2006 Book LIst

The Prince
Nicollo Machiavelli 2006.12.08

Last Chance to See
Douglas Adams 2006.11.04

The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoyevsky 2006.10.29

Not a big list, but I was stuck on The Brothers Karamazov for most of the year...

I was having trouble getting on to blogger.com on the weekend so I haven't updated in a while.

We've attended a bunch of Christmas parties in the last few days. On Saturday night was the VPC Christmas dinner. It's for all the management at the press centre, and it's usually really well done. It's one of the few parties that still invites partners. We met up with Ram and Teresa, and cabbed it from their house. Any time you're out with Ram, it's a big drinking night, and this was no exception. It was at an italian banquet hall on Highway 27 north of 7. The food was great -- three courses, I had the caesar salad, porcini risotto, and veal picatta. It was an open bar and we seemed to end up near the bar having shooters most of the night. We were doing okay until Glenn had us try the grappa. I'm still acquiring a taste for that.

The VPC party usually winds down around 11pm so we joined Ram and Teresa at a bar near Yonge and Eglinton (the one right beside Spacco's). Had a Keith's and talked with John (his company did the tiling at our house). We're still waiting for the backsplash in the kitchen to be grouted and I keep forgetting to bug him. Got Rob's phone number (I think he's the supervisor of the crew). We headed home around 1ish.

On Monday there were a couple of parties. My group (about 10 of us) went out for lunch at Houston's. I had a 14oz prime rib, and some beers. Our department dinner was at 5:30pm (and it was a cash bar), so the plan was to go for lunch and eventually find our way to the dinner restaurant. Dinner was pretty good, although only four hours after lunch, so I was really stuffed. It was Monday night and after dinner, some people wanted to watch the NFL game, so we found our way to the Keg at York and Adelaide. I got home around midnight.

So after all the partying, I thought I would take it easy on Tuesday night. However, Tanya and Tony had their first kid, Natasha, on Monday afternoon (7pounds, 9 ounces), and so we went to see them at St. Mike's. Everyone was doing well, Tanya looked really relaxed and not at all like she had just had a baby. Marissa and Bernice were also there, and we hadn't seen them in a while, so we all headed to the Flatiron for a drink or two.

Here's some pictures of our tree:







We've been looking for a cool angel for the top of the tree, and I found this one for $7.20 at Linens and Things! Every year Heather and I buy an ornament for each other, and the two doves on the turtle is the one I got for Heather this year (our 2nd Christmas -- two turtle doves, get it?)

Well I should go cook dinner. I'm trying to make the porcini risotto and veal picatta like we had on Saturday night.

Here's a couple pics from Leo's visit on Saturday:





We decorated our tree on Friday night, and it looks quite good. Maricar got it for us from a lot outside the city (near where she works). It's a 9' balsam fir, and it fits perfectly in the front corner of the living room. Unfortunately there's no presents yet under the tree with my name on it.

Last night Maricar had a big dinner party. It was six courses with a wine pairing for each course. Three courses (& wine pairings) were from the LCBO website, and the wine matched really well. It was a lot of fun, and I was stuffed at the end of the night.

Heather and I walked around Queen St E this afternoon, taking advantage of the nice weather (about 8C and sunny). Had lunch at Cafe Vert, which was really good. We were searching for a burger place, but the first couple places were closed on Sundays, so we ended up there. There was a sign on Reliable Fish'n'chips that it's going to be on HGTV's Restaurant Makeover, so it was closed. After we browsed for a star to top the tree, but didn't find anything. However, we did stop into a few new stores (Pentimento, and We) that were pretty cool. The strip between Eye Spy and Okay Okay is now completely full of stores -- most of them newly opened in the last year.

Just watching the Cowboys-Saints game. I've never seen Reggie Bush play before, he looks pretty good. Anyways, going to watch the rest of the game.

