House of Gourmet, Chinatown

After the Jays game Gabe and I walked up to Chinatown to grab a bite. We decided to go to House of Gourmet on Dundas, just east of Spadina. It's been a fixture in the area for many years.

Before my last venture in, I hadn't been there in quite a long time. They actually fixed it up quite nicely. You might not call it upscale, but it's a step up from most other restaurants nearby.

They have most of the traditional Cantonese dishes there. From seafood chow mein to BBQ duck on rice. On this particular evening Gabe had a hankering for roast pork on rice and I ordered my usual standby beef and tomato on rice.

As well, we order a small plate of BBQ Pork Cheung Foon (rice roll) which I thought was a bit bland. Normally I get the beef cheung foon, but Gabe suggested the other kind, which I now regret.

Still, like most of the food in Chinatown, the bill ended up being quite reasonable. We ended up paying around $20.00 plus tax and tip. That's the great thing about Chinese food. It's tasty, filling and priced right.

Nuit Blanche 2015 - My Night

After shooting Xi and Jun's wedding at church I had a bit of time to kill before Nuit Blanche started. I walked over to the Eaton Centre and loitered at the Indigo until starting time.

The first project I saw (106) was right outside in Trinity Square. It was called Where am I from? There was a tent set up that you could write where you were from on with a marker. Since I was the second or third person there only two of us had written on the tent. Not much to see there at all.

After that I walked across the street to Nathan Philips Square. The first project I came across was: 114 - There Is No Away. The artist placed huge bales of actual garbage and recyclables along the east part of City Hall to illustrate how much waste we generate as a society. I'm glad I wasn't a volunteer there. It was pretty, pretty stinky.

As well, a mysterious artist who goes by the moniker, JR, had a number of projects set up at City Hall as well as other places around the city. His main project, 13 - Inside Out, was having posters made of people who could paste them in a huge circle in the middle of Nathan Philips Square.

Other projects I saw at City Hall were in the Council Chambers: 15 - Nuit Talks: Putting the extra-in-ordinary and; 20 - Park Here in the underground parking lot. In all I spent about two hours in the City Hall area.

Next I headed towards Bay Street. There were a number of projects set up going south until the lake front. At Queen and Bay there was a group of older gentlemen doing some sort of traditional European dancing on the street. I don't know who they were because they weren't a stationary project so I couldn't look them up on the event map.

I have to mention, this was the first year I didn't actually look up any of the projects on-line ahead of time. I guess I was a bit lazy. All I did was take a look at the map and plot a course around the city depending on the grouping of where the most projects were.

My route would start behind the Eaton Centre, head over to City Hall, go south on Bay to King then continue on to Union Station. From there I'd continue south to the Harbourfront before heading up Lower Simcoe to David Pecaut Square and TIFF Bell Lightbox and up to Queen and McCaul to OCAD and AGO.

The trip down Bay Street was below par I thought. There wasn't too much going on and what was there was below average. At Adelaide and York Streets I saw: 83 - The Face of Toronto (a video collage of exhibit attendees) and: 39 - Light Cave (a colourful inflated sculpture you could walk through/under).

Union Station was about the same. One project: 111 - Pattern Study was just stuff hanging from the ceiling near the entrance to the trains and the other: 117 - Domestic Motion had a line I deemed too long, so I skipped it.

Next was Queens Quay and the Harbourfront. Again it was extremely windy down there and the lines to go in to see things were 30-40 minutes long. I wasn't about to wait that long to see anything so I continued on.

The project: 68 - Tri-Monic - Shape, Sound, Sight at David Pecaut Square was a bit silly. Just some instruments set up and a microphone that you could play/sing into that made funny sounds.

I spent a bit more time at Bell TIFF Lightbox. They had a number of projects there. Some of them had long lines, others weren't too bad. I caught: 38 - Light Upon Light! (boring light sculpture hanging from the ceiling) and: 103 - Spacebro Justice Rocket which was a fun life sized video game.

I was in the home stretch now heading towards OCAD and the AGO. On my way up John Street I passed by the Much Music building on Queen. They had their own unofficial Nuit Blanche set up: On Tilt- 30 Air Dancers In A Parking Lot where they had a bunch of "air dancers" (like you see in used car parking lots) going with dance music/videos blasting in the background. It was actually pretty cool.

