Introducing the all-electric 2025 Audi Q6 e-tron, designed for those who demand sustainable performance and innovation. With up to 509 horsepower and a range of over 480 kilometers, the Q6 e-tron combines power and efficiency. Rapid charging reaches 80% in just 21 minutes with a 270kW DC fast charger, defining a new chapter for the electric era.
5 Reasons to Get Out of the House Right Now
Think it’s too cold to go out? Not when there are so many cool things to do around town.
Hockey Greatness
In 1925, the Victoria Cougars won the Stanley Cup. A century later, we reflect on their legacy.
By Lucas Aykroyd
Breathe In, Spin Out
Hop on a bike, turn up the tunes and you might just change your fitness — and your life.
By Emily Bruser
Soak in all the latest news and trends from the world of spas.
By Joanne Sasvari
Our special travel package visits 2025’s hottest destinations.
By Linda Barnard
EDITOR’S LETTER
13 HERE + NOW
Welcome the Year of the Snake; the delicious new colour of the year; sustainable grooming for guys; gear that lightens the load for travellers. Plus: The YAM contest.
18 IN PERSON
Mystery writer Jean Paetkau reveals all about the latest plot twists in her life and literature.
By David Lennam
28 STYLE WATCH
Chic, stylish, functional — rain gear for men and women. Styled by Janine Metcalfe
34 LIFE AT HOME
In Cadboro Bay, a mid-century bungalow gets a sustainable indoor-outdoor glow-up. By Carla
Sorrell
53 FOOD + DRINK
Cheer up! We’ve got your essential guide to happy hour around Victoria. Plus: What to do with celeriac; the latest foodie news; Valentine’s Day chocolates for locavores; a shining star baker. By Joanne Sasvari
64 SCENE
Follow Justin Hewitt and The Temps to Abbey Road Studios and their new album. Plus: Culture Calendar. By David Lennam
66 PERSPECTIVE
Look closer: After the rain, we inhale the elusive, seductive fragrance of petrichor. By Joanne Sasvari
Luxury Is An Experience, Not A Price Point
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For a long time, one of the things I used to write about was “luxury,” which basically meant fancy food and designer clothes and five-star hotels and the like. (Honestly, wouldn’t you make that your beat if you could?) But somewhere along the way, the meaning of luxury changed. It became more about unique experiences than blingy labels. It meant personal contact. It meant time. And so it is with living well.
Sure, it would be nice to have a giant mansion and a fancy car, to shop at Chanel and order Tuesday takeout from Marilena. But that’s not what living well really means.
Living well means finding fulfilment in the everyday moments, big and small, that make up the span of a lifetime.
If you ask me, living well means feeling good in your own skin, whether that skin is dewy with the promise of youth or marked with the passage of time. It means having friends, family and a community you love and support, and who love and support you in return. It means finding fulfilment in the everyday moments, big and small, that make up the span of a lifetime. Most of all, living well means having a good relationship with time. Yet it’s too easy to let time slip away, to watch another year drift by and take our dreams and hopes with it.
So let’s make a promise to ourselves to make the most of this new year. That project you’ve been putting off? Do it this year. That trip you’ve been dreaming of? Ditto. Same with that business you want to launch, skill you want to learn or book you want to read — or to write. It doesn’t matter if you’re not good at it; trying something new, especially something creative, keeps us sharp and healthy and engaged. It’s what living well is all about.
Living well, they say, is the best revenge. Well, I don’t know about you, but making other people feel bad doesn’t make me feel very good. You know what does? Taking the time to stop, to be in the moment and really appreciate every precious thing this life brings.
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
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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.
Celebrate the Lunar New Year in Colourful Style
On January 29, welcome the Year of the Snake, a symbol of wisdom, intuition and transformation that ushers in a powerful time for reflection and personal growth. Around the world, some two billion people celebrate the Lunar New Year, a 15-day celebration also known as the Spring Festival in China. It’s marked by red and gold decorations, special foods, lucky envelopes filled with cash and other much-loved traditions. In Victoria, celebrations will centre on the city’s Chinatown, which is Canada’s oldest. Among them: The Victoria Chinatown Museum in Fan Tan Alley will host a variety of activities on the weekends of February 1 and 8, while the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association will hold its annual celebration, featuring a lively parade of costumed performers in the traditional Lion Dance, on February 9. Don’t miss this exuberant celebration! victoriachinatownmuseum.com
Brown’s in Town
PANTONE’S COLOUR OF THE YEAR 2025 IS BOTH DELICIOUS AND COMFORTING.
Each year the experts at the Pantone Color Institute select a hue they feel perfectly captures the essence of the times. For 2025, that colour is PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse, which they describe as “a warming, brown hue imbued with richness,” adding: “It nurtures us with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, answering our desire for comfort.”
Brown has been edging its way into fashion and décor for some time, whether it’s the earthy tones of biophilia, the chocolate tints we saw all over fall’s fashion runways or the plummy hues that have drenched interior design.
Indeed, brown overtook black as the go-to neutral in many designers’ Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 collections. Brands including Coach, Bottega Veneta, Miu Miu, Chloé, Gucci, Saint Laurent and Prada have embraced the hue on the runway. And, just before the holidays, the shopping platform LTK noted a 1,000-per-cent increase in searches for brown.
Unlike chocolate brown, Mocha Mousse is softer, lighter and mellower, a versatile hue that goes anywhere you want to. Look for it everywhere this spring, especially in soft, wearable suede and leather fashion and homedécor pieces.
GROOVY
GROOMING
This men’s skin-care line is as kind to the planet as your skin.
There’s an ugly side to the personal care industry: It’s one of the world’s largest producers of singleuse, non-recyclable plastic waste. But when local videographer Shane Bahmann decided to reduce the amount of waste produced by his own grooming routine, he discovered that wasn’t so easy to do.
“There aren’t many alternatives available and those that are, are really low quality or aimed at women. There just aren’t many options,” he says.
So Bahmann decided to create his own highquality, all-natural, no-plastic line of grooming products aimed at men.
In November, he launched Sustain Grooming with its first product, a cedar- and sea-salt-scented body wash packaged in a compostable, recyclable
pouch. Made from plant-based cleansers and moisturizers such as coconut oil and aloe vera, it’s formulated as a powder that you mix with water to create a luxurious gel.
So far Bahmann is mainly selling it through the Sustain Grooming website (though the recent Canada Post strike certainly didn’t help business), but he’s also in discussions with local refilleries and got a boost as one of the winners of the Project Zero Waste Incubator Pitch Event in December.
Next he’s introducing a branded, reusable aluminum bottle for mixing the body wash, with a shampoo and hand soap to follow shortly.
“We plan on doing a whole lineup,” he promises. sustaingrooming.com
1. Etta floral wallpaper from wallblush.com; 2. OPI “Made it to the Seventh Hill” nail lacquer; 3. Hobo Lauren clutch from Cardino Shoes; 4. Hot Mocha paint from Graham & Brown; 5. Maisa organic cotton slub Coco Brown duvet cover and pillow shams from CB2.
FLY LIGHT, FLY RIGHT
Gear to help streamline your travels.
Smart travellers know that carry-on is the way to go, and that lightening the load is always a good idea when you’re on the road — especially now that some airlines have limited even carry-on baggage for certain basic tickets. This gear will help you pack light, pack right.
One handy item to consider is the Poccot, created by Victoria designer Teresa Lindsay. It’s a stretchy, zipped, fabric wrist wallet that lets you carry your credit cards, metro pass and room key safely and securely on your arm, no purse needed. In many cases, you don’t even need to remove your cards to use them; just tap your wrist on the sensor and go. poccot.com
This also might be the time to consider a stylish and secure crossbody bag. The Classic Crossbody by Vancouver’s Herschel is rugged but comfortable and big enough for all your essentials. It’s also made from recycled water bottles, can be worn front or back, and comes in versatile hues like black, navy, Ivy Green and Ash Rose. herschel.ca
When it comes to travel beauty and skin care, where possible it’s a great idea to use products that do more than one thing, like Sooke-based Seaflora’s Natural Sun Shield Facial Moisturizer. It uses oceanic botanicals and minerals, including transparent zinc oxide, to both nourish your skin and protect it from UVA and UVB rays. seafloraskincare.com
Travel in Style GIVEAWAY
Contest Alert!
Win a Briggs & Riley Global Carry on Spinner from Adventure Clothing.
The right bag makes every journey a more enjoyable one, and there is no better bag than this chic and functional Briggs & Riley carry-on from Adventure Clothing.
The Global Carry on Spinner’s one-touch expandable packing system is astonishingly roomy, but compresses small enough to fit most international airlines’ overhead bins. Plus its exterior-mounted handle means the interior packing space is perfectly flat, minimizing wrinkles so your clothes stay fresh and crisp.
Briggs & Riley is known for its high quality and longevity; this bag is an exceptional piece of luggage with a value of $859.
To enter the contest, visit yammagazine.com or scan the QR code. Contest closes February 28, 2025. Good luck!
Daily wellness is a time-honoured Nordic tradition. Make us par t of your ritual by tr ying our rejuvenating hot/cold spa circuit with Finnish sauna, steam room, cold plunge, salt lounge and more. Choose from one- or t wo-hour circuits, massage therapy, or private sauna suites. Multivisit passes and memberships available.
5 REASONS
to get out of the house right now
A HOT NEW MUSIC VENUE
It was bad news for music lovers when Hermann’s Upstairs closed last March, but great news when two members of Victoria’s creative community announced they’d be transforming it into a new music venue called The Coda. AL Smith and Christina Morrison promise to create a space where musicians and live music are valued, and are set to invest some serious money and elbow grease in updating it with a “best of the best” sound system. Bands and promoters have been quick to reserve dates for 2025 and The Coda will be one of the venues for this year’s TD Victoria International JazzFest (June 20 to 29). It’s located upstairs at 751 View Street and scheduled to reopen in February. facebook.com/gotothecoda
When it’s cold and stormy, it’s tempting to hunker down indoors with a cozy throw and a bingeable lineup of shows on Netflix. But this is actually a great time to go out and do something fun. Here are some of the best reasons to brave the world outside your door.
GOOD DEALS ON GOOD MEALS
The best bargoon in the city — Dine Around and Stay in Town — is back from January 24 to February 9 and it’s the most delicious reason to leave your home even if the weather’s gnarly. More than 50 restaurants are participating in this annual foodie festival, offering threecourse menus for $25, $34, $45, $55, $65 and $75. Among them are several newcomers, including Bin 4 Burger Lounge, Rudi and Saxe Point Public House. You can make it an even bigger night out by booking a room at one of the participating hotels, which are offering special rates from $139 to $259 a night. To kick things off in style, join the partygoers at the gala at the Crystal Garden on January 23. tourismvictoria.com/eat-drink/dine-around
YOU’LL AVOID SUMMER’S CROWDS
Victoria doesn’t have to deal with hordes of tourists the way, say, Barcelona or Phuket do.
But come summer, it can still get a bit harried in some parts of the city. Parking is scarce, reservations elusive, venues a little more cramped than some of us enjoy. If you’re someone who hates lineups and enjoys their personal space, then this is the time of year for you. Even better, it’s a good time to peacefully enjoy cultural events like the new exhibition season at the Royal BC Museum, which kicks off on February 1 with the 60th edition of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, or From Warhol to Banksy: Pop Art Critiques Our World and Challenges Our Perceptions, which continues to April 27 at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. For more cultural events, see our calendar on page 65. royalbcmuseum.bc.ca, aggv.ca
From Warhol to Banksy exhibit at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
BANKSY GRANNIES – 2006, SCREENPRINT ON PAPER, ED. 496/500 COURTESY PF THE PAUL AND TRACY COLLECTION.
PHOTO BY YURI AKUNEY, DIGITAL PERFECTIONS.
ENCHANTMENT IS IN THE AIR
OK, so the opera isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when it comes to kids’ entertainment, but this one just might be. The British composer Rachel Portman brings one of the world’s best-loved literary characters to life in Pacific Opera Victoria’s presentation of The Little Prince, February 19 to 25 at the Royal Theatre. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s story is transformed with enchanting melodies that evoke wonder and innocence. Lush, poignant, magical — this exploration of imagination and friendship is perfect for anyone aged eight and older. rmts.bc.ca
NO SHOVEL REQUIRED
While the rest of the country is digging out from snow and ice, in the depths of winter Victoria is the balmiest place in Canada. Sure, there may be a few snowflakes and a cold snap or two, but for the most part we can still hike, golf, bike and sail even in winter — and we can also hit the slopes if we want. Plus: By February, the crocuses are blooming and the first cherry blossoms start to appear, so spring is assuredly just around the corner. Could there be a better reason to put on your walking shoes and hit the trails?
