YAM Magazine Jan/Feb 2026

• Meaningful travel • Nourishing food • Uplifting culture • Wellness for all How to make the most of 2026

18 Spas Are For Men, Too

These five local spas make sure even the toughest guys get the pampering they deserve.

By Lucas Aykroyd

Where To Go Next

Planning your 2026 travels? Put intention and discovery on your itinerary — starting with these five destinations.

By Linda Barnard

Just Say No

Setting limits can be hard. We look into ways to make it easier. Maybe?

By Joanne Sasvari

In Town

This circus arts studio juggles practice, performance and interpersonal connections.

By Julien Johnston-Brew

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Making 2026 a friendlier year. Plus: The YAM contest.

11 HERE + NOW

Introducing your new favourite colour, phthalo green; stylish rain gear; task lighting to keep you focused; soothing scalp spas; the coolest facial treatment (literally); a better toothbrush; criminally good books.

16 IN PERSON

In a city with a booming comedy scene, Morgan Cranny still gets the last laugh. By David Lennam

36 LIFE AT HOME

Welcome home: Thoughtful details prepare this home for its new, longdistance owners. By

Julien Johnston-Brew

48

STYLE WATCH

Forget the sweatpants. This is how to travel in stylish comfort.

Styled by Janine Metcalfe

61 FOOD + DRINK

The London Chef Dan Hayes shares his tips for indulgent comfort cooking. Plus: a splash of sunny citrus, the lovely new Lumache, culinary events, restaurant updates, Canada’s city of gastronomy, bitter news in chocolate, better news for local whisky lovers.

72

SCENE

At Confabulation, it’s all about telling your stories, big or small. Plus: Culture Calendar. By David Lennam

74

PERSPECTIVE

Look closer: The iridescent beauty of bubbles. By Joanne Sasvari

Island vibes, Kiwi style.

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MAKING FRIENDS IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES

It’s a brand-new year, an unblemished calendar with nothing but possibilities ahead. And that makes this the best time for planning and dreaming and setting goals, for settling in with a notebook and a cup of tea and scribbling down all that we hope to accomplish in the coming months.

I don’t want to call them resolutions. Research has shown that resolutions rarely succeed, and who needs to start a new year set up to fail? But there is one promise I’ve made to myself and, judging by the conversations I’m having with friends and colleagues and acquaintances, I’m not alone. In 2026, I am determined to spend more time with the people I care about. Actually, I am determined to spend more time with people, period, both the friends I have and the ones I have yet to meet, even if it means putting on lipstick and hard pants and actually leaving the house. Much has been written in recent years about loneliness and the enormous impact it has on our mental and physical well-being. Seniors are lonely. Young people are even lonelier. Men are in a crisis of loneliness. COVID lockdowns made us lonely. Staring at screens all day is still making us lonely. Everyone, it seems, is craving a connection that seems to be increasingly hard to make.

Luckily for all of us, Victoria is a tough place to be lonely. The mild weather means we can get outside all year round, golfing, paddling, playing pickleball or just going for a walk with a friend. There are events to attend, clubs to join, volunteer efforts to support. Heck, you can just pull up a barstool at countless establishments around town and make new friends in minutes.

Sure, you have to put your phone down and make at least a little effort, but the payoff is so worth it. What you get is not just a happier and healthier life, but people to share it with. And when we talk about living well, that’s what we’re really talking about.

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So here’s to a happy — and much friendlier! — 2026.

Joanne Sasvari, Editor-in-Chief editor@yammagazine.com

DIP, DINE, UNWIND

Enter to win a delicious wellness experience!

One lucky winner gets to enjoy a Dip and Dine package for two at the Grotto Spa at Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort & Conference Centre in Parksville.

This popular experience starts with a self-guided selfcare journey: soak in the mineral pool, detoxify in the cedar barrel saunas, cool down in the outdoor showers, then relax by the warmth of the stone fire tables in the garden patio. Then, still in your cozy bathrobe, head upstairs to the Treetop Tapas & Grill where you will indulge in a curated chef’s tasting menu that journeys through the flavours of the Pacific Northwest.

This giveaway package has a value of $500, including taxes and gratuity. To enter, visit yammagazine.com or scan the QR code. Contest ends March 1, 2026. Some exclusions may apply. Good luck!

PUBLISHERS Lise Gyorkos Georgina Camilleri

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joanne Sasvari

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Jeffrey Bosdet

LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER Janice Hildybrant

ASSOCIATE GRAPHIC DESIGNER Kelly Hamilton

ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS Deana Brown Jennifer Dean Van Tol Cynthia Hanischuk Brenda Knapik Ieva Sakalauskaite

ADVERTISING CO-ORDINATOR Rebecca Juetten

MARKETING & EVENTS

CO-ORDINATOR Lauren Ingle

FASHION EDITOR Janine Metcalfe

COPY EDITOR Lionel Wild

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Lucas Aykroyd, Linda Barnard, Julien Johnston-Brew, David Lennam, Christine Sismondo

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Julien Johnston-Brew

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Linda Barnard, Jody Beck, Chris Hubberstey

CONTRIBUTING AGENCIES Getty Images p. 12, 13, 42, 44, 46, 54, 68, 71; Stocksy p. 61; Tourism Kelowna p. 63

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ON THE COVER Style Watch: Travel Essentials, p. 48. Photo by Jeffrey Bosdet

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580 Ardersier Road, Victoria, B.C. V8Z 1C7 T 250-595-7243 info@pageonepublishing.ca pageonepublishing.ca

Printed in British Columbia by Mitchell Press. Ideas and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Page One Publishing Inc. or its affiliates; no official endorsement should be inferred. The publisher does not assume any responsibility for the contents of any advertisement, and any and all representations or warranties made in such advertising are those of the advertiser and not the publisher. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in all or part, in any form — printed or electronic — without the express permission of the publisher. The publisher cannot be held responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement #41295544

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GLORIOUS GREEN

It’s the colour you’ll see everywhere in 2026.

When the colour pros at Pantone announced that their latest colour of the year was, of all things, boring old white, we, along with much of the design-obsessed world, decided: Nope. Instead, we feel the true colour of 2026 is something called phthalo green. (Pronounced THAH-lo or maybe THAY-lo, it’s short for “phthalocyanine.”) It was originally a copper-based pigment invented in the 1930s, beloved by artists and designers for its vibrancy, durability and versatility. The hue itself is an intense blue-black-green jewel tone that works surprisingly well as a neutral. Mysterious, alluring, luxurious and so very chic, it is as comfortable in traditional settings as it is in contemporary ones, and partners easily with today’s trendy bronzes and warm woods. And — good news for the folks at Pantone — it goes especially well with white.

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Rainy Day People

These five stylish — but still practical — pieces will get you through the wettest, windiest, stormiest weather.

Ready for Anything

The Tilley packable hooded poncho fits generously enough to layer over any outfit plus a backpack, but folds up small enough to toss into that backpack (or your purse or glove compartment) and forget it till you need it. It’s water repellent, wind resistant and the perfect travel companion, for men or women. Available at Adventure Clothing. adventureclothing.ca

downpour quite like a sturdy automatic stick umbrella. It’s even better with a statement pattern like this super on-trend metallic animal print. Soake Metallic umbrella available at The Umbrellatorium. theumbrellatorium.com

Puddle Jumpers

Trust the French to make even rainboots chic. The Miss Juliette boot by Aigle is as sleek and stylish as it is functional and comfortable, with a jaunty red trim and a just-high-enough heel for oh-la-la appeal. Available at Nicholas Randall. nicholasrandall.com

Warm Hands

Ocean Ready

Whether you’re on a hike, a bike, the slopes or just a quick jaunt to the grocery store, keep your hands warm and dry. The Forecast gloves from Vancouver-based Vessi are breathable, waterproof, insulated and touch-screen compatible, with grippy palms and a soft inner lining for extra coziness. ca.vessi.com

No one knows wet weather quite like sailors do, which makes marine supply stores excellent destinations for waterproof gear. The Gill Marine OS32 Coastal Jacket (available for both men and women) is both waterproof and breathable, with a fully lined high-visibility hood, high-cut thermal collar and cuffs with inner seals to keep you both dry and warm. Available at Trotac Marine. trotac.ca

CRYO WHAT NOW?

This cool new treatment can keep your skin looking brighter, calmer and healthier.

Extreme cold has long been used in medical therapy, for muscle recovery, pain reduction, general wellness and other purposes. Now cryotherapy, as it’s known, is being applied to esthetics, and the results are so remarkable we wouldn’t have believed them if we hadn’t tried it ourselves.

Esthetic cryotherapy involves a “controlled cooling” gadget that may remind you a little of an ultrasound device. Made by a company called Glacial Skin, it’s used in two treatments: Glacial Gloss, a four-step, hour-long combination of exfoliation and hydration designed to reduce visible signs of aging caused by inflammation; and the 10-minute Glacial Glide, a soothing add-on to other treatments. Both leave you radiant, relaxed, refreshed and with a glasslike glow, no redness or blotchiness.

Try Glacial Skin at Salt & Ivy, the new spa at Rosemead House, which is the first on the Island to offer the treatments.

saltandivy.ca

USE YOUR HEAD

This massage trend releases stress and makes your hair beautiful, too.

Imagine gentle hands cleansing, massaging, steaming and applying nourishing masks to your scalp. You can feel the tension slipping away just thinking about it. No wonder the head spa has become such a growing trend around the world.

Inspired by traditional Asian wellness practices, especially from Japan, head spas combine relaxation techniques with scalp care (sometimes called a “scalp detox”). The process typically begins with a scalp analysis, then could follow with a dry scalp massage, a scalp massage with nourishing oils and/or a deep cleansing head bath, and could include a facial or full-body massage, too.

All that massage stimulates circulation and promotes hair growth, and the whole process can be luxuriously relaxing and meditative, perfect for those times you need to, well, get out of your head.

Several local spas offer head spa treatments, including: Selenite Spa, Eco Chic Aveda and Oku Head Spa & Massage in Langford.

Smile Brighter

It might be time for a better toothbrush.

You probably don’t think about your toothbrush that often. It does its job twice a day and otherwise just sits there innocently in its little holder until it’s time to replace it with a new one. But if you did think about it, you’d realize that it’s a lot more wasteful, a bit less hygienic and not nearly as stylish as you might like.

Enter the Nada toothbrush. Envisioned by founder Simon Cooper, designed by Victoria’s Ancord Design and made in Canada, this chic, manual toothbrush features a long-lasting aluminum handle with replaceable plastic heads that comprise 80 per cent less plastic than most disposable toothbrushes.

Because the handle is flat it won’t roll around on your bathroom counter, picking up lint and germs, and because it’s made of metal, it looks super cool, especially in shimmering gold.

Nada sends you reminders every three months to replace the plastic heads, and recycles the plastic through TerraCycle, keeping your toothbrush from joining the estimated three billion or so that are tossed out each year. Now that’s something to smile about.

trynada.com

Bright Lights for Dark Days

Give your desk or any other space a glow-up this winter.

We love a task light. Its only job is to make your life easier, to shed light where you need it so you can do the things you need to do. It’s practical, it’s functional and, judging by these great choices, it can look great, too.

Small & Stylish

The Fila table lamp from Vancouver-based Article is a chic showstopper with a powder-coated shade and dainty wire frame. It takes up little space physically or visually, but still sheds enough light to get the job done. article.com

Moody & Modern

Flexible & Functional

The Splitty desk lamp by Koncept has a unique joint design with a wide LED head that casts an even glow onto any surface, performing both as a radiant ambient light and functional task light. Available at Gabriel Ross. grshop.com

If you love all things mid-century modern, you will love the Draper two-light desk lamp from Moe’s Home Collection. It’s not just that it looks cool with its metal cone shades and walnut accents. It also offers maximum light reflection just where you need it. modernfurniturecanada.ca

Deadly Good Reads

The dark days of winter are perfect for curling up with one of these new mystery novels by Canadian authors from coast to coast.

The Italian Secret by Tara Moss (HarperCollins Canada)

The third instalment of the Victoria-based author’s historic series sees former Second World War correspondentturned-investigator

Billie Walker follow a trail of her family secrets to sunny, if troubled, Italy. But as she gets closer to the truth, an unknown enemy will do anything to stop her. (Out now.)

A Gift Before Dying

by

Malcolm Kempt (Crown)

This Newfoundlandbased author follows Corporal Elderick Cole to Nunavut, where, exiled by friends, family and colleagues after a botched investigation, he tries to solve the murder of a troubled Inuit girl he’d sworn to protect — and redeem his own life in the process. (To be released on January 20.)

A Pretender’s Murder

by

Christopher Huang (Inkshares)

The Great War may be over, but its ghosts linger on. This Alberta-based author channels the great Golden Age mysteries when his detective, Eric Peterkin, is embroiled in a web of intrigue while investigating the murder of a colonel with four widowed daughters-in-law. (To be released on February 24.)

A REAL STAND-UP GUY

Scripted or improv, shirt on or off, Morgan Cranny makes a sensation in Victoria’s booming comedy scene.

By David Lennam | Photo by Jeffrey Bosdet

For many of us, Morgan Cranny will always be barrel-chested and shirtless in an Atomic Vaudeville sketch, or behind a microphone hosting the Phillips Comedy Night on Wednesdays at The Mint, or improvising with the gang in Entertainment Village and Sin City, or in a crumpled suit muttering “shot in face” punchlines as Soviet-era stand-up comedian Vasily Djokavich.

The Cranny we know. The performer. The clothing from big-and-tall shops guy.

Less known is that the 55-year-old is a family man, a dad to grown kids and a scientist with the National Forest Inventory, a geospatial analyst who gathers satellite and aerial images to count trees. He’s also a big man in the union — director of the B.C./ Yukon region representing 6,500 workers in the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada.

“So many people assume I make a living from comedy. They’ve obviously never attempted to be a performer in Canada,” he cracks.

ANYTHING FOR A LAUGH

The native of Vanderhoof, that geographical centre of B.C., admits that, for a long time, his creative outlets were stuck on epic sessions of Dungeons & Dragons. Cranny was 30 when a work buddy coaxed him to audition for the Impromaniacs, one of Victoria’s early improv groups. He was a minor sensation.

