Back in 2014 and 2015, the theme of my annual reports were “Focus” and “Hyper-focus” respectively. Ten years on, it feels like a similar progression happened between 2024 and 2025. Where 2024 was about “routine” for the first time in a decade, 2025 was a double-down on that routine.
I’m now two years into my current role & company; Lindsay is at the tail end of her PhD. We had no grand adventures like trips to India, no COVID-like illness nor shattered ankles. No two-week working vacation by the ocean. We settled in and put our heads down. In the end, it might have backfired, but it was the very end of the year before we figured that out.
Even flying to Moncton became a near-routine commute. I flew there nine times over the year, sometimes tacking on weekends to visit family, like for my mom’s 75th birthday, my dad’s 82nd, or Thanksgiving. It really has been a nice bonus in this role that I can spend more time with family. Brother #2 and Sister-In-Law #1 even drove over for dinner one night. And, as with last year, work brought me to two more Canadian cities, one of which — Edmonton — I’d not visited before. Because these trips are always planned for the middle of winter, I’m not sure cities like Edmonton and Saskatoon are making the best first impressions though. Anyway, work also had me back in PEI for a couple days, and any time I can be by the ocean, I’m pretty happy.
As far as non-work trips, there was a big one and three small ones, with all three small ones being in in Ontario. In the summer, to celebrate my 50th birthday, we spent a couple of days in Elora and a couple in Niagara-On-The-Lake. In the fall, Lindsay and I drove up to Ottawa to see Patrick and attend a concert of Stardew Valley music performed by an orchestra. We even managed to squeeze in brunch with CBGB whilst there, which I loved. Then, a few weekends later, we spent a weekend at Langdon Hall, just outside of Toronto, enjoying the food & fireplace & changing colours.
The big trip was something I never thought I’d do: a cruise. A river cruise, that is, down the Rhine river. My mom had always wanted to do something like that, so brother #1 and I took her. She saw Amsterdam for the first time. I suspect it was her first time in both Switzerland and Germany too, other than transferring through Frankfurt airport. It was also my first time in Switzerland, since we’re not counting airport transfers. So, technically, Switzerland is the lone pin I added to my ‘countries I’ve visited’ map this year, even if we were only there long enough to walk into Basel for a cup of coffee.
Less an event than continued progress: Bianca continued on her cute, cuddly journey with us. We love her and she loves us. Sigh. Swoon.
One other continuation from something I started last year: making up a numeric theme to get myself to accomplish some stuff this year. Whereas last year I went with a 3-6-9-12 theme, this year I just went with a straight 1 though 7.
Try to have lazy lie-in mornings on Sundays (aka the first day of the week)
This one was subjective so it’s hard to say I did it, or didn’t, but I tried. And succeeded a few times.
Of the 11 Michelin starred/recognized restaurants east of Yonge, hit the two I haven’t tried
Done! I hit both Puerto Bravo and Wood Owl this year, the latter just before Michelin announced a new grouping that will go on my plan for next year.
Get a trì tattoo (that’s the number three in Gaelic; both the number and the language are meaningful for me)
Done! First tattoo, in the books.
Make at least one improvement in each of the four remaining main zones of the house that we didn’t get to last year
Not done. I only did one of three. I’m not doing this one next year as I can’t execute this one on my own.
Go to my fifth Habs game in Montreal
Done! They lost again though. 😦
Plan a trip to my sixth continent
Not done, but started — we have the outline of a plan to South America in the works.
Read seven books
Done! Wrapped up the last one in the final days of the year.
All that said, this hyper-routine brings with it a slight sense of foreboding. A decade ago, after two years of feeling focused and then hyper-focused, 2016 brought about complete upheaval. As much as I like and welcome change, I don’t know if I need a repeat of that chaos in 2026.
I never wanted to live in a house. I was happy living in a condo where I barely had to worry about anything. Sure, there was no backyard and limited floor space, but there was no shovelling, no dragging bins to the sidewalk, and most of all — no major repairs.
Our current house has, until now, not been too bad. But the longer we’re here, the more we realize that the previous owner seems to have done a bunch of work on the house himself, because a lot of stuff just…doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to.
A couple months ago, everything just seemed to go wrong at once:
Our kitchen sink began backing up. We called a plumber. He snaked it and fixed the cheater, which had been installed below the sink water level.
Unrelated to the kitchen sink, water started dripping through the basement ceiling. That seemed to be related to a shower hair clog, as best I can tell.
When I turned on the water supply to the backyard, I noticed a leak in the water line. I noticed it because it sprayed me in the face. The plumber fixed that too.
Also while “opening up” the backyard for the spring, I realized there was no gas getting to our grill. When I had the deck cleaned last year the cleaners must have unhooked the grill, and not hooked it back up properly, and now it’s jammed so hard into the side of the wall (another gift left behind by the previous owner) that I have yet to be able to re-attach it.
The basement toilet suddenly isn’t flushing properly. Or, rather, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
I had a roofer in to repair the disintegrating roof over the vestibule of the house. He checked the main roof and said there was a big problem with the fascia, even though the last guys to go up there said the roof was fine.
