Escape to Ottawa

All vacations are good, some are better than others. This was one of the better ones, probably because it was short! Longer and I would have gotten bored.

I left Wednesday and as I was pulling up to my hotel -- Arc, The Hotel, -- I realized that I'd forgotten my iPad charger so, first order of the evening, get to a store before they close. I checked in quickly, and zoomed to the nearest mall where I found a quiet (!!!!) Apple store.

Next stop was a light dinner. I'd had chips on the train, that doesn't really do it for me. But being alone, with no iPad, meant that first, I had to find a bookstore -- and there was one right across the street, just waiting for me. I picked up David Eggers new book, solely on the strength of the book cover. Mind you, I meant to read it, but on my ereader. But this book cover is so awesome, I just had to get the book itself.

Now I had to find a place to eat. Turns out I was minutes away from Byward Market, land of the tourist trap but with some great finds tucked here and there. I found a lovely courtyard with outdoor seating, found a seat with enough light to read by, and I was set for a nice light meal of beet salad with fresh ricotta and glass of chilled rosé. I would have had a dessert but service was slow and by the time they remembered me, I was nodding off. Off to bed!

Thursday morning, I had tickets to the Van Gogh exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada. It's a tighly curated exhibit that focusses on the 4 years Van Gogh lived in France. I didn't realize until now that he'd only painted for 10 years. The exhibit and audio guide are well put together, and there are side exhibits on japanese woodblocks and outdoor photography of the period that influenced him, which ties in nicely with the main event.

I had a nice lunch at the gallery -- including an amazing mint/sorrel/parsley cheesecake! -- and decided to take in more of the gallery while I was there. A friend had recommended the Rideau Chappel within the gallery, and it was a lovely discovery. They were showing/playing (?) Janet Cardiff's 40-part motet, which I'd seen before but hearing it in the chappel was much nicer than hearing it in a plain art gallery.

The rest of the day was spent shopping (yeah!) and I got myself a lovely summer dress at Kaliyana, one of my two favourite clothes stores. By the time I was done, I was thoroughly parched, so I headed up to Luxe for a Gin Collins, as per my inner-doctor's orders! This brutal summer has made me rediscove how quenching gin is on a scorching day.

I had a nice nap before dinner, but rested or not, dinner was a bust! I had great recommendations from friends,but instead chose a restaurant that had made the top 10 from a credible source. A regular that was sitting close to me wondered aloud if they'd changed chefs, because she too was greatly disappointed. So maybe it was a new chef, but it was a really, really, really bad choice. The wine was good, if that counts for something.

Friday I went to the war museum. I mostly wanted to see its architecture, but I checked out most of the museum while I was there and it was well worth it. They currently have an exhibit on the War of 1812, the war that many believe led to the creation of Canada. But its the permanent exhibits that really shine.  I spent a bit more than 4 hours there, and I think I probably really saw about 1/2 of it properly. I zoomed through the rest just to get a sense of it, and I definitely want to go back.

That left me just enough time to go back to my hotel and have a drink (a modified Whisky Sour, yes, I'm on a cocktail kick!) and I was off for my train ride back home.

All in all, a very satisfactory break. Note to self: must do this more often!

Summerlicious 2012

I had pretty much decided no Summerlicious this year so, of course, I did 3!  


Summerlicious, for those who don't know, is a 10-day food festival where restaurants develop a low-cost (top price $45 for dinner, but many are less than that) prix-fixe menu. Many of the city's top restaurants participate (hence, the $45 limit), and it gives us the opportunity to try famous eateries that are beyond our budgets the rest of the year. We also have Winterlicious in February every year. 


Our first restaurant was Frank, at the Art Gallery of Ontario. This was the one I was most looking forward to and was most disappointed in. There were 5 of us, so we had good sampling of the menu. It was a Spanish theme to go with the current Picasso exhibition, and I love Spanish food! While we were mostly happy with our appetizers and thrilled with one dessert (the summer berry pudding!), the mains were a big letdown -- dry, tasteless chicken, bland trout, bland veggie paella, the only standout was the spicy steak which, alas, was not my selection. Clearly, the kitchen overreached itself this time.  


However, the sommelier did well. The Spanish wine selection was short, but excellent. 