We had a great time at Wanderlust on Thursday night. This was the street festival organized by the businesses on Queen E, between Pape and Jones. Maricar and Trishia's brother Robin joined us. We started around 8pm at Toast (had appetizers and wine), and worked our way east. Had some complimentary drinks and snacks -- specialty coffees at Ethel, chai liqueur at Eye Spy (we'll have to look for this at the LCBO), wine tastings at Wild Thyme, fluke at Sushi Marche. By then it was 10pm, the end of the festival. Had great buttered rum drinks at Okay Okay, then pizza and a pitcher of Keiths at Stratenger's and finally some beer at Maricar's (she's into Tuborg Gold after having it at the beer festival).

Despite the rain, there was a really good turnout. Most stores were full of people. From our count, more than half the participating stores have opened in the last year (when we moved here), including two that had their opening for Wanderlust. It reminded me of the vibe at the first Lollapalooza -- no one knew what to expect because it was the first one, but afterward everyone was talking about it. (Although in this case, "everyone" was just the neighbourhood). Anyways I hope they have it again next year.

The variety drinks had hangover written all over it, but the pizza helped out. I only worked a half day on Friday because Heather and I went to Scholar's Choice for their sale on December 1st. Took the opportunity to take Heather to the pizza place in Fortino's up at Hwy 400 & 7 (it's near VPC and I go there for lunch on occasion). It's the best stone-oven pizza in Toronto. Then onto Scholar's Choice where we completed most of our Christmas shopping (it's a great place for children's gifts).

We watched the federal Liberal's leadership convention on Friday evening and most of Saturday. It was quite interesting, especially the Saturday. Heather and I had both felt Stephane Dion could win back in the summer. I think he's a good choice. We wrote our Christmas cards in between the convention happenings.

I just figured out that Heather and I moved into our house exactly one year ago today! Happy anniversary to the house!

We had another LCBO recipe on Saturday, Dijon Pork Chops with Glacé Cherries, and it turned out pretty good. Once again the recommended wine was a great accompanionment. I had to look up kirsch (a cherry brandy). I had raspberry brandy downstairs so used it instead. The recipe calls for way too much flour in the sauce (I only used 25% of what it said). Also had to look up frenched green beans. Some websites said to use a "specialty green bean frencher". I don't own such a tool, so just cut the beans in half length-wise.

After we met up with Marissa at Mill Street Brewery, which is in the Distillery District (about a 30 minute walk west from our house). We usually have Mill St beers (I like the Mill St Organic) when we're out having a drink. The brewery has been around for a while, and they've just opened the on-site pub. It has a really nice atmosphere, and we'll probably be making a trek or two down there when the weather warms up.

Last night we went to see Casino Royale at the Beaches Cinema (where they've dropped prices to $9.95!) I liked it, but not so much after the poker game finished. The opening scene was really good, as was the first chase scene in Madagascar.

This Thursday some of the stores in the neighbourhood are having a little street festival, that they've called Holiday Wanderlust. It stretches along Queen E between Pape and Jones. We live near Pape, and Maricar lives near Jones, so we think it's custom-made party just for us.

Leo (the neighbour's cat) has been visiting quite a bit lately. He's now waiting in the morning for us to check the mail, and he bounds into the house when the door is opened. Usually he just meows around for a few minutes, checks out the scene in the backyard (he's figured out how to peek through the blinds on the back door), peers into the basement, and then leaves for the rest of his obviously busy day.

We finally had a nice weekend, so I was able to start on winterizing things. Drained the hose and turned off the outside tap, and wrapped our evergreens in burlap. I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but Maricar (who is much more knowledgeable on these things) said the tips would get cold burn and brown on their tips.

We're having asian chicken pot for dinner tonight, I'd better get cooking.

My new passport came in today, and so I can now go traveling again! (Heather and I are going to Morocco in the new year, when she completes her dissertation.) There's a few new things in the new passport -- the photo is scanned and printed (instead of the actual physical photo that I submitted), there's a bar code, and my signature is also scanned and printed. I completed the application online, and submitted in person at the Passport office downtown. There was no line-up at all. It's actually $10 cheaper to have the passport mailed (instead of picking it up in person), and today it appeared.