Our old patio furniture, for which we overpaid when we moved in, has basically started disintegrating, so we had to buy new stuff. We ordered it months ago; it arrived at the house in the middle of all this, and now I need to figure out a way to truck away the old stuff. At least the new stuff is really nice, weather resistant, and easy to clean.
The neighbourhood raccoons have redoubled their efforts to turn our rainwater catch basin into their local latrine.
Worst of all, maybe, is the fridge. It started acting up months ago — first the water line and ice cube maker conked out, so I called a repair company. They showed up, said they just needed to order a part and it’d be fine. Four months later and many phone calls on my part, they’ve never called me back, nor shown up with the part, nor refunded my money. Slowly, the fridge died completely, and became a big hot power-sucking box in the kitchen. We ordered a new one, an updated version of the same model, and they showed up, only to inform us that there was no way to get the old fridge out of the house. As far as they can tell, the last guy brought the fridge in and built the kitchen around it. They kindly took the fridge back, charging me only a restocking fee, but we were left with no fridge and no path forward. This one is still very much ongoing; in the meantime we’re living out of a cheap dorm fridge. It’s fucking ridiculous.
Sure, the fridge thing could have happened in a condo too, but the rest of it is house bullshit. I’m not handy enough to fix it myself, and I have too much on the go to project-manage it all. Surely there’s a service for this?
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!
Back in April brother #1 and I surprised my mom with a trip for her birthday. She’d always wanted to do a river cruise in Europe, so we booked a Viking cruise for the three of us through the Netherlands and up the Rhine river, from Amsterdam to Basel. We left near the beginning of July and got back Sunday.
Thu Jul 3: Toronto
My flight left Toronto late. Their flight left Halifax later. Happily, we were to arrive in Amsterdam at roughly the same time. I managed to get a few hours’ sleep on the flight, after I watched Conclave.
Fri Jul 4: Amsterdam
The descent into Amsterdam is very beautiful, weather-permitting, and I had a perfect view on the way in. Their flight landed just after mine did, but they disembarked before I did. Then I got to customs before they did, but they cleared before I did. Schiphol, amirite?
They collected their own bags, and mine, and we did the long walk to the Uber pickup spot. Some ugly traffic later we arrived at the Hotel Fita. It was new to all of us, but it’s in the same neighbourhood I’ve stayed in during my last three visits to Amsterdam. Before anyone fell asleep we grabbed some lunch around the corner at The Uptown Meat Club, which was…weird. But fine. Then: back to the hotel. They napped; I got a coffee at District.
We met up at 5 and decided to do a canal cruise before we left Amsterdam, since Mom had never been there. We walked up to a Stromma booth; they sent us to a cruise downtown that had a small boat with an open top, so we took the tram to Centraal Station and walked. We were glad we did: the small, open boat was great, and our tour captain was also an opera singer! He sang us a few bars of O Sole Mio under a bridge – an unexpected treat.
Rather than eat around Damrak (god, it’s so touristy and awful there) we took the tram back to our neighbourhood and ate dinner at a little place called Pompa. It was tasty and chill, exactly what we wanted. We wandered back to our room and crashed.
Sat Jul 5: Amsterdam
We had a delicious breakfast at the hotel (the little crêpes they made were fantastic) before walking up the street to the Rijksmuseum. Neither my brother nor I had been there in years; Mom had never been, obviously. We started in the hall of honors on the third floor and spent a ton of time there. We eventually made our way around some parts of the other floors, but ultimately had to get back to the hotel to check out and get to the main event: the cruise.
We took an Uber to the dock, and ended up driving through the Jordaan neighbourhood. It was nice to be able to show mom that part of town, though she could hardly watch as we weaved through pedestrians and cyclists at close range. We eventually spied a Viking tent on the waterfront, checked in our bags, and boarded the boat. We had lunch while we waited for our rooms, then got checked in. We explored more of the boat, then walked around downtown a bit more, before getting back aboard for a trip briefing, followed by dinner. We were glad to not be on the schedule canal tour, as it was pouring rain.
Dinner was pretty good. I had bitterballen (they try to add regional dishes each night), brisket, and cheesecake. I also sprung for the nicer wine pairings during the whole trip, and again they focused on regional offerings: Riesling, Weissburgunder, etc. Forced socializing: we sat with a nice British couple, Ian and Diane, who had once lived in Atlanta and always wanted to visit Canada. After dinner, there was a live band playing music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, which, given the average passenger age, went over well enough that I dubbed the hour “Senior Wilding.”
Sun Jul 6: Kinderdijk
We set sail at 11:30 the night before, so it took a little getting used to the noise and motion, but it was fun watching the Netherlands go by out the window. The troubled sleep made getting up a little tough, but I dragged myself to breakfast – again, really good.
Our daily shore excursion was early: we drove from the town of Dordrecht to the town of Kinderdijk, a UNESCO heritage site and home to 19 windmills. It was pouring rain most of the time, but we got to see how the windmills were once used to pump water out of the fields and into the Lek river, some 7 feet higher than the fields. We even got to go inside a windmill. It was fun and educational, but the ride home was pretty soggy.
