Author: Dan Dickinson

Paese

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

We tried a new restaurant last night: Paese. I’d heard good things about their Italian food with a Canadian influence (their tagline is “Inspired in Italy, Made in Canada”) and we decided to give it a whirl, bypassing the endless nondescript eateries lining King Street west of John.

The Canadian-Italian theme really came through, to good effect. Our scallops wrapped in pancetta were excellent; I had a glass of Tempranillo, while Nellie had a Canadian Chardonnay. Our mains were certainly Italian — margherita pizza for me, linguine with sausage and rapini for her — but our wine (an 07 Daniel Lenko Syrah) was oh so Canada.

We had no room for dessert, opting instead for a beer or three at Smokeless Joe, but the menu we looked at seemed enticing. I think we’ll be back; it’s one of the few decent options in that swatch of King West, along with Luna across the street in Festival Tower.

It's like spaghetti, except it's more square than round

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

What a goddamn enjoyable day. No one stellar thing to trump all others, just a collection of goodness. Examples:

  • Eating rosemary/olive bread and cloth-bound cheddar and pineapple for breakfast, which sounds disgusting but was awesome.
  • Getting some work done. (Okay, so this isn’t particularly fun, but it feels good to get it out of the way and not have to go to the office.)
  • Listening to the new Elbow album, which is excellent, and the new PJ Harvey, which I hated at first but now cannot shake from my head.
  • Lunch at La Bettola di Terroni which, despite being right around the corner from us, we’d never tried. It was fantastic. I had the braised beef agnolotti in a sage brown butter sauce; Nellie had the chitarra pasta in a lemon cream sauce with sausage & truffles. We also helped the couple sitting next to us, in town from North Carolina, to find a place to spend the day (the Distillery District) and eat dinner (Origin).
  • Gathering supplies at a less-crowded-than-normal St. Lawrence Market, as well as two bottles of Flat Rock (Riesling, Pinot Noir) for this weekend’s meals.
  • Espresso. For which I have apparently developed a taste (need?).
  • Submitting 2010 taxes avec healthy return.
  • Running 4.5km and feeling pretty good doing it.
  • Eating a fairly tasty meal from Golden Thai (after we found out the even-closer Thai place, Ivory Thailand, had been replaced by a French bistro some 3 hours earlier) along with the afore-mentioned Riesling.
  • Watching many episodes of Sons of Anarchy (imdb).
  • Admiring the supermoon.
  • Booking a kick-ass campsite for this fall’s excursion.

In absentia

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

My blog host had a little hiccup on Sunday, which means two things:

  1. Accented characters are displaying strangely right now. Not sure why just yet. Character code set something or other. Fix is coming forthwith; in the interim please don’t report me to the Ministry of Bilingualism.
  2. The post I’d written on Sunday about Sons of Anarchy has disappeared, as the hosting service went to last good backup, and I’ve spent more time fixing than writing, so it’s been — ye gods! — 10 days since my last blog post.

Have you heard about big red?

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been ten months since our first trip to visit Niagara wineries. It was there that I started to learn about, and fall for, Ontario wine. Since then we’ve made another trip, as well as a run to Prince Edward County, and the majority of my LCBO purchases in these ten months have been from Ontario. It’s safe to say that I’m hooked.

On Friday a colleague (teasingly) mocked my love of Ontario wine. He claims to like bigger, fuller reds, and suggested Ontario wine was “fine if you like [makes disgusted face] Pinot Noir.” To which I say: phooey.

Listen up, kids: there is some excellent Ontario wine out there, some of which are substantial enough to be mistaken for Australian or Californian. Granted, a lot of them are pricey, but there are certainly affordable ones out there as well. Here are some suggestions for people who actually want to give it a try:

  • My favourite Ontario wine, and maybe my favourite wine overall: the Thirty Bench Cab Franc ($40). This wine also just won the top prize at Cuvée 2011, Ontario’s ‘wine oscars’. If $40 is a little rich for your blood, then the Thirty Bench Red blend ($24) carries quite a bit of the Cab Franc and is more accessible, and nearly as full-bodied.
  • If the Cab you want is not Franc, but Sauv, then Thirty Bench also does an excellent one of those for $40. However, biodynamic producer Southbrook also does a fantastic one in their Whimsy line ($35). Meanwhile, the Strewn Cab Sauv is just $20.
  • I was never a big fan of Syrah, but Southbrook’s bottles turned me around. Peppery, substantial, but still easy to drink…well worth the $25. If you’re looking to spend less, the Creekside Shiraz costs $16, rates a healthy 88 points and can be found in practically any LCBO.
  • The Tawse Meritage ($58) almost knocked me over when I tried it in their tasting room. A bottle of it is sitting in my cellar, waiting for a special occasion. For a lower-cost, equally-ass-kicking Meritage I really, really wish I could tell you to go buy the 07 Hidden Bench Terroir Caché ($35), but as far as I can tell it’s sold out. We’ve drunk two bottles of it to date, and — because we were greedy and opened it a few years too early — had to decant it for hours before drinking it. Now our final bottle is lying in wait for at least two more years, and I’m not sharing.
  • And yes, Ontario does have good Pinot Noir. And I like Pinot Noir. But I didn’t really like it until I tried the real — in my opinion — local champs of the grape: Le Clos Jordanne ($25-$75, depending on the vineyard) and Norman Hardie ($35-$39). Flat Rock does a great lower-cost bottle($20) too.
  • If you’re not particular about varietal and just want a serious red, I can recommend either the Stratus Red blend ($44) or the Chateau des Charmes Equuleus ($40). If that’s too rich, the Creekside Laura Red ($20) is a worthy substitute.

I’ve missed plenty, but hopefully that’s enough to convince a few people that there really are some great Ontario reds available at a variety of prices. Besides, drinking local never hurt anybody!

