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DECA Learns DECA Eats

My five-year-old son should be employed by Foodland Ontario.  “Mummy, I like Ontario food the best.”  “Mummy Ontario strawberries are my favourite.  Let’s always eat food from Ontario o.k. Mummy?”

DECA Learns – Canning Workshops

If you’re like him, you’ll want to bottle up that sweet local flavour and eat it all year long.  And DECA is here to help you do just that.  Our canning workshops are up and running again this year so mark your calendars.  Register early (melaniej.thompson(at)yahoo.ca) because the workshops sometimes fill up.  The workshops start at 7 p.m. and run about 90 minutes.

Wednesday, June 29th – Strawberries

Tuesday, July 26th – Plums

Wednesday, August 17th – Peaches & Pears

Wednesday, September 14th – Tomatoes & Salsa

Wednesday, October 5th – Cranberries, Thanksgiving, Gift giving for the holidays

Workshops will take place in the basement of the Mennonite Church (north side of Danforth, just east of Woodbine).  Cost is $10/session to cover our costs.  Again, space is limited so register in advance if you can and please please let Melanie know if you can’t make it because she’ll keep a waiting list.

DECA Learns – Foraging For Salad Greens

Did you know there is free, delicious, nutritious leaves can be harvested from the plant lamb’s quarters?  Did you know that lamb’s quarters grow wild right here in our neighbourhood?  For tasty greens to supplement your salad or soup, take a local foraging trip with Susan and Melanie.  On this half-hour walk and pick, you will learn to identify lamb’s quarters, harvest it and get tips on how to use it.

Thursday, June 23rd at 7 p.m. – Meet at the DECA table at the East Lynn Farmers’ Market

For more information, call 416-686-9676

East Lynn Farmers’ Market

Localfoody.net is a website about…yes local food.  They recently wrote about our market.  The writer loved it, but was concerned there weren’t enough shoppers to keep the market viable.  Let’s make sure we put our money where our mouth is and support the farmers’ market that we’ve come to love.

Are you on Twitter?  Follow the East Lynn Market at @eastlynnmarket

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To Market, To Market…

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The grand opening of the East Lynn Market was a great success last week.

First, it was sunny! Second, fabulous DECA volunteer, Susan Crofts, unveiled her handy work by way of a new market apple costume and Pria was a sport and showed it off all afternoon long.

Another amazing DECA volunteer, Jon Isaac, spent his winter, not only becoming a father for the second time, but giving birth to two amazing old-fashioned carnival games — a ring toss and bean bag toss.  Bothwere unveiled last week. Judging by the number of kids crowding around them, I’d say they were unanimously considered awesome.

The clown on stilts entertained the other kids by juggling, telling jokes and pulling long strings of ribbon out of his mouth and people’s heads.

Charlie from Columbo’s Pizza’s made swift business selling slices of pizza and rice balls swimming in pasta sauce. Both he and the Cozy Cafe sisters will be selling warm meals at the market every week this month, so arrive hungry.

And the city councillors lined up to cut our ribbon. Thanks to Janet Davis, Mary Fragedakis and Mary-Margaret McMahon for supporting the market!  It was a wonderful kick-off to a wonderful summer of Thursday evenings in the park.

This week – Kids’ Activities at the Market:  More than face painting and honey sticks!

Puppets, crafts, story-telling and more are on the line-up for the “Kids’ Korner” of the East Lynn market this year.  On the (very high) heels of last week’s stilt-walking clown, we have two very special activities this Thursday.  At 3:30, Melissa Peretti will teach kids paper pot planting (register at decacrafts@gmail.com).  At 4:30, Beth Yarzab from CareerFitMom will run a Playfit class with everyone — parents and kids alike will have a chance to play and get fit!

And of course, there will be face painting.  Our hours for now are 4:00-6:30, and may expand when we get more volunteers.

Strawberry Social – Thursday June 30

 

 

At 4:30 , the dancers and singers from the local S.P.A.C.E studio will put on a medley for the crowd. I’m told some Hairspray songs, a hip hop number and a ballet piece from Swan Lake are on the program. A real treat!

Then, at 5 p.m., DECA will host its second square dance in the park. That’s right city slickers, dust off your cowboy hats and overalls! Members of the Kitgut Oldtime Stringband will venture up to East Lynn from their usual haunt at Kensington Market to  play mountain music on their fiddle, banjo and guitar, and singer Ivy Mairi who moonlights as a square dance caller will talk us all through the steps.

Ivy specializes in teaching beginners. So bring your granny and your kids for the evening!

Hope to see you there.

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Dealicious – Madame Gateaux

If you’ve been thinking about trying out the Madame Gateaux at Danforth and Woodbine, check out today’s Dealicious.ca deal for $80 worth of mini cupcake classes for $40.