Then: lunch (red pepper soup, a cubano sandwich, and chocolate mousse), a briefing about the ship & navigation by the captain, and some afternoon downtime while we pushed east on the Waal – one of the rivers the Rhine turns into once it heads west out of Germany.
We had a few hours to ourselves before the daily briefing (with a Champagne toast) and then dinner was served. All three of us had the chef’s recommendation: cream of pumpkin soup, pork tenderloin, and chocolate moelleux. My wine pairings were much better: a full-bodied Nahe white for the soup and a Beaujolais for the pork & dessert. Forced socializing: we sat with a couple from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Then the program director gave a talk about Dutch culture (ironically, just as we left the Netherlands and entered Germany), including a segment that might as well have been called “socialism” which seemed designed to make the American guests squirm. We loved it.
Mon Jul 7: Cologne
I woke up in time to see us passing through Dusseldorf; by the time I was showered and ready for breakfast we were approaching Köln, or Cologne. Forced socializing: I sat next to a couple from Montana, but who had lived in Edmonton when he played for the (then) Edmonton Eskimos. Also a lady from New York.
The low water level in the Rhine meant we docked downriver from Cologne, and took buses downtown. We met our walking guides under Hohenzollern Bridge, sheltered from a brutal downpour for about ten minutes, then crossed the bridge to the west side of Cologne.
We went first to the huge, historic, and stunning Cologne Cathedral. We didn’t have much time to look around inside, but it didn’t take long to be enchanted. The tour continued after, with our guide pointing out the old roman colony gate and a couple of local stores. By the end of his tour we noticed our boat wasn’t yet there, so most of us ended up eating at a local brauhaus called Peter’s. I drank a couple of Kolsch and ate some bratwurst mit hausgemachtem hartoffelsalat (homemade potato salad) while the brother had something called the “slaughter plate”. Mom was sensible and had a salad, though that too was huge.
We walked to a cute little store called BonBon, bought a few things, and walked back to the boat for some relaxation time. It was warm & dry enough now to be on the top deck for a bit before dinner. At dinner Diane, our new Brit friend, pointed out the full wine list we had access to, which was a game-changer. Food-wise I had spicy Asian grilled shrimp, German Tafelspitz, and carrot cake. Following that, we assembled for some classical music by a local duo (which was lovely), then retreated to the top deck. I was still up there when a bunch of drunk Americans came home and, after sharing how much they drank on their excursion, started chanting “U-S-A ! U-S-A !” so it was time for me to leave.
At the end of the week, when they gave us a survey asking what could make the cruise better, I wrote in “Fewer Americans.”
Tue Jul 8: Koblenz & Rudesheim
Probably the best day of the cruise. We got up a bit earlier and took a bus into Koblenz, where the Mosel joins the Rhine. The Mosel is, of course, of the other great wine rivers of Germany.
The Mosel River
Koblenz is also an old Roman colony and Prussian stronghold. When it was bombed in the final weeks of WWII, it was largely rebuilt in its previous form (unlike Cologne, which apart from the Cathedral is a Brutalist hellscape). Our guide was great and showed us around the old town, with all its quirky charm (e.g., a cuckoo clock that sticks its tongue out; a fountain/statue that spits at you every two minutes).
We had a cappuccino in one of the squares, then did some shopping. I bought a bottle of local Riesling from a great little wine shop. Mom and I split a cookie and we walked back to the Jesuitenplatz to meet our guide to be returned to the boat.
On the drive back to the boat the rain started again, but as we ate lunch inside (spicy Thai coconut soup, veal schnitzel, and mango sorbet for me) it cleared up. Perfect timing, as we were sailing through the middle Rhine, famous for its 20+ medieval castles. Everyone was on the top deck, soaking up the sun, admiring the dramatic scenery. They brought around boozy hot chocolate, followed by boozy coffee. We learned the Lorelei legend, and saw the statue. It was a stunning afternoon, what we’d all been waiting for.
We arrived in Rudesheim just before dinner. The brother and I speed-walked to a gondola in town, took it up (and right back down again) over the rolling vineyards, then hustled back to the boat for dinner.
Forced socialization: a couple from Wisconsin who were pleasant enough, even if the conversation included concealed-carry gun permits. I ate salad, lamb, and key lime pie. Between the early start, the sun, the hustling, and the now-robust wine list, I had nothing left in the tank, and rolled into bed.
Wed Jul 9: Rudesheim & Speyer
We left Rudesheim overnight, so I slept in a bit, climbed out of bed, and joined my family for breakfast. Forced socialization: a couple from Cambridge. Spent more of the morning topside, but we were back to industrial areas, so not as much to see.
I’ll admit that at this point it became harder to keep notes and remember what I ate for each meal, so…yeah. Not sure what it was. Forced socialization: a couple of very nice ladies from Michigan and California. Side note: for the entire cruise people kept asking if the brother and I were twins. I was, and remain, insulted by this.
We arrived in Speyer, walked into town and got a guided tour around the old town. Fun fact: this place is so bretzel-crazy that their walk lights are in the shape of a dude carrying a bretzel.
We saw the town’s enormous cathedral from the outside, but didn’t go in. We did see a very nice (and much newer) protestant church, though, after a walk through some cute neighbourhoods. Another fun fact: the Diet of Speyer is how the term “protestant” originated. The brother went to see the Technik Museum; Mom and did a bit of shopping, stopped for a coffee, and had some ice cream.
