The Surrogate

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Another week in Moncton, another new restaurant tried: Osaka Hibachi. It was a group dinner, and a quick one, so I’m not sure I got the full experience, but it was fun & tasty enough. I got back Thursday night, and somehow stumbled through Friday.

Last night we had tickets to see a show at Crow’s, but needed somewhere to eat beforehand. We intended to pop into Avling, but it looked packed, so we doubled back and tried a place that’s been on my list since it opened: Corduroy Lounge. We grabbed one of the few remaining tables and ordered cocktails: whiskey-driven for me, absinthe-driven for Lindsay. Neither of us were starving so we split a wedge salad (which was excellent) and the cod + chips (which was also excellent) with a couple of pints of Guinness. Overall, pretty good vibes in there. Will be going back.

The play — The Surrogate — was on an extremely small, stark stage. The audience surrounded the cast, who were often a foot or two away. Between their scenes they sat on chairs next to us. Pulsing hospital lights directed our attention up- or down-stage. Technically, it was quite different to anything I’d seen before.

The play itself was good, not great, in both our opinions. It just felt too…overt, too expository (Lindsay’s word, which I felt was better than how I’d been trying to say it), too ham-handed. I get that when you’re dealing with that many contentious issues — surrogacy, gay rights, states’ rights, homophobia, religion, politics of health, reproductive rights, etc., etc. — it might feel necessary to plunk the contention and hypocrisy right there on the floor in front of us, to make sure everyone gets it. It just felt like we were being told what was hard about these hard things, rather than shown. That trap, I suppose, is what made it feel good, not great.

Downtown was better than Yorkville, in this case

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Earlier this week I tried Alobar Downtown for the first time, for a work thing. It was certainly much better than my ill-fated visit to their Yorkville outpost last year.

We shared:

  • Torched hamachi w/ asian pear, miso, ginger
  • Nova Scotia lobster & Hokkaido sea scallop w/ tomatillo, coriander, finger lime
  • Fried calamari w/ zucchini, broccolini, lemon
  • 24oz bone-in prime ribeye
  • Broccolini
  • Glasses of wine
    • Domaine Emmanuel Fellot, Chardonnay 2023, Burgundy
    • Netzl, Grüner Veltliner 2023, Austria
    • Bertinga ‘Sassi Chiusi’ Sangiovese blend 2020, Toscana

Ersterbend 

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A week after attending Star Wars parody burlesque followed by a garbage Italian dinner, we reversed course altogether. Last night we had dinner at Richmond Station and went to the symphony.

Dinner was a typical Richmond Station experience: delicious, cozy, great wine list.

  • cocktails: Honeycrisp, Monkey Business
  • Brigid’s Brie w/ plum compôte, honey gastrique, almonds, brown butter croutons, grilled focaccia
  • roasted organic Nantes carrots w/ candied pistachios, coffee-date purée, chicories, mint chutney
  • 2 x duck leg confit w/ duck croquette, gnocchi, parsnip, orange gastrique
    • bottle of Thierry Germain Domaine des Roches Neuves Saumur Champigny

The symphony was Mahler’s Ninth. Lovely, especially the fourth and final movement.

Jabba singing Biggie was a little on the nose

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Overcoming the winter’s forced homesteading, we managed to get out a couple of times this week

First: dinner Tuesday at The Wood Owl (potato rosti, smoked trout dip, yellowfin tuna, mushroom cavatelli, sweet potato, 3-cheese ravioli w/ short rib sugo, and a bottle of Cabernet) with Kirsten.

Second: a bit of a Friday night out. First stop was my first ever visit to Bar Raval. Only time for a quick bite, so we had pan con tomate, jamon croquettas, cocktails (Shelly In Athens, Yellow Parrot) and sherry (Fernando De Castilla Fino En Rama, Hidalgo Faraon Oloroso). We left there and walked to the Royal Theatre to see — and I swear I’m not making this up — a Star Wars burlesque show called The Empire Strips Back. It was actually quite entertaining. I wish I could describe it here, but words aren’t going to nail the image of a naked (kind of) Emperor Palpatine swinging on a Death Star-shaped wrecking ball a la Miley Cyrus. We left there fairly late in the evening, so just took the easy road across the street to Sotto Voce. That was a mistake. It was such a weird combo of loud club and dusty old Italian joint. We had two bad glasses of wine and split a disappointing pasta and then beat a hasty retreat.