Even at 2:00 a.m. the line up to get into OCAD was too long for me. Pass. I headed over to the Art Gallery and waited two minutes to get in there. They had a couple of projects in there. As well they opened up part of the gallery for people to go through. I spent about 45 minutes there and by ten minutes to 3:00 was done for the night.

Au revoir, Nuit Blanche.

Toronto Blue Jays - Game 1 - ALDS

For the first time in 22 years the Toronto Blue Jays made it to the post-season winning the American League East pennant. The local fans were ecstatic. To say playoff tickets were in huge demand would be a grand understatement.

Many people tried in vain to get their hands on them. First dibs went to season ticket holders. The remaining few were up for up grabs. Many people tried in vain to buy them first thing when they went on sale on the Jays' website, but left disappointed. A few people I know tried without luck.

On Wednesday my friend, Gabe, contacted me. One of his friends had bought a number of tickets during the regular season and was offered a chance to buy post-season tickets. He jumped at the chance before he knew what day and time the games would be held.

As it turned out he was unable to make the first and second games here in Toronto (on Thursday, October 8th and Friday, October 9th), so he offered the tickets up to his friends. Gabe quickly snapped up a pair and asked me if I'd like to join him. Of course I said, yes.

Game 1 on Thursday started at a very unusual time - 3:37 p.m. (first pitch). Major League Baseball was catering to the U.S. market and gave us the crummiest time slot they could find. No matter. I asked Sid if I could have the day off. He suggested we split my Thursday route so I could leave early to see the game. So that's what we did.

Jays ace and hired gun, David Price, would be pitching. Since arriving in Toronto just before the trade deadline he has pitched unbelievably well. Though his previous playoff record with Tampa Bay Rays was less than stellar at 0-5. I was sure the results would be different this time. After all, the Jays had one of most potent offences in all of Major League Baseball.

Gabe joined me after finishing early at work. He suggested we meet at the Rogers Centre at Gate 13. There was no line there because, as it turns out, that gate was reserved for suite attendees or something like that. We had to go to Gate 14 with the rest of the heathens and wait to get in.

The tickets he got from his friend were pretty good. We were in Section 239L, Row 1, Seats 105-106 (right along the railing on the 200 level along the 3rd base line).

After the unfurling of the Jays' 2015 American League East Champions banner and the singing of the national anthem, Jays' World Series winning manager, Cito Gaston, was invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Game on!

David Price was a bit shaky at the beginning of the game letting a couple of base runners on in the first. Texas starter, Yovani Gallardo, was a bit more steady retiring the first nine Blue Jays in order.

In the top of the 3rd inning Texas struck first scoring two runs with RBIs by Delino DeShields and Adrian Beltre. We scratched back a run in the bottom of the 4th when Ben Revere scored on a soft single by Edwin Encarnacion.

The Rangers returned fire in the top of the 5th scoring two more after Price hit #8 batter, Rougned Odor, for the second time in the game. This proved costly because catcher and #9 hitter, Robinson Chirinos, followed with a home run.

Jose Bautista knocked one out of the park in the bottom of the 6th. But Texas, once again, countered with a line drive home run by Rougned Odor in the top of the 7th. Normally a two run deficit would be nothing for the 2015 Jays to overcome, but the Texas closers shut us down in the 8th and 9th. Sadly we lost 5-3.

Still it was nice to attend the first playoff game in 22 years. With Texas winning the second game in the best of 5 series the next day (Friday). It may be the last post-season game the fans here get to see until next year at the earliest.

And, unfortunately for Gabe's friend, he may not get to use his Game 5 playoff tickets if the Jays don't sweep two games down in Texas. How sad for him.

Nuit Blanche 2015 - Introduction to My Night

This was the 10th anniversary of Nuit Blanche here in Toronto. And it very well may be the last. I've gone every year since the beginning and, in recent years, it's gotten smaller and smaller.

As well, after the event, it was reported that Scotiabank is pulling their title sponsorship saying, "the event no longer lines up with its priorities."

I have to say I've enjoyed going over the years. In its heyday it was a really fun experience. It took over the whole city with hundreds of thousands of people coming out to enjoy the spectacle.

Stretches of Yonge Street, Queen Street, Spadina or others were closed off to traffic. Open spaces such as Liberty Village, the Distillery District, Fort York, Ryerson University and Yonge-Dundas Square were used.

This time I believe the only large space holdouts from previous years that were utilized were Nathan Philips Square, OCAD/AGO and Queen West. They added a number of projects in a new area along the Harbourfront though.

I have to say, thanks, to Mother Nature as well. In all the years I've gone it's been relatively dry. I think the first year had a bit of rain and I'm sure some others in between did too. But not enough to make me want to stay home and miss it.

This year when I checked the forecast a day ahead of the event there was a 30%-40% probability of precipitation up until 10:00 p.m. After that it went up to 70% for most of the overnight. Not good.

When I checked the day of it was reduced to 30%-40% chance of rain through the whole night. But when I actually walked around it was dry for the most part, thank goodness.

One thing that was really annoying was the wind though. It was incredibly windy. At certain times it was hard to stay on your feet. It really made it difficult to get decent shots at slower shutter speeds.

I finished this year a bit earlier than some in the past. For a few years in the middle I managed to stay out the whole night (around 12 hours). This time I packed it in around 3:00 a.m. Eight hours out was enough for me. I'm not as young as I used to be.

If this is the last year for Nuit Blanche I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. A big thanks goes out to Scotiabank for sponsoring it and the City of Toronto for allowing it to happen.

California Roll on Bayview

Lawrence and I went to California Roll AYCE sushi on Bayview last Friday. If you know me, you know I really like sushi. Especially All-You-Can-Eat. It's one of my favourites. So much so it was actually the second time I went in a week. The previous Friday I was at Gallery Sushi at Village by the Grange with Gabe before we saw Black Mass at TIFF.

Before going to California Roll I had checked a few places on-line. There were two things that I considered in choosing a place - the price and proximity to my place.

Echo Sushi was the closest at only 10 minutes south on Yonge. I thought they were a little pricey at $22.99 for dinner plus a $2.00 surcharge Friday through Sunday and holidays, but they turned out to be the same as the other two places I looked up.

I found Yonge Sushi on-line. It's prices seemed all right at $22.99 and their menu selection was okay. But they were a bit further up Yonge north of Lawrence for a 40-minute walk.

California Rolls on Bayview south of Eglinton was supposed to be the same price as the others. It's menu selection seemed a bit better than Yonge Sushi and it was only 25 minutes away. So I suggested that one.

Lawrence called them and made reservations for us at 8:00 p.m. Of course I arrived at 8:00. And, of course, he ran late blaming traffic. No biggie. I ordered a plate of sushi ahead of time just for myself.

When the menu came I noticed they raised the price to $23.50 (plus $2.00 weekend surcharge). What can you do? I ordered a number of my favourites - Rainbow Roll, Eel and Avocado Roll and a variety of nigiri and sashimi. I have to say the White Tuna sushi was amazing. So fresh and tasty.

I had just about demolished the whole plate when Lawrence arrived. He was hungry so I reluctantly allowed him to eat the last piece of sushi on the plate. Of course we ordered more. A lot more.

I tried a few more rolls - the Spider Roll (soft shell crab) and Volcano Roll (avocado, cucumber, tobiko, chopped grilled scallop and "crab" meat). Lawrence ordered some sashimi (surf clam, red snapper, mackerel and white tuna).

For the next round I ordered more nigiri and I tried a couple more rolls - the Crystal Roll (white tuna, avocado, crab meat and "crispy") and the Salmon Dragon Roll (shrimp tempura, tobiko, cucumber with salmon on top).

I finished off dinner with a scoop of red bean ice cream and their deep fried ice cream (mango flavour). I didn't think it was that good. Still, overall, the food was quite good as was the service.

The price was a bit more than expected. Plus, on the bill, I noticed we were charged an extra $1.00 each for green tea. Who charges for tea? So, instead of a total of $30.00 each, it ended up being about $35.00 each after tax and tip. For that price I might just go back to Echo Sushi.

Justin's Cottage - Day 3

Bonnechere Caves.

We didn't spend too much time at the cottage on our final day. After breakfast we cleaned up and packed then headed out. I went with Keith so he wouldn't have to drive alone. But, in doing so, left Justin to travel by himself.

The first leg of our trip wouldn't be too far. We were only traveling an hour south to the Bonnechere Caves, a bit east of Eganville.

We arrived at the caves around noon. It was a hot, sticky day. Luckily the caves, at around 13C, would provide a cool respite.

Admission is $17 for adults. You have to go on a guided tour of the caves. Ours was a lanky, shaggy haired teenager who sounded less than enthused at having to repeat his spiel yet again to another group of tourists.

