Innehållsförteckning för February 2025 från Toronto Life

DIGITAL EDITION FREE FOR PRINT SUBSCRIBERS Your Toronto Life subscription now includes free access to the Toronto Life and FASHION digital editions. In your digital newsstand store, search “toronto life” and “fashion magazine,” download/open the apps, and follow the prompts. SUBSCRIPTION EXPIRY To find out when your current subscription expires, check the mailing label. BILLING AND RENEWAL NOTICE Invoice and renewal notices are printed one week before they are mailed to you. With delivery time, it’s possible that your payment or renewal order will cross in the mail with our invoice or renewal notice. FRAGRANCE-FREE ISSUES Some issues of Toronto Life include perfume strips. If you prefer to receive your copy without perfume strips, write to us at the address listed below. MAIL PREFERENCE On occasion, subscriber names and addresses…

As police union boss, you represent 8,000 uniformed and civilian members. You campaigned as No More Mr. Nice Guy. Why was that necessary? I’m not afraid to speak up. Politicians tend to support police when it’s convenient. There are councillors who voted to defund us in 2020 who now support a larger budget because public sentiment has shifted. I tell the truth, and if it hurts, fine by me. You have the floor. Toronto’s biggest challenge right now is response times. Recent 911 callers have been left on hold between eight and 12 minutes. Average answer times were 28 seconds pre-2022. We need more dispatchers and more officers. So when I argue for a modest budget increase, it’s because the data supports it. You’re asking for a $46-million hike. You…

WHO | Verne Ho, a designer WHERE | North York VERNE ho bought his first serious watch in Las Vegas in 2017. He was in the city for a birthday celebration and decided to splurge on an IWC Ingenieur Chronograph W125 with a calfskin strap. The watch’s design was inspired by 1930s Silver Arrow Mercedes-Benz racing cars. The price tag: $10,000. Since then, Verne has come to appreciate how watches mark milestones. Of the roughly 50 timepieces in his collection, 20 have personal significance. He treasures a gold Rolex Cellini from 1981 that his grandfather gave him. Four years ago, Verne started an Instagram account called Watch Studies that now has more than 300,000 followers. He teaches watch enthusiasts how to snap enticing photos of their pieces and shares stories…

WHEN HE OPENED Belle Isle, the new snack bar in Little India from the team behind Lake Inez, chef and co-owner Jay Moore became obsessed with Jell-O shots. He made batches and batches of them, studied official Jell-O cookbooks, and ran through dozens of recipes. He made a gelatin portrait of Kid Rock and even tried to make an aquarium scene suspended in Jell-O, which co-owner Zac Schwartz said would be almost impossible to replicate 40 times a night. “He tested them on us, his wife, his children—those ones weren’t spiked—and anyone he hadn’t exhausted yet,” says Schwartz. Finally, he nailed it. Since Belle Isle opened in October, its most-Instagrammed menu item is an orange-and-red wave that spells out a cheeky NSFW phrase. These aren’t the cloying Jell-O shots from…

TORONTO LIFE CELEBRATED the 50 Most Influential Torontonians with an exclusive cocktail event at the stylish Canopy by Hilton Toronto Yorkville. VIP guests enjoyed expertly crafted cocktails by World Class Canada, each highlighting a premium spirit—Don Julio Blanco Tequila, Johnnie WalkerBljck Label Blended Scotch Whisky, Ketel One Vodka and Tanquaray No. Ten Gin. For guests preferring a non-alcoholic option, Seedlip Spirits offered a refined, zero-proof alternative. The specialty menu included vibrant flavours, such as prickly pear bright citrus and warming ginger, perfectly complementing the gourmet canapas, liaely conversation and captijating performances Recreate thgsigaature cocktails served with these premium spirits at home!…

