Cover photo by Barbara Courouble, used under Creative Commons license

An early preview, hopefully

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Brother #2, his lovely wife, and (temporarily) a niece — the same niece we brought to school last year — were in town this weekend, transporting said niece to university. We had a short but fun visit, eating at Brickworks Cider House‘s curbside patio, hanging out in the back yard, playing Exploding Kittens and Bananagrams, ordering from Chula Taberna, coaxing Kramer into the living room for a visit, and — after the uni drop-off — sabering open some sparkling out back before going out for dinner at Gare de L’est.

They’re gone <48 hours after arriving, but it was still good to see family again. Fingers crossed, we’ll see more in a few weeks.

.:.

Cover photo by Barbara Courouble, used under Creative Commons license

Happy 3rd gotcha day anniversary, Kramer

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Three years ago, give or take, we adopted Kramer. Year by year we’ve seen him progress in terms of how much he trusts us, and how affectionate he becomes. This is how I described his progress last year:

In the past year, and especially in the five months since COVID hit here, he’s continued to warm up to us. He now lets us pet him all the time, and in fact demands it. He half-meows outside our bedroom in the morning until we come play with him. He sleeps near us most of the time. He purrs, occasionally. He’s even jumped up on the bed or couch with us, if we lure him with treats.

It’s hard to even imagine, given what he was like two years ago.

If we thought that was hard to imagine, his progress since moving into the house ten months ago has blown us away. He routinely demands pets, scratches, and now belly rubs, to the point where he’s become a bit insatiable. Each morning when we get up he runs to greet us and flops at our feet to get scratches, or rubs against our legs. He sleeps on the stairs between floors to maximize the amount of affection he gets per day. He even slept on the bed all night with us a few times in the winter, when it was colder. He still gets freaked out easily and scratches us sometimes, but then is right back looking for more love.

But really, it’s the belly rubs that are the most significant development. It’s a sign of trust, of vulnerability, for a cat to expose his belly like that. Guess he loves us. And he’s soooooooooooo soft.

Re-Treadwell

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We’ve just arrived home from ~48 hours in Niagara on the Lake. It was mostly for work, so we barely got to do anything else except…well, eat and drink. The only meal we’d booked in advance was Treadwell (our go to every time in NotL) for dinner Friday night; we liked it so much we managed to weasel our way into coming back for lunch the next day.

First, though, we had dinner Thursday night at Tiara, the restaurant in the Queen’s Landing hotel, where we were staying. Like every other restaurant in Ontario right now, they were short-staffed and had limited seating, but we got one of the last tables. Our servers were lovely, and we could more or less see the river from our table, which was nice.

We had glasses of Saintly rosé to start, then shared the roasted heritage beet salad w/ micro greens, smoked goats’ cheese & burnt honey dressing and the butter Fried Scallops w/ pork belly “Wellington”, forced rhubarb & celeriac remoulade, all of which we paired with an excellent DIM Riesling.

For our mains I had a grilled medallion and braised short rib of VG Farms Beef w/ parmesan whipped potato, mushrooms, beans & red wine hollandaise. Lindsay had the roasted Ontario lamb rack & saddle w/ rainbow carrots, lamb fat fondant potato & smoked garlic rosemary jus. We paired it all with a bottle of 2014 Chateau des Charmes Equleuus.

I spent most of the next day out doing work stuff while Lindsay chilled in the room (it was too hot to do much else), then I had a nap while she got ready for dinner at Treadwell. It is a go-to every time in NotL, and didn’t disappoint this go round. After a walk along the river we sat down, tucked in, ordered some 13th Street blanc de blancs to sip on while we strategized, and then got into our four courses:

First

  • D: Monforte sheep’s milk fresco cheese, heirloom tomato & peach salad, sherry vinaigrette (Sixteen Mile rosé)
  • L: Chilled peach gazpacho with Quiet Acres peaches and pickled chilies (Sixteen Mile rosé)

Second

  • D: Pan seared east coast scallops, roasted corn, crisphy chicken skin (Arneis)
  • L: Mussels a la Nage, white wine, fresh herbs, grilled bread (Five Rows Sauvignon Blanc)

Main

  • D: Maple glazed Muscovy duck breast, Ohme Farms turnips, Ontario blueberry jus (Nebbiolo)
  • L: Shallot crusted fillet of Ontario beef, Lyonnaise potato, summer mushrooms, shaved truffle, red wine jus (super tuscan)

Dessert

  • D: Lemon & basil tart with honey and fennel pollen ice cream (Big Head botrytis-affected Chenin Blanc)
  • L: Selection of cheeses (Big Head botrytis-affected Chenin Blanc)

Utterly delicious, top to bottom. I think Lindsay was a little jealous of my orders though. Also: since we were in Niagara I didn’t bother taking note of the non-Niagara wines!

