Category: Food / drink

How not to take a loss

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

This plane crash story from New York is getting weirder and weirder.  There’re now reports that Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was on the plane when it crashed into the building. I’d heard it was his plane, but apparently they’ve now found his passport near the wreckage.

Was he just really broken up about the ALCS loss to Detroit?

.:.

I see that Americans, having run out of foods to deep-fry, have begun deep-frying Coke. Brilliant. [via Joe]

.:.

I’m always angry at myself for not going to see art and photography exhibits, so I’m going to try really hard to see the World Press Photo 2006 exhibit at BCE place before the 22nd. [via Torontoist]

.:.

More pictures tonight if I have a chance.

[tags]cory lidle, new york plane crash, deep-fried coke, word press photo 2006[/tags]

Far coast: long shot?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Today, on a short excursion to get my first fresh air in a week I walked by the new Far Coast coffee store that opened on Bloor. They were having some big shindig at the top of St. Thomas street. BlogTO popped in for a closer look (and taste) but I couldn’t handle anything more hectic than Whole Foods this afternoon.

One interesting angle is that Far Coast is owned by Coke, and this is obviously their foray into Starbucks territory. Two 800 lb gorillas duking it out, but they’re in the Seattle gorilla’s wheelhouse. I guess we’ll see if the Atlanta gorilla can get in the game.

[tags]far coast coffee, coke, starbucks, blogto[/tags]

27.69%

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Day 2 down. Just did a bunch of reading…even read ahead a bit.

The food is a struggle; not eating beef or pork anymore has severely limited my choices here. It used to be that if dinner just looked like shit you could order a burger; no more.

OK, must go see what’s doing over in the lounge.

[tags]semi-veggie[/tags]

Our asses…

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

…are firmly planted in seats at Smokeless Joe’s, having a drink and some dinner before Citizen Duane starts. Konig Weiss for me, Leffe Brun for Nellie.

[tags]tiff, toronto international film festival, smokeless joe’s[/tags]

duvel troll dunkel bush

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

We just got our email from the film festival. We fared better than I expected, though I still suffered two major disappointments.

  1. Thu Sep 7: Requiem (2nd pick; we miss The Bothersome Man)
  2. Fri Sep 8: Citizen Duane (1st pick; we miss Chronicle of an Escape)
  3. Sat Sep 9: The Wind That Shakes the Barley (1st pick; we miss EMPz 4 Life)
  4. Sat Sep 9: Rescue Dawn (1st pick; we miss All the Boys Love Mandy Lane)
  5. Sun Sep 10: Candy (1st pick; we miss Retrieval)
  6. Sun Sep 10: Kurt Cobain About A Son (1st pick; we miss 2:37)
  7. Mon Sep 11: Diggers (1st pick; we miss Blindsight)
  8. Mon Sep 11: Fay Grim (2nd pick; we miss Little Children)
  9. Tue Sep 12: The Half Life of Timofey Berezin (1st pick; we miss 10 Items or Less)
  10. Wed Sep 13: Day Night Day Night (2nd pick; we miss The Hottest State)
  11. Thu Sep 14: The Pleasure of Your Company (1st pick; we miss Snow Cake)
  12. Fri Sep 15: we got neither D.O.A.P. nor Penelope.
  13. Sat Sep 16: Outsourced (1st pick; we miss Macbeth)

My two biggest disappointments there are obviously D.O.A.P, which has garnered massive amounts of attention since we filled out our form, and Little Children, which has been getting good reviews. We’re going to try for alternate screenings of these two, as well as The Bothersome Man and Blindsight. If those attempts fail, we’ll just be looking for anything we can get.

All in all, we did pretty well. We got 9 first picks, 3 second picks and a total miss (both of which were very popular films). We have some schedule flexibility, so I think we’ll do ok.

I’m also kind of glad that we didn’t get Macbeth; it’s getting shite reviews.

.:.

