coat of many colours

If Conrad had a dollar for every time he received a compliment/comment on his Hudson Bay coat on this trip, well, he'd have a nice chunk of money.

I LOVE this coat. I COVET this coat. I can never wear it: it's Conrad through and through. Darn it.

Revel in his adorableness if you will - I have to get us packed up here at the Maple Leaf Lounge and to our gate....

dining out in Vancouver

After my name, the word "Food" is the most important in the name of this blog. So then, images of dining in Vancouver this week:

Dinner at La Brasserie on Monday night:
Alsatian onion tart (appetizer shared by the table)
truffled poutine (appetizer shared by the table)
cheeses (appetizer shared by the table)
rabbit with spaetzle (my dinner)
halbut (Conrad's dinner)


Lunch on Wednesday from the market on Granville Island:
perogies and cabbage roll


Dinner at Campagnolo on Wednesday night, sitting at the bar in back:
Victoria Gin martini
Chef's choice pizza (artichoke heart, chanterelle, cheese)


Dinner at ViJ's Thursday night (an atypical USian Thanksgiving meal)
Venturi-Schulze Schönburger 2007
Punjabi Heart Attack (in the spoons) with quinoa salad (appetizer shared by the table)
deviled eggs and bell pepper fritters (appetizer shared by the table)
jackfruit in masala (appetizer shared by the table)
pork tenderloin and baby back ribs (Conrad's dinner)
kheer (my dessert)
kulfi (Conrad's dessert)
(no good shots of the venison, alas)

So far so good with a few meals more to go! Rest assured, we may be in Canada this week, but we are keeping the tradition of much eating for Thanksgiving going.

wedding planning

I don't think it's a secret anymore. It shouldn't be. Conrad and I are getting married here in Vancouver next autumn. For some months now it's been a lot of fun conversations about favours for the guests or which of the 17 or so possibilities we should nail down for our honeymoon. And yes, we still have those conversations. But ladies and gentlemen, we now have to get serious about things, and we have to start making arrangements.

We actually nailed down the venue and caterer back in January. Yes, we plan that far in advance. Now to get more vendors in place. And so it is that we've skipped USian Thanksgiving in order to come up to Vancouver and meet with a number of people.

A busy week for us, then. Happily, as I write this on a grey Friday morning, sitting with coffee and breakfast at Safari Cafe (sooooo glad to be back here!), I can report that we have no other meetings this week, just some Christmas shopping (we've been doing that already this week)(that coat is Conrad's gift to me!), tree trimming, visits with a couple more friends, and then a flight home. Which is just as well - I loathe simple-minded jokes about how cold Canada must be given how mild Vancouver (and other parts of BC) is by comparison to where we currently live, but this week's unusual snow and cold in Vancouver has not been welcome!



Back to Chicago Sunday, and decisions to be made soon after. I won't let this become a wedding planning blog, but do not be surprised if you hear an occasional outburst from me on the topic.

More photos from this trip on Flickr!

still here

Look, I know it's been a while. I've spent time recently thinking the blogging thing - why am I doing it, for whom? No, I'm not overcome with angst, but I did realize that the blog hasn't been as fulfilling as it used to be. And I'm not yet sure whether and how to continue. I'll think on it more. I have, however, been adding photos to Flickr. I've not forsaken social media.

But golly, much has gone on since last I posted:

Garden party at the home of Rick and Deann Bayless of Frontera Grill, a prize won in a silent auction. No, they weren't there.

A good bye dinner at Mercat a la Planxa for CG before she moved away. Excellent dinner, bittersweet having to have it.

I had a few days in Baltimore with my best friend, Todd. Conrad joined us for most of it, and among the highlights was a long-awaited dinner at Woodberry Kitchen. And I ran a marathon.

Conrad and I had concurrent conferences in Pittsburgh, a quite appealing city. The time there was marred only by the cold I was suffering post-marathon.

John and Bryan treated us to birthday dinners at Frontera Grill.

I spent a long weekend in Toronto with Allison, my Best Woman, and her husband, Sean. Much shopping ensued.

There's a lot more I could write, I know. I have baked and cooked. We've had other meals out (like Sunday night, at Yoshi's celebrating Rachel's birthday). It's been a lovely autumn all in all.