The grand tour

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I spent some of this week on a rapid tour of the Atlantic provinces. After flying to New Brunswick Monday, I joined some colleagues on Tuesday and drove to PEI, stopping for lunch at C&B Corner Cafe along the way. After work stuff in both Summerside and Charlottetown, followed by dinner at Ada, we drove back across the bridge, crossed into Nova Scotia, and got a few hours’ sleep at an airport hotel. The next morning we woke up to flight cancellation notifications, but some hurried rebooking later, we three + one more were on our way to Newfoundland. We landed in Gander around 2pm local time, which means we’d touched all four Atlantic provinces in 24 hours. After a brief stop, we were off to St. John’s.

I can’t remember when I last visited Newfoundland, exactly, but I think it was 2003. I would’ve liked to have stayed in St. John’s a bit longer, but we packed a lot in as it was: we made some Thai food at a work event (run by a company cleverly named Yes, Thai!), had an extremely oversized Burt Reynolds shot at Yellowbelly Brewery, had a terrific breakfast at The Bagel Cafe, a good cortado at Toslow, and a bunch more work stuff before heading to the airport.

Our flight from St. John’s back to Halifax was delayed nearly two hours, but I still had lots of time to buy a bottle of NS dessert wine before my connection back to Toronto. I watched Warfare (imdb | letterboxd) on the way.

I spent a lot of Friday trying to figure out why I felt so tired when I got back. Flying and driving (or, passenger-ing, really — someone else did all the actual driving) doesn’t really tire me out, but I guess wall-to-wall socializing with a lot of people I don’t know still does.

Begone, cursed month

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In addition to whatever new shows we’re trying to watch (currently: The Pitt, Abbott Elementary, Mr. In-Between, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, Industry) we always have an older sitcom on the go too. The Office, say, or New Girl, or BoJack Horseman, or Community. Most recently it was Schitt’s Creek, which we wrapped up a few days ago. So, visions of Moira Rose were still fresh in our heads yesterday when we saw the news about Catherine O’Hara.

It was one more kick in the nuts delivered by this January. I can’t even talk about world news. I can barely talk about the weather — two huge snowstorms (well, huge for Toronto) in ten days, the last of which set a single-day record in the city, has felt like a blanket lightly pinning us down. At least we didn’t have to call in the army this time.

Usually my (self-diagnosed) season affective disorder doesn’t kick in until February, but this January has felt interminable. Yesterday I saw someone on Instagram* say that it’s only 49 days until Spring. That gave me some hope — seven weeks feels doable — in a month when I haven’t felt much.

* An app which I am hating more and more by the day.

Scotiabank Snowy Day in Toronto

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First trip to Moncton of 2026 in the books — a short visit this time, with none of the travel drama we experienced in December. Nothing fun in the off-hours though: it was too cold, and I was too busy, to try anything further than a stone’s throw from my hotel or office.

When I left they were setting up for Hockey Day in Canada, which probably would have been a lot more fun than what I experienced when we landed in Toronto: a massive snowstorm. Normally I’d have stayed home all cozy, but I had to drive to work on Thursday morning, when there was already a foot down and another foot coming. It was one of the hairier drives I’ve done. I’ve never before seen cars stuck in snowbanks on a major highway. Anyway, I made it there and back in once piece, so I’ll count myself lucky.

Now: to not leave the house for two days weeks.

What’s the opposite of dry January?

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After the holidays, most people pull back on how much they’re eating and drinking. This past week, I went the other way.

On Sunday we had dinner with Ricky & Olivia at DaiLo. Being out with friends who have their own Michelin-recognized restaurant changes the experience somewhat, as other chefs want to share their top stuff (and maybe show off a bit) with respected peers, so Lindsay and I benefitted from that. As a result, I can’t remember everything we ate — a lot of courses came out unbidden — but do remember these ones, and recall that everything was fantastic.