Before we left, we asked if they had any space left the next day for lunch. We didn’t have time to do much before leaving the city except eat a good lunch, so rather than hunt for something else we just took a swing. And we connected! They had a table for us. We left, knowing we’d get an encore in ~14 hours. On our walk home we had to scurry away from a family of skunks (!) chowing down on Queen Street tourust leavings.

Unearthing ourselves from the hotel bed Saturday morning wasn’t easy, but we managed it. We arose, cleaned up, packed, checked out, and drove downtown. We found a parking space, helped an elderly gentleman pay for his parking with a QR code (we just paid for it, actually…it was easier than explaining it) before getting a coffee and wandering around a bit. When we arrived at 11:30 we were sat outside, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but ended up being torturously hot. Anyway, that’s hardly their fault.

Still a killer meal though: Lindsay had Chardonnay-steamed PEI mussels w/ fennel pollen cream & grilled bread (paired with a glass of 13th Street blanc de blancs) and a lobster club on duck fat fried sourdough, double-smoked bacon & whipped goat’s cheese w/ local salad greens & summer truffle (paired with a Pearl Morissette Chardonnay). I had roasted summer beets w/ whipped goat’s cheese, toasted hazelnuts & dill vinaigrette, and duck confit w/ summer succotash, frid egg & red wine jus (paired with a Fourth Wall Cabernet Franc).

This time I think Lindsay enjoyed her meal a little more than I did, but it was still a smashing idea to double up. We chatted about wine, and wineries, and winemaking with the staff, and they thanked us for coming back the very next night. I suppose that must be the best compliment for a restaurant.

Thus stuffed, we set out for home, stopping to pick up a wayward case of wine from The Farm, and arriving home to find our cute little bug, lightly traumatized from his first two days alone in the new house. As I write this, though, he’s purring and rubbing against my chair, so I think he’s forgiven us.

Work promises to summon me down to the peninsula more often. Frankly, I couldn’t be happier about that.

.:.

Cover photo from the Sekai Wagyu site

Return of the Black Tajima

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Last night we made our first visit to an all-time fav since before the pandemic: Jacobs & Co. It was…just! so! delicious! Here’s what we had:

  • A dozen oysters
  • Caesar salad
    • Vilmart & Cie “Grand Cellier” 1er Cru Champagne
  • 14oz Canadian Prime Ribeye from Guelph, Ontario, aged 55 days
  • 8oz A5 Black Tajima Wagyu California Cut Striploin from Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan
  • Duck fat french fries, Bok Choy, and mixed mushrooms
    • 2010 Antinori Solaia
  • Ice cream
    • 2009 Chateau Guiraud Sauternes
    • Graham’s 20-year Tawny Port

The highlights were the Wagyu and the Solaia, as well as the service — it seemed such a treat to have someone knowledgeable banter and teach and bring us steak & wine. Not the kind of meal you can snap off regularly, but certainly worthy of coming back from such a long absence.

A note on the neighbourhood: Jacobs is one of the very few reasons we’d actually go to the entertainment district, and MAN were we blown away by how many people were out. Sidewalks were full, patios were full, clubs looked open…it was like a normal Friday night down there. Pretty crazy compared to the relatively sedate east end.

Cover photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Second pandy birthday

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Yesterday was my birthday. I celebrated by having a pretty good day at work, doing a tiny bit of travel planning, watching some Bad Batch, playing a game of Exploding Kittens with Lindsay, drinking a bottle of Armand de Brignac (!) Champagne, opening a couple of very thoughtful gifts, and going out to dinner — for the first time in a year — to Gare de L’est.

Dinner was simple, but also felt wonderful. We sat on the patio and listened to live jazz like the world was normal again. We had oysters, steak tartare, duck (me) and mussels (Linds), wine, and more champagne. They rushed us out before we could get dessert but we went full dirty and got a McCain deep n’ delicious chocolate cake from the convenience store that Lindsay jammed a few candles in, and watched trash TV until we got sleepy.

Not the most glamorous birthday I’ve ever had, but I’ll take it.

.:.

Cover photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

ver photo by iSAW Company on Unsplash

Post-lockdown house guests

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This morning Lindsay’s old friend N and N’s girlfriend J left for Montreal, having stayed with us the past few days. It was a treat having them here. It felt odd to even have guests in the house again, but the week was just so chill and fun. And they kept cooking for us, which felt pretty luxe.