“It’s a gift to find a dental clinic that is as meticulously thorough as it is beautiful. I felt like I was at the spa while also receiving dental care.” —Yiely H.
New Patients & Emergencies Always Welcome.
Dr. Braden Zoon and Dr. Denysse Zoon
Murder She Writes
Jean Paetkau on her novels, her cancer and how one informed the other.
By David Lennam |
Photo by Jeffrey Bosdet
They say mystery writing is all about the plot twists.
Jean Paetkau had only just finished writing her second mystery novel when a frightening plot twist wrote itself into her own life story. Paetkau was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, stage 3. And she admits there’s no way she would have completed The Sinking of Souls, the sequel to 2023’s surprise bestseller Blood on the Breakwater, if she’d known how grave an illness she had.
REACHING OUT
The day before her sixth chemo session, we sit to talk. Paetkau is funny, a nimble and opinionated talker. She’s unafraid to discuss her cancer or the journey it has taken her on and continues to take her on. A longtime journalist with CBC, she speaks fast, moves around a topic, circles it for different angles like she’s on assignment. But when she talks about her health, that nimble voice trembles.
“Right at the beginning you cry a lot,” she says. “Nobody expects to join the cancer club. It’s always somebody else. This is not how I want to make my exit.”
A single mom of two school-age kids with health issues of their own, the 54-year-old rallied when she got the bad news, creating a cancer community on social media that has been a support group for not only Paetkau, but those who share their survivor stories.
“I hate the idea of people being isolated and hiding things. I want to reach out to others who feel alone. In the past, people were ashamed of cancer. I just got on there and talked about it.”
It’s been what she calls an honour/slash/burden — buoying the spirits of others while waking every day and having to look over the edge. “I feel I’m doing something meaningful,” she says. “As with journalism, my goal was always to end isolation. That’s why I often did stories about people and communities who were struggling. I just wanted to make people not lonely.”
WHERE VICTORIA IS A CHARACTER
Paetkau grew up “Mennonite-Lite,” as she calls it, in Edmonton. She laughs, quickly adding, “I don’t want people thinking I was in a colony.”
The work ethic that’s part of Mennonite life informed the way she approached writing, waking at 6 a.m. and putting down 500 words. Every day. From November to March for two years and novels. “The guilt of not writing, if you get to 8 a.m. and you haven’t written, is insufferable. Then I don’t write all summer. I let the ground lie fallow, as they would say in the Mennonite world.”
Before tackling Blood on the Breakwater in 2022, Paetkau wrote for a pair of TV shows and self-published three children’s books, with help from her own kids. But it’s the two mysteries in the Breakwater series that are letting her put pieces of herself on the page.
The central figure, a detective named Helene Unger, packs plenty of Paetkau. A strong woman, a single mom living in Victoria. A new archetype perhaps from a writer tired of reading about women as victims or just ineffectual.
“If you turn on any detective show, in the first 10 minutes, 90 per cent of the time, there’s a beautiful woman who’s dead and a man solves it. And the man is always this guy who can’t have functional relationships and is probably an alcoholic.”
Paetkau says she treated cancer like she treated novel writing: 500 words at a time, not worrying about the last chapter.
Paetkau says she treated cancer like she treated novel writing: 500 words at a time, not worrying about the last chapter.
“Knowing I could write a novel and get through to the end helped me with the pacing of cancer. Don’t try to guess what’s coming in six months. Don’t try to guess the next CT exam. Just try to focus on now.”
She adds: “You sit in bed all day when you’re sick. And I’m literally looking at social media every minute. It’s like that movie, About A Boy. You divide your day into units to get through it. That’s the social media. You just keep refreshing, refreshing, and they call it a dopamine hit. Fine. You need dopamine when you’re going through cancer. So every little message I get from someone knowing that it’s meaningful to them, or they lost someone to cancer, it just gets me through another 15 minutes of hell.”
Something that made Breakwater such a success (and she’s finding that out with The Sinking of Souls, too) is the Victoria setting and the local references.
“The people in James Bay are mad to read about the grocery store that doesn’t have enough parking, or the fact there’s no housing in Victoria. People love reading about themselves. They’ll stop me at these book fairs, and go, ‘What’s the secret to your success?’ Write about your community. I do not know how to write a book set in New York or on Mars.”
SELF-PUBLISHED SUCCESS
Paetkau admits to being stubborn, which is perhaps why both novels are self-published. Breakwater was sent to three publishers, but no replies came back until the book was already on local shelves and up on Amazon’s platform. “Self-publishing only worked for me because I wrote about my community,” she says.
Although she reveals she’s been wanting to be a mystery writer since she was in her teens, Paetkau has no desire to swap places with her protagonist Helene and experience a detective’s intimate relationship with suffering and pain, death and sorrow.
“I’m wise enough to know there’s a difference between fiction and reality,” Paetkau says. “It’s just like I want to see England, but I want to see the made-up England that’s on Masterpiece Theatre and I know that’s not England.”
VICTORIA’S HOCKEY GREATNESS
Only 100 years late, the longgone Cougars finally get the Stanley Cup celebration they deserve — but they’re not the only puck stars around here.
By Lucas Aykroyd
When Shakespeare wrote in Twelfth Night, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” he might have been describing Victoria’s hockey history. We’ve spawned or hosted a disproportionate number of puck milestones, sometimes due to big personalities and sometimes through luck and coincidence.
“Greatness” is a much-abused term nowadays. However, the 1924-25 Victoria Cougars certainly merit it as the last non-National Hockey League team and last B.C. team — take that, Vancouver — to win the Stanley Cup. At a time when no Canadian club has captured the Cup since the 1992-93 Montreal Canadiens with Patrick Roy in net, that’s a good old-fashioned, feel-good story.
Granted, the emphasis is undeniably on “oldfashioned.” For 1925 was the same year Charlie Chaplin released The Gold Rush and F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby. Are you ready to party like your great-, maybe even great-great-grandparents?
GODFATHER OF HOCKEY
While Victoria’s hoisting of the big silver mug on March 30, 1925, is less heralded than the aforementioned artists’ accomplishments, there are plans to mark the centennial this March 27 and 29-30 in Oak Bay, Victoria and area. The Stanley Cup will be here — appearance dates and times still to be nailed down — as the Victoria Hockey Legacy Society, which brought Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada to the city a year ago, rolls out a series of celebratory events in concert with local organizations. Among them: an alumni game featuring a more contemporary array of former major junior Cougars and a March 27 music night that caps off a $5,000 grand prize songwriting contest. (Feeling creative? Submit your song to vhls.ca by February 28.)
“The Century Celebration is a chance to come together and have fun, raise everyone’s spirits and pay tribute to the Victoria Cougars putting our region on the hockey map by winning the greatest trophy in all sports 100 years ago,” says society co-chair Brenda MacFarlane.
Left: The Stanley Cupwinning Victoria Cougars, led by scoring star Frank Frederickson (seated, third from left). Right: While today’s Cup is instantly recognizable, back in 1925 it was just the bowl on top that served as the pre-eminent trophy of professional hockey.
Team photo courtesy of Helen Edwards, author of The History of Professional Hockey in Victoria, BC
Yet this is more than a commemoration of long-gone ice warriors mostly named Harry or Harold. The ripple effect of that victory has clearly propelled Victoria’s hockey greatness. I say this as a sports writer — born and raised in Victoria — who has covered hockey for outlets like the New York Times, ESPN and IIHF.com since 1999.
So what registers on the greatness meter here?
The 1924-25 Cougars defeated the consensus greatest hockey franchise of all time — the Canadiens, now winners of an all-time record 24 Cups — three games to one. Hockey Hall of Fame sniper Frank Frederickson, who also won the inaugural 1920 Olympic hockey gold medal with the Winnipeg Falcons in Antwerp, Belgium, starred with two goals in the ’25 clinching game.
Of course, the Cup would never have come to our provincial capital without Lester Patrick. The Cougars’ coach and general manager remains, without exaggeration, the godfather of modern hockey.
As Helen Edwards notes in The History of Professional Hockey in Victoria, B.C.: 1911-2011, when Victoria’s pro team debuted on January 9, 1912, at the Patrick Arena at Cadboro Bay Road and Epworth (then Empress) Street in Oak Bay, it was the “first game played on artificial ice in Canada.” (Sorry not sorry, Toronto and Montreal.)
Patrick didn’t merely co-found the Pacific Coast Hockey Association with his brother Frank, a fellow Hockey Hall of Famer. “The Silver Fox” also devised more than 20 rules that hockey still uses today. Numbered jerseys. Blue lines. Penalty shots. Forward passes. The list goes on. Pretty decent for a fellow who lived on Linden Avenue in the heart of South Fairfield.
Even after the Western league folded in 1926 and the Cougars were sold off to Detroit, they would ultimately morph into a storied Original Six NHL franchise as the Detroit Red Wings. (Ah, to dream of Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman on Victoria ice.)
MINOR AND MAJOR TRIUMPHS
And here’s where my lived hockey experience comes in. I grew up a few blocks from Patrick’s home. I didn’t witness Victoria’s minor pro triumphs of the mid-20th century, including titles for the 1950-51 Victoria Cougars (yep, our civic passion for recycling extends to hockey team names) and 1965-66 Victoria Maple Leafs. However, the first game my dad took me to featured the 1980-81 Victoria Cougars thumping the Portland Winterhawks 7-0. Those major junior Cougars — the Western Hockey League champs — set a record that still stands with 60 regular-season wins. And they were an iconic bunch.
In net, coach Jack Shupe’s team had Grant Fuhr, a future five-time Stanley Cup champion with the Edmonton Oilers. Fuhr, a Black hockey pioneer, was labelled the greatest goalie in NHL history by Wayne Gretzky.
Other key Cougars included Geoff Courtnall — who not only played 1,049 NHL games, including five Vancouver Canucks seasons, but also dated Sarah McLachlan — and Barry Pederson, whose NHL playoff points-per-game of 1.52 is shockingly fourth all-time behind only Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Connor McDavid. (Check QuantHockey. com, all you skeptics.)
Speaking of “The Great One,” historians pinpoint the 1988 Gretzky trade from Edmonton to the Los Angeles Kings as a turning point in hockey history (and Canada’s perception of itself as in thrall to the U.S. economically and culturally, if you want to go down that rabbit hole). And where did Gretzky’s first Kings training camp take place? You guessed it. I was there at the old Memorial Arena — now replaced by the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre at Blanshard and Caledonia — to witness Number 99’s greatness.
That included sticking my 13-year-old arm around an imposing arena manager — Gretzky’s only security in those innocent days — and into a limo for Wayne to take a copy of his eponymous 1984 biography out of my hand, autograph it and hand it back just before being driven away.
Victoria has both showcased and humbled international hockey’s greatest names. Case in point: goalie Vladislav Tretiak, voted to the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Centennial All-Star team in 2008.
The Cougars’ coach and general manager Lester Patrick lived on Linden Avenue in Fairfield, and devised more than 20 rules that hockey still uses today.
Left: Victoria hockey fans line up downtown for tickets to a 1926 Western Hockey League game against the visiting Edmonton Eskimos. Above: The game was played out of venerable Patrick Arena, which stood at the northeast corner of Cadboro Bay Road and Epworth (then Empress) Street from 1911 to 1929, when it was destroyed by fire.
Arena and stick photos courtesy of Helen Edwards, author of The History of Professional Hockey in Victoria, BC
Three years before starring against Team Canada in the historic 1972 Summit Series, the Soviet legend was in net when a less-glitzy Canadian national team won 5-1 at Memorial Arena before 5,388 fans on December 21, 1969. And three years after backstopping the USSR to Olympic gold in 1984, Tretiak found a smaller spotlight in Victoria. I joined a long lineup to get his new autobiography signed outside Hillside Shopping Centre’s Bolen Books.
