Leah and I spent the weekend in the city. Friday night we celebrated Dan’s birthday at College Street Bar. Last night we went out with Y&K to PJ O’Briens, followed by CanStage’s presentation of Little Shop of Horrors. After the show Y&K went home, while Leah and I retired to Sheraton (using one of our wedding gifts for a free nights stay and breakfast for two). Friday night we avoided the Grey Cup crowds, but Saturday was a different story. From the minute we entered the lobby of the hotel we were sucked into the world of Grey Cup Fanaticism. There were fans of all shapes, sizes and colours filling the lobby – cheering for their favourite team, decked out head-to-toe in their team attire. Despite the seeming lack of fanfare surrounding the Grey Cup by Toronto media, the fans that we saw were certainly having a great time in our fair city.
Archive for the 'Goin’ Out' Category
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Yesterday we took our friends Matt & Emma to Niagara Falls. They are in Toronto on vacation from their home in Portsmouth, England. This is their first trip to Canada, and first time seeing Niagara Falls. I don’t remember my first trip to Niagara Falls, but being there with them on their first trip was refreshing. I think we take The Falls for granted, and forget how wondrous it really is.
I’m trying out the new .mac web gallery:Â http://gallery.mac.com/chrisandleah
I just got the call today letting me know that we are now Season Seat holders for the Toronto FC. Next season can’t come fast enough.
Last night we went to the Matt Nathanson concert at the El Mocambo with Trevor & Dana, and Nicole. This was Leah and Nicole’s first Matt experience and he did not disappoint! Despite the nearly oppresive heat and humidity in the club, Matt and his band put on a rockin’ show that lasted nearly two hours. The set included the highlights from his new album (Some Mad Hope – in stores now) and a variety of classics and rare gems from his back catalogue.
For those not familiar with Matt Nathanson, check out his official site, and then take a trip over to the Internet Archive and download a few of his live shows – completely free and legal. My recording of last nights show will be posted to The Hip Tracker and the Archive in the coming days.
Set List
01: Car Crash
02: Wedding Dress
03: Bare
04: Angel
05: I Saw
06: Princess
07: Come On Get Higher
08: To The Beat Of Our Noisy Hearts
09: Still
10: Falling Apart
11: Church Clothes (solo)
12: Suspended
13: Gone
14: Heartbreak World
15: Bent
16: Laid
17: Detroit Waves
18: All Been Said (solo)
19: Bulletproof Weeks (solo)
20: Don’t Stop Believing – Journey
21: Answering Machine
22: All We Are
Woo Hoo! Tomorrow we’re seeing Matt Nathanson at the El Mocambo!!! I am really looking forward to this show. It’s become an October tradition to see Matt at the El Mo – in October 2004, 2006, and now 2007 he’s performed there. And we’ve been at every show.
There may still be tickets at the door, so if you are looking for a great night out, stop by the El Mo!
Finally – after months of talking about how nice it would be if our neighbourhood had a restaurant we could walk to – someone finally heard our grumbling! Last night we left the car at home and followed sidewalk to a lovely place called Eden Trattoria. We were quickly greeted on the patio by a friendly staffer and taken to a quiet table in the back. While only Chris had a direct view of the water from our table, it was still nice to turn around and see the sun setting over the blue lake.
Our server was scattered but nice and generally efficient. She quickly corrected a problem we had with the bread basket (open butter packets not being to our liking) and we had no further problems.
Chris and I both started with a caesar salad. The lettuce was crunchy and the dressing had a nice consistency, but it lacked that certain zing we both like in this dish. Fresh parmeasan and lemon juice would really help spice this salad up a bit.
For our main course, Chris opted for pizza while I had penne alla vodka. Both dishes were resonably priced and proved to be good value. At about $10 per dish, we each left full and even had leftovers for lunch today. I’ll leave Chris to comment on the pizza (thought it looked and smelled good!) but I can say that the pasta was great. It had the perfect about of bite to it, and the sauce was plentiful but not over powering. The flavour was a nice mix of creamy tomato with that lingering taste of vodka. I’ve had this kind of pasta with additional ingredients such as mushroom or prosciutto – but I much prefer just the sauce and pasta as Eden served up.
The gelato was good – but still not the same as the delightful cones we had in Italy. One day we’ll find it’s match closer to home!
I was excited to see this good little restaurant also offers brunch. As brunch junkies, Chris and I are both looking forward to a new rendition of bacon and eggs – that we can walk to no less!
After missing it last year, Leah resumed her yearly pilgrimage to the Canadian National Exhibition. This year it included a football match between Toronto FC and Chivas USA – the FC lost 2-0 – with the Swissprinters.
After the match we wandered through the food building, enjoyed a schwarma, a couple of Pogo’s, two dozen Tony Tom Donuts, and a schnitzel. This was followed with a couple of funnel cakes, and a couple of ice cream cones – all things considered, I think we got our fill of treats from The Ex in pretty short order.
Every year someone suggests that The Ex should be cancelled, but judging by the tens of thousands of people who were there on a cloudy Saturday afternoon, I think that The Ex is still going strong. Be sure to check it out!
“This Is Our House! This Is Our House!”
That’s the chant of the fans that’s still ringing in my ears from last nights Toronto FC match against the LA Galaxy. This was hopefully going to be the first appearance of David Beckham, but an ankle injury kept him in street clothes and out of the game. Removing the hype and hysteria around Beck’s, the game on the pitch was excellent, except for the outcome of a nil-nil draw. TFC outplayed the Galaxy for the majority of the game, allowing no Galaxy shots on goal for the first half!
I went to the game with GH, and we had a great time. The atmosphere at BMO Field is incredible – the stadium is not the focus of your attention at any point. The fans and the game are the stars, as they should be, and really engage your attention from the minute you approach the grounds.
In the coming seasons I hope that they can keep the same atmosphere as FC games are the most exciting sporting events I’ve been to in a long time.
Last night we attended CanStage’s presentation of “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” at the well-known Dream In High Park! It is amazing how far away from the city you feel in High Park, and how far from your daily life you feel when you’re at the Dream.
For those who are not familiar with the Dream, it’s an open air theatre in the heart of High Park with amphitheatre-style seating. The show begins at 8pm, however when we arrived at 7pm, the seating area was three-quarters full! An evening at the Dream includes a pre-show picnic, complete with picnic baskets. Leah packed our picnic basket, the one Trevor and Dana used as their wedding invitation, full with homemade pasta salad, watermelon, water and homemade chocolate chip cookies – everything we needed for a picnic in the park.
Dan and Anna joined us for the show… and it was a good one! I’ll leave the show review to Leah…
The answer to that question is simple: No!
But thankfully Matt is continuing the trend of playing Toronto in October with a show at the El Mocambo on the 8th. Tickets are on sale now via TicketBastard.
If you’re not familiar with Matt Nathanson, here are a couple of helpful links to get you started:
www.MattNathanson.com: Official site
Live Music Archive: Database of downloadable live recordings