Disgraceland tomatoes

A new place opened nearby this summer. It is called Disgraceland and its chef produces such delicacies as grilled peanut butter sandwiches and fried green tomatoes.


I was surprised that the fried green tomatoes were breaded. I thought they would be plain. The chef emerged from the kitchen to see who was (actually?) eating the food.


It's all very Generation Why, but the server gave us a complimentary round of drinks and didn't give us the "whatever" 'tude after she spilled a glass of wine on one of us.

And did those feet?

Edible Australian delicacy

I confess I had the smallest of nibbles of this dried kangaroo meat brought directly from Australia.

It tastes like it looks: dry and hard. Not something I plan to eat when I visit Australia.

Click on the pic for a close-up look.

Mid-afternoon Mateus

I went to a friend's place on Saturday afternoon with a bottle of Mateus that had made the rounds for a couple of months without ever ending up in the hands of someone brave enough to open it.


It went down very well.




Mid-afternoon became dusk and I returned home shortly thereafter.

Injection to pen collection

I bought a new pen this week. It's chrome with black swirls and contains blue ink.


I bought it in a shop called The Ultimate Gift Shop at Queen and Yonge Streets.


I've been collecting souvenir floaty pens for a long time. They are all fine point pens with blue ink.


The trick with floaty pens is to buy only the ones made in Denmark. If they are made anywhere else toss them directly into the trash because the quality is substandard.

There are two basic models of floaty pens made in Denmark. The ones with the solid, flat chrome pen clip have "Made in Denmark" etched into them lengthwise. The ones with the clip made of thick wire have "Made in Denmark" imprinted in circular relief with very tiny letters on the end of the pen. Beware of imitators!


Sometimes people give me floaty pens, but most I have collected myself from trips I have made.

Bloorcourt Village shop window

There's not really a lot to say about this window display. It accentuates the creepy sensation dolls can emit.

Christie Pits lightning tree

A man died under this tree last month when he was struck by lightning.



I dropped by today to leave a memento at the base of the tree.



I sat for a while thinking about how much the victim, 28, enjoyed reading in the park.


I think I'll return with a book sometime.



R.I.P.

Summer in the city

I removed a few posts because they were too work-centric. Since then, I haven't written much because I've been busy procrastinating whenever I sit at my computer.

Somehow the winter of record precipitation levels has become the summer of record precipitation levels. Weird that I don't really feel like there's been much rain.

I was reminiscing today about the first rock concert I ever attended. It was David Bowie's "Heroes" tour. I saw him at the Ottawa Civic Centre. It was before general admission seating was abolished at concerts (which eventually happened due to some people getting crushed to death at a Who concert, I seem to remember). I went with a friend . . . have no idea where he is now.



I had a weird general admission experience when I went to see Graham Parker and the Rumour at the Civic Centre a couple of years after the Bowie concert. Parker was opening for Cheap Trick. I wasn't interested in seeing Cheap Trick, but most people there were. I got there early with some friends and we made it onto the floor right up to the edge of the stage.



It was a fabulous place to see the show, but what happened was not fabulous. It was very crowded and hot at the front among the crush of fans.

Some people wanted to get up to the front for the Cheap Trick part of the evening. They asked a great hulk of a guy standing next to me if he would trade spots with them. I can't remember what they gave him to help them to the front.



His way of making space for them was to ram me to the side by slamming me in the chest. I was winded and blacked out as I fell.

Fortunately, a friend I was with had the presence of mind to grab onto me and pull me to my feet as she shouted out: "This girl will die if you don't get out of the way for her."



The crowd parted for me and I was back at the front again gasping for breath. It was very weird.

Great concert and we left after Parker finished playing.