Not taking our usual Spring trip this year has given us a bit of restlessness, I think. Hence, a couple weeks ago, my comment that were out of rosé and low on “everyday reds” inspired us to take a road trip to Beamsville wine country, rather than just amble over to our local LCBO.
Our first stop was Aure wines, where the attendant recognized us immediately, despite our having been there exactly 1 (one) time before, in October. (Mind you, we did stay for a long chat and lunch that time.) They have a small wine list, and didn’t have too much new for us try, other than a Chardonnay that purchased a bottle of.
We did get a preview taste of the upcoming Viognier release, though, and it will be really nice. Jean also stocked up on some of the Pinot Blanc he enjoys (though at the rate he’s currently drinking it, our five bottles could last five years).
They were not serving lunch, however, so we headed over to The Good Earth winery for that. It being Sunday, they had a brunch menu, which I wasn’t entirely in the mood for. I ordered the strata, which seemed the least breakfast-y option. It was quite tasty.
Jean enjoyed his mushroom and poached eggs option.
Nice, bright room at Good Earth; welcome on a rainy day
While there, after dining, we tried a few wines. They don’t have a very big offering, their philosophy being to see what grape works best in any given year and run with it. As an illustration, we tried the 2013 and 2014 Cabernet Franc wines: same grape, same vineyard, but really different taste—the 2013 being more to ours. We also got a bottle of their Big Forks Red, which they describe thusly:
None of this was helping with our rosé shortage, though, so we then went to Vieni Estates. This relatively new winery has a very different approach than the other two, in that they offer many different types of wines: red, white, rosé, sparkling, cider, ice, and spirits.
Befitting their name—vieni means welcome in Italian—they were very friendly, calling us over quickly despite it being rather busy when we arrived. They also don’t charge for or limit tastings, so you have to control yourself. Which we were only semi-successful at.
The Vieni tasting room: Photo from their website
The first suggestion was that we try a sparkling, but we actually had a rather good stock of sparkling on hand at the time. Nevertheless, we had to admit their Canada 150 was really different—a red sparkling that tasted off-dry despite being extra-dry. Kind of neat and just $17, so we got a bottle of that.
Fortunately, we did find their Alleria Rosé quite nice as well. Along with their Sauvignon Blanc, a Ripasso, and the Alleria Red, which is a blend of Cabernet, Baco Noir, and Marechel Foch. They have many more options that we could try on another trip. They also sell some food items, such as olive oil, which you can also taste upon request (which we did, and it was good, and now we have a bottle of that, also).
While it’s not the Rhone, Tuscany, or Napa, Beamsville did help us scratch the travel itch. At least for a day.
Last weekend was when the first digit of my age increased. It wasn’t so traumatic. Maybe because I’m not that given to self-reflection anyway. Maybe because I made sure it was a pretty busy weekend.
Friday night we went to see Shaping Sound: Behind the Curtain at Centre in the Square. Shaping Sound is Travis Wall’s (from So You Think You Can Dance) dance company. The show presents a continuing, 90-minute story (with intermission). It starts with a whole lot of text—in the form of surtitles showing the story that Ttavis’s character is typing out—and not much movement. So many characters are presented, I was a bit worried: How was I going to follow all this and keep track of everyone?
But as it progresses, the dancing increases, and the narrative becomes increasingly fragmented: Literally, as the surtitles become just parts of sentences, and finally just a few letters. And you realize this isn’t a plot you’re meant to follow linearly. This is an emotional journey. This is the mind coming to terms. With coming out, among other things.
Shaping Sound preview from Ellen
I thought it was pretty great. Jean said I got way more out of it than he did. But he still enjoyed the time in the lovely member’s lounge, as we always do.
Jean lounging, pre-show
My friends got wind of my round-numbered birthday this year and offered to take me out, which was really sweet. Especially as they selected the finest restaurant in the area, Langdon Hall. We were there on the Saturday night, and though nobody had the multi-course chef’s menu, we still managed to stay there for four hours and barely realized it. That’s some fine conversation!
The ladies at Langdon Hall
The food didn’t suck, either. The amuse was a pork roulade. We were offered a choice of bread, and the gluten-intolerant were given a separate, very fresh alternative bread.
As an appetizer, several of us had the light and delicious crab with apple and sorrel sauce.
