Book ~ "Table Boss: How to Build a Restaurant When Your Life Falls Apart" (2026) Jen Agg

From Goodreads ~ Jen Agg had a thriving restaurant group, a beautiful marriage to a handsome artist husband and extremely good skin. If anyone could give advice on living well in your forties, it was her. Then, disaster struck. As a global pandemic threw the restaurant business into chaos, Jen’s husband, Roland, suffered a catastrophic stroke.

In her new memoir, Jen captures what it felt like to rethink everything just when she thought it was all working out as she’d planned. Table Boss makes you understand what Anthony Bourdain loved about her - her singular combination of wry humour, unflinching honesty and real depth. Readers will love the book for its painful rendering of what it’s like to care for a loved one through a health nightmare, its witty analysis of restaurant culture, and its insights into building a business on your own terms.

I like reading bios/autobios and memoirs. Agg is a Toronto restauranteur, many of her places are nearby, and from her descriptions, it sounds like she lives just north of me. I read her first book when it came out in 2017 and liked it.

This one is a personal account of what happens when life takes an unexpected turn. Agg writes about trying to keep her restaurant business going during the COVID-19 pandemic while dealing with a major personal crisis ... her husband, artist Roland Jean, suffered a stroke. 

The book follows Agg as she deals with the challenges of running restaurants while also becoming a caregiver to her husband and adjusting to a very different life than the one she had planned. She explores the impact of his stroke on their relationship, the realities of caregiving and the demands of keeping a business afloat during an incredibly uncertain time. 

Along the way, Agg discusses the restaurant industry, running a business, ambition, relationships and the role that food and hospitality play in our lives. She also touches on the challenges women face in the restaurant world and the realities behind building a successful restaurant. 

As with her first book, Agg has a mouth and she's not afraid to use it. I think you'd either like her or you wouldn't as she seems to have a strong personality but she also showed her vulnerability in her love of Roland. 

I eat out a fair amount and it was interesting to learn about the restaurant industry. I found it especially interesting to read about her views about the expectations as a customer of a restaurant ... friendly engaging staff, appropriate music, delicious food, etc. It does make a difference in the dining experience. When Gord and I were in Saint John last month, we had supper at a fairly nice restaurant and our server could have cared less about us. On the other hand, I had supper at a fairly nice restaurant here in Toronto a couple months ago with a friend and our server went above and beyond with her friendliness and taking care of us.

As a head's up, there is swearing (she likes to use the F-bomb frequently). There are lots and lots of colourful photos of food, her restaurants and more.

“Alone in the Dark at Stanley Barracks Tour”, The Haunted Walk, Toronto, ON

This evening Gord, Trish and I did the Alone in the Dark at Stanley Barracks tour led by Paul of The Haunted Walk. We got to walk around the different floors of the Stanley Barracks hearing ghost stories and participated in paranormal experiments including trying to summon spirits and a ouija board.

A world of officers, mess dinners and parade grounds once filled this place. During the First World War, German and Austrian prisoners were held behind barbed wire. A generation later, men and women in uniform passed through on their way to war, some never to return and many forever changed. When the military left, families turned barrack rooms into crowded homes. If places can retain something of the people and events that shaped them, this one has had nearly two centuries to absorb both the beauty and the horror of life. For some who have spent time here, the past has seemed to reach across the years in ways hard to explain. After so much life, loss and upheaval, what, if anything, remains?

Over two hours, you’ll explore the building from basement to top floor with a small group. Traditional and modern paranormal experiments will put that question to the test. Nothing is staged and nothing is guaranteed. We’ll provide the history, the experiments and the darkness. After all, some questions can only be asked in the dark.

It was interesting exploring the barracks as I like history. Alas, we weren't able to summon any spirits. Paul was knowledgable and entertaining.

Left Field Brewery, Toronto, ON (Liberty Village)

Gord, Trish and I had supper this evening at Left Field Brewery in Liberty Village.