Many of those moments are no longer fresh in mind, though, and I think it best to not look back too very much, just move ahead. I'll return to the blog again, certainly, even if it's to close it down. I still don't know. For now, though, a glimpse of a busy and fulfilling autumn.

Canadian songs

The National Post recently published an opinion piece on what its critic(s) thought were the top 100 Canadian singles of all times. Interesting list. I can't agree with most of it.

Well... scratch that. I have to concede, the list has a lot of well-known singles that put Canada on the musical map internationally, or influenced other musicians and styles in times that followed. So I guess what I have issue with is that I just don't like most of their selections. Of course, my list would likely be 90 Jane Siberry songs and 10 Kate and Anna ones and that's it. I know my own biases.

Some chat about the list among friends on Facebook had me thinking, though. What are my top 100? Good question.

I took a stab at it, and yep, a lot of Jane Siberry (mind you, the National Post list was 65% Tragically Hip, wasn't it?). I deliberately weeded some out in the interest of varying up the list. It was a tough exercise for a few reasons:

• what constitutes a single? In this day and age, it's easier just to go with track or song since so many of them are available as downloads whether released as a single or not.
• what did I listen to in the 80s and 90s? That's a crucial question since that's when I would have been exposed to Canadian music thanks to CanCon rules. I haven't had exposure to much Canadian music in a decade now, and I can't clearly remember the music of the old days.

So here's a list of things that I still listen to mixed with things that I used to like or haven't thought of in ages. Alphabetically by performer - I can't rank these, don't even ask me to. I hope that if you read this, you might respond with some of the more fun and obscure things I might have forgotten. I always like being reminded of fun things I may have missed.