We walked back to the boat for dinner (beef, maybe?) and then the whole boat took part in a very enthusiastic music trivia night. Our team (the three of us, Ian & Diane, and a random couple who walked in at the last minute) finished second, and I still think we should have filed an official protest.
Thu Jul 10: Strasbourg
Another early morning, more forced socialization at breakfast (this time: some folks from Delaware, one of whom used to play piano at a restaurant in Halifax that my mom knew!), and another bus ride – this one into one of the better-known cities on the tour, Strasbourg. Our quirky guide led us into the old town, through old fortifications and across lovely canals, on a perfect cool morning.
We saw Place Gutenberg and walked over to the huge Cathedrale Notre-Dame to admire the architecture, stained glass, and astronomical clock. Mom, meanwhile, spared her now-sore lower body (wonky knee, wonky ankle, blisters) by doing the canal tour.
The guide then left us, so the brother and I sat for a coffee and a (very excellent) pastry at Cafe Dreher. The brother then looked up interesting things to do in a limited time in Strasbourg, which led us to both the Büchmesser (or belly-measuring column, which was either to determine if you needed to go on a diet, or to pay more tax…it’s unclear) and the Rue des Juifs, an excellent little set of shops.
I left the brother (not before we bumped into our mom, on a land side-quest) and returned to the boat for lunch. He stayed in Strasbourg and hiked to the top of the Cathedral, but I had to get back for my only paid excursion of the trip. At the boat we had a quiet lunch (I remember a pulled pork sandwich and warm pudding for dessert) and I got ready for my outing: a wine tasting.
I am very much an Alsatian wine fan, so this excursion to Domaine Albert Seltz was a must for me. Sadly, I found it a little disappointing. The drive was long – 1:15 each way – even if the last part was very pretty as we wound around the foothills of the Vosges. But the tasting experience was a bit lacking (a dark, working basement that looks nothing like the website…also, it was a gorgeous day out, so standing around a barrel or under a tree would have been good) and some of the wines were atypical to the point of being unrecognizable. They did make a Grand Cru Sylvaner, though, and that’s something I’m unlikely to ever see again, so I bought a bottle. I did get to meet the winery cat too, which helped.
Alsatian vineyards, with the mountains of the Black Forest in the backgroundThe Grand Cru “Zotzenberg” vineyard, with the Vosges mountains in the background
Anyway, the weather back on the boat was perfect. We had a drink on the top deck before heading downstairs for a German feast so voluminous I thought I’d pop. I understood the rest of the boat made that evening the big party night, but I’d partied a bit too hard the night before, so I could do little other than stumble down to my bed.
Fri Jul 11: Breisach
We were docked immediately alongside another boat, so no throwing the curtains open for us. But neither was there any morning activity, so we just rolled out of bed and ate breakfast. One more beautiful day, so once more to the top deck we went. After a while the brother and I walked into Breisach, not five minutes away, and sat for a cappuccino in the square.
We climbed the hill to see the cathedral up close. We weren’t able to ascend the tower as we’d hoped, but it was still a great view of the town and the Black Forest in the distance.
Back on the boat we had lunch (salad; fish + chips; black forest ice cream) and took off on an excursion to the Black Forest. Mom stayed behind and rested her injuries. We drove through Freiburg, which seems like a pretty cool city, and on to Breitnau. There we disembarked for our choice of activities; the brother and I chose a short hike into the woods, to a waterfall and back. It was a lovely little nature break, the kind that’s likely increasingly difficult to find in densely-populated Europe.
The drive back was much more scenic, winding across hilltops full of pastures and cows and traditional Black Forest houses, until we arrived back at the boat. We were the last bus to return as we were the last bus to leave, and we spotted two stragglers as we pulled out, then had to wait 15 minutes for them to get their act together and get on board.
Dinner back on the boat was tom kha gai soup, veal, and black forest cake. No forced socialization anymore: by this time we were mostly sitting with Ian and Diane, or with Anna and her mom Olivia from California, or some combination thereof.
Sat Jul 12: Basel & Amsterdam
Our earliest morning yet: we had to have our suitcases outside our door by 7, and ourselves out of the room by 8. We collected ourselves for one last breakfast, a final upper deck hang, and goodbye hugs.
The brother and I walked into town a bit and had coffee at bhoch3 where we were once again misidentified as twins. We also charmed a little boy sitting next to us, to the point where he tried to follow us when we left.
We saw a cool mechanical fountain made by Jean Tinguely, walked by the very red city hall, and back to the boat. We collected ourselves and our bags and were taxied to the Basel airport. We were there much too early, so I used some lounge passes to give us somewhere comfy to sit and get a bit to eat. Our flight to Amsterdam was short, and easy. After a long walk through the airport we found the Sheraton attached to the terminal and checked in.
Mom got room service; the brother and I walked down the hall to the Hilton, as their restaurant Bowery sounded more interesting. We had some excellent duck spring rolls, and my lamb curry was as delicious as his burger was huge. He went into town for a bit of an evening walk around, but I was just too gassed, and stayed in my room.