A few days later I headed out to La Bodega -- a very good little French restaurant -- and this time, we were not disappointed. My friend had the steak frites -- hard to resist in a French restaurant -- and I had the Lake Superior Whitefish. The fish was extraordinary! Moist, flaky, meaty, sitting on a lovely bed of spiced rice with olive and caper butter. It was a perfectly balanced dish. A bit of saltiness, a bit of buttery flavour, a bit of tang.... nothing overwhelming, just sheer goodness.  I tried my friend's fries and, oh yeah, they were good. With a bit of mayo to dip in, sheer bliss.


This time, though, the wine list did disappoint. It is a good wine list, but they are out of stock of almost everything! Wonder if that's a sign of financial difficulties? Hope not, Bodega is a gem.


My last Summerlicious event was lunch at Tutti Matti on Adelaide East. This was my first time here, and it certainly won't be my last! I started with a delicious melt-in-your-mouth carpaccio with arugula -- one of my favourite combos, always. I was then pleasantly surprised by a luscious open-face sandwich of suckling pig -- perhaps a teeny bit greasy (i'd forgotten that about suckling pig), but oh so full of flavour with its tuna mayo and  and roasted onions.  My dessert was a passable panna cotta, but my friend's choice of Crostana Toscana looked (and he assures me it was) just delish.


Not bad for an event I wasn't planning to attend this year!

Woofstock, Luminato and more...

Once a year, we have a dog festival, woofstock --  a bring-your-own-dog dog festival.  It always happens on the first weekend of Luminato, my favourite arts festival. Somehow, I always manage to have a Luminato show in the woofstock area, so I get there early and check out the pooches. Man, those dogs can be so much fun... nothing like seeing a chihuahua sniff out a great dane. And they do!!!

After oooing and aaawing over the dogs, I headed to my event, Einstein on the Beach.

It's a 4-hour opera by Robert Wilson and Phillip Glass, and I'm not a big fan of either, but I thought I'd check it out anyway. It was OK. Understand that modern opera is really, really not my thing, so I enjoyed it up to a point -- I like to be pushed out of my comfort zone, and this definitely did it. But the room was freezing, which eventually drove me out. I thought I'd just step out to warm up a bit, but the foyer was even worse, so I left. But before I move on to the rest of my day, let's see what I liked:

The choreography was amazing (Lucinda Childs). Original, witty, and the mid-point ballet was just exhilirating.
The sets were impressive. there was a short lecture before, so we got a glimpse into the minds of the creators, but frankly? I do believe a narrative helps, and there was no narrative to be found here.
the voices and music were typical Glass. I can take an hour or 2, but not 4!!!!

So, I left early and headed across the street to Oliver and Bonacini's Grill Cafe.

Can you say overrated and overpriced?  O&B have some of Torontos' best restaurants -- Canoe, Auberge du Pommier, etc. -- but the Grill Cafe sure ain't one of them. I sat on the terrace, which might account for the bad wine list, but the interior space was freezing... what's with the jacked up A/C anyway?

Back to the terrace. Nice space, comfy chairs, lovely waitstaff. Wine list, blah. Cocktails looked pretty good, so I might try one of those if I go back. Food? I had a japanese caesar's salad. It was quite lovely, if a bit pricey at $19. It didn't say organic, so I wasn't really sure what I was paying extra for. A number of other items caught my eye, but the prices kept me away. For an affordable lunch, I would have had to pick pasta or pizza, neither one of which appealed today.

Their secret? Seconds away from the investment banking firms, and a good reputation. Not bad food, but I know they can do better. I'll stick to their Canteen restaurant at TIFF. Better food and better wine choices.

So, that was my day today. How was yours?

At the movies....

Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope).  Seen at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto.

A film by  Nanni Moretti, We Have a Pope is at times sweet, at times sad, and at times (too few) hilarious, but overall, but in my view it fails overall. 

This is story of a shy, retiring and low-profile cardinal (played brilliantly by Michel Piccoli) who is unexpectedly elected as pope.  He panics and runs away, and the rest alternates between what's happening at the Vatican while the search is on, and what's happening with the new pope as he wanders the city.

I enjoyed the pomp and pageantry of the Vatican as they bury the old pope and elect a new one, the hilarious scene where they bring in a shrink who must try to work in front of the entire school of cardinals, and there are a few other tidbits. But this is a movie that doesn't seem to have figured out what it wants to be... serious, sweet, absurd, almost Felliniesque,  it just jumps all over the place and became frustrating and boring. 

Too bad, it had potential to be much more.

I give it a 2 out of 5 -- save your money, watch it when it comes out on the Movie Network.