Appetizing appetizer
As the main course, lamb was a popular choice, but I went with the venison with cabbage and foraged mushrooms.
Rich and delicious main
For wine, we shared a bottle of a 2005 French burgundy (I think that was the grape), and I was very impressed at the staff’s ability to dole it out in tiny increments among the five of us so that it more-or-less lasted through the two first courses. (Though Sherry and I, who didn’t have to drive, did have another glass of a Syrah of completely different style.)
Dessert ran the gamut of options at the table, but I couldn’t resist the dark chocolate with coconut, cilantro, and lime.
Possibly the meal highlight
And Sunday? Well, here’s the thing. Before this friend outing was arranged, I saw that Langdon Hall was having March specials, whereby if you booked a meal (supper / breakfast) and accommodation package, they gave you a $100 credit to use. March 5 was one of the nights the special was in vogue, meaning that Sunday… I returned to Langdon Hall. This time with Jean.
We first drove past the place, though, to go for a walk along the nearby river. It was a nice sunny day, albeit cooler than it had been, and we did get some nice views. On the way back, I got a call from my 87-year-old aunt. She used my home number, but I thereby confirmed that the VOIP app (this is new to us) worked in my being able to pick up home calls on my cell phone. It was good to talk to her.
Then we went to check into our room.
Very tall bed!
I’d say the difference between Langdon Hall and other reasonably nice places we’ve stayed in are in the details, such as:
The little bag of welcome snacks were freshly baked cookies with fresh raspberries.
The in-room coffee maker makes espresso.
The complimentary bottles of water include sparkling.
The fireplace is a real one, not gas, and already set up with a firestarter, paper, and wood (though you can ask for help if that’s still too intimidating for you). It was nice having it going, but did leave everything in the room with a “burning fireplace” smell. Not unpleasant, but kind of odd.
When we went out for dinner, they came in and “turned down” our room, leaving a chocolate on the pillow. (Haven’t had that since the Alaska cruise.)
Bathrobes are provided (had that before) in men’s and women’s sizes (never had that before).
TV channels included HBO and TMN. I did take advantage to watch John Oliver interview the Dalai Lama.
Bathroom had both a full tub and a full shower—separate.
Privacy fence outside the window meant we could keep the curtains open longer.
And dinner was very fine again! Though somehow it didn’t take Jean and I four hours to get through it on the quieter Sunday night.
As on the Saturday, we discussed wine options with the sommelier—given that there are a crazy number of options here. Jean got him excited, though, by asking about the possibility of a Grüner Veltliner wine with the scallops. We thereby found out that it’s actually a quite versatile, food-friendly wine, but because of the richness of the scallops, the sommelier suggested something else, and since we were clearly “adventurous”, ran off to the wine cellar to figure out what (though we dampened his enthusiasm a bit by giving him our wine budget).
We ended up with a German pinot blanc that was quite enjoyable. It tasted semi-dry even though it was not, which made it quite fine on its own as well as with the scallops.
The dinner menu was the same, of course, but they brought out a different amuse, this time a nice, light crab mousse. The breads were also different—really nice raisin hazelnut option this night.
As appetizers, I went with the borscht en gelee with trout roe, which was quite fine as long as you’re good with beets and “popping” fish eggs, which I am. Jean had the sweetbreads with those delicious foraged mushrooms.
The afore-mentioned main course of scallops and cauliflower, which we both ordered
For dessert, Jean was all about the cheese, while I resisted the chocolate this time and tried the honey mousse with peanut butter sable and chocolate fudge (OK, I guess I didn’t resist the chocolate at all).
Breakfast the next day consisted of one “kitchen selection” plus access to their nice buffet of fruit, smoothies, pastries, and such like. I had the fried duck egg with pork belly. The duck egg was bigger than a chicken egg, but tasted much the same. Jean enjoyed the soft scrambled eggs with crab and trout roe. (Yes, they’re very big on crab there.)
And then we both had the rest of the day off work, which was nice in itself.
A lot of grim things are happening in the world, the sun was awol for much of January, and I succumbed to one of the season’s cold viruses last week. (And now Jean is complaining of chills.)
But hey, instead complaining at length about all that, I’ll list a few things that made me happy in the past few weeks.