Our last two meals have been with CBGB, and they’ve both been very tasty (the meals, not our friends). Last night we went back to Volo, with them in tow, and sampled many kinds of beer. I had a Duvel (’cause they were out of the Delirium Tremens), a Cuvee Troll, a Dennison’s Dunkel and a large bottle of Maple Bush, shared with CB.This morning, after a good sleep, we met up at the Old Nick for some organic brunch. It was as good as our first visit back in May; I once again ordered the “well hung” — giant chicken sausage with scrambled eggs, home fries, onion/dill toast and salad — and was just the right amount of full when we left.

[tags]tiff, toronto international film festival, d.o.a.p., little children, bar volo, old nick, brunch[/tags]

Ding dong, etc.

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

It is done. The paper’s all put together, cited, formatted, etc., etc. Gonna get Nellie to look at it tomorrow and then I shall submit the fucker. I want nothing more to do with it.

It feels like such an ending, to finally be rid of this thing…and then I remember that between now and September 7th I still have to read 2 chapters, 2 sets of lesson notes, 6 short articles (2 of which I have to submit comments on) and one case (which I have to write a 2-page paper for), not to mention plan for the film festival and, you know, go to work.

.:.

Earlier in the week the Modern Mod sent me a link for Volo, a bar just down Yonge Street that Nellie and I’d walked by a hundred times without going in. The email pointed out that Volo’s known for their beer selection, so I thought it was high time we paid a visit. We’re glad we did.

Before leaving I was having a look at the website; one of the beers they list is the Church Key cranberry maple wheat, something Nellie’s been craving (and unable to find) ever since she had it at Smokeless Joe’s over a year ago. While she refused to get her hopes up too much, she was quite excited to find that they have plenty of it. Our server Amanda, who was nothing but black-clad fun, brought us some yummy bread, tasty bruschetta and a very nice vegetarian pasta main. For my part, I had a glass of Delirium Tremens, which the Scotsman seems to’ve gotten me hooked on.

It was a perfect night for the patio, too; it’s non-smoking out there, and great for people watching. They appear to have a decent brunch menu too. I dare say we’ll go back soon.

[tags]volo, delirium tremens, church key[/tags]

"No one gets left behind! No one gets left behind!"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Last night I took a much-needed break from my term paper and took CBGB up on their birthday gift to me: dinner at Live Organic Food Bar , a vegan/raw food restaurant that’s sprouted in our old neighbourhood since we moved away. They’re being quite supportive of our long journey into vegetarianism, and thought a trip to a top-notch veggie restaurant would help ease the transition. And did it ever.

First of all, it’s a nice little spot; room for 20 or so inside and a back patio that we would’ve stayed on if it weren’t a bit too humid. The service is very friendly, casual and patient with first timers like us who kept making annoying remarks like “What the hell is mockzarella!?!” (which I still don’t have an answer to). The menu is 3 pages of liquids (including 5 types of organic beer) and a single page of food, the contents of which rotate every couple of weeks.

Let me preface the next part by saying that I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Anyone I talked to who’d been to Live was a vegetarian already, and I wasn’t sure if their expectations for a meal were the same as mine. In the end I was worrying needlessly; delicious food is delicious food.

We started with a raw food sampler: four small samplers which we cut into four pieces each, then swapped so everyone could share. I tried a little piece of what I think they said was dehydrated kelp or something, but it was really tangy (reminded me of the saltiness of dulce…which I guess makes sense) and tasty. Next up was some kind of cucumber cannelloni with a filling that I couldn’t place, but DAMN it was tasty. There was a pizza-ish dish with a dry crumbly crust & olives that was quite good, and some other morsel (which I can’t remember right now) that tasted…well, refreshing is about the only word for it. Tastes sweet and light, like summer. My palate isn’t really refined enough to describe it more than that.

Then came the mains: CB got what they called the geisha bowl, which was a huge bowl of rice, tofu, fresh vegetables, etc. She liked it (and had enough left over to take home). Nellie got some kind of enchiladas with mushrooms and other stuff that I can’t remember, ’cause I was busy with what GB and I (each) got: fried plantains with four flavours (an amazing spicy mango/pineapple chutney, guacamole, salsa and…something else that I couldn’t indentify but tastes fantastic) for dipping. I don’t remember liking guacamole (the last time I had it was 10 years in Ottawa, with my brother, at some Mexican place in the Glebe, I think), but this stuff was good. The mango stuff was ridiculous; I wanted a bottle of it to take home. Anyway, it didn’t look that much food, but I was nicely full by the time I finished.