Victoria’s hockey legacy has kept growing in recent years. Considering nobody plays on frozen outdoor ponds around here, it’s pretty great that Victoria-born Jamie Benn became an NHL scoring champion with the Dallas Stars in 2014-15.
Not only did Victoria attract close to 6,000 fans per game while co-hosting the 2019 world junior hockey championships with Vancouver, but we also witnessed current NHL superstars like Canucks captain Quinn Hughes and his brother Jack Hughes, the number one overall pick of the New Jersey Devils, strutting their stuff with the Americans. (Not to mention how Victoria organizers showed cultural leadership by encouraging beloved underdog Kazakhstan to adopt Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” as its goal song.)
FUTURE ON THE ICE
What can this city do to cement its future hockey greatness? If the Victoria Royals could go further than the 1980-81 Cougars and secure not only a WHL title but also a Memorial Cup as major junior national champions, that’d be sweeter than a first date at the Dutch Bakery & Diner.
Can you imagine how astonished Atlanta and Houston — not to mention Quebec City and Hamilton — would be if Victoria jumped to the front of the line and landed an NHL franchise? Unfortunately, in real life, that concept doesn’t work, much like the dried-up ballpoint pen I handed Maurice “Rocket” Richard to sign my program after a mid-1980s old-timers game.
Given the worldwide explosion of women’s sports, Victoria’s next IIHF venture might be to bid on a women’s world championship. Kamloops successfully hosted that tournament in 2016 — surely it would flourish in the City of Gardens. B.C. has the next budding women’s hockey superstar in 17-yearold defender Chloe Primerano. To watch her author a Shakespeare-worthy masterpiece on Victoria ice would be a great day for hockey.
AHEAD OF THE CURVE
BREATHE IN,
SPIN OUT
RIDING AN INDOOR BIKE LETS YOU PUT THE PEDAL TO YOUR METTLE AND PUSH YOURSELF IN WAYS YOU MAY NOT EXPECT.
By Emily Bruser
LAST YEAR, I JOINED A CULT.
It happened the way you might expect: A friend told me about an exciting new activity she was trying and asked me if I wanted to come along. At first it felt daunting, entering a room with walls and ceiling painted black, candles aglow on the floor. At my friend’s urging, I kept showing up and, after the initial shock and humiliation of being at an all-time low in one’s physical fitness wore off, I started to warm up to “riding to the beat of the music.”
For the last quarter-century or so, “spin” has been a trademarked term for a type of highintensity, indoor cycling workout that evolved from a type of indoor training for endurance athletes back in the 1980s. A spin class is a high-intensity cardiovascular workout that releases “feel-good” endorphins similar to those that runners experience.
But unlike traditional cycling done on a stationary bike, spinning is more structured, usually following a choreographed routine set to music, and spinning bikes are more like road bikes than regular stationary bikes in both their design and functionality.
There are numerous places to practise spin and indoor cycling around Greater Victoria, ranging from boutique studios like Cyclebeat Club, Garage Cycle and Annex Fitness to the YMCA/YWCA. Spinco just happens to be the cult … er, studio that I joined.
DRIVE THOSE LEGS!
Spinco is a female-founded Canadian company, created by Michelle August in Kelowna in 2014. It has since opened studios across the country, including three franchise locations in Greater Victoria that are co-owned by Hayley Gustavson and Victoria Courtnall. Inspired by a visit to the Kelowna studio, they opened their first location on Pandora Avenue in 2016, followed by studios in Oak Bay and Langford.
It was an immediate hit, says Gustavson. “Victoria was waiting for boutique fitness and was so pumped. What Spinco brings to the table in terms of the format of the classes and training, they do it the best.”
The 50-minute classes target the whole body, engaging the arms and core through key moves and incorporating free weights for a guided arm workout mid-class. By the end of each session, I leave the studio with my whole body on fire, clothing saturated in perspiration and face magnificently beet red.
But something starts to shift (perhaps the next step in my reprogramming?) and I soon
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stop dreading the workouts and begin to look forward to the uninterrupted time. It turns out that I respond well to successive commands, urging me to move faster, served up with a side of well-meaning platitudes.
I also discover that indoor cycling is an accessible form of exercise. It requires even less equipment than running as the clip-in cycling shoes are provided at Spinco. Classes are offered across the three studios from dawn until dusk, leaving limited excuses for me to opt out. It attracts all types, ranging from the man trying to lose 100 pounds after a recent health scare to fitness fanatics, to me, a mom with a slick of wine blubber.
ONE TWO, ONE TWO!
Chelsea Pettinger, program director and instructor, is a statuesque blonde who exudes the kind of energy you wish you could bottle. She can do wild things like speak while exercising at high intensity and teaches five classes a week at the Oak Bay Spinco studio. In her, I found my guru.
Coming from a background teaching indoor cycling at the University of Victoria, Pettinger was a natural pick to train as one of the first instructors when Spinco opened its doors in Victoria eight years ago. But her road was not without challenges as she swapped traditional indoor cycling for Spinco’s style of riding in step with the music.
“At first, I wanted to quit as I just couldn’t get it,” she says. But Pettinger stuck with it. “It changed my life. It is the best thing I have ever done, aside from having my kids.”
She adds: “Spinning has come a long way. It is such an awesome vibe to have the music, the lights, the energy in the room.” At Spinco, instructors also play the role of DJ, following specific formulas to guarantee a certain number of beats per minute are included in the playlists they build for their classes.
“We want workouts to be consistent, while also allowing the personalities of instructors to shine through, ensuring that the Spinco formula is respected so riders know what to expect.”
Pettinger speaks with great passion about the connections she has made with riders.
Classes at Spinco are choreographed to music.
She’s followed huge weight-loss stories, watched people meet and marry, and witnessed cancer survivors come back from the brink. “Some people come here purely for the workout, while some are here for their own form of therapy and for others, it’s the social piece. This community is so special to me.”
As for me, when Pettinger tells the team “you
have an opportunity to set an intention for yourself for this class,” I no longer grumble “try not to die,” but instead come up with a simple, attainable goal to push my own limits. Coming off the season of overindulgence, there is no better time to try a new way of moving, in such a humbling but welcoming setting. Or, as my guru might say, “Leave it all on the bike!”
While going to a spin studio has its benefits, sometimes you just want to pedal in the peace of your own home. Unlike the clunky old bikes of yore, today’s indoor-cycling bikes are light, nimble and, increasingly, deliver a connected-fitness experience where you can ride along with an app. Here are three spin-style indoor bikes to try — just remember that, in addition to the cost of a bike and the space to set it up, you will also need to invest in cycling shoes.
SCHWINN IC4/BOWFLEX C6
3 BIKES TO TRY AT HOME
PELOTON BIKE
Think of an indoor bike and you probably think of Peloton. It offers a studio-cycling experience at home, but it also comes with a spendy price tag and requires a subscription if you want to get the most out of it. Still, the ride is smooth and satisfying; the screen is crisp, responsive and displays all sorts of stats; and you can join a live class if you want to or choose from thousands of on-demand cycling classes. onepeloton.com
Both Schwinn and BowFlex are owned by Nautilus, and these bikes are extremely similar. Each is comfortable to ride, with an LCD console that displays real-time metrics and allows for riding with or without a Bluetoothconnected app such as Scwhinn’s Jrny. schwinnfitness.com, bowflex.ca
SUNNY HEALTH & FITNESS SF-B1805
This no-frills bike doesn’t track metrics like its pricier cousins, but it does have a tablet holder and you could always add a cadence sensor that connects to various cycling apps. But it still offers a good cardio workout, and that’s the whole point, right?
sunnyhealthfitness.com
with women during and after times of transition, specifically divorce and widowhood.
(Left) Charlotte Paul, CIM, Associate Portfolio Manager, Assante Capital Management Ltd.
Stylist:
City Slickers
STEP OUT ON THE TOWN IN STYLISH RAINY-DAY LAYERS THAT CAN HANDLE ANY STORM.
In the Swing of It
On him: Sweater by Minimum, black trench and pants by
all available at Moden Men’s. Boots by Shoe the Bear, available at Outlooks for Men. Solid orange Ezpeleta umbrella, available at The Umbrellatorium & Canery.
On her: Rollneck pullover sweater by Saint Tropez, quilted vest by NÜ Denmark, rain jacket by Ilse Jacobsen, Jupiter trousers by NÜ Denmark and silicone crossbody bag by PreneLOVE, all available at Moden Boutique. Aqua-Flex Bliss waterproof boots, available at Waterlily Shoes.
Matinique,
Fashion
Janine Metcalfe
Photographer: Jeffrey Bosdet
Layer Up
On her: Blue button-down shirt by Bariloche, plaid vest and toffee pants by Marc Cain and green raincoat by Ilse Jacobsen, all available at Hughes Clothing. Marc Cain scarf and plaid bucket hat, available at Hughes Clothing. Yellow rainboots by Toni Pons, available at Waterlilly Shoes.
On him: Maron overcoat and sports shirt by Joop!, ivory cords by Paige, navy sweater by Ferrante and boots by Shoe the Bear, all available at Outlooks for Men. HC alligator handle black umbrella, available at The Umbrellatorium & Canery.
Step Lively
On him: The Ventile Mac Coat, men’s light wool shirt, organic sweatpant, Begg X Co classic cashmere scarf and canvas Camp Cap, all available at Ecologyst. Cameron sneaker by Strobel, available at Heart and Sole Shoes. Ezpeleta Scottish plaid umbrella, available at The Umbrellatorium & Canery.
On her: The Marzotto Trench, women’s light wool pant, 195 merino fitted mock neck, Anna tote and quilted bucket hat, all available at Ecologyst. Sound boot by Olang, available at Waterlily Shoes.
Hats Off (or On)
On him: Khaki coat by Paul & Shark, ribbed turtleneck by Gran Sasso and smokegrey denim jeans by Briglia, all available at D.G. Bremner & Co. Cameron sneaker by Strobel, available at Heart and Sole Shoes. Fluo yellow beanie by Le Bonnet, available at Bernstein & Gold. Doppler umbrella, available at The Umbrellatorium & Canery.
On her: Zip-front jacket and pants by Part Two, available at Bagheera Boutique. Orange bucket hat by Tilley, available at Adventure Clothing. Oliver Peoples sunglasses, available at Maycock Eyecare. Sound boot by Olang, available at Waterlily Shoes.
Say ‘Oui’ to Colour
On her: Stala rain jacket by Samsøe Samsøe, Oui sweatshirt by Clare V. and The Tomcat ankle pants by MOTHER, all available at Bernstein & Gold. Silicone crossbody bag by PreneLOVE, available at Moden Boutique. Oliver Peoples sunglasses, available at Maycock
On him: Blue car coat by Milestone, Shetland wool sweater by Paul
Eyecare.
& Shark and windowpane cord pants by Briglia, all available at D.G. Bremner & Co. Red Clima Colour Party UV umbrella, available at The Umbrellatorium & Canery.
Ready for Adventure
On him: Packable waterproof jacket by Mac in a Sac, tapered-fit pants by KÜHL and plaid shirt by Royal Robbins, all available at Adventure Clothing.
Red Clima Colour Party UV umbrella, available at The Umbrellatorium & Canery.
On her: Packable waterproof poncho by Mac In a Sac, available at Adventure Clothing. Black tights, available at Adventure Clothing.
Solid orange Ezpeleta umbrella available at The Umbrellatorium & Canery.
Models: Malaina Stopchycki and Anton Klymenko/ Lizbell Agency Hair and makeup: Anya Ellis/Lizbell Agency
OPENING UP
A ‘future-proofed’ renovation embraces a mid-century vibe while giving this family the indoor-outdoor home they dreamed of.
By Carla Sorrell | Photos by Jody Beck
The doctor’s office isn’t the place you’d expect to find inspiration for a major home renovation. But that’s exactly what happened when one of the owners of a Cadboro Bay house picked up the Summer 2020 issue of Spruce, YAM’s sister publication, in the waiting room.
It featured architectural firm One Seed’s Geometric House on its cover. Inspired, she took it home, photocopied it and returned it to the office — then carefully and aspirationally stored the copies until her family was ready to pursue the strategic renovation that would slice through and open up their beloved 1950s bungalow.
What drew this homeowner to the Geometric House was its outdoor lounge and kitchen, thoughtfully located adjacent to an open-plan kitchen. The traditional post and beam architecture was reminiscent of her childhood home which, like the Geometric House, was also on Vancouver’s North Shore. In the article, Allison Holden-Pope, principal of One Seed Architecture + Interiors, explained her love for the complexities of a home renovation and how her process is deeply rooted in the way clients use their homes.
A few months later, when the couple were ready to renovate, Holden-Pope was thrilled to meet her new clients. And the feeling was mutual.
“They had interesting art pieces and they were doing the most with what they had, which is always a good sign for a client who’s going to be fun to work with and value design,” says Holden-Pope of their first meeting. “They were super into the design process, collaborative and had strong opinions. [The final renovation] reflects them, their personal taste and their love for that mid-century era and West Coast modernism.”
THREE OBJECTIVES
The home already held warm memories for the couple when they bought it in 2018; years earlier, the aunt of one of the owners had owned it, while her own parents still owned the house next door. The couple had always loved the Cadboro Bay neighbourhood, and the proximity to her parents meant it would be easier for them to age in place.
Left: A new, mid-century-inspired addition opens out to a vast shared yard while creating a showcase for the homeowners’ art in this updated Cadboro Bay bungalow.
Above: A member of the One Seed Architecture + Interiors team pauses in front of the black Acoya cabinetry that echoes the exterior’s shou sugi ban siding.
The families combined their two yards to create one large garden and open flow between the two houses. Prior to the renovation, the small patio doors that led from the dining room and kitchen to the backyard would be wide open from May to September, the whole family spending much of their time outside, gardening and spending time together.
But the expansive space outside was a stark contrast to the home’s cramped interior. A small L-shaped kitchen was separated from the dining and living rooms. The sparse entrance offered no storage. And the home lacked direct access into the adjacent garage.
The homeowners came to HoldenPope with three objectives: to expand the main floor plan; to create architectural interest while adding storage; and to open the home up to the large, south-facing backyard where they spend so much time.
“There are some layers of narratives to the story; we decided to really focus on the line so it connected the old to the new,” says Holden-Pope.
To maintain scope and make the most impact in the desired spaces, the renovation literally drew a line through the house, maintaining focus on the main floor and back patio despite temptations to extend into the basement or upstairs bedrooms.
“Ultimately, we came up with a design that optimized the bang for the buck, trying to get the largest scale changes with the smallest impacted area,” says Holden-Pope.
The resulting split-level main floor finds its alignment in a poetic
symmetry: A sightline was created from the windows flanking the front door through to the backyard and an exit to the family’s hot tub, where a nightly dip is a longstanding ritual. Inside, a concrete fireplace meets the main floorline to carry the level through a 545-squarefoot extension comprising an open-plan lounge and kitchen.
Holden-Pope thought tactically about how to make this space as impressive as possible. Twelve-foot ceilings were achieved by dropping the room down three steps, creating another
Below: The renovation was designed to showcase the large backyard, where the owners spend as much time as possible
Above: Black paint and shou sugi ban burnt cedar siding dramatically update this traditional 1950s split-level bungalow (see inset for the “before” photo). Wood, concrete and black accents, reminiscent of the West Coast, flow throughout the renovation, reminding the owners of nearby beaches.
year round. burnt
Before
split level and keeping it in character with the rest of the home, a quality that the homeowners loved.
“The hardest thing to accomplish was to build an addition that felt like it belonged to the original house, especially where the original roof had its higher sloped ceiling,” Holden-Pope says.
OCEAN AND ART
Wood, concrete and black accents — qualities and materials typical of West Coast modernism — tie this renovation together. For the homeowners, these materials remind them of the neighbourhood’s beaches, a theme they explored further when choosing ocean-blue tiles for the kitchen.
While the home’s exterior was largely untouched, a lick of black paint and finely crafted features like the shou sugi ban burnt cedar siding at the front raised its profile and curb appeal. Inside, a monumental black-stained wooden Accoya entry closet carries the colour palette through the house (and adds a welcome depth of storage, too). The closet also matches a dividing wall and a block of kitchen cupboards in the extension.
Both homeowners like to cook, so a lot of detail went into the chef-grade kitchen. A closed cupboard for the bakers, for instance, and some very well-considered millwork for the chef of the family, who spent a lot of time figuring out the details of drawer heights and the gas stovetop, which is set in the middle of a generous central bar counter. A downdraft was installed to keep the space open and maintain views, while multiple
The black-stained wooden Accoya entry closet continues the exterior colour palette, while also offering plenty of much-needed storage.
pot lights were preferred over pendants for their quality of light.
When choosing the lighting, the homeowners were inspired by an old friend who worked in film, remembering his home to always be perfectly lit. They opted to run pot lights on multiple sockets, a cluster of three above the cooking space spotlighting the action, as does another cluster above the fireplace. The lighting also illuminates artwork by an uncle and several pieces by local artist Dylan Thomas.
The stunning space has become a backdrop for the daily creative production that takes place in the family.
“Our client calls it an art gallery cooking show,” says Holden-Pope. “He feels like he lives in an art gallery and is also on a cooking show, which is exactly what he was asking for.”
PLANNING FOR TOMORROW
The homeowners also wanted to renovate with longevity and changing climate conditions in mind, and in this they found a perfect ally in Holden-Pope. Sustainability is at the forefront of her design ethos; in fact, Holden-Pope was the first LEEDS-certified professional in Quebec, where she started out working in commercial architecture.
With the extension, she created a highperforming, future-proofed space that is prepared for upgrades like new windows and better air barriers to create a “super-tight system.”
Among its features are the electric-heated concrete floor that holds thermal mass so the home doesn’t lose heat even when the back doors are wide open. The homeowners hardly have to heat the main floor. In fact, they both have
The flow of the space is designed to encompass the open kitchen, with its coastal colours and future-proofed details. Among its features: oceanblue tiles from Fireclay Tile, heated concrete floors, high-quality appliances from Wolf and Fisher-Paykel, custom millwork by Dave Moore and that standout wire-brushed black Accoya cabinetry by Canadian Bavarian.
designheads
Bites, Bevvies + Bright Ideas
THIS SESSION’S TOPIC:
Home Makeover Success
Join us for an evening of style, expert insights and tasty bites.
This exclusive event brings homeowners together with design enthusiasts and top industry experts, who will share the latest trends and practical tips for transforming your living space. Don’t miss this chance to mingle and enjoy an unforgettable evening of home makeover magic.
With moderator Ann Squires Ferguson CEO, Western Design+Build
FEBRUARY 11, 2025
5-7 p.m. | The Atrium 800 Yates Street, Victoria
Tickets $75 (fees & taxes included) Each ticket includes two beverages, gourmet bites from Zambri’s, a chance to win prizes and a swag bag to take home.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY:
offices in the house, but often migrate to the main floor for their working day, drawn by its comfort, esthetic and the familial views.
But the most important considerations for these homeowners were unobstructed views into their garden and a seamless indoor-outdoor experience. Holden-Pope delivered with a bank of grand fold-away doors. “One thing that we worked really hard on was creating this opencorner, fold-away effect,” she says. “It ended up being something that they felt would be worth [the expense].”
Out back, the skewed geometry of a generous, triangular 530-square-foot deck is angled due south to hold the focus to the exceptional quality of light while creating varied sized spaces for different kinds of gatherings. Out front, an elevated concrete catwalk of a walkway creates a staggered landscape for planting while adding drama, meeting the door under a new canopy.
In passing, you can glimpse the backyard through the house, a view that has undoubtedly become a backdrop to beautifully renovated and opened-up interior spaces. The seamless transition they were looking for achieved, the family can now bring the outdoors in.
RESOURCES
The new addition, with its wall of bifold glass doors, has created a perfect indoor-outdoor living situation for the homeowners.
Architecture and interior design: One SEED Architecture + Interiors | Builder: Interactive Construction | Millwork: David H Moore Cabinetry
THESE DAYS, IT SEEMS LIKE WE’RE ALL ON A WELLNESS JOURNEY, AND OFTEN THAT JOURNEY TAKES US TO A SPA. HERE ARE THE SPAS AND TRENDS MAKING A SPLASH RIGHT NOW.
By Joanne Sasvari
At Kingfisher Pacific Resort & Spa, guests explore the healing power of the ocean along the Pacific Mist Hydropath.
If you’ve been trying to find me lately and not having much luck, that might be because I’ve been soaking, steaming and sweating my cares away. At least, I’ve been trying to, and Vancouver Island’s spas have been doing their best to help me.
They say that “spa” is an acronym for “sanitas par aquam,” though it’s entirely possible that’s a myth and Spa is just the name of a Belgian town famed for its healing thermal waters. Whatever the case, there is nothing like slipping into warm mineral water and feeling your aches, pains and stresses float away.
Of course, not all spas are the same. There are day spas where you go for a few hours of pampering, destination spas where you book in for a longer stint of relaxation, medical spas that offer lasers, injectables, peels and other treatments that may require a doctor’s care, Ayurvedic spas that follow an ancient Hindu healing system that aims to create a balance between mind, body and soul, or Nordic spas where the treatments are based on heat and cold.
But if we’re talking about classic spas, we’re talking water, whether it be from the sea or a hot mineral spring. Think historic European spa towns like Bath, Baden-Baden, Spa or Montecatini Terme or, in Canada, Harrison Hot Springs or Banff Hot Springs. Their names reflect the idea that you’re in for a good, long, sultry soak. Often the water has other healing properties, too, like salts that soothe discomfort, minerals that repair skin and ligaments or, in the case of Hungary’s renowned Lake Héviz, the tiniest trace of radioactivity, which is said to be especially beneficial for sports injuries, inflammation, neurological conditions and lady problems.
Whatever the case, the idea is to leave feeling — and usually looking — better than you went in.
Here on Vancouver Island, we have a wealth of terrific spas of all varieties. But if you’re craving the healing properties of water, here are three to check out.
Mineral Pools OAK BAY BEACH HOTEL
There is something uniquely invigorating about floating in a hot mineral pool at the edge of the ocean while nature hurls wind and rain your way. Of course, it’s also a lovely experience when the sun is shining and the breeze is gentle and warm. In any case, the three adults-only outdoor pools at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel offer stunning views across the Salish Sea and healing waters that soothe your body and wash your cares away.
While you’re here, you can also take advantage of the water and towel service, assigned lounge chairs and the eucalyptus-infused sauna, and order tasty sips and bites from the Boathouse Kitchen & Bar.
The only catch? The pools and sauna are only available to registered overnight hotel guests or guests of the Boathouse Spa who have upgraded their treatments to include pool use. That said, the hotel does occasionally offer seasonal pool passes for purchase, so keep an eye out for those deals and be prepared to make a splash. oakbaybeachhotel.com
The Healing Caves KINGFISHER
PACIFIC RESORT & SPA
It’s generally a good idea to come in from the storm — unless you’re in the Storm Cave at the Kingfisher’s Pacific Mist Spa, where you lounge in a pool while wind, waves and rain rage around you and virtual lightning rips across a thunderous sky. It’s the most dramatic of the six brand-new Healing Caves at the resort, each offering a different experience and therapy; it is also unique in North America. (There is, however, a similar cave at Milan’s QC Termemilano Spa.)
Ten long years in the making, the caves are snugged up next to the 25-year-old Pacific Mist Hydropath that winds through eight stations, each offering unique therapy inspired by the ocean. But The Healing Caves offer a whole new immersive journey designed to relieve stress and tension, boost the immune system, improve sleep and energy, relieve inflammation and more.
Over 70 minutes or so, while high-definition screens display natural landscapes from around the world, up to four guests at a time can experience: thermotherapy in the Desert Cave; aromatherapy in the Mystic Cave; cryotherapy in the Ice Cave; red-light therapy in the Astral Cave; halotherapy in the Salt Cave; and immersive hydrotherapy in the Storm Cave, where dramatic weather patterns are simulated within an infinity pool surrounded by a giant screen.
Opening date for the caves hadn’t been announced at press time, but YAM managed to get a sneak peek behind the scenes. We can safely say this is going to be a thoroughly thrilling experience at a resort that has seriously stepped up its game in recent years. kingfisherresort.ca/healing-caves
TIGH-NA-MARA SEASIDE SPA RESORT & CONFERENCE CENTRE
The spa at Tigh-Na-Mara regularly wins buckets of awards, and for good reason: This is always an exceptional spa experience. Even so, a couple of years ago they made some changes to focus on wellness and, based on a recent visit, it’s been all for the better.