1. KW Glee: Redux
Two years ago we were blown away by a KW Glee (show choir) + KW Symphony concert. This year they did it again. There’s just deep entertainment value in watching a huge group of talented, enthusiastic, and attractive young people sing and dance to popular songs, in costume, while accompanied by a full orchestra.
Last time I had mentioned that I didn’t know a lot of the songs performed—they were too current for me. This time they rectified that with a set from various eras. To the point where I felt kind of bad that they were played so little of of their own generation’s music, though there was one Imagine Dragons song and one by David Guetta / Sia, both very powerful performances.
The outstanding youth singer (a girl—don’t know any names) wailing through the Jackson 5’s “ABC” and “I Want You Back”
The beautiful contemporary dance accompanying “Falling Slowly”, from Once
Not one, not two, but four different lead female singers proving they were up to the challenge of singing Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”.
“Bohemian Rhapsody”. Performed in full, featuring two lead singers, one male, one female, and treated not as campy fun, but as the somber piece it actually is. Outstanding.
The youth choir’s 80s attire during one segment, some of which looked like it actually dated from that time. The “Frankie Say Relax” T-shirt was my favourite.
Remember the 80s? These kids don’t, but they’re dressing the part anyway.
The youth boys running scared during “Ghostbusters” only to be have the youth girls toughly emerge, declaring that they were “Bad”.
The use of sign language during “Imagine”—very touching, somehow.
The terrific soul singer who performed “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)”. (It is great that so many of the participants get to try a lead, but with some of them, you do wish for more than one song!)
The reprise of “Hallelujah” that blew everyone away last time, performed by the same quartet, back from university for the occasion.
A Spotify playlist of their set list!
2. The Good Place
Holy motherforking shirtballs, The Good Place was good.
This is a half-hour, 13-episode, network TV show starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, debuted this year to very little notice—Jean’s the only other person I know who watches it.
But it’s like nothing else I’ve ever seen. And I’m loathe to even say that much about it, as it was so much fun to go along for the ride. And it’s so full of twists! Also, hilarious! Week to week, it was the show I found myself looking forward to most.
I will give the premise. Eleanor (Kristen Bell), a not-so-stellar human being while alive, is surprised to find herself in “the good place” (yeah, that one) after she dies. They have somehow mixed her up with some good Eleanor! How does she stay in the good place?
Look, I know there’s too much good TV, no one can keep with it all. So I won’t say you must watch The Good Place. I will just point out that if you do, it might make you happy. And that at 13 22-minute episodes, it’s less time-consuming that many series. And that despite mediocre ratings, it has already been renewed for season 2, so you don’t have to worry about being left hanging.
And by the way, Jean won another photo contest recently. (Not with this photo. Just thought I’d mention it now.)
While there, we went to Sandra Shamas’ one-woman show about “climbing mount menopause”. Despite that intro and the predominantly female audience, it wasn’t all about the hormonal challenges of being over 50. She covered a gamut of topics from her life.
Having recently dealt with a series of similar plumbing issues, we could relate to the mix of disgust and determination in which she handled the events that started when she flushed her toilet and it “came up my bathtub”. I took (hypothetical) heart in her discovery—having failed to make herself lesbian (“turns out it’s not a choice!”)—via dating apps, that plenty of 20-something men will seek the attention of women in their 50s. (She can’t bring herself to take advantage. “Does your mother know what you’re up to?”)
I wonder if I, too, will soon be entering my “ranting” years. (“I always talked to myself. Now I do it in public. And I’m angry!”) And it was hard not to be inspired by how she made it through a serious ice storm two years ago: “I was without hydro for 8 days. But I was never without power.”
As my seasonal gift to you all, I will set aside the “political update” blog post I’ve been puttering away at and instead write about things more Christmas-y.
Though in the same province, my home town is far from where I live now. (Even Canadians get surprised at how far apart two cities in the same province can be.) Though we try to get there for Christmas, that’s normally the extent of the winter travelling to the north.
This year, however, we were lured there a mere two weeks before Christmas by Jean’s Mom celebrating her 90th birthday. She’s doing rather well!
Gosh, I think I took this photo. Yay, me.
Also occurring around the same date were my Dad and my brother’s birthdays, so while at it, we celebrated those as well.