When is a bike lane more than a bike lane? When it’s in Toronto. In her reporting on this fraught subject, Kate Lunau heard a common refrain from the anti camp: “Look, it’s not that we’re opposed to bike lanes…” I believe them. Who opposes pavement? And who has it out for cyclists? Really, what they’re saying is that they’re opposed to gridlock, chronic lateness and the paroxysms of road rage that have become an inexorable part of our daily lives. Anyone with a frontal lobe knows that modern cities shouldn’t rely on cars as residents’ main mode of transport. Think about how people navigate New York, London or Tokyo. It takes will, vision and money to design functional cities. Boston spent nearly $15 billion on its “Big Dig,” burying…

Find Mental Health and Addiction Help Anytime in Ontario ConnexOntario connects Ontarians experiencing mental health, addiction, and problem gambling challenges with useful supports, 24/7. Tania Amardeil If you or a loved one is facing challenges with mental health, addiction, or gambling, you’re not alone. According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), one in five Canadians experiences a mental illness in any given year, with young people aged 15 to 24 being the most affected. People with mental illness are twice as likely to have a substance use disorder compared to the general population. And with 62.2 per cent of Ontarians reporting gambling in the past year, hundreds of thousands of people are at risk for gambling-related problems. To tackle these issues and provide resources for those in…

FOR A HANDFUL OF HIGH-FLYING YEARS, Eric Lamaze was the equestrian world’s Great One, a horsey-set Gretzky worshipped for his bold riding style and near telepathic connection with his bay stallion, Hickstead. At the age of 40, after a long string of false starts, the Canadian show jumper finally claimed an individual gold and a team silver at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Lamaze was the world’s top-ranked show jumper in 2009 and again in 2010 and 2011. (Not to be outdone, Hickstead was named best horse at the World Equestrian Games in 2010.) When Lamaze wasn’t competing, he trained young hopefuls who dreamed of becoming the next champion at a barn in Schomberg, north of Toronto, and at his stables in Florida and Belgium. His headquarters, a four-acre palm…

WHO | Peter Roumbos, a semi-retired government worker and former model WHERE | Yorkville PETER ROUMBOS, who grew up in Greece, got his first watch when he was eight, a gift from his father. “My dad loved to wear a nice watch, and he was always impeccably dressed,” says Peter. The first piece he bought for himself was a Guess fashion watch—a dupe of the fancy Breitling he really wanted. Several pricier Jaeger-LeCoultre watches followed, ranging from $5,000 to $12,000. Peter now has 12 of them—part of a collection of 80-plus luxury and vintage watches. His rarest piece is a 1996 Patek Philippe Nautilus that he scored at an auction in 2010 for about $8,000. Today, he estimates it’s worth 10 times as much. Most of his vintage watches are…

AFTER MORE THAN 20 years mesmerizing audiences with gravity-defying leaps and soulful performances, Guillaume Côté is retiring from the stage at the end of the 2024/25 season. Next, he’ll focus on choreographing edgy contemporary pieces for his company, Côté Danse, where he serves as artistic director. He’s been a devoted east ender for the past 25 years, and he currently lives at Jones and Dundas, near Greenwood Park, with his girlfriend, Sophie, and his two kids, who are nine and seven. “I used to love the east end for its grunginess,” he says. “Now I love it for the community feel.” Here are his go-to neighbourhood haunts. For weekend fuel MERCURY ESPRESSO “Some espresso bars make you feel like an idiot if you’re not cool enough—and I’m a 40-something ballet…

• DO: Draw inspiration from cocktails you already like. Who wouldn’t love a margarita Jell-O shot? • DO: Focus on cocktails with a balance of sweet and sour. You’ll find a lot more success with fruity drinks—like a daiquiri or cosmo—than with spiritforward ones. • DON’T: Use too much alcohol, which will prevent your gelatin from setting properly. So will too much acid, so use citrus juice that’s a few days old. INGREDIENTS 3 cups water3 cups sugar60 grams unflavoured gelatin2¼ cups juice of choice3 cups base liquor METHOD 1. Combine water and sugar over medium heat until the sugar is fully dissolved. 2. Remove from heat and stir in gelatin. 3. Once the gelatin has fully dissolved, add the juice and stir in the booze. 4. Fill moulds and chill…