“Going to the improv rehearsals was fun. It was community and a bunch of people being silly, a bit child-like and you get to cut loose, but I’ll tell you what hooked me was getting up in front of a roomful of strangers and making them laugh for the first time. I remember it was in the old Mocambo Café. Oooh boy. I want more of this. It was one of those, ‘Where has this been my whole life?’ ”

As co-host of the weekly Phillips Comedy Night for the past nine years (with Drew Farrance), Cranny has been witness to the explosion of local stand-up, including some of his faves: Mikey Dubs, Elyott Ryan, Sam Benty and Dan Duvall.

He says the local scene is as strong as

ever with at least 40 comics active right now, numerous venues and, because of the demand from newcomers, a variety of courses in the art of stand-up.

Veteran guys like Cranny are there to shepherd in the newbies and curate the laughs.

“What makes a great set?” I ask. The answer is a template.

“The rule I’ve heard is you tell your second best joke first,” Cranny says. “The middle is your newer stuff or less solid stuff and then the end is your strongest joke. The philosophy I always believe — and this is true for a show, too — you want to start strong and you want to end strong. If the middle is a bit hazy, no one remembers that. [The audience] knows they laughed when they got there and they laughed when they left. We try to bring up a comic we know is strong to start the show. Then we work through our less experienced comedians and build for the end.”

Cranny’s 20 years (and counting) with Atomic Vaudeville’s cabarets were like comedy school, teaching him everything about sketch comedy and acting — skills he’s applied to not only stand-up, but to his forays into traditional theatre and film.

AV cofounder Britt Small calls Cranny a natural clown and shameless in the best way, a performer who gained instant fans when he made his debut in 2006.

“It was apparent that he derived an incredible amount of joy from performing … and all the actors loved working with him,” Small says. “He’s generous, loves to play, is great on the spot, but most of all it’s this kind of open-heartedness, a quality I adore in actors.”

CONTAGIOUS COMEDY

Close friend and colleague in comedy Mike Delamont truly enjoys making Cranny crack up, especially while performing.

“When we’ve shared the stage together there’s a very silly and childish energy between the two of us,” Delamont says. “I think audiences are well aware that we’re trying to make each other laugh and are happy to run things off the rails to do so.”

Picture Tim Conway and Harvey Korman

from The Carol Burnett Show (in fact, restaurateur and sometimes actor Howie Siegel once called Cranny “the Harvey Korman of Victoria”). And, adds Delamont, there are few people who laugh as hard as Cranny does. “His absolute love of comedy is contagious. He has a real everyman quality that audiences really connect with.”

One of Cranny’s most adored characters is Vasily Djokavich, whose deadpan delivery makes Stephen Wright seem like he’s on helium. The cartoonishly dour stand-up was inspired by Jacob Richmond searching for some filler material for an AV show.

“He was like, ‘Can you do a Russian accent?’ ” says Cranny, recalling Richmond’s direction that Vasily should tell jokes that weren’t jokes, maybe more like facts. “I love playing him because he’s so different from me. I’m so boisterous and gregarious and loud and he’s quiet and shy and still.”

Cranny had a Russian coworker who unknowingly inspired a couple of Vasily’s phrasings, but didn’t find the satire to his liking.

“I remember I was doing the Fringe in Victoria and I thought, he’s not going to like this because he is a very earnest man. And sure enough he watched the show and afterwards I would go to the entrance to thank people as they left and he just whipped by me and didn’t say anything and then didn’t talk to me for a week at work. Then one day he says, ‘You know, not all Russians are like that.’ ”

Away from the stage, Cranny’s had a rough year: two knee replacements and a cancer removed from his small intestine. “I’ve had so many surgeries that my punch card is full,” he says. “My next three surgeries are free.” He plans to retire from his government job in five years and plunge into acting and comedy full time.

We joke about his future on screen in those Hallmark movies that are always shooting in town.

“I can’t wait to play someone’s dad,” he says and starts laughing. “Well, let’s not be too grandiose, storekeeper. Maybe smalltown cop.”

But they’ll probably insist he keep his shirt on.

“So many people assume I make a living from comedy. They’ve obviously never attempted to be a performer in Canada.”

Spas

are for men, too

These five Victoria venues offer manly rejuvenation with saunas, salt scrubs and swanky, spa-inclusive hotel stays.

By Lucas Aykroyd

There was a time before male wellness. A time when books like Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche, movies like Conan the Barbarian and songs like “Eye of the Tiger” dominated the charts. It was a daunting climate for fellows who secretly hankered to relax at spas after their (potentially unsuccessful) 250-pound bench press attempts or corporate takeover bids à la Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.

In 21st-century Victoria, however, the doors are wide open for enlightened men. Whether you intend to take an hour out of your busy schedule to reboot your aching muscles or to book a full-on boutique hotel staycation with elite spa treatments, the Capital Regional District abounds with spa-tacular options that exude non-toxic masculinity. Here are five to try from downtown to Oak Bay.

SAUNA TIME

HAVN havnsaunas.com

From the green domes of architect Francis Rattenbury’s B.C. Parliament Buildings to the seaplanes landing in the Inner Harbour, the dockside setting for HAVN feels inspiring and re-energizing. This imposing grey sauna boat — a converted 1943 marine barge — offers a welcome respite for surgeons and stockbrokers alike. Come in the evening when a pink-purple sunset graces the West Shore, setting the stage for your relaxation.

First, freshen up with organic black spruce and petitgrain body wash in the cedar-walled changing room’s private showers. Vintage books like BC Provincial Museum: The Birds of British Columbia (1967) or Coastal and Short Sea Liners (1979) decorate the space with reminders of our natural and maritime heritage. Up on the outdoor deck, laden with native plants, alternating between harbour-facing hot tubs and cold plunge pools gets your circulation going (and tests your manly fortitude).

Between sweaty meditations in the cedar, eucalyptus and salt shower saunas, get rehydrated with complimentary tea with spearmint, lemongrass and lavender. Or head back inside to the relaxation space — which evokes a science-fiction cruise ship with water lapping outside an arched window — for more substantial fuel.

Refuel: The cheese and charcuterie board with Salt Spring Kitchen Co. peach and habanero jelly satisfies. So does the Spiced Chaga Hot Chocolate, an immune-system-boosting beverage that tingles your throat, incorporating chaga mushroom, cayenne and cinnamon. Even though the sauna boat hasn’t budged, your senses have been treated to a magical journey.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

Ritual Nordic Spa ritualnordicspa.com

Finnish men are low-key. Quiet. Private. And this gated spa pays marvellous tribute to the sauna’s Finnish origins in many ways, blending contemporary design with old-school traditions. In the 90°C cedar suite sauna, toss water on the coals to ramp up the intensity. Then clamber into the big cold-plunge barrel as if immersing yourself in a frozen lake north of Helsinki. Make it a circuit, luxuriating in the steam room and testing out the bucket shower.

You can also Zen out in a little outdoor cabana while gazing into a fire pit. No phones or tablets are permitted on-site — this is all about unplugging. You’re in good company if you came seeking an athletic boost (yes, leg day hurts!): Olympic triathlon champion Simon Whitfield and Paralympic runner Thomas Normandeau have also visited Ritual.

Refuel: Grab a local beer or kombucha to wind down afterwards at the bar. At the adjoining gift shop, treat yourself to a shirt that reads “Sauna. Järvi. Olut. Toista” (“Sauna. Lake. Beer. Repeat”) or a box of chocolate-covered mints from Finland’s famed Fazer candy company.

ROYAL REVIVAL

Fairmont Spa

fairmont-empress.com/wellness

Building your empire? The stately, 1908-founded Fairmont Empress Hotel is an eminently suitable setting to rejuvenate your body and mind. Cue the hour-long Executive Revival package at the luxe on-site spa. A eucalyptus salt exfoliation and rosemary oil scalp massage bookend a sweet-oblivion, gingerscented massage, incorporating the use of heated black basalt stones. The rubdown beautifully alleviates all that tension in your neck and back.

When it (alas) comes to an end like a hot streak in trading futures, the good times aren’t over. Downstairs, take some contemplative time in the mineral pool. Or enhance your masculine serenity in the lounge with spicy popcorn with charcoal or peanut chocolate chip protein squares (organic, vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and dairy-free). These mouthwatering snacks underline Gordon Gekko’s maxim: “Greed is good.”

You can augment all this pampering with a king-of-the-world overnight stay on the exclusive Gold Floor. The perks go beyond bunking down in a recently renovated, upscale suite and enjoying exceptional concierge service.

Refuel: The Empress is home to North America’s largest Fairmont Gold Floor Lounge. Spacious and contemporary, adorned with coffee table books from Yousuf Karsh’s Canadians to Paulina Cameron’s Canada 150 Women, it offers an incredible outdoor terrace. Gaze over the Inner Harbour while devouring all-day snacks like fresh-baked cookies and doughnuts with grapefruit juice or digging into a lavish buffet breakfast next to a fire pit. Feeling good yet?

British poet Rudyard Kipling once wrote: “Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it/ And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!” Obviously, he was alluding to a dude who’d just done the Fairmont Spa and Gold Floor.

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SEASIDE SERENITY

Boathouse Spa

oakbaybeachhotel.com/relax

From the Oak Bay Beach Hotel and its Boathouse Spa, the views of the San Juan Islands and Mount Baker across Haro Strait are nothing but soothing.

That goes double for the spa’s Discovery Thermal Detox treatment. The hour-and-a-halflong pro-sleep brush massage — incorporating essential oils and natural algae — includes a fullbody exfoliation with deep-tissue work. If you’ve been stressing about (say) taxes, tariffs or deer eating your garden, this will set you up nicely for a great night’s rest in a classy hotel room with a king-sized bed, dark wood furniture and heated bathroom floors.

Before turning in, don’t neglect to kick back in the Stargazer Sauna and the magnificent oceanfront mineral pools and hot tubs.

Refuel: For more manly self-care, feast at the in-house Faro restaurant. Start with an ultrarefreshing Tiger Lily cocktail with white rum and orange blossom water, and devour potato truffle pizza and roast broccolini. Now you’re living large, to put it diplomatically.

URBAN

RETREAT

Spa Magnolia spamagnolia.com

Imagine sitting in the candle-lit lounge after a Relax and Restore Massage at Spa Magnolia. Feel that clove-and-mint zing on your neck and shoulders, your hair tousled from a delicious scalp rubdown, as you sip Bella Coola tea with

notes of apple, hibiscus and rosehip. Man, it’s good to be alive, glowing from a scintillatingly thorough facial and back scrub with organic Australian botanicals by Endota. The heat from the jade grounding stones still warms your body.

According to owner Paula Veenema, about 25 per cent of Spa Magnolia’s clients are men. This 1998-founded institution’s current site brings traditionally manly vibes, too: Its seven treatment rooms occupy what was previously Hugo’s Brewhouse. Cheers!

The spa connects directly to the elegant 64-room Magnolia Hotel, whose boutique amenities are geared to wow health-first gentlemen. Free bikes for guests, in-room yoga mats, white noise machines, maps with running routes along the Dallas Road waterfront and a 24-hour fitness centre are highlights.

Refuel: For a breakfast that’s both savoury and nourishing, the on-site Courtney Room dishes up the signature shakshuka with poached eggs, tomato, chickpeas, avocado and kale.

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BRENTWOOD BAY RESORT

Shaping a new era of wellness

Situated along the peaceful shoreline of Vancouver Island, Brentwood Bay Resort is an adults-only boutique destination where wellness, luxury and connection are thoughtfully intertwined. Guided by CEO Natasha Richardson, whose passion lies in infusing joy and energy into everyday life, the resort has evolved into a sanctuary where guests step away from routine and into a world designed for deep restoration and inspired living.

At the heart of the property is the Brentwood Bay Spa, led by Director of Wellbeing Matthew Farraday, who is shaping a new era of wellness for the resort. In September 2025, the spa introduced Sangre de Fruta, a botanical skincare line handcrafted on Bowen Island, British Columbia. Rooted in ancient apothecary traditions and made in small batches with organic ingredients, Sangre de Fruta enhances the resort’s treatments with sensory richness, aromatic beauty and natural healing properties, creating a fully immersive wellness experience connected to local land and makers.

Looking ahead, February 2026 marks an

exciting milestone with the launch of a new thermal wellness experience in collaboration with Island Saunas. This outdoor, Scandinavianinspired circuit will introduce a poolside sauna and cold-plunge program designed to elevate well-being through heat and contrast therapy. Guests will move between hot and cold environments to stimulate circulation, reduce stress, sharpen mental clarity and support longevity — an invitation to unplug, breathe deeply and feel profoundly alive.

Wellness at Brentwood Bay Resort extends beyond the treatment room. Here, restorative experiences unfold gently and intentionally: a peaceful swim in the heated outdoor pool overlooking calm ocean waters; a chefcrafted meal featuring seasonal West Coast ingredients; quiet reflection along the marina shoreline; or time spent in nature, walking the lush trails that surround the property.

The resort’s philosophy is simple: to create space for people to feel good, inside and out. Every detail is crafted with care, from personalized service to tranquil design to

partnerships that strengthen community and environmental stewardship. Whether for an afternoon escape or an extended retreat, guests leave renewed, balanced and more connected to themselves.

Brentwood Bay Resort welcomes guests to book spa services, dining and overnight stays through their website or by calling the resort directly.

Brentwood Bay Resort respectfully acknowledges and shows gratitude for living, working, and playing on WSÁNEĆ territory.

849 Verdier Avenue, Victoria 1-250-544-2079

brentwoodbayresort.com

PHILOSOPHY MD

PHILOSOPHY MD

Personalized health optimization

Personalized health optimization

DDo you ever wonder how healthy you are? If you’re curious to understand your health profile and risk factors, diagnostic testing and analysis could unlock tangible solutions for living better — from sleep and memory to libido, strength and skin health. Longevity Medicine represents the pinnacle of modern healthcare: where the art of medicine meets the science of aging. We all notice a myriad of changes with age — from declines in collagen and muscle affecting skin and strength, to hormonal shifts and fluctuations in memory and focus. Modern healthcare advancements offer a way to hear what your body is saying and to respond with supplemental support to restore balance, focus and energy.

o you ever wonder how healthy you are? If you’re curious to understand your health profile and risk factors, diagnostic testing and analysis could unlock tangible solutions for living better — from sleep and memory to libido, strength and skin health. Longevity Medicine represents the pinnacle of modern healthcare: where the art of medicine meets the science of aging. We all notice a myriad of changes with age — from declines in collagen and muscle affecting skin and strength, to hormonal shifts and fluctuations in memory and focus. Modern healthcare advancements offer a way to hear what your body is saying and to respond with supplemental support to restore balance, focus and energy.

