It's been so long I don't know where to start. It doesn't really matter as no one really knows where I've been anyways nor have they been expecting anything. If one word were never again added to this block of cheap real estate, the only loser would be me because of my short term memory issues.
First, my treat to you. 25 years ago today at the Greek Theatre on the Berkeley Campus the Grateful Dead played one of their last shows at this famed venue and one of their best mid-80's shows. The Scarlett Begonias>Touch of Grey>Fire on the Mountain is smoking and has been a favorite of mine for years. The band was outgrowing the venue even though it would still be 3 more years until the release of Touch of Grey to the general public would force the Dead out of their comfort zone and into carnivorous stadiums that did nothing for band>fan interaction. On this night at the Greek, the band actually had speakers put up outside the venue for all the fans who couldn't get in who proceeded to get down. Dark Star encore is the cherry on top.
The Tragically Hip are on a little break in their schedule and it gave me time to put together Vol.3 of my Tragically Hip Tour Stat Pack. I will be running weekly poker tournaments and a hockey pool through that blog starting in September. Bookmark it if you're interested. More info will follow as we get closer.
I was down at Queen's Park on Saturday for Afrofest. It was a perfect day in the city and we had a great time. Food, music, beer and fun. You just can't go wrong. The musicians were great and had the crowd dancing all day. There were food stalls selling all kinds of stuff and vendors selling everything from clothing to books, jewelery, carvings, djembes, and the like. It was similar to Shakedown Street in a Phish or Dead lot, except there were a lot more rules.
We went out for sushi in the Annex after that. I wish I would have taken a picture of my food, but the hunger owned me. I dove in and then it was too late. There are a lot of Sushi places in the Annex and most of them suck. We went to New Generation. It's on the south side beside a funky little framing store. 493 Bloor St W to be exact. I had the soft shell crab (I'm such a sucker for this) and the Tempura Shrimp. #'s 31 & 85 on the menu. You get soup, salad and ice cream included. 3 of us ate for $60 with tip.
I've been floating the idea of a blog dedicated to Diners and Greasy Spoons in Toronto, surrounding areas and beyond. It won't be a review site per se. More of a "fan of the genre" type of thing where I lay out some info on a particular venue, its neighborhood, clientele, staff, history, that sort of thing. I am hoping that the readers will chime in with their assessments that will act as testimonials or reprisals. May I introduce: Shakes & Spoons
Yesterday we had a family feast in our back yard. It was massive. I love summer for this. I made a nice Jerry Garcia mix that I was able to slide in to the music rotation pretty seamlessly. It was mainly non-Dead stuff from JGB which meant a saxophone was involved :) We didn't have many dishes, but we had a lot of what we did have. We have rice with peas & clams that was covered with chicken, sausage and garlic fried shrimp, a nice multi-coloured salad with a simple oil & vinegar dressing, I BBQ'd some chili & lime marinated pork and we had cake with fruit & cool whip for dessert. All of this was washed down with wine & beer.
There is a brewery out of Moncton. NB called Pumphouse. I picked up their Blueberry Ale for this occasion. This is the second time I have bought this beer and it is incredible. Pumphouse has a beer called Pumphouse Scotch Ale that in my opinion is the greatest beer on the planet. I realize I haven't tried them all (yet. Ha ha!), but I really can't see it falling out of my top ten. I first tried this beer while working out in St Andrews, NB and I used to order it for the hotel I worked at. This was back in 2001 and at that time Pumphouse's beer was only available on tap and I think they only delivered to New Brunswick & Nova Scotia back then. When I came back to Upper Canada I had no choice but to accept this loss as a part of life. Now they are bottling their beer and I bumped into it at the LCBO. I had tried the Blueberry Ale at their brewery in Moncton while we stayed down there for a few days of golfing & stuff. I remember they garnished the beer with blueberries and they would go up and down in the glass with the bubbles. I had an appetizer of some fresh baked bread, warm brie and a granny smith apple. (Nothing wrong with the long term memory). It was perfect. So far they have two different types at the LCBO. Unfortunately the Scotch Ale isn't one of them. Yet. I will keep you updated. These small breweries, like the small greasy spoons and diners mentioned above are what give our provinces/states, cities and towns, etc. character. It's what differentiates them and gives all of us "local pride", something that's hard to achieve when all you got is Kelsey's, McDonald's, and Wal*Mart. Same as the town next to you and the one next to it. I digress.
I may be heading to California at the end of the month for one week. It's up in the air right now as we're exploring all our options. I would like to go since it's been over 6 months and it would be really nice to see everyone and do a bit of jet skiing. The bonus was that Phish is playing Shoreline during what would have been one of my "down days". That's one of the few amphitheaters I haven't been to on the west coast so that would have been cool. Plus my buddy Kurt is going. It's always good to hit the town with him while I'm there, but Phishing would just be epic. We will see. Azure's brother & his girlfriend are coming down some time in September and this is for sure so we will need time & money to entertain properly. We are also looking at going to Quebec City in the first week of September, but I don't think we can do both Cali & Quebec. I have only been through Quebec City and haven't actually explored the streets, so that really appeals to me too. We could also take the train which would be fun.
That's all I got for now. Be good to each other.
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