  • Hakka Brown Wontons (pork & shrimp) w/ toasted sesame oil, house xo sauce, almond crumble
  • Crispy Octopus Tacos w/ red braised pork belly, sambal aioli, jicama shell
  • Burmese Tofu w/ mushroom duxelle black bean sauce, wing bean, pear, pickled honey mushrooms, Sichuan mustard vinaigrette
  • Vietnamese Phaux Beef Carpaccio: 90 day aged ribeye cap, braised tendon, warm pho demi glace, crispy rice noodle, basil bean sprout
  • Sweet & Sour Pork Hock w/ Po Po’s original sauce, almond crumble, pickled daikon
  • Panang Fried Eggplant & Burrata w/ arugula herb salad, pistachio pesto, tamarind glaze, chili crunch
  • Truffle Hainanese Chicken w/ foie fat rice, scallion ginger oil, confit garlic sambal, crispy garlic & onion
  • Smoked Duck Bokkeum w/ kimchi pickled spring vegetables, gochugaru onion jam, miso blue potato salad, crispy wild rice
  • 90 Day Dry Aged Butcher Shoppe Rib Eye w/ Asian bordelaise sauce, braised shiitake, truffle pomme puree
  • Desserts
  • A bottle of Beaujolais (Clos de la Roilette Fleurie Cuvée Tardive)

On Tuesday I had dinner booked with Shannon, which we’d been trying to set up for a while. I chose Wood Owl, and while it wasn’t quite as tasty as our first time there late last year, it was still pretty great.

  • apps
    • yellowfin tuna, aji amarillo & Cara Cara orange w/ cucumber, lime leaf oil, Thai basil, red chili
    • steak tartare & beef tallow toast w/ cornichon, caper, shallot, dijon, egg yolk
  • mains
    • braised short rib, celeriac & Gruyere puree w/ caramelized onion & red wine sauce, escarole, crunchy dijon vinaigrette (Shannon)
    • steak frites, Café de Paris butter, fries, aioli (me)

I had glasses of Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc / Weissburgunder, and Sangiovese. Shannon was on dry January.

On Thursday I had a work dinner at DaNico. It was a more intimate affair than usual with just a handful of attendees. One of those was an old employee of mine, so that was an unexpected treat. Also a treat: these dinners don’t usually happen at Michelin-starred restaurants.

  • canapé selection (all five of which were exceptional)
  • seared Ontario venison w/ organic chestnut purée, red beets, port jus
  • Spaghettoni pasta from Gragnano boiled in an extraction of organic Ontario mushrooms w/ Parmigiano Reggiano aged 24 months, fresh Italian black truffle
  • Chilean sea bass steamed and deglazed with miso w/ radicchio tardivo all’ agro, Oscetra sturgeon caviar, white vermouth sauce
  • Itakuja chocolate, namelaka with soft caramel insert, fruity mokable crunch, tonka gelato

After opening a bottle of Bollinger (!) for the aperitivo, they let me pick the wine. I decided to champion Ontario wine, ordering bottles of Bachelder “Les Villages” Pinot Noir and Hidden Bench “Tête de Cuvée” Chardonnay. Even snuck in an Amaro at the end.

2025 Annual Report: Hyper-routine

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Back in 2014 and 2015, the theme of my annual reports were “Focus” and “Hyper-focus” respectively. Ten years on, it feels like a similar progression happened between 2024 and 2025. Where 2024 was about “routine” for the first time in a decade, 2025 was a double-down on that routine.

I’m now two years into my current role & company; Lindsay is at the tail end of her PhD. We had no grand adventures like trips to India, no COVID-like illness nor shattered ankles. No two-week working vacation by the ocean. We settled in and put our heads down. In the end, it might have backfired, but it was the very end of the year before we figured that out.

Even flying to Moncton became a near-routine commute. I flew there nine times over the year, sometimes tacking on weekends to visit family, like for my mom’s 75th birthday, my dad’s 82nd, or Thanksgiving. It really has been a nice bonus in this role that I can spend more time with family. Brother #2 and Sister-In-Law #1 even drove over for dinner one night. And, as with last year, work brought me to two more Canadian cities, one of which — Edmonton — I’d not visited before. Because these trips are always planned for the middle of winter, I’m not sure cities like Edmonton and Saskatoon are making the best first impressions though. Anyway, work also had me back in PEI for a couple days, and any time I can be by the ocean, I’m pretty happy.

