase do you most overuse? “Yes.”

What is your most treasured possession? Chocolate.

Which talent would you most like to have? Why? Play tennis, travel the world. What do you consider your greatest achievement? My children know they are loved.

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