Friday, 19 June 2015
Visitors’ Choice : WVRST
As mentioned here, we recently saw our friends, Anna and Wil, who were visiting from the United States.
A couple of weeks prior to their being in Toronto, Anna sent an email that included the line "I think the only thing Wil has made a priority when visiting is to eat at WVRST".
He had seen the place featured on American chef and tv personality Anthony Bourdain's segment about Toronto, that had aired on the Travel Channel.
WVRST, self-described as, "A modern beer hall that specializes in artisan sausages, craft beer, and good times", was on his list of recommended places to go in the city (found here). I had never been and was keen to check it out.
[Aside : To be honest, I wasn't that familiar with Anthony Bourdain (we don't have cable tv) but I was glad to see that he had chosen quite a few places that I've previously written about, including : Good Egg , Sneaky Dee's, Horseshoe Tavern, Evergreen Brickworks and Beast Restaurant.]
So a group of eight friends -- Anna and Wil, Nick and I, Isabel and Barb and Greg and Chi, went to WVRST on the Saturday night that they were in Toronto.
Why these particular people? As said in the earlier post about their visit, we know A and W from the online within the community of SecondLife. Our friend Isabel, who I met through work, (seen most recently here), had also joined us in SL, and she had also met Anna there. Barb is another lady Isabel and I met through work -- the two of them are now flatmates. Then, Greg is someone who Anna met within a different online scene. One introduction led to another, and so it was that these three groups of people, many of whom met thanks to the existence of online communication, all came together for a fun outing together.
There was a lineup at the door but that was okay because it moved pretty quickly and the time spent standing and chatting in line was part of the fun.
Since there was a low likelihood of eight people exiting at once, the doorman suggested we go in one at a time, as people left. (He had a clicker to keep track of the ins and outs). I ended up going in first and scoped out a table. I picked a spot where we could all stand together while keeping an eye out on a table that looked like it would be free soon.
Isabel took a pic of me waiting for them all to come in ...
Tuesday, 16 June 2015
A Real-Life Meet Up With Online Friends
We recently had the pleasure of spending time with a friend, Anna, who we first encountered online eight years ago, and her husband, Wil. We met within the virtual community called SecondLife, where Nick and I, along with our friend and drummer, Chops, used to perform live music.
This was our second visit from them, as they were also in Toronto last year (shown here and here). We all hit it off so well during our first real-life meeting that we were delighted to learn that they were coming back, travelling from their home in the southern United States.
Considering we didn't really know them when we first suggested it, we were happy that they wanted to return to the same meeting place as last year -- The Rex at 194 Queen Street West. It's a restaurant, a live jazz music venue and hotel all in one, that has been running for over 40 years (all those years with the same owner!).
Friday, 12 June 2015
Card Making Idea : Use a Personalized Photograph
Tuesday, 9 June 2015
A Tree House Patio and a Cool Concert
We didn't know what to expect at the unique musical performance that our friend Isabel invited us to on a recent Saturday evening.
It was at the same beautiful music venue, Koerner Hall, that we've been lucky to go to three times in as many weeks. (The first two were this one, Jayme Stone's Lomax Project, and this one, The Royal Gala).
The show was called Spin Cycle, featuring the unexpected coming together of a string quartet, Afiara Quartet, and a turntablist/scratch dj, Skratch Bastid.
It was part of the second annual 21C Music Festival, presented by The Royal Conservatory of Music -- 21C standing for Twenty First Century, the period during which all the music presented was composed. To quote their press release, "In this festival of newly minted music, audiences have an opportunity to experience fresh new sounds and ideas from the greatest musical minds of today and experience works by Canadian as well as international composers and musicians who are mining new musical territories, breaking down barriers, and introducing us to new virtuosic music creations."
We arrived early enough to have a drink outside on their balcony, which is high up off the ground. The massive chestnut trees surrounding it were in flower.
Thursday, 4 June 2015
Cocktails for a Crowd : Rum Punch made with Tea and Fruit Juice
Nick recently said to me, "You were right and I was wrong". It happened after I had suggested that I make a double batch of this Rum Punch while we were preparing for a dinner party.
I thought it would make a good pre-dinner cocktail, and he thought people would prefer the other offerings of wine, beer or dry martinis.
Well, half the party, including some of the men, chose the punch, and I ended up quickly whipping up a second pitcher. Good thing the recipe is easy to remember, and I'd pre-made extra ice-tea, so mixing up more quickly was easy.
Another surprise this drink beheld for Nick was that he liked it himself. He didn't expect to, since he's not a fan of sweet drinks, but since the main mixer in this is ice-tea, that you make yourself (and therefore sweeten as lightly as you want), it is just sweet enough to taste nice, but not overly so. And since it's mostly tea, you get the healthy antioxidants that go with it, so you can tell yourself you're having something that's good for you.
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