When Lisa declared at the Erotika Dinner a month ago that she wanted an Avatar-themed dinner, the chefs said — and I quote — “We are not making blue food!”
The saying “I’m going to eat my words” comes to mind, because yes indeed, we ate blue food. Not only that, but the house was decorated like the film’s lush tropical forest called Pandora — I’m just relaying what I heard because I haven’t seen the movie — and there was a point in the evening before the dessert where we sat on the floor around some candles to re-enact a scene… and that’s where they totally lost me.
At any rate, I was there for the food and music. The Oscars? Who cares! Bring on the (blue) food!
The menu:
Blue Cabbage Coleslaw
Blue Cheese on Belgian Endive with Cranberries and Pecans
Paupiette of Ocean Perch and Bok Choy on Black Quinoa
Osso Bucco (Veal Shank) with Blue Potato au Gratin and Purple Carrots
Blueberry Icewine Sorbet with a Raspberry Coulis and Wafer Cookie
Still uploading, but I’ve started a photoset, which is best viewed as a [slideshow] or [thumbnails] or in the Pictobrowser below:
I feel a bit sheepish posting the title “Erotika Dinner” — twice, even — as it invites the expectation that I’m posting photos reminiscent of the 1989 Peter Greenaway film “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover”. Sorry to disappoint! (Great movie, by the way, but definitely not for everyone.) It was hardly an art house film night. Nor were there naked people feeding each other strawberries or oysters or anything like that — the only seafood on the menu was scallops. However, figs are supposed to be erotic, says the Vegetarian Society. (The page has a disclaimer: The Vegetarian Society can not be held responsible for the activities resulting from the consumption of these foods.) Figs baked in port were a part of our dessert.
But I wouldn’t be telling the whole story if I said the evening was just about food, though, it was so much more: the night included impromptu ballroom dance lessons and we were also serenaded by musicians on the guitar, violin, and Irish drums. I shot a bit of video, but the backlighting from the kitchen made the video completely dark. It would’ve been fine had it been silhouetted properly, but I uploaded a few clips, anyway… I put in a request for Jewish folk music, and Tatsu obliged me with this number:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
As for naming the dinner “Erotika”, I point my finger squarely at Lisa, who gets these fanciful ideas sometimes for dinner themes. She likes to get costumed and we like to eat, so any excuse will do. In fact, she’s got a hankering now for an “Avatar“-themed dinner party, but she can’t convince the chefs to make blue food. Fancy that.
I’ve got 57 photos from Sunday night, but only 22 photos and 4 videos are fully public (the rest can only be viewed by my Flickr contacts). The album is best viewed as a [slideshow] or [thumbnails] or in the Pictobrowser below:
It was during the Great Thunderstorm of Summer 2009 that I last saw Lisa and Clint and their merry band of musician friends on the beach for “Moulin Rouge”. The thunderstorm rolled in within a matter of minutes and sent us running for cover. It seemed like an eternity ago (Eric was here then, and now he’s in Melbourne, Australia). In actuality it was August 9, but when I walked in the door of the Ben Navaee Gallery at 1111 Queen Street East, Lisa greeted me like long-lost brethren. Apparently with all the activity in the second half of 2009, I really did disappear! But it was Lisa’s birthday, how could I miss this?
After standing and talking to wedding trade show attendees for more than seven hours non-stop, I was more than happy to sit down, shut up, and listen to music. By the time I arrived at the gallery it was after 10pm, but the musicians were still jamming and Lisa was still the Energizer Bunny:
There were percussionists and a keyboardist and more guitars in one place than I’ve seen in ages — so much talent in one room. I don’t play any instruments (does the camera count?), and I greatly admire anyone who can. Music is good for the soul. The musicians were local and from all over the world: Russia, Turkey, Sweden, and those are just the ones I know of… I also had the good fortune of bumping into a Turkish guy I hadn’t seen in a year since I carpooled some people up to Horseshoe Valley. I told him about my plan to visit Turkey this year, so now I’ve got the invaluable resource of local information!
