Foodie lovers will savour culinary delights in Trafalgar’s Flavors of Italy Itinerary

Featuring Insider experiences with award-winning Canadian travel expert and blogger, Journeywoman

Toronto – May 29, 2015 – Foodies will enjoy an in-depth taste of a country with Trafalgar’s 
(www.trafalgar.com) 11-day Flavors of Italy  trip that will have guests satisfying their gourmet taste buds with Bolognese in Bologna, Chianti in Tuscany and prosciutto in Parma. Starting in Rome and ending in Venice, the trip takes guests to some of Italy’s best gastronomic cities. This featured trip is one of Trafalgar’s special Italy deals and with the weakening Euro this is the best time to visit Italy this summer. 
Canadian blogger and founder of Journeywoman, the largest online resource and gathering place for women travellers, Evelyn Hannon, has travelled with Trafalgar a handful of times and her experience in Italy is one she fondly remembers, especially because of the food!

Fresh and Simple 
"I like unadorned food made from natural ingredients and that’s what Tuscan cuisine is all about. Give me even the simplest Tuscan bread dipped in local virgin olive oil washed down with full-bodied local red wine and I’m happy. I still dream of the simple spaghetti with a Pomodoro sauce, ribollita and freshly picked basilico (basil) that tastes like none other I’ve ever tasted before,” says Hannon.

Guests will enjoy a special Be My Guest dinner in a family-owned vineyard overlooking the rolling Chianti hills and taste the wines and olive oils the family produces on the land. “I loved the Be My Guest experience that took me deeper into the culture of Tuscany – meeting interesting locals, picking olives in Fiesole, sampling wines, having a 1000 photo opportunities that I probably would not have gotten on my own. I must say, I had lots of ‘bests,’” says Hannon. 
A highlight of the trip is Trafalgar’s unique Tuscan Lifestyle Experience, where they will spend the day shopping for ingredients at a fruit and vegetable market, interacting with the locals. Lunch is then prepared by guests using the purchased produce, as they learn about Italian cuisine by a professional chef. 

Just Like Famiglia 
"I loved (with a capital 'L') our cooking experience with the charismatic Chef Libero in Tuscany, and that's saying a lot because ordinarily I don’t like to cook. However, this was no ordinary lesson – the chef and his staff (including his mother and father-in-law) truly treated us like friends of the family. We all cooked and ate together, drank endless glasses of wine, and sang and danced together. It was all so authentic, I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t really Italian," Hannon fondly recalls of her trip.

To see the cooking experience you could partake in with Chef Libero, click on the video below featuring popular TV personality Kerri-Anne Kennerly.

  

For more information, please contact your local travel agent or visit www.trafalgar.com and follow us on Twitter at @TrafalgarCanada and Facebook.

Terms and Conditions:

Conditions: Subject to availability and may be withdrawn at any time without notice. Prices above are per person, land-only, based on double occupancy and are in Canadian Dollars for above departure dates only. Deals are not combinable with Early Payment Discounts, Last Minute Deals or any other promotional offers. Full payment due at time of booking. These deals are only available to travellers departing from Canada.

About Evelyn Hannon
Evelyn Hannon is the editor of journeywoman.com, the largest online travel resource for women. At 75, she is known as the Grandmother of Women’s Travel. Evelyn lives in Toronto, Canada but her travels have taken her to all seven continents. She has been in China to receive her adopted granddaughter, interviewed an African Chief in Ghana, marched in a parade in Australia and sailed on a three-month sea voyage that circumnavigated the globe. She attended the circus in Russia, studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and played with the penguins in the Antarctic.  Evelyn still hopes to dance in a grass skirt in the South Pacific. 