• Enhanced performance: Greater strength, mobility, endurance and mental clarity for peak daily functioning.

• Enhanced performance: Greater strength, mobility, endurance and mental clarity for peak daily functioning.

• Improved body composition: Increased muscle mass and reduced fat for a balanced, time-resistant physique.

• Improved body composition: Increased muscle mass and reduced fat for a balanced, time-resistant physique.

Longevity Medicine and Hormone Optimization at Philosophy MD can profoundly enhance the years you spend in optimal health. Proactive and preventative care empowers you to maintain vitality and resilience through personalized programming. Each health blueprint is powerfully customized, leveraging evidencebased breakthroughs to support a rich and fulfilling life.

Longevity Medicine and Hormone Optimization at Philosophy MD can profoundly enhance the years you spend in optimal health. Proactive and preventative care empowers you to maintain vitality and resilience through personalized programming. Each health blueprint is powerfully customized, leveraging evidencebased breakthroughs to support a rich and fulfilling life.

Why consider Longevity Medicine to improve your quality of life?

Why consider Longevity Medicine to improve your quality of life?

• Maximized healthspan: Deeper awareness of your body’s systems, needs and deficiencies gives you control and lays a foundation for lifelong wellness.

• Maximized healthspan: Deeper awareness of your body’s systems, needs and deficiencies gives you control and lays a foundation for lifelong wellness.

• Deeper sleep: Restorative rest that enhances recovery and overall wellbeing.

• Deeper sleep: Restorative rest that enhances recovery and overall wellbeing.

• Sharper cognition: Improved memory, focus and decision-making.

• Sharper cognition: Improved memory, focus and decision-making.

• Revitalized sexual health: Enhanced libido and performance for stronger intimate connections.

• Revitalized sexual health: Enhanced libido and performance for stronger intimate connections.

• Healthier skin and hair: Reduced damage, vibrant complexion and intervention for thinning or loss.

• Healthier skin and hair: Reduced damage, vibrant complexion and intervention for thinning or loss.

• Optimized hormones: Evidencebased investigation and treatment for improved mood, energy, sleep, libido and vitality.

• Optimized hormones: Evidencebased investigation and treatment for improved mood, energy, sleep, libido and vitality.

Longevity Medicine at Philosophy MD addresses changes before they culminate in

Longevity Medicine at Philosophy MD addresses changes before they culminate in

disease or decline, helping you understand and proactively manage risk factors to longevity. Dr. Matt Carere provides stateof-the-art diagnostic testing, hormone optimization and holistic risk-factor analysis, starting with an in-depth indexing examination and assessment.

disease or decline, helping you understand and proactively manage risk factors to longevity. Dr. Matt Carere provides stateof-the-art diagnostic testing, hormone optimization and holistic risk-factor analysis, starting with an in-depth indexing examination and assessment.

Begin 2026 with a commitment to your own longevity. What you invest in today determines your strength, clarity and resilience for years to come. Offering complimentary consultations through February. Annual programming beginning at $3,300 + GST. Visit philosophymd.com for more information.

Begin 2026 with a commitment to your own longevity. What you invest in today determines your strength, clarity and resilience for years to come. Offering complimentary consultations through February. Annual programming beginning at $3,300 + GST. Visit philosophymd.com for more information.

559 Superior Street 250-889-1658 | philosophymd.com

CLEAR SKIN VICTORIA

Fconditions shaped her lifelong dedication to understanding the powerful connection between physical health, emotional well-being and the skin’s natural vitality.

Today, Kristina leads a team of experts devoted to thoughtful, honest and highly personalized care. Their philosophy blends medical aesthetics with holistic wellness, creating a space where science, nature and compassion coexist seamlessly.

Clear Skin Victoria distinguishes itself through its integrative approach. Clients can choose from advanced medical aesthetic treatments such as laser therapies, clinical

circulation, cellular renewal and muscle tone and relaxation. For those who value an organic lifestyle, the in-house ResetWell Botanicals line offers 100-percent natural, clinically clean formulations that nurture the skin’s barrier without synthetic additives.

Physical, mental and emotional well-being are treated as inseparable pillars of long-term skin health. Whether clients are navigating inflammation, aging concerns or overall vitality, each journey begins with an in-depth consultation exploring nutrition, lifestyle, stress and environment. This whole-body perspective helps clients cultivate sustainable

and empowered. With soothing botanicals, calming teas and continuous guidance, the environment promotes relaxation and trust, allowing clients to engage in their skin health journey with confidence and ease.

Serving Greater Victoria and Vancouver Island both in-person and virtually, Clear Skin Victoria has become a destination for those seeking not just better skin, but better balance.

To begin your personalized skin health journey, book a consultation or reach out to the team at info@clearskinvictoria.com. Your path to radiant, resilient wellness starts here.

HYDRATE WELLNESS CENTRE

Complete naturopathic care and medical esthetics

Hydrate Wellness Centre offers an integrative approach to health and esthetics for Victoria and Vancouver Island residents. Founded by Dr. Kristen Bovee, ND, a naturopathic physician with 25 years of experience, the clinic brings together naturopathic doctors, chiropractors, nurses and medical estheticians under one roof. Their goal is to help patients feel and function at their best by combining evidence-informed natural medicine with advanced medical and cosmetic treatments in a calm, spa-like setting.

The clinic’s medical services focus on addressing root causes of health concerns rather than managing symptoms. Care plans often include IV nutrient therapy, bioidentical hormone support and functional diagnostic testing to evaluate metabolic, hormonal and immune function. These therapies support cellular energy, resilience and help reduce chronic disease risk. Regenerative treatments such as prolotherapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) are used to support joint, muscle and ligament repair, while chiropractic care and acupuncture help restore alignment, mobility and neurological balance.

On the esthetic side, Hydrate provides neuromodulators, dermal fillers and advanced skin rejuvenation technologies, including intense pulsed light and microneedling with radiofrequency (Morpheus8). Medical facials, chemical peels and medical-grade skincare are used to improve tone, texture and overall skin health, with high-quality natural supplements available to extend results between visits. These services are integrated into a broader wellness framework, emphasizing that outer radiance is tied to internal health.

A key new offering is the Vital Mind Program, a functional medicine–based initiative launching January 2026, available exclusively at Hydrate Wellness Centre. This program focuses on early cognitive support for individuals at risk of, or noticing signs of, early cognitive decline related to lifestyle factors or genetic predisposition. Led collaboratively by functional medicine physician Dr. Kim McKenzie, MD and naturopathic doctor Dr. Kristen Bovee, ND, the program blends advanced assessment, targeted nutritional and metabolic support and lifestyle interventions to help protect brain health early.

Holistic practices run through every aspect of the clinic’s work, from dietary and lifestyle counselling to the encouragement of whole, organic foods and regular, personalized movement. Longer appointments, a soothing space and an emphasis on listening and education help patients feel supported and empowered. When appropriate, the team connects individuals with trusted community resources — such as local farms, health food stores, yoga studios and fitness professionals — to reinforce lasting lifestyle changes. Together, these elements make Hydrate Wellness Centre a destination for those seeking to enhance physical health, vitality, cognitive wellness and confidence in an individualized way.

The Munro Centre 106-3550 Saanich Road 250-590-1482 | hydratewellness.com

KINGFISHER PACIFIC RESORT & SPA

A timeless haven of evolving wellness

For discerning getaway seekers, the true experience lies not only in the destination, but also in the well-being found within the journey. On Vancouver Island’s pristine eastern shore, Kingfisher Pacific Resort & Spa  is a sanctuary where refined wellness meets untamed natural beauty.

Kingfisher offers uninterrupted views of the Salish Sea from newly renovated beachfront suites and elegant penthouses. Before or after retreating to the acclaimed Pacific Mist Spa, guests can stroll the shoreline, where West Coast driftwood meets sailboats on the horizon and eagles soar overhead.

At the heart of the resort is a dedication to profound wellness. The signature Pacific Mist Hydropath® — a restorative circuit of grottos and mineral pools — is complemented by the resort’s latest innovation, the Healing Caves,™ a two-phase journey designed to release and restore. The progression begins with Release, where heat-driven, circulation-boosting therapies ease physical and emotional stress. Guests then enter Restoration, experiencing

red-light therapy, halotherapy, electrolyte hydration and mineral-rich waters that rebalance the system and support cellular repair. At its centre lies the Storm Cave, where a mineral infinity pool merges with panoramic, cinematic displays to capture the raw power of a coastal storm — an awe-inspiring homage to Vancouver Island’s natural drama.

Centrally located on the Island, the resort is an ideal base for exploring old-growth rainforests, mountain trails and pristine waterways. Guests may spend their days exploring the local terroir, vineyards and farmers markets, or enjoy skiing, island hopping and whale watching. On-site, the lush Serenity Gardens invite reflection among koi ponds, native blooms and fire bowls glowing into the evening.

Winter transforms the gardens with a spectacular Winter Lights display and in season, guests may also reserve the restaurant’s iconic Sky Domes, an exceptional dining experience with clear panels that frame the night sky.

As night falls, Ocean7 Restaurant and AQUA Bistro & Wine Bar showcase the Island’s flavours. A distinguished culinary team — led by a new executive chef, a certified sommelier, and a creative bartender — crafts menus from seasonal, sustainable ingredients, complemented by curated wines and inventive cocktails.

For travellers or locals seeking a destination where nature, wellness and hospitality converge, the Kingfisher experience is both inspired and accessible all year round. The resort is easily reached via the Island Highway, BC Ferries, or the Comox Valley Airport (YQQ). Every moment here is shaped by the rhythms of land and sea.

4330 Island Highway South, Courtenay 1-800-663-7929 | kingfisherresort.ca

TRILLIUM COMMUNITIES

Living with intention

Across Canada’s west coast, Trillium Communities has built a reputation for providing thoughtful, flexible senior living grounded in choice and continuity of care. Founded in 2003, the organization supports older adults through every stage of aging, from Independent Living to Assisted Living, Long Term Care and short-term stays. With communities located throughout Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, and a head office in Victoria, British Columbia, Trillium remains closely connected to the regions it serves.

From its earliest beginnings, the organization has stayed true to its west coast-inspired roots. Each residence is designed to feel personal and familiar, emphasizing comfort, safety and a sense of belonging. This approach allows residents to transition between care levels while remaining within the same community whenever possible.

Wellness is central to daily life within Trillium Communities. Physical well-being is supported through consistent, accessible movement

woven into everyday routines. Residents are offered exercise programming seven days a week, including mobility training, strength classes, chair exercises, yoga and music-based fitness led by certified instructors. Safe walking paths, outdoor patios and organized outings encourage continued independence, while chef-prepared meals provide nutritious and balanced options that support long-term vitality.

Mental and emotional wellness are nurtured through connection, purpose and calm surroundings. Common spaces invite both social engagement and quiet reflection, allowing residents to participate at their own pace. Peer led groups, music programs, spiritual gatherings and weekly pet therapy create opportunities for shared experiences and joy. Residents are also encouraged to contribute through volunteer roles, such as welcoming newcomers or leading interestbased clubs, helping them maintain a sense of purpose and identity.

Behind the scenes, dedicated teams work closely with residents and families to provide

consistent care and open communication. Regular wellness checks and collaboration with local health professionals help ensure that individual needs are met with compassion and respect.

From the first conversation through move in, the process is guided with care, reflecting a broader philosophy centred on dignity, balance and a meaningful quality of life. Families interested in learning more are encouraged to connect by phone, email or through the Trillium Communities website to ask questions, book tours and explore care options.

End of life care

Kristina Stauffer is a trauma-informed, certified Holistic Coach, a Spiritual Celebrant and a Death Doula. She supports individuals and their families by helping them move through profound, end-of-life transitions with clarity. Kristina offers bereavement support through coaching, spirituality, reiki and Celebrations of Life for any persons diagnosed with a terminal illness or those accessing MAID. Kristina says, “My ‘Before I Go: A Celebration of Life’ service allows you to celebrate your life while you are still here, to share gratitude and farewells in your own way. I take care of the event so you can take care of what matters most.”

Where wellness meets beauty

Rooted in Victoria for over 30 years and reimagined under new ownership, Salon Felice offers precision cuts, customized colour and restorative hair treatments using Aveda’s naturally derived, plantpowered products. Their inviting, soothing space allows you to slow down while skilled stylists care for both your hair and your well-being. As a Certified Green Circle Salon, they recycle up to 95% of waste, letting you feel good about every visit. Book at salonfelice.ca or visit them at Uptown Victoria.

Sustainable, clean beauty solutions

Founded in B.C. by two women united by a passion for clean and effective ingredients, Collage Skincare blends plant science with a holistic view of whole-body health. Each gender-neutral product is designed to work in harmony, layering complementary actives and gentle daily exfoliation to deliver effortless, 24/7 radiance. With 97% natural formulations and beautiful, sustainable packaging, Collage celebrates confidence and evolution at every age. Plus, Collage Skincare is expanding to retail in 2026! Watch for the product line in your local spas and boutiques. Explore the full line now at collagebeauty.com.

collagebeauty.com | hello@collagebeauty.com

Your wellness sanctuary

If you have not experienced the Grotto Spa in Parksville, now is the moment. The mineral pool draws you in with warm, quiet comfort that stays with you. The cedar barrel saunas smell wonderful and deliver a deep, satisfying heat. Outside, the Garden Oasis invites you to settle in by the fire tables and let the world fade away. For a refreshing jolt, try the rainfall cold shower between heat sessions.

The Grotto Spa is where you reset and recharge. Visit their website to explore experiences and packages.