Full House This couple raced to find a starter home in the west end before the birth of their first child THE BUYERS: Alexandar Ciric, 33, an underwriter at an insurance company, and his wife, Sarah, also 33, a private client coordinator at an asset management firm, with their dogs, Draper and Chester. THE STORY: Last year, Alexandar and Sarah were paying $1,600 a month for a one-bedroom rental at Avenue and Wilson. They wanted to start a family and had been saving for a larger place—ideally a detached house with two bedrooms, a parking spot and a yard for their dogs. They set their sights on the west end north of St. Clair, which was equidistant from Alexandar’s family in Parkdale and Sarah’s family in North York. Then, in February,…

TO observe Scottie Barnes on the NBA court, his six-foot-eight frame illuminated by the bright lights of Scotiabank Arena, is to behold a marvel of creation. Spectators grow wide-eyed, awed by his albatross wingspan (seven feet, two inches) and gravity-defying springiness. Wait, how does someone so big move like that? As the crowd follows him back and forth on the court, heads swivelling like it’s Wimbledon, you can almost see it, slung across his athletic form: the hopes and dreams of one vast basketball-mad nation. When he dunks, the crowd oohs. When he steps to defend a teammate from an overly aggressive opponent, his face flashes mean, and the crowd ahhs. In this setting, under these lights, Scottie Barnes is both a man and the man. Yet to see him…

For more information, visit mshf.on.ca CREATED BY Like many people, Terry Silimanis tried to ignore the physical discomfort he was feeling for as long as possible. However, in November 2023, after more than a year, the then 49-year-old road construction worker started to feel generally unwell. He lost a significant amount of weight, found blood in his stool and knew it was time to see a doctor, even if he wasn’t happy about it. “I don’t like hospitals. If I needed stitches at work, it was basically some tissue and electrical tape,” he says with a laugh. The results of Silimanis’s colonoscopy revealed the source of his symptoms—his physician found a tumour in his rectum. He was immediately referred to Dr. Sam Babak, a medical oncologist specializing in gastrointestinal cancers…

WHO | Rhonda Riche, a writer and editor  WHERE | High Park AFTER WATCHING her grandfather, a mechanic, tinker with watches when she was a kid, Rhonda Riche developed a fascination with timepieces. In high school, she desperately wanted a Swatch but couldn’t afford one, so she started picking up vintage watches at yard sales. At one such sale, she scooped up a mechanical Timex that looked like a ritzy Cartier Tank watch, and that was it: she was hooked on the hunt. These days, Rhonda usually has upward of 40 watches in her eclectic collection. Most are G-Shocks, Casios and novelty watches, though the inventory is perpetually in flux. When she needs to pare down, she’ll trade or swap with friends. But there are some items she’ll never part…

In 2024, TL Insiders enjoyed curated experiences celebrating gastronomy, craftsmanship and artistry. From master classes to multi-course dinners to karaoke nights, members explored culinary delights and creative pursuits. We’ve compiled a few highlights—including a St. Patrick’s Day Sunday roast, a candle-making workshop and a sommelier-guided dinner at DaNico—reflecting a year of good times and discovery. Membership is only $75 a year, so sign up today and rediscover the city as a member. Don’t miss out. Sign up at: torontolife.com/insider/membership NÜGATEAU CAFÉ, ST. PATRICK’S DAY, AHMA, REID’S DISTILLERY, MAY FLOWER, BLACK AND BLUE, AND SOLUNA BY GEORGE PIMENTEL PHOTOGRAPHY; LE TIGRE, ROLL THIS WAY AND GLO ORIGINAL BY JP PAV; DANICO BY LUCAS DIMONTE JOIN NOW! $75/year FOR YOUR TL INSIDER MEMBERSHIP…