CASUAL STYLE - Ottawa At Home

STYLE | TRENDS 

CASUAL STYLE 

City to cottage 

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LIVING | FITNESS 

WORK-OUT 

30 | oah | july/august 2009 

I feel better being able 

to stay focused on a 

fitness routine. 

— Judi 

written by mary taggart 

produced by tanya connolly-holmes 

Summer is the ideal time to get in shape 

and stay in shape. Fitness trainer Jeff 

Fennell from momentumathletic.com 

specialises in functional and core training. 

TO GO 

photography by mark holleron 

routine supplied by jeff fennell of momentum athletics 

PROGRAM EQUIPMENT 

Found at most sporting 

equipment stores 

• Abdominal Ball. 

• Free weights (5-10 lbs 

depending on strength). 

• Exercise or yoga mat.

city to cottage exercise routine 

“The goal of functional training is to strengthen and 

condition your body for everyday movements and 

activities, using your own body weight as resistance, 

which offers you the freedom to replicate the routines 

wherever life takes you,” says Jeff who has designed a 

45-minute program to take on the road this summer. 

Our model, Kanata Lakes resident, Judi Taggart , 

knows only too well how quickly a fitness routine can 

suffer in the summer. When her four grown children 

were young, Judi used to pack-up her car and head 

to the cottage for the summer leaving routines and 

schedules behind, including regular trips to the gym. 

“Often by the end of the summer I felt like I was in 

worse shape than in the beginning, which seemed crazy 

because my life was active and busy up the cottage but 

lacked focus when it came to working out,” says the 

fitness buff, who has been working out with Fennel for 

the past two years and takes his program on the road 

whenever she travels. “I feel better being able to stay 

focused on a fitness routine.” 

ball-crunches: Sit on the ball (it should be moulded to the arch 

of your back) with feet on the ground, shoulder-width apart. With abdominal 

muscles tight and hands crossed in front of chest, crunch to 60 

degrees. Do three sets of 25 crunches. 

advanced tip – hold onto a free weight at chest height while crunching 

(Judi uses a 10 lb weight). 

push-up: In kneeling position place hands on either side of the mat, buttocks 

should be parallel with shoulders to distribute weight to the upper body. Push up 

and down.Work your way up to 25 at a time, for a total of 100 per workout 

advanced tip – start on toes with knees off the mat. 

lunges: Start in a straight standing position, step forward with 

one leg and drop down making sure front knee doesn’t extend 

over the toe. Keep the knee of the back leg as low to the ground as 

possible (without touching) – your front calf and back leg should 

form a box. Do 3 sets of 12. 

advanced tip – hold free weights while lunging. 


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supported bent-over row: 

Use a picnic table or bench for support. 

Place one knee on bench, square with 

the hips. Support same side arm and 

use opposite arm to pull the weight up 

and down so that your upper arm ends 

up being parallel to the ground. Keep 

abdominal muscles tight. Do not twist 

your upper body. Use 8-10 lb weights. 

Do three sets of 25. 

super woman: 

Works the lower back. Lying face down 

on the mat extend arms and legs out. 

Keeping abdominals tight and neck engaged, 

look forward and lift arms and 

legs up to drive hips into the ground. 

Lower upper and lower body in a controlled 

manner. Hold for three to five 

seconds. Do three sets of 20. 

cardio excerise: Low intensity jogging 

or a brisk trail hike for half-an-hour, 

three to five times a week. Or walking 

one hour, three times per week. 

nutrition: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Drink 8-10 glasses of water per day. 

A basic meal should consist of a palmsized 

serving of each of the following: 

greens, protein and whole grain products. 

Try and eat 6 small meals throughout 

the day...3 mains (see above) and 2 – 3 

snacks of almonds, apples and greens. 

Fire up the grill to cook healthy meals. 

Chicken and fish are your best choice 

for lean proteins. 

Try to avoid white flour, starches, sugar 

and processed foods and alcohol. 

Stay on track with this fitness routine and 

follow the nutritional tips to come back 

this fall looking and feeling fabulous! 

*Consult your physician before beginning any 

exercise program. 

EAT GREENS 

The greener 

the veggie, 

the more fibre 

and vitamins. 

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LIVING | MY WAY 


family The 

TIME 

Chicoine Family. 

Gaye Chicoine’s new book could be 

called an autobiography. It could be 

called a travelogue. Either way, it is an 

intensely personal journey – emotionally 

and physically. It is above all, a gift of 

love from a mother to her family. 

written by andrea douglas photography by etienne ranger and gaye chicoine

top: Iguazu Falls, Argentina. bottom left: February 

1998, the Chicoine family hit the “end of the world”, one year 

into their three year adventure. bottom right: A family 

portrait at the Inca ruins in Machu Pichu, Peru. 