Parksville, Vancouver Island | 1-800-663-7373 | grottospa.com

The green heart of Fort Street

On Canada’s west coast, intentional living is a daily practice rooted in respect for nature. Since 2003, The Good Planet Company has been a trusted Fort Street destination, offering natural, ethical products that support people and the planet. Inside, the shop features soaps, creams, candles, bedding and yoga essentials made from pure, natural materials. Durable kitchenware and lunchware reduce waste, while the popular Refillery lets customers replenish products using their own containers. More than twenty years on, the store and online shop invite slow living, mindful rituals and sustainable choices that create healthier homes and a healthier planet for everyone.

Plan the perfect trip to Spain

I Spy Small Group Travel, led by Teresa Cavazos and Luis Arcaraz, has explored more than 700 towns across Spain and Portugal, allowing them to design immersive journeys rooted in deep local knowledge. Their newest experience, Sacred Sips: Monks, Spirits and Ancient Wines, uncovers monastery-made liqueurs and centuriesold winemaking traditions across Santiago de Compostela, Porto and Salamanca through exclusive tastings and behind-the-scenes visits. Based in James Bay and welcoming travellers across Canada, they foster connection and community on every trip. To learn more about this adventure, scan the QR code. 672-661-6400 | teresa@ispyspain.com | ispyspain.com

A village for heat, cold and connection

Tucked into a hidden alley in downtown Victoria, Ærth is an outdoor sauna village built for reconnection — with self, with others, with the elements. Move between two distinct saunas — one quiet, one ceremonial — and a private sauna and sitting space designed for deeper rest or small intimate gatherings. Between them, a 7°C plunge wakes every cell. Built from natural materials and guided by presence, Ærth invites you to slow down, breathe deeply and return to what’s real. Visits can be booked online or by phone, with options for private bookings and small group events.

See life with ease

At this community-minded Cadboro Bay clinic, Dr. Samantha Bourdeau and her team pair advanced eye care with a warm, personal approach. Their focus on comfort and prevention supports everything from dry eye relief to clearer, more relaxed vision, helping individuals to enjoy healthier, more vibrant eyesight. Treatments such as ZEST cleanings, IPL, and RF therapy, along with specialty options like Avulux for light sensitivity and MiyoSmart for childhood myopia management help patients enjoy everyday tasks with greater ease. To experience their friendly, patient-centred care, book a visit today. 102–2580 Penrhyn Street | 250-360-2229 | cadborobayoptometry.ca

TRUST BY DESIGN

When you’re trying to create a home long distance, it helps to find a great local designer to rely on.

By Julien Johnston-Brew

by Jody Beck*

As new-to-Victoria homeowners Garth and Sheila approach retirement, they’ve been steadily packing up from Alberta to live closer to family here in town. Their Ten Mile Point house provides a spacious kitchen-living room with ample room for entertaining, as well as a guest suite so somebody can keep an eye on the property when the couple is travelling during the winter.

“We really liked the open concept of the house, also having a walkout basement,” says Sheila. “And it was really important for Garth to get a three-car garage.”

However, Garth and Sheila aren’t yet able to visit Victoria often enough to thoughtfully decorate their soon-to-be home base. To remedy this, the couple reached out to Lorri McCrackin, principal of Lorri McCrackin Designs, to make the empty house feel inviting for their arrival.

“We met with her a few times and we clicked,” says Garth. “She just was very, very efficient and was very, very organized. It made the process quite easy.”

A WELCOMING SPACE

Garth and Sheila are familiar with hiring interior designers, and know the process is an exercise in relying on a stranger. “You have to have trust that the person you’re hiring to do this has a pretty good idea of what you’re looking for,” says Garth, “the type of design, the type of furnishings, that type of thing.”

In the living room of this bright, airy home in Ten Mile Point, interior designer Lorri McCrackin created a cozy seating area with Bale lounge chairs by Younger Furniture and Modern sectional sofa by Whittington and Co., all grounded by Autonomous Furniture’s Reina table in walnut.

Additional décor pieces create a sense of lived-in homeyness. Among them: Lift accent stool and Grove candle holders by Barter Design; Innes floor lamp and Billings side table by Four Hands; throw blanket and pillows from Shoppe JV Interiors; and patterned Conroe rug by Feizy.

McCrackin, having moved to Victoria from Alberta herself, is indeed familiar with the couple’s situation. “Coming from where they were coming from, I knew what they were looking for was a house that wasn’t too polite and was just very welcoming,” she says, noting that the couple wanted to avoid filling the home with stuff for stuff’s sake.

“Obviously, we want the house to feel lived-in and be layered and have some personality, but we don’t just want accessories and décor everywhere that don’t have a practical purpose.”

To achieve this, McCrackin relied on Victoria’s abundance of interior décor shops — especially those with old-fashioned esthetics. “There is so much more here in terms of antique and vintage finds than I’ve ever found in Alberta,” says McCrackin. “I had so much fun shopping … and finding, you know, pieces that had some history.”

When it comes to furniture, she notes that focusing on quality is important for pieces that see daily use. Quality furniture may be more costly upfront, but greatly reduces the likelihood of faults and poor construction. Spending more for an expertly crafted piece of furniture avoids the potential of consistently replacing cheaper equivalents, so consider saving up for a household necessity that’ll last for years to come.

“Pieces that you’re touching and using all of the time — like a desk or a dining table, even a coffee table — invest as much as you’re able to on those,” says McCrackin. “You can spend less on some of the other smaller pieces around it.”

Above: The spacious kitchen-dining room is the perfect space for entertaining family and friends. Chairs and stools from the Mia collection by Trica offer ample seating at the kitchen island and around the Autonomous oak dining table. Black motorized blinds from Ruffell & Brown Window Covering Centre create dramatic contrast against the white walls, while the Surya rug centres the space. In the background, a butler’s pantry offers additional prep and storage space.

ARTFUL ADDITIONS

Original art is represented throughout the home, including a painting from southwest Island-based artist Jordan Fritz and Québécois artist Sacha Barrette. Trinkets provided by Garth and Sheila, when set alongside these art pieces, create a balance between familiarity and novelty that makes the home feel lived-in.

“I really want the house, at the end, to feel like it’s something that the clients have collected themselves over years,”

RESOURCES

Interior designer: Lorri McCrackin Designs

Furniture: Autonomous Furniture, Barter Design, CF Interiors, Surroundings, The Found Studio

Décor: Cook Street Vintage, Curated House & Home, Hansell & Halkett Vintage Home Decor, InsideOut Homestore, Shoppe JV Interiors

Original artwork: Jordan Fritz, Sacha Barrette

Artwork frames: Prestige Picture Framing Etcetera

Throw blankets/pillows: Shoppe JV Interiors

Bedding: Resthouse

Where To Go Next

Planning your 2026 getaway? These five destinations will fill your emotional bucket as well as your bucket list.

By Linda Barnard

If you’re pondering where to go in 2026, here’s a planning twist: Pick a personal goal first, then choose the place that fits. It makes sense as we continue to embrace a traveller-versustourist mindset. If we want to come home with more than souvenirs and photos, shouldn’t we return from a trip changed, even in small ways? Maybe that means picking up a new skill, learning through leisure, finding the joy of being in the moment or making a deeper connection to a place and its people.

We’ve got five locations on our YAM 2026 list that offer the potential for transformational travel, whether it’s discovering dragons, getting closer to your kids or exploring the North with Canada’s Inuit people. Think of these as vacations that include a side of joy.

The Yorkshire Dales

The goal: Find rural bliss

Fans of the cozy feels of TV’s All Creatures Great and Small will find themselves in the heart of the gentle rural drama in Northern England’s Yorkshire Dales. The popular series follows fictional village veterinarian James Herriot, based on the semi-autobiographical books by real-life country vet Alf Wight. (Season 6 of the current series, starring Nicholas Ralph as Herriot, returns January 11 to Masterpiece on PBS; this series follows an earlier BBC adaptation in the 1970s.)

Exterior scenes for the show are shot within the 2,100-square-kilometre Yorkshire Dales National Park. Narrow roads wind past heritage barns and dry-stone walls outline green fields where adorable new lambs bounce along behind their mothers.

“There are 69 million people living in the U.K., but they’re not up here; they’re all down south,” says Howard Smelt-Webb, a former copper who

runs private tour company The Yorkshire Tour Guide. Smelt-Webb has a personal connection to Wight, who cared for the cows and sheep on his father’s 450-acre farm.

Several companies run day tours from the historic city of York. Stops often include Wight’s former home and veterinary office in Thirsk, now the World of James Herriot Museum.

Yockenthwaite Farm is a postcard-perfect setting that appears in the series as Heston Grange farm.

Modern life seems far away at the quiet market town of Grassington, with its cobblestone market square. It plays Darrowby onscreen. Drop by the circa-1600 Devonshire Inn public house, which stands in for the Drovers Arms, and toast your travel smarts with a pint.

What not to miss: York is a great base for exploring North Yorkshire. Gothic York Minster Cathedral is a mind-blowing must-see with the biggest collection of medieval stained glass in the world.

What to pack: A rain jacket.

The best way there: Take the train to York from London or Edinburgh.

Start planning: visityork.org

Ljubljana, Slovenia

The goal: Live out a fairy tale

Slovenia and its photogenic medieval capital city, Ljubljana (pronounced loo-blyah-nuh), team up for a central European escape without the tourist crowds. To add a generous sprinkling of fairy-tale dust, Ljubljana is obsessed with dragons.

This car-free historic city centre is made for walking, with small squares, narrow cobblestone side streets, a 900-year-old hilltop castle and colourful baroque and Art Nouveau-influenced architecture designed by Jože Plečnik, whose work is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Legend says Jason and the Argonauts spent a winter in what became Ljubljana on their way home with the Golden Fleece and said “thanks for the hospitality” by slaying a local dragon. Dragons are on the municipal flag, manhole covers, beer bottles, street art, T-shirts and more. A quartet of fierce bronze dragons curl scaly tails around the ends of the short span of Dragon Bridge. Keep the mythic feels going less than an hour away at medieval hilltop Bled Castle, which overlooks turquoisecoloured Lake Bled with the snow-capped Julian Alps in

the background. In February, head to the town of Ptuj for Kurentovanje, where sheepskin-clad revellers play storybook pagans to chase winter away in Slovenia’s famous carnival.

What not to miss: See the baby dragons (actually sightless aquatic salamanders called “olm”) at Postojna Cave, a massive underground complex about an hour’s drive from Ljubljana.

What to pack: A belief in dragons.

The best way there: Take the three-hour train through the picturesque countryside from Vienna.

Start planning: ljubljana.com

Nunavut

The goal: Connect with the True North

In this time of Elbows Up travel, Nunavut, “our land” in the Inuktitut language, stands out as the great Canadian destination.

The North is facing enormous change right now, from a climate that’s warming four times faster than any other place on Earth to sovereignty threats from the United States, Russia and China. The timing has never felt more urgent to visit the traditional lands of the Inuit people.

This rugged land, covering more than a million square kilometres, has shaped the people who have lived here for thousands of years. Roads are few, and water and air are often the only ways to travel the long distances between their small communities. Still, these remote and beautiful places welcome visitors to learn and explore, from polar tundra to mountain expanses.

Expedition cruise companies like Adventure Canada lead summer trips around the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, including into the Northwest Passage. Ships stop in communities including Mittimatalik (the hamlet of Pond Inlet), where local guides lead walks around the town that end with a cultural performance at the community arena. Visitors can also sample “country foods” like muskox and ringed seal, while learning how hunters provide

nourishing food for the community in a place where groceries can be expensive and fresh ingredients limited.

Meanwhile, elders share their stories and skills like throat singing and beading, creating a bridge from south to north, in this vast place of clean air, stillness and solitude.

What not to miss: Watch for polar bears, called “nanuq” in Inuktitut.

What to pack: A sleep mask for summer nights when the midnight sun never completely sets. The best way there: Fly from Victoria to Yellowknife, N.W.T., and on to Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay) or, from Eastern Canada, to the capital city Iqaluit.

Start planning: adventurecanada.com, travelnunavut.ca

Saskatoon

The goal: Up your cool cred

Expect raised eyebrows when you tell people you’re heading to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, for your next vacation. You’ll be the cool kid who comes home with bragging rights for visiting this smallish city with its thriving arts and culinary scenes.

The “Paris of the Prairies” made The New York Times 52 Places to Go list in 2018, primarily for the showplace Remai Modern contemporary art museum. This gallery overlooking the South Saskatchewan River is home to more than 8,000 artworks, including the world’s largest collection of Pablo Picasso linocuts. Nick Cave’s colourful “Spinner Forest” creates a whimsical entry to the Remai, with thousands of glinting wind spinners twisting on suspended motorized lines two floors up. The exhibition World View, on until June 7, features Picasso’s linocuts alongside works by Inuit artists primarily from Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset).

The city’s culinary season is almost as artful. At restaurant Primal, chef-owner Christie Peters turns out handmade pasta using Saskatchewan heritage grains and her latest venture, POP Wine Bar, has a rotating list of low-intervention wines and elevated nibbles like bison tartare. Loqui Restaurant swings local with red lentil fries with chili oil, charred cabbage Caesar salad and masa-crusted Northern Saskatchewan walleye. Saskatoon even has its own version of the spring roll, using a rice paper wrapper for extra crunch — Odd Couple chef-owner Andy Yuen uses his mom’s recipe.

And you can find in-season fiddleheads atop a pizzetta at Calories Restaurant on Broadway, where a plaque outside names the spot as the long-gone Louis Riel Coffee House. It’s where Saskatoon resident Joni Mitchell performed her first paying gig in 1962.

That’s right: You can add Canadian music royalty to the city’s cool quotient.

What not to miss: Hang out at a weir on the South Saskatchewan River to watch for American white pelicans.

What to pack: Trendy-yet-stretchy pants.

The best way there: Fly from Victoria via Edmonton to John G. Diefenbaker International Airport, less than 15 minutes to downtown.

Start planning: discoversaskatoon.com

Richmond, B.C.

The goal: Make family memories

It’s a short trip from Victoria to Richmond, a thriving city just across the water that could be called kid paradise.

“Richmond is the perfect family getaway, with activities for all ages — from cycling trails and historic sites to hands-on fun at the Richmond Olympic Oval. Families can also enjoy global cuisines, like fresh seafood in Steveston or local favourites along the Dumpling Trail,” says Nancy Small, CEO of Tourism Richmond.