Sun Jul 13: Amsterdam & Toronto
Here, at long last, comes the end of our fellowship. After availing ourselves of the breakfast buffet in the hotel, I left first — my flight was two hours earlier. I sat in the (very sweaty – I really must remember this next time) lounge until my flight was called, and grudgingly let myself be transported back to reality. The flight was smooth and went quickly — watching three movies (A Complete Unknown, She Said, and Nobody) helped. Before I knew it we’d landed, and shortly after that the brother messaged to say he and our mom had landed safely in Halifax.
Looking back on it, the brother and I both enjoyed it more than we thought we might have. Plus, we both managed to stay completely detached from work, so it was a true break. But what matters most in the end is that our mom loved it. Success!
In what has become an annual tradition, I met up with Dan B and Abtin at a steakhouse. As with last year I was late — I left plenty early but Toronto traffic took care of that.
This was my (and Dan’s) first visit to the newly-moved Jacobs & Co., and it was a beauty of a meal. Some horrible news the day before made the mood more subdued than it might have been, but if anything it was a needed balm.
Here’s what we had:
Cocktails
the classic cheese popovers
Martinis & sparkling
Appetizers
Jacobs Caesar salad
Crudo
glasses of Gavi
Mains
Pinnacle Farm “Little Joe” 12oz Ribeye from Queensland, Australia
Japanese X Wagyu 8oz California Cut Striploin from Hyogo Prefecture
Brussels sprouts
King Oyster mushrooms
a bottle of 2013 Sena from my cellar
Dessert
glasses of Madeira (because they were out of the Palo Cortado jerez)
Important footnote: they still have the takeaway chocolate muffins!
The space was pretty stunning too. Sure, the old place was good, but it was starting to feel just a bit dated, and the building looked like a bunker. Also: King Street West wasn’t exactly convenient. Now, a location right in the south core, with some outdoor space to boot, has me excited to go back.
Yesterday we enjoyed some nice weather and spent the afternoon in the Distillery District.
First, a little brunch at Cluny (oysters to start; smoked salmon hashbrown w/ poached egg, horseradish crème fraîche, radish, cucumber, dill, and pickled pearl onion for me; sourdough croque madame w/ ham, gruyère, dijon aioli, pickled shallots, mornay sauce, frites, and fried egg for Lindsay; a bottle of Piper Heidsieck for us both).
Next up: a stop at the Toronto Pen Shoppe, which we just happened past, after which we left with several pens and notebooks, as is our wont.
We wrapped up with a quick coffee on the patio at Arvo.
Later in the year it’ll be so busy we won’t want to go, but for a spring afternoon, it was pretty great.
When writing my summary of 2023 twelve months ago I noticed it was the first year in four that hadn’t been defined in some way by COVID, but was instead partially defined by a bunch of other illnesses. Now, thinking back on 2024, it felt like the first year in nearly a decade that was marked by routine. By sameness. Frankly, it was welcome. I mean, I was sick once or twice, but nothing major. Just…usual stuff, you know? Routine.
Sure, my new job was only two months old when the year started, but I adapted quickly, helped along by the excellent people I work with. And the geographical quirk to my job actually contributed to some of the feeling of routine: I got into the habit of flying to Moncton about once a month, spending a week or so there. Sometimes visiting family at the farm, sometimes seeing them for dinner in Moncton, sometimes visiting an old friend, sometimes taking a quiet week by myself. I did that trip ten times this year; the people at the hotel nearest my office know me by name now. Lindsay and I even rented a cottage in Grande-Digue, not far from Moncton, for two weeks in the summer. Waking up by the Northumberland Strait and driving to the office turned into a pretty nice routine too.
There were a couple other work trips as well, starting with a visit to Saskatoon and Winnipeg in the throes of January winter extremes. Saskatchewan was the only province I’d never visited, and I hadn’t ever been to Winnipeg other than flying there on my way to Brandon 25 years ago, so it was a bit of a Canadian mini-adventure to boot. Similarly, a company meeting in Charlottetown had me back in PEI for the first time since I was a wee tot, so that was fun. And less distant in memory, but always fun to visit for a night, I squeezed in a dinner and some good coffee in Ottawa before a work conference.
Also: there were some small and medium-sized personal trips, along with one very large one. We’ll start with the small: we drove down to Niagara-on-the-Lake for the weekend to see the solar eclipse. We spent a weekend in Stratford seeing three plays, and another weekend in Kingston. Most significantly we flew to Amsterdam for a Lindsay work thing, then on to Thiruvananthapuram, India for a friend’s wedding. Total trip was 14 days, about four of which were spent on planes. That brings to 23 the total number of countries I’ve visited, not including the 3 (Switzerland, Uganda, UAE) transit countries where I only stopped over and never left the airport. A few months later we tacked extra days onto a work conference to enjoy the Rockies (Lindsay’s first time there) and see friends in Calgary, and in December went to NS to see family and friends.
Maybe the biggest event of the year: we adopted a cat from the Humane Society. Her name is Bianca and we love her. She’s scrappy and has boundaries, but not nearly as many as Kramer did. But she’s somehow even fluffier!!
