Mock Turtle

Justin Trudeau has confirmed he will seek the federal Liberal party nomination in Montreal’s Papineau riding.

“We’ll see whether I’m crazy or not,” Trudeau said Thursday afternoon.

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We went to the opera tonight (more in another post, perhaps) and decided to stop by Monsoon for dinner beforehand. They’re an upscale fusion-inspired place at Simcoe and Adelaide, pretty close to the new COC digs. And they have a 15% discount for COC members. They’re not cheap–they have a few mains in the 20s but mostly 35-45.

I don’t know whether it’s simply a matter of a kitchen that can’t get its head together on a Tuesday, but it was disappointing. The show is at 7:30 so we made a 5:30 reservation, with the idea of having a leisurely meal. We order, appetizer shows up reasonably promptly, then a looong wait till our mains show up about 10 minutes to 7. We’re done dinner and out the door sans dessert or coffee at 7:20. The food itself is not bad, but for $40 a pop you expect something better than not bad. Not somewhere we’re heading back to any time soon, despite it been very convenient to both COC and RTH.

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“Love potion!” M — obviously absorbing more Harry Potter than is apparent at bedtime — exclaimed when she saw the display of XOXO (warning: much mauve, much Flash) Merlot/Cab at the LCBO. “XOXO means kiss hug kiss hug!” It came with a bonus package of icky little chocolates, too, so we eventually caved in and added a bottle to our shopping cart.

Let me reproduce for your pleasure the bottle blurb:

Great relationships are all about harmony — two things coming together to create something even better.

It’s the inspiration for the special pairing of varietals in XOXO. Two classic grapes embrace in one bottle. A hug of one. A kiss of another. The result is a deliciously unique and balanced wine. (etc.)

Oh, blarfh.

It was drinkable, but just. Harsh alcohol, not much else to it. Not worth $10 or whatever the heck it cost (plus $0.20 bottle deposit).

We decided it was meant to be a Date Wine, appealing to 20-year-old straight guys looking for something slightly more romantic than Cat Pee on a Gooseberry Bush.

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Well, at least we were home at the time.  Friday morning we were procrastinating over breakfast & the newspaper when there was a crashing noise from downstairs followed by the sound of water rushing through the pipes.  We ran to the basement to see water gushing through one of the potlight fixtures in the basement bedroom, shortly thereafter joined by two of the others.  A few minutes later we had the mains turned off but an almighty mess on our hands.  And we spent the rest of the day arranging and supervising an emergency plumber effort, followed by much of the weekend drying out the carpets (via rented carpet cleaner and borrowed dehumidifier).  The bedroom now has some very unsightly holes in the ceiling, and the pipes leading to the back bathroom now have shutoff valves (which are shut off).

Seems the renovator who created that back bathroom forgot about insulation for a portion of the wall.  The pipes were separated from the outside brick by about 3 inches of open air.

Obviously we’d have to call this a minor disaster, but at the same time we were immediately conscious of how lucky we were.  Half an hour later, or if we’d been more prompt in leaving for work, and that water would have been gushing for the entire day.  *shudder*

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This isn’t new (.mp3), but I haven’t heard it in years and years.

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We uncorked a bottle of the Rothschild Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (Vin de Pays D’Oc) to go with our pizza this evening. It’s quite pleasant and only $10.15–sort of a cocktail/party/pizza wine. And I’ve always liked their label–a contemporary abstract thing that J. says looks like a bit like a Chinese brush painting of plum flower plants.

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For some reason aldaily thought it was worthwhile to link to this piece concocted by the august-sounding Social Issues Research Centre.

Executive Summary

Gossip is not a trivial pastime: it is essential to human social, psychological and even physical well-being. The mobile phone, by facilitating therapeutic gossip in an alienating and fragmented modern world, has become a vital ‘social lifeline’, helping us to re-create the more natural communication patterns of pre-industrial times.

Last line:

The research was commissioned by BT Cellnet © 2001

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May the Year of the Pig bring good fortune and good health, and lots of good cheer!

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You may recall our wine whine about how the 2005 Farnese isn’t nearly as good as the 2004.

We got to do another 04/05 vintage comparison last night with the Coyote’s Run Unoaked Chardonnay. Coyote’s Run is an excellent new specialist winery in the St. David’s area of the Niagara Peninsula–near the river just down from Queenston Heights, if that makes sense. They’re obviously on some good soil and can make wines of real character. 2004 was a good year for traditional Ontario specialties–Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir–that don’t like it too hot. The 2004 Unoaked was a classic minerally Chablis style (apparently in addition to mineral we got “peach, floral, honey, citrus, even a hint of pineapple/papaya”). It faded kind of quickly (the last bottles we bought weren’t nearly as good as the first bottles), but it was great while it lasted. The 2005 (from a warmer summer) is also pretty likeable–it’s got a nice toasty pineapple nose that would ordinarily make you think it might have seen some oak. It’s also got a bit of citrus and mineral in the background. But personally, we miss the 2004′s cooler personality.

While I’m on the topic of Chablis, the folks at the Summerhill Vintages talked the woman standing next to me (and, consequently, me) into picking up a bottle of the Domaine Bernard Defaix 2004 Chablis 1er Cru. It’s supposed to be classic Chablis. Not cheap though, a bit under $30.

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So I show up at the Summerhill Beer Store with my three bottles in my canvas bag. They have a separate returns area in the vestibule so you don’t have to go into the store proper. I plunk canvas bag down on counter.

Beer Store guy: Just the wine bottles?

Me: Yup.

Beer Store guy: OK, here’s 60 cents.

Really, I can’t complain.

Incidentally, they don’t seem to care whether the bottles were bought before or after the deposit came in.

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