The combined ages of the two birthday boys
A snowstorm in the southern part of the province delayed our arrival back home (by plane) til the next morning, but it was a nice visit.
Being away for an extra December weekend meant condensing the amount of Christmas cooking I did, both in terms of time and quantity. (It also meant even more online gift shopping than usual.) This past Saturday I made my single tourtière, using a recipe that is now traditional to me, though not to the rest of my family. I was unable to find the ground bison that I usually combine with the ground chicken, so I tried lamb instead.
The distinctly lamb-y smell of it made me worried while preparing the dish, but in the end, it really didn’t overwhelm everything. And the crust turned out quite remarkably flaky and delicious.
Tastes better than it looks!
Sunday was when Jean and I celebrated “our” Christmas. I decided to roast a duck, not having done that in a while. I’m amazed by how many people are totally intimidated by the idea, when it’s really the same principle as cooking a chicken: stuff the bird if you want, then put it in a roasting pan in the oven at 350 or so until it reaches 165 F. Only real difference is where a rack in the roasting pan might be optional with chicken, you really want to use one with duck, because so many fat drips out of it. You don’t want your bird floating in it.
For the duck, I consulted a Jamie Oliver recipe that involved stuffing it with ginger, rhubarb, and sage, then serving it with a broth / red wine (didn’t have masala) sauce and crisped sage on top. As sides, I made roasted Brussels sprouts with apple while Jean handled the mashed potatoes. It made for a delicious combination of food in the end.
Serving it with 2010 Chateau-neuf-du-pape didn’t hurt, either
For dessert I cobbled together a nice-looking tray (if I do say so myself) of items mostly not made by me:
As tasty as it looks!
The sucre à crème in the forefront was my doing (sugar, sugar, and cream: with a little butter, because why not). But the rum balls were a (homemade) gift. And the ginger cookies were President’s Choice. All rounded out with some foil-wrapped chocolates.
Last weekend we had to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a work event of Jean’s. We were put up in a historic hotel, taken on a wine tour, then had dinner and evening of live jazz.
Poor us. 🙂
So, I know, but the fact is we didn’t really feel like going, for whatever reason—maybe because we weren’t long back from our New York / Montreal trip.
But, such circumstances do have a way of putting one in a better mood. The Queen’s Landing hotel was quite attractive. Tawse winery, maker of fine though somewhat pricey wine, is interesting to tour, what with their hand-pick / organic / gravity-fed philosophy. And, we had a beautiful Fall day for that—20° C!
Interior of the Queen’s Landing hotel—photo from their website
Dinner was fine—good conversation, decent food. Room acoustics made the jazz band a little loud for conversation, so we eventually got up the nerve to take to the dance floor. Being the only ones there able to dance that type of music, we had plenty of room to slow fox, quick step, tango, and jive.
Other than the included breakfast, we were done with corporate events the next day. The weather had taken a turn to the rainy, though, so that kiboshed any thoughts of hiking or ambling Niagara-on-the-Lake’s downtown.
But, it was fine for more wine tasting. We first stopped at Pillitteri Estates, earner of some good Google reviews, and one we hadn’t been to previously. It does make for pleasant visit. They have a food store section featuring nice jams, vinegars, ice wine chocolates, and such. And their wines are quite respectable, of the food-friendly and modestly priced type. We especially liked the Gewurztraminer Riesling blend, the Pinot Gris, and the Cabernet Merlot.
Aure wine tasting room, from Uncorked Ontario
But Aure wines in Beamsville, picked out because I liked their description in the Wine Country Ontario app, was the best discovery. We were the only visitors at that time, so had plenty of time to discuss the four whites and four reds we tried—which is about everything non-reserve they have. I quite liked their blends, but they do an especially good job with grapes less commonly used—Viognier and especially Pinot Blanc and Marechal Foch, their best-seller. And most are priced under $20.
We also had lunch there, which they offer tapas-style. Very good squash soup, pork chorizo stew, grilled vegetables, and cheese plate. With lunch we each tried a glass of their reserve wine, which you can do for $9. The “wild fermented” Chardonnay was crazy good, very rich.
Aure winery restaurant—picture from their website
So we returned from our arduous journey laden with wine and lighter in spirit.