Not too full for dessert, though. I’ve heard Live’s desserts are pretty good, considering they’re made without…well, pretty much everything. CB and I each got a piece of dense chocolate tart with coconut shavings; it was really thick (we referred to it as “the brick” for the rest of the night), and it was damn good. GB and Nellie, unfortunately, took a chance on what turned out to be an enormous slab of…well, fig. With some slightly sweet topping, but really, it was like eating a handful of creamy figness. They didn’t much care for it, and I didn’t like the bites I had. Lesson learned: always order chocolate when you have the option.

All in all, I had a fantastic meal. I experienced tons of new flavours and combinations, I left feeling satisfied but not bloated, and I didn’t even occur to me that I was missing something by eating a vegetarian meal. Highly recommended.

By the way, their website doesn’t actually seem to do anything, so here’re some reviews: Now Magazine | Eye Weekly | Toronto Life | Chowhound

.:.

After dinner we walked down to the Cumberland theatre to see Little Miss Sunshine (imdb | rotten tomatoes), one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in months. My jaw actually hurt from laughing when we left. The previews made me think it would be one of those movies with slow, subtle humour; in fact, it ranged from that subtlety to outright slapstick in places. The characters were so well fleshed out and were played so well, the whole film just seemed to fall together perfectly. Easily one of the best films of the year. Highly, highly recommended.

[tags]live organic food bar, little miss sunshine[/tags]

Ode to Whitby

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The Scotsman and his fiancé made a return visit to Toronto yesterday, and I met up with them for dinner and a few drinks. I took them to Smokeless Joe’s for a bite to eat and a few pints. Around 7:45 we realized they weren’t going to make the 8:13 train to Whitby (where they were staying) especially since it would’ve meant someone chugging their Delirium Tremens so they decided to catch the next one at 9:13 and have another drink while we waited. It turns out I may have underestimated the amount of time it takes to get from Smokeless Joe’s to Union Station, ’cause we arrived a few minutes too late. Anyway, there was nothing left to do but have another drink, so we scooted around the corner to the Irish Embassy and had a quick quaff (during which I learned that The Scotsman is prone to being labelled “a hottie” by teenage girls) before hauling ass back down to the train station.

This time we made it with ten minutes to spare, and I accompanied them up to the GO platform (as I’d never seen it before). It was crowded with drunken 905ers anxious to get back to Whitby (and environs), some wearing cowboy hats & sombreros, others drinking Malibu rum straight from the bottle, and still others complimenting The Scotsman’s sporty new man bag and asking how much he’d paid for it. I feel safe in saying that any urge I might’ve once had to visit Whitby has now been quashed.

It was a fun few hours, and I can see from my IM client that they’re made it back home. Now I’m trying to figure out how we can squeeze in a visit to New York next year. Perhaps there’s a museum of occupation there that The Scotsman’s missus could take us to; I hear it’s her speciality.

.:.

Today’s been nice so far…great weather, happily snoozing cats (both the vomiting and the limping have subsided for now), some relaxation before a) Nellie gets home, and b) I have to get back to my term paper.

[tags]scotsman, whitby, go train, malibu rum, man bags[/tags]

Scotsman

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The Scotsman (a friend of my brother’s), his lovely wife fiance (who I’d heretofore thought imaginary, given her absence during my two previous visits to London) and a few of his friends were in town tonight, so we popped out for dinner and a drink with them. They’d had a bit too much to drink the night before, and The Scotsman has misplaced his lunch earlier after a flight (sort of), so it wasn’t quite the night of debauchery that it might have been otherwise.

We had a drink at the Irish Embassy, walked over to Golden Thai for some dinner (which was very good…handy to know, since we’ll be living nearby very soon) and then hit C’est What for a beer. That was about all they had in them, and we us. Hopefully we’ll see them again when they return on Saturday.

[tags]scotsman, irish embassy, golden thai, c’est what[/tags]