Category: Food / drink

Karate Snoopy

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

OK, where to begin…just after I wrote that last post England lost to Portugal on penalties. Needless to say, the crowd at the Duke of York was mightily pissed. Still, we soldiered on, determined to enjoy Canada Day. However, our nation’s birthday isn’t quite the event that my brother experienced in Ottawa, so there wasn’t really much to do festivities-wise…we walked down St. George, cut through the U of T campus, walked along College and then down University, had a gawk at the new opera house, walked across Queen to city hall, stopped in the weird little waterfall park off of Richmond, walked across to the condo site, and then strolled down to C’est What for a cold beer and the first half of the France/Brazil match. During halftime we made it back up to our apartment, settled in and watched the second half while Nellie had a nap on the floor.

That night, after a few hours of downtime, we all went to Fieramosca. As usual, it was too much great food; we were all stuffed by the time we left. I had a relatively simple penne with chicken, sundried tomato, zucchini, and asparagus; Nellie had gnocchi and TimmyD has a plate of sausage (which I had a bit of; daaaaaaaaamn) and quail. After much limoncello with the hostess, we walked home.

This morning: no rest for the wicked. We all met at half-ten (that’s what the frickin’ British call 10:30) and hit Eggstacy for some breakfast; we left, more than a little bit stuffed but ready for some shopping. Some shoes, some clothes and some books* later and we’d had about enough of Bloor Street.

After all the shopping we spent a few hours on the patio at the Bishop & Belcher, then collected ourselves at our place before heading out to the Auld Spot for dinner. Once again, I was more than impressed with the food (Nellie liked hers a great deal this time). We left, getting home in time for me to write this, check some feeds and pack for tomorrow.

That’s right, I said pack; we’ve decided to spend a night out of the city. We’re visiting our uncle & aunt near Guelph, and from there we’re going up to Elora for the night. It’ll be nice to see…you know, trees. Etc. I’ll post again when we’re back on Tuesday, at which point our visitors should be jetting back to old blighty.

* TimmyD pointed out a book, based on this website, which is quite possibly the most hilarious thing I have ever seen. We laughing hysterically in the stacks at Indigo, and at home I was actually on the floor laughing as I read it. There are pictures. Nellie says she’s never heard (or seen) me laugh that hard. I understand that some people won’t find it that funny. If you don’t find it funny at all, then I can’t be friends with you anymore.

[tags]england, portugal, u of t, toronto opera house, c’est what, fieramosca, eggstacy, bishop & belcher, auld spot, elora, mnftiu[/tags]

Tarragon & black pepper

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Stanzi was back in town today, so T-Bone and I got to have lunch with her. We decided to swing by JS Bonbons on the way home. OK, it was completely out of our way, but it was worth it. I’d almost forgotten how tasty the salted caramel and gianduja truffles are.

.:.

More new music that I’m trying to get to: Ships by Danielson, Valhalla by Danny Michel, Ecce Homo by The Hidden Cameras, Bottom Of Barrels by Tilly And The Wall, Eraser by Thom Yorke, and Springtime Can Kill You by Jolie Holland. I’ve already decided to buy Rather Ripped by Sonic Youth, Awoo by The Hidden Cameras (when it’s released) and Begin To Hope by Regina Spektor.

[tags]js bonbons, danielson, danny michel, hidden cameras, tilly and the wall, thom yorke, jolie holland, sonic youth, regina spektor[/tags]

Spicy!

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Whoooeeeeee. I just got some Greg’s ginger ice cream from All The Best…I’ve never had spicy ice cream before. Tastiness, thy name is juxtaposition.

.:.

The Dyke March is getting set to start just down the street from us. The cats apparently do not enjoy music as much as the lesbians. Anyway, we’re getting set to go watch for a bit before the next footie match starts. Gonna have to listen to the music anyway, might as well go see the sights.

