Vitamin Daily

Looking to cause a stir with your risotto? At Cookworks new Western Living Test Kitchen, small class sizes, a central location, chefs you know (think Vikram Vij) and amazing wine pairings mean this might just be better than a night on the town.

Debuting March 22 with The Food Network’s Cook Like A Chef star Ned Bell, you’ll learn to prepare Okanagan wine-fed beef (apparently some of the tasting rooms up there are not that exclusive) and sample the latest from Road 13. Grab your gal pals (or treat your mom); it’s like your own intimate catered soiree—without the recycling duties the morning after.

$89 at Cookworks, 1548 W. Broadway, Vancouver, 604-731-1148. For complete class schedule, click here.

Play therapy may be the buzzword of the day, but here’s a new twist: modeling clay that soothes and calms your kids with its scents.

Available for the first time in Canada, Mama K’s Aromatic Play Clay comes in scents like Lemongrass to inspire, Lavender to sooth, and Pink Geranium to balance.

And the scent will come in handy when you find it under the couch six months from now.

$25.99 for 5 tubs at www.naturalpod.com

Tired of merely drooling over Fashion Week frocks, we combed the blogosphere for some designer duds we could duplicate. Grab a sewing kit, some dye and DIY:

• Replicate Doo.Ri’s bedazzled tights with guidance from Shini Park of Park & Cube.

• Commissioned by Who What Wear, Erica Domesek shows you how to recreate the tie-dyed looks of Proenza Schouler.

• As writer and Vitamin Daily ambassador Sarah Nicole Prickett discovers, it just takes a pair of scissors to turn a $59.99 Joe Fresh trench coat into a Celine dress.

Have your own designer DIY idea? Post it on our Forum.

For those of us who will never own a beach house, there is the music of Beach House.

Boasting beautiful melodies over boat moorage, the Baltimore band with a vixen voiced, French-born female lead recently released its third album, Teen Dream, and since then we haven’t stopped playing it. We suggest snatching up tickets now to see the duo at the Rickshaw Theatre next month before they graduate to bigger venues.

You’ll find us front and centre singing along to “Zebra” with a summery Corona in hand.

Tickets $16 at Ticketmaster. Beach House, April 11, 2010, Rickshaw Theatre, 254 E. Hastings, Vancouver, www.rickshawtheatre.com

Sade’s sexy voice is what we really want, but we’ll settle for her super smooth hairdo.

Helping us emulate her frizz-free style circa 1984 is Calm Down grooming butter by Vancouver’s Eli Manuel. Rub the smallest amount of the lightweight cream—which happens to smell like scrumptious vanilla—into your palm, and then run your hands over your hair, finishing with a pat down of those flyaways closest to your part.

A license to love (your locks), insurance to hold (those hairs in place).

$26 at Tao Salon, 1523 W. Eigth Ave., Vancouver, 604-732-7889, www.taosalon.com

A modern day Holly Golighty looking for fame-worthy frocks would shop where the walls are painted Tiffany Blue.

That shop is the brand new Holly. Stocked with lines beloved by stars (La Rok, Rachel Pally, Jay Godfrey) and made by stars (Nicole Richie’s House of Harlow, Erin Wasson’s Low Luv), thumbing through the boutique’s racks is like flipping through the style section of US Weekly. What would we get snapped in? Kain grey pocket tee ($98), Genetic Denim black lace cigarette jean ($290) and Charlie My Love blue tie-dye sandals ($280).

Someone tell TMZ style has flown North for the spring.

Holly, 215-332 Water St., Vancouver, 604-681-8883, www.shopholly.ca

You don’t need a DeLorean to return to 1969 and rub shoulders with Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.  Just travel the pages of Patti Smith’s Just Kids.

In the autobiographical book, the poet and “Godmother of Punk” speaks of her life as lover, muse and friend to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. As a struggling artist in New York City during the Chelsea Hotel’s heyday, Smith recounts her meetings with the rising stars of rock, writing and film now rooted in our cultural lexicon.

From Allen Ginsberg mistaking her for a boy to her affair with a young Sam Shepard, it’s like vintage Page Six made into beautiful prose.

$25.60 at Book Warehouse, www.bookwarehouse.ca

If an apple of day keeps the doctor away, we've got an MD in Triple Jim's Crispy Organic Apple Chips.

Grown and manufactured in B.C., these tasty apple chips  are completely natural—and addictive. They make a perfect afternoon snack or post-dinner sweet treat.

Apples for dessert? Aren't you clever now.

Triple Jim's Crispy Organic Apple Chips, $3.99 (or 2 bags/$5 on sale now) at Whole Foods, www.wholefoods.com

The Vancouver room boom just moved up another notch. Herewith, the cool things that have us considering long-term hotel living at the Fairmont Pacific Rim:

1. Stunning installation by UK artist Liam Gillick that spans 17 floors of the building’s exterior with the phrase “The clouds looked no nearer than when I was lying on the street.”

2. Marble-clad lobby lounge that serves up afternoon tea, cocktails and raw seafood.

3. Live entertainment  on a $225,000 hand-crafted white Fazioli piano with 18 carat hinges.

4. Astonishing 180-foot origami light sculpture by Vancouver’s Joseph Wu that extends the length of Oru, the hotel’s Pan-Asian bistro.

5. Granville Island Florist outpost located within that means never going without fresh roses.

6. Discovery Theatre, a private movie theatre with 18 plush leather seats you can book for slumber parties. Just don’t watch The Shining.

7. Expansive Willow Stream spa with women’s steam room and lounge, and an ocean-view terrace with and forthcoming Jacuzzis and meditation pods.

8. State-of-the-art 4,000 square foot gym with a studio for yoga and Pilates.

9. Serene, spacious rooms—many with balconies—that feature espresso makers and 100 square foot spa bathrooms with embedded mirror televisions.

10. A sixth floor rooftop pool, inspired by the Bel Air in Los Angeles, ready in time for spring.

For more information visit www.fairmont.com/pacificrim

When it comes to Canadian pride, our cup runneth over right now.

And in lieu of winning one of Canada’s 26 Olympic medals co-designed by Aboriginal artist Corrine Hunt, we’re awarding ourselves Imm Living’s totem cups. Designed by Torontonian Rod Southcott, the set of four stackable porcelain cups pays homage to the artistry of our First Nations’ totem carvings.

Our cup of Tim Hortons coffee has never been so culturally cool.

$69.99 at Homewerx, 1053 Davie St., Vancouver, 604-682-2204, www.homewerx.ca