New York is one of the world’s great cities. Montreal is often considered Canada’s best. On our recent trip, we visited both. This was our itinerary:
Saturday: Fly Hamilton to Montreal late afternoon; stay in airport hotel.
Sunday: Fly Montreal to New York. Visit Museum of Modern Art.
Monday: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Cruise. 9/11 Memorial Museum. B&H.
Tuesday: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Central Park. School of Rock on Broadway.
Wednesday: Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum. Rockefeller Center. Radio City Music Hall tour. Grand Central Station.
Thursday: New York Library. Fly to Montreal late afternoon.
Friday: Musée des beaux arts. Old Montreal and Old Port area.
Saturday: Mile End Local Montreal food walking tour. Mount Royal.
Sunday: McCord Museum. Fly back to Hamilton late afternoon.
Just now noticing the Canadian flag flying between the Japanese and US ones in uptown New York. No idea why.The view from our Montreal hotel (not the airport one)
We’re not the most romantic couple in the world, and don’t tend to make that much to do about our anniversary, but with the 25th looming next year, seems like we should do something.
Something.
The family asked about us having a party. Possibly because I mentioned to my sister about possibly having a party. “Don’t the kids organize the party?” asked my brother. Funny brother. (We don’t have kids, for those who don’t know.)
My friends assume we’ll take a trip somewhere. But, we kind of do that every year, don’t we? “A special trip.” Hmm. What would that be—and what’s not special about our current trips?
Also, does that mean my friends wouldn’t come to a party?
Actually, geography makes the whole party idea a bit tricky. Family is mostly up north. Friends are mostly not. I don’t see the bulk of either group travelling the 10 hours needed to get from one place to the other, so it’s a choice of family party or friend party.
Change things up at home. Paint the bedroom wall or rearrange your living room furniture.
Because, sure, what is more wonderful and romantic than doing home renovations.
Do something especially romantic at home. Read poetry to each other by candlelight, for instance.
Yeah. No. Big no.
…
Have a day of service — to each other. If you usually cook and your spouse mows the lawn, switch jobs for the day.
Again with the doing chores, Yahoo? And anyway, after 25 years, if you haven’t figured out your household labour division in a way that doesn’t leave you feeling resentful and wishing you could switch, then I don’t how you made it that far.
Have a day of service — to others. Do something charitable, whether it’s making a donation somewhere, or serving dinner at a shelter.
OK, I’ll drop the snark, as that is a lovely idea. For better people than we are.
…
If you’re going to travel, make it an adventure. Hike the Grand Tetons, go whitewater rafting, or learn to scuba dive.
Wait, did Jean write that one?
Have a party, but make it sort of retro. You were married in the 1990s after all! Event planner Jason Jani, owner of the SCE Event Group, suggests making a playlist of songs from the year you were married and showing videos from the wedding. And if you still have your dress, wear it.
… Hmm, I don’t hate this one. But it in no way solves the geography problem. And I can’t see planning two nineties parties.
Suppose I’ll just put off thinking about this again, for now.
When I expressed the desire to squeeze in a final summer holiday, Jean suggested Toronto as a place we could get to quickly enough to have time to enjoy with only minimal time off work (I took half a day).
“Hey, the Ex is on then,” I exclaimed. “Can we go?”
“Uh, I guess,” Jean replied, a bit mystified by my interest.
“The Ex” is the Canadian National Exhibition, an annual late-summer fair held in Toronto lo these past 138 years. Neither of us had ever been.
When I was a youngster back in Northern Ontario (from where one could not get to Toronto very quickly), the Ex seemed like coolest thing, based on ads like these:
Getting there was the first challenge. We aren’t experts on Toronto Transit, but the CNE grounds were too far for our usual “we’ll just walk there” approach to getting around in that city. The CNE website clearly listed the best transit options, but that didn’t stop us from messing up: Confusing the Dundas West subway stop(which had a direct bus to the CNE) with Dundas one (which did not). Taking a while to figure out that the “street” car stop at Union Station is not actually on the street, but below ground. And then some confusion about whether we were taking the street car in the right direction.
So we were well ready for lunch by the time we got there, and headed straight to the Food Building. We munched on completely un-weird fish and chips (Jean) and fish tacos (me), but when we walked around afterwards looking for things like the Bug Bistro and the philly sandwiches with whipped cream, we couldn’t find them. It pretty much seemed like any other food court.