About Trafalgar:Trafalgar is the world’s leading guided vacation company offering exceptional quality and value itineraries to a range of exciting destinations. With some 68 years of experience and unrivaled local expertise, Trafalgar provides an authentic insider’s view to create truly unique travel experiences in Europe, Britain and Eastern Mediterranean, South Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, China, Mexico, Central and South America, USA and Canada. www.trafalgar.com

About TreadRight:Created as a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation’s family of brands, the TreadRight Foundation is a not-for-profit working to ensure the environment and communities we visit remain vibrant for generations to come. To date, TreadRight has supported more than 35 sustainable tourism projects worldwide. The Foundation’s guiding principle is to encourage sustainable tourism development through conservation, leadership and support for communities. Foundation priorities are set by the Steering Committee, which includes sustainability leaders like Céline Cousteau and Costas Christ.

TreadRight’s past project partners include WWF, Conservation International and The National Trust in the UK. Current initiatives include sponsoring the National Geographic Society’s inaugural “World Legacy Awards,” WildAid and inspiring wildlife advocates like Terri Irwin. 

To learn more about our past and current work at TreadRight, please visit us at treadright.org.

Trafalgar Announces Top Five Summer European Destinations

Featuring Insider trips showcasing Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal and Ireland

Toronto – May 18, 2015 – Trafalgar (www.trafalgar.com) has released its Top Five Summer European destinations for Canadians this year and they include: Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal and Ireland. In the Canadian market, these are the fastest-growing destinations in Europe and for Trafalgar, the top places Canadians need to visit in the coming months.

The Best of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg itinerary is Trafalgar’s second best selling trip in the popular At Leisure program and the Highlights of Spain and Portugal trip is up 63 per cent. According to Tourism Ireland, visitor numbers from Canada to Ireland increased to 30 per cent in 2014 and they are expecting further growth in 2015 especially with a major increase in direct air access. Bookings to Ireland are in the positives as Trafalgar offers 19-guided vacations including seven new itineraries.

“With Canada’s long winter finally over, we hope our Top Five Summer Europeans destinations list will help Canadians plan their summer trips,” says Doug Patterson, president of Trafalgar Canada. “From Amsterdam’s notable attractions, Belgium’s beautiful towns, Luxembourg’s contrasts, Portugal’s amazing coastline and Ireland’s scenic countryside, there is something for every traveller to discover.”

Best of Holland, Belgium and LuxembourgThis 11-day At Leisure trip takes guests to three of Europe’s smallest nations, starting in The Netherlands, then on to Luxembourg and ending in Belgium. Arriving in Amsterdam, guests will begin their journey with a sightseeing cruise aboard a canal boat and they’ll admire Rembrandt’s masterpiece ‘The Night Watch’ at the prestigious Rijksmuseum. Travellers will enjoy a day excursion through The Hague to the historic town of Delft and to Rotterdam before departing to Luxembourg.  After taking in the breath-taking gorge of the Rivers Alzette and Petrusse, the Cathedral and the Grand Ducal Palace, guests will have the rest of the afternoon to spend at their leisure. Onto picturesque Bruges, where travellers will enjoy a Be My Guest dining experience at an 18^th century farmstead and enjoy a sightseeing cruise along the beautiful canals.

Highlights of Spain and PortugalBeginning and ending in Madrid, the 14-day Highlights of Spain and Portugal starts with an orientation drive around the magical city of Madrid then it’s off to Valencia where guests will see the Towers of Serrano and Cuarte and take in the striking architecture of the impressive Opera House. In the evening, perhaps travellers will sample Paella, a specialty of this region. In Seville, guests will enjoy a Be My Guest dining experience at a traditional homestead where they will gain an insight into the family history of olive oil production. Crossing the border into southern Portugal, guests can spend the day relaxing on the beach or strolling along the harbor of Vilamoura. Heading north over the Serra de Arrabida Mountains to Lisbon, guests have free time to explore the city’s attractions from the lively Rossio Square to Alfama district. On the way to Salamanca, travellers will visit the Shrine of Fatima before crossing the border back into Spain. Before the journey ends in Madrid, guests will visit Toledo and see the Church of Santo Tome, home of El Greco’s most famous paintings – The Burial of Count Orgaz. 