I also tried something else in 2024, something structured. Not resolutions…goals, maybe? I just used a made-up theme (multiples of 3) to prompt some ambition during the year. Here’s each goal, and how I did against it:
Pass WSET level 3 wine course
Done! Tasting portion passed with merit, theory portion passed with distinction.
Read 6 books
Done!
Of the 11 Michelin starred/recognized restaurants east of Yonge, hit the 6 I haven’t tried
Hit Madrina, Maha’s, Tiflisi, and the lone starred restaurant on the list: 20 Victoria
Haven’t yet done Wood Owl or Puerto Bravo
Make at least one improvement in each of the 9 main zones of the house
Made changes / bought needed things for five rooms
Didn’t quite get to the kitchen, main bedroom, guest bedroom, or basement. This one requires a lot of coordination with Lindsay, so it was tougher to manage.
Lose 12 pounds
While I made no real lifestyle changes I was actually doing pretty well on this, losing more than a pound per month…until June, when it (and I) went pear-shaped
As of the end of November I’d lost about 5.5 pounds total, half the YTD target, but I don’t expect December to be kind in this regard
I’m not sure I’ll try to do this every year, but it was actually fairly helpful in 2024. It gave me some structured things to aim at, to make progress on. Structure, routine…not something I always want in my life, but this year I was alright with it.
Wrapped up work at noon and hurriedly packed / prepped the house for departure. Flew to Halifax, picked up a rental car, and drove to Bedford to stay one night at Lindsay’s mom’s.
Fri Dec 20 – Sun Dec 22
Woke up and drove to the farm ahead of the coming storm. We got there for the first of a few big turkey dinners at brother #2’s house. The next few days were about hunkering down through a snowstorm, playing crib & crokinole, seeing people off (niece #1) and welcoming arrivals (brother #2 et al), eating lots and lots, playing with dogs, and generally relaxing.
Mon Dec 23 – Thu Dec 26
Once again threading the needle on a snowstorm, we drove back to Bedford for a few days there. We loaded up on wine and then were greeted at Lindsay’s mom’s with her brothers and a pork supper. Over Christmas Eve + Christmas Day + Boxing Day we ate another turkey dinner (and attendant leftovers), played Balderdash and Taboo, watched Four Christmases and Die Hard, petted animals, drank eggnog, snacked endlessly. On Boxing day there were excursions; I hitched a ride with brother #1 to Truro for the traditional Dickinson family Boxing Day reunion.
Fri Dec 27
We drove the ~30 minutes to Halifax for a few days at The Muir. That night we had a mini-Trivandrum reunion, meeting Tess + Aravind & Tom + Kealin for dinner at Darya, right next door to the hotel. Our meal — bread, olives, hummus, labneh, halloumi fries, chicken shawarma, spanakopita pie, lemon-roasted cauliflower, lamb kebab, and a bottle of Ixsir Grande Réserve Rosé. The food was excellent, the service fast. Excellent meal all around. Afterward Tom + Keal joined us upstairs at BKS for a cocktail. I had the Ode to the Mont Blanc, which included a little jar of Pop Rocks to have with the cocktail. I guess 107 years can’t be considered too soon.
Sat Dec 28
After the enjoying the heck out of all the space in that King bed, I got up early and had breakfast downstairs at Drift while Lindsay slept in. We eventually organized ourselves enough to walk down the street to Au Liban (for some reason, our second Lebanese meal in 18 hours) where we met Tess & Aravind, as well as Patrick, and had a big old feast: entirely too much labneh, several shakshoukas, beef shawarma, tawok, and halloumi. Afterward we walked back to the Muir where I crashed on the couch and watched the Canadiens game before Lindsay and Patrick joined me for a bit of a hang. We drank the bottle of Lightfoot & Wolfville Lindsay’s mom had given me for Christmas.
Somehow, after a few hours of relaxing, we found room for another dinner out: we wanted to try Matadora, the new tapas place on the waterfront. It was…meh. The croquetas de jamón, fennel & orange salad, and gambas al ajillo were mediocre at best. Lindsay thought the yema de huevo was good; I liked the smoked mackerel. Our ribeye was fine, nothing special. Honestly, the best part of the meal was the 2017 Gran Reserva Rioja poured into some beautiful wine glasses. Other than that, nothing to write home about.
Finally, a day of complete relaxation: we had a BIG lie-in, and ordered room service, and lazed about. We didn’t do anything of note until heading to brother #1’s house for coffee. We left there, got back to the hotel to get cleaned up, and then went to meet some of Lindsay’s family at Cafe Chianti for dinner. It’s existed seemingly forever, but recently moved down to the waterfront. It was as advertised: a solid, if unremarkable, Italian meal. Good to catch up with everyone. We walked home along the waterfront on a (relatively) warm and foggy Halifax evening.
A nice, food and family and friends-filled visit. But now? Time to head home. We miss Bianca!
Mon Dec 30
We got up, checked out, ate a late breakfast / early lunch at the venerable Bluenose II, drove back to Bedford to re-pack…and found out our flight had been delayed by 25 minutes. Then another 25 minutes. Then another 15 minutes. Then another 10 minutes. Then another hour. We were just about ready to give up and re-book, but the only flight out the next day was already full, so we drove to the airport (slowly; the weather was horrible) and hoped for the best. Luckily, we made it, landing about two hours later than expected, and got home to find our cuddly girl waiting.
