Last weekend was fun. Busy and delicious and friend-filled. Fun! Camaraderie! Not work!

It started right after we left the office on Friday when we met Joe & Sheila at La Carnita (the downtown one, not the one in our hood) before their Jays game. We got silly on tacos and colourful cocktails. After that we had dinner lined up at White Lily Diner, which is always so chill on Friday nights. We ate stupid-good patty melts and blackberry crumble and took peanut butter doughnuts home for breakfast.

Saturday got a little busy as we headed up to our friends Sarah & Mekki’s place in the northwest corner of the city. I’d never taken the new line 1 extension north of Sheppard West (nee Downsview) so it was an adventure. A long, long adventure. We were there to meet a new friend, who I’ll talk about more next week. We ended up spending several hours at theirs and got into their booze, so rather than face the long transit ride home we took a pricey Uber.

Even so, we were a little late to meet my friend Andrea at Lake Inez. She’d never been, and we hadn’t been since the chef turned over, so it was new-ish for all of us. We did PRETTY WELL, I think:

• broccoli charred in chili jam w/ vegan oyster sauce, crispy anchovy & shallots, kohlrabi
• za’atar roasted califlower w/ spicy herb sauce, edamame hummus, peanut dukkah
• beef tartare w/ sweet soy reduction, slow-cooked egg yolk, calamansi lime, rice crisp
• Thai-style curry w/ market fish grilled over Japanese charcoal, zucchini, savoy cabbage, cilantro, peanuts, jasmine rice
• Korean-ish short rib w/ kimchi mash, ssamjang mayo, bibb lettuce
• Some unusual but terrific Pinot Noir whose name I can’t remember

Afterward we walked around the corner to Godspeed Brewery. Andrea’s not a beer drinker, but I know they keep Tawse on tap, so she was good. Meanwhile Lindsay and I delved into their list, which I must say has improved since our last visit a year ago.

The next morning we weren’t exactly feeling 100%, so we dragged our sorry selves to Eastbound for brunch. God bless that fork-and-knife fried chicken sandwich (which is really a piece of spicy fried chicken, a two-egg omelette, and two bacon-filled pancakes) and some coffee. It all saved me.

Great weekend. I did feel the need to return to work just to slow things down though.