Fake Grass

The entrance to our city has long been an eyesore, and our Parks and Rec people have undertaken in the last few years to do something about it.

That's fake grass, and it's not going well with some residents of the city. I think it's a big improvement over what was there before.

A scene like this is what we're faced with everywhere else in the city since the outside workers walked off the job.

Milestones Dixon Road Toronto

I had the pleasure of dining at Milestones on Dixon Road in Toronto last week. I was in town for a quick trip with meetings out near the airport. I arrived hungry and looking for a decent meal.

Milestones is a step up from Kelsey’s, but not a big step. The meal was worth the money I paid, and the atmosphere was upscale roadhouse friendly. The greeting was friendly but not outgoing or conversational. She wasn’t a natural hostess, and a little effort could have taken it past a pleasant acknowledgment of my presence to a welcoming invitation to dinner.

Good – the steak and shrimp special was quite nice. It was cooked a little on the rarer side of medium-rare, but I’m just not that fussy. The shrimp was a bit of a disappointment. Six medium-small shelled shrimp broiled and placed on top of the steak. This would have been a real wow if it were two jumbo shrimp, tail on, grilled. Then again this is upscale roadhouse, not casual fine dining.

Great – friendly service from the bartender, efficient and pleasant. He knew his menu and suggested the special, which really helped him establish himself as knowledgeable committed to a great experience. Not to overstate the potential, but his enthusiastic recommendation of a good special got him the extra sale of a fantastic decaf Cappucino at the end of the meal. The higher the bill, the higher the tip.

Room to Grow? He didn’t know his wines. I asked for a recommendation with my meal and he brought in another server to make a suggestion – which was GREAT! The room to grow is that she didn’t tell me what she had selected, and I had to ask. The bartender could really take it up a notch by knowing his wines, suggesting a good one, telling me what he selected and why, and establishing himself as a trusted expert. Follow up with an invitation to come back next time I’m out by the airport and I’d definitely make a point of it.

Would I come back? Yes, the meal was good on two different visits to Milestones. Service was outstanding in London, average (with the potential for great) on this occasion.

I Ain't Complainin'

I wanted to tell you about the “Complaint Free World” seminar that some friends and I attended together.  

Will Bowen, a Pastor at one of those new-age churches came up with the idea while preparing a sermon.  The plan was to get everyone to wear a rubber band on one wrist, and every time they verbally complain switch it to the other wrist.  He figures that if one can go 21 days without switching you will have formed a habit of not complaining and be a nicer person because of it. 

Actually, it’s quite fun to try and he gave good examples of the difference between complaining and stating the facts.  If you tell the waiter your soup is cold, it ain't complaining, it's stating a fact.  If you tell your dinner partner but not the waiter, you're complaining. 

My only criticism of Will Bowen is that he left the religion out of it.  I know he has to in order to speak to so many people and get buy in, but couldn’t he at least attribute his source?  Presumably if the idea came to him as he prepared for a sermon, surely it was inspired by scripture.  I sure hope so, because if it wasn’t then the whole point of the Sunday sermon was missed. 

These are the thoughts I gleaned from his lecture, then.  

First, I really am working on not complaining thanks to the method he teaches.  Secondly, though, is that when one preaches no matter how brilliant an idea he might have, if independent of God it can’t help but fall short.

So today I turned 50

The Top 50 Coolest Things about turning 50

50 to 11 are all variations on the same theme - "it's better than the alternative."  I may not be 6 feet above ground level, but neither am I 6 feet under.  Here's the other reasons I'm feeling pretty good today:

10.  Good health.  I'm in good shape.  I did 50 pushups this morning just for fun.

 

9.  Most of the people I hang out with socially think I'm just a kid (in comparison).

8.  People over 50 get it when I tell them our three kids are named Vera, Chuck and Dave.  One of my kids gets it, too.

7.  If you're 50 plus you've probably seen original episodes of The Brady Bunch, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Batman and Lost in Space.

6.  The Mayor of my city, the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States are all younger than me.  

4.  At this point my future boss at Wal-Mart has already been born.  And someday I'm going to be the best damned Greeter that place has ever seen!

5.  Hawaii celebrates its 50th year as a state this year.  Coincidence?  Yes.  

4.  I've been married for more than half my life.  The better half.  

3.  When my kids did essays and projects on Kennedy or Trudeau or JPII, I had personal insights to share.  And they'll have Obama...

2.  The ladies in the Catholic Women's League think I'm a nice young man.

1.  They're right.

Hawaii Five-O

The Missus and me just got back from Hawaii.  I've been promising to take her for more than 25 years, but frankly never had the money.  By a combination of luck, low prices and being down to only one dependant, we had a few bucks to spare and we headed to Hawaii to celebrate our upcoming fiftieth birthdays.  We called it "The Hawaii Five-O Trip".

It occurs to me that Hawaii is a lot like a good marriage.  

When you first get there you are overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the place.  The flowers, the jungle, the sea, the sky...  breathtaking.  It's a lot like "being in love."  

I would imagine that if you moved to Hawaii you couldn't possibly survive having your breath taken away every day.  Neither could your marriage survive very long if you felt as "in love" as you did the day before you were married, every day thereafter.  There'd be little time for anything else but breathlessness.  So, in Hawaii and in marriage, you get past the sheer wonder of it and start living in the "here and now" of everyday life.