1. Head Over Feet - Alanis Morissette
2. You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette (when I first hear this, I scoffed, but I came around to appreciating the song despite remembering the poodle hair teen pop queen Alanis)
3. Black Velvet - Alannah Myles
4. Could I Have this Dance - Anne Murray (not Snow Bird for me - I always think of this song as a sweet one my parents would dance to)
5. Sleepy Maggie - Ashley MacIsaac
6. Enid - Barenaked Ladies
7. Lovers In A Dangerous Time - Barenaked Ladies (a cover of another Canuck, I know, but I have always liked this version)
8. Diamond Mine - Blue Rodeo (I considered adding "Try", but it missed the cut)
9. If I Had a Rocket Launcher - Bruce Cockburn (I may prefer BNL for Lovers in a Dangerous Time, but I do like Cockburn here)
10. The World Just Keeps on Turning - Candi & The Backbeat (if Allison doesn't mock me for this, I will be surprised - I almost added West End Girls' "Not Like Kissing You" by the way)
11. Surrounded - Chantal Kreviazuk (the sound of December 1997 in my mind)
12. I Just Came back to Say Goodbye - Colin James
13. Miles From Our Home - Cowboy Junkies (I kind of like "Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning" as well)
14. Superman's Song - Crash Test Dummies
15. Inside Out - Crash Vegas
16. Sky - Crash Vegas (if anyone can spend more time than I care to and track down the video, then great!)
17. Pine For Cedars - Dan Mangan (I could have also picked "Basket", "Road Regrets", heck, the whole album they came from)
18. Robots - Dan Mangan
19. Silence - Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan
20. Hockey Night in Canada Theme - Dolores Claman (composer); Jerry Toth (orchestration) (a national embarrassment that this is no longer the theme song. I can't talk about this anymore)
21. 1234 - Feist
22. Mushaboom (Postal Service Remix) - Feist (a case where I prefer a remix)
23. Black Cars - Gino Vannelli
24. If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot
25. Song For A Winter's Night - Gordon Lightfoot (and I love Sarah McLachlan's version)
26. Dance Desire - Haywire
27. Ev'rything I've Got - Holly Cole Trio (tough to pick a Holly Cole song - there are a lot I like and still listen to)
28. Tokyo Rose - Idle Eyes (interestingly enough, the woman known as Tokyo Rose was a regular at Yoshi's in the years before her death, and I was introduced to her there)
29. Bound By The Beauty - Jane Siberry (the song that, in my second year of UVic re-awakened by love for Siberry's music)
30. Calling All Angels – Jane Siberry (and gorgeous backing from kd lang!)
31. Everything Reminds Me Of My Dog - Jane Siberry
32. Map of the World (part II) - Jane Siberry (Dah Dah / Dah Dah Dah...)
33. Mimi On The Beach - Jane Siberry (where the Jane love started - I like the full version of the song on the CD. Incidentally, Mimi is really named Ruth)
34. See The Child - Jane Siberry
35. She's Like The Swallow - Jane Siberry (I actually started to cry a little when she played this once at Old Town School of Folk Music)
36. The Life Is The Red Wagon - Jane Siberry
37. The Taxi Ride - Jane Siberry
38. The Walking (And Constantly) - Jane Siberry
39. I Would Die for You - Jann Arden
40. Free Man In Paris - Joni Mitchell
41. St. Peter - Justin Rutledge (music that Allison introduced me to)
42. Constant Craving - k.d. lang
43. The Consequences of Falling - k.d. lang
44. Trail of Broken Hearts - k.d. lang (not much country music on the list, I know)
45. Matapedia - Kate & Anna McGarrigle (some days I think this might be #1 on this list)
46. Mother Mother - Kate & Anna McGarrigle (my discovery of the McGarrigles, in 1990, I think)
47. Talk To Me Of Mendocino - Kate & Anna McGarrigle (I especially love the version on The McGarrigle hour with Rufus and Martha joining in. Gives me the chills to hear Rufus on there with his mother)
48. Terrier Song - Kids in the Hall (I was torn between this and "Daves I Know", but the part in French and the line about corn chips and the scantily clad women in the video give this the edge
49. Crabbuckit - K-Os (Canadian rap!)
50. A Criminal Mind - Larry Gowan
51. Steal My Sunshine - Len
52. Working For the Weekend - Loverboy (the sound of elementary school dances in grade 7)
53. Giving Away A Miracle - Luba
54. How Many - Luba (I kick myself for not trying to get to her concert at Expo 86)
55. Let It Go - Luba
56. Cooling the Medium - M+M (aka Martha and the Muffins)
57. Let Your Backbone Slide - Maestro Fresh West
58. When the Day Is Short - Martha Wainwright (if Snow Patrol were Canadian, then "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" would have made the list)
59. Pop Goes the World - Men Without Hats (I like this more than "Safety Dance", but who can resist "Safety Dance"?)
60. The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
61. Dead Disco (Kylie Kills Mix) - Metric
62. Rain - Michael Breen
63. Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble
64. Bye Bye Mon Cowboy - Mitsou (Quebec's answer to Madonna, or so they used to say)
65. King of Spain - Moxy Fruvous
66. For Tonight - Nancy Martinez
67. I'm Like A Bird - Nelly Furtado (ah, Nelly - Allison, commence scorn now)
68. Powerless (Say What You Want) - Nelly Furtado (her second album was so underrated)
69. Say It Right - Nelly Furtado
70. Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado & Timbaland (Steve Nash namecheck - awesome!)
71. At The Feet Of The Moon - Parachute Club (I played this cassette to death)
72. Hallelujah - Patricia O'Callaghan (the first version of this song ever I heard, and still the best for me)
73. Take This Waltz - Patricia O'Callaghan (ah, the memories of Serendipity Boy)
74. Crying Over You - Platinum Blonde
75. Let's Go to the Mall - Robin Sparkles (ok, so this is bending things some, but really, how awesome is this?)
76. Dirty Water - Rock and Hyde
77. April Fools - Rufus Wainwright
78. Barcelona - Rufus Wainwright (does it make me a bad gay that I kind of like his sister more? Gorgeous song, though)
79. Brother Down - Sam Roberts
80. Steaming - Sarah McLachlan
81. The Path of Thorns - Sarah McLachlan (memories of seeing her live at UVic in the er-lee 90s)
82. Vox - Sarah McLachlan (she was around in the 80s, you know)
83. Tell Somebody - Sass Jordan
84. That Don't Impress Me Much - Shania Twain
85. You've Got a Way - Shania Twain (an ideal wedding song, though not for next October, sorry)
86. I Want You Back - Sherry Kean
87. The Lines You Amend - Sloan
88. And If Venice Is Sinking - Spirit of the West
89. Frankfurt I’m Sorry - Spirit of the West (first heard on a mix tape a young guy I was sort of pursuing made me. Long story not worth going into but the ring I wear reminds me of that time)
90. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) - The Arcade Fire (though really, shouldn't that be "Neighbourhood"?)
91. Heart of the City - The Arrows
92. Ordinary People - The Box
93. Wasn't That a Party? - The Irish Rovers (although I remember their children's music more fondly)
94. I Will Give You Everything - The Skydiggers (good concert in Victoria late in 1993)
95. Slow Burning Fire - The Skydiggers
96. Romantic Traffic - The Spoons (the National Post picked Nova Heart? I barely remember that song)
97. Locked in the Trunk of a Car - The Tragically Hip (there are a few Hip songs I'm ok with, but this is the only one I utterly and enthusiastically like)
98. In the Meantime - The Waltons
99. Brothers - Tiga
100. Just Like Ali - Tom Cochrane (but NEVER "Life is a Highway" thanks!)

