Need someone to mow the lawn? Paint the fence? Help you lift that sofa up three flights of stairs? MyTaskRunner, a web site that launched at the beginning of May, might be able to help. Headquartered in Vaughan, this new spin on Craigslist is trying to make it easier to connect qualified people looking for work ("TaskRunners") with those who need their assistance.

I recently connected with founder Albert Vaisman who filled me in on what MyTaskRunner is up to.

Cottage rentals near Toronto this summer are quickly getting snapped up as we get closer to the Victoria Day long weekend. With popular weekend water destinations within a 2-4 hour drive of the city, renting a cottage for a few days or a week each year is more feasible than you'd think, especially with web sites like Cottage Country that make finding a suitable getaway that much easier.

The latest web site to get into the cottage rentals game just launched on March 30th at the Spring Cottage Life Show in Toronto. I caught up with co-founder Adam Brind who gave me the lowdown how his site, TwoHoursNorth.com, differentiates itself from the rest.

The Templar Hotel is Toronto's secret boutique hotel. Have you heard? It's been around for a year and a half yet still isn't "officially" open. The owners have generally shied away from any media and haven't responded to any of our inquiries other to say they're not ready to talk about it.

Anyone who has spent some time in the Club District will likely have seen the building. It's a modern, 8-story structure on Adelaide, just west of Peter St. But good luck trying to spot anyone going in or out of the building - unless, that is, you happened to be nearby during one of their many private parties.

Hotel Tonight launched in Toronto today. The popular mobile app (available for the iPhone and Android) offers last minute one-night deals to hotels in various cities across North America. Canada marks the first country outside the US to be included in the app with deals being offered today in both Toronto and Vancouver. Participating hotels in Toronto so far are slim pickings with only The Thompson and the Cosmopolitan currently represented in the app.

James Chatto knows a lot about food. As Toronto Life's scribe for two decades, he rivaled Joanne Kates as the pre-eminent food critic in this town. After he and the magazine abruptly parted ways a couple of years back, Chatto didn't disappear from the printed page but instead started wearing many hats. He's Editor of Harry Magazine, Senior Editor at the LCBO's Food & Drink magazine, restaurant columnist for Zoomer and food and culture columnist for ROM magazine. Not busy enough? He manages to find time to work with Gold Medal Plates as National Culinary Advisor, helping put together events across Canada that raise funds for Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes. And in whatever free time Chatto has left he writes for his own site, jameschatto.com, where (as he puts it) he can "write exactly what I please".

Up next, Chatto will be making some public appearances talking up the new, updated version of his restaurant book and hopping across the pond to England where someone is re-publishing his 1998 ode to classic Greek Cuisine A Kitchen in Corfu. On April 23rd he'll take on the role as Master of Ceremonies at the annual Terroir Hospitality Industry Symposium at the Arcadian Court in Toronto. Here, I connected with Chatto about the event, his worst-ever Toronto meal and what restaurant trend needs to end now.

A new mini market is slated to launch on Queen West this summer. The Spot on Queen is currently seeking vendors to fill the mezzanine level at 627 Queen West (nextdoor to the Burroughes building and the new CB2 furniture store) for a fashion and food market that will be open from June through August. They'll be sharing walk in traffic with current 627 Queen tenants including Gallery CC and Norman Felix.

Earlier this week I emailed with Spot on Queen founders "Brett and Mel" who describe themselves as fellow artisans who want to give other young artisans and entrepreneurs a chance to sell their goods to the public. They're offered prospective vendors 4-6 feet racks and tables on which to sell their wares for a three day (Fri-Sun) fee starting at $150. The market concept, of course, isn't anything new. The Arts Market is alive and well in Leslieville and the Queen West Market tried unsuccessfully to launch a similar mini marketplace a few years ago in what is now the Twist Gallery space.