Feb 28 2008
Now we know how those Subway sandwich maker people always remember to ask us whether we want soup with our sandwich! They have a sign behind the counter.
Only today, they had accidentally turned it the wrong way…
Seen today on Bloor Street.
Feb 27 2008
Bookmarks for the last few days:
Feb 25 2008
Some things seem to invite sarcasm. The price tag on these bunnies - seen at a Toronto pharmacy today - bills them as ‘realistic.’
Because, you know, they’re not pink or blue, and they’re made by a company called EARTHRITE…
Valentine’s Day is over, Easter is almost here - and retailers all over the world are ushering in the springtime with realistic bunnies.
To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. (Emily Dickinson)
Feb 21 2008
Bookmarks for the last few days:
Feb 21 2008
Okay, these aren’t really graffiti. They’re mural copies of famous Group of Seven artworks in downtown Huntsville, Ontario.
Feb 21 2008
Apparently, I’m the friendly blogger. This is because, whenever I write a review, I have mostly good things to say about my subject. Those of you who know me will perhaps be skeptical about this: I’m crusty and argumentative at the best of times, so reading my positive blog posts may seem out of character.
So I thought I’d quickly provide some context. I’m writing this blog because I like thinking and talking about culture (music, mostly), and I like to showcase and reflect on the things that I like. My reviews are more recommendations than ‘reviews’ - I’d like to think they are conscious of whatever idiosyncracies may be present in what I’m writing about, but ultimately, I’m saying, “Listen to this,” or “See this.”
This blog is a series of entries documenting a personal journey but not of the ‘personal journal’ kind. I’m not sure that I want to write a blog full of the things that I did every day (”Today, I had breakfast with…” or “My stomach was upset today after eating too much broccoli.”). I write about what pleases me, what I find remarkable, interesting or challenging. I write about things I believe others should hear, see or read.
Since I have almost no readership (according to Google Analytics), I also have to assume that almost nobody actually reads this, so we should be good :)
My blog fulfills a psychological purpose for me: I like to write and I crave the opportunity to editorialize about things. I also like putting some mindful, focused time into appreciating, or thinking about, something properly and with the care it deserves. In that way, Teabowl may be a meditation of sorts.
Feb 20 2008
Dave Matthews, particularly with the Dave Matthews Band, isn’t recognized enough for his songcraft. It gets lost under the weight of popular perception about Dave’s music, live shows and achievements: touring jam band, incredible musicianship, big sound, long shows, lots of dope smoked at every show, generally appealing to those who once followed the Grateful Dead (how those two were connected I’ve never understood). Dave’s songs also get lost a little because people say they don’t understand what his lyrics are about, and perhaps because the songs have a certain tentative complexity of rhythm and melody - a quality that makes them sound experimental but that’s actually very planned, calculated and predictable.
I’m a dedicated listener to DMB, regardless of whether it’s their studio or live records. I also tend to order all of their Live Trax releases, which are only available from the Dave Matthews Band website. And while I appreciate the bigness and crispness of the band’s sound (Stefan Lessard’s phenomenally powerful and groovy bass, Carter Beauford’s tight and tireless drums, LeRoi Moore’s muscular saxophone, Boyd Tinsley’s sweet violin and Dave’s acoustic folk guitar that somehow glues it all together), I also love Dave’s songs in their lyrical craziness and melodic, fearless musical invention (he sounds like so many singer/songwriters we know, yet completely unique, all at the same time). Dave’s songs are love songs, sad songs, happy songs, crazy party songs; songs about women, history, life, being on the road and alternate life outcomes. It’s a canon of work as varied, strange, richly developed and textured as many other great songwriters’ - Springsteen, Dylan, Paul Simon, James Taylor.
Live at Radio City, like the earlier Live at Luther College, is that rare Dave Matthews live record that leaves all the musical pyrotechnics at home and foregrounds just the songs. Tim Reynolds, Dave’s long-standing acoustic live cohort, is certainly an excellent guitar player and shines in the acoustic solos here (and, of course, Dave himself is also an under-recognized master of the acoustic guitar, providing pulsing, driving rhythms). But this is about the songs, proving that they can hang together beautifully without 15-minute jams, create their own strange poetry and be compelling, even if you don’t really always know what they’re about.
Favourites for me are “Gravedigger” with its embedded nursery rhyme, a beautiful cover version of Daniel Lanois’ “The Maker” (which is of course also incredible in full DMB live regalia), and “Crush,” to name but a few of many. Over the years, Dave’s voice has begun to sound more and more like Peter Gabriel’s in tone and timbre - it has a dark and quiet but clear command of the musical space set up by the song. It’s an expressive and instantly recognizable voice (like Sting’s or Phil Collins’) that doesn’t really fit into any specific genre. Much like Dave Matthews himself doesn’t fit into any genre, I suppose. Maybe he creates his own.