The warm indoor mineral pool known as the Grotto has become the centrepiece of a two-hour, adults-only, indooroutdoor wellness experience. Surrounded by boulders designed to simulate a natural stone grotto complete with waterfalls and whirlpools, the pool is rich with natural minerals and trace elements that soothe aching muscles and joints, detoxify the body, remineralize the skin and stimulate the metabolism.
Meanwhile, outdoors they’ve installed four cedar-barrel saunas, which offer benefits that include improved circulation, relaxation, mobility and connection to others. There are also two outdoor showers and a garden patio where you can soak up the sun or warm up next to a fire table. Guests meander happily back and forth from sauna to pool, order beverages from the attentive staff and chat with each other in a thoroughly chill way. (And yes, the delightful Treetop Tapas are still a thing here.) grottospa.com
The Grotto Kingfisher’s new Healing Caves offer six unique scenarios.
The Grotto at Tigh-Na-Mara offers an indoor-outdoor wellness experience that includes the mineral pool and cedar-barrel saunas.
Spa Trends for 2025
12
Time was that a trip to the spa meant a massage, a pedi, a dip in a hot pool, maybe a mud wrap. That was then; now, modern spas offer a whole lot more than that. Here are some of the top trends in spas near and far.
1. AGING BETTER
If there is one overarching trend for 2025, it’s the quest for longevity — and not just living longer, but living better. To do so, we are embracing everything from cellular health supplements like NAD+ boosters to lifestyle practices such as intermittent fasting, cold exposure and circadian rhythm optimization. Spas, meanwhile, are delivering longevity-focused retreats and innovative therapies. They are also helping women manage menopause symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings and sleep disruption. Given that there are some 10 million women over the age of 40 in Canada, it’s about time.
2. PERSONALIZATION
We all want to be seen, right? Well, with the help of artificial intelligence, spas can tailor their treatments to your unique needs by analyzing skin, body and health data to customize everything from skin-care regimens to meditation routines.
3. MENTAL WELLNESS
Spas are also leaning into not just the physical benefits of their treatments, but the mental and emotional ones. Expect to see more programs emphasizing stress management, mindfulness and emotional resilience through activities such as breathwork, cognitive therapy, aromatherapy, sound therapy and meditation.
4. TECH ENHANCEMENTS
Tech has entered the spa world in a variety of ways — consider it a fusion of mind, body and machine. Expect to see more use of virtual reality to create serene environments during meditation or massage, as well as wearable health tech such as biofeedback
Escape Everyday
Escape to Black Rock Oceanfront Resort, where you can disconnect from the everyday and reconnect with nature. Perched atop rugged rocky headlands, immerse yourself in breathtaking oceanfront views.
devices that can monitor response to a treatment in real time. Next up? Robotics. The world’s first robotic massage therapy system, Aescape, uses AI-powered robot arms to deliver personalized massages without human touch, perfect for those with lingering post-pandemic ick issues regarding personal space.
5. DIGITAL DETOX RETREATS
Put down the smartphone! On the flip side of all this tech-assisted wellness, more and more spas will encourage their clients to disconnect from technology, not just by leaving their mobiles in their lockers, but by focusing on mental clarity and establishing a healthy work-life balance. These retreats often include mindfulness activities, nature walks and creative workshops.
6. INTEGRATIVE HEALING THERAPIES
Ancient, east-meets-west, spiritualmeets-sensory practices like Reiki, acupuncture and crystal healing are on the rise; so are Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine (herbal medicine, cupping, Qigong), as well as experiences that combine sound baths, aromatherapy and chromotherapy with other treatments.
7. IMMUNITY-BOOSTING THERAPIES
Enjoy a variety of fresh new menu items on FARO’s sun-soaked patio with fire features overlooking the Oak Bay Beach Hotel’s courtyard.
Think honey roast pear and toasted hazelnut over fresh burrata, Angus beef meatballs, arugula salad, and pizzas such as the Gamberi and Finocchio. Make a reservation at oakbaybeachhotel.com/dine
The pandemic has left many of us concerned about our immunity to disease and seeking to boost our resilience. That’s the idea behind many traditional Nordic spa experiences, as well as more modern ones like infrared sauna rooms, vitamin infusions and lymphatic drainage massages. At the same time, we’re hyperfocused on gut health, and can expect to see more treatments incorporating nutrition guidance and probiotics.
8. RESTORATIVE SLEEP EXPERIENCES
Is anyone getting enough sleep these days? It seems not, according to the wealth of sleep-focused treatments, travel and therapy out there. Sleep is the best thing you can do for both your physical and mental well-being, and a growing number of spas are offering programs, products and services designed to help you get enough Zzzzz’s. Among them: guided sleep meditation, cognitive behaviooral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), sleep-enhancing wearable devices, sleep retreats, sleep-enhancing massages and dedicated sleep suites complete with smart mattresses, circadian lighting and relaxing aromatherapy.
9. WELLNESS TRAVEL
Not so long ago, we travelled to see the sights, ticking things off a bucket list of attractions. These days, we’re more likely to seek spiritual growth and personal transformation. That could mean a special pilgrimage such as a multi-day trek along the Camino de Santiago or an immersive retreat at an ashram in India. It could also mean travelling in search of a sense of wellness — starting with the journey itself. More and more cruise ships, for instance, are adding state-of-the-art spas, wellness suites and mindfulness programs, while even airports are offering wellness features like the yoga rooms at San Francisco International Airport or oxygen lounges at Tokyo’s Narita Airport.
10. INCLUSIVE WELLNESS
Everyone deserves access to better wellness, and the spa industry is making strides by offering tailored fitness classes, sensory-friendly spa treatments and other programs for underserved populations including neurodivergent individuals, people with disabilities and older adults. Notably, we’re seeing an increase in spa treatments for cancer patients and survivors, as well as for expectant and new mothers. These treatments offer gentle and thoughtful care at a time when people need it the most.
11. REGENERATIVE SKIN CARE
You can’t turn back time, but you can look like you did with the new biotech beauty treatments. These use ingredients such as stem cells, CRISPR gene editing, bioengineered peptides and the like to target skin concerns at a cellular level. Also expect to see regenerative treatments like microneedling, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) facials and light therapies to keep growing in popularity.
12. COMMUNAL WELLNESS
The last few years have seen us hanging out in urban saunas where we can enjoy a restorative experience in a communal setting. Expect that trend to continue, especially as studies keep highlighting the health benefits of sauna use, such as helping sore muscles recover or improving cardiovascular health. More than that, communal saunas are a place to unwind and connect with others. Related: The rise of social wellness clubs that offer wellness services, such as fitness classes and therapeutic treatments, while fostering meaningful connections in a social setting. They might just prove an antidote to our overly connected yet increasingly lonely world.
Where to next?
By Linda Barnard
FIVE GREAT JOURNEYS THAT MAKE US WANT TO HIT THE ROAD IN 2025.
As much as we love our corner of Vancouver Island, here at YAM we’re also passionate travellers. But where should we go next? With the whole wide world to choose from, planning your journeys for 2025 can be a tough decision. So we looked to these top three trends for some inspiration.
• Set-jetting: Culture fans are seeking to experience the places where popular shows and movies were set or filmed, such as Thailand (White Lotus Season 3) or Malta (Gladiator 2).
• Authenticity: From culture to food, travellers are after genuine, local experiences, whether it’s a pasta-making class in Bologna or an immersive food tour of Mexico City.
• Sustainability: Low-impact travel is top of mind for many people, who are seeking trips that respect the planet while helping strengthen communities.
With that in mind, here are five destination suggestions, each with its own travel style, for 2025. We think they may entice you to start packing.
FOR FAMILIES
Golden, B.C.
Surrounded by six national parks, Golden is a multi-gen recreation hotspot for a family-friendly mountain vacation in all seasons.
More than 100 years ago, the Canadian Pacific Railway bet on the Rocky Mountains becoming a tourist draw and hired Swiss mountain guides to help turn visitors into enthusiastic holiday mountaineers.
At the newly opened Edelweiss Village+Resort, you can stay in one of the historic, colourful Swiss-style chalets that were built on the edge of Golden to house the mountain guides. They’ve been turned into comfychic lodging.
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort is a short drive from Golden, with skiing, snowboarding, cross-country trails, tubing, snowmobile tours and an outdoor skating rink in the village each winter. Drive about 15 minutes to Yoho National Park to snowshoe or hike to Wapta Falls, or cross-country ski on Emerald Lake.
From late spring to fall, hit the hiking trails or ride 180 kilometres of cross-country bike trails around Golden that range from beginner to expert. There are downhill mountain bike runs at Kicking Horse, too. Stick around for an interpretive tour of the 20-acre Kicking Horse Grizzly Bear Refuge, home to resident grizzly bear Boo. Take a raft tour, or rent a kayak, paddleboard or canoe at the Columbia Wetlands. This hidden gem is surrounded by towering mountains and home to 200 species of migratory birds.
Walk along Canada’s two highest suspension bridges at Golden Skybridge. The all-ages adventure park opened in 2021. Strap in for the two-person Railrider Mountain Coaster. Try the Canyon Edge Challenge Course, giant swing or zipline. There’s also a giant kids’ playground with tree houses, small suspension bridges and beginner ziplines.
For indoor fun, Golden has two climbing gyms and a five-pin bowling alley. Start planning: tourismgolden.com
Golden Skybridge
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort
FOR CULTURE LOVERS
Tohoku, Japan
Japan’s northeast Tohoku region is about 90 minutes northeast of busy Tokyo by high-speed Shinkansen (bullet train). Only about two per cent of tourists to Japan make it to this area, which is known for pristine nature, traditional culture, hot springs baths and isolated temples, so bragging rights are included.
Sendai, a university town with a population of about one million, is a good base for exploring rural Miyagi. It’s one of six prefectures (similar to Canadian provinces) in Tohoku and is also the centre of Japan’s burgeoning wine industry.
The 1,000-kilometre Michinoku Coastal Trail, which opened in 2021, has day and through-hikes, including one that starts in Kuji, home of the renowned Ama “sea women” free divers.
Tohoku has the greatest number of relaxing “onsen” baths per capita in Japan. Towns and resorts were established around these hotsprings-fed communal baths (segregated by sex) that soothe body and soul. Ginzan is one of the most picturesque onsen towns, set among waterfalls and mountains in Yamagata
prefecture. The narrow, pedestrianonly streets, small bridges and heritage wooden buildings give it a timeless atmosphere.
Traditional inns, called ryokans, have their own onsens. Many include indoor-outdoor baths for relaxing in tranquil gardens. After a soak, put on a cotton yukata robe and slippers and indulge in the multi-course, seasonal Kaiseki dinner typically included in a stay. The dishes are works of art and are best paired with excellent locally brewed sake.
Start planning: japan.travel/en/ca
FOR FOODIES
Istanbul, Türkiye
While this vibrant, 2,500-year-old metropolis at the crossroads of Europe and Asia declares “Istanbul is the New Cool” with its marketing slogan, it can also brag it has the best cuisine on two continents within a single city.
People from the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Central Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe all passed through here. Some stayed. All brought recipes and cooking methods to add to the traditional Anatolian cuisine born in Eastern Türkiye. (In June 2022, the United Nations agreed to change the spelling of the country known in the English-speaking world as “Turkey” to Türkiye, pronounced toor-key-yeh.)
The cuisine is varied and remarkable, whether simple, smoky cag kebab lamb, carved from the spit and piled in a pita at a spice market stall, or a multi-course meal at chef Fatih Tutak’s eponymous two-star Michelin restaurant.
The feasting starts at breakfast with platters of salty cheese, olives, yogurt, dried fruit, nuts and rounds of bagel-shaped simit bread crusted with wood-oven-browned sesame seeds.
Small dishes of dips, salads and delicious
Onsen baths in Ginzan, in the Yamagata prefecture.
Traditional Turkish meze.
Kaiseki dinner at an onsen ryokan in Japan.
appetizers, called meze, cover the table before the main course. Good luck to the server hoping to find room for the impressively puffed pita bread, fresh from the oven.