"The KA program is a myth."

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Since Nellie’s sick and not able to get up to much we stayed in last night and watched a movie: Salt (imdb | rotten tomatoes). I’d never intended to see it, but it seemed like dumb Friday night sick-wife fun. It actually started off reasonably well, but got pretty dumb toward the end. I can’t say much without giving away key parts of the movie, but suffice it to say Angelina Jolie now looks like some kind of puffy-lipped upright dragon.

"I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore."

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

There’s virtually nothing I could say about the documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop (imdb | rotten tomatoes) that wouldn’t be too revealing. All I’ll say is: watch it. Soon. I feel like it should have won the best documentary Oscar last night; I haven’t seen Inside Job but I feel like it’s the same documentary that’s been made two or three times over the past couple of years.

Speaking of the Oscars: apparently The King’s Speech makes for some yummy bait. Obviously it was the favourite for best picture, and Colin Firth was all but a lock for best actor, but…best director? Really? Tom Hooper over Darren Aronofsky, David O. Russell, David Fincher and the Coen brothers? While Christopher Nolan and Danny Boyle didn’t even get nominated? Please. Shoot Colin Firth in a rotating hallway or pinned to a canyon wall and we’ll talk.

"Because if I were lying I wouldn't have used the words 'suicide mission.'"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Apparently in the mood for dippy movies lately, we watched two that were completely different in our eyes, but surprisingly close in the great Rotten Tomatoes race.

The Expendables (imdb | rotten tomatoes) scored a 41% on RT, but for the life of me I can’t figure out how. It was atrocious, absurd, wooden, disjointed, aimless schlock, interested only in stunt-casting. We stopped watching about 2/3 of the way through.

The Losers (imdb | rotten tomatoes), on the other hand, was much better. Silly comic book nonsense to be sure, but at least clever at times and seemingly in possession of a plot to call its own. And yet it scored 48%, only marginally better than The Expendables and not at all in line with our level of enjoyment.

If you find yourself with a couple of hours to kill and the choice between these two poorly-rated films, I would strongly recommend the latter. The former will only make you dumber.

The beat and the pulse

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

I don’t know who pointed me to Said the Gramophone‘s top 100 songs of 2010 mix, but…thanks guy/gal. Among the 70 or so songs that I didn’t already know and/or like, I fell for the following:

  • Austra . “Beat and the Pulse”
  • Basia Bulat . “The Shore”
  • Beach House . “Zebra”
  • Blue Hawaii . “Blue Gowns”
  • Eternal Summers . “Bully in Disguise”
  • Frog Eyes . “Flower in a Glove”
  • Iron & Wine . “Walking Far From Home”
  • Khaira Arby . “Khaira”
  • Laura Marling . “Alpha Shallows”
  • Lykke Li . “Get Some”
  • Maison Neuve . “Under Skies of Fire”
  • Ô Paon . “Sainte Patronne de Rien Pantoute”
  • Surfer Blood . “Swim”
  • Warpaint . “Undertow”
  • Zola Jesus . “Lightsick”

I think I’ve fallen hardest for the Khaira Arby song. The first time I listened to it I hit ‘repeat’ about four times. But the Iron & Wine, Maison Neuve and Basia Bulat songs are catching up fast.

Happy valentimes!

Dan Dickinson3 Comments

[Editor’s note: yes, I know I misspelled ‘Valentine‘. It’s a pop culture reference. Youtube it.]

I am indifferent about Valentine’s Day. I have no particular reason to hate it, other than that it’s a fake holiday invented to sell more stuff. Still, that doesn’t make me hate it any more than, say, Easter. But it’s not a big deal for me. Nor, before you jump on me with the obvious point, is it a big deal for my wife. Her birthday is less than a week before Valentine’s Day, and that’s the usually where I focus my energy, so Valentine’s Day usually consists of her cooking a simple yet awesome dinner (as she is doing right now) or an extravagant feast (as she did last year), and me sending her a card like this:

Not to worry, though, this isn’t going to be some Oatmeal-inspired screed against V-Day. I actually appreciate the occasional reminder to stop and consider how good I have things, including the lady in the kitchen.

A few weeks ago a friend asked me who my best friend is, and my answer is that I don’t really have one. I never have. I’ve had lots of close friends throughout my life, but never someone who I would say I was closer to than anyone else, and who would say the same about me. I’ve has periods where that happens, but then university ended or people moved or jobs changed and I wouldn’t say that anymore…which I guess makes them not best friend material, else distance and upheaval wouldn’t change that. The friend who asked me, who I would say I’ve been as close to as any of my friends over the past six years, has a best friend who remains her best friend even though they’ve been separated for years by thousands of miles. I can say that I have very few people who I intimately trust and who I think — against logic and instinct — would put my own well-being ahead of even their own. But the majority of those people are family, who would be excluded from the category of best friend, funny scenes from I Love You Man notwithstanding.

But that leads me to an obvious answer, which I didn’t come up with immediately, probably because it’s not a typical answer: my best friend is my wife. Of course she’s my best friend; I can’t imagine marrying someone who wasn’t. Most people’s best friend is someone who gets them, and who shares a lot of their interests and worries and ideals, and who they want to hang out with all the time. I guess in many cases that person isn’t their spouse, but for me it is. We’re different in little ways that make it fun, like her appreciation  — and my profound hatred — for the 80s, but she’s inevitably the one I want to share a beer with after work, and talk to about heavy shit, and jet off to New York with for the weekend.

So: forget Valentine’s Day. It’s tired and boring and meaningless outside of Hallmark’s ledgers, and I could say it to anyone without it meaning shit. Instead, let’s see if I can start a new trend.

Happy Best Friend Day, baby.