[UPDATE] The Dyke March only lasts about 20 minutes, and it’s much less crowded than the Pride Parade (which was good for Nellie, since she’s not often able to see over crowds of any size).

[tags]greg’s ice cream, dyke march, pride toronto[/tags]

Chocolate, gun nuts and caribou

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Salon is right: chocolate is becoming almost as snobby as wine.

.:.

The UN proposes “a broad set of recommendations to reduce trafficking, proliferation and misuse of guns.” The NRA responds by calling them “dictatorships, terrorist states and so-called ‘free’ nations” who wish to “strip all citizens of all nations of their right to self-protection.”

.:.

It’s not every day that you have caribou for lunch. But today I did.

[tags]chocolate, un, nra, caribou[/tags]

T-Bone's on fiyah!!

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T-Bone has slain the white whale. She has somehow (I think she has evil South American voodoo running through her veins) gotten us summerlicious reservations at Canoe. And not just Canoe…but Bymark as well. OK, this’ll be our third time at Bymark, but still…she was on fire, no doubt about it. I swear I tried a hundred times yesterday and today. No fire for me.

[tags]summerlicious, canoe, bymark[/tags]

Yup, "porcini" sounds about right

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I just happened to glance at my economics textbooks, which I haven’t looked at since I finished the course in March. The name of one of the authors seemed familiar…I had to think about it…Bernanke, Bernanke…Oh.

Yes, that Bernanke.

Huh. Who knew the guy who co-wrote our economics textbook would go on to be chairman of the Fed?

.:.

Posting’s been light (and rather airy) lately ’cause I gots International Business coming out my ears. However, I’ve managed to get ahead of my work plan, even while getting some extra gym time in. Trust me, I need it; yesterday I saw a picture of myself taken on Friday. Not good. Something must be done.

.:.

Summerlicious is nearly upon us. We booked Goldfish for dinner with a couple of friends, but I’d like to get Canoe for our dinner with T-Bone. Indeed, I’d like to get Canoe every year and never do, so fooey to that. Perhaps Bymark; I notice they’ve made the wonderburger part of the ‘licious menu (as opposed to the required upgrade of ‘liciouses past).

.:.

Sigh…the afore mentioned burger is “8 oz. USDA Prime beef with brie de meaux, grilled porcini, truffle aioli and crisp onion rings.” And I wonder how I gain weight?

[tags]ben bernanke, tubbiness, summerlicious[/tags]

The Auld Spot

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Last night, since Nellie didn’t feel like cooking and I didn’t have the energy to do it either, we decided to head out for a bite to eat. We called CBGB and decided to meet up at The Auld Spot, a pub on the Danforth I’d heard much about and which they’d visited once. Despite being dog-tired, I had a great time there. The food is much better than your typical pub meal. I had some huge, spicy shrimp to start and the fettucine jambalaya for my main; no chicken fingers or club sandwich here.

I dare say we’ll be going back. Perhaps with TimmyD and SWMNBN when they visit; I think  they’d dig it.

[tags]auld spot[/tags]

21.76%

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Today’s lunch menu including beef goulash, the main ingredient of which was almost certainly the uneaten remainder of last night’s kebabs. Yum.

[tags]mba, goulash, recycled food[/tags]

In which I reach my meat limit

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

That sounds dirty, but it isn’t.

CBGB had us over to their place for a barbecue; even though it was his birthday GB made us all a substantial feast: red pepper soup with jalapeno cream, a flatbread thingy with herbs and goat cheese and pine nuts, corn on the cob, vegetable & pasta salad, mustard/lemon shrimp and, of course, the giant beef ribs from Cumbrae’s. There was also dessert: creamsicle cake. They weren’t kidding about the name either; it actually tasted like a giant creamsicle. I liked that even more than I thought I would’ve.

GB’s food seemed to have a healing effect on Nellie too, since she felt 100% better after eating, leading us to think that he’s the Benny Hinn of the barbecue.

[tags]barbecue, cumbrae’s, benny hinn[/tags]