Our pattern on each of the first two nights of this final long weekend of summer has been dinner and a movie. Or, rather: a movie and then dinner.

Friday we took advantage of our TIFF memberships and went to the Lightbox to see Jaws (imdb | rotten tomatoes) on the big screen. Seeing the remastered edition of the film on that big screen was like discovering a whole new layer. The clarity was beautiful, especially in the darker shots (Chrissie getting eaten, Quint in the crow’s nest), and the sound mix was sufficiently improved that I heard the same mispronunciation of “Brisbane” my brother heard when he first saw the remaster. Neither of us had heard it before then in all the many times we’ve watched that movie. Anyway, it was well worth the $6 ticket to see it all bright and shiny, with a bunch of people in the audience who’d never seen it. Nellie had forgotten how funny the movie was, and I’m reminded every single time I watch it that Quint’s Indianapolis speech is one of my favourite scenes in movie history.

After dinner we zipped across the street to Paese for some wine and pizza (roasted chicken, hazelnut pesto, green apple, and goat’s cheese for me; genoa salami, green olives, pecorino, chili and tomato sauce for Nellie), and then hit Bar Hop for a dessert beer — Oast House Bucolic Bastard for Nellie, Dieu du Ciel Aphrodisiaque for me. It was a fine evening right up until Nellie’s shoe blew up on the way home.

Yesterday, after tackling a bunch of condo- and travel-related tasks, we decided to keep the 70s blockbuster theme going and watched Lovelace (imdb | rotten tomatoes). It was just okay. All the actors in it were good, it just didn’t blow me away  come together for me  resonate.

After watching that we walked down the street to the recently-opened Woods, where Colborne Lane used to be, and ate an excellent meal. Nellie had wild digby scallops with parsnip purée, roasted heirloom garlic, green alder, corned beef cheek, followed by Lake Huron pickerel with cauliflower purée, sea asparagus, roasted cauliflower, chanterelles and jus. I had a cold smoked tomato soup with duck confit and goat cheese, followed by the roasted Muscovy duck breast with tatsoi, shallot, sourdough, crispy confit, dried cherries, duck egg béarnaise. The mains were great, but the accompaniments were just outstanding. We paired those mains with a 2011 La Crema Pinot Noir, which fit the bill nicely. We left room for dessert, which came in the form of cinnamon sugar donuts with warm chocolate sauce. It was altogether excellent. Pricey, but I’d happily go back and be a bit more restrained.

We came home, sat on our balcony, admired the view that never gets old, and drank a bottle of 2005 Undercliff Chambourcin, a birthday gift from my brother.

.:.

Photo by Ricardo Diaz, used under Creative Commons license