The sold-out scene at the Isabel Bader Theatre in downtown Toronto on a recent dark and stormy night was akin to a Bob Dylan concert (firsthand experience) or a gathering to hear the Dalai Lama (only hearsay). Read more…
The Doc ‘Semisweet’ is Beautiful, Bittersweet – and Choco-Locate is the App for That
I was attending the recent launch for the documentary Semisweet at the Royal Cinema in Toronto’s Little Italy.
I had already watched the film twice at home and was telling its producer Lalita Krishna before the screening how its poignant ending had made me cry. “That’s the sign of a good film,” she replied softly. And I agree. Read more…
Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover
I should have heeded the above warning before I gathered ingredients and spent a couple of hours struggling – in the end, unsuccessfully – to duplicate the Apple Torte with Breadcrumb Hazelnut Crust pictured in all its supposed gorgeousity on the cover of October’s issue of Bon Appetit magazine.
This dessert is featured in an article called “Lidia’s Friuli”: a piece about Lidia Bastianich, the New York chef and restaurateur beloved and respected by so many, including me. Its credits attribute the text to Nina Elder – and a well-written text it is – and recipes to Bastianich herself. Read more…
Ant, Andrew and I Make Waves on Radio Food Show
Yesterday, Andrew Coppolino, host of The Food Show that airs on Sundays from noon to 1 pm on Kitchener radio station 570 News, warned listeners that things were about to get wild, wacky and weird when he introduced me and Antony John.
(Listen or download here. Warning: there is about 20 seconds of dead air at the beginning of the recording.)
The latter is a buddy of mine and one of the reasons I moved to Stratford five years ago (others are his lovely wife Tina and the fact that my neighbours in Kensington Market were terrorizing me for reasons too dark to mention). I recently returned to live in Toronto because: Stratford has too many ducks, not enough people of colour etc. etc. (see previous blogs). But I digress. Read more…
The Gentle Prince of Kensington
This appeared in the Toronto Star on September 13, 2008.
“It’s like a death in a family,” says Sarah Dearing to friend Steven Davey on hearing the devastating news.
“It is a death in the family,” he replies, expressing what so many of us feel as we continue to grieve the loss of beloved Kensington Market restaurateur Amadeu Goncalves. Read more…