A professional artist for the better part of 20 years, sculptor Yann Normand wanted to do something a little different for his first solo show. Asking me to perform literally anything I want, “fais ce que tu veux, Evelyn” on opening night of “Eternal Love” at the prestigious Galerie Le Royer in Old Montreal, I created a choreography informed by multiple channels.

After spending months in preparation and reflection, I am thrilled to announce the details of my new project and reveal a childhood passion in the process. Join me for an afternoon of Zen with a cup of tea or coffee in one of the most stunning and inspiring spaces in Montreal as you learn origami, the ancient art of paper folding, guided by yours truly.

Folding into Google’s travel team as of October 21, 2019, Touring Bird was originally a startup project incubated within Google’s Area 120. Its goal? Bringing trip planning and travel booking to the next level. Enlisting the guidance of travel experts covering over 200 top destination worldwide, I covered lesser-known must-try activities and eats in Montreal, the fourth largest French-speaking city across the globe and the most populated one in the developed world second only to Paris.

Alzheimer’s disease has been successfully reversed in mice according to a landmark study conducted by neuroscientists at the Lerner Research Institute in Cleveland, Ohio. Could humans be next?

“Cracking the Safe,” Chapter 10 of Chuang Tzu as coined by Thomas Merton, lays bare the paradox of security. What you call theft? Others call good business.

Masala chai is a spicy Indian tea boiled with spices and milk on a stove top to produce the perfect cup. But who has the time to monitor a boiling pot and stir constantly to prevent the milk from clotting? Here’s an easier way to get the same amazing flavor, complete with homemade froth.

This is the story of two monks who argued about everything, right down to whether the day would turn out good, or bad, and whether the wind moved the banner—or is it the banner moving the wind? An exasperated Zen master got fed up. And chimed in.

Lemon verbena tea is so antioxidant-rich that it has more catechins than rooibos, lavender, jasmine, and lemongrass. Then why isn’t everyone drinking it?

Seasonal affective disorder can be brutal. Some think a lack of sunlight is behind the winter blues. Yet people in and around the Arctic circle living months on end with no visible sun along the horizon are less depressed than those living through milder winters with more daylight. What’s their secret?

The empty boat and the angry man describes a 2000+-year-old parable found in the Book of Chuang Tzu. How many of us would react the same way if faced with identical circumstances?

The key to mastery according to a samurai? If you ask him, anyone can master anything. But to do that, you have to do this.

Sleep aids that work? They’re out there, confirmed by science. These ones don’t even require a prescription.

According to Hua Hu Ching (or Huahujing), an ancient Chinese text, the ego is the equivalent of a monkey catapulting through the jungle. Threaten it, and things get a little wild.

Real milk oolong, imitation milk oolong… how does one tell them apart? And does it really matter? Tea connoisseurs go nuts over its silky, creamy flavor.

These 7 ways to feel better right now using neuroscience work. And they work fast, with some altering brainwaves and dampening destructive stress responses in the body in a matter of seconds.

What is soft is strong, one of life’s great paradoxes according to Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese sage who allegedly authored these words 2,500 years ago. But what does he mean?

The best Earl Grey decaf tea I’ve ever tasted also happens to be the best decaf I’ve ever tried. And tried decafs I have. I call them attempts to turn an otherwise obsessive tea habit limited to a short daytime window into a magical 24-hour realm of possibility.

“The tiny particles which form the vast universe are not tiny at all. Neither is the vast universe vast. These are notions of the mind, which is like a knife.” Or so claims the Hua Hu Ching, aka Huahujing, an ancient text believed by some to have been authored by Tao sage Lao Tzu.

Butter, caramel, and a touch of green tea might just be what the doctor ordered.

Blended and sold in Paris, today’s Tea of the Week is brought to you by a company claiming its production origins date back to Louis XIV and his court in Versailles, circa 1692.

A craftsman going to the state of Ch’i came to a certain mountain and saw an enormous tree at a shrine there. Yet, to the puzzlement of his apprentice, the craftsman paid it no mind and went on his way without stopping. So his apprentice asked him why.

Who is doing the talking, exactly? Ethereal spirits guiding human hands on the planchette? Or mere mortals unaware of their own movements? Researchers looking to settle the debate had no idea they were about to answer a completely different question.

Nestled in the Mengku sector of China’s Yunnan Province and straddling the border of Myanmar is the valley of Nanmei is one of the strangest teas I’ve ever tasted.

