I was hoping for a quiet couple of weeks following my return from Europe, but that it not what I got. There’s been stuff keeping me busy (in a good way, like a conference or lunch with a friend or visits from family) but also distracting me (a cold, everything in the house breaking at once).

Right after I got back I had a couple days’ work sprint and then went right into a conference — here in Toronto, so no travel, but it definitely consumed all of my intention for 2+ days. Always good to meet new people and re-gain some perspective (and have a nice dinner at Cafe Boulud), but the re-upping of the work to-do pile really made it feel as if I’d never even gotten back from vacation. I did wrap up the week over lunch with Matt at d|bar though, which was great.

Another consequence of that conference is that I developed a cold, my first in over a year as far as I can remember. It laid me low Monday through most of Wednesday. Fortunately it had mostly faded by the time brother #2 and sister-in-law #1 arrived. They were here for a visit, partially with us, partially with their daughter who lives just east of Toronto. On Friday they retrieved said daughter and we all had dinner at La Paella…

• Medjool dates wrapped in bacon, stuffed with goat cheese, glazed with a guindilla sherry reduction
• Croquetas
• Tiger shrimps, garlic, guindillas, olive oil and sweet sherry wine
• Artisan Sourdough Bread from Petit Thuet
• a Paella which is not on their menu but which contained an extravagant amount of pork (ribs, pork belly, chorizo) along with red peppers, green beans, and butter beans

…followed by heaping bowls of ice cream procured from Craig’s Cookies, of all places.

Yesterday the three of them went to OssFest, then we played a game of Pandemic before they drove my niece home. We were all a bit tired, and the weather had turned to rain, so we just ordered some pizza and drank some wine and had a quiet final night together. This morning Bianca finally decided they were worth hanging out with, just as they were about to leave.

I could do without the cold or the work backlog, but I’ll take a nice family visit anytime. See you next year, guys!