How do you dew?

June 11, 2019 by Fleur Boomsma in Blog

If you’re all about self-care, then this is the right spot for you!

Written by Fleur Boomsma

After your sweat session, you’re invited to have a seat to cool down in the lounge area. Refreshments will be served! // FLEUR BOOMSMA

Dew Sweat House. Want to feel dewy? No pun intended! If you’re all about ‘self-care’, this is the right spot for you. Feel like the Los Angeles and New York City celebrities who attend these sweat lodges to either relax, detoxify, or even boost their metabolism. You’ll definitely feel sweaty and amazing afterwards.

These sweat houses have been positively preached on Ellen, the Kardashians and other famous talk shows. Dew is co-owned by Sue Kuruvilla and Julianne Smola, who opened up this spot after their life-changing experience in LA and New York City.

People have been enjoying this experience in the United States for quite some time. However, these franchise companies had no interest in bringing this experience to Canada, which is why Smola and Kuruvilla found themselves the perfect opportunity to bring their own idea to Toronto’s East End.

“It takes some crappy life experiences before you realize that need to take care of your health,” Smola says, “we bought into the philosophy and we thought we could turn this into a really good brand from an experience perspective.”

Really, the process is simple. They wrap you in a big infrared blanked, you watch your favourite Netflix series for about an hour. When you’re finished you get to relax in the post-sweat lounge and enjoy freshly cut oranges with some tea.

“I usually describe it as two phases, the relaxing phase and the work out phase where your heart rate goes up a lot,” says Smole, who describes the sweat experience.

According to Dew’s website, their infrared heat blankets “safely raise your body’s core temperature without warming the air around you, promoting a deeper, more intense sweat.”

Besides Smola and Kuruvilla wanting to bring a different kind of self-care experience to the Toronto market, they also offer “cancer patients who have completed treatment their first sweat session for free”.

Being treated for cancer is a full-time job, Smole says, between going to your chemo, radiation and following up with blood tests etc. can be really exhausting. This made her realize that there isn’t a lot of financial support and time to do anything beneficial for yourself beyond the prescribed treatment.

“What we wanted to do is give people a break from a financial perspective and the opportunity to take care of yourself in a way that is nice,” Smole says.

Nothing beats this zen experience. You get to sweat as if you’re working out while watching your favourite Netflix show. Does anything sound better (or more LA)?

Follow Dew Sweat House on Instagram!

Trust the Flo!

May 30, 2019 by Fleur Boomsma in Food + Drink

Seating and access for everyone in the family

Written by Fleur Boomsma

Many homemade and gluten free options are available at your newly opened cafe on Gerrard St East // FLEUR BOOMSMA

Elvy & Flo is that cute corner café on Gerrard where you can sit down for hours and unwind. Whether you’re taking a break from work or you’re there to get work done, owners Ann Peel and Perry Caicco don’t see you as a transaction but rather as a friend. This definitely isn’t your typical Second Cup or Starbucks in Toronto.

The walls are decorated with blue and yellow restored woods, combined with the brick wall. The large windows allow the shining sun to come through and the space automatically feels ten times better than it already is. You can see it as a warm and cheerful community space, and don’t be surprised to mommy groups and teachers’ meetings taking place!

Whether you want to sit in the front or in their sun room, tons of light shines through the windows and it even has a stroller accessible side door! // FLEUR BOOMSMA

The name, Elvy & Flo signifies the owner’s grandmothers because they were so good at creating warmth and community. The names of their grandmothers captured the essence of what they wanted to convey.

“We mainly want to be a woman centred space, which is also the purpose of the café’s name because it’s named to the women that were important in our lives,” Ann said.

Seating is available for the whole family, who doesn’t love that? !// FLEUR BOOMSMA

The food

Ann and Perry work with the Taste Canada Award winning food blogger, Susan (better known as Sue) Keefe. Sue is not only the in-house chef and baker, but she is also the mastermind behind the café’s recipes. We highly recommend you try the maple tofu panini or the homemade cinnamon brioche!

Cozy up with Elvy & Flo’s house-made cinnamon brioche and a latte // SUE KEEFE

If you have a gluten intolerance, this is another reason why Elvy & Flo is the new spot for you. The café offers many sourdough products because Perry also has a gluten intolerance. We suggest you try the sourdough pizza and the baked dough sandwich (the milk buns are homemade)!

Follow Elvy & Flo on Instagram to see their most delicious meals!

“Pop in for a slice of Sweet Heat pizza. Piled high with mortadella, chunks of fresh pineapple, and spicy banana peppers covered in a blanket of gooey provolone, this pizza is sure to cure you of your rainy day blues,” // SUE KEEFE

Furry friends: Don’t work around your vet’s schedule!

April 18, 2019 by Fleur Boomsma in Blog

Work around your own with Riverdale’s travelling RVT

Written by Fleur Boomsma

Does your furry friend need to get a mani/pedicure? Contact Meaghan Michaud for her services // Image by LISA ROLLAND

Your precious, furry, little friend deserves the best care in the world and taking a trip to the clinic or pet store isn’t always as comfortable for the both of you. What if you knew about a registered veterinary technician (RVT) that could come to your home to offer the services you need?