But occasionally I bet you step out your front door in Hawaii and notice how beautiful your surroundings are, or maybe driving home one night there's an awesome sunset, or maybe on your day off you go for a swim in the crystal clear ocean and remember why you fell in love in the first place.

Thank you for not Voting

Newspapers, commentators, average citizens and know-it-alls across Canada are decrying the low voter turnout in our recent election.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/election-2008/story.html?id=882508

Not me. I'm happy for the low voter turnout in Canada. There's a good chance that it was the stupid people who stayed home. You know them. These are the people who can't name their MP, people who actually believe they can vote directly for Prime Minister, people who say they follow U.S. politics because Canadian politics are soooo boring - these are the people who I hope stayed home.

You may be one of these people. If you can't be bothered to pay attention or if its just too complicated, please stay home. My vote will be worth more because it won't be cancelled out by someone who hasn't got a clue. Only educated people should go anywhere near a ballot box, and I refer to those who have been paying attention to civics, not school smarts.

Didn't vote? Go ahead, bitch and moan and complain. You might even be right sometimes. I'm not trying to take away your right to be an asshole.

I'm thanking you for keeping it to yourself on election day.

The Deacon's Bench: On preaching: "Through grace, it changes lives"

Interesting thoughts from a Deacon in Brooklyn...

The Deacon's Bench: On preaching: "Through grace, it changes lives"

Putting solipstick on a...never mind

True story...

I'm reading an article and I stumble across the word "solipsism".  I grab the family dictionary and as I'm looking it up, the Emmy show starts.  Oprah Winfrey walks out on stage ostensibly to open the show but in reality to talk about herself, and at that very moment I'm learning the definition of the word "solipsism". 

–noun

1.	Philosophy. the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist.

2.	extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc.; egoistic self-absorption.

Top 5 Coolest Things About Toronto

The Top 5 coolest things about T.O. in my opinion, in no particular order:

1.  The TTC - at least it used to be.  Last time I rode the rocket it was still the best way around the city.

2.  Vespas EVERYWHERE.

3.  Avenue Road - truly the coolest and most fun route downtown, as long as you know which lane to be in, when.  Bayview extension and Mount Pleasant are good, but not until after St. Clair.  There is no good way out of the downtown core, unfortunately.

4.  Zipcar - truly cool.  My Volvo by-the-hour today was a bright blue S40 named "Sundin".  $9 an hour +/- all in.

 

5.  The Mighty Q - Q107 especially Kim Mitchell's show, especially Psychedelic Snack daily at lunch hour, especially Psychedelic Sundays.

The most uncool thing?  They truly don't know that they're NOT the centre of the universe. Completely oblivious.  It's like a scene out of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Big Daddy's Crabshack and Oyster Bar

King Street, Toronto, one cool September evening...

When I started writing about dining experiences in my blog, I made a promise to myself never to write about a restaurant in my own home town and never to write about a place I've worked before and never to write about a place that's owned by someone I know.  So, I'm gonna break rule #3 - I know the people who run the Big Daddy's chain of restaurants although I haven't seen them in years and they, not unlike most of my friends don't admit to knowing me.  But, when a place is good, I think its OK to say so.

I've eaten in a couple of different Big Daddy's locations and since my travel takes me mostly to T.O. and to Ottawa, I'm likely to eat there more often. 

Good:  the food is tasty and hot.  The price is reasonable.  The presentation seems creative enough, although not on the fresh fish entree I ordered.   The guy beside me had the Crab Shack Boil.  It was served in dutch-oven type pan with lid on, and eating the meal was obviously meant to be an adventure.  The bartender helped him to figure out how to eat the crawfish.  It looked like a fun entree.

Great:  The staff at the King Street location was friendly and personable, knowledgeable and efficient, and helpful.  The bartender described the fresh Tuna as being served rare and grilled "just long enough to make it legal."  She was entertaining and outgoing.  I told her I wanted to eat healthy and she tailored her suggestions accordingly.  The staff made the experience all about the needs of the diner.  The young lady who made me a Cappuccino did it with great pride and the other bartenders were talking her up as the best former barista in the place.  You know a place is well managed when the staff feel comfortable enough to be themselves without making it all about them, when they can chat with you and not with each other, and when they genuinely enjoy their jobs.  When you dine alone in restaurants as often as I do it sure makes a difference. 

Growth:  I only wish they wasn't so obviously influenced by that much larger seafood chain Big Daddy's draws its roots from.  My Caesar salad was pretty standard issue - Renee's dressing no doubt, Brownberry restaurant cut croutons, grated Parmesan and a lemon wedge - nothing to write home about.  Fresh fish presentation and cooking could have come right out of the kitchens of Red Lobster - just a standard Cajun broiled Catfish.  Very good, but nothing particularly original or creative about it. I had hoped that a restaurant that is going for that Louisiana authenticity would really blacken the catfish, not just sprinkle Cajun seasoning on it and broil it.  Don't get me wrong - it was good, but nothing special.  Also - maybe a signature roll or bread would be nice.

Aah, but would I come back?  Yes.  Every so often I get a craving for Red Lobster, about every two years or so, and Big Daddy's is more fun and a lot cooler.  And, as I said, the food was good and the service was excellent and the price (my bill was $39 for a Martini, Caesar Salad, Catfish dinner, Cappuccino and a Perrier) is right!