Lightly crispy Turkish baklava is often filled with coarsely chopped pistachios. It pairs well with hourglass-shaped glasses of tea. Turks drink more tea per capita than any other country.
In lokum (Turkish delight) shops, towering displays of dozens of varieties of the colourful sweet treat, often studded with dried fruit and nuts, make choosing almost impossible. Start planning: goturkiye.com
Birmingham, U.K.
Thanks to the hit Netflix show Peaky Blinders, the West Midlands region in the centre of England is drawing tourists to Birmingham to see the onscreen home of the ruthless dandies and strong women of the fictitious Shelby family.
Known as the U.K.’s second city, Birmingham is less than two hours by train from London.
The show’s characters were inspired by reallife Brummies, as they call Birmingham locals, including members of Peaky Blinders’ creator Steven Knight’s family. Much of the series was filmed in and around Birmingham, including a new Peaky Blinders Netflix movie, due out next year.
Take a walking tour to follow in the characters’ footsteps around the former Irishquarter industrial area of Digbeth. It’s now an entertainment and workspace hub, with lots of lively pubs and graffiti art.
The Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, about a 30-minute drive from Birmingham, is also a filming location. There are more than
Birmingham’s canal system offers unique views of the
50 replica, relocated or restored homes, shops and industries from the late-19th to mid-20th century.
Kayak or paddleboard in the canal system built to move goods when Birmingham kick-started the Industrial Revolution. The Jewellery Quarter has the biggest concentration of listed Victorian heritage buildings in the U.K., including the Newman Brothers Coffin Furniture Factory. It’s now the Coffin Works Museum. Princess Diana, the Queen Mother and Winston Churchill are among the notables whose coffin fittings were made there. Start planning: visitbritain.com
Maui, Hawaii
Western Canadians have always had a big love for the Hawaiian island of Maui. But they may be conflicted about travelling there at a sensitive time after the August 2023 wildfires that killed 102 people and destroyed the historic town of Old Lahaina.
Is it OK to come back? Is everything open? Will we feel welcome? The answer is an enthusiastic “Yes!”
Like the rest of Hawaii, Maui’s economy depends on the tourism industry. With recovery
underway, Maui has been welcoming visitors back since last November, asking them to travel with compassion.
One way to help support the community is with a morning of volunteer work at nonprofit Kipuka Olowalu, part of Mālama Maui Nui (Caring for Maui). Learn about local culture as you help tend a patch of taro, a plant used in many Hawaiian dishes.
humpback-watching area as the cetaceans return with their young.
Eat, stay and play local by visiting businesses listed on the mauinuifirst.com website.
The five-kilometre golden stretch of Kāʻanapali Beach near Lahaina makes a great base for a Maui getaway. High-end hotels have views of the islands of Lanai and Molokai across a turquoise ocean.
Watch Hawaiian green sea turtles glide and dolphins leap on a Teralani Sailing Adventures catamaran trip off Kāʻanapali Beach. In winter, this stretch of ocean is prime
SAMYA SPA
Authentic Ayurveda and Organic Spa
Nestled in the heart of Old Town, Samya Spa is a new organic wellness centre beautifully crafted within the historic Yarrow Building.
Led by the skilled hands of Radhika Jenson, it brings a fresh approach to Ayurveda in Victoria.
As a seasoned Registered Ayurvedic Practitioner, Radhika blends modern organic therapies with traditional Ayurveda, offering treatments accessible to clients from all walks of life, free from theological ties. Her warm approach, paired with her team’s expertise, creates an unparalleled escape. From rejuvenating facials to rare therapies seldom found outside India, every service is thoughtfully tailored to your needs.
Take a day trip up more than 3,000 metres to the summit of dormant volcano Haleakalā, the highest point on the island. On the way, visit Maui’s Upcountry region, passing farmland and small, historic towns.
The ʻIao Needle is a remarkable place. A paved walkway leads up to a dramatic, forested spire that punches up 365 metres from the valley floor.
End your day at Haleakalā for sunset, seeing the orange glow of the sun while having the unique experience of standing above the cloud line.
Start planning: gohawaii.com/ca
Maui is back and excited to welcome visitors.
Radhika Jenson, owner
Food + Drink
53
IN SEASON
Chocolate for your Valentine, a star baker, The Dish on what’s cooking around town, plus a seasonal soup recipe.
58
DINING OUT
Happy-Hour Hangouts
IN SEASON
Winter’s gnarly, unsung hero
You’ve probably seen celeriac at the grocery store. Rather, you may have glanced at this round, knobby, wrinkly, slightly grimy root vegetable and kept right on going. But you should definitely give it a second look. Celeriac, also known as celery root, is a starchy root vegetable with a sweet, earthy, slightly peppery flavour similar to celery (it is, after all, from the same family) with a hint of parship. Properly stored, it can last up to several months, making it a practical addition to your winter rotation. It’s also hugely versatile. Once you’ve removed that tough skin, it can be eaten raw in salads or roasted, fried, gratinéed, mashed, diced into a mirepoix or slowly simmered and puréed into a silky-rich soup perfect for the finest dinner party. Now that’s gnarly.
Find a recipe for Celeriac Velouté on page 57.
Food + Drink IN SEASON
In Love with Chocolate
SWEETS
FOR SWEETHEARTS ON VALENTINE’S DAY.
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and you know what that means — a very convenient excuse for indulging in your love for all things rich and chocolatey. And Victoria’s talented chocolatiers are happy to help.
Some of the city’s most beautiful Valentine’s chocolates are being crafted by Gerald Tan, the executive pastry chef at the Fairmont Empress. This year, he is creating them with exclusive chocolate that he developed with the team at Cacao Barry headquarters in Louviers, France, about 100 kilometres northwest of Paris.
What they landed on were two different bespoke chocolates. The dark one is called Midnight Bloom – Empress Reserve Noir, and has a cacao content of 66.8 per cent with notes of bark, pine cones, earth, red berries and a subtle hint of rose inspired by the hotel’s lush gardens. The milk chocolate is called Golden Aura – Empress Reserve Le Luminaire, and has a cacao content of 46.5 per cent, a smooth, creamy texture and notes of honey, sea salt, caramel, cookie, biscuit and caramelized milk.
Chef Tan will be using them in boxes of bonbons available to purchase in the Lobby Lounge, as well as chocolate hearts that will be available only as a special amenity for hotel guests. But if you really, really love chocolate, you may want to opt for the three-course Valentine’s dinner in Q at the Empress, which wraps up with an indulgent chocolate dessert buffet that includes bonbons, chocolate bars and more to sate your cravings. fairmont.com/ empress-victoria
But there are other local chocolates to love, too, including:
Sirene Chocolate > Since Taylor Kennedy launched his backyard bean-to-bar enterprise in 2013, he has become renowned for his ethically sourced, organic bars and now sells them right across Canada and around the world. Look for: single-plantation bars, some with flavours such as Mayan Spice. sirenechocolate.com
Rogers Chocolates > Canada’s first chocolate company has been around for 140 years and continues to add new products and flavours to its lineup. Look for: legendary
chocolate-covered creams and squares, as well as caramels, truffles, bars and a bit of everything — even baking and fondue chocolate. rogerschocolates.com
RockCoast Confections > This chocolatier is tucked away in an industrial park out on Keating Cross Road where they handcraft high-quality treats from pure, natural ingredients. Look for: their famous toffee bark, as well as gourmet chocolate bars, artisan truffles, salted soft caramels and luscious meltaways. rockcoast.ca
Roxy’s Chocolate > The small-batch, bean-to-bar chocolate produced by this local
workshop is made from single-origin organic cacao and often features Island ingredients like sea salt and raspberries. Available to purchase online. Look for: dark and milk chocolate bars in various flavours. roxyschocolate.com
Chocolat & Co./Terrible Truffles/ Uncouth Chocolate > It all began with David Booth who made “terribly delicious” chocolates for the B&B he ran with his wife Vlasta; they recently opened Chocolat & Co. on Fort Street. Look for: signature Terrible Truffles, as well as single-origin bars by two longterm chocolate concierges at The Chocolate Project under their label Uncouth Chocolate. chocolatandco.com
The Dish
What’s Cooking Around Victoria
Places to eat, things to celebrate on the city’s dining scene.
OPENINGS
We’re excited to see the brand-new Rabbit Rabbit Wine Bar open in the former Saveur location on Herald Street. Owner and sommelier Sydney Cooper is inviting guests to follow her down the rabbit hole to a welcoming wonderland of terroir-inspired wine and approachable cuisine. A stylish but unpretentious wine bar? We’re in. rabbitrabbitwinebar.com
When beloved brunch hot spot Bear & Joey closed last year, Victorians mourned. But now we have cause to rejoice. In its place, The Breakfast Shop has opened, combining forces from The Ruby, Jones Bar-B-Que, Discovery Coffee and Yonni’s Doughnuts. The look is cozy but modern, with great tunes to wake you up and the promise of quick service so you don’t have to wait for that cup of joe. Mostly, though, it’s all about the food here: homemade brioche buns for the breakfast sandwiches, in-house ground meat for the signature breakfast sausage and clever ideas like the “avocado croast” (poached eggs and smashed avocado on a pressed croissant). Plus there are special treats for the littlest members of the family, as well as the furriest ones. thebreakfastshop.ca
At last, Victoria has the kind of omakase-style sushi bar that tends to be showered in Michelin stars in other cities. The tiny, eight-seat Chobap Sushi Bar recently opened kitty-corner to The
Courtney Room and offers three different tasting menu options. Omakase means “I’ll leave it up to you,” and we’re happy to leave this menu up to sushi chef Clark Park. He is something of a legend, a chef who honed his skills at omakase restaurants in Osaka and has worked at Miku in Vancouver and Yua Bistro and Marilena in Victoria. You’re in good hands here. chobapsushibar.com
Roast Meat & Sandwich Shop, long one of our favourite spots in the Victoria Public Market, has opened a second location in Victoria. It’s now dishing up its brisket, roast beef, meatball and rotisserie chicken sandwiches from one of the kiosks near Crust Bakery at Uptown. roastsandwichshop.com
The folks behind Be Love, End Dive and other local favourites have opened a new pizza joint and, in the process, revitalized a corner of Colwood. In 2017, they bought the Country Rose Pub (now The Rose) and fixed it up; now they’ve completely renovated and refurbished the rundown building next door and transformed it into Colwood Pizza Co., where chef Sheena Lind makes Sicilian-style sheet-pan pizzas. A two-day fermentation and glugs of olive oil result in crusts with a crispy, golden base and an airy, flavourful chew. There are dozens of flavourful toppings, too, and these pizzas are perfectly sized to feed a crowd. colwoodpizzaco.com
AWARDS
It’s something of a good-news, bad-news, whoknows-what’s-next situation for the talented team at Café Malabar. Last fall, the prestigious awards named the Keralan food stand in the Victoria Public Market Canada’s No. 5 best new restaurant. Just a few weeks later, chefs Karma Tenpa and Kiran Kolathodan learned that Coho Commissary, which provided their kitchen facilities, was ending its lease with the market. That has left them without a space to operate; at the end of December, they were heading off on a planned break with no new location confirmed. However, they promise to reopen soon, either in the market or elsewhere. All we know is, wherever they go, we’ll follow.
Pizzeria Prima Strada been named 100th best pizza on the planet, one of only two Canadian pie joints to make the prestigious 50 Top Pizza List. (The other was Calgary’s Pizza Culture at No. 96.) The 50 Top Pizza Awards is an Italy-based network that has highlighted the world’s best pizzerias since 2017. Italy, not surprisingly, led the rankings with 41 entries.
Now, this is nice (and so are we). Victorians, it seems, are Canada’s most generous tippers — in fact, the whole Island is happy to support the hardworking folks in the restaurant biz. That’s according to the recent Uber Eats Cravings Report, which placed four Island cities among the top 10 most generous tippers in Canada, with Victoria at No. 1, followed by Campbell River (No. 4), Nanaimo (No. 6) and Courtenay (No. 7).
Café Malabar
JEFFREY BOSDET/YAM MAGAZINE
Food + Drink IN SEASON
VICTORIA’S STAR BAKER
Great Canadian Baking Show runner-up Jen Childs brings whimsical creativity to cookies, cakes and choux pastries.