Trish is vegan and appreciated the amount of vegan options. She had a Vegan Nashville Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich (Plant-based fried chicken tossed in our spicy Nashville dry rub topped with shredded lettuce, dill pickles and vegan mayo on a vegan brioche bun) and sweet potato fries.

Mistake Rib Knitted Scarf

I knitted another scarf to donate using a squishy mistake rib pattern, an easy fun pattern.

I used a Caron Anniversary Cake Special Edition (the colour is Jewels and Jolly) and 6.5mm needles. 

I cast on 23 stitches (multiples of 4 plus 3 stitches).

It's a one row repeat: slip 1 knitwise, k1, *p2, k2, repeat from * to last stitch, p1.

Mistake Rib Knitted Scarf

I knitted another scarf to donate using a squishy mistake rib pattern, an easy fun pattern.

I used a Caron Anniversary Cake Special Edition (the colour is Jewels and Jolly) and 6.5mm needles. 

I cast on 23 stitches (multiples of 4 plus 3 stitches).

It's a one row repeat: slip 1 knitwise, k1, *p2, k2, repeat from * to last stitch, p1.

Book ~ "Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" (2026) Charles Spencer

From Goodreads ~ In September 1997, Charles Spencer stood in Westminster Abbey before a watching world and shared his grief at losing his beloved sister, Diana. Now, nearly thirty years later, he tells the astonishing story of his life with Diana and the tragic week of her death.

In childhood, Charles and Diana, the youngest Spencers, were inseparable – secretly calling one another Duch and Carlos. As each other’s closest confidantes, they roamed the family estate, endured extremely challenging boarding schools, survived terrifying nannies and helped each other through the agony of their parents’ divorce.

Yet everything changed when Diana married the Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, and overnight became a global icon. Charles saw his older sister serve the world’s marginalized and relish being mother to her treasured sons.

But pursued by a barbaric press as her royal marriage crumbled, she was left desperately alone. Charles always tried to be there for Diana – until that black night in August, 1997.

I like reading bios/autobios and memoirs and was curious about this one. It will be 30 years next year since Diana passed away ... I guess that's why he wrote it at this time.

It's Spencer's account of the life and death of his sister, Diana, Princess of Wales. He looks back on their childhood, their family life and the events that shaped Diana’s life, from her marriage to Prince Charles to her years in the public eye. He writes about Diana’s struggles within the Royal Family, her difficult marriage, her charitable work and the constant attention from the media. 

The book covers Diana’s final days, her death in Paris in 1997 and the events surrounding her funeral. Spencer shares his memories of the funeral arrangements, the decision to bury Diana at the family estate of Althorp and his experience of delivering the eulogy at Westminster Abbey. There is a great deal of time devoted to talking about the eulogy (it's even included a few times along with his handwritten version)!

Through personal memories and accounts of key events, Spencer offers a look at Diana’s life from the perspective of her brother, including their family history, her experiences as a royal and the circumstances surrounding her death and funeral.

I thought it was interesting and learned things I didn't know before. I thought the writing style was okay, though it's long. It bounced back and forth from the time period around when she passed away to their childhood. Not surprising, the royal family doesn't come off in a good light. I didn't find Spencer overly likeable but it was interesting to read how one lives when one is an earl and hanging out with royalty. I liked that there were photographs (about 12% of the book is devoted to them).

Mistake Rib Knitted Scarf

I knitted another scarf to donate using a squishy mistake rib pattern, an easy fun pattern.

I used a Caron Anniversary Cake Special Edition (the colour is Jewels and Jolly) and 6.5mm needles. 

I cast on 23 stitches (multiples of 4 plus 3 stitches).

It's a one row repeat: slip 1 knitwise, k1, *p2, k2, repeat from * to last stitch, p1.

Burrito Boyz, Etobicoke, ON (Jutland)

Gord and I watched a show last night about burritos and it got me craving one for lunch so I stopped in at Burrito Boyz (on Jutland Road in Etobicoke). 

I got a large chicken burrito (half for lunch and half later for supper) with refried beans, rice, black beans, cheese, corn, tomatoes, mild salsa and burrito sauce. Yum!