Savvy teens and pre-teens love any TikTokfriendly food trend and the Richmond Night Market fulfills all those wishes, from ramen donuts to flying cup noodles and juices in adorable bear-shaped bottles. It’s open from April to October with more than 100 food vendors, plus bouncy castles, games and entertainment.

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery in the historic fishing village of Steveston has guided tours and hands-on interactive exhibits for kids, including a life-size replica of a fishing boat wheelhouse where they can take the helm.

Rent a bike, or bring yours over, to pedal along Richmond’s more than 80 kilometres of designated cycling routes.

Have a family competition to see who aces the kayak, bobsleigh and ski-jump simulators at Richmond Olympic Oval, the city’s 2010 Olympic Winter Games venue. Terra Nova Rural Park has easy walking trails spread over 63 acres facing the Salish Sea. The Terra Nova Adventure Play Environment uses British Columbia-sourced materials and sustainable design for swings, climbing wall, ziplines, a treehouse and a twisting hill slide. What not to miss: Family owned Pajo’s at the Wharf is legendary for its fish and chips. It’s on a floating dock at Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf.

What to pack: Binoculars. Richmond is one of British Columbia’s best birding spots. The best way there: BC Ferries from Swartz Bay or by seaplane from Victoria. Start planning: visitrichmondbc.com

Well-Being Starts with a Plan

January is generally considered the month to focus on health and well-being. But caring for yourself isn’t just about exercise and nutrition. It also includes planning for times when you can’t speak for yourself. Beverly Carter, a Notary Public in Victoria, helps you create clear, legally recognized health documents to ensure you are protected.

Ask the Notary

Q: Do Notaries prepare health documents?

A: Yes. Carter Notary prepares two key health documents: Health Representation Agreements (HRA) and Advance Healthcare Directives (AHD). An HRA appoints someone to make healthcare and personal-care decisions when you can’t. An AHD outlines specific treatment instructions for your doctors.

Q: Should I have an HRA?

A: If you’re over 50, have health conditions, a blended family, or relatives who may disagree about your care, an HRA helps your health representative ensure your wishes are respected.

Earning Your Stamp of Approval

(250) 383-4100 l hello@carternotary.com 240-2950 Douglas Street, Victoria, B.C.

Q: Can I choose anyone as my representative?

A: Yes, as long as they’re 19 or older and willing to act. Most people choose a spouse, family member, or close friend. Choose someone calm, trustworthy, and able to advocate during a crisis.

Q: Who needs an AHD?

A: Anyone who wants to clearly state their healthcare preferences. We generally recommend this for anyone of advanced age or with a higherrisk diagnosis or health condition. An AHD is your own direction about your own health in advance of something happening.

ESSENTIALS TRAVEL

WHO SAYS HEADING OFF ON YOUR WINTER BREAK MEANS DRESSING DOWN IN PJs AND SWEATS? INSTEAD, HEAD TO THE AIRPORT IN LUXE LAYERS THAT ARE AS COMFORTABLE AS THEY ARE STYLISH — AND DON’T FORGET TO PACK THE PERFECT LUGGAGE, TOO.

CASHMERE, OF COURSE

Opposite

ALL THE LAYERS

PERFECT PRINT

Tiger-striped print

Nesta shirt dress by Saint Tropez and velvet jacket by Naïf Montreal, both available at Amelia Lee Boutique. Tortoise shell sunglasses by Folc, available at Maycock Eyecare. Herschel overnight bag, available at Flush Bathroom & Travel Essentials.

TRAIL BLAZER

Black oversized blazer by Minimum, available at Amelia Lee Boutique. Linen shirt with tie cuffs by Linen Luv of Germany and black pants, both available at Butik Naturals.

Black tie and boots, model’s own. Herschel Heritage hardshell suitcase available at Flush Bathroom & Travel Essentials.

Just say NO

WHY WE STRUGGLE WITH THE NEGATIVE — AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.

By Joanne Sasvari

Every year for pretty much as long as I can remember I’ve made the same New Year’s resolution: This will be the year I learn to say “no.” The fact that it was my resolution yet again for 2026 tells you just how effective that has been.

I know it shouldn’t be difficult. Just ask any two-year-old. But something happens to us on the way to adulthood. We learn that the way to be liked is to be agreeable, even if we don’t always enjoy what we’re agreeing to. And to be fair, I’ve met wonderful people, travelled to intriguing places and had incredible experiences all because I said yes to something I was initially reluctant to do.

But I’ve also learned that saying yes to too many things makes me tired and stressed and resentful. I’ve had to turn down things I really wanted to do because my schedule was already filled with things I didn’t really care about. And I worry that when the next really exciting opportunity comes along I simply won’t have the bandwidth to take it on.

Maybe that’s why so many leaders prioritize saying no. Take Steve Jobs, the cofounder of Apple, who famously said: “Focusing is about saying no.”

Or the billionaire investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett, who said: “We need to learn the slow ‘yes’ and the quick ‘no.’ ” Or Oprah Winfrey, who insisted: “No is a complete sentence.” Or the former British prime minister Tony Blair, who proclaimed: “The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.”

Yep, it sure is. So how to change that?

WHY IS ‘NO’ SO HARD?

There are plenty of reasons why it’s hard to say no. According to many psychologists, right at the top of the list is a fear of conflict.

We fear that telling someone no will make them angry or disappointed, that they will say hurtful things in retaliation or that it will result in an argument. Underlying those fears is the even bigger, and often unconscious, fear that the person you’re saying no to — be it a spouse, a family member, a friend or a colleague — will stop liking you.

As children we’re taught to do what our parents, teachers and other adults tell us to. Telling them no can have big consequences — a time out, the loss of a special treat, a reputation as a troublemaker, or even harsher punishments, such as the withholding of affection. As we grow older, we carry that conditioning with us, worried that if we say no we’ll disappoint someone, hurt their feelings or be considered difficult, not a team player.

We also have an overwhelming need to fit in with our peer groups. Saying yes generally means we’re eager to get along with others and makes it more likely that we’ll be included in whatever the group decides. Saying no can find us ostracized.

It’s not pleasant being the only parent saying no to baking cookies for the bake sale, or the only one in your friend group who won’t go out for drinks every Friday. So sometimes we agree to things just to make others feel better, even if it makes us feel worse.

what you actually need in that moment.

• Get advice from someone you trust so you feel confident in your no.

• Consider what the consequences might be if you don’t do the thing you’re being asked for. They may not be as bad as you fear.

• Ask yourself: Can you put the decision off or change your mind later? Maybe you can give yourself a little breathing space.

• Say no in a way that feels like a yes. For instance, ask open-ended questions until you understand what’s really being asked of you. If possible, find a way to say yes to the actual needs without compromising the things that you are reluctant to do.

• Ask for the resources — time, money, materials or something else — you need to do what’s being asked of you. With any luck, you will either get what you need or it will become apparent that the request is undoable.

• Set priorities. Create a priority list, and when tasked with one more urgent project, ask what item on the list it should replace. Sometimes it will prove that the project wasn’t that urgent after all.

• Just say no. If you have to say a hard no, be clear, be kind, be thoughtful and, most of all, be firm.

For the most part, we struggle with saying no simply because we’re conditioned to say yes.

True, there are times we don’t believe we have the power to say no; for instance, if there’s a major imbalance of power in our relationship or we exist in a top-down hierarchical organization. And if we’re in an abusive relationship, saying no can have dire consequences, not just for ourselves, but for any vulnerable dependents.

But for the most part, we struggle with saying no simply because we’re conditioned to say yes.

PRACTISE WITH ME

The truth, though, is that sometimes you need to say no. You need to say no for your health, both mental and physical. You need to say no if you want to be taken seriously as a leader. You need to say no to hold onto your values. Most of all, you need to say no if you ever hope to accomplish the things you really want to do in your all-too-short life.

Ask around and you’ll get plenty of advice on how to actually say no. Here are just a few tips people have shared with me, some more useful than others:

• Practise saying no in low-stakes situations. (“Do you want fries with that?” “No, thanks.” See how easy that is?)

• Before saying yes or no, stop, take a deep breath and check in with yourself to determine

THEN AGAIN …

The idea is that yes and no are not so much black and white, but a spectrum, with numerous options that can make all parties happy. You can be positive, supportive, helpful and encouraging — and still set limits.

All of that said, there’s another reason it’s hard to say no. It’s the fear of missing out, a.k.a. FOMO. Turn down an invitation or a project and that opportunity is lost, maybe forever. But say yes, and who knows where the adventure will take you?

That’s what a friend of mine was thinking a couple of years back, when, coming out of COVID lockdowns, she decided that going forward she was just going to say yes to everything. She had fun, sure, but a few months later she was also exhausted. She’s saying no a lot more now.

If I’m honest with myself, FOMO is what I struggle with most. There are so many exciting things to do, beautiful places to visit, lovely people to meet, fascinating stories to tell, I want to do it all. But much as I sometimes wish otherwise, that’s just not possible. There have to be limits.

In fact, maybe I don’t have a “saying no” problem at all. Maybe I have a “making decisions” problem. Maybe what I need to do is simply decide what matters and what doesn’t, and then stick to it.

So. Will this be the year I finally learn to say no? Well, maybe.

Help for the Overly Agreeable

If you are struggling with setting boundaries or saying no, there is help out there.

• Counselling can help you identify the underlying reasons for your difficulties. Cognitive behavioural therapy and dialectical behaviour therapy can help you rewire your thought patterns and offer practical tools for communicating your needs clearly.

• Meditation can also help by filtering out the distractions so you can focus on what you truly need.

• If your real struggle is with time management, you can find help through apps like Google Calendar, Todoist, Trello or the Coursera learning platform.

• Finally, there are several books that can help with setting boundaries, reclaiming your time and building assertiveness without guilt, such as: Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No by Henry Cloud and John Townsend; Fck No!* by Sarah Knight; 100 Ways to Say No by Nicole Monente; and The Joy of Saying No by Natalie Lue.

THE CIRCUS IS IN TOWN

A local circus arts studio fosters a tight-knit community through physical wellness, thoughtful performances and interpersonal connections.

By Julien Johnston-Brew

eneath the vaulted ceiling of the United Commons’s assembly hall, a 20-foot A-frame aerial rig stands, circled by rows of chairs arranged in rings and lit by six pink floodlights.

Jugglers toss hackeysacks and glowing, rainbow-coloured bowling pins 10 feet in the air. Handstanders take turns balancing one-armed on a wooden block with pole-mounted handles. Stagehands yank on the pulleys hugging the aerial rig’s frame to test the heights of attached apparatuses.

All are performers, volunteers and/ or staff of Island Circus Space, preparing for one of their semi-regular cabarets, 90-minute events showcasing several performers dedicated to the circus arts. The lineup includes a sequence of aerialists who elegantly climb silks, sway on a trapeze, spin within a sturdy steel hoop, dangle from dual straps, snake along a rope and contort around a steel cube wrapped with multi-coloured lights.

This local circus studio provides a unique space for anyone to explore their physical and emotional boundaries, embrace their authentic selves and share their creative talents with an enthusiastic audience.

“Everyone that’s choosing to be there is choosing to be there,” says trapeze artist Arden Low. “You’re an adult, you do what you want, and we want to be there. That really promotes a positive environment.”

Island Circus Space (ICS) was founded in 2017 by Coral Crawford and Lisa Eckert, alumni of Vancouver’s Underground Circus and Montreal’s internationally renowned The 7 Fingers, respectively. Their intention was to provide Victoria performers with a dedicated space to practise circus arts.

Prior to the opening of a circus artsspecific studio, local performers would make do with gymnastics institutions and vacant courtyards. Then Crawford and Eckert built their circus studio on Hillside Avenue in Rock Bay, where established performers can teach what they know and students of all experience levels can develop ground and aerial skills. Though both founders have since passed off ownership, they still coach a variety of classes.

ICS has since become a hub for circus arts within Victoria. More than 20 instructors offer classes in 19 disciplines, at multiple experience levels, for kids and adults. There’s something for everyone throughout the year — including a good show.

Over the years, ICS performers have dazzled audiences throughout Victoria. Previous performances have been held at the Royal BC Museum, the Oak Bay Business Improvement Association and various schools, as well as annually at FernFest since 2023 and the Victoria Pride Parade since 2022.

And then there are the cabarets, which ICS has offered for years as opportunities for students to share their skills with the community. Cabarets have typically been hosted at the ICS studio, but last year’s move to the United Commons boosted audience capacity from approximately 30 seats to 150.

Performers work diligently to create cabaret sets that exhibit their disciplined physicality with theatric creativity.

PUTTING FUN INTO FITNESS

“Circus is this tediously slow thing,” says Emrah Olgun, one of ICS’s two current co-owners. Olgun took over in 2023 after Crawford and Eckert stepped back from leadership roles, and teaches disciplines such as handstanding, acrobatics and flexibility. “You need a lot of mastery to guide you through all the frustrations of doing a thing over and over and failing at it. It needs a lot of resilience.”

Operations manager Alicia Sheff attests to the commitment required to succeed in circus arts. “You have to take that first step and be really, really brave,” says Sheff, “and embrace sucking at something for a little while.”

Though being able to grit through boredom isn’t exclusive to circus arts, ICS pairs this determination with an atmosphere of fun and playfulness. This approach resonates with many performers in a way that other forms of fitness don’t. “Ninety per cent of your time is failing the movement,” says aerial straps performer Dyllan Goldstein. “If you’re not playful about it, you end up just working out in a manner that is really defeating and uninteresting. It’s not interesting to watch somebody work out to music.”

Olgun and fellow co-owner Josh Nobleman are proud to provide a fitness space that avoids the overly masculine grind mindset of “gymbro culture.”

“The circus is a way to find physical embodiment in a way that doesn’t reduce the body down to a tool or an image,” says Nobleman, who also teaches handstanding at ICS. “We’re doing all these drills, all these exercises, not so that we can have washboard abs and look smaller, but so that we can do things to express ourselves.”

“You need a lot of mastery to guide you through all the frustrations of doing a thing over and over and failing at it.

STEP RIGHT UP, STEP RIGHT UP

For many, an alternate form of exercise isn’t the only draw of circus arts. Performance is inherent to the art of circus; Beyond apparatus-specific classes, ICS offers act creation courses to help students develop sets. Nearly half the performers of the most recent cabaret were students from last summer’s act creation series.

