Breakfast this morning with Mr. & Mrs. CBJ, then watched Canada lose to the Czechs. I can avoid the unavoidable for a few more hours, but I have to start that accounting assignment sometime. Might as well do it tonight while Nellie watches 3 hours of Survivor.

I’m eating some little Japanese sweets called (I think) Shiroi Koibito. Whatever they’re called, they’re good. I’m wishing now that I’d stuffed some in my pockets yesterday to have with the wine.

On a related note (ahem), weight is still 220. I’m hoping that by Tuesday I’ll have the time & energy to get back on a treadmill.

Last night, post wine festival, we opted to just relax and watch one of the Zip movies on hand. Smoke (imdb | rotten tomatoes) is one that I’ve wanted to see for years. It had the expected great performances by Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Stockard Channing and Forest Whitaker, and very early career roles by Harrold Perrineau and Ashley Judd. There’s more plot & story than I had expected; for some reason I thought that it all took place in the cigar store, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, pretty much the whole movie takes place in conversations, two people at a time. There’s not that much more I can say about it, except that you should see it.

Oh, and have some wine on hand; it’s just that kind of film.

Whew…thatsalotta wine! Together with Mr. & Mrs. CBJ and a friend of theirs, we hit 14 of the 21 Sante locations: Chapters, Dinah’s Cupboard, Birks, Jeanne Lottie, Lovecraft, Paper Things, Pepper Mill, Simone Marie, The Cookbook Store, The Kitchen and Glass Place (I didn’t forget those last two names; that’s really what they’re called), Thomas Kinkade Gallery, Travel Choice, Whole Foods and Williams-Sonoma.

What did I learn? Well:

• I like pinot noir more than I thought.
• If you stand still long enough in Yorkville, you’ll see a couple of famous people. Bob Hoskins walked by us near Whole Foods, and I think Jamie-Lynn DiScala (Meadow Soprano) walked by us too.
• I like dessert wine more than I thought
• If you hang around a wine festival long enough, you’ll run into the Modern Mod
• Belgian chocolate + ice wine = DROOOOOOOOL
• Always hit the jewellery store early on. If we’d visited Birks at the end of the trip, after several glasses of wine, I might well have walked out with one of these bad boys.
• Thomas Kinkade’s paintings are kind of freaky, especially when they turn the lights down
• If you stand still long enough in Yorkville, you’ll see a procession of models. As we were standing there 7 goregous young girls in designer clothes walked by, trailing after some guy with a camera. It was a bit surreal.

It was an entertaining enough way to spend the day, even if the crowds did get a little out of hand toward 5:00. But we were happy to get home, relax and get some food in our bellies. Plan for tonight: relax. No booze, just junk food and some movies. And (sigh) accounting.

Last night we met our friend CBJ for dinner. CBJ’s an old friend from university, now living south of the border, who returned to Toronto for another university friend’s wedding. After Nellie, CBGB and I had a few drinks at the Duke of York we strolled across the street to meet CBJ at Fieramosca. Another friend from university showed up, and we proceeded to gorge ourselves. I had conchiglie with sausage, rapini & sundried tomatoes in an olive oil & garlic sauce. Whatever pinot grigio Nellie ordered went well with it, but I couldn’t resist ordering the new Chianti that he recommended. I know, I know, Chianti didn’t seem to go, but he’d just gotten it in that day and man, was it good.

As always, the dinner at Fieramosca ends with shots of Limoncello. CBGB joined us at our place for a drink (we each had a different single malt) before we all turned into pumpkins. In just two hours Nellie and I are meeting CBJ and his wife to go drink wine all afternoon. I have no problem with this, but those two have a wedding to attend at 6:30!!

Today was a good day. My copy of With Teeth finally arrived, as did my copy of Spoon‘s Gimme Fiction. Two movies — Unforgivable Blackness and George Washington — arrived in the mail too. Now, if only I had time to listen to / watch it all…

It would seem that I’m not drinking nearly enough. I have the following bottles of scotch on hand:

• Bruichladdich, 10 year
• Cardhu, 12 year (x2)
• Macallan, 12 year
• Macallan Fine Oak, 10 year
• Macallan Fine Oak, 15 year
• Talisker, 10 year

I’d better get on it. I canpretty much guarantee you that the night I finish my last accounting assignment (which should be about a week from now), I’ll be diving into one or more of these.

Recently I’ve begun to think of, and refer to, Toronto as “home”. I’m still prone to calling the farm in Nova Scotia “home” sometimes, though I haven’t lived there since 1993. I’ve been in Toronto almost 8 years now, and while the plan was to move back east once we were able, that’s no longer the case. First of all, we’ve bought a condo (which hasn’t even been built); second, we both have good jobs here that we enjoy (some days more than others, of course); third, my MBA keeps me here (another 3 years to complete it, minimum 2 years of commitment to my company after that). Those felt like reasons why we had to stay, but I know now that I want to stay. Most of my friends are here. The best movies, concerts & restaurants are here. The TIFF and Hot Docs are here. The pollution sucks, but…whattaya gonna do?

I still love visiting Halifax and the farm, but this is home now.

Eye tells us that both Wolf Parade and Final Fantasy have announced shows here in Toronto next month. Might as while strike while the iron is hot, I guess; Toronto’s got a bit of a crush on both of these bands after their opening slots at the Arcade Fire show. [editor’s question: can we call Owen and his looper a band?]

Speaking of AF concerts, my brother weighed in on their latest London performance.

If you don’t know who Stan Rogers is, and you consider yourself any kind of fan of folk music (or fancy yourself a real Canadian) do a little research on the man. In Nova Scotia we grew up with a certain reverence for Stan, but as I moved west to Toronto (yup, like Finch) I found that he was less well-known in his home province than in the Atlantic provinces.

I was eight when Stan died, and don’t remember it, but I know it affected my father deeply. It’s one thing when a cherished musician dies; it’s another when he dies tragically & too young. Now, when I hear his music or read about him, I find myself missing him.

Find out for yourself.

The Kings of Leon and The Secret Machines are coming to Toronto, but I refuse to pay for a concert in that shitbox Kool Haus.