As far as non-work trips, there was a big one and three small ones, with all three small ones being in in Ontario. In the summer, to celebrate my 50th birthday, we spent a couple of days in Elora and a couple in Niagara-On-The-Lake. In the fall, Lindsay and I drove up to Ottawa to see Patrick and attend a concert of Stardew Valley music performed by an orchestra. We even managed to squeeze in brunch with CBGB whilst there, which I loved. Then, a few weekends later, we spent a weekend at Langdon Hall, just outside of Toronto, enjoying the food & fireplace & changing colours.

Plus, NS for Christmas.

The big trip was something I never thought I’d do: a cruise. A river cruise, that is, down the Rhine river. My mom had always wanted to do something like that, so brother #1 and I took her. She saw Amsterdam for the first time. I suspect it was her first time in both Switzerland and Germany too, other than transferring through Frankfurt airport. It was also my first time in Switzerland, since we’re not counting airport transfers. So, technically, Switzerland is the lone pin I added to my ‘countries I’ve visited’ map this year, even if we were only there long enough to walk into Basel for a cup of coffee.

Back in Toronto, insufferable as it’s becoming, we did manage to find a few moments of joy with friends: being hosted by Upasana, hosting Ricky + Olivia, drinks at East End Vine with K-L, a visit by brother #2 and fam, a Wet Leg concert, drinks w/ Mike & Heather, a visit from Patrick & Maeve, and a day trip out to Guelph to drop off my mom and see my aunt + uncle + cousin. No plays or other big events, though — gone are the days when I was traipsing from one film festival to another.

We tried a bunch of new restaurants in Toronto (The York Club with Brian & Brock; Nobu w/ T-Bone; Alobar Yorkville; Bar ARDO; Chula Taberna with Kirsten; Hastings Snack Bar; Amber Kitchen; Bar Pompette and Martine’s with Ricky + Olivia; and Wood Owl with Patrick & Maeve) and elsewhere (Les Brumes Du Coude in Moncton with brother #2 and sister-in-law #1; Dalvay By The Sea in PEI with colleagues; Raphael, TOWN, and Arlo in Ottawa; Langdon Hall in Cambridge; Bar Edicola in Montreal; and Mystic in Halifax). Lots of old favourites too: Carisma on our own and again a few weeks later with Kirsten; Ricky + Olivia for work, with M+LK, and just us; Cluny; Jacobs & Co. w/ Dan & Abtin; Volo; d|bar with Matt; La Paella with brother #2 & fam; Elora Mill Inn; and The Manx, an old Ottawa favourite.

Less an event than continued progress: Bianca continued on her cute, cuddly journey with us. We love her and she loves us. Sigh. Swoon.

One other continuation from something I started last year: making up a numeric theme to get myself to accomplish some stuff this year. Whereas last year I went with a 3-6-9-12 theme, this year I just went with a straight 1 though 7.

  1. Try to have lazy lie-in mornings on Sundays (aka the first day of the week)
    • This one was subjective so it’s hard to say I did it, or didn’t, but I tried. And succeeded a few times.
  2. Of the 11 Michelin starred/recognized restaurants east of Yonge, hit the two I haven’t tried
    • Done! I hit both Puerto Bravo and Wood Owl this year, the latter just before Michelin announced a new grouping that will go on my plan for next year.
  3. Get a trì tattoo (that’s the number three in Gaelic; both the number and the language are meaningful for me)
    • Done! First tattoo, in the books.
  4. Make at least one improvement in each of the four remaining main zones of the house that we didn’t get to last year
    • Not done. I only did one of three. I’m not doing this one next year as I can’t execute this one on my own.
  5. Go to my fifth Habs game in Montreal
    • Done! They lost again though. 😦
  6. Plan a trip to my sixth continent
    • Not done, but started — we have the outline of a plan to South America in the works.
  7. Read seven books
    • Done! Wrapped up the last one in the final days of the year.

All that said, this hyper-routine brings with it a slight sense of foreboding. A decade ago, after two years of feeling focused and then hyper-focused, 2016 brought about complete upheaval. As much as I like and welcome change, I don’t know if I need a repeat of that chaos in 2026.

.:.

Annual reports from past years:

.:.

Cover photo by Planeta