The fine art of cupcake baking and decorating is perfected through hands on practice and expert instruction. Learn how to create your cupcake masterpiece with today’s Dealicious Deal: For $40 You Get $80 Worth Of Mini Cupcake Classes With A Red Seal Certified Pastry Chef At Madame Gateaux

Madame Gateaux offers a wide range of classes in the edible arts.  Whether you are a hobbyist or someone who wants to upgrade their skill, there are classes that will suit you.  Their private or group classes are taught by professional pastry chefs. Madame Gateaux also carries large selections of baking utensils, accessories and ingredients at affortable prices.

Noel Yim is a Red Seal Certified Pastry Chef who is totally in love with the pastry arts. As a pastry chef in Windsor Arms Hotel and Head Pastry Chef in the Humber College, she gained years of experiences in the baking industry. Being a product of George Brown College, and taught by well known chocolatier, Noel will teach you the why and how to. You’ll find that she enjoys putting some oriental essence to her creations

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Bike Tune-Up Cancelled

The bike tune-up that was planned for tomorrow is cancelled . We are trying to reschedule and we’ll let you know when we figure it all out.

Sorry.

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DECA’s Bike Tune-Up Day and More

DECA Learns is alive and well and bringing you a terrific event this Saturday at Main and Danforth.

Free (or nearly free) Bike Clinic

Have your bike fixed and learn how to fix your bike at the DECA Bike Tune Up Day!  Saturday, June 11 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Main Square near the corner of Main and Danforth.  There will be half a dozen tents, each with a bicycle repair station and someone to help.

This event is pay what you can.  And free is just fine.  If you happen to have any old bikes or parts that you don’t need, bring those along too.  Our fabulous team including Ray and Jamie would love to have them.

DECA Gem – Legacy Cycling

Speaking of cycling.  If you’re into the kind of bicycles that don’t move, you may want to stop in and talk to Andy at Legacy Cycling (1506 Danforth at Coxwell).  I (Natasha) have been taking Andy’s boot camps and spinning (stationary bikes) classes for about six months.  Andy is the owner and he’s terrific, but there are a number of other great instructors teaching spinning, boot camps, yoga and personal training.

Andy worked as a trainer and instructor for years at Goodlife and decided in 2009 to open up his own studio here in Danforth East.  He said he looked at a few different locations, but really liked this neighbourhood and loves being beside Cyclepath.

How is Legacy different from other fitness studios?  “We know all of our members by name,” says Andy.  “We keep in touch weekly and we customize all of our packages and workouts to our members.  We also want to see results so we discount our members for the weight that they have lost.”  I would have to agree that it does feel a bit like getting a personal trainer for the price of a group class.

After two years in the neighbourhood, Andy says he’s come to love the family community in the Danforth East area.  “Many of the residents come here because they love to support local businesses,” he says, “but also because they are prepared to work hard.”

Legacy offers personal training in studio or in your home, boot camp classes with weights, Birkram hot yoga including prenatal options, morning, evening and weekend spinning.

There is a deal right now; you can buy 6 months of unlimited spin for $400 + HST or a summer pass which includes any 12 classes for $150.  Psst… If you decide to do a weekend morning boot camp and stay for the spin class, he’ll only charge you for one class.  You can also just drop in any time and pay per class. These offers are available until the end of June.  What I like about buying the passes is that you’re not paying when you’re not using the class.

If you’ve been looking for something local that will kick your butt and get you looking and feeling better, check out Legacy.  And if you’re worried that you’re not fit enough, not hip enough, not dressed in the coolest clothes enough, I can tell you there are all kinds of people there with all kinds of fitness levels.  And clearly if I go there, you don’t have to be hip, cool or trendy.

Danforth Mosaic Business Improvement Association (BIA)

A few people have been asking why DECA hasn’t planted the flowers in the flower boxes along the Danforth this year.  While I would love it if DECA had the kind of money that is required for that, alas we run on volunteers and good thoughts.  It is, however, the BIA that is responsible for such things.  Earlier this year, they had opted not to do the flowers this year and have apparently changed their collective mind because the flowers started going in this weekend.  Yay!

For the record, DECA had formally asked the BIA to reconsider its earlier decision.  We said that the flowers are very important to the residents and that we believe they are an important tool to draw people to the Danforth.  We had even suggested that we do some ‘guerilla gardening’ in the some of the planters, but we were delighted that it didn’t come to that and that the flowers have returned.

The BIA is also hosting a family fun fest this weekend including entertainment  and activities on Saturday, June 11th at East Lynn Park.  There will be free activities for all ages, carriage rides on Saturday and Sunday, a sidewalk sale all weekend and prizes.

Town Hall on City Services

The City of Toronto is reviewing its services over the next few months to determine which services will continue, which will be privatized or contracted out and how the city will pay for the services it offers.  It is also developing a new plan for recreation services.

Councillor Janet Davis is hosting a town hall meeting this Wednesday, June 8th at 7 p.m. at East York Civic Centre (850 Coxwell) to give you the chance to have your say. If you can’t make the meeting you can also contribute your thoughts online at www.torontservicereview.ca or here to do the survey on recreation and parks services.