Queen of the waves, lady of the drink, mistress of my own watery domain: I’ve spent many a summer hammering on these shameless acts of hotdoggery, so those fair titles could be mine, baby, all mine. We (Canadians) all know that modesty has an all-too-prominent place in the Canadian psyche, but not here. Not now. Let the showboating begin!

Paddle Canada—a roundup:

[field_content_box-raw]Starting in Toronto, ON, Johnston rode east to the end of the road: Cape Spear, NL—the easternmost point on the continent! After that, the only option was west, so Johnston aimed his trusty Ducati Multistrada at Vancouver, BC. He just zipped through Ontario, landing in Manitoba.

He mused about doing it, and now he’s done it. Toronto, ON’s super-chef Susur Lee has opened a restaurant in New York City. Like doting parents, we’re sad to see him go, but oh, so proud.

Canada is in the media spotlight next week at the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)’s “Canada In Style” at St Lawrence Hall on March 11.

It’s tough being a tea drinker.

My two favourite menus, in no particular order, are Christmas dinner and the Thanksgiving feast. But it’s not just the turkey heaped with gravy that does it for me. I need all the trimmins’ (i.e., cranberries).

Departure

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After months of planning, dozens of emails, phone calls, headaches and jars of Nutella (our favourite fuel), we’re finally on our way to the airport. I haven’t sorted out all the details of our grand tour before leaving, so I’ll be spending the first few days close to my cell phone and keyboard. Ready or not, here we go!

We all know that Aussies love to travel, and few folks have more stamps in their passport than Trevor Cochrane, Nigel Ruck and Neville Passmore – hosts of the highly successful The Garden Gurus and The Gurus Explore TV shows.

I pay a lot of lip service to eating locally and in season, but this autumn I’ll really be putting my money where my mouth is. I’m picking apples at a working orchard. Lucky for all of us, when it comes to Canadian apple farms, there’s no slim pickings. Here are a few popular U-pick spots worth checking out between now and late October.