Heather and I have added Indonesia to the short list for our honeymoon (it's the only place on the list so far). It meets all the criteria: beaches (Bali), ruins (Boronbudur, the last major ruin on my list), cool natural sites (Kelimutu).

Maricar's coming over for dinner shortly, and we're having the grilled steak with bourbon sauce. I bought Jack Daniel's so it will be a true bourbon sauce, and not a whiskey-based sauce. I had the guy at the meat counter cut a 2" t-bone steak for me. He really enjoyed cutting the special order.

I got my car back last Friday, and it looks as good as new. They replaced the damaged panels, so it looks better than it did before, because there's no normal wear-and-tear (little nicks from stones etc). There were only two things that I liked about the rental Chrysler 300 -- the trunk could hold both my golf clubs and my hockey bag at the same time, and it took regular gas.

Friday evening we met up with Kristin (Heather's close friend from her PhD program) and her family et al for drinks at Hemingways. (She was celebrating her convocation). I met a few people in Heather's circles for the first time, that I only had pictures in my head from Heather mentioning them in stories. Afterwards, Heather, Reuven and I went for a bite at the Rebel House. It is an anomaly, a bar with actual history in Toronto. I liked it.

I made Shepherd's pie for the first time last Tuesday. It turned out quite well. Only later did I find out that I really made Cottage pie.

Anyways I should go start cooking.

I dropped my car off on Tuesday at Bayview Steeles Auto Collision. My rental car is a Chrysler 300. I have no feel for the road in the thing, I'm floating around somewhere in the lane. It doesn't even have heated seats. It'll take about 8 - 10 days for my car to be repaired. Because the other driver was at fault, my deductible was waived, so it's not costing me anything.

On Thursday our hockey game was on the big ice on Rink A. We lost 3-0. Most of the team (including me) came out flat -- nobody had energy, which was made worse with the big ice. I had a couple good chances to score but couldn't get the handle on the puck. We also had three guys returning from injuries, so they weren't in game shape yet. (I couldn't use that excuse though).

Wednesday night I ran another Operations Tour of the Star. My group supports all the computer systems that are used to put the paper together at One Yonge, and then to print it at VPC (our print facility north of Toronto at Hwy 400 & 7). I work with all the groups along the way, so it's easy for me to put together the tour. Years ago (when I first started at the Star in 2000) it used to be run by a director, and the tour was named after her (the "Audrey Burke tour"). She retired in 2001, and I've been running the tours since then. The participants are mostly new hires, from all over the Star. It starts at 8pm at One Yonge, goes to VPC around 11pm, and ends at a distribution drop site around 2:30am. The "drop site" is actually just a parking lot where the trucks meet the carriers to give them the papers. Most people find it amazing after seeing all the high-tech stuff involved in producing the paper, that the last step is so low-tech. But that's how the paper gets to your door.

We have had a lot of rain over the last week, and most of the leaves have now fallen. Wednesday morning was the biggest falling of leaves -- the backyard looked like after a snow fall, except instead of a smooth covering of snow, everything was covered with yellow leaves. I'm not sure what to do with the leaves in the front -- it's all a flower garden covered with wood chips, so it's not possible to rake. I thought about just leaving the leaves to compost, but I didn't want them blowing all over the neighbours. I'll have to see what other people do.

Tried another LCBO recipe last night, Roasted Veal Chops with Mushroom Sauce and Truffle Oil. The recommended wine wasn't available, but the LCBO guy suggested a similar wine, Vincent Girardin 2004 Pinot Noir from Bourgogne. The wine was good, but we weren't that impressed with the recipe. I think the flavours were supposed to be subtle (especially the truffle oil), but Heather and I prefer recipes with a BAM!!!.

Still trying to decide what to do today. I may start organizing the basement, or I may just read my book. I'm almost done the Douglas Adams book.