Iconic Ireland and Ashford CastleThis leisurely Country Explorer 11-day trip begins and ends in the Emerald Isle. The spectacular Powerscourt Garden, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, stately Georgian Squares and Trinity College along with exploring the city at one’s own pace is planned during the 2-night stay. Guests will then leave the city behind as they travel to County Kilkenny and relish a Be My Guest lunch at Belmore House, the home of Joe and Maeve O’Connell. After visiting Blarney Castle, Killarney and the Cliffs of Moher and on the way back to Dublin, guests will board “The Isle of Innisfree,” for an exclusive cruise on shimmering Lough Corrib, which will take them to the edge of newly refurbished and stately Ashford Castle where they will enjoy an elegantly royal dining experience and spend the night in this Authentic Accommodation.

For more information, please contact your local travel agent or visit www.trafalgar.com and follow us on Twitter at @TrafalgarCanada and Facebook. 

About Trafalgar:Trafalgar is the world’s leading guided vacation company offering exceptional quality and value itineraries to a range of exciting destinations. With some 68 years of experience and unrivaled local expertise, Trafalgar provides an authentic insider’s view to create truly unique travel experiences in Europe, Britain and Eastern Mediterranean, South Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, China, Mexico, Central and South America, USA and Canada. www.trafalgar.com

About TreadRight:Created as a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation’s family of brands, the TreadRight Foundation is a not-for-profit working to ensure the environment and communities we visit remain vibrant for generations to come. To date, TreadRight has supported more than 35 sustainable tourism projects worldwide. The Foundation’s guiding principle is to encourage sustainable tourism development through conservation, leadership and support for communities. Foundation priorities are set by the Steering Committee, which includes sustainability leaders like Céline Cousteau and Costas Christ.

TreadRight’s past project partners include WWF, Conservation International and The National Trust in the UK. Current initiatives include sponsoring the National Geographic Society’s inaugural “World Legacy Awards,” WildAid and inspiring wildlife advocates like Terri Irwin.

To learn more about our past and current work at TreadRight, please visit us at treadright.org.

Hot picks for a hot summer

Milton, Ont. (May, 2015) – Despite this past winter being one of the longest and coldest in most people’s memory, Landscape Ontario has some exciting plants that are sure to look hot in your garden this summer.

"Anyone visiting a local garden centre this long weekend is sure to be amazed at the variety and colour of today’s plant varieties," says Denis Flanagan, public relations manager, Landscape Ontario. “But plants nowadays are also made to be tough, and breeders have developed some superstars to endure the heat of summer.”

Whether you are in the know or not, a trip to your local garden centre will connect you with knowledgeable staff who can certainly share their knowledge on what’s new, what’s hot and what’s in style this season.  

Landscape Ontario recommends the following plants for those soon-to-be, hot days of summer:

• Lantanas thrive in the heat of the summer. They are drought tolerant, and will attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Available in shades of red, yellow, pink and orange.  Grow in full sun and can be used in containers or flower beds. A new cultivar this year is Luscious® Marmalade lantana..
  
  
• Sunpatiens® are an alternative to impatiens that are susceptible to downy mildew. These vigorous impatiens thrive in sun and shade, heat, rain and humidity. Nonstop blooming from spring until fall. Suitable for use in containers or flower beds. Available in white, pink, shell pink and scarlet.
  
  
• The trend for fantastic foliage is stronger than ever, with Rex begonias leading the way with colour and texture. New Jurassic Rex begonias have eye-catching colours and leaf patterns. Begonias need protection for the sun, but this makes them ideal plants to add colour and interest to a dark area in your garden, or in a container in a shady spot on your deck or patio.

With so many anxious gardeners out buying plants this coming weekend, Flanagan advises people to be patient and to plan ahead. “If you have a particular plant or a particular colour in mind, it’s a good idea to have a plan B just in case,” he says. Some newer varieties sell out quickly due to high demand. “It’s a great exercise too,” adds Flanagan, “because it allows you to exercise both your gardening muscles — your mind and your body.”
 
Your best source to find local garden centres, contractors and other specialties is at www.landscapeontario.com. “Find a Company” by searching a city, postal code, or specialty, etc.