Tue Dec 31
A lazy, lazy, lazy day. I did nothing but unpack and watch sports until we went out to dinner at Ricky + Olivia. We had cocktails, leeks + latkes, squash + ice cream, wontons, brisket + duck hearts, and a bottle of Trail 2021 Pinot Noir. From there we went to Chez Nous to ring in the new year. We were so exhausted we basically made it to 12:07 and then walked home. Bye, 2024.
We flew Porter out of Pearson for first time, on one of their jets they use to fly to western North America. We found a Vino Volo near what we thought was our gate, but didn’t have time for more than a quick glass of wine. We began walking to our gate, realized it was very far away, and hustled a bit. We got to our gate just in time to find out our flight was delayed, so we walked back to the Vino Volo so we could eat. A flatbread later, we were ready for our flight.
The flight itself was pretty good: economy, but roomy and no middle seats, and free wi-fi. We landed in Calgary and picked up our car — upgrade to a VW Tiguan! — and drove to the Kensington neighbourhood, where our friend Kirsten had kindly let us use her condo. We got in, relaxed a bit, and enjoyed a view of the sunset over the hills west of the city.
We walked to Niko’s Bistro for dinner, had a surprise run-in with our recently-transplanted-to-Calgary Stevie & Sarah, and sat down at our table. We had:
Starters
Caprese salad w/ organic spring mix, bocconcini cheese, tomatoes, XV olive oil, balsamic reduction
Risotto con fungi w/ mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, truffle oil
Agnello Brasato w/ lamb shank, braised vegetables, XV olive oil, tomatoes, served with parmesan risotto
bottle of Collazzi Liberta Toscana IGT
Shortly after our apps, Lindsay started feeling gross, so the staff very kindly offered to pack our mains to go, and corked our remaining wine. I ate my lamb at home (the risotto was excellent) while Lindsay slept it off.
Sunday
We obviously rested as much as possible the next morning; I went to COBS for breakfast and The Roasterie for coffee. We were packing to leave for the mountains shortly, so with that done Lindsay reheated her risotto while I grabbed a (MUCH too large) burger from Flipp’n Burgers.
After a quick stop to see Stevie & Sarah’s new place (and give some love to Ivy and Pluto) we drove west to Banff. I always love driving into the mountains; Lindsay was a little underwhelmed given all the hyping I/we’d done.
We checked in at the Rimrock resort hotel, threw our stuff in our room, and I registered for my two-day conference. We turned right back around the drove down the hill to the town of Banff, where we met up with Stevie & Sarah again. They were psyched about fondue at The Grizzly House, which was quite an adventure. Vegetables boiled in buttery broth, a bunch of meat, and chocolate fondue for dinner. We left full, but also smelling vaguely of smoke, and drove back up the hill to the hotel.
Monday
Not much to report: a full day of conference-going for me, a day of work for Lindsay. But when the conference is in a locale like this, it’s pretty easy to take:
I skipped the conference dinner, and had a drink at the bar with Lindsay instead.
We had dinner at Primrose; I’d wanted to try Eden because of their wine list, but it was closed. Lindsay still wasn’t feeling great, so we kept the order tight:
Salt Baked Beets w/ Whipped Ricotta, Salted Pistachio, Focaccia, Mint
Chocolate Cremeux of Dark Chocolate, Malt Ganache, Almond Crunch
Tuesday
Day two of the conference, so once again not much to report. We did drive down into the town centre for lunch. On a recommendation we tried Block, but it was full and had a long wait list. We instead went to PARK distillery. Our server was nice; the table next to us featured a kid absolutely blasting French cartoons on a parent’s phone. Food was pretty good too:
corn bread w/ maple whisky butter
drunken shrimp w/ park alpine dry gin, tomato, herbs, spices
rotisserie chicken caesar salad w/ wood-fired pulled chicken, grana padano, bacon, focaccia croutons
rotisserie chicken s’wich w/ pulled rotisserie chicken, park maple rye bbq sauce, cheddar, slaw, bacon, ranch, brioche bun, hickory fries + smoked tomato chili vodka soup
It was time to check in at our second Banff hotel: the Fairmont Banff Springs. We got another upgrade — a suite in the Gatehouse — but our room wasn’t quite ready, so we had excellent cocktails in the famous Rundle Bar.
Mid-cocktail we got a text that our room was ready, so we walked over, dumped our bags, chilled for a while, and admired yet another classic view.
Our dinner that night was a big one: 1888 Chop House, the hotel’s steakhouse. Our host was from New Brunswick, which was a nice surprise, and also a deviation from what we’d observed so far in Banff — that every service person there was from Australia or New Zealand (or possibly the UK). Our server’s Aussie accent quickly corrected the deviation.
It was an epic meal for sure:
Cocktails
glasses of Piper Heidsieck NV Champagne
Appetizers
1888 House Bread w/ everything seasoning, nasturtium butter
Local Gems w/marcona almonds, toasted grains, radicchio, citrus
Luckily the walk home was a short one, ’cause we conked right out.
