Category: Food / drink

C'est Irish PJ

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

After dinner at the BeerBistro we swung by the condo with CBGB and MS, just to let them see it for the first time. It looks nice at night.

GB and I had met up before dinner, first at the Irish Embassy (too full), then at the BeerBistro bar (also too full) before settling on P.J. O’Brien. It was our first time there, and could become another nice addition to the local selection (along with the IR itself, and C’est What of course).

Tomorrow the painting, etc. starts. I cannot properly convey my excitement.

.:.

My I Hate Your Kids t-shirt arrived in the mail today. Let the angry glares begin.

Next treat expected in the mail: my blog cards.

[tags]irish embassy, pj obrien, cest what, i hate your kids, gaping void, blog card[/tags]

Well…it's not flesh-eating disease…

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

It’s shingles.

Seriously.

Because, apparently, I’m 72. What the hell?

Sigh.

I’m staying home the rest of the week because my co-worker, who I sit next to and probably have the most contact with in the run of a day, has never had chicken pox (which is the virus that causes shingles) and there’s a chance I could give it to her. This sucks, because I have a very busy week of stuff that I was looking forward to, including tomorrow night’s Rheostatics concert, their penultimate show.

Frack.

This just seems weird to me. Not the shingles themselves; apparently it’s not at all uncommon. Anyone who’s had chicken pox can get shingles, but it’s usually triggered by something. Here’s WebMD’s list of typical triggers:

  • Have a weakened immune system (such as people with cancer or HIV)
  • Are over the age of 50
  • Have been ill
  • Are experiencing trauma
  • Are under significant stress

Cancer: nope; HIV: nope; over 50: nope; ill: nope; experiencing trauma: nope; under significant stresss: not that I’m aware of. Honestly, the best that I (or Nellie) could come up with is that my body might be rather weakened by the recent drastic shift in diet. Whether that’s it or not, I can’t ignore the fact that I’ve been sick more in the past three months than I had been in the past three years. Maybe that’s coincidence, but when you consider that we haven’t done a great job of adjusting our diets (I know we don’t get enough protein, for example), it seems to be something that I have to address. So, reluctantly, I think I shall have to start eating fish again. Temporarily, until I can adjust my eating habits enough to be vegetarian and be healthy about it.

Goddammit.

.:.

OK, changing gears now: is it wrong that I want to eat Jesus?

.:.

The proposed 60-story condo on the southeast corner of Yonge & Bloor has become a proposed 80-story condo. Any new development on that intersection would be an inprovement. As (city councillor) Kyle Rae put it, “I sorely would like to hide the Royal Bank building on the northeast corner. It’s brutal.”

.:.

There’s so much stuff in the new Harry Rosen magazine that I want that my wallet has begun to glow, kind of like Frodo’s sword when there’s an orc nearby.

.:.

I’m with Serge Savard: hockey should be banned from fighting. It has nothing to do with the game. No other pro sport allows it, let alone condones it. If you’re excited about watching two guys fight, there’s another sport called boxing which I believe would be right up your alley. If I’m watching hockey I prefer skill plays and hard bodychecks to pre-arranged fights and tough-guy posturing.

[tags]shingles, chocolate jesus, toronto condo, yonge and bloor, harry rosen, serge savard, hockey fighting[/tags]

I sprained something this morning, so kneeling will be difficult

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Dinner at Fieramosca again last night. Superduper as always, if way too much food and way too much Limoncello. Made it kind of tough to get out of bed this morning.

.:.

However, get out of bed we did and made it down to the Paramount Scotiabank theatre to see 300 (imdb | rotten tomatoes) in IMAX. A note on IMAX: it’s a great movie-going experience, but jeebus, do they ever need to get rid of the cheesy pre-film laser & sound show. Anyway, on to the main event: 300 was just slightly better than I expected it to be, and I expected it to be pretty good. This wasn’t classic, traditional cinema, but it was clearly a compelling story, and was skilfully, even artfully done.

Yes, it’s covered in blood and completely lacks nuance, but is it really any more mindless or formulaic than Music & Lyrics, which was playing across the hall? Or does it simply trade in male fantasy instead of female? In any case, the visuals of 300 — which are stunning — put it a step above most films solely in terms of craft. My biggest complaint: in a couple of scenes the “long moving scene as a female soloist sings something in latin” disease which infects so many epic movies flared up.

300 did $70 million at the box office, and broke the March opening weekend record, but it’ll fade quickly as all the fanboys would likely go in the first weekend.

.:.

After the film we decided to walk a bit and enjoy the weather, so we took the subway to Museum station and picked up a few things at Whole Foods. On the way out I checked Hero Burgers to see if they have veggie burgers; they do, and they’re quite tasty. Walked home from there, enjoying the sunshine & near-spring temperature, picking up a few things here and there. Caught up on some reading, watched the Selection Sunday show and am now trying to avoid reading another chapter of my %#@& textbook.

.:.

