Bis bald!
.:.
Cover photo by Mariano Martel, used under Creative Commons license
“You didn’t see that coming?”
In between errands and work we found time to take a Sunday afternoon off. We watched Avengers: Age Of Ultron (imdb | rotten tomatoes) at the Yonge & Dundas VIP, and it was what I expected: very good, but nothing surprising, nothing outstanding. Granted, the first one set the bar high, but I felt like the sequel chased the success of the first too often. Not that anyone could argue with that, given how much money it made, but I was hoping for a slight shift to keep things interesting. It wasn’t a bad movie. It was a very good movie, in fact. I was just hoping — fairly or not — for more.
We left the theatre and walked down to the Bier Markt for some lunch. Well…a charcuterie board and three beers each, anyway. It was just so nice to sit on a patio, enjoy the sunshine, eat some snacks, drink some cold (Euro-centric) beer, and relax. And WHAT a joy to not have cigarette smoke anywhere on a patio now. I could hardly ask for more.
.:.
Cover photo by Mike Mozart, used under Creative Commons license
Crimefighter
I’ve started watching the new series Daredevil (imdb) on Netflix. It’s pretty good so far, and it needed the freedom of someone like HBO or Netflix to let it breathe. Read: it’s really violent. But so is Daredevil.
It also has, at the end of episode 2, one of the best fight scenes I’ve ever seen.
.:.
Cover photo by Steve Cox, used under Creative Commons
So, this happened on Facebook yesterday.
Too bad it happened in the worst season that my dad has ever seen. He got about 20% of his usual volume this year because of the extreme snow accumulation. Lots of other NS maple producers couldn’t even get that.
Rose & Sons
Last Monday we met our friends Kaylea & Steph at Rose & Sons, a place that’s been on my must-hit list forever. It did not disappoint. We started with this fantastic chili oil & maple syrup cornbread, then the grilled romaine caesar salad and east coast squid fry.
For the mains we ordered two plates of the Monday special: five small pieces of fried chicken, with four-cheese mac+cheese and dill cucumbers. It was all freaking amazing. The mac+cheese was especially great, and I HATE mac+cheese. We threw some onion rings in there too, each of which was the size of a hula hoop. We had a good chat with our server about the wine selection too, which was small but well-thought-out.
The fullness (and pre-dinner wine sampling) got the better of Steph and she bailed. Kaylea, Nellie, and I walked through the back to Big Crow, their bbq joint, for one more drink. We listened to endless 90s music and made a mental note to get our asses back there in the summer when the grill is going and the roof is open.
.:.
Cover photo from Rose & Sons site
All beers must die.
Drinking a bottle of this tonight in honour of the return of Game Of Thrones.
.:.
Cover photo by chris.wojtewicz, used under Creative Commons license
“I’m not afraid of death. I’m an old physicist — I’m afraid of time.”
I watched two long movies this weekend: The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a 2.5-hour movie in which not very much at all happens, and Interstellar (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a 2.5-hour movie in which almost too much happens.
I get why a some people didn’t like Interstellar. It had its issues. But the issues were more than outweighed by the joys of it, I thought. The scale. The adventure. The robots. It was worth the warts.
.:.
Cover photo by Sam Howzit, used under Creative Commons license
“Full Bloom” might have been a bit ambitious, since it’s supposed to snow tomorrow.
Last Wednesday we reconvened with our friends Kaylea & Matt at “Full Bloom”, a Wine Society of Ontario event at Caren’s in Yorkville. In the crowded upstairs we sampled from three local wineries: Vineland Estates, Henry of Pelham, and Closson Chase.
I never did try HoP’s Baco Noir, but their Cuvée Catherine sparkling rosé is always top-notch. Vineland’s Riesling was drier than most but still too sweet for me — I think I’m just over Riesling now — but their Cab blend is as good as I remember. The real winner for me, though, was Closson Chase. Always one of our favourites from Prince Edward County, their CCV Chardonnay and KJ Watson Pinot were the standouts.
After the event wrapped up a few of us walked over to Fieramosca for a late dinner. It’s been too long since we dropped by, now that we no longer live or work in the area. It was nice to see everyone again. Plus: delicious.
.:.
Cover photo by marc falaradeau, used under Creative Commons license
I definitely worry sometimes that this is me
Found via the excellent Ben Johnson’s Beer Blog
Heluva Good dip weekend
Last week our friends Kaylea & Matt offered to have us up to the cottage. We accepted; I needed a weekend off, and Nellie really needed a weekend off.
We dashed out of work and caught a Go Train to Barrie, where Kaylea picked us up and brought us to their place. We celebrated by breaking out some sparkling:
We had reservations at the Local Gastropub and, after some taxi qualms, took our seats in a booth by the bar. I had the battered cod n’ chips; Nellie had the triple smoked ontario bacon mac n’ cheese. We were in the mood for apostrophes apparently. I drank a Wellington brown ale and a Side Launch dark lager. We cabbed home and all fell asleep in front of the TV. It had been a long day.
The next day Kaylea had to work so Matt, Nellie, and I went for breakfast at the Midway Diner, which is exactly as authentic as it sounds. Nellie and I had full-on greasy breakfast: sausage (bacon for her), eggs, hash browns, toast, OJ, coffee/tea. It was goddamn delicious, and it more or less held us over until dinner.
Once Kaylea got back we loaded up the car, made a stop at Barnstormer for some beer, and drove to the cottage. We relaxed for a bit with some Barnstormers and then two amazing bottles of sparkling — a Benjamin Bridge 2008 Estate Brut which had just arrived in our mailbox that day, and a Two Sisters “Lush” sparkling rosé — until it was nearly dinner time, and Matt began prepping the meal.
And quel meal it was:
- roasted red pepper soup with shrimp and cumin (Creekside 2012 Reserve Viognier)
- salmon in beurre blanc (Pentage 2012 Sauv Blanc / Semillon)
- pappardelle with sausage and tomato (Niagara Teaching College 2011 “Dean’s List Desicatto” Cabernet Franc)
- grilled ribeye (Black Hills 2013 Nota Bené bordeaux blend)
- Pilliteri 2008 merlot icewine
We did our best to absorb all that, and eventually all fell asleep from the effort.
The next morning we all slept in, except for when Kaylea’s phone alarm went off and it sounded like a jaunty police chase. Once we finally woke up Matt and Nellie prepared another big greasy breakfast (plenty of bacon, eggs, toast, Caesars, etc.) and we generally lay about for the whole day. Well, Matt and Nellie went for a walk, and I did some work, and we all watched many hours of news, but other than that: layabouts.
Finally we had to pack up the car, load up on Tim Horton’s, drop Matt off back in Barrie, and drive down to Toronto. The remaining trio of us ordered pizza, settled in to watch The Walking Dead, and went directly into pyjama mode.
Good weekend. Great weekend. But I’m going to pay for it this week.
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 