I can’t really recommend this ‘acoustic’ set strongly enough. It’s best heard together with Live at Luther College because it provides a continuation of sorts - old songs versus new songs, old sound versus new. I could sometimes do without the talking between songs (strangely, Dave - writer and singer of such deeply intelligent songs - doesn’t sound either witty or particularly bright in his ‘announcements’…) but that’s a very minor drawback.
Feb 19 2008
For vegetarians, Muskoka isn’t always a particularly good food destination. In fact, area restaurants fall either into the ‘fine dining’ category (rustic, meaty fare, often involving game) or a cornucopia of chain restaurants that you’d find anyplace in North America (Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Harvey’s and the like). Restaurants make the usual concessions to ‘those not wishing to eat meat’ - risotto and two kinds of pasta, one with mushrooms and another with pesto or sundried tomatoes.
So it’s a particular delight to find a vegetarian-conscious establishment in Huntsville, ON - a few clicks away from Deerhurst Resort, Hidden Valley and the Delta Grandview Inn, all popular area vacation spots. 3 Guys and a Stove is owned and run by Jeff Suddaby, who also has his own cooking show on Global, Who’s Coming For Dinner? (I’ve never seen the show, but after eating at the restaurant I’d be interested in checking it out.)
The restaurant itself is definitely rustic. It’s a two-level free-standing building along Highway 60 (washrooms upstairs, so definitely not wheelchair accessible from what I could tell). There are booths and tables on the ground floor (as well as the open kitchen and a large-ish bar), and tables only upstairs. Since it’s the middle of winter, I’m not sure what sort of a ‘patio’ or al fresco experience 3 Men might offer in the summer. The wait staff are friendly (in that lovely, small-town Ontario way - and I don’t mean to have an air of big city condescension about this, although I’m sure I do) without being overbearing or too in your face. The soundtrack is a stream of blues and r’n'b, courtesy of Galaxie Blues (a Bell ExpressVu music channel), from what I could tell. It’s certainly appropriate for the decor and ambience.
Okay, on to the food. It’s a biggish menu - one of those Restaurant Makeover chefs might say it’s a little too large - but the sections that concern us are right in front. The second page has ‘Rice - Pasta - Stews - Burgers’ and this is where the vegetarian magic is. Rice, pasta and stew dishes are “prepared as vegetarian entrees.” This means that vegetarians can order any of these dishes without worrying that they’re based on chicken stock or have hidden bacon bits in them. Omnivores can choose to add lamb, chicken, shrimp, scallops, etc. to these dishes.
After enjoying some tiny, freshly baked two-bite mini-buns with butter, we started by sharing Risotto Fritters, “with red onions, roasted peppers, French Brie, fried corn-dusted tomatoes and tart onion salsa.” These were really flavourful, especially the red onions (pickled, I thought) and salsa arranged around the sliced tomato base. The fritters themselves were tasty but paled a bit when compared to all the red bits on the plate.
The vegetarian main dishes we tried were a rice dish and a stew. The rice dish was the Curry Jasmine Rice, “with almonds, roasted vegetables, fresh pineapple, coconut, raisins, grilled bananas, sweet fruit chutney and wildberry yogurt.” It was tasty and provided a nice variety to the palate. There were some doubts as to whether the yogurt was truly vegetarian - most store-bought fruit yogurts have gelatin which is decidedly non-vegetarian. Other than that, though, this was a very tasty and satisfying choice.
The stew was Curried Roasted Vegetable & Red-skinned Potato Stew, also an Indian-inflected taste sensation. Described by the menu as “green chili tofu, raisins, pineapple, roasted almonds, bananas, sweetened coconut, peach chutney, blueberry yogurt & fried pappadum,” this dish lived up the delicious description. While I’m not sure why the tofu was called “green chili” (I would expect that to be a little hotter and more, well, chili-ish - instead, it was basically flavourless and a little too soft), I really liked the fruit flavours and crunchy almonds. And the pappadums were crunchy and added a nice ‘authentic’ Indian touch.
We declined dessert but were told that the White Chocolate Cheesecake is the chef’s signature dessert. At $14.95 a piece, it’s also an insanely expensive way to end your meal (mains were around $13), so it would have to be excellent.
Chef Suddaby has written a cookbook and also appears to have his own line of prepared foodstuffs called JEFF. These include coffee, jam, red pepper jelly and the like. It’s hard to say how successful these might become, but I imagine they’re more or less a vanity project.
All in all, a very positive experience and recommended if you’re vegetarian and happen to find yourself in Muskoka with an empty stomach. Worth a drive, and it might be a nice lunch destination for a day trip in the summer.
Feb 18 2008
(Direct URLs: http://www.amazon.com/dp/3596213819/ and http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375704078/)