Sean Heisler is ICS’s act creation coach. He first discovered circus arts while studying in Vancouver, then went on to coach and train at Aerial Artique and the Circus Center in San Francisco.

“Performing an act of your own creation feels very different than performing somebody else’s choreography,” says Heisler. “There’s an element of being more deeply seen, being witnessed, that comes through when you’re building your own art.”

For rope performer Bronwyn MacLeod, the bodily strength required for the creative expression of circus arts is one of its greatest appeals. MacLeod also performs with local devised theatre troupe Morphaces, but finds the physicality of circus to be a welcome added challenge to performing.

“[Circus] differs a lot from theatre in that I really need to condition my body,” says MacLeod. “Whereas theatre, I could be sedentary if I wanted to and still express myself … The audience engages a lot more

“

What ties us together is this quest for connection and novelty, and being around other weirdos and permission to be weirdos in a weirdo space.

with the skills presented, and there’s a lot of excitement over those tricks and impressive moves and feats of strength.”

Audience energy levels play a huge part in the atmosphere of any circus show. Nobleman, as the MC for the cabaret, encourages audience participation between every act to keep the energy high: an impromptu invisible hula-hoop contest, a co-ordinated wave that loops around the ring-shaped rows, quadrant-specific cheers divided by “oohs,” “aahs,” “wows” and raucous applause.

For performer Audrey Yap, whose set involves stretching along the trapeze like an arrow nocked in a bow, choreographing an act provides additional motivation while training. Performance fuels the drive to create a storyline with consideration for music choice, costuming and specific sequences of aerial movements.

“Choreographing an act for performance just adds this extra dimension that you don’t quite get when you’re just training for yourself,” says Yap. “To think, ‘How is someone else going to perceive this? How do I actually perform this and not just do the movements?’ ”

COME ONE, COME ALL

“When I first started acro, I was just looking for friends and looking for people that were kind of weird like me,” says Sheff, who’s also an acro yoga instructor at ICS. “What ties us together is this quest for connection and novelty, and being around other weirdos and permission to be weirdos in a weirdo space. You don’t have to censor yourself or worry about how you’re going to show up.”

Heisler’s approach to coaching leans into the idea of emotionally meeting people where they’re at, especially when it comes to frustration. “It’s letting people go into those messier places without judgment,” says Heisler. “With the safety that there’s a community that does support them without feeling like they’re a burden or something like that.”

“Sean really challenges us,” says silks performer Deb Kennedy. She typically performs on trapeze, but Heisler encouraged her to expand her performance repertoire with silks. “I’ve probably gotten a little bit comfortable performing on trapeze. Sean

just has a way of — without actually telling us to — pushing us to get uncomfortable … to do things like hold poses for longer, to explore what it looks like to express emotion from the back where people can’t see your face.”

Kennedy has done several act creation sessions with Heisler. “I often ask her why she comes back,” he says. “Often her answer is, ‘In the space that you’re holding, I can explore the new topic or I can push things that are uncomfortable.’ ”

“Another student described the crying corner,” says Heisler. “That was just a collection of a few students who, as they’re working through [movements], emotions would swell up because they don’t have space in their life

outside of that where those emotions can come through.” Heisler has seen students with emotionally demanding daily lives, from health-care workers to parents with struggling kids, find catharsis and mind-body reconnection in circus arts. “In some of the drills that I do with people, it is about stopping, connecting, doing simple things and coming back into [them]selves.”

CURTAIN CALL

The cabaret is a mosaic of physical artistry and theatrics. Music ranges from the dark folk rock of Avi Kaplan to the upbeat pop tunes of Vanessa Carlton. Performers’ costumes sparkle in the ever-shifting floodlights, their

movements mirrored by the shadows twisting against the 42-foot-high ceiling.

After each display of fine motor skills and choreographed aerial act, performers assemble in a circle beneath the rig. With everyone facing the audience, the performers clasp hands and bow several times, rotating as a group between each so all quadrants of the audience receive a bow from each performer.

As the audience meets the performers’ bows with a standing ovation, it’s easy to see how community is one of the most integral pillars of circus.

“There’s so much talent in the city, people don’t even realize it,” says Goldstein. Sweat beads his face following his straps performance, but he smiles wide while amidst the bustle to unpack the assembly hall. “Not even just in the Circus Space ... I wish the whole world could see the things I’ve seen happen in the circus community here.”

Those curious about trying out circus arts for the first time can take introduction classes at Island Circus Space, available as one-off sessions and four-week series for both ground acts and aerials. For more information, visit islandcircusspace.com

Food + Drink

62

The Dish Love for Lumache plus tasty events and other hot things happening around Victoria.

64 Comfort Me With Flavour

The London Chef shares his easy, nourishing and delicious roasted veg.

68

Dark, Dark Chocolate

High prices aren’t the only bitter truth about your favourite treat right now.

70 Macaloney’s Big Moves Exciting changes for fans of the Victoria distiller. Plus more whisky news.

IN SEASON

Lemon Time

Sunshine-bright amid the earnest root vegetables in the January produce section, lemons offer the vivid flavour we crave right now. A cross between citron and bitter orange, these tart, oval, tough-rinded berries most likely originated in northeastern India more than 2,000 years ago. Today they grow around the world, even here in Victoria, although the ones you’ll find in the grocery store (Eureka and Lisbon; sweeter varieties like Meyer lemons aren’t technically lemons but hybrids) are imported mainly from California, Mexico, Spain or Argentina. We love lemons for their bright sour flavour, so versatile in everything from cocktails to salads to baked goods. A squeeze of lemon juice adds life to sauces; a grating of lemon peel elevates a cake from ho-hum to extraordinary. We can’t imagine cooking without lemons; luckily, they are at their peak right now through March, so you know what to do.

RECIPES

66 Oven-Roasted Vegetables

67 Tuscan Salsa Verde

Food + Drink THE DISH

A TASTE OF WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND VICTORIA

SLOW DOWN FOR LUMACHE

It’s all about handmade pasta at this tiny restaurant in the old Hank’s location.

Amulti-course pasta-tasting menu from a chef who trained with arguably Vancouver’s top sfoglino? Yes, please, count us in!

That chef is James Frost who, along with partner, sommelier and front-of-house pro Heather Dosman, has just opened Lumache in the tiny, 16-seat location that once housed the original Hank’s.

The name, pronounced loo-mah-kay, “is an Italian word that means snails. We chose the name as a nod to Slow Food and doing things slowly,” Frost says. There’s also another expression he likes to use, “piano, piano,” which means doing things little by little. “Piano, piano is kind of our slogan … when I was in Italy, my chef would tell me to add the sauce or do the braise ‘piano, piano.’ ” Frost brings plenty of expertise in Italian cookery to Lumache. He spent three years working with chef Adam Pegg at La Quercia in Vancouver, three more developing seasonal menus as chef at Livia Forno e Vino and four months at Osteria Storico Morelli in the Dolomites,

working with chef Fiorenzo Varesco, a champion of Slow Food principles.

It was his mentor, Pegg, who taught him the art of handmade pasta, including his favourite, agnolotti del plin, a small, stuffed, hand-pinched pasta. One day Pegg put him to work, spending a whole day making plin. “The only way to get good at this is by doing all the repetitions,” Frost says. “I was back there for a few hours and [Pegg] said, ‘This would be my dream to stand back here and do this all day.’ It just ties me to that time.”

Dosman, meanwhile, has done everything from oversee multimillion-dollar food programs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to catering and working as a somm at the natural-wine-forward Bar Gobo. At Lumache, she offers a mix of Italian and Canadian labels, with a focus on small producers that follow sustainable growing practices, very much in keeping with Slow Food philosophy.

The duo decided to make the move to the Island two years ago, in part because Frost’s parents are over here. “And we felt that

Victoria might be ready for the kind of restaurant we wanted to do,” he says.

Before opening their doors in December, they’d been doing pop-ups all over town, making friends and meeting suppliers. They’ve been especially impressed by the local produce. “We’ve been so happy to find the beautiful quality ingredients so close to the city,” Frost says.

With such a tiny space to work with, they’ll be doing two seatings a night, with reservations opening a month at a time and keeping some room for walk-ins. The limitations of the space also mean they’ll have to keep the menu tight — just a few antipasti, a handful of pastas and a couple of desserts. The best way to experience Lumache is to try the pasta tasting menu, which allows you to try four different pastas and Frost to play with interesting experiments.

“The small room allows us to drive that handmade food and personalized service. It’s a great opportunity for us,” Frost says. “It allows me to make handmade pasta for everybody.” lumache.ca

By Joanne Sasvari

EVENTS

January is a delicious month to hang around Victoria, with plenty of events to whet your appetite.

 Dine Around and Stay in Town is back, kicking things off with a gala event on January 22 at the Crystal Garden. Then, from January 23 through February 8, a record-breaking 60-plus Greater Victoria restaurants will be serving three-course meals for $25 to $75 (depending on the restaurant), and 14 local hotels offering deals on accommodation. It’s the best way to discover a new favourite, revisit an old one or just enjoy a great night out. tourismvictoria.com/eat-drink/dine-around  Then on February 26, the doors of the Victoria Conference Centre open for Culinaire, a food and beverage showcase of chefs, restaurateurs, mixologists, brewers and winemakers, including local favourites such as Clive’s Classic Lounge, House of Boateng and GoodSide Pastry House. The event also supports culinary education through bursaries and scholarships, so you’ll be supporting a good cause. culinairevictoria.com

 Looking for an excuse to get out of town instead? Dine Out Vancouver, January 21 to February 8, is Canada’s largest food and drink festival, featuring hundreds of the city’s hottest restaurants, great hotel deals and special events that range from sea foraging to world chef exchanges to long-table paella dinners. dineoutvancouver.com

 Winnipeg in January may not be on your bucket list, but it should be, just for RAW:Almond. This three-week popup culinary festival is held right on the frozen river in a one-of-a-kind temporary structure. Cofounded by Deer + Almond chef Mandel Hitzer and Joe Kalturnyk, founding director of RAW:Gallery of Architecture and Design, it features guest appearances by some of Canada’s most exciting chefs. Check the website for dates and updates. raw-almond.com

TRANSITIONS

It’s great to see Brian Tesolin, most recently the executive chef at The Courtney Room, cooking at Cafe Brio. He’s in his happy place hand-crafting artisanal pasta like culurgiones, a traditional pasta from Sardinia stuffed with bacon, potato, ricotta and Parmesan, sort of like a fancy perogy. Meanwhile, Brio’s executive chef and co-owner Sam Harris is working on the growing Vinuel Restaurant Group’s newest project, a pizza joint expected to open downtown sometime this spring.

We’re excited to see the old Yates Street Taphouse location at 759 Yates get a new lease on life this spring after sitting empty for nearly two years. The Vancouver-based retro video game bar Glitch is opening a location here and it promises to be a good time, with an arcade, sports in the evenings and DJs on the weekends.

After a few false starts and hiccups along the way, it appears that the long-awaited Whippletree Bakery at 209 Menzies Street in James Bay is finally open, and customers are raving about baker Peter Storto’s excellent breads and pastries.

In less happier news, Pizzeria Prima Strada has closed its Fort Street location after more than a decade at the junction of the Oak Bay and Jubilee neighbourhoods. However, the Cook Street location will continue producing the Neapolitan pizzas Victoria has loved since 2008, and owners Cristen DeCarolis and Geoffrey Dallas promise they have something new and exciting in the works.

We’re also saddened to hear that the terrific Szechuan restaurant Hong Kong West has quietly closed after more than three decades in business at Fort Street and Richmond Road. It will be missed.

CITY OF GASTRONOMY

Considering a road trip this spring or summer? If you love food and wine, you might want to put Kelowna into your GPS.

The Okanagan city, with its more than 500 restaurants and 40-plus wineries, was recently designated Canada’s first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

“This designation honours Kelowna’s commitment to harnessing the creative field of gastronomy as a powerful driver of sustainable local development,” says David Schimpky, Director of Secretariat, Canadian Commission for UNESCO.

Created in 2004, UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network is organized into eight fields: architecture, crafts and folk art, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts and music. Kelowna is the fifth city in Canada to join the network, after Quebec City (literature), Montreal (design), Toronto (media arts) and London (music). citiesofgastronomy.com

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Food + Drink

By Joanne Sasvari | Photos by Jeffrey Bosdet

COMFORT ME WITH FLAVOUR

Craving something to warm your soul and nourish your body? Chef Dan Hayes has the easy, delicious solutions you’re looking for.

January. The bacchanal of the holidays has ended and the season of penance is upon us. What we crave on these cold, dark days is comfort. What we need after the last few weeks of indulgence and, perhaps, overindulgence, is nourishment.

Can we have both? Absolutely, says chef Dan Hayes, a.k.a. The London Chef, Victoria’s everpopular, classically trained culinary instructor and co-host of the APTN series Moosemeat & Marmalade.

“I think one side of comfort food is very much memories. I don’t think anyone would argue that apple pie with vanilla ice cream is comfort food and a big part of that is it takes you back to your childhood,” he says. “But then the other side of it is, perhaps, comfort food is also something a little bit stodgy and a little bit naughty and a little bit sweet and a little bit starchy and whatever else that perhaps we don’t eat every day.”

That doesn’t, and shouldn’t, mean it’s bad. “I hope we’ve come out of the era where we’re suggesting that cream and butter and a little bit of sugar now again is unhealthy. It’s certainly not.” But, he adds, “I’m a big fan of sort of revamping some of the old classics to bring them into modern times.”

To do that, he uses three simple techniques: roasting, braising and making sauces. The result? Dishes as comforting as they are nourishing.

CRAVEABLE CARAMELIZATION

I ran into Hayes a little while ago when he was cooking and teaching at a friend’s birthday party. If you’ve taken one of his classes, you know that he makes everything from aioli to scratch-made pasta look easy and doable. (And it is, he insists. You just have to try a new technique a few times to develop a sort of muscle memory for it. “I feel cooking is for everyone,” he says.)

What really struck me was how each dish he made that night, from the garlicky shrimp to the à la minute flatbread to the roasted vegetables with salsa verde, was at once comforting, nourishing and delicious. It’s been a long time, if ever, since I’ve seen a bunch of tipsy grownups raving about the vegetables at a dinner party.