When Chuang Tzu was about to die, his disciples expressed a wish to give him a splendid funeral. But Chuang Tzu was baffled by their logic.

Want a better memory? Do this exercise for a stronger brain, to potentially improve short and long-term memory, concentration, reaction time, and more.

Nestled in the Himalayas an 11-hour drive from Kathmandu is Jun Chiyabari, an organic Nepali tea garden reaching elevations nearing 7,000 feet above sea level, whose plots feature a unique blend of Darjeeling, Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese cultivars.

You have a second brain. It’s in your gut. And non-human organisms squatting in your body are calling the shots. Stressed out? Depressed? Anxiety-ridden? You might want to get on their good side.

The quantum physics of Tao in one paragraph.

What if I told you your brain still grows as an adult. And that you have the power to shape it.

There’s a lot more to Tao than Pooh Bear and yin yang symbols. Not that there’s anything wrong with Pooh Bear and yin yang symbols. Both are quite delightful, actually.

If my training in the martial arts has taught me anything, it’s this.

Tea in India, like in other tea-producing countries, is typically picked in spring, summer, and autumn. But one region in the country waits for a chilly window in January and February when frost hits to pluck its prized leaves, producing a sweetening effect similar to what happens with ice wine grapes.

Can you accurately read your heartbeat without taking your pulse? Then you might be able to read people’s emotional states as impressively as a Buddhist monk.

“Once I, Chuang Tzu, dreamed I was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly.” One of the ancient sage’s most famous utterances might be his most profound.

To be a fly on the wall when the first cave folk discovered the glory of leaf-soaked water. Little did he or she know the humble beverage would become the most popular tonic on the planet.

“Sir,” said the sage. “Suppose you were eating your dinner and a man rushed up and told you that there was a tiger in the middle of the city. Would you believe him?”

Having had a chance to chat with the Kiwi thespian about his upcoming projects, Urban slipped in a Star Trek 3 scoop, the latest on the Dredd sequel saga, and I tried to find out what the secret is behind his growing reputation as an actor who nails his characters, whether heavies or heroes, so on point that even the toughest critics have trouble finding fault.

Fish fraud is not exactly a new phenomenon. Unscrupulous sellers have been mislabeling fish using the old bait and switch scam since time immemorial, fooling consumers into believing they’re buying a premium fillet when they’re actually being sold a cheap impostor. Mind you, that cheap impostor might actually taste good. And it might also induce explosive diarrhea. Here’s how to prevent that from happening to you.

Nestled in the Himalayas an 11-hour drive from Kathmandu is Jun Chiyabari, an organic Nepali tea garden reaching elevations nearing 7,000 feet above sea level, whose plots feature a unique blend of Darjeeling, Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese cultivars.

The Canadian Grand Prix has always been an exciting race. The Gilles Villeneuve circuit allows for frequent overtaking, the track is slippery, Montreal weather has a mind of its own, and you never know when a groundhog might strike. But in 2012, it seems as though every other track of the season, at least insofar, has joined Montreal’s ranks as an unpredictable, nail-biting circuit. For the first time in Formula 1 history, six different drivers won the first six races of the 2012 season, a far cry from Sebastien Vettel’s 2011 monopoly. But why is this happening? I sat down with Mercedes F1 race car driver Nico Rosberg for the scoop.

These 7 ways to feel better right now using neuroscience work. And they work fast, with some altering brainwaves and dampening destructive stress responses in the body in a matter of seconds.

To be a fly on the wall when the first cave folk discovered the glory of leaf-soaked water. Little did he or she know the humble beverage would become the most popular tonic on the planet.

Having had the opportunity to talk with (and get chastised, Riker-style) by Star Trek: The Next Generation actor/director Jonathan Frakes prior to his appearance at the 2014 Montreal Comiccon where he joins the whole cast of TNG for a special group panel event, we delved into everything from Frakes’ thoughts on the proliferation of independent Star Trek shows and webisodes to the story behind his infamous ‘walk’, the one even Chris Farley spoofed on Saturday Night Live in 1994.

Want a better memory? Do this exercise for a stronger brain, to potentially improve short and long-term memory, concentration, reaction time, and more.

Lemon verbena tea is so antioxidant-rich that it has more catechins than rooibos, lavender, jasmine, and lemongrass. Then why isn’t everyone drinking it?

Tea in India, like in other tea-producing countries, is typically picked in spring, summer, and autumn. But one region in the country waits for a chilly window in January and February when frost hits to pluck its prized leaves, producing a sweetening effect similar to what happens with ice wine grapes.

Getting fit can be a rough process when you’re anything but. In my case, I was more than 40 pounds overweight with a face full of pimples, experiencing daily panic attacks, broke, and already in debt at age 19 living alone in a cramped studio apartment in a housing project with violent neighbors. I was terrified and miserable. Something had to give. I needed a change. And I needed it yesterday.

The best Earl Grey decaf tea I’ve ever tasted also happens to be the best decaf I’ve ever tried. And tried decafs I have. I call them attempts to turn an otherwise obsessive tea habit limited to a short daytime window into a magical 24-hour realm of possibility.

Pegged in GQ’s Bad Guys series as one of film history’s most influential villains, Malcolm McDowell’s incarnation as Alex in Stanley Kubrick’s cinematographic adaptation of author Anthony Burgess’ cautionary masterpiece A Clockwork Orange might be his most celebrated role, but it’s certainly not his only one.

Apart from Hong Kong where dragon beard candy is common, there are but a handful of places in the world that sell the ancient Chinese confection originally reserved for aristocracy, with dragon beard candy stands spotted in Beijing, Taipei, and Singapore as well as New York City, Boston, Vancouver and Toronto, though its first Western roots sprung in Montreal according to Johnny Chin, a dragon beard candy master who claims he introduced the delicacy to North America, back in November 1991.

Name drop “George A. Romero” on any given day and anticipate chatter of zombies to follow suit. Yet if you ask the “zombie godfather” his take, he’ll tell you he never set out to have his undead concept infect pop culture so pervasively, if the proliferation of urban zombie walks, zombie video games, and a wildly successful primetime series are any indication that the zombie apocalypse is here to stay.

Bagels are wheat elevated—a synergy of malt, yeast, flour, and water transmuted into gluttonous joy spread across the land. Try one once and down the bagel hole you go, hooked for life. But who makes them best? Predictably, New York has declared itself the authority on rolls with holes. The city does make great bagels. But there’s just one thing.

I almost pity the fool who expects the English actress to be the low-key, zen-like embodiment of her on-screen alter ego.

Could it really be that simple? Drink X amount of green tea a day and watch fat effortlessly melt off your midriff? Evelyn Reid examines the science behind the hype.

Save money and eat a delicious nutrient-dense meal with my personal recipe for pea soup, a fun and spicy twist on a Quebec foodie tradition usually made with whole peas. But in my world, whole peas take way too long to cook. So I cheat a little using split peas instead, which soften in a quarter of the time.

When the name Dylan McDermott comes up, usually flashes of tall, dark, and hunksome parading on prime time hits ‘The Practice’, ‘American Horror Story’, and ‘Hostages’, if not memories of Funny or Die’s ‘The Douche’, spring to mind. Mentoring under one of contemporary media’s most respected war photojournalists? Not so much. Surviving the ordeal of childhood abuse and losing his birth mother to murder at the tender age of 5? Even less.

You have a second brain. It’s in your gut. And non-human organisms squatting in your body are calling the shots. Stressed out? Depressed? Anxiety-ridden? You might want to get on their good side.

On the outside, it seems like performance art reviewers have a plush job. It is when a show is a triumph. But what about when it’s not? With that being said, I could tell you Amaluna is dazzling, electrifying, magical, and exquisite, close the critique with an exclamation point, and ensure my invitation to the next hottest party. Or, I could take the road less traveled and tell you what I saw.

A professional artist for the better part of 20 years, sculptor Yann Normand wanted to do something a little different for his first solo show. Asking me to perform literally anything I want, “fais ce que tu veux, Evelyn” on opening night of “Eternal Love” at the prestigious Galerie Le Royer in Old Montreal, I created a choreography informed by multiple channels.

Google “Toronto food” on any given day and it won’t take long to stumble on online diatribe dissing Hogtown over lacking its own signature dish, which I found hard to believe. There must be something uniquely native to the Big Smoke, no?

The hostly controversy seems to be abating but you can’t help but wonder, how exactly did Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper handle the Catholic host? Did he put the body of Christ in his pocket? Did he truly consummate the consumption of said body or was it but a partial communion at best? To eat or not eat Christ, what’s a non-Catholic to do?

Blended and sold in Paris, today’s Tea of the Week is brought to you by a company claiming its production origins date back to Louis XIV and his court in Versailles, circa 1692.