Our family life was 

suffering…school 

seemed to be 

destroying our 

family life. 

— Gaye Chicoine 

Living Dreams is Gaye Chicoine’s book 

that chronicles’ her families journey. 

Living Dreams chronicles the three-year 

trip to South America that Gaye and her 

husband Ed undertook with their six children. 

It is also the story of how one family 

broke away from everyday life and dared to 

dream about a different lifestyle. 

When they first started their family more 

than twenty years ago, Ed and Gaye were 

already eschewing the trappings of city life. 

Ed opened a chiropractic clinic in Wakefied 

and Gaye gave up her career as a professional 

photographer to stay home with her 

ever-growing family. Not long after the eldest 

child started school, Gaye pulled Tanya out 

and began homeschooling, despite having 

five kids under the age of seven. 

“Our family unit was suffering. Ed’s 

busiest time was from 4 to 8 p.m. so he and 

Tanya would never see each other. School 

seemed to be destroying our family life,” 

she recalls. 

It’s wasn’t always easy that first year 

and, doubting their decision, she put the 

school-aged children back in school the 

following year. But after two weeks, the 

same concerns resurfaced and the decision 

was made to continue at home until the 

kids themselves wanted to go back into the 

school system. 

Settling in on 

the homefront 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The Chicoine kids settled back into 

their lives in Canada with ease, 

with most entering the school 

system at some point in the high 

school years; 

Gaye is proud of how adventurous 

their spirits are and how 

easygoing and adaptable they 

have become; 

Two years ago, their eldest son 

Ben convinced his family to buy 

a Wakefield convenience store 

that came up for sale. Each 

family member owns shares and 

all put their time and energy 

into contributing to its success 

(including selling copies of Gaye’s 

book); 

She may have had her worries, her 

doubts and her fears about doing 

the right thing. Were the children 

getting an education that would 

prepare them for life? Today she 

says “They’re way ahead of me.”

As the years went by, Ed and Gaye began 

to feel that something was still missing 

from their alternative lifestyle. They were 

beginning to lose their own sense of family. 

“We found we’d fallen into a trap of not 

spending enough time together,” she says. 

When a former patient who had since 

become a chiropractor showed up offering 

to buy Ed’s clinic, it didn’t take long for 

the seeds of a longstanding travel dream to 

germinate. 

“It’s okay to move out of your comfort 

zone a bit,” says Gaye as she looks back on 

the family’s decision to load up a van and 

drive to South America with six children 

between the ages of three and twelve. 

Many people have dreams, but not 

many will follow them. Particularly not 

when faced with the daunting logistics of 

packing up the lives of eight people and 

moving to another continent without an 

ironclad plan. 

“Each child had a bag, we brought a box of 

books, a box of toiletries, Ed’s fold-up chiropractic 

table and a cooler,” she explains with a slight 

shrug and smile that has the effect of making it 

sound so much easier than it really was. 

The book is a compilation of the journals 

Gaye kept for the three years they 

were on the road. It’s a very personal 

memoir of the highs and the lows, the challenges 

and the fun times, the adventures 

and even the mundane. It’s about a family 

learning about each other. It’s about children 

learning history, geography and new 

languages by actually experiencing them in 

their own climate and culture. It’s about 

the little things that gave them nostalgic 

pangs for home. And it’s about having faith 

that things always work out the way they 

are supposed to. 

“We went into that journey with really 

only one expectation. And that was 

to spend time together as a family,” says 

Gaye. “Yes, we accomplished what we set 

out to achieve and more than we expected 

as well.” 

After travelling through 15 different 

countries and camping all the way home, 

the family arrived back in Canada in March 

2000. And though compiling her memoirs as 

a gift for her children eventually morphed 

into a book, she says it’s so much more. 

“We live in such a fear-based society,” 

she concludes “People should read this 

book to understand how to be flexible and 

open to the new and challenging things 

that pop into your path. It’s a recipe to life, 

not just a travel journey.” 

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LIVING | ON SECOND THOUGHT 

roll up the rim, eh? 

How travelling makes me a better Canadian 

By Laura Byrne Paquet 

AS WE APPROACH CANADA DAY, brace yourself for the 

great annual stocktaking. Pundits and pollsters from across 

the land will weigh in on that age-old question: “Does 

Canada have an identity?” 

So, I’m going to save you the time you’d otherwise spend 

reading newspaper editorials about our lack of national 

gumption and listening to angst-ridden callers on CBC’s 

“Cross-Country Checkup” grumbling that we never should 

have gotten rid of Dominion Day and the Avro Arrow. 

Here’s my solution to our nationwide identity crisis: Hit 

the road. 

You see, I’m convinced that Canadian identity isn’t a 

solid thing. It’s more like a shadow—something that exists 

only in relationship to other things. Hard to capture and 

ever-changing, true, but no less real for all that. 

