realia

what's your rush?

 

This morning I'm moving about my place, finishing coffee and packing things up for work, and I'm stopped still by the sun showing itself, suddenly, in a mirror.

"Good morning," the sun says. "What's your hurry?"

"I'm glad to see you too," I say.

 

temperance street detail

Door detail. Bell Canada building, Temperance Street, Toronto

christmas market amidst the bluster

It's blustery and damp. So far, that's what the winter has been: blustery and damp. Cold and clear is pleasant to walk in; blustery and damp gets down through your bones. Despite that, we walk over to the Distillery District to see the annual Christmas Market, and many folks and their families are braving it too.  We sip some mulled wine under a patio heater and then check out the vendors in the booths lining the cobbled "streets."

Clouds obscuring the CN Tower, behind the Dominion Public Building, Front Street

 We retreat back westward and land in C'est What for some cosy and a snack.

Walking home later, we've got homemade soup on our minds. Even the CN Tower looks as if it wants to hide under the covers.

 

three decades

My beautiful firstborn, trimming the tree on the eve of her 30th birthday.

Today we go over to Carly's place for a pre-30th-birthday party tree trimming and dinner.  We've used Carly's birthday as the "Christmas tree erecting day" since she was small.  And now she's 30. Yes, I have a daughter who has been on the planet for three decades. Three marvellous decades.

 

rainy pedestrian bridge

Walking across the pedestrian bridge (over the downtown Union Station rail corridor) I'm taken, as always, with the rain on pavement. I've just arrived home from Sudbury, appreciative of the downtown airport's proximity to my home (ten minutes' walk) and am on my way up to meet my people for beer o'clock at our usual local. It's good to be home.

boardroom and hotel room

Monday morning I take the hour long flight from Toronto to Sudbury, to spend the week holed up in a boardroom with a team, working on a proposal. These kinds of team-based efforts are usually good experiences for me; they're intense but more productive than they would be if we were operating out of multiple offices. It's great to see and talk with people with whom I interact often via email and telephone. And getting with a team is always useful networking opportunity for me; getting to know colleagues with whom I can consult on issues and tasks that come up every day. It's a big company, and frankly, once you get to know someone in a live setting, they tend to return your calls and emails.

 

Team-sized desk.

 

After dinner, hanging with Jamie Oliver making Christmas merry on Food TV.  After a few days the hotel life is old, even with Jamie Oliver.

 

rainy sunday brunching

It's one of those little gifts life hands you every once in awhile: a rainy Sunday morning.  That which invites you to have coffee in bed, to loaf around in your pyjamas and to think of things to cook.  Tomorrow I'm heading out of town for the week for work, so I've got some things in the refrigerator to use up, like a red pepper and some zucchini.  I had recently noted this recipe in my Pinterest recipe collection which I'd saved from my favourite foodie blog, Skinnytaste.com, and decide to make it, modified to incorporate some not-so-skinny pancetta, also sitting there in the refrigerator.  More thumbs-up from both sides of the table.

Cook slices of onion until they're browned. Caramelizing works best if you do it slow and long; but that tends to make people in the household hungrier faster.  Today I counter pre-brunch hunger with fruit bowls of pomegranate, pear and grapes and cook the onions slow.

Add in matchsticked zucchini and chopped bell pepper and cook until soft.

Transfer cooked veg and some cooked pancetta to a pie plate. Whisk a combination of eggs and egg whites together with fresh grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and a few drops of hot sauce and pour over top of the veg mixture.

Bake 20-25 minutes at 400 F.

Tastes great as a next-day leftover.

dreary afternoon, yellow door

Weslodge Saloon, King Street West, Toronto

hello winter

Friday night.  After work we meet up with Carly for "beer o'clock" at our favouite local. Winter has returned today and it's tossing snow around the street like wispy ribbons.  I have refused to bust out my warm winter coat yet, and thus walking outside to head home in my inadequate coat makes the blustery wind more unpleasant than it might otherwise.  Hello winter. 

view from a window

Canada Permanent Trust Building, Toronto

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I am participating in a long conference call and so I camp out in a vacant office so I can close the door and put the phone on speaker.  The office overlooks Adelaide Street and one of my favourite downtown buildings, the Canada Permanent Trust building. I get watching the office workers on several floors and it strikes me that each floor is a separate world of its own, each person oblivious to the others moving about above and below. That gets me to thinking about the thousands and thousands of office workers moving about the the windows of all the office buildings downtown, like worker ants. The thought of being a worker ant makes me a little depressed so I turn my attention back to the meeting and get on with my job.