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About Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association
Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association is one of the most vibrant associations of its kind, comprised of over 2,000 members, ten sector groups and nine local chapters. Its trade mission is to promote the horticulture industry in Ontario, and its public mission is to promote the joys and benefits of green spaces. For more information on the association and Green for Life, visit: www.landscapeontario.com

This recipe is an old one made from a military doctor. It is a recipe that will keep all your bones functioning without any problems. It works like magic!

• In any store buy 150 gr of any edible gelatin (150gr – for a course of treatment for a month).
• In the evening, pour 5 g gelatin (two flat teaspoon) in a quarter cup of cold (from the fridge) water.
• Stir and let it stand until the morning (outside of the fridge)
• Gelatin will swell and turn overnight into jelly.
• In the morning, drink the mixture on an empty stomach. You can add juice, honey and water mixture or mix with yogurt or sour cream. Or in any other way that suits you.
• It works so that people who complained of pain in the joints, back, legs, pain in the spine, neck, etc. after a week cease to notice them!
• The course of treatment is one month. Repeat again in 6 months. This is a way to restore the “lubrication” of the joints.

Many people do not believe it. Expensive painkillers full of chemistry are the only solution for some, and so “primitive”, easy treatment do not inspire confidence.

It is a product of animal origin, is obtained in the result of processing the connective tissue of large horned livestock – tendons, bones, cartilage, collagen is actually in the purest form. It has positive effect on the state of internal fibers and small vessels.  It has two amino acids: proline and hidrosiprolin, which have a positive impact on the recovery of connective tissue. Gelatin is able to increase the growth and scope of connective tissue, which is very important in diseased joints.

- See more at: http://www.healthyfoodteam.com/this-miracle-recipe-will-heal-your-back-joints-and-legs-pain-in-just-7-days/#sthash.O3vNXfCL.dpuf

Plant A Mosquito-Repellent Container Garden

byCHRIS MICHELMAY, 2015

Look: mosquitoes are awful. They may be great food for birds and bats, but you don’t want them hanging around your backyard. You also don’t want to cover yourself in harsh chemicals to repel them. So, aside from making your property less friendly to the buggers by getting rid of any standing water (including those rain gutters!), what can you do to keep them away?

It turns out that mosquitoes, along with many biting insects, are attracted to certain odors in human skin. They’re especially attracted to your body odor and other secretions, meaning that if you’re spending a lot of time running around and sweating, you can expect to have more mosquitos following you around. Alternately certain strong—or unpleasant to the bug—smells can both hide your scent and dissuade them from getting close enough to bite you. There are several plants with strong scents that we find pleasant, which you can use to help mask your own smell and keep nearby mosquitoes at a distance. 

You can’t just plant and be done, however. The aroma needs to be in the air around you, at the very least, and ideally on your skin. To get the maximum effect, crush herb leaves in your hands to release their perfume, and then rub the leaves and their oils over your skin. Here are eight herbs that work great and can be kept in pots on a porch, near a door, or anywhere else you plan to congregate outside.  

Lemon Balm
This member of the mint family has white flowers and a gentle lemony scent, as well as some healing properties. It’s particularly good at keeping biting insects away, but it’s also an invasive species, so be careful when growing it.

Catnip
This fragrant mint cousin contains a chemical called nepetalactone, which is both a feline attractant and a useful insect repellant.

Basil
A 2009 study showed that the essential oil from this delicious herb istoxic to mosquito larvae.

Lavender
This beautiful, potent, and lovely-smelling flower not only repels mosquitoes but keeps moths and flies away. The flower’s perfume is well-known, and while it will scent the air, it’s still most effective when actually rubbed on skin. 

Peppermint
In its concentrated form, peppermint is sometimes used as an insect repellent, and its essential oil has been shown to keep away the adults and kill the larvae of several species.

Citrosum
This perennial is actually marketed as “mosquito plant,” primarily due to its strong citronella-like smell. Unfortunately, though it’s the most heavily marketed, there’s some research that suggests it’s also the least effective at keeping away mosquitos. Still, there’s some benefits to be had from rubbing it on your skin, and if there’s nothing else around, it will provide some protection.