Chef Dan Hayes wants you to know that you can have comfort, nutrition, flavour and indulgence all at the same time.

OvenRoasted Vegetables Recipe on page 66

So, what’s the secret? Well, there are a couple of them, and the first is the power of roasting, especially when it comes to veggies.

“It’s the Maillard reaction, named for the physician Louis Camille Maillard. It’s the browning, the char-grilling. It’s the caramelization,” Hayes explains. Technically, the Maillard reaction is a chemical process that occurs between amino acids and sugars when food is heated. It’s what gives you that golden crust on a loaf of bread or the mouthwatering sear on a ribeye steak.

“Why do we love a charred steak and not a boiled steak? The only reason for that is that caramelization. We want caramelized food and, in a home kitchen, where there are smoke detectors and all the rest of it, roasting is the easiest, safest way to get that.”

Roasting vegetables “is the easiest thing in the world,” Hayes says. Start by getting your oven “ripping hot,” between 400°F and 450°F, then chop up your veg (Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, squash, peppers or basically any root vegetable), arrange it on a baking sheet and coat it generously with olive oil and salt. If you like, kick things up a notch or two by sprinkling it with spice blends like za’atar or garam masala or even just a bit of coriander, cumin or crushed red pepper flakes. Then pop it in the oven and roast until browned and a little crispy.

“When you pull it out of the oven, hit it with some lemon juice and it’s divine, hot or cold,” he says. “You don’t need Doritos on the table. You sit around and eat those and it’s so much better, so much healthier.”

BEAUTIFUL BRAISES

Of course, roasting is also a time-honoured method for cooking meat; the biggest challenge is judging timing, especially with the bigger cuts, which can be a little intimidating given the price of a standing rib roast these days.

An even better method for wrangling comfort out of meat is braising it, especially the tougher, fattier, bonier and ultimately more flavourful cuts like shanks, short ribs, brisket, chuck (shoulder) and chicken thighs. It’s like magic, Hayes says, and almost impossible to mess up if you have a slow cooker.

“You take some tough bits of meat, half an onion and half an apple, a couple of potatoes, a bit of water, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, put it in this contraption and then you come back after work and your house smells like a team of Michelin-star chefs have been at it all day,” he says. “You have this incredibly tender, perfectly cooked meat, falling off the bone and submerged in this golden broth. And you’re like, how is that possible?”

Finally, there are the sauces “that bring everything to life.” Some, like the extended

Food + Drink

family of green sauces made from fresh herbs (chimichurri, green goddess, pesto/pistou, salsa verde) are also nutritional powerhouses. Others, like chutneys, are make-ahead time savers to have on hand when you need a quick flavour boost. Still others, like homemade mayonnaise or its garlicky sibling aioli, offer comforting richness.

Adding these to your repertoire opens a world of flavour, and Hayes promises they are all easy to make, especially if you have an immersion, or stick, blender. (It’s the only kitchen gadget he heartily recommends for its ease of use and even easier cleanup. Use it for everything from smoothies to soup to salad dressing.)

“If [a new recipe or technique] goes wrong, try it again and again and again and, by the time you go to bed, hopefully a few bottles of wine later, you’ve got it locked,” he says, reassuringly.

FEEL-GOOD FOODS

At the end of the day, what makes a food comforting is a combination of convenience, flavour, texture and memory. No one should feel bad about the choices they make; after all, crunching your way through a bowl of crispy, salty potato chips can be awfully soothing when you’re having a bad day. But roasted chickpeas or Brussels sprouts have many of the same characteristics, and you’ll probably feel a lot better afterwards.

It’s your choice, but it’s an easier one to make if you have certain techniques at your fingertips. Master the easy arts of roasting, braising and making sauces, and nourishing comfort food is always within reach.

Hayes puts it into perspective. “If you take a Brussels sprout and you boil it with bicarbonate of soda and cover it in some sort of lumpy cheese sauce, it is one of the most revolting things you could possibly put in your mouth,” he says.

“But take that same Brussels sprout, and you cut it in half and you roast it with olive oil and salt in a hot oven and then serve it with some chimichurri, it’s every bit as good as a chicken wing.”

LEARN MORE

Whether you are a novice cook or already know your way around a whisk, you’ll always learn something from one of chef Dan Hayes’s classes. The London Chef cooking school offers some in-person private or pop-up instruction, but mostly online classes. The latter are available as one-offs or by subscription ($19.99 a month or $199.99 a year); a one-month subscription includes six live classes and access to the entire library of earlier ones. Learn more at thelondonchef.com.

RECIPES

OVEN-ROASTED VEGETABLES

This easy, comforting and endlessly versatile no-recipe recipe from The London Chef, Dan Hayes, will become a staple in your repertoire. You can use almost any sturdy vegetable you like; just make sure the pieces are of similar size so they cook evenly.

• Vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, squash (butternut, kabocha, delicata, zucchini), broccoli, cauliflower, broccolini, carrots, parsnips, baby potatoes, beets, bell peppers or a mixture (see note)

• Olive oil, as needed

• A generous pinch of salt

• A few grinds of black pepper

• Optional: fresh thyme or rosemary leaves, or crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Chop your vegetables into similar, bitesized pieces and place them in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle

with salt and a little black pepper. Add fresh thyme, rosemary and/or a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes if you wish. Toss well so everything is evenly coated.

Transfer to a baking tray. (You can line that tray with parchment paper for easier cleanup later.) Place it in the oven and roast until golden and cooked through to your desired consistency, usually about 20 minutes, depending on the veg.

Serve hot or at room temp, topped with Tuscan Salsa Verde (recipe below).

Note: For the best results, here are some tips on prepping specific vegetables. Brussels sprouts should be halved. Squashes with hard rinds, such as butternut, should be peeled; those with soft ones, like delicata or zucchini, should not. Whether you peel carrots and parsnips depends on how tough and grimy they look; most don’t need it. Break broccoli and cauliflower into florets; chop any large florets in half. If you roast a mixture of veg, make sure they are of similar size and density so they cook at the same rate.

TUSCAN SALSA VERDE

Taste the authentic flavours of Syria.

Handcrafted with love in the heart of Esquimalt, every bite tells a story. With a little notice, we would be happy to cater your next event!

Try this punchy, herbaceous, versatile sauce from The London Chef on grilled meats, with prawns, on flatbread pizzas, tossed into pasta or roasted potatoes, or brushed on vegetables after roasting. It will keep in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. Makes about 2 cups.

• 2 Tbsp capers

• A healthy dollop of Dijon mustard (1 to 2 tsp, or to taste)

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled

• Big handful of fresh mint (leaves and tender stems only)

• Big handful of fresh parsley (leaves and tender stems only)

• Squeeze of fresh lemon juice, to taste

• ¼ cup olive oil

• ½ cup canola oil

Blend all ingredients with a hand blender until a loose, sauce-like consistency is formed. Add a splash of water if too tight.

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Food + Drink

DARK, DARK CHOCOLATE

By Joanne Sasvari

There’s bitter trouble in the world of our favourite treat. Here’s what you need to know.

Life,” the saying goes, “is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.” These days that may be especially true when it comes to chocolate itself.

Maybe you noticed it first at Halloween when so many chocolate treats had so little actual chocolate in them. (Think: Kit Kats coated in “flavoured creme” or chocolate-free Cinnamon Toast Crunch Hershey’s Kisses.) Or perhaps you were shocked by how much more expensive your favourite bonbons were this holiday season — or how much smaller the packages were.

In any case, something’s clearly going on with chocolate, and to find out what, we checked in with David Mincey, founder of The Chocolate Project, which for the last 25 years has been the city’s leading purveyor of ethically sourced beanto-bar chocolate.

Basically, what’s happening is simple: “Decades and decades of mismanagement are coming home to roost, combined with climate change,” Mincey says. It’s also not so simple, because with chocolate, nothing ever is.

CRAZY FOR CACAO

Chocolate comes from what is, at first blush, an altogether unlikely source: the slimy white beans found inside the glossy, reddish-purple pods of the cacao tree native to South America’s Amazon rainforest.

To make chocolate, these beans are harvested and fermented (a process in which natural yeasts and bacteria bring out the cacao’s complex flavours), then cleaned, roasted and shelled. The resulting “nibs” are ground into a paste called chocolate liquor, which is mixed with ingredients such as sugar, cocoa butter or milk powder, and then “conched” (mixed, agitated and aerated) and tempered until smooth, rich and mouthwatering.

But what we know as chocolate today is a relatively new product. Cocoa powder was only invented in 1828, while bar chocolate became a thing in 1847. For more than 3,000 years before that, chocolate was enjoyed as a beverage, first by the Olmecs in what is now southern Mexico, then the Mayans and the Aztecs, who consumed “xocoatl” for medicinal, cultural and spiritual purposes.

In the 1500s, the Spanish arrived in the New World and brought this pleasantly bitter beverage home with them. Chocolate mania quickly spread through Europe.

For the next few centuries, chocolate remained a luxury beverage for the wealthy. But as new methods of production evolved, so did

There is a lot of money in commodity chocolate, but very little goes to the people actually farming it.

a wider market. By the 20th century, chocolate was being mass produced by companies with familiar names like Nestlé, Lindt, Cadbury, Mars and Hershey.

With increased demand came the need for increased supply. The Spanish established the first cacao plantation in Latin America as early as 1520. Other colonists followed, including the Portuguese, who were the first to plant cacao trees in Africa. That was the mid-19th century. Today West Africa produces 75 per cent of the world’s cacao.

All those plantations used slave labour. Some still do. Documentation is sketchy, but reports suggest that as many as two million children are being used as unpaid labour on African cacao plantations. Countless adults are being exploited as well. “It’s what got me into ethical chocolate 25 years ago,” Mincey says.

PRICE SPIKES

As Mincey explains it, there are two completely separate worlds of chocolate — what’s known as commercial or commodity chocolate and what’s known as bean-to-bar, craft, fair trade or direct trade chocolate. “They have completely different supply chains and different supply models,” he says. Commodity chocolate comprises all the big brand names from Cadbury to Callebaut and is almost entirely made with cacao from West Africa, primarily Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.

“These beans have lots of issues,” Mincey says. For one thing, some plantation owners have been clear cutting the rainforest to plant more cacao trees, which has led to both drought and crop disease. The changing climate has only made things worse. And then there are the labour issues; there is a lot of money in commodity chocolate, but very little goes to the people actually farming it.

BETTER BARS

Start here for ethical, handcrafted and (mostly) local bean-to-bar chocolate.

The Chocolate Project: Fair-trade, ethically produced, bean-to-bar chocolate from around the world. chocolateproject.ca

Sirene Chocolate: Locally handmade chocolate bars from ethically sourced, organic, direct-trade cacao. sirenechocolate.com

Bean-to-bar cacao, on the other hand, tends to come from small, sustainably managed family farms in places like Peru, Ecuador and parts of Asia. Much of it is made by hand and most of the money goes to the farmer.

In 2022, 2023 and 2024, West Africa produced only a fraction of its usual cacao crop — some say as little as 10 per cent — due to storms, drought, disease and a plethora of other issues including illegal gold mining on farmland. The result has been an astronomical spike in the price of commodity chocolate. “Cheap bulk chocolate for many years was trading at US$2,000 a metric ton. In 2024, it spiked to US$12,000 a metric ton,” Mincey says, adding, “But realize the farmers who produced that cacao didn’t see a penny of that price increase.”

Prices have come down a bit since then, but are still well above the historic average, and that’s not likely to change any time soon. As Mincey says, “The long-term future of West African cacao is not bright.”

And, although they have separate supply systems, what happens in commodity chocolate “does trickle down” to the beanto-bar producers. When those farmers saw the prices commodity cacao was getting, naturally, they raised their prices, too.

“Grade A beans have to sell for more than Grade C, slave-made beans,” Mincey says. “They just have to.”

BUY BETTER

The chocolate lovers among us can almost certainly expect chocolate to continue costing more, whether it’s at the high or low end of the quality scale.

So you might as well buy the good stuff. You’ll get your money’s worth and feel better about your purchase. As Mincey says, “You know that your money is going to the farmer and not lining the pockets of a big corporation or a country that is using it to fund its paramilitary.”

To find a better bar, look for a country of origin on the label, buy from trusted sources, do your research and, if you don’t know, ask.

As Mincey says: “It’s not a terrible thing that chocolate prices are going up — IF that money is going to the farm communities. And in our world, it is.”

Roxy’s Chocolate: Small-batch, bean-tobar chocolate locally made from singleorigin organic cacao. roxyschocolate.com

Pure Lovin’ Chocolate: Locally made organic, fair-trade, mostly vegan chocolate bars and confections. purelovinchocolate.com

Uncouth Chocolate: Single-origin vegan bars produced by two long-time chocolate concierges at The Chocolate Project. uncouthchocolate.com

NURTURE YOUR BODY THIS YEAR WITH WILD, SUSTAINABLE, B.C. SEAFOOD

A fish-focused grain bowl is a perfect way to start your year off right. No recipe needed! Simply cook your favourite whole grains, top with beautiful seasonal vegetables, dressing of your choice, and finish it off with a perfect piece of wild, sustainable seafood. The world is your oyster, and the options are endless. Nutritious food for a healthful new year!

Food + Drink

By Christine Sismondo

MACALONEY’S BIG MOVES

Exciting things are fermenting at Victoria’s award-winning whisky maker.

When rumours started to circulate last year that big changes were brewing at Macaloney’s Island Distillery, a lot of local whisky fans had concerns.

After all, founder and resident mad scientist Graeme Macaloney, was a fixture on the Vancouver Island whisky scene. And having Canada’s mostawarded craft distillery in Saanich was a point of pride to many locals, not to mention a super convenient place to pick up a bottle. The good news, though, is that, even though the rumours were true, there’s no need to panic.

The distillery isn’t going anywhere. The fermenters will keep bubbling. And the spirit will continue to come off the stills. And, best of all, Graeme Macaloney will carry on with making the whisky.

So, it’s sort of a “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” situation. In a good way, though.

There is a new investor, but precious little will change — at least when it comes to the whisky.

