Eckler_Actuarial Office 4

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'OPENING', MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS, JP LAFRANCE

We have started to select art for the Eckler office.  I am thrilled that one of the first selections is this stunning canvas by Jean-Pierre Lafrance, an artist represented by the Harbour Gallery.

A Little Respect

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The Foodstock fundraiser last weekend to fight the proposed 'mega-quarry' just north of Toronto underlined the importance, beauty and proximity of Southern Ontario's rich farmland.  It was reported that this event drew nearly 30,000 concerned citizens (including mysef) to sample the efforts of 100 talented chefs and support the cause to fight the potentially devastating effects that a quarry would have on this resource.  Not only does much of the produce feeding Ontario come from this area - as cultivated by the many local farmers in attendance - but for many city-dwellers this bucolic landscape just an hour away from downtown Toronto is an essential and beloved connection to natural beauty.

It was striking how a delicious, expertly prepared sample of food eaten in the forest could be more eloquent than any protester's placard or slogan.

With Love

I have just been transported back to Italy.  The BBC show 'Two Greedy Italians' expresses a vibrant and utterly captivating love for life, beauty, family, tradition, and a deep cultural obsession with good cooking - with a generous dose of often ridiculous humour.  Given my many experiences in Italy and its influence on my love of cooking, art, architecture and design - seeing these two vivacious, nostalgic, and incorrigible Italians on their culinary adventures strikes a deep personal chord, and I wanted to share.