Last night was especially fun — after drinks & decor ideas and book browsing, they made an amazing dinner of tenderloin steaks wrapped in bacon, Caesar salad, and oven-roasted fresh-cut fries. We had plenty of wine before and during: Muscadet, Albarino, Ontario sparkling, Pet Nat, and Napa Cab. We sat outside in the perfect weather and wolfed it down. The dinner, the day, and really the whole week was just such a joy.

Come back anytime pals.

.:.

Cover photo by iSAW Company on Unsplash

It no longer feels like 1993

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I know I’m a few days late on this, but…the Canadiens’ Cinderella run ended Wednesday. They defeated three teams against whom they were thought to have no chance, but then ran into the defending champion Tampa Bay. The Lightning were seemingly better in all aspects than the Canadiens (not to mention $18 million better than the salary cap) and took the series in five games. What a run though.

I’m already excited for next season.

A busy, lazy week

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This week was supposed to be quiet, but has ended up rather eventful.

On Sunday we, along with ~26,000 other people, got vaccinated at Scotiabank Arena. That was our second shot, and we celebrated with drinks on the patio at Chez Nous. I spent most of Monday knocked out by side effects.

On Tuesday I returned to my office for (basically) the first time since March 2020, to collect the things from my office and say goodbye to some colleagues. Later that day we got a gorgeous vintage daybed delivered, and it now graces our office upstairs.

Wednesday was technically my last day at the bank. We celebrated with a bottle of 1996 Penfolds Bin 707 Cab Sauv that I recently won in a charity auction. It was simply stellar.

Thursday was Canada Day. But given where we are as a country there was obviously no celebrating. Lindsay did have a friend over that evening; we ordered Tabule and discovered a burger that might well be the best kept secret in the city.

Friday was my lone day of unemployment. We didn’t do much except marvel at torrential rain and a freak hailstorm, before Maeg and Immony came over for backyard drinks on a perfect evening. Montreal meanwhile, was losing their third game to Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup Finals, so things don’t look good.

Today I just feel run down. I’m trying to rally, but right now all I can seem to manage is to type this whilst watching England play Ukraine in the Euros.

It’s still feeling like 1993

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Two weeks ago I wrote about how the Montreal Canadiens’ Stanley Cup playoff run through two rounds was feeling a lot like 1993, their last cup win. But heading into the third round, their chances didn’t look great.

In the next round they’ll face Las Vegas, a team which doesn’t bear much resemblance to their 1993 opponent — a New York Islanders team fresh off a shocking upset of the defending two-time Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. But what is familiar is that no one gives Montreal a chance of winning this series. Just like they had no chance against Toronto, and not much of one against Winnipeg.

But then, on Thursday night, the Habs scored in overtime of game six to punch their ticket to the finals. They’ll face the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team who only joined in the league in the 1992-93 season, but which has won twice since then — including last year. The Lightning are loaded with superstars, and heavily favoured.

Just how Montreal likes it.

Cover photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

Time for a change

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

I don’t talk much about work on here, but it’s not really a secret that I’ve spent my entire career — save a two-year stint in software which ended not long before the beta version of this blog was born, in 2001 — in banking. Next week, that changes.

I never really expected to work for a bank, despite having a business degree. I was recruited out of university by a very large one where I spent two years, then went to the afore-mentioned software company for a couple years, before returning to the same large bank for (*checks notes*) twelve years. In 2013 I switched to a much smaller bank, and did some cool stuff there, but about two weeks ago I gave my notice. I wasn’t looking to leave, but an opportunity came up, and when I sat back and looked at it, I decided 22 years in banking was enough. (And about 20 more than I ever thought I’d last.)

The opportunity that came up is actually in the wine world, so I’ll be excited to marry up my professional background with a personal passion. My current company didn’t even get that mad when I told them — they know how into wine I am, and how infrequently an opportunity like this would come along. I’ll have lots to learn in a new industry, but hopefully lots to offer as well. The only downside I can think of right now is that I’ll have to commute to Mississauga, which means I’ll have to own a car for the first time in my life.

So next week is my last week, and the rush is on to get everything wrapped up & squared away. I’m taking the final week of June off, to give my brain a bit of a break. I considered getting out of town, but between this final sprint and a huge deliverable that Lindsay’s working on, I think I might just spend those days lying on the couch, or sitting in the backyard, or maybe going to a patio. (Speaking of which: I went to Chez Nous on Monday, my first patio in…I literally don’t even remember how long.)

Anyway, I’m excited. It’s a little scary, but good scary. And I’m ready.

.:.

Cover photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash