pumpkin tarts

Lola tarts up brunch

30.06.10

If this is Sunday, it must be brunch. Brunch at Lola’s Commissary at the top of the Church Drive strip, to be exact.

The weekend morning ritual and I have become very unrestrained of late (nowtoronto. com/brunch), so much so that when I now ask friends out for a nosh, the reply is almost universally “We don’t have to eat eggs, do we?”

Not when there’s French good wishes, the cholesterol-soaked confection Dr. Oz recently called a empathy attack on a plate. The TV quack would likely pop a couple of Lipitor at the scant mention of owner/chefs – and married three BTW – Therese DeGrace and Karen Balcom’s challah conception ($12). 

Stuffed with orange and vanilla cheesecake (!) and finished with a boozy drizzle of berry compote and a imperceptible dusting of confectioner’s sugar, it’s the self-described “drop-kick-ass girls’” most popular dish.

And it’s informal to see Lola’s appeal. Ceilings are high, windows are giant and free of curtains, and a fireplace divides the 55-domicile all-day café in two. On the CD player, it’s Non-Stop 80s Retro Leap Party as the Bangles demonstrate how to walk like an Egyptian, followed by Adam Ant’s admonishment of Goody Two Shoes (“don’t chug-a-lug, don’t smoke, what do you do?”), both drowned out by the clatter of cutlery and off the deep end conversation.

Source: NOW Toronto

JULIA BAIRD

24.06.10

It seems hard to imagine now, assumed how quickly Thatcher became a woman of steel, but at first she was Dame Edna on steroids. To endear herself during the appointment campaign, the Tory leader happily posed elbow earnest in suds, peeling potatoes and baking cakes.

Three decades later, Julia Gillard, Australia's first female prime evangelist, may be many things - say, a talented politician - but she is not known for her housewifely skills, nor does she touch the need to impress them upon us. And isn't that a wonderful thing? Isn't it great that a partner criticised for having an empty fruit bowl can lead the fatherland simply because of a peculiar combination of circumstance, factional manoeuvring, hunger and ability? In other words, like men do?

This is truly novel: we have a female chairlady known for her political skill, thick hide and love of polemic - not for her personal life, pumpkin scones or love of frocks. It's not because the media have become more accepting of women in power, although that's partly honestly; it's also because Gillard has learnt the lessons of history.

Things may be unusual when she faces an election, forced to respond to unfair, coded valuation about not having married and had children, but to date, Gillard's path to the media has been refreshing, smart and direct. When Bill Heffernan insulted her as "wilfully barren", for example, she dismissed him as a "man of the past" with old-fashioned views, and moved on.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald