None of us wants to admit that we had imperfect childhoods, unless it's absolutely undeniable. But the power of looking imperfection in the eye and charging towards it is the first step of healing. Only after that can we contextualize our childhoods and accept the imperfection, even forgive it where possible. When people tell me…

I once gave a boy an olive branch with a few olives, not too many that might signify a budding romance, but just enough to hint at an arm's-length friendship. But what he did with the olive branch was strictly his business, I told myself as I extended it. He can eat the olives and…

A friend visiting me in Toronto took me to my first-ever Michelin Star restaurant a few years back. The menu here was exquisitely sparse and used limited-edition ingredients I wasn't familiar with. Since the chefs are taught to think about texture and flavor and aroma and a whole host of other things, for a first…