Our gracious host was Ben, owner of the Ben Navaee Gallery, which I’m plugging here because of all the work he does for the community. He hosts benefit art auctions at the gallery, “…fundraising events to help with different issues like poverty, homelessness, disease, devastation of the forces of nature, injustices of the world, or any other problems and challenges facing human beings.” He also hosts the Toronto East Community Arts Program, which is a series of free classes “…to help children, youth and adults develop their visual and performing arts skills and channel their creativity.”
Also from the website:
Ben Navaee… is a painter and a certified yoga instructor specialized in relaxation/meditation. His painting style’s known as Aram art (Aram in Sanskrit means quiet, calm, and taking rest. Aram art is a mellow and non-expressionistic view of life’s phenomena, with immaterial soothing subjects that make the body quiet and peaceful, the mind, calm and relaxed, the spirit, gentle and serene. Aram art promotes positive emotions for an easy and mindful living).
It was a great atmosphere on Saturday night, especially after a full day of wedding-related madness, to be surrounded by art and music and friends and food. I’m posting Lisa’s video, which was shot well before I arrived, to show some of the music:
The photos can be viewed best as a [slideshow] or [thumbnails] or in the Pictobrowser below:
It was Friday night, wintry and cold, and I was greeted by total darkness outside. But I hurried, not just because I was late leaving the office (again) and five days of that is more than enough to make me hurry out the door, but because Natalia told me what they were cooking up at Marin’s place for dinner: cornbread muffins and leek soup. Suddenly I was really hungry thinking about what’s in the oven and on the stovetop, and I quickened my step to the subway.
I also brought those Godiva chocolates from the previous post and a huge bottle of white wine given to me back in November.
Dinner was followed by a rather heated (board) game of “Lord of the Rings” between Neesa and Natalia, while Marin and I played Scrabble.
Note the two early-game instances of Scrabbles — one of them was mine:
The rest of the photos can be viewed as [thumbnails] or a [slideshow] or in the Pictobrowser below:
It’s after 11pm and I just arrived home from an interesting day. Lots to think about.
But let’s have some photos. These are from the archives, now that I’ve got my scanner on speaking terms with my computer. (I’m reviving my practice of scanning my prints to archive them, it’s been ages!)
While I was living in Scotland, my friend Fedor Alphenaar (whom I met two years before, in Australia) visited from Holland for his birthday in August 1994 so we could go motorcycle camping. I LOVED it, but haven’t gone motorcycle camping since. After looking at these photos, I was reminded of how liberating it felt to bike around the Isle of Arran at leisure and to be in touch with my surroundings. Being a passenger in a car or bus or train is a bit isolating by comparison. The last time I was on a motorcycle was on the back of a Triumph Tiger almost a year ago, in Vancouver, although it seems like longer. I have no intention of buying a motorbike, but I’m going to figure out a way to ride on one this year.
My agenda for this weekend was to make it work-free and shopping-free, both of which I can say I accomplished now that Sunday is nearly over. I’ve been working and volunteering every weekend for what seems like FOREVER, though it was actually only November when I went to New York City and Ottawa, and I was working while I was in Ottawa. I needed a break very, very badly. The shopping-free part is a two-fold objective: to not spend money, and AVOID STORES the weekend before Christmas. My major goal for the holidays is not to set foot in a store for the rest of the year unless it’s a grocer. I have 11 days left, let’s see how that goes…
As for this weekend, I just wanted to sleep in and stay in my pyjamas all day as a respite from the weeks of sleep deprivation. That was Saturday, I woke up at 1:30 in the afternoon. Today I wanted to sleep in even more but I committed myself to a holiday brunch at Natalia’s. On Saturday I had no idea what I could bring for brunch that didn’t involve a store (I’m not even that keen on grocery stores these days, everyone’s cooking and baking up a storm), but I found some falafel mix and fried it up. Doesn’t sound very brunch-like, does it? But really, brunch can be anything, in my book. And I came home with an empty container so it’s all good.