Peter and Conrad go out

A night out for me and for Conrad invariably involves food, often wine and/or cocktails, and usually ends early. We're old marrieds. Forgive us.

This past weekend was exceptional, however. Two nights in a row - not just one night in isolation - we ventured out to live entertainment. And though we have struggled to catch up on sleep since, boy, was it fun! No, really. We'll have to venture out again.

Saturday: dinner with CG at Bistro Zinc. Our hope then was to head to River East 21 and get Conrad to his first movie of the year, Inception. Conrad and I hopped on the bus downtown
and shopped a bit, then headed to the restaurant and parked at the bar where we chatted with the hilarious bartender. CG showed up, we stayed at the bar, and enjoyed a casual (though not as cheap as we might like) dinner. Charcuterie and snails to share to start with. Quail on lentils for me for dinner. I've come to like Bistro Zinc a lot - great neighbourhood place, just not in my neighbourhood.

Then off to the theater (me, walking gingerly to the cab thanks to a 21-mile run that morning). Get there, get to the ticket machine. Inception - sold out. WHAT? Really? Apparently it's still a popular movie all these weeks later. Wow. Out onto the curb with us, and while CG and Conrad debated where to go for more wine, I secured us tickets for Comedy Sportz.

Off to Eno at the Intercontinental for a glass of wine each (and why did that waiter assume Conrad wanted the Malbec while CG and I were each having Pinot Meunier - she was having the Malbec, in fact), and a cab up to Boystown for the comedy show.





I'm very fond of improv comedy. I never get to live theatre in Chicago (or elsewhere), and it doesn't interest me hugely, to be honest. But comedy shows are fun, and I've enjoyed them in Chicago, Vancouver, and Montreal. Best thing that night? During one team's game at a point where they had to perform in the style of a Western, a member of the opposing team rolled across the stage in imitation of tumbleweed. Sometimes it's the small things.

Sunday morning we got up late.

Sunday evening it was over to CG's for dinner - she cooked a pork tenderloin with roasted vegetables, I baked a raspberry and almond brown butter tart, and we enjoyed wine that Conrad and I brought. Dinner done, we made our way to the 10:00 performance at Lincoln Hall. Never been there before, and when I saw Laura Veirs was playing the next night, I found myself thinking, "Can I make it 3 nights in a row?" (NO) Alex Church Brown of Sea Wolf was playing a solo acoustic set.
I hadn't heard of him before, but I gladly bought a Sea Wolf CD on Tuesday. I liked his singing, I liked the songs. I wish he'd bantered more. I wish the guy sitting at the end of the balcony with his girlfriend was something less of an obnoxiously enthusiastic fan.

What's up next for us? I don't know. Back to dining out and such, but I tell you, we will see more movies or live entertainment. It's fun, and I'm glad we had a weekend to remind us of this.

happy birthday Handsome!

There is a long list of really sweet and handsome men in my life, starting with Conrad. High on that list? A birthday boy today. Brett.

