Sloth: FORESTS @ Tarragon Theatre

Ok, so this is a bit opposite to SLOTH, but I have found myself once again with three jobs (not including my new business)... It's at Tarragon Theatre, and for those of you not familiar, it's a great company in Toronto that produces original works through aiding playwrights from the inception of their stories with workshops and staging of their pieces. The outcome is usually well-crafted Canadian theatre (whatever that REALLY is...), and I am happy to be a part of their final show of the season: Forests. I may only be doing the laundry and some wardrobe maintenance, but I like the space and the people and who doesn't love a little extra money? The play is written by the same playwright that did SCORCHED (which was also turned into the film INCENDIES), and seems promising. Come see it.

Gluttony: Saturday's Shopping Excursion for Tea and Fine Foods

These two beauties came from About Cheese on Church street (just south of Wellesley) - one of the best cheese shops in the city. The one on the left is Mapledale 7 year aged cheddar; it crumbles just right and melts amazingly in your mouth. The one on the right is a basic Gouda (soo smooth, and 50% off this month!) that has been smoked by About Cheese's neighbours, the equally-amazing Cumbrae's meat shop (if you are looking for meat in the area, only shop here). Let the Gouda rest after removing it from the fridge so that it gets a little warm and soft.

A stop in Kensington resulted in some stellar soup from one of the independent Organic grocers on Augusta. Cashew carrot ginger soup - heat and serve and love it til the last drop (and only like $3).

 Silver Star Tea from Golden Mint on Yonge at College

This tea was wonderful. It's adorable, to start. Secondly, it's delicious. It's a very light tea (a white tea, to be exact) and once it's brewed, tastes like a smooth, warm hug in your mouth (sounds lame, I know, but if you try it you will agree with me).

These are a couple concoctions from the past week or so that have made my tummy and my tongue very pleased:

 

Sweet Potato Fries (sweet potatoes baked with rosemary, olive oil, smoked paprika and some smoked salt) with my homemade Mayo (mayonnaise with dijon mustard, smoked paprika, smoked salt)

Mini Bagels from Loblaws are incredible! They're basically half as thin as a bagel and have a texture more similar to a flatbread... better for making sandwiches that won't fill me up only a third of the way through; I can actually finish this one.

  On this badboy I've got some prosciutto (ughh, love love love), alfalfa sprouts, spring mix of lettuce, tomato, aged cheddar and pear slices, and a little dijon to spice it up a wee bit. Grilled on both sides to warm it up a bit and it's a pretty amazing sandwich (ALL THE FOOD GROUPS ARE THERE TOO, MOM).

Gluttony: FRESH - Buddha Bowl

The Buddha Rice Noodle Bowl from Fresh is just incredible every time I visit the restaurant. Fresh is a Toronto-based vegetarian eatery with a few locations now open. They serve fresh (duh), delicious, healthy meals and the owner has published a couple of recipe books that showcase their regular and their juice menus. I've recently picked up ReFresh, the second edition of the original menu - DIVINE. It lists all of their dishes with instructions, sauces, veggie burgers, juices, marinades... you name it, they have it, and you'll be drooling the moment you get past the first couple of pages. Tonight, Irene and I made the Buddha Rice Bowl, but I substituted the rice for Soba noodles. It's their most basic Bowl dish in terms of flavours and spices, using a peanut sauce for the main kick.

Start layering the bowl with noodles and then the marinated tofu in the middle and pour over top some of the peanut sauce (OHH SO GOOD). Add bean sprouts and cilantro, then some tomato and cucumber. DONE. How easy was that? Just waiting for the tofu to marinate was the hardest part because I was so hungry...