I was thinking about this theory during a recent trip to 

Texas, while touring the George H.W. Bush Presidential 

Library and Museum. Spending two hours in a shrine 

to the man who brought us the first Gulf War and W. 

normally wouldn’t have been high on my to-do list. 

But I was with a group, it was on the itinerary, so in I 

went, telling myself that perhaps I could learn something. 

And, indeed, I did. 

American presidential libraries are among the many 

things I’ve encountered in other countries that throw Canadian 

identity into stark focus. As I passed Bush Sr.’s armoured 

limousine, campaign posters and letters to Barbara, I couldn’t 

help but wonder: What on earth would Canadians put in a 

prime ministerial library? The Inuit statue Aline Chrétien 

brandished at 24 Sussex? The homey sweaters from Stephen 

Harper’s campaign ads? Pierre Trudeau’s boutonnières? The 

idea boggles the Canadian mind (unless you count Laurier 

House, home of Mackenzie King’s crystal ball). 

For better or for worse, we simply don’t like our politicians 

as much as our American friends like theirs. So that’s 

one aspect of Canadian identity. 

Here’s another. Years ago, I went to Ireland to compete 

in a community theatre festival with Ottawa’s Tara Players. 

During a party, I overheard a Canadian ask an Irishman what 

he did for a living. The Irishman responded, not unkindly, 

“Why do you folks always care what people do? Why don’t 

you ever ask who people are?” 

It’s a fair question. And while I still, almost two decades 

later, use “What do you do?” as my opening gambit in a room 

full of strangers, at least I’m aware that it’s not the only way 

of approaching the world. It’s just another aspect of—you’ve 

got it—Canadian identity. 

In the days after a foreign trip, I usually find myself appreciating 

the most mundane Canadian things: toonies; Peter 

Mansbridge; people who don’t laugh when I say “clicks,” “serviette” 

or “eavestrough.” Even, heaven help me, Tim Horton’s 

oatmeal cookies. I roll up the rim, therefore I am. 

So next time you agonize over our lack of Canadian 

identity, get out of town. Canada: Leave it and love it. Maybe 

that could be our new national slogan. 


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www.foodthought.com 

FRUIT IS HOT… 

photography by etienne ranger 

GRILLED STRAWBERRY & SHRIMP SKEWERS 

12 large, firm Ontario strawberries 

8 medium to large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined 

8 one-inch bread cubes 

2 tbsp (25 ml) balsamic vinegar 

1 tbsp (15 ml) vegetable oil 

method: Alternately, thread 3 strawberries, 2 shrimp and 2 bread 

cubes onto each of 4 metal or soaked wooden skewers. Combine 

vinegar with oil and brush or spray skewers. Place on greased grill 

over high heat. Close lid and grill, turning once, until 

shrimp are pink, for about 4 minutes. 

FOOD | FOOD THOUGHTS 

Fire up the grill to cook up so much more than just meat! 

Korey Kealey shares delicious recipes and expert tips on 

grilling cheese and fruit. 

strawberries — the social berry: Strawberry 

picking is a fun activity for the whole family. 

To ensure that nothing but the best gets served 

in your home, check out www.berryfarms.org 

to find a berry farm near you. 

pick me: Gently hold the stem between the 

thumb and the forefinger; then carefully 

pinch and break the stem to release the berry 

without squeezing. 

buying: Look for sweet smelling berries that 

are completely red and free of white or green 

spots. Beware of juice-stained containers and 

avoid crushed berries. Size doesn’t matter; 

large or small all are equally sweet and juicy. 

Korey’s tip 

Grill strawberries 

(sprayed with balsamic 

and olive oil) on a skewer. 

Select uniformly sized 

berries to ensure 

even cooking. 

something extra: Try grilling brie or 

other soft cheeses and top with chopped 

strawberries. Serve over grilled baguette for a 

melt-in-your-mouth appetizer. A simple cast iron 

pan will work as a brie baker and allow you to grill 

the cheese right in the pan. For the full recipe visit 

www.foodthought.com. 

store and prepare: Discard damaged berries 

immediately. Slightly damaged berries can 

be used in sauces where appearance is not 

important. Store unwashed berries in the 

refrigerator with hulls intact. Do not layer 

and cover lightly. Use within three to six 

days. Rinse lightly under cold water just 

before serving (don’t soak). Pat dry with 

paper towels and remove stems. 

freezing: Strawberries can be frozen whole 

or sliced, with or without sugar, for up to 

twelve months. Thaw at room temperature. 

who knew? Strawberries are great for 

grilling! 

Spray it on! 

The Misto spray bottle 

is a must for grilling 

Brush it on. Silicone basting 

brush comes in a variety of 

sizes and colours — Danesco

CASUAL STYLE - Ottawa At Home

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