Brett is... hmmmm... how old is he anyway? Hmmmm.

No matter. Any man who can look like this eating bacon has stolen a small piece of my heart.

Jeph, give that man an extra kiss and hug for me and let him know how very very special he is.

mixed review

I think I've said before about how very much I want to like restaurants I go to. Having had several years of front and back of the house experience, I'm inclined to be sympathetic to waitstaff and kitchen staff both. I just want them all to do their best and succeed.

Hearty is making it tough for me.

I went there back in May with David for brunch on a Sunday and was, sorry to say, underwhelmed. The menu promised great things, but when I can barely saw through a waffle with a butter knife, there's an issue. And yes, bad me, I didn't tell them so.

Same for last night. Some issues, but at no point did I tell them. So with that in mind, let me strive for fairness...

The company was great! We've got a small group of teammates with whom we dine monthly, and it's proven to be a great way to try new places and catch up on the swim team gossip we miss out on. Amy, George, and Brian were terrific fun last night.

Huge portion of tasty fried chicken. Good stuff.

Tasty cocktails. I liked mine - it disappeared quickly - and the wine list proved not just to challenge us with new names, but also new places (NC, NY, IN, VA, and AZ wines among the unexpected things on the list). Also, the wines were a great price. Hearty is quite nicely priced all in all.

The tater tots with truffle oil. Did they make the tots from scratch? I don't care. They were piping hot and richly scented and oh so good.

But...

Everyone at the table was thrilled by the appearance of a pound of (I think) deep-fried bacon on the appetizer portion of the menu. Great! But really, what we got was a cone full of bacon, nothing more than that, and it wasn't that warm. I'm not such a bacon acolyte that I will mindlessly enthuse over that.

The sliders were a buck each and, frankly, worth only that much. They tasted fine, but unexceptional.

I had other small quibbles with the food - my collard greens, for one - but I did like the food far more this time. And really, with beverages and friends, it was a fun time. The real problem was the timing.

I wonder if Hearty needs more staff. I wonder if that might help reduce the gap between the appetizers and the entrees to comfortably under the 35 or more minutes we experienced last night. I wonder if that might have made a leisurely night less forcibly leisurely. None of us said anything, but I think we were all thinking it: this place needs to step things up.

I want Hearty to succeed - it's in an odd stretch of Broadway but very welcome in the neighbourhood. I will go back - the food was better, and while service lagged, it was friendly. Perhaps just for cocktails? We'll see, and hope for even better.

"cooking"

People, I'm sorry, but here it is just three months until Christmas and the temperature was due to hit 88. No, thank you. Summer can move along, and sweater weather can make its welcome appearance. And while I doubt it made it to 88 today, it was warm.

No cooking for me, then. Conrad used his magic fingers to call up our usual sushi place, and once that arrived, I got busy in the kitchen... on a martini each. That was "cooking" for tonight.




It was pretty cool, though, to sit outside with dinner and a leisurely cocktail and watch storms roll by in the distance.

cultural attractions

I think we can all relate: no matter where you live, if there are attractions that, well, attract tourists, we seldom go. Hancock? Can't recall what year was the last time I was up there. Museum of Science and Industry? Only been once, hated it. And so on. We become tourists in our own city only when out of town guests somehow provoke us to take them places. And then, predictably, we think, "We should come here more often."

Here's the secret to going more often: buy a membership.

No, really. We got in on a Groupon deal for the Art Institute a year back (well, 13 months), and found ourselves there, oh, three times. Not much, but given the deal (and the discount at Terzo Piano, the restaurant in the Modern Wing), it was worth it.

Conrad wanted to see a show today. He'd heard from a colleague about an exhibit of Henri Cartier-Bresson photography, and wanted to go back. Alas, the membership had expired. A few clicks and a $80 charge to the credit card later, and we're members again. And for sure, we'll go a few more times this year.

In any case, it was a lovely morning to get out of the apartment (even if it had cooled off and clouded over by the time we left the Art Institute). We admired the view from Millennium Park and the Nichols Bridge over to the Modern Wing,

headed in to Terzo Piano for a light lunch,


and happily took in the show. I promise, we will go back, with or without out-of-town visitors!