Topic

Coming full circle. The road less travelled and the importance of pushing boundaries. October 24, at the Local.

DESCRIPTION OF PRESENTATION

In STRATFORD FOR ALL SEASONS, Secrets & Surprises, there is a story about Stratford’s first  hospital, now known as Avon Crest. Phyllis Hinz was born there. In 2018 Phyllis came back to Stratford. This presentation is about those in-between years, why the STRATFORD FOR ALL SEASONS books were written, and the importance of pushing boundaries.

BIO

Phyllis Hinz was born in Stratford, Ontario, and grew up on a farm in Perth County. 

It was while completing her fine arts degree in creative writing at the University of British Columbia that she met fellow writer Lamont Mackay in a poetry class. Over the next 46 years,  Phyllis and Lamont went on an adventure in the spirit of Thelma and Louise with a dash of Laverne and Shirley. They were restaurateurs, restaurant consultants, freelance writers, magazine columnists, vagabonds in an RV, Home Hardware’s Kitchen Experts, and judges at the World and Canadian Food Championships. They did cooking segments on television and radio, and co-authored nine cookbooks. Their BBQ cookbook, On the Road with The Cooking Ladies, Let’s Get Grilling, was a 2018 Gourmand Awards Finalist in the Barbecue category.

In 2018, they moved to Stratford, where they co-authored a series of guidebooks: STRATFORD FOR ALL SEASONS, Secrets & Surprises; STRATFORD FOR ALL SEASONS, Theatre & Arts; and

STRATFORD FOR ALL SEASONS, Stay Trips & Day Trips.

Phyllis and Lamont were known as The Cooking Ladies, a name chosen by a magazine editor for their culinary travelogue in RV Lifestyle magazine. The name stuck and the column ran for over 25 years.