While Facebook’s been around for quite a while, it finally appears to be replacing MySpace as the preferred social networking site, just as MySpace replaced Friendster. Personally I find them all boring; unless you’re a teenager (or a musician, in the case of MySpace) I just don’t get the attraction. Then again I have a blog, so perhaps I just have a different strain of the disease. I guess I just find the friend-count popularity contest on those sites a little sad.

[tags]fieramosca, limoncello, 300, whole foods, hero burgers, facebook, myspace[/tags]

What's not to like?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

We just had dinner with my brother at Jump; he had a 16-hour stopover on his way back from Chicago. It’s too bad his job forces him to travel so much, but on the plus side we get to see him every few months as he flies to/from somewhere in the midwestern US.

Food review: Cragganmore: good*; spinach salad: good; ricotta ravioli: good; bottle of zinfandel: good; Lindt molten chocolate cake: gooooooood.

* when I say “good” you have to imagine Joey from Friends, specifically the trifle episode

[tags]jump cafe[/tags]

You don't understand…I need chocolate chip zucchini loaf

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Met CBGB for a bite to eat tonight. After dinner we tried to get some chocolate-y goodness at the Chocolate Heaven Cafe a few blocks away, but it closes at 6:00 (!?) on Sun-Wed.

.:.

Condo stuff is coming to a head now: we have our inspection next week, take possession April 9th, and move in two weeks after that. That gives us plenty of time to paint, move our stuff over, clean the old place, etc.

Getting the cats from one place to the next should be fun as well. Remember the opening scene from Jurassic Park? You know…”Shoot her!! Shoot her!!” It’ll be something like that.

[tags]chocolate heaven cafe, moving day[/tags]

Which reminds me: Le Gourmand is selling whisky-filled chocolate now…

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Guinness Marmite? My brother is going to lose his mind.

.:.

Bought three DVDs today. Well, I didn’t really buy them; I sort of won them, kinda-like. Anyway, here’s what I picked up:

  • Brick
  • The Departed
  • Heat (special edition)

Between the special edition sound level and my fancy-pants stereo, I can actually hear what the hell Jon Voight’s saying in this movie. Speaking of Heat, every time I watch it I’m amazed by how many good actors are in it: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Natalie Portman, Dennis Haysbert (President Palmer!), Amy Brenneman (Judge Amy!), Ashley Judd, Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill!), Mykelti Williamson (Bubba!), Wes Studi (Magua!), Diane Venora, Danny Trejo…plus Jeremy Piven (Ari!), William Fichtner, Hank Azaria (Moe!), Henry Rollins, Tone Loc and Xander Berkeley (Mason!) in bit parts. Amazin’.

[tags]guinness, marmite, brick, the departed, heat[/tags]

CBGB & a CBB

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I slept for 11 hours last night. That’s about 4 hours more than I usually sleep, even on weekends. I’m pretty sure it’s because I’m getting sick; I feel like ass today, all stuffed up and headachy. My back isn’t bothering me yet, but it was pretty bad last night. This weekend could be a boring one as I really want to get this healed up.

.:.

Last night we went to C’est What with some friends, caught up, had some food and a drink or two, took a stroll by the new condo,  and went up to the Danforth for some dessert. Not that I needed any after the chocolate brownie bomb I had earlier in the day, but I soldiered on for the sake of comraderie.

[tags]c’est what, le gourmand, chocolate brownie bomb[/tags]

Giant little animals

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Working from home today so that the pulled muscle in my back can heal. The chairs at work just seem to reverse any healing progress it makes at night, so I’m giving it a day off. So far so good.

While I work I’m listening to a mix I made last night of my favourite 20 songs from last year. Well, sort of…I spent about 20 minutes figuring out which songs should be on there, and it might change slightly if I took more time with it, but cost/benefit and all that. I also kept it to one song per artist; otherwise Regina Spektor and Band Of Horses would’ve had multiple entries.

Here ’tis:

  • amy millan . “hard hearted (ode to thoreau)”
  • and you will know us by the trail of dead . “wasted state of mind”
  • asobi seksu . “red sea”
  • band of horses . “monsters”
  • camera obscura . “razzle dazzle rose”
  • cold war kids . “hospital beds”
  • heartless bastards . “blue day”
  • hidden cameras . “awoo”
  • jeremy enigk . “damien dreams”
  • ladyhawk . “war”
  • mates of state . “fraud in the 80’s”
  • mercers . “use for abuse”
  • mogwai . “we’re no here”
  • neko case . “john saw that number”
  • raising the fawn . “carbon paper”
  • regina spektor . “field below”
  • swan lake . “all fires”
  • tv on the radio . “wolf like me”
  • viva voce . “we do not fuck around”
  • yeah yeah yeahs . “cheated hearts”

.:.

We’ve opted out of our organic delivery service. There was nothing wrong with the food, but we just weren’t eating our money’s worth. I guess I’m not a very good vegetarian yet…

[tags]best songs of 2006, green earth organics[/tags]