What are you doing this weekend now that you know your city is the best in the world?

Are you, like me, a little anxious hearing we have suddenly gained celebrity status? Beyond our puffs of pride, can we sustain the wonders that make this city sparkle?  I’ll be watching and exploring it here from my perch.

For now, it’s enough to wonder if the rink will hold.

It’s filled with families during the day but tomorrow night will be a wild crowd at the Natrel Rink at Harbourfront.  There they’ll host one of the city’s best DJ’s to turn the open air rink into a nightclub, as they do every Saturday in the winter.

Winterlicious begins this weekend in a city where reservations are becoming harder to find for one of the myriad of dazzling new spots. Amy Rosen, author of Toronto Cooks, concludes that Toronto is now driving and creating whole new food trends.

You can’t get away with expensive shit in Toronto because it’s one of the places that lasts for three months. We don’t have the population to support crap or frivolity….Everything’s homemade, it’s very thoughtful.

Will it make it harder to get into any one of many classes offered year round in every discipline, including ballet?  Next week, one of this country’s finest dancers will hold a master class in ballet for one night in Toronto. Chan Hon Goh counts as one of this household’s favourite dancers. Did we ever hear her feet touch the stage floor, as ethereal as her movements were?  I was lucky enough to see her last performance in 2009 and sad to see her retire but she’s been busy since, as artistic director of her family’s company, The Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver.  This class is part of a cross-country tour.

Will our new status change things for those on the margins?  This week, I cried alone in my kitchen as I listened to a stunning piece of radio: an interview with two homeless and very articulate Torontonians. Take a coffee break this weekend and listen to this piece of audio from CBC’s The Current. Perhaps you’ll be grateful as I was for the family I was born into and the support circle of friends that make my days bright.  A group of Toronto students is trying to do their part with the 100 Sleeping Bags Project.

They’re young and passionate. If you want to help, check out their campaign on Indiegogo.

Happy Friday.