Mind, we were rushing through a bit as we (well, I) wanted to get a seat at the popular ice skating and aerial acrobatics show. It featured Olympic bronze medallist Joannie Rochette. She indeed did a lovely solo, but I was actually more impressed with some of acrobatics, and from seeing two male ice skaters skate together. And it seemed a bit rude that they didn’t introduce any performers other than Joannie.
Much of the CNE grounds is a really big midway / fair sort of thing, with rides and games. We didn’t partake of that part at all, beyond walking through it. We had planned to Ferris wheel together, but Jean got a bit overwhelmed with the crowds in those parts.
Instead, we visited a few exhibitions spaces—the farm, arts and hobbies, kitchen stuff (my favourite)—and concluded the day with the (also very popular) Superdogs show. That was so cute and fun, all these different types of dogs doing tricks or playing the clown. Was probably the day’s highlight.
One of the Superdogs–from Toronto.com
After the Ex
The new Where to Eat in Canada had arrived just before this trip, so we took the opportunity to visit a couple of the listed places. We met some friends for dinner at Origin. I had been a bit pushy on this suggestion, despite never having been, so was relieved to find that:
The place was quiet enough for conversation
The food was very good
The prices weren’t outlandish
It’s one of those places with more of a tapas focus, and the servers were very good about helping us through our selections and bringing out items in a sensible order. We had the devilled eggs, a couple items from the raw (sushi) bar, a mozarella-based appetizer, a kale salad, and crispy calamari. (Who needs meat?)
This kale salad was freakin’ delicious
The next day went to the ROM ahead of our reservation at Cafe Boulud. We had forgotten, however, that we were just there in February, and basically remembered the regular collection enough that we didn’t feel the need to look at it again. They had a Chihully exhibit, but having also been to his gallery in Seattle recently, we didn’t feel inclined to pay extra for that. Fortunately, we were saved by being time for a tour of their Egyptian collection, which was really interesting!
Cafe Boulud is a chi-chi poo-poo restaurant in a chi-chi poo-poo hotel. We were there for brunch, which is one of the cheaper ways of partaking in it ($45 for two courses with coffee). The wines by the glass were almost as expensive as bottles are in some others places, so we stuck with the $9 mimosa.
Berries tartine and soupe de mais (corn soup) with our mimosa
The food was quite good, though, excluding Jean’s duck confit being more salted than he cared for. I wasn’t sure what to expect from my Gorditas de papa con chorizo, but I quite enjoyed it.
This is Gorditas de papa con chorizo
The rest of the day we wandered the streets of Toronto, the predicted rain never quite materializing. It was quite warm, so we stopped regularly for beverages of the non-alcoholic variety. We saw street fests and visited some favourite stores and burnt off restaurant calories.
Just because you find that life’s not fair it
Doesn’t mean that you just have to grin and bear it
If you always take it on the chin and wear it
Nothing will change.
My interest in seeing the musical Matilda was mainly that the music was written by Tim Minchin, a comedian-musician whose songs often promote reason, science, and humanism. And also cheese.
The show has also received a number of awards, though, and a great review in the Globe and Mail, so I was pleased when my sister and brother-in-law agreed to go see it with me while Jean was off canoeing.
The play opens with a chorus of children whose doting, self-esteem-boosting parents lead them to be believe they are special little princes and princesses. “It seems that there are millions of these one-in-a-millions these days / Specialness seems de rigueur.” By contrast, Matilda really is remarkable—a genius. Her thick parents don’t know what to make of her love of books and stories; they can barely stand to have her around.
In her big number, Matilda’s mother explains that “People don’t like smarty-pants / What go round claiming / That they know stuff / We don’t know / Content, has never been less important… You’ve just got to be loud.” (This is truly a musical of our time.)
School should be an oasis for such a child, but Matilda’s school is run by the authoritarian Miss Trunchbull. Played by a large man (Dan Chameroy), she cuts a ridiculous-looking figure, but is a terrifying adversary nonetheless—a bully who brooks no dissent, who cares little about fainess (once she decides you’re guilty, you’re guilty), and who favours cruel punishments.