He gave a bit of history of the fossils that were found in the area. And he spoke about the gentleman, Tom Woodward, who first explored the caves in 1955. The talk lasted about 20 minutes before we were taken into the actual caves.

The caves themselves are mostly long and narrow. Sometimes the ceiling is high, other times not so much. It never opens up into a large cavern or anything like that. Overall it's pretty tight inside. I wouldn't say it's very spectacular at all. But it was still kind of interesting seeing that it was the first cave system I've had the chance to explore.

We were finished our tour in little over an hour. Back on the road in search of late lunch/early dinner.

Keith was pretty sleepy on the next leg of the journey. He had a bit of trouble trying to keep awake. I know how he felt. I'm sure we've all felt like that a times. I tried to keep him alert by talking and playing games. I guess it worked somewhat. We're both still here.

We were thinking about grabbing a bite at The Spud Box. It's a burger and fish and chips joint in Kaladar at the intersection of Highway 7 and 41. But, like I mentioned before, it was really hot and humid outside and they didn't have any inside seating so we drove on.

Our next option was Kelly's, a family owned restaurant 20 minutes away, just north of Tweed. We went there for lunch last year on our way home from Justin's cottage. Unfortunately for us, this year they were closed. We continued on.

We ended up at Paulo's Italian Trattoria in Belleville. It was almost 5:00 by now and we hadn't eaten since the morning so we were all pretty hungry.

After ordering our food we inhaled it quickly before hitting the road again. Traffic back into the city along the 401 was pretty slow. It was the Labour Day long weekend after all. All the cottagers were returning home at the same time. As well we had to contend with stupid drivers who further clogged the arteries by running into one another. Booo!

I don't believe we got back into the city until after 10:00. A long day to say the least. Still it was nice to get away. It's just the drive out and back that I can do without.

Justin's Cottage - Day 2

Day two began with breakfast at the restaurant at Fort William. It's a 35 kilometre drive from Justin's cottage through Chapeau. Though, if you had a boat, you could take the direct route 10-12 kilometres up the Ottawa River door-to-door.

I don't remember what time we arrived last year, but this year we were a bit late. We made it in time for breakfast, but they ran out of home fries as a side so they substituted French fries for them. It just wasn't the same.

Also, like last year, we visited Parc Des Chutes Coulonge (52 kilometres straight east of the restaurant). Last year we just paid the $8 entrance fee and walked through the park. This year Peter wanted to try the zip-lining and "rock climbing".

Keith is deathly afraid of heights. He probably wouldn't even stand on top of a kid's wagon. I don't think Justin was that enthused about it either. In my case it was the $97 cost that scared me. That just left Emily, Ken and Peter to try it. They were joined by a mother and her teenage son.

Their first stop was the long zip-line over the Coulonge River. It took a while for everyone to cross. Justin and I were there with our DSLRs trying to get decent shots of them.

After they crossed the river we lost sight of them. Justin and I decided to head to the next point we thought they'd reappear (which would be the observation deck for one of the falls). Keith hung back. He was a bit too nervous of the height.

While we waited I set my camera on the wide deck railing and took a 1/4 second exposure of the falls there. It was overcast enough that I could take a fairly long exposure without a neutral density filter.

The overcast skies quickly turned into rainy skies. At first the rain was relatively light and I took shelter under a tree. But then it got heavier and didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon.

When it seemed to break, I ran for cover to of one of the buildings near the park entrance to wait it out. Emily, Ken and Peter weren't so lucky. They waited out the rain clinging to the side of a cliff for over half an hour.

Two hours after they started they were done. After returning their harnesses and helmets we drove the 52 kilometres back to Justin's cottage where they quickly changed out of their soaking wet clothes.

The sun had returned by then and we cooked some of our dinner over the campfire. Justin did the rest on his gas barbeque.

After eating Peter and I convinced Justin to come out to the beach to try some more star shots. We started earlier this time to avoid having the bright moon light up the skies.

Peter and I were out there just over an hour. Justin left about half way through. Just before he left we saw a bright shooting star over the north horizon. Just before it went out it broke in two. That was pretty incredible. I've never seen anything like that before.

Back inside the cabin we played Saboteur for a few hours before hitting the sack. For the second night in a row it was warm. Ken and Emily joined Peter and I outside in the tents. They had been bothered by a fly buzzing around inside while they slept. Imagine that... going outside to sleep to avoid insects.