One for the martini folks “For myself, I learned all I needed to know about the rules of proportion from the dry martini. (The addition of an onion turns this martini into a Gibson. Cocktail titles proliferate like ranks in the Ruritarian army.) The law is: main ingredient (gin), subordinate ingredient (vermouth), and grace notecontinue reading
May 2007 Archives
Beyond Mateus
Vintages has always brought in a few wines from Portugal but I’ve never paid much attention for whatever reason–I think they’ve never really made a serious attempt to market them. Not so any more. Last Saturday’s release includes over a dozen Portuguese wines, mainly red, ranging from about $12 at the low end to $40continue reading
Perfidious 2005, yet again
I recommended the 2004 Terrale here a while ago. They’ve replaced the 2004 with the 2005 at the LCBO and unfortunately it is a pale version of the 2004. Sic transiit gloria Siciliae(?). (With apologies to GH for unwittingly unloading a bottle on his household earlier this week.)
Oath, smoath
So here’s a tip for civil servants running competitions to fill contract positions: don’t hire anarchists expecting they will uphold the oath of secrecy . Just a thought. (Ottawa being as small as it is, I’m guessing this is the same person.) UPDATE: Apparently, Monaghan got his contract through an HR agency and thus didn’tcontinue reading
If you *can* say something nice
It seems wrong to fulminate for two posts without posting something positive about something. We had a great $10 wine ($9.95 with deposit) with our pizza two Sundays ago, Domaine de l’Ameillaud, VdP de Vaucluse at 13.5%. This is a southern France Vin de Pays, predominantly Grenache-based apparently. It does a convincing imitation of acontinue reading
Luisa Miller
While I’m at it, by comparison Luisa Miller isn’t half bad. The production suffers from indifferent (and occasionally bizarre) sets and costumes, but whatever, all these things cost big money and we don’t seem to have that kind of money around here. (By far the best sets this year were Lady MacBeth, and those werecontinue reading
Travestiata
We went to the COC Traviata this evening with a sense of foreboding, since Kenneth Winters wrote a thoroughly negative review in the Globe a few days ago. Unfortunately I have to agree with him. There’s really nothing whatsoever wrong with the music–the singers are all quite good, the orchestra plays very well etc.–but thecontinue reading
Lower Don plan design winner
… announced tonight. Details here. Who knows what it will look like if and when it’s actually built. Lots to discuss. The designer (see p6 of the .pdf) seems to want to run an LRT down Queen’s Quay, then Commissioners, as far as I can tell. There is going to have to be a Queen’scontinue reading
The Window Lawyer is officially not an urban legend
From the Mope&Wail’s business pages, discussing the closure of Goodman and Carr LLP: Previously, the biggest law firm to shut down was Toronto-based Holden Day Wilson LLP in 1996. Holden Day at its peak had 90 lawyers after a merger in 1990, but the firm was devastated in 1993 by a fatal accident involving popularcontinue reading
Asparagus!
Second day of fresh Ontario asparagus at our greengrocer! Feasting tonight –