Wednesday
Unfortunately it was hard to stay conked — the room mechanicals made weird noises all night, and at 7am the pipes/ducts/whatever starting rattling and whining like a jet engine was starting in the room. Not good since we were trying to rest up for a day of hiking. We got up, and noticed that the overnight rain for us had been snow higher up, so the highest mountain peaks were covered in snow. You can see it on the mountains in the distance below.
Lindsay had booked us on a bus that would us to both Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. I was very excited — I hadn’t seen either lake since 2006, and had spent only minutes at Lake Louise. We had breakfast in Vermillion Room, got ready, and drove up the highway. Now Lindsay was impressed — bigger mountains, amazing views, and snowcaps just make mountains look more mountain-like. We parked at the foot of Lake Louise ski resort, got on our bus, and headed over to Lake Louise first. We spent an hour there, avoiding tourists, but enjoying the views as we walked around the lake shore.
Pretty quickly we were back on the bus and off to Moraine Lake. It really blew Lindsay away, and really took me back. 18 years later it was just as breathtaking.
Because we only had a couple hours we only did the lakeshore trail. It was slushy, but manageable, even though we didn’t have proper gear. We could walk it all the way to to the end where we didn’t see another hiker for a good 20 minutes.
Back at the lodge, we did the Rockpile hike just before the bus came back, for the “$20 view”, so named because it used to be the vista pictured on the old Canadian $20 bill. It was getting quite cold now, but it was so worth it. On our way down a tourist couple asked if it was safe to hike to the top without bear spray; I assured them the only wildlife they’d encounter would be hungry hikers.
A little pooped, we were bussed back across the valley, and then drove home along the Bow Valley Parkway. Our only wildlife sighting was a small herd of deer, but the drive was so gorgeous we didn’t care. We arrived back at the hotel, dropped the car, turned on our heels, and went right to dinner at The Waldhaus pub down the hill from the hotel. It was exactly what we needed: a quiet, relaxed environment. Had it been lighter out, it would have been a gorgeous view of the Bow River. We treated our bellies instead of our eyes:
After all that, we somehow pushed our tired legs back up the 93 stairs to the hotel, and collapsed in our bed.
Thursday
It was time to leave Banff, so we ordered room service, packed, drove to the town centre, parked, and went for a walk along the Bow River. Not all the way to the falls, just to a bench with a great view.
After a few panicked moments when Lindsay realized she’d forgotten her phone on the bench (we ran back; it was still there) we were back in town and decided to re-try our luck with Block. Luckily, we got right in. Nice vibe in there.
Zero-proof balsamic gin & tonic: Seedlip Garden 108, Spiced Orange & Balsamic NA Gin, Wildlife Tonic Syrup, Soda (somebody had to drive)
Dessert
matcha cheese cake w/ ginger chocolate sauce
We stopped for cappuccinos at Mountain Folk Coffee Co, which were pretty meh despite being $8 a pop. Grumble. We drove off toward Calgary, and saw a high speed chase (!) on the highway on an otherwise uneventful drive back to Kirsten’s condo. We ordered some pizzas from Pulcinella and drank a bottle of her wine.
A delicious, lazy morning that didn’t get off to much of a start until I went to COBS for breakfast and Aggudo for coffee. We made a lunch plan and later walked, crossing the Bow once more, to lunch at Bridgette Bar. It was largely positive: I really liked the vibe and decor, the wine list was excellent with lots of obscure stuff, and the food was extremely tasty. My only complaint was that our server promised to “course out” our five snacks/starters, but instead it all showed up at once, swamping the table and overwhelming us.
white peach Negroni (gin, peach liqueur, blanc aperitif, Campari)
We walked back and met Stevie & Sarah & Ivy for a park hang before walking down to Pages Books. There we spent some time (and money) and petted the resident cat, Kilgore Trout.
While Lindsay finished up there I shopped down the street at Vine Styles, a truly excellent wine shop. I bought bottles to replenish Kirsten’s supply, and to go with the fancy-ass peanut butter sandwiches we got from PB and J YYC. I grabbed an exceptional bottle of Cru Beaujolais too.
A purely mechanical morning: we woke up, showered, packed, cleaned up, and drove to the airport. Thanks Alberta; you served up a great first experience for Lindsay and a wonderful return visit for me, especially in the Rockies. I forgot how much I missed them; luckily Lindsay was asking to go back before we’d even left Banff. Until next time!
Earlier this week we went to the Paradise Theatre on Bloor to see the fourth SOMM documentary, Cup Of Salvation. This was a different format than the previous three SOMM films (and most of their Somm TV content) — it followed a father/daughter winemaking team as they sought to (a) make great wine in a war-torn part of Armenia, and (b) smuggle grapes from northern Iran back into Armenia to produce the first high-quality modern wine made from Iranian grapes in more than forty years. The stars of the doc were so charismatic (including the Armenian scenery…my goodness!) that it felt at once light, important, educational, and intriguing…and it made me want a glass of wine very, very much.
And so it was that we walked down the street to Michelin-noted restaurant Giulietta, to see if we could snag a table. Luckily we got the last one, and had a fantastic meal.
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 