RAISING CAPITAL

“You know, there are 700 Canadian investors in Macaloney’s, all of whom are whisky enthusiasts from coast to coast,” Macaloney says of the crowd-funding model that he launched to get seed money to open the distillery in 2016.

“That was a really novel and fascinating way to finance a major operation of this scale, but it really did mean we were working hand-to-mouth all the way, though.”

Raising capital is a challenge for many Canadian entrepreneurs. In his case, working hand-to-mouth meant he was unable to invest “properly” in sales and marketing. One option would have been to turn to the foreign-owned big liquor conglomerates, but Macaloney, a

professional engineer who also has a PhD in biotechnology with a specialization in fermentation, worried that he’d lose control of his meticulously designed, state-of-the-art system for turning premium Canadian barley into award-winning whiskies.

“So, I spent last year looking for a new lead investor and I was actually thrilled to be able to close this local investor, a major investor,” he says. “I’ll continue on in the role of director, so I continue to govern the business and then, of course, since the [Scottish] accent helps me make good whisky, I’ll still be the master whisky maker.”

What is new, however, is the CEO, Margaret Rygiel, who spent the summer months preparing for the role by learning and engaging with the local community, under the guidance of the investor, a Vancouver Island resident and

entrepreneur who prefers to remain a silent partner. Having been won over by the whisky, Rygiel has focused on the sales and marketing opportunities, as well as upcoming distillery renovations.

“We want to start by investing our time and energy in the distillery, because that’s our heart, that’s where the copper stills are and that’s where the people who make the whisky are,” says Rygiel. “We want to make Macaloney’s more of a destination, where locals can come with family and friends to enjoy a pint or just hang out and enjoy the whisky.”

Sales efforts will be focused on the B.C. market, primarily Vancouver Island. The whisky will be marketed as one of very few truly Canadian whiskies — from ownership to ingredients.

ISLAND CHARACTER

That was always a big part of the Macaloney’s original mission, too. Although he was born in Scotland, going back to the old country didn’t even enter the conversation.

“I immigrated in 1989 and I married a Canadian and fell in love, not just with her, I also fell in love with Canada,” says Macaloney, who came here to work as a fermentation project manager for the Alberta Research Council and has extensive experience in biotech. “I’ll always be a passionate Scot, but I’ll die here.”

A combination of things drew him to Vancouver Island, including a brisk tourism trade, the Victoria Whisky Festival and, in general, a scene that punched way above its weight in terms of things like the number of whisky clubs per capita on the Island. (Six, at last count, not including distillery clubs.)

And, of course, there’s the pull of the sea, which contributes to the unique character of “Island distilleries” and has made it possible for Macaloney to play with ingredients like sugar kelp to create expressions that build out his “merroir” project (terroir of the sea).

“The maritime influence is huge. I’ve got beautiful ocean air here in Saanich and can smell the sea breeze when I drive to work in the morning,” he says. “I think it creates iconic distilleries, iconic brands and iconic whiskies.”

Including, of course, Macaloney’s own, which we’re all happy to learn, isn’t going anywhere. So, we can expect more gold medals, more merroir, wildly creative barrel finishes and plenty of mad science in the future.

Right now, Macaloney’s newest release is the Peat Project Harvest Coast, which he describes as having “big sherry and virgin oak notes — beautifully layered, complex and balanced.”

Aside from that, he promises: “Too much fun.”

WHAT’S NEW IN ISLAND WHISKY

As usual, there’s plenty going on in Vancouver Island’s craft whisky scene, from up-and-comers like Port Alberni’s Antidote, where they’re patiently waiting for their first whisky to age, to the OGs of terroirfocused, single-malt expressions Shelter Point in Campbell River.

While we wait for Shelter Point to outdo itself with another longaged expression like the 12-year-old released in 2024, there’s still plenty to explore on shelf, including Ripple Rock Single Malt, which took gold at the Bartender Spirits Award and was tapped for Whisky Advocate’s “Editor’s Choice.”

Tofino Distillery only started releasing its certified organic West Coast Whisky in 2023, but it’s already picked up a gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (2024). Last Halloween, it released Barrel 32, a blend of rye, wheat and malted barley single barrel aged five years in first-fill charred oak.

Although the Speciality Malt Canadian Whisky from Arbutus, which won a medal at the last year’s Canadian Whisky Awards (CWA) is all sold out, this Nanaimo distillery has a loyal following for its spicy and award-winning Canadian Rye Whisky, one of very few 100-percent ryes on the Island.

Duncan’s Stillhead Distillery is also playing with rye-forward whiskies and, in 2025, scooped five medals at the CWAs, including its Porty Spice Rye Whisky and three others aged in sherry (Pedro Ximénez), muscatel and tequila casks. The fifth? Whisky Cream. Yes, please.

And don’t forget: The Victoria Whisky Festival returns for its 20th run, from January 15 through 18 at the Hotel Grand Pacific, and the Canadian Whisky Awards will be announced at the gala on January 15. victoriawhiskyfestival.com, canadianwhiskyawards.com

The memoirist and poet Maya Angelou once said, and I’m paraphrasing, there’s nothing more agonizing than holding onto an untold story.

That’s an apt tagline for Confabulation, a monthly evening of storytelling-on-steroids at The Coda — short (but not too short), powerful (laugh, cry, question your own life choices) and wildly entertaining (curated, workshopped and slick) — tales told by your friends, neighbours, strangers, pros, first-timers.

The wildly successful born-in-Montreal series, which launched in Victoria in 2016 with producers Carol-Lynne Michaels and Cassandra Togneri, is in its ninth season, counting more than 360 stories told to live audiences.

The stories told are all true, Togneri says, or at least as best as people can remember them, and offered without props, scripts, notes or gimmicks.

Let YOU Tell ME a Story

Confabulation series puts storytelling at centre stage.

By David Lennam | Photo by Jeffrey Bosdet

Confabulation, she says, is all about a person’s experience, “a memory, something that sticks out in their mind as important or formative or funny or sad or any combination of those things.”

Togneri and Michaels curate every Confabulation around a loose theme — epic adventures and urban myths, for example, feast or famine, stories of curveballs and shooting your shot. They take your submitted pitch for a story (a short outline or just a paragraph) and workshop it, with phone calls, one-on-one coaching sessions, first drafts, second drafts, notes, questions, all to mine that nugget at the middle. That magical gem that makes the story sparkle.

“Everybody gets their own custom experience,” says Michaels. “We really help reflect back what the structure of your personal story could take shape in.”

Adds Togneri, “And we always tell people you don’t have to tell the biggest story of your entire life, you can just tell a funny little story or a sweet little story. It can be the smallest story of your entire life, a moment that stood out, and then we build from there.”

The organizers sometimes refer to Confabulation as a bit of a naked moment. You and a microphone and a big crowd. There is always vulnerability, but it’s not a therapy session. Although the process of crafting your story might end up changing you.

“When you’re living your story in the moment you’re not attaching a moral to it. You’re not attaching a lesson to it. It’s just what’s happening,” notes Togneri. “Confabulation gives people the opportunity to revisit their stories and understand them from a new perspective, a new light, and

“It can be the smallest story of your entire life, a moment that stood out, and then we build from there.”

attach a moral, attach a meaning that feels really good and surprises them a lot of the time.”

It’s also not like TEDx. There’s no lesson or trying to change someone’s mind. Confabulation is merely the sharing of an experience you’ve had. And, by owning that experience, it gives listeners the opportunity to make that experience their own. And that can mean feeling gutted or elated. Or both.

“That catches people off guard,” says Togneri. “They think they’re not going to be emotional about something and being in that room with that audience and that attention, and that support, it is a vibe. It catches a lot of storytellers off guard, how deeply they reconnect with their story and have an emotional reaction to that.”

Sometimes the stories they hear are immensely powerful and still get mentioned years later. Togneri and Michaels bring up Teresa Allaire, a regular contributor, who told a story about when she was in a coma. Devastating, inspiring, heartbreaking. And then there are the regulars, like Bob McDonald, host of CBC Radio’s Quirks & Quarks, whose tales always give a feeling of hope for the future. Or improviser Dave Morris, whose accounts are remarkably funny and sad at the same time.

I have to ask if being storytelling coaches has ruined the organizers for listening to subpar stories. Like, if they’re at a party and cornered by someone telling a story that isn’t so great.

“I can’t help but not have notes in my head,” Togneri says quickly.

But, I counter, you’ve never actually gone, “Listen, you’ve got some potential here, but…”

Togneri and Michaels immediately respond in unison with huge laughs. “Oh, we do that all the time … We are always recruiting.”

UPCOMING CONFABULATIONS

January 15 > Dig In: Stories of deep convictions, odd excavations and covering your tracks.

February 19 > The Shortest Story: Stories quick as we can tell them.

March 19 > Glow in the Dark: Stories of blanket forts, guiding lights and night visions.

April 16 > The Song that Saved My Life: A night of stories and music.

If you have a story to tell, make your pitch at confabulation.ca

CULTURE CALENDAR

New year, new performances you won’t want to miss.

BELLE SPIRALE DANCE PROJECTS

PRESENTS UNIVERSUS

 January 16, McPherson Playhouse

Artistic worlds emerge and collide in this showcase of new works by eight powerful dancers, choreographed by Chrystal Dance Prize winner Alexis Fletcher and internationally experienced dancer Fernando Hernando Magadan. rmts.bc.ca

PACIFIC OPERA VICTORIA PRESENTS

ZOMBIE

BLIZZARD

 January 18, McPherson Playhouse

Drawing from poems in Margaret Atwood’s 2020 collection Dearly, this powerful collaboration combines the talents of soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee and composer Aaron Davis, along with recorded recitations by Atwood. rmts.bc.ca

I DON’T BELONG HERE — STORIES AND SONGS AT THE EDGE OF FORGETTING

 January 21, Mary Winspear Centre

This poignant, intimately human stage production explores the lives of dementiacare facility residents. Through vignettes and accompanying song, residents navigate shifting realities, blurred recollections and struggling family members in what is ultimately an affirming meditation on the power of human connection. marywinspear.ca

I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE

 January 22 to February 8, Langham Court Theatre

Anyone who has loved, lost or dared to ask, “What are you doing Saturday night?” will find entertainment in the perils and pitfalls of the fateful first date, marriage, having children and the twilight years of life in this hilarious musical revue. langhamtheatre.ca

OUTSTAGES FESTIVAL

 January 26 to February 7, Intrepid Theatre

Leading LGBTQ+ performing artists from across Canada star in a host of shows, workshops and free events throughout Victoria. Previous years have seen appearances from decorated out-of-town performers such as Corey Payette and Ivan Coyote, as well as local icons Kerri Flannigan, Vivian Vanderpuss and Eddi Licious. intrepidtheatre.com

CANADIAN STEAM

 January 31, McPherson Playhouse

Whose Line Is It Anyway? meets Great White North in this sultry show from Vancouver’s own Comedy Department and Citizen Hurricane. Armed with smooth serenades and some of the most average bods this side of the Rockies, these “mildly sexy lumberjacks” are on a mission to crank up the charm and bring on the side-splitting laughs. rmts.bc.ca

INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT

 January 31, University Farquhar Auditorium

The world’s premier touring guitar festival returns with four extraordinary guitarists from around the globe: jazz and flamenco composer/musician Itamar Erez; Juno Awardwinning jazz guitarist Jocelyn Gould; Canadian Guitar Festival Competition winner Jamie Dupuis; and international flamenco composer/ musician Caroline Planté. uvic.ca/farquhar

MAANOMAA, MY BROTHER (MY BIRD, MY BROTHER)

February 3 to March 1, The Belfry Theatre

In this powerful meditation on grief and diaspora, two “brothers” — childhood friends Kwame and Will — reunite in Ghana for the funeral of a loved one, and discover how deep the chasm between them has grown in the 25 years since they separated. Also: To kick off its 50th anniversary season, the Belfry will host an open house from noon to 4 p.m. on January 10. Come out, meet the creative team, enjoy interactive displays, take a historic walking tour and much more. belfry.bc.ca

DANCE VICTORIA PRESENTS ATERBALLETTO

 February 6 and 7, Royal Theatre

In its Western Canada premiere, Italy’s National Choreographic Centre presents an interpretation of Gerorge Gershwin’s timeless “Rhapsody in Blue” with a large, joyful ensemble and 16 dancers, as well as Crystal Pite’s melancholic “Solo Echo” and Diego Tortelli’s ecstatic and rebellious “Glory Hall.” rmts.bc.ca

TOSCA

 February 18 to 24, Royal Theatre

Giacomo Puccini’s classic operatic masterpiece is a gripping tale of love, lust, murder and political intrigue enveloped by a richly romantic score that delivers visceral drama and lyrical beauty. rmts.bc.ca

UNBELIEVABUBBLE

Pop! Fizz! Whee! Is there anything that fills us with joy the way bubbles do?

By Joanne Sasvari

We love bubbles. We love sinking into a warm tub filled with them. Or feeling them tickle our nose as we sip a glass of Champagne. Or watching their delicate rainbow-tinted globes float across the backyard on a sunny day.

But what, we wondered, is a bubble exactly? That depends a little on what kind of bubble it is.

There are physical bubbles and more ephemeral ones such as economic or speculative bubbles, in which prices rise rapidly and then collapse suddenly. These are not, generally, the kinds of bubbles that make us happy. Physical bubbles, though, do.

Whether it’s seafoam, carbonation, boiling water or something else, a bubble is really just a pocket of gas trapped inside a globule of liquid. Often it’s many, many pockets of air trapped inside many, many globules of liquid. Sometimes that liquid becomes solid, like glass or ice, but still preserves those bubbles of air. And sometimes that liquid is soap (which is actually a film comprising two layers of soap molecules with water sandwiched between them), its iridescent hues the result of something called “thin-film interference,” in which light waves interact with each other as they bounce off the inside and outside of the film.

Whatever the liquid surface, it’s the balance between the air pressure inside and the surface tension outside that determines the shape of a bubble. Mostly that shape is spherical, but it can also be a tetrahedron, cube or dodecahedron, depending on the circumstances. When the pressure inside a bubble is greater than the pressure outside the bubble, either because it has been poked or because water has evaporated from the surface, that’s when it bursts.

Because, like all the best things, part of the beauty of a bubble is that it was never meant to last.