Eat to the Beat Recap

Tuesday night we were invited to the 18th Annual Eat to the Beat at Roy Thompson Hall. This fundraising event benefiting the Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada was full of delicious food, tasty beverages, silent auctions, raffles and best of all, corsets designed and worn by breast cancer survivors. Seeing all these brave and strong women defeating a silent killer like breast cancer is simply awe inspiring.

The night quickly flew by as patrons and supporters joined in and enjoyed the live band playing while they lined up at the booths to try one of the many delicacies especially prepared by the 60 female chefs. We would like to doff our caps off to anyone that was able to sample all creations by the chefs, as we were not able to.

We’d like to however, give a shout out to a few of our favorite bites (in no particular order):

· Thai Noodle Salad with Chicken by Chef Nuit Regular of Sabai Sabai
· Pulled Brisket Sandwich by Chef Alida Solomon of Tutti Matti
· Adult Grilled Cheese (with DUCK BACON!) by Chef Lili Sullivan of East & Main Bistro
· Salted Caramel Cake Cup by Dufflet Rosenburg of Dufflet
· Ice Wine Cheesecake Balls by Lynn Jones-Adams of Inn on the Twenty

But to be perfectly honest to those who couldn’t come, there wasn’t one bite that we didn’t enjoy. The talent and creativity of these female chefs was simply astounding.

We’d like to thank the Chefs who donated their time and talent, the sponsors and volunteers of Eat to the Beat for this annual event.

We’re sure next year will be even tastier.

images by citygirlscapes

18th Annual Eat to the Beat

This coming Tuesday October 22 at Roy Thompson Hall is the 18th Annual Eat to the Beat featuring 60 of Canada’s top female chefs. This is a fundraiser benefiting Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada, a not-for-profit organization that offers free peer support to anyone coping with breast cancer. This annual event is women supporting women and we here at CityGirlScapes wouldn’t miss it!

Cancer has touched almost everyone’s lives at some point and we believe everyone should be aware of how unfortunately common breast cancer is and the importance of self awareness.

What really caught our eye is the truly inspiring tradition at Eat to the Beat; breast cancer survivors will be modeling food inspired corsets that they’ve created. Talk about a tasty treat!

Eat to the Beat will also feature live music, a silent auction and raffle draws.

We hope to see you there with us and lend your support to such a great cause.

Tickets are $175 (with a tax receipt) and includes all food and beverages.

images courtesy of Eat to the Beat

Night of the Living Dead LIVE! - Braaaaaaaaaaains

What does it take to survive a night among the living dead? Anyone familiar with George A. Romero’s classic 1968 film Night of the Living Dead knows your chances really aren't that good.

Until October 27, Nictophobia Films is bringing the genre changing horror film to the stage with Night of the Living Dead Live! at the Theatre Passe Muraille to celebrate the iconic film and explore the chances of surviving a night among the undead.

Let us set the scene. Theatre Passe Muraille is situated down a quiet old Toronto back street, away from the noise and crowd of Queen Street, in a big old building that looks like an old firehall (but was originally a bakery built in 1902). The creep factor already sets in before the show even starts.

Night of the Living Dead Live! starts off much the same as the film does, with Barbra (Gwynne Philips) and her brother Johnny (Andrew Fleming) visiting their father’s grave. Barbara is noticeably uncomfortable in the graveyard; something Johnny takes advantage of by teasing that “They’re coming to get you, Barbra”. 

Barbra is attacked by a strange zombie-like man (Trevor Martin), who Johnny tries to fend off but he falls and bashes his head killing himself. Barbra flees to a farmhouse where she discovers a woman’s mangled corpse, screams and that’s when Ben (Darryl Hinds) enters to try and calm her down. Barbra slowly descends into a shock-driven comatose state as Ben begins boarding up the doors and windows.

While taking cover in the farmhouse, Ben and Barbra meet Harry (Mike Nahrgang) and Helen (Dale Boyer) Cooper, who have been hiding out in the cellar with their daughter Karen and teenage couple Tom (Andrew Felming) and Judy (Dale Boyer). This is where it all starts to go downhill.

This is the point that you notice the character list has started to outnumber the cast list. With a cast of only six, each person is relied upon to play multiple roles, seamlessly pulling off quick costume changes, having to be on one side of the stage one moment and then directly across the stage a half a second later. We’re always so impressed by the talent and organization this kind of acting requires. Props to Dale Boyer particularly, who was called upon as two main characters often having to quickly transform from one to the other in the same scene multiple times.

The classic film is iconic in black and white, something the production team decided to try to incorporate into the play. Each character was wearing a layer of white-ish makeup, turning themselves a black-and-white film colour of grey. The stage set was created with subtle blacks and greys and whites causing a similar black-and-while tv feel and the video screen projection used throughout vital scenes was vintage looking, intertwined with actual clips from the film. This whole feel played out extremely well and was very cool to watch.

Instead of using the entire run of the play to take us through the movie scene for scene, Night of the Living Dead Live! is done through a series of multiple endings, where the characters are all faced with different issues and challenges as they desperately try to survive the night. The play starts at the beginning, with the local Sheriff coming to inspect the farmhouse scene. He and his deputy run through theories of what could have been done differently to help ensure their survival and each theory is played out – to their endless demise – in front of us on stage, each scenario cleverly incorporating elements from the film for the audience's amusement.

The entire production is incredibly well done and the concept is quite cool. We don’t think enough people know that this play exists; we were supremely surprise by how many empty seats there were at last night’s production. 

If you’re at all into zombie culture or classic horror films or are just looking for an interesting, unique night out, Night of the Living Dead Live! is something you need to see before it’s too late.

Tickets are currently on sale.

images from official website

Book Review: The Secret Keeper

Having been a fan of Kate Morton for years now, Veronica was super excited to finally get her hands on Morton's newest novel, The Secret Keeper. And she's so glad she did. And even more glad that it wasn't anything like The Distant Hours. 

In 1961, sixteen year old Laurel Nicolson witnesses an event so shocking she suppresses it. Not understanding what happened and being unable to discuss it with anyone, including her mother who knew the truth of it, she moves on. Becomes an actress. In 2011, Laurel is now in her sixties and her mother is dying, returning to her childhood home opens up those old memories and she embarks on unravelling what happened long ago and her dying mother's involvement. 

Morton scored another with The Secret Keeper and brought back so many of the twisting elements that made me love The Forgotten Garden so much. Her writing style is clear and even when she leads you down the rabbit hole, you go willingly and gladly. 

We love it when an author makes you want to wait to read the story on the pages and slowly reveal the truths rather than being able to guess the ending a hundred pages in. 

The modern day weaving with the past is what makes The Secret Keeper so rich and each character is so well written, you can't help but root for a certain one's demise or success. 

If you're a Kate Morton Fan and missed the awesomeness of The Forgotten Garden, pick up The Secret Keeper, you won't be disappointed.

CityGirl Rating: 5 out of 5 glasses of wine