Today I went for brunch with Amber to Toba (warning, annoying website full of Flash and loud music) and it was such a good experience. They have a really good brunch menu, and specials that change every week. It is not very busy but not sad and lonely either.
All in all, a good recommendation for a Saturday, before a stroll at St. Lawrence Market

Jen, Eva and I met for brunch on Sunday. We were planning on going to Fressen, since it is convenient for me, I can’t ever have french toast or waffles or pancakes, since they all have dairy, so I welcomed the opportunity of going to a vegan place and not having to worry about ingredients.

I was the first to arrive and was glad to see that there was a 4 person table that was free. I talked to the waitress (there is no hostess, it’s a small place) and told her I needed a table for 3, she asked if I had a reservation and I said no, the next I heard was “I’m sorry we’re full, maybe you want to come back in about 20 minutes”. She was practically telling me to leave! Not only because of what she was saying, but the way she said it, a little bit more and she would have pushed me out the door.

I said my friends were not there anyway, so I could wait the 20 minutes right there (I was not about to leave and wait in the street, in other circumstances I could have, but not after the attitude). Finally Jen came and then Eva, meanwhile another 2 or 3 parties showed up and they were also told to leave and come back later. Two girls asked if they could seat at the bar, and she said no, just like that.

So after Eva arrived I said I didn’t feel like I wanted to stay there, so we walked 100 metres west to Shanghai Cowgirl. We were welcomed and treated with courtesy, plus they had a patio and it was such a nice day that we sat out there (it was just before the freak thunderstorm). It was so late that we didn’t quite have breakfast but more of a brunch. Eva was the only one who had eggs (scrambled), Jen had a grilled cheese havarti sandwich, it looked delicious. I had the burger.

What a difference does a smile make, the people at Fressen should take a look at what their neighbours are doing and learn from it. I guess they are counting on being one of the 2 or 3 only vegan restaurants in town, giving them a sure market. But people can still go somewhere else and have a good time, especially if they are shown such an attitude.

OK, so I think I’m going to start doing a lot of posts about the 80s, that’s when I was a kid/teenager, and there are lots of things that really shaped who I was back then… and in a way they shaped who I am know now.
So we’re just watching The Goonies, funnily enough I have never even seen it, this is my first time. I’m thinking I now know why I haven’t seen it. It’s quite boring.

So my friends just left. We went upstairs to the rooftop for a barbecue, I went to St. Lawrence Market and bought an organic steak, some mushrooms and eggplant. I also prepared a “southwestern” pasta salad, with fusilli pasta, shaved corn, red pepper and other delicious veggies, I also made potatoes with onions and re-heated them in the barbecue. It was all a huge success. I’m glad my friends came over and we had some “talking” time. It’s been a while since we’ve been together and just talked about us and about what’s going on with our lives. We also had a gigantic steak, so that was really good. All in all a good start for the weekend.

I do what I can, I walk places, take my back bike places, I don’t own a car, I take the TTC, I recycle and try not to buy wasteful products. I even did Earth Hour! We are all in this together and we have to co-operate with what we can.
Today I was walking on Victoria St. trying to find the vehicle and licence registration office (they moved south from that building where the passport office is, they’re now at 33 Victoria St.), I passed a super-luxury car (BMW or something, they all look the same to me) that was waiting in the corner (no-parking zone, of course) idling. It reminded me of Josh, who goes picking up garbage and writes letters to bus companies (they idle a lot in front of our building, probably because of the coffee shop downstairs.
So I knocked on the car’s window, wondering what the need to idle is, why not just turn it off. Of course I realized it’s the air conditioning (it’s 33 degrees feeling like 41 today in Toronto). So I motioned to lower the window and when he did I said:
“Hi, are you gonna be idling for a lot longer?”
“About ten minutes” was the reply.
Whooot? So I said “you know what, you shouldn’t idle, it’s very polluting, it’s not good for the environment“.
He was totally surprised and, I imagine, pissed off. He said “what?”
“It’s better if you don’t”.
And he turned off the car AND raised the window at the same time… almost crushing my fingers. I just managed to say a quick “thank you”, and left.
It was really weird, but hey, someone’s gotta do it, it is just ridiculous that people don’t care and ar so involved in themselves like that. I’m glad I did it.

I’m still around. I’ve just been really busy with work and life and stuff… no, no good gossip, nothing new, just busy.

OK, so today I have the recipe for spinach and sundried tomato pasta. This was a delicious recipe I made a couple of weeks ago. I used Catelli Healthy Harvest (whole wheat) Linguine.
Ingredients:
3 cloves of garlic
2 cups chopped fresh plum tomatoes
2 cups chopped sundried tomato (in oil)
Club House Garlic Plus

1/2 a cup chopped Kalamata olives
1 cup fresh basil
3/4 package fresh spinach
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Oregano
Dried cayenne pepper
Linguine

For the sauce:
Chop the garlic and fry it in the olive oil.

Then add the fresh tomato, oregano, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper, as well as the Garlic Plus seasoner. Sautee for a few minutes.

The sundried tomato and olives go now.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta to two-thirds of the time indicated in the package, for example if it says to cook for 8 minutes, cook it for only 5. You want the pasta to be kinda hard.
When the pasta is cooked (sorta), add it to the sauce along with the spinach and the fresh basil. Salt and pepper to taste. Leave it for approximately 2 minutes, covered. The spinach will be wilted but not totally consumed.

Serve in a pasta bowl and enjoy!

(For those of you non-vegans or non-allergic to milk products, you can add some grated parmiggiano here).