There were the macarons shaped like llamas, the two-sided cake shadow box filled with a cookie undersea garden and that evil technical challenge in the finale, when she had just over two hours to create a cake featuring choux pastries filled with lemon curd and crème chiboux, then dipped in caramel and arranged between lemon-sugar-cookie rings.
Victoria’s Jen Childs handily whipped up those bakes and more, bringing serious creative talent to the tent on Season 8 of CBC’s The Great Canadian Baking Show. In fact, she made it all the way to last November’s finale, which judges Bruno Feldeisen and Kyla Kennaley admitted was among the closest they’d ever assessed.
“It’s so fun. I love to make things. Even in high school I made a replica of our house in gingerbread,” says Childs, who is a bookkeeper and mother of three as well as a passionate amateur baker. She describes herself as “equal parts dorky, sporty and creative” and notes, “Being on the show really satisfied all of that.”
Mind you, getting to the tent where the show is filmed was no cakewalk. Childs had applied
every year since the show was announced back in 2017, when Victoria’s Jude Somers competed. Every year since then, Childs would prep for the audition in what her family called “baking season.” She laughs: “It was a self-imposed workshop every year.”
In March 2024 she got word that she’d made the cut and then had about five weeks to work on her bakes, fine-tune her recipes and figure out what the heck she was going to wear on air.
She quickly became known for a kind of whimsical creativity executed with meticulous skill and precision — she was named star baker three times and runner-up overall, and says it was “absolutely worthwhile” waiting all those years to compete.
Next she’s planning to teach some baking classes and occasionally take on the kind of over-the-top commissions she loves best.
And she’s definitely going to keep baking. “We flew back from Toronto [after filming ended] and I baked something that night,” she says. She made macarons. Of course.
Watch The Great Canadian Baking Show on CBC Gem.
CARMEN CHEUNG
R ecipe
Celeriac Velouté
This soup is elegant enough for a dinner party, but easy enough for a weeknight supper. Its velvety texture and mild flavour make it a perfect canvas for other flavours; top it with some crispy fried sage leaves, frizzled shallots or crumbled bacon and/or a drizzle of brown butter or chive oil.
• Garnish: croutons, pepitas, crispy fried sage leaves, brown butter, chive oil, or as you like
In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat and add the shallots and garlic. Cook until soft and fragrant, but do not allow to brown.
Stir in the peeled and roughly chopped celery root, along with the bay leaves and thyme, then add the milk and stock. Cook over medium or medium-low heat until celeriac is fork tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Stir occasionally and make sure the mixture doesn’t burn.
Remove from heat. Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprig and discard.
Strain the celeriac, reserving the cooking liquid, and transfer the solids to a blender or food processor. Add a spoonful or two of cooking liquid then process until the celeriac is smooth — if you like, you can also pass it through a fine mesh sieve to catch any wayward lumps.
Return the purée and cooking liquid to the pot over medium heat. (If needed, wipe out the pot first.) Heat through, but do not boil, then stir in the cream and season with salt and pepper and continue cooking until it is warm enough to serve. Divide among bowls for serving and top with garnishes of your choice, ideally something crispy/ crunchy and a drizzle of flavoured oil.
Emma' s Journey of hope
Food + Drink
HAPPY-HOUR
THappy hour is the perfect time to enjoy a taste of all The Courtney Room does best.
21 great places in Victoria to sip, savour, socialize — and even save a dollar or two.
hese days when I get together with friends, often as not it’s for happy hour. It’s the perfect way to end the workday without cutting into family time, and it doesn’t disrupt business hours the way lunch does. We enjoy a couple of snacks, a couple of sips, the lively vibe of whatever room we’re in, and then go our (much more) merry ways.
Since the end of Prohibition in the United States, the idea of happy hour has largely been a marketing one, a way to fill bars and restaurants at what would normally be a slower time of day, usually between 4 and 6 p.m. The way to do this, of course, is by offering discounted food and drink.
(British Columbia, long the land of archaic liquor laws, only legalized happy hours in 2014 — before that, the best we could hope for was cheap calamari at an “appy hour.”)
Budget booze aside, though, the tradition of unwinding with
friends over a drink and snacks after work is a longstanding one in many cultures. Think of the Mediterranean aperitivo or apéro, which often features bittered drinks like vermouth that are designed to whet the appetite.
For consumers, happy hour offers bargains and a lowstakes way to socialize. For restaurants and bars, happy hour fills seats when they need it, but it does more than that, too. “It’s a good introduction to the restaurant … without the price tag of the tasting menu,” says Renée Lauzon, the food and beverage manager at The Courtney Room. “It’s a great window into what we can do without the full commitment.”
Since the pandemic, with so many of us working from home, happy hours haven’t been as much of a thing. But recently, Lauzon has noticed a change. “We are starting to get larger groups of office people coming in during the later part
of the week. It’s coming back a little bit.”
And happy hour isn’t just for weekdays or after the close of office hours. Late-night happy hours are increasingly popular, especially among those who work in hospitality, and Sunday happy hours are simply hopping, perhaps as a way to stave off the Sunday scaries.
As for what makes a good happy hour, it should include a mix of discounted cocktails (easy-to-make classics are always a hit on both sides of the bar), wine by the glass, a beer or two and some nonalcoholic options as well as a few signature snacks. And, of course, Lauzon says, “You have to have fresh-shucked oysters for happy hour. In Victoria it’s a must.”
Besides, even at the fanciest restaurants, happy hour is just a chill and convivial time.
“Who doesn’t love happy hour?” Lauzon says. “It’s come as you are and enjoy.”
HAPPY HOUR AROUND VICTORIA
To find the city’s best happy hours, YAM checked in with the pros, people who work in the hospitality industry and know what’s really cooking around town. Here are some of their — and our — favourite places for a post-work sip and snack. Note that prices, times and menu items are subject to change.
Bartholomew’s Public House
777 Douglas Street
Happy hours: Daily, 3 to 6 p.m.
On the menu: This traditional(ish) downtown pub serves classic bar snacks (deep-fried pickles, potato skins), premium G&Ts for $12, plus $7 pints and $6.75 glasses of wine in a cozy and welcoming ambience.
Block Kitchen + Bar
101–538 Yates Street
Happy hours: Daily, 3 to 5 p.m.
On the menu: Named YAM magazine’s best happy hour of 2024, Block Kitchen has a lively izakaya vibe and dishes up fusiony snacks (think bao buns, skewers and lettuce wraps), $7 pints and $13 classic cocktails on tap.
Boom + Batten
2 Paul Kane Place
Happy hours: Daily, 2 to 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close.
On the menu: With an enviable location on the Inner Harbour, this elegant space offers $9 glasses of Prosecco, discounted bottles of wine, $11 cocktails and a better-than-average selection of food items. “I love the happy hour smash burger at Boom + Batten — doesn’t matter what drink special I get to go with it,” one industry member said. Also happy: Sister restaurant Glo.
City Centre Grille
1097 Langford Parkway, Langford
Happy hours: Monday to Friday, 2 to 5 p.m.; Monday to Wednesday, 9 p.m. to close.
On the menu: This sports bar, located in the same complex as Langford Lanes and Starlight Stadium, is a great place to take in a game and enjoy $5 draft beer, $5 glasses of wine and $5 well highballs, as well as a selection of cheesy bites.
Clive’s Classic Lounge
740 Burdett Avenue
Happy hours: Daily, first and last hour of opening (5 to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 10 to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday).
On the menu: As you might expect, Victoria’s most award-winning cocktail lounge serves up excellent handcrafted cocktails (most for $12) as well as bargains on beer, wine and Champagne. Ask about the late-night snack menu, too. Also happy: Vista 18, which offers stellar views from Chateau Victoria’s top floor.
Dumpling Drop
556A Pandora Avenue
Happy hours: Monday to Friday, 2 to 5 p.m.
On the menu: This casual eatery in Chinatown offers hot, freshly fried and authentically made dumplings from a rotating menu, along with a beer, all for $12; on Wine Wednesdays you could instead enjoy a glass of natural wine alongside those dumplings for $14. “It’s definitely one of the best deals in town,” said one of the insiders.
E:Né Raw Food & Sake Bar
737 Pandora Avenue
Happy hours: Daily, 3 to 5 p.m. and 9:30 to 11:30 p.m.
On the menu: Moody, atmospheric and boasting one of the best sake selections in Canada, E:Né offers an exceptional selection of happyhour food items including salmon oshi ($13) and fried chicken karaage ($10). Plus there’s whisky or sake and soda ($9 to $10), beer ($6 to $8), somm’s choice sake and cocktails like the Matcha Shaft ($8). Also happy: Sister restaurant Nubo Kitchen + Bar.
E:Né
On Wednesdays, it’s all about natural wine — and dumplings, of course — at Dumpling Drop.
Fathom Victoria
463 Belleville Street
Happy hours: Daily, 2 to 5 p.m.
On the menu: The stylish bar and restaurant in Hotel Grand Pacific keeps what they call “social hour” simple: half-off beer, cider, highballs and select wine and cocktails. Plus there’s a nice selection of sophisticated appies including prawn toast or spicy tuna ssambap.
Ferris’ Grill & Garden Patio
536 Yates Street
Happy hours: Daily, 2 to 5 p.m. and all day Wednesdays, plus 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday in the oyster bar upstairs.
On the menu: Several of our sources mentioned Ferris’, calling it “iconic” and raving, “Ferris’ happy hour is the best!!!!!!” Who are we to argue? They might be the last place to offer oysters for $1.50 a shuck as well other tantalizing bites, like the $5.75 mini fish ’n’ chips, and super bargains on beverages ($5.50 to $6 for beer, $5.50 for wine, $9.95 for sangria).
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Fiamo Italian Kitchen
515 Yates Street
Happy hours: Daily, 4 to 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to midnight.
On the menu: Friendly and fun, Fiamo offers great drink specials (among them, $8 glasses of Prosecco and late-night $10 bottles of Peroni with a shot of Jameson). “Plus you’re almost always going to find a friend in the room,” one commenter noted.
Lot 1 Pasta Bar
204–815 Cloverdale Avenue
Happy hours: Daily, 3 to 5:30 p.m.
On the menu: Tucked into a strip mall off Blanshard Street, Lot 1 dishes up generous portions of pasta and “a fantastic happy hour, with actually doable hours,” as one of our insiders said. It features several food choices ranging from $7 Parmesan polenta bites to $12 Wagyu meatballs to $15 chorizo mussels, as well as $6 draft beer, $7 glasses of wine and $27 pitchers of sangria. Plus a wide selection of wine is half price off all day on Wine Wednesdays.
Shuck Taylor’s
1324 Blanshard Street
Happy hours: Daily, 2 to 5 p.m.
On the menu: The industry folks we checked in with love Shuck Taylor’s happy hour and so do we. As one person noted, “The staff is very kind and fun to chat with if you sit at the bar.” It helps that they also serve $2 West Coast oysters, $3 East Coast ones, $7 caviar bumps, “cheap bubbles” for $9, beer for $6 and generous pours of really interesting wines in a bright and cheerful room.
Sooke Harbour House
1528 Whiffin Spit Road, Sooke
Happy hours: Buck a Shuck all day Tuesdays
On the menu: Yes, it’s a ways to drive, but it’s worth the trip to this beautifully refurbished inn for actual $1 oysters, not to mention that stunning view from a sweeping year-round patio.
Shuck Taylor’s
Spinnakers
308 Catherine Street
Happy hours: Monday to Friday, 3 to 5 p.m.
On the menu: Over in Vic West, Canada’s oldest brew pub serves up an excellent “hoppy hour” along with a great patio and even better view. Come for the $6 pints, $7 shafts and $6 highballs; stay for the $8 truffle fries and $14 house-smoked chicken wings.
Stage
1307 Gladstone Avenue
Happy hours: Daily, 5 to 6:30 p.m.
On the menu: The menu is always changing at this charming Fernwood wine bar, but you can expect to find interesting wines by the glass for $9, Martinis and G&Ts for $10, discounted bottles of wine and well-priced savoury snacks like the burger one person described as “the stuff of dreams.”
The Sticky Wicket Bar & Restaurant
919 Douglas Street
Happy hours: Daily, 3 to 6 p.m.; Sunday to Thursday, 9 p.m. to close.