Envy: You Wish You Saw Billy Connolly Live

Last night my mother and her boyfriend took me to see Billy Connolly live at Massey Hall. This guy is hilarious, I really love his stand-up that I've caught on the Internet. His live show last night was also quite funny, but he has aged a bit and was basically just spewing anecdotes for two hours. However, they were incredibly funny and his interpretation of Canada (TREE-O-RAMA) really hit the nail on the head. The best part of his act was the point at which he was describing the funniest thing he had ever heard. After spending a good 10 minutes building up to the joke, he finally gets to the good part: at a talent contest, his good mate was the MC and was interviewing the contestants before they performed. One special act was comprised of a young boy and his uncle, who happened to be in a wheelchair and was missing both his legs. The MC asked the boy, "So, if you don't mind my asking, what happened to your uncle?" The boy answers, "He was a window installer for many years, and one day as he was lifting a sheet of glass to place in the frame, a gust of wind came and knocked it out of his hands, letting it crash into his lap and consequently severing his legs." The MC, trying to move on, says "Oh, I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Um, so what is it you're doing for us today?" "We're singers" "What have you called yourselves then?" The punch line: "Simon and Half-Uncle!"

 I used to only catch glimpses of the man when I was a kid on bits of TV that my dad was watching, or in some random roles in a wide variety of movies, like Boondock Saints, Muppet Treasure Island, White Oleander, the Last Samurai and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I also have to say that this man has a wonderfully quirky sense of style (definitely my kind of man)... his outfit last night consisted of a black t-shirt that was incredibly long only in the back, paired with black-and-white striped pants and what seemed to be a pair of Doc Martens with extremely high/thick soles. Hot!

 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Boondock Saints

Here is a clip from his stand-up quick a few years ago; MASTURBATION, and what to do if you get caught (not safe for work)...

Pride: My Adorable Home-Made Costume and a Happy Hallowe'en!!!

This Hallowe'en Irene and I got all dressed up (I was a Dutch Milk Maid) and we went to Church street for a couple of hours to see everyone in their costumes. So much fun! Making our own costumes is very rewarding... next year is going to be crazy!

 Irene as a Greek Goddess

Dutch Milk Maid with FARM ANIMALS!

 Sheep!

 Rabbit!

 Piggy!
 

 Cow!

Another Cow! This was actually the first one I saw, and I was screaming "COW! COW! COW!" chasing after him down Church street trying to get his attention.

Pride: Kate Thornley's Artwork displayed at She Creeps

This past Friday I spent a lovely evening out with Guise (Jenn) and some other friends at my favourite store in Toronto, Function 13. They have a really great gallery space in the back, and this Friday was the opening of a show called She Creeps, featuring work from a few young women in Toronto. Kate Thornley (a good friend of mine) had three pieces in the show!

My favourite of her three, in my very own SIGNED post-card format!

 Kate's three selections

Some of the other artworks:

 

They received a great turn-out for the whole evening!

SHE CREEPS runs from October 29th through November 29th at Function 13 in their gallery space. It features some brilliant artwork from:

Melanie Banks
Alex Boake
Inga Borisenoka
Kiyomi Burgin
Chelsea CAnlas
Anjo Chiang
Erica Glover
YooJin Guak
Frances Lee
Kristi McConnell
Kira Shaimanova
Sam Singh
Kate Thornley

Wrath: Washroom Graffiti

The graffiti we find in washrooms has been a recent topic of multiple conversations lately! It was mentioned that someone had completed their Masters Thesis on the differences between graffiti in Men's and Women's washrooms, and it seems there are quite a few differences indeed. Media, for one, is huge- the PURSE of a woman and how it is brought to the washroom with her most of the time is a big factor. Graffiti is written in more media in Women's washrooms, I imagine, considering the utensils found in a purse: eyeliner, lipstick, nail polish, etc. What do men write with? I only have the one side of this discussion.

Variation in subject matter is probably another one. In a recent visit to the lower section of Sneaky Dee's, it seems the graffiti-laden bowels of the establishment are completely littered in such a wide variety of notes to its viewers.

"If your not creating the Ripple of love, your creating the vacuum of shit"

"life is about the journey, don't forget!"

"Never have bangs in the summer, its a Bitch xo"

"Why is it SO hard to pee in the bowl NOT on the seat?"

We have advice on hairstyles, proper bathroom etiquette, and general advice on how to live a full, enjoyed life. Are women always trying to tell others what to do? I did find other notes, like declarations of love to various men, bands and countries, but it seemed these were far less interesting than the self-advocated advice columnists'. Illustrations were few and far between, and mostly poorly drawn. I have much curiosity now to find out what is scribbled in the men's washroom pre-mid-post business.