Besides the town librarian (delightfully played by Keisha T. Fraser), the only one on Matilda’s side is her teacher, Miss Honey, who calls herself pathetic for not being more effective at standing up to Miss Trunchbull and Matilda’s parents. Matilda, endowed with a sense of justice as deep as her intelligence, realizes that this is a battle she must fight for herself. (With a little help from her schoolmates.)
But nobody else is gonna put it right for me
Nobody but me is gonna change my story
Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty.
Three young girls alternate the role of Matilda in the Toronto production. We got Hannah Levinson, who was dang amazing, delivering each line with such clarity and perfect timing that you never doubted her sharp, mature mind. She also had a lovely singing voice.
With intermission, the play runs just over 2.5 hours. It moves along well, with none of the numbers seeming to drag—proving that Tim Minchin can write songs advocating intelligence, self-determination, justice, and education, without expletives in them. Much like the rest of his oeuvre, Matilda is often thought-provoking and moving—but still kind of fun!
Ahead of the long weekend, we took a long weekend, booking the Friday and Monday off and heading up to Ottawa. We had no major ambitions for our visit; it’s just a nice place to go relax. And the weather cooperated—it was a bit warm (hence me wearing nothing but dresses in the photos), but overall can’t complain about a sunny summer weekend.
The Rideau canal area of Ottawa
We booked in at the Les Suites Hotel, very conveniently located downtown. The rooms are a bit older, but you certainly get a lot of space: a full kitchen, a living room with TV, along with the expected bedroom and bathroom. We took advantage of having a fridge by buying food from the Market to bring home (in a cooler).
Apart from that, the only thing we booked ahead were dinner reservations. Friday we ate at Beckta for the first time. It has a fancy dining room with prix fixe dinners, but we decided to eat in the slightly more casual wine bar. We still got excellent service and delicious food.
These PEI oysters left us wanting more. We had them with an Ontario sparkling made specially for Beckta.
Jean tried the soup of the day, which was celeriac with coconut.
It was good, but not quite as good as my appetizer of Peking-style glazed pork belly in sesame crepe with cucumber and scallion relish.
As mains, I had the risotto with shrimp, peas, and mushrooms, while Jean went with the Tagliatelle pasta with confit chicken, black olive pesto, and arugula. We switched to glasses of red wine with those.
Then with dessert, we each got a glass of sweet wine. Jean had a Tokaji, while I had a cabernet ice wine.
Strawberries and chocolate with sorbetWhich were almost as good as the maple semifreddo
Saturday we ambled around the uptown in the morning.
One of the sights we took in
We stopped for lunch at Murray Street, where we had more oysters (this time with cider), and a lovely charcuterie plate of two cheeses, smoked ducks, and two styles of pate.
In the afternoon we visited the National Gallery.
Outdoor exhibitIndoor exhibit
For our dinner at Signatures, we were joined by friends who live in Ottawa, which was really nice. Signatures has only prix fixe menus, of three, five, or eight courses. We went with three, but chose different items.
Jean had the mousse de foie de canard
And I the escargots au pastis et tomates.
Then I ordered the cabbage-wrapped trout with dill chips
while it was Jean’s turn for risotto with mushroom and peas. I believe the dessert was the same for both, and can’t recall what that was. (Not because it wasn’t good, though.)
Sunday was even warmer, but we still did the walking around thing in the morning, heading down Bank Street and over toward the Museum of Nature, which we visited after a lunch of Thai food. They had a feature dinosaur exhibit (the Museum of Nature did, that is—not the Thai restaurant).
Our final Ottawa dinner was at Sidedoor, which has more of a “small plattes” approach. We were in a seafood-y mood, ordering halibut crispy fish taco, tuna sashimi with yuzu, and coconut poached halibut along with jasmine rice and Chinese greens.
Lovely fish tacos at Sidedoor
Everything was quite delicious. The only sour note was that our waiter, who had started really well, seemed to lose interest in us at some point, not really checking back once our initial items arrived or asking if we wanted dessert. (I had to volunteer that I did—they have really amazing donuts here!) Odd, as it wasn’t especially busy or anything. Maybe someone had just told him the Brexit news?
While there, we went to Sandra Shamas’ one-woman show about “climbing mount menopause”. Despite that intro and the predominantly female audience, it wasn’t all about the hormonal challenges of being over 50. She covered a gamut of topics from her life.
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