Pet Pedis is Riverdale’s travelling RVT and has been in business since 2012. The owner and RVT, Meaghan Michaud, offers treatments like nail care, ear cleaning, B12/insulin injections, and now also offers pet-sitting for a great price. This way, you don’t have to work around your vet’s schedule and start working around your own.

Michaud comforts her furry friend, Hank as she is trimming his nails // Image by MEAGHAN MICHAUD

Michaud realized that nail care for pets wasn’t necessarily something that owners payed attention to. Some owners who may have physical disabilities weren’t able to put their pets in a carrier and bring it to the vet once or every couple of months to have its nails trimmed.

‘When I was working at a vet clinic, I thought it would be an interesting side project for myself,” Michaud said. “Little did I know that a lot of people would be interested in this kind of service.”

To distinguish the difference between a vet and a RVT is that the vet is essentially an animal doctor and the technician is a person who has successfully graduated from an accredited school and has met all the requirements identified by their provincial state or state association. Michaud also likes to refer herself as an animal nurse.

According to Michaud, to be a RVT you have to write the national exam, pass a criminal background check, and have to attend professional ethics seminars. These technicians are required to keep up with continuing education whether that means attending a conference, a lunch-and-learn, or take an online course. This way the RVT is constantly learning about the changes and updates in medicine.

As a Riverdale resident, Michaud has developed many relationships over the years. She believes it’s a privilege to be trusted with people’s pets, let alone to be trusted enough to be invited into their home.

Hetfield is getting his medication // Image by MEAGHAN MICHAUD

“They’re taking a complete risk asking a stranger to come into their home and handle the most important four-legged creature in their life and yet they do it,” Michaud said.

Michaud has also found that some pet owners don’t quite understand the vet’s instructions and don’t want to ask any further questions because they may feel distraught.

The difference with Pet Pedis is that Michaud goes over the instructions at a pace that works for her clients and in a home that they are comfortable with.

She will take the extra time to make sure that they understand and may even send a follow-up email going over and adding additional information that will help with any further concerns they have.

Vibes speak louder than words at KA Space Café

April 05, 2019 by Suzanne Lewis in Neighbourhood crushes, Food + Drink

A place where you can feel at home

Written by Fleur Boomsma

The whole name defines itself: Space. As you walk in, you realize how much space there is. The big windows, large wooden tables combined with the small and round marble tables describes it all. You can almost see it as an interior designer’s dream café because of its artistic touches and furniture. The open kitchen in the café makes it feel like you’re at home.

“Vibes speak louder than words,” very well said by the fashion designer Kevin Allwood. This is the brand and the café’s slogan; as it’s imprinted on the wall and menus. We were lucky to speak with the owner himself about his life, his brand, and the café itself.

The KA Space brand is co-owned by the Canadian-Jamaican designer Kevin Allwood and his wife Ashley King Allwood. Originally from Montreal, the couple moved to Toronto to set up their venture on Carlaw several years ago.

Kevin and Ashley are very mindful of their atmosphere and the café has essentially designed itself. The space is decorated with healing crystals, plants and of course (our favourite part), fresh bread and baked goods.

When Allwood walks into a place, he likes to feel that he’s not a number and that he matters as a customer. He likes to have room around him, enjoy natural lighting, and he definitely does not like clutter. This is his idea behind the design of the café.

“The whole point behind the design of this space was to create a place that had an open kitchen, a playroom for the children, and to give people the feeling that they have space,” Allwood said.

You can come in with your family to have brunch over the weekend or grab your laptop to get some work done during the day. The point is, you have room and it gives you the ability to relax.

You may find it surprising that this organic, vegan, and vegetarian place is reasonably priced. The café sources their ingredients from Sweets from the Earth (vegan) and Epi Breads (European-style stone baked bakeshop), and they even source their sea salt from Vancouver which is hand harvested.

Meet the designer himself: Kevin Allwood / Photography credit: @MANUANDPASCAL

Kevin is also very conscious on what’s being put in the human body. He sees his body as a machine and you need to be healthy in order for it to function properly.

“When I eat, I don’t want to feel like I’m putting bad things in my body, so I really couldn't do that to somebody else,” Allwood says.

He also doesn’t like the labels of veganism and vegetarianism but says that’s what you have to use in order to communicate the truth.

So, looking at the menu options, you may see that everything is very simplified. Kevin went down the list of what a human’s basic needs are with regards to food. His favourite items on the menu happen to be the breakfast sandwich and the pink lychee cactus pear juice (trust us, this is a great combination).

Future vision for KA Space Café

Come and enjoy the avocado artisanal toast with tomato and sea salt at the KA Space Cafe / Photography credit: @MANUANDPASCAL

Kevin laughs when we asked about the café’s future, “it’s an interesting thing because the whole idea behind the place is very divine,” he says. The café can be replicated because it’s so structured.

Can he see himself opening up this kind of café in every city? His answer: definitely.