Located at 35 Church Street in Toronto, the Hot House Cafe has one of the best people watching patio’s around. It’s located near theatres, music, hotels and night clubs, making it an awesome location to stop in before heading out for the evening. They’re also open for Sunday brunch.

The Hot House Martini is their signature martini on their menu. It’s rich, thick and sweet – you’ll love it.

• 1 oz Pomegranate Liquor
• 1 oz Blueberry liquor
• ½ ozSimple syrup
• ½ oz pomegranate juice
• ½ oz blueberry juice
• 1 oz Lemonade

Fill a martini shaker half full of ice. Add in all ingredients. Shake until the shaker begins to frost. Pour into a chilled, sugar rimmed martini glass.

The name says it all – blueberry martini. Smooth and easy to drink.

• 1 oz Vodka
• 1 oz Cranberry juice
• 1 oz Orange juice
• 1 tbsp Blueberry puree

Pour all ingredients into a martini shaker half filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled, sugar rimmed martini glass. Garnish with fresh blueberries.

Smoked chicken liver and foie gras parfait

“I’ve wanted to run a casual place for years,” said John Blakely, owner of the trendy new French bistro located in downtown Vancouver, Le Parisien. The sidewalk café restaurant opened in early April 2012 with much fanfare and excitement. Until now, Vancouver hasn’t had a lot of options for old-world comfort food.

Albacore tuna tartar

Executive Chef Tobias Grignon has mined the bistro repertoire to bring the best of the best to Le Parisien. The menu boasts a wide selection of classic French cuisine – from smoked chicken liver and foie gras parfait to braised lamb gnocchi.

Braised lamb gnocchi

Other notable dishes include the potted duck rillettes, French onion fondue, and cassoulet de castelnaudary.

Cassoulet de castelnaudary

End the meal on a sweet note with apple tart tatin, citrus parfait or dark chocolate mouse.

Dark chocolate mouse, salted caramel and cocoa nib tuile

Le Parisien’s prices also reflect the French bistro ethos of good food at reasonable prices –is easy on your wallet.

The bistro is open Tuesday – Sunday from 8am – 11pm, with Saturday and Sunday brunch served from 10am – 3pm.

Chefs Across the Water is back for another year at Hastings Country House on Salt Spring Island. The third-annual guest chef program invites distinguished chefs from luxury hotels and gourmet restaurants to participate in a dinner series in June, September and October.

The 2012 Chefs Across the Water participants are:

• Chef Nicholas Nutting, The Wickaninnish Inn, Monday, June 11th
• Chef Lee Parsons, The Wedgewood Hotel, Monday, September 17th
• Chef Terry Pichor, Sonora Resort, Tuesday, October 16th

“We are thrilled to bring chefs with a diverse international repertoire, from the Relais & Châteaux family, here to Hastings House,” said Kelly McAree, Hastings House General Manager. “Our diners will enjoy an exquisite and memorable meal that compliments fully our Salt Spring Island pantry.”

Each chef will prepare a five-course dinner incorporating Salt Spring Island’s produce; seafood that includes, locally caught Dungeness crab and sable fish, as well as lamb and livestock for a foodie’s dream come true.  Wine pairings will be offered to complement the extraordinary menu.

When you’re traveling, sometimes you’re in a hurry, or like to treat yourself. It’s not always about the destination – it’s about the journey getting there. This summer if you have travel plans between Victoria and Vancouver, HeliJet is offering mid-week one-way flights from $179 per person!

It’s an amazing experience from the time you arrive until you arrive at your destination. Plan to arrive about 20-30 minutes before your flight time. After you check-in you can enjoy complimentary snacks and refreshments including coffee, tea, oatmeal, cookies and yogurt.

When it’s time to board, the passengers are escorted to the aircraft. It’s perfectly normal to get one of the staff to get your photo taken with the helicopter – after all, you want to document that you flew on a helicopter!

The Sikorsky helicopter is comfortable and very spacious. The pilots will take you through a quick briefing and then you’re off on your 25-minute harbour-to-harbour scenic journey. Remember to bring your camera!

Even during inclement and most rough weather conditions, daily scheduled flights continue to operate – ensuring passengers arrive safely and on-time.

Photo contributed

 “Telling LGBT stories of love has been a focus of our music since the beginning.” says Sugarbeach’s lesbian singer / songwriter, Marlee Walchuk. “We feel that although many aspects of our community are represented in the media, not nearly enough give us a glimpse of solid, loving relationships.

The openly out and married music duo, Marlee Walchuk and Tully Callendar reflected upon their own ‘love at first sight’ in their latest single, Led Me To You.

“I am so grateful for all the experiences that I had to have before I could be ready to be in this wonderful relationship,” said Callender. “It always amazes me how many things had to line up to make sure that we met and fell in love. It was no easy feat considering I lived in Australia and Marlee lived in Canada…oh and I was straight!”

Produced by Sugarbeach and Jim Walchuk, the song’s energy and ‘feel good’ message is pure Sugarbeach and is a more personal follow up to their gay anthems, “Living Out Proud’ and their 2011 North American Outgames theme song, “Come On Out.”

Winners of Song of the Year for both 2010 and 2011 on the OutVoice Top 40 Charts and 3 Pride in the Arts Awards from the Stonewall Society, Sugarbeach once again endorse a positive form of activism with their new single, Led Me to You.

“We hope that people take away the message from Led Me to You that our life experiences and choices have led us to where we are supposed to be and who we are supposed to be and there is no room in that for regret,” continued Callender.

• To Listen: http://soundcloud.com/sugarbeach/led-me-to-you
• To Buy: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/led-me-to-you-single/id525354333

CONTEST

Enter for a chance to win one of two Sugarbeach prize packages including a Sugarbeach tshirt, autographed Not Deserted album, and I Just Love Girls EP.

To enter this contest, subscribe to myWebbSite.ca (located in the top right hand corner).

Receive additional entries by doing the following after you have subscribed:

1. Tweet the following about the contest: “I entered for a chance to win an @sugarbeachmusic prize package from @br_webb #LedMeToYou http://ow.ly/aWj1u”
2. Leave a contest on this blog post on how you met your significant other.

Contest closes at 5:00pm PST, Sunday, May 20, 2012. One random drawn winner will be announced on this blog post on or before Monday, May 21, 2012.

Read the complete contest rules.