On the menu: This sprawling pub at the Strathcona Hotel has seen its share of boozy shenanigans, no doubt thanks in part to its beast of a happy hour. You’ll find $6 sleeves of beer, $7 shafts, $5 highballs, $6 glasses of wine and snacks like the $8 plate of nachos or mini-perogies. From Sunday through Thursday they also offer deeply discounted industry pricing for drinks like single highballs and picklebacks for under $4.
The Courtney Room
623 Courtney Street
Happy hours: Daily, 2 to 5 p.m.
On the menu: This airy and elegant dining room at the Magnolia Hotel was YAM’s Restaurant of the Year in 2024 and offers an exceptional happy-hour experience. A talented bar team serves up a generous selection of $12 classic cocktails as well as $11 glasses of fine wine and $6.50 pints of
beer. Just as tempting are the bar snacks, which include the more-ish buttermilk-fried mushrooms and a terrific dry-aged burger.
The Tapa Bar Restaurant
620 Trounce Alley
Happy hours: Daily, 3 to 5 p.m.; Sunday to Thursday, 9 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 to 11 p.m.
On the menu: Tapas are the whole point here, savoury snacks that lend themselves to sharing and are perfect for happy hour. Enjoy generous portions of $7 papas bravas, $8 croquetas or $20 mussels, along with $7 house wines, $6.50 pints and $24 pitchers of sangria.
But that’s not all! There are weekly features like the $12 paella on Spanish Sundays and 20 per cent off bottles on Wine Wednesdays. Also happy: Sister restaurant Bodega around the corner also has intriguing wine and other happy-hour specials.
Tora Tiki
714 Cormorant Street
Happy hours: Daily, 5 to 7 p.m.
On the menu: Dreaming of a tropical getaway? Then the $12 Piña Coladas and $8 Daiquiris at this classic tiki bar may just be what you need, and certainly a lot less pricey than a flight to the Caribbean.
NURTURE YOUR BODY THIS YEAR WITH WILD, SUSTAINABLE, B.C. SEAFOOD
A fish-focused grain bowl is a perfect way to start your year off right. No recipe needed! Simply cook your favourite whole grains, top with beautiful seasonal vegetables, dressing of your choice, and finish it off with a perfect piece of wild, sustainable seafood. The world is your oyster, and the options are endless. Nutritious food for a healthful new year!
Time is Right for The Temps
Victoria’s popular cover band follows the long and winding road to record at Abbey Road.
By David Lennam
Full of nerves, Justin Hewitt cautioned the staff at the iconic Abbey Road Studios not to reveal which legendary singers had used the microphones he was singing into.
“I told them on the first day: ‘Don’t tell me because I imagine I’ll get stage fright. Don’t tell me what I’m singing into until I’m done.’ ”
So, on the third day at the studio, his vocal tracks for Love Will Disarm You (The London Sessions) complete, the staff started pointing them out.
“That skinny one’s John Lennon, that one David Bowie, this one’s Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, this is Oasis …” And so on.
Such is the near-mythical lineup of talent that has laid down tracks at Abbey Road.
Victoria’s Hewitt, frontman for top cover band The Temps, had taken his bandmates and producer Joby Baker to London, to the Mecca of recorded sound, to the most famous recording studio in the world. And there, amidst the musical ghosts of greatness past, they assembled 11 very personal indie-folk and rock tracks — Hewitt’s third album and the first since his 2019 EP The Ways to Love You.
“First time you walk in [to Abbey Road Studios] and get through the front door, you’re like a little kid,” says the 44-year-old Hewitt,
who, when not gigging at the Bard & Banker or Irish Times, works as an IT director in the public service. “You go through the hallways and this is a living museum. Every wall you brush against has history. When I walked into Studio Two, it smelled like an old library.”
The story of rock ’n’ roll was everywhere, especially in the iconic Studio Two where The Temps recorded. Abbey Road still uses equipment featured on albums like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In fact, the silver compressor box that Hewitt’s voice was fed through was used on Sgt. Pepper’s Studio Two is more than a holy place for music. It’s where The Beatles recorded almost all their work.
For a Beatles fan like Hewitt (just ask him to talk about Revolver), who recalls a childhood singing along to Beatles tunes with his dad, the project was bittersweet. The pandemic had been a time of loss: his grandmother, uncle, a close friend and, a year later, his dad. Hewitt had already booked dates in Abbey Road when his father passed.
“And he would’ve loved [being in the studio with me].”
His father would be proud of the results, though.
From the power chorus of “Remember When” to the stripped-down introspection of
“If This is Goodbye,” the album really captures the band live.
“I approached it like it was the last album I’d ever record. Say this is the last thing you do, so do everything you want on it.”
Hewitt may have felt a bit like he was in Peter Jackson’s recent Beatles doc Get Back and admits he’d one day like to get back to Abbey Road again, but the experience comes with a steep price tag.
Me: “Are you going to tell me how much it cost to book Abbey Road?”
Justin, laughing hard: “Nope. I’m not.”
Hewitt founded The Temps with 54-40 drummer Matt Johnson 13 years ago. While Johnson only sits in from time to time these days, the longtime lineup features heavyweights Rick May (Michael Jackson/ Rickie Lee Jones), Murray Creed (Groove Studios/Victoria Drum Fest) and Josh Szczepanowski (the Pink Floyd tribute act PIGS), who have racked up 1,000 live shows together. To describe them as tight isn’t doing them justice.
Hewitt is planning some sort of album release in February, but you can hear some of their London Sessions each night The Temps perform.
For show dates and times, visit irishtimespub.ca or bardandbanker.com
The Temps’ frontman Justin Hewitt lays down tracks at Abbey Road Studios.
CULTURE CALENDAR
Events to brighten the dark days of winter.
Sum 41: Tour of the Setting Sum
January 10, Save-On Foods Memorial Arena
After 27 years together, the Grammy-nominated, two-time Juno-Award-winning rockers from Ajax, Ontario, are splitting up, so be sure to catch them as they perform songs from their ambitious new album. sofmc.com
Whose Live Anyway?
January 16 to 17, Royal Theatre
The current cast members of the Emmynominated TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? perform 90 minutes of hilarious improvised comedy and song all based on audience suggestions. rmts.bc.ca
Jeremy Hotz: Très Misérables
January 17, McPherson Playhouse
Canadian-born comedian Jeremy Hotz and his dog Shack invite you on their 10th national “Très Misérables!” tour. rmts.bc.ca
Snowed In Comedy Tour
January 18, Royal Theatre
They’re back! The biggest comedy tour in Canada celebrates its 16th year with four international comedians — Dan Quinn, Pete Zedlacher, Paul Myrehaug and Erica Sigurdson — coming together to create one amazing and hilarious show. rmts.bc.ca
Dominic Miller: The Shape of My Heart Tour
January 19, McPherson Playhouse
Sting’s trusty guitarist and co-author of many of his hits makes his first appearance in Victoria. Dominic Miller has performed over 1,000 concerts with the former Police singer, but is also a prolific solo artist with 12 albums to his name, including his new release, Vagabond rmts.bc.ca
’90s Dance Mix Tour
January 19, Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre
Slip into your Chucks and Vogs and step back in time and into Canada’s biggest 1990s dance party! Hosted by Canada’s own Rick “The Temp” Campanelli and DJ Kav, it features a lineup of dance music legends, including Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan and Technotronic’s Daisy Dee. sofmc.com
Dance Victoria presents Dancers of Damelahamid in Raven Mother
January 24, McPherson Playhouse
Co-commissioned by Dance Victoria, Raven Mother is its newly choreographed dance work in honour of late Elder Margaret Harris (1931-2020), performed here by an Indigenous company that has worked to revitalize cultural song and dance. rmts.bc.ca
Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival
January 26, University of Victoria Farquhar Auditorium
The Alpine Club of Canada, Vancouver Island Section, is proud to present some of the year’s most exhilarating and inspiring movies depicting breathtaking journeys and daring expeditions set in awe-inspiring landscapes and untouched wilderness. Immerse yourself in the beauty, thrill and spirit of the great outdoors. uvic.ca/farquhar
Behind The Moon by Anosh Irani
February 4 to March 2, The Belfry Theatre
Hailed as “one of CanLit’s most innovative chameleons,” playwright Anosh Irani takes us to the Mughlai Moon restaurant in Toronto, where recent immigrant Ayub cooks, cleans and waits for his future to begin. And then a mysterious stranger appears … Note: 18+, content warning. belfry.bc.ca
Dance
Victoria presents Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
February 7 to 8, Royal Theatre
The world’s foremost all-male comic ballet company returns to Victoria with its internationally beloved troupe of dancers as part of a landmark 50th anniversary season. rmts.bc.ca
Victoria Film Festival
February 7 to 16, The Vic Theatre and other venues
Since 1995, VFF has presented the best Canadian and international feature, documentary and short films over a 10-day celebration of cinema. The festival offers workshops, installations, networking opportunities and a legendary opening gala for all who love film. victoriafimfestival.com
The Debaters
February 9 to 10, McPherson Playhouse
You may know the radio show; now experience the live stage performance where comics go toe-to-toe in a battle of laughs and logic and the audience picks the winner. Award-winning comedian Steve Patterson plays host to two of Canada’s top headlining stand-up comics, Yumi Nagashima and Charlie Demers, as they exchange facts and funny lines. rmts.bc.ca
Victoria Jazz Society presents Kellylee Evans
February 13, Hermann’s Jazz Club
The Juno Award-winning Ottawa-based jazz/soul vocalist, storyteller and lightning-strike survivor brings her natural charm and improvisational vocal style back to Victoria after her last show in 2019. rmts.bc.ca
Leif Vollebekk
February 15, McPherson Playhouse
This Canadian singer/songwriter/multiinstrumentalist is also a philosophy student turned troubadour. Think: Leonard Cohen meets Gordon Lightfoot, The Eagles and Nick Drake. rmts.bc.ca
Mother Mother
February 18, Save-On Foods Memorial Centre
Canada’s biggest alt-rock export, Mother Mother, brings their new tour and latest album, Grief Chapter, to Victoria. The band goes big on this one, which is all about making the most of every moment. sofmc.com
Our Lady Peace: 30th Anniversary Tour
February 24, Save-On Foods Memorial Centre
OLP has spent the past three decades shaping the Canadian rock scene, now the rockers bring their biggest hits and hottest new tracks to town. Joining them is Georgia-born rock band Collective Soul, who are also celebrating three decades of making music together. sofmc.com
Nikki Glaser: Alive and Unwell Tour
February 27 to 28, Royal Theatre
The comedian and podcast host hits Victoria fresh off her gig hosting the 82nd annual Golden Globe Awards on January 5. Brutally honest and unapologetically herself, Glaser has been nominated for both a Critics Choice and Emmy Award, and boasts the title of “best roaster on the planet.” rmts.bc.ca
Kellylee Evans, Hermann’s Jazz Club, February 13
The Heady Perfume of Rain
By Joanne Sasvari
There is a perfume called Shumukh, which is made with rare ingredients like Indian agarwood, sandalwood, musk and Turkish rose, and bottled in pearl-and-diamondcrusted gold. It sells for $1.29 million — that’s U.S. dollars, so around a gazillion in Canadian — making it the world’s costliest fragrance.
Yet it is nowhere near as magical as petrichor. And that is something we can enjoy for free.
Petrichor is the earthy aroma we smell when a light rain hits dry soil. It is the fresh, clean aroma of growth and renewal, the delicate scent of hope, the promise of change for the better.
Although it’s been around as long as rain has, the word was only coined in 1964 — it comes from the Ancient Greek “pétra,” meaning rock, and “ikhor,” the ethereal fluid believed to be the blood of the gods — and its source was only isolated
in 2015, by a team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Like any good fragrance, which is a mix of accords and top, middle and base notes, petrichor is a complicated chemical composition. It is a combination of volatile plant oils and geosmin, a chemical compound produced by various bacteria and fungi, which is released as an aerosol when rain hits dry ground. Sometimes there’s ozone in the mix, too. Just remember that you won’t detect petrichor in a heavy rain or after a long period of rain.
Many perfumers have tried to capture this evocative fragrance in a bottle. Think: Marc Jacobs Rain, Guerlain Après l’Ondée (“after the shower”) or Demeter Petrichor. But the best way to enjoy it is simply to open your door, step outside, breathe deeply and revel in the perfume of well-being.