Sage + Rosemary
If you’re planning to gather around a fire, try burning a little sage or rosemary. The incense these plants give off when they burn not only smells good but is unpleasant enough to the little critters that it’ll keep them away—as long as you’re near the smoke.

FURNITURE BANK TO BENEFIT FROM LIFT PHILANTHROPY PARTNERS’ INVESTMENT

Venture Philanthropy approach will help grow social enterprise Toronto, ON (May, 2015) –- Furniture Bank today announced that it has received an agreement for significant support from venture philanthropy organization LIFT Philanthropy Partners. LIFT will focus on helping the charity increase revenue from its social enterprise and identifying other revenue opportunities. Over an 18-month period, LIFT will provide a combination of management support, business expertise from its extensive partner network and other resources to help build Furniture Bank’s capacity and scale its programs for greater impact. Increasing revenue will enable Furniture Bank to expand its employment program, which provides work experience, life and skills training, and employment opportunities in the charity’s operations to youth, newcomers to Canada and other individuals facing barriers to employment. The creation of new job opportunities makes Furniture Bank a strategic fit for LIFT, whose portfolio is focused on social purpose organizations tackling skills development and employment for people facing barriers to employment, in addition to health and education issues. - “Furniture Bank is doing transformative work with vulnerable populations in the Toronto area,” says Bruce Dewar, President and CEO of LIFT. “We believe we can help position them for even greater financial success and sustainability, so that they can increase their impact on both individual lives and the community as a whole.” - “The time is right for all Canadians to realize they can play a role in helping to alleviate homelessness. It’s our goal that when people buy new furniture, they call us to remove the used furniture and distribute it to the tens of thousands who need it,” says Dan Kershaw, Furniture Bank Executive Director. “We think working with LIFT can be a game changer, helping us scale our social enterprise and charity across Canada and allowing us to achieve the full meaning of our mission of helping people permanently get off the floor.” About Furniture Bank: Furniture Bank has been helping people in the Greater Toronto Area establish their homes since 1998 by enabling the transfer of gently used household furnishings from donors to families and individuals in need. The organization operates a large furniture removal service in the community year-round - picking up furniture from donors and delivering items to clients to establish their new homes. Visit furniturebank.org for more information. About LIFT Philanthropy Partners: LIFT invests in not-for-profits, social enterprises and other organizations with proven results addressing health, skills development, education and employment in Canada. It provides hands-on management and pro bono contributions from its national network of business experts to help social purpose organizations to build capacity and scale their programs, so they can help more vulnerable and at-risk Canadians. Visit liftpartners.ca for more information. -30- Media Contacts: Lisa Dooling Dan Kershaw Director, Communications Executive Director LIFT Furniture Bank 778-327-5170 (office) 416-934-1229 (ext. 720) (office) 778-840-5170 (cell) 905-806-8246 (cell) ldooling@liftpartners.ca dan.kershaw@furniturebank.org

Chef Thomas Keller of The French Luandry Fame and Seabourn Announce New Onboard Dining Experience

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Chef Thomas Keller of The French Luandry Fame and Seabourn Announce New Onboard Dining Experience   In an ongoing quest to provide a world-class experience, Seabourn has created a partnership with world-renowned American chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller. The culinary genius behind a trio of Michelin-starred restaurants - The French Laundry, Per Se, and Bouchon - Chef Keller will bring his award-winning French and American cuisine to the luxury cruise line adding new flavors and flair to complement Seabourn's already celebrated cuisine. He is developing an array of dishes, ranging from appetizers to entrees to desserts for dining venues aboard Seabourn Odyssey, Seabourn Sojourn, and Seabourn Quest that will be available in 2015. In addition, Seabourn will partner with Chef Keller to introduce a new signature restaurant that will be revealed in the spring of 2016 on Seabourn Quest before being subsequently rolled out to the entire fleet including the two new builds, Seabourn Encore in 2016 and Seabourn Ovation in 2018.