Five seasonal things in T.O.
Dec. 14th, 2023 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kathleen_daileySome nattering about local quotidiana.
1. On Tuesday, my neighbour S. (one of the Cat Daddies) and I were looking forward to going out to lunch together. Neither of us has done much public socializing over the pandemic years, so this was going to be a genuine treat. We both like 7 West, so we walked over there quite earlyish, only to find that the place was already PACKED. The second floor wasn't open; only one table was left (in the middle of the crowded room); and the noise level was painful. We noped out and decided to try Café Landwer. Through the window we could see some empty tables and booths, so yay. But when we entered, we found, no joke, at least 30 people waiting in line. We finally ended up at the new Pearl restaurant on Charles St. (The restaurant, which is an offshoot of the one at Harbourfront, is called "The Pearl Yorkville," which is stretching the truth more than a bit.) The dim sum wasn't anything special, but the place was quiet and we were able to enjoy a nice catch-up. I should have known better and realized that it's pre-holiday time, when downtown restos are likely to be slammed. Hmph.
2. Despite all that, on Thursday my pal H. and I met for a long-planned lunch at Holt Renfrew. I haven't been to the café there for at least 20 years, but H. likes the place and I like H., so I was willing if not exactly eager to go. (Because, after all, Holt Renfrew.) Surprise on me--the food was outstanding, the service even more so, and the overall ambience pretty darned nice. When H. asked if we could change tables so that we weren't directly under the speakers, the host turned down the music! It's been a very long time since anyone has done that.
3. I went to the bank and extracted currency of suitable colours for gifts to the building staff, managed to find some bland and blameless holiday cards, wrote messages, inserted money, and addressed the envelopes in plenty of time this year. Not only that, I was able to deliver all but one in a single day. (The concierge on the early morning shift will get his envelope tomorrow.) I've got two small gift-wrapping and card-writing exercises to complete for some friends, and then I am donedonedone.
4. Normally, I try to avoid Eataly during the holiday season (it's yet another jam-packed, non-fun madhouse), but I was visiting an elderly friend in the Manulife apartments and decided to stop in to get her a bottle of wine. While I was glancing in passing at the million species of panettoni arrayed on the shelves, my favourite individual--panettone marrons glacés--fluttered its ribbons at me seductively and begged me to buy it. Its gloriousness is now sitting on my kitchen counter, awaiting the knife. 'Tis the season, so there.
5. In keeping with general mid-twenty-first century weirdness, the forecasters are predicting temps of about 12 degrees Celsius on Friday. Although I'm happy that it'll be mild enough to go for a nice long walk, I know that this isn't natural or normal, and that we will be paying/are already paying the price.
Gratuitous non-seasonal item no. 6: The spouse and I rewatched "Space Seed" last night, for the first time in years, and was it ever jarring to hear the 1990s spoken of as though they represented the far, far future. Which they did, of course, in 1967--but wow, still a bit of a shock. I wish TWOK had been scheduled immediately after, but no such luck.
1. On Tuesday, my neighbour S. (one of the Cat Daddies) and I were looking forward to going out to lunch together. Neither of us has done much public socializing over the pandemic years, so this was going to be a genuine treat. We both like 7 West, so we walked over there quite earlyish, only to find that the place was already PACKED. The second floor wasn't open; only one table was left (in the middle of the crowded room); and the noise level was painful. We noped out and decided to try Café Landwer. Through the window we could see some empty tables and booths, so yay. But when we entered, we found, no joke, at least 30 people waiting in line. We finally ended up at the new Pearl restaurant on Charles St. (The restaurant, which is an offshoot of the one at Harbourfront, is called "The Pearl Yorkville," which is stretching the truth more than a bit.) The dim sum wasn't anything special, but the place was quiet and we were able to enjoy a nice catch-up. I should have known better and realized that it's pre-holiday time, when downtown restos are likely to be slammed. Hmph.
2. Despite all that, on Thursday my pal H. and I met for a long-planned lunch at Holt Renfrew. I haven't been to the café there for at least 20 years, but H. likes the place and I like H., so I was willing if not exactly eager to go. (Because, after all, Holt Renfrew.) Surprise on me--the food was outstanding, the service even more so, and the overall ambience pretty darned nice. When H. asked if we could change tables so that we weren't directly under the speakers, the host turned down the music! It's been a very long time since anyone has done that.
3. I went to the bank and extracted currency of suitable colours for gifts to the building staff, managed to find some bland and blameless holiday cards, wrote messages, inserted money, and addressed the envelopes in plenty of time this year. Not only that, I was able to deliver all but one in a single day. (The concierge on the early morning shift will get his envelope tomorrow.) I've got two small gift-wrapping and card-writing exercises to complete for some friends, and then I am donedonedone.
4. Normally, I try to avoid Eataly during the holiday season (it's yet another jam-packed, non-fun madhouse), but I was visiting an elderly friend in the Manulife apartments and decided to stop in to get her a bottle of wine. While I was glancing in passing at the million species of panettoni arrayed on the shelves, my favourite individual--panettone marrons glacés--fluttered its ribbons at me seductively and begged me to buy it. Its gloriousness is now sitting on my kitchen counter, awaiting the knife. 'Tis the season, so there.
5. In keeping with general mid-twenty-first century weirdness, the forecasters are predicting temps of about 12 degrees Celsius on Friday. Although I'm happy that it'll be mild enough to go for a nice long walk, I know that this isn't natural or normal, and that we will be paying/are already paying the price.
Gratuitous non-seasonal item no. 6: The spouse and I rewatched "Space Seed" last night, for the first time in years, and was it ever jarring to hear the 1990s spoken of as though they represented the far, far future. Which they did, of course, in 1967--but wow, still a bit of a shock. I wish TWOK had been scheduled immediately after, but no such luck.