We also played a modified version of a game called Outburst that involves a list of categories, a die with the alphabet on it (I think it excludes X and maybe some other tough letters), and letting everyone yell out a word/s that belong in those categories once the letter die is rolled. English isn’t the first language for many people in the room, which you might think is a disadvantage, but Farhad smoked everyone at this game, and he’s an expat. It’s as if he has a high-speed index engine in his head for all the English words he knows. For the rest of us, Sunday is meant to be a lazy day — a mentally lazy day!
Photos can be viewed as [thumbnails] or a [slideshow] or in the Pictobrowser below:
No, we didn’t eat brains for brunch. But Natalia grossed out the vegetarians by roasting pork in the oven, then taking it out to display… thankfully no vegetarians lost (tossed?) their brunch.
I had to skip the (7th annual) Zombie Walk this year to finish my heap of computer work, but I didn’t want to miss the brunch beforehand. We ate first, before any fake blood and liquid latex made their ghoulish appearance, and I took photos while Jan and Natalia got their zombie makeup on with Marin’s help.
Check out the rest of the photos in whichever way you prefer: [thumbnails] [slideshow - photos are larger] or in the Pictobrowser below. Clicking on a photo will advance you to the next one, or you can click on the play button to view it as a slideshow within Pictobrowser.
[I would've posted this last night, but my power was out!]
Today Yesterday would’ve been Arliin’s 50th birthday, and if she were alive she would either be horrified that I’m broadcasting this on the internet or I would be placating her at the pub with several rounds of Guinness, her drink of choice. Maybe even both. I guess I’ll never find out, because she’s not around to get angry about it. But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten the day. Or the milestone.
When I think of Toronto I can’t help but think of Arliin. It’s more than the fact that her cats — Beano and Xena — are my housemates here. The truth is, the whole city reminds me of her because she knew it so well and shared it with me, unreservedly.
Arliin found me through this website while Googling something Dutch-related on the internet, and kept reading. She introduced herself to me in August 2006, about five months after I moved to Toronto. Which is amazing in itself since she was a self-admitted Luddite, didn’t own a computer (only used one at work), kept a paper calendar and didn’t own a cell phone or even an answering machine. Basically, we were opposites.
Those first five months in Toronto were rough due to some horrendous experiences some of you might remember: the movers who tried to extort more money from me by threatening to drive off with my belongings; Hugh’s illness and death; the charity event that went horribly wrong; debilitating depression and social anxiety; overzealous U.S. border officers; meanwhile everything in Pennsylvania was being sold off (the house, the airplane) — and that was just within the first few months. It’s a wonder I stuck around, really. I have no family here, and the few people I knew either disappeared or were constantly out of town. Thinking back to those days, Arliin could not have picked a worse time to befriend me — I was a very inconsolable kind of miserable and angry with the universe. But the amazing part was she did, and I am forever grateful to Arliin for being a friend to me, a complete stranger from the internet, in the darkest part of my life.
Arliin was a really good listener, and as I discovered, good listeners are a rare breed. We talked. A lot. About everything. Little did we know our time together would be so short — she was gone less than a year and a half later of unknown causes. I associate many things with Arliin: cats, horses, live music, running, baseball, rowing (pretty much all sporting events), and the last couple of times I was at the Air Canada Centre for hockey and basketball I imagined her there. Arliin was into so many things, she was my go-to person for activities in this city.
Xena and Beano and I are still taking care of each other, Arliin, but we wish we had more time with you!
Thursday, October 1 arrived and I wasn’t looking forward to it, except that Natalia offered to make me dinner while I went over some details about the wedding this Saturday that she’ll assist with. I needed something to look forward to on Thursday, to take my mind off the date.
The SMS this afternoon: “… and I baked a cake”
There’s something about home cooking that’s like therapy. Comfort food is exactly that.
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