Allison DuBois says she talks to the dead. They look translucent. She claims she can smell them too, sometimes. And much like in Medium, the Emmy award-winning prime time show starring Patricia Arquette that’s based on her life and inspired by her first book ‘Don’t Kiss Them Good-Bye,, Allison DuBois has reportedly helped law enforcement crack cases and locate bodies using what she describes as psychic-medium abilities.

Visual white noise. Unisex punk dance. Feral female power. Ballet noir. Montreal’s La La La Human Steps, the brainchild of company founder, choreographer, and artistic director Édouard Lock has been called a lot of names since its 1980 inception.

It’s one thing to catch the diminutive six-foot-tall thespian, who got his big break as ‘Almost Famous’ fanboy Vic Munoz, on screen in 2D. It’s yet another to watch him in his tridimensional glory shooting the breeze, unscripted and uncensored.

A pilgrimage site for Catholics in search of healing and support, Montreal’s Oratoire Saint-Joseph is one of the city’s leading attractions, a site where allegedly thousands of miracles have occurred in connection with a monk sainted by the Vatican.

NEeMA, born Nadine Neemeh, beams whenever she speaks of Leonard Cohen, her friend and mentor, an instrumental force in the production of her second album ‘Watching You Think’. 

Folding into Google’s travel team as of October 21, 2019, Touring Bird was originally a startup project incubated within Google’s Area 120. Its goal? Bringing trip planning and travel booking to the next level. Enlisting the guidance of travel experts covering over 200 top destination worldwide, I covered lesser-known must-try activities and eats in Montreal, the fourth largest French-speaking city across the globe and the most populated one in the developed world second only to Paris.

What if I told you your brain still grows as an adult. And that you have the power to shape it.

Sitting in on the fourth edition of an event serving as a yearly check-in to see how the United Nation’s 8 Millennium Goals are coming along, I spent last Thursday listening to what Montreal Millennium Summit speakers had to say about poverty and climate change. And in all honesty, the experience left me more confused about international aid than before I had attended the Summit.

When winter winds down in Quebec, a Canadian stereotype takes hold of the province. I dub it the sampling of the syrup. Favorite sampling style? Hot taffy. On ice cold snow. Now there’s a right way to do this. And there’s a wrong way. I found this out the hard way.

Butter, caramel, and a touch of green tea might just be what the doctor ordered.

A spinal cord doubling as a fashion accessory, phones better known as dinkle-binkle-dinkle-bings, a bizarre birthing situation, unlimited gore action featuring red yarn… MöcShplat is daring. MöcShplat is dark. MöcShplat is weird.

Nestled in the Mengku sector of China’s Yunnan Province and straddling the border of Myanmar is the valley of Nanmei is one of the strangest teas I’ve ever tasted.

French swear words, as with swear words in general, typically make reference to bodily excretions, orificial waste, sexual acts, incest, wedlock-free conception, and sun-deprived body parts. But we like to do things a little differently in Quebec.

Real milk oolong, imitation milk oolong… how does one tell them apart? And does it really matter? Tea connoisseurs go nuts over its silky, creamy flavor.

When Chuang Tzu was about to die, his disciples expressed a wish to give him a splendid funeral. But Chuang Tzu was baffled by their logic.

To many a Westerner, child marriage seems outrageous, unacceptable, a clear moral and ethical no no. The United Nations refers to the practice as a fundamental human rights violation. And just yesterday came word via The Telegraph that girls wed before the age of 10 in Iran have doubled in the span of a year. But in other parts of the world, the issue of child marriage is not so cut and dry.

Who is doing the talking, exactly? Ethereal spirits guiding human hands on the planchette? Or mere mortals unaware of their own movements? Researchers looking to settle the debate had no idea they were about to answer a completely different question.

Montreal’s finest hot wheels and classic cars converge weekly at roadside diner the Orange Julep—the “Big Orange”—on Decarie Boulevard, a favorite landmark/eyesore among kids, their parents, their grandparents, and even their grandparent’s parents, a tradition going back generations that goes hand in hand with a mystery beverage suspiciously reminiscent of industrial hand soap.

Can you accurately read your heartbeat without taking your pulse? Then you might be able to read people’s emotional states as impressively as a Buddhist monk.

Masala chai is a spicy Indian tea boiled with spices and milk on a stove top to produce the perfect cup. But who has the time to monitor a boiling pot and stir constantly to prevent the milk from clotting? Here’s an easier way to get the same amazing flavor, complete with homemade froth.