Hop City launches Mr. Huff

Tonight we attended the launch of Hop City's new pilsner, Mr. Huff ... Gord had seen an announcement about it on The Great Canadian Beer Blog.

It was a free event in our 'hood ... how could we say no?!

There was an old school photo booth so we checked it out.

Here's Gord having a beer.

Mr. Huff is supposed to be a hoppy beer. I'm not a fan of hoppy beers so had a Barking Squirrel instead. I wasn't crazy about it so Gord switched with me and surprisingly I liked Mr. Huff better.

Roger Mittag, "Professor of Beer" at Thirst for Knowledge, was the emcee. There was a taste testing of Hop City's four beers along with food pairings. John and Kevin, the brewmasters, talked about each one as we tested them.

Here are Kevin and John, along with Tim Pettigrew, a chef at the Grindhouse, who supplied the food.

Here are the food pairings:

Lawn Chair, a wheat beer, with a pulled pork slider with Lawn Chair BBQ sauce on in-house baked Barking Squirrel foccacia.

I'm not a fan of wheat beer but the sandwich was tasty!

Mr. Huff, their new pilsner, with Mr. Huff battered black tiger shrimp with beer infused mustard aoili.

I don't like shrimp but Gord does so I gave him mine.

Barking Squirrel, a lager, with grilled house-cured pork belly lardons with sweet Barking Squirrel consomme and micro greens.

Remember I said I didn't like the Barking Squirrel? It tasted a lot better with the smoky pork belly.

Happy Hour, an ale, with braised sausages in puff pastry with caramelized onion relish.

These were good ... the balsamic vinegar was the first sensation but it finished with a sweet mustard taste.

Gord had taken a beer course last spring and we ran into his instructor, Mirella Amato of Beerology and the Toronto chapter of Barley's Angels.

There was a band in another room ... they played covers and were good.

This woman REALLY liked them.

We suspect someone went up to Queen Street where there are some trendy bars and let everyone know that there was a free party going on here as the room was jammed mostly with younger partiers.

The night was a fun experience trying new beer!

D'Arcy McGee's, Ottawa Airport, ON

I flew to Ottawa this morning ... I was supposed to be on 5:15pm flight home but got to the airport earlier enough to be able to catch the 4pm flight instead. Whoohoo!

I had an hour to kill so had a late lunch/early supper at D'Arcy McGee's at the airport. You know I'm a fan of pubs!

I was sitting at a table for quite a while with a couple servers buzzing around (there were only a handful of people there). I got up and grabbed a menu so I'd be ready when I was finally acknowledged.

I ordered wings and a side order of fries.

According to the menu, the wings were supposed to be "lightly dusted" ...

They were, in fact, heavily battered (seemed like frozen pre-battered wings) and then tossed in hot sauce. I'm not a fan of battered wings ... had I known, I wouldn't have ordered them.

The fries were good ...

There were a lot, though, so I just had a couple.

My server kept disappearing for long periods ... not good for people needing to catch a flight.

I won't be back there the next time I'm at the Ottawa airport.

January 29, 2013 update:  I had lunch here today before I caught my flight home.  I ordered Chicken Tikka Marsala Boxty.  I've had it at other restaurants in their chain and it was delicious ... not good here at all.  My server, Reynaldo, was very friendly, though.  I won't be back!

Burrito and a movie

It was movie night for Shawna, Trish and I.

Trish and I met at Burrito Boyz (Adelaide W/Duncan) for supper before the movie.

Trish is a non-meat eater and had a ground soya burrito. I had a chicken burrito ... here it is in all its deliciousness:

Yum!

Here's Trish as we were leaving the restaurant to meet Shawna at the theatre:


We saw Limitless.

Out-of-work writer Eddie Morra's (Bradley Cooper) rejection by girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) confirms his belief that he has zero future. That all vanishes the day an old friend introduces Eddie to NZT, a designer pharmaceutical that makes him laser focused and more confident than any man alive. Now on an NZT-fueled odyssey, everything Eddie's read, heard or seen is instantly organized and available to him. As the former nobody rises to the top of the financial world, he draws the attention of business mogul Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro), who sees this enhanced version of Eddie as the tool to make billions. But brutal side effects jeopardize his meteoric ascent.

I like Bradley Cooper and thought he was good in this. It's a fast paced movie that didn't seem to drag. I was cheering for Eddie to succeed. If you are looking for a movie to kill a couple hours, you should check this out ... if nothing else, it's definitely a rental.

Halfway through the movie, a fella in front of us pulled out his Blackberry. Not only did he check his emails, he started reading one, scrolling scrolling scrolling down. I'd had enough!

Me (as I leaned over): Can you read your emails later?
Fella: Why? Is it bothering you?
Me: Yes, the light is glaring.
Fella: What's your problem?
Me: Dude, you're at a movie!!
Fella (as he puts his Blackberry away): You guys were talking earlier.

Then I gave him the finger behind his back! That was extremely mature of me.

And yes, we were talking earlier ... during the commercials and the coming soons! We'd shut up once the movie started.

I was expecting a confrontation when the movie was over but he and his friends left without a word.

Here are Trish, me and Shawna just before we left the theatre.

Book ~ "The Top 100 Canadian Singles" (2010) Bob Mersereau

From Amazon ~ A book that gets to the heart of the matter! Whether you're a professional musician or an air guitarist, a collector or a true amateur, this book will shake things up! The Top 100 Canadian Singles will undoubtedly stir the souls, ears, and tongues of music lovers everywhere. And answer the question, for better or for worse. Bob Mersereau has assembled a blue ribbon panel of musicians, broadcasters, reviewers, managers, promoters, record-label executives, retailers, roadies and more to cast their votes in a major nationwide poll. John Roberts, Canada's original VJ; Joel Plaskett; Sarah Slean; the late Paul Quarrington; CBC's Stuart McLean; Sam Roberts; Sophie Durocher; and Eric Trudel all contributed lists -- along with hundreds more. Whose single will make it to the top 10? The top 40? The top 100? Neil or Leonard? Feist or Alanis? k.d. lang or Stompin' Tom? The Guess Who or Arcade Fire? Gilles Vigneault or k-os? Once again, the countdown is on! We'll all be waiting for the answer in early October. This oversized, full colour book features in-depth interviews with musicians, fascinating facts, musician-penned sidebars, documentary photographs, cover art, and much, much more.

I love music ... the 16,000 songs I have on my ipod can attest to that. So this book interested me.

The hundreds of jurors who voted on the songs included musicians, DJs, fans, writers and so on. The songs range from 1950 (Hank Snow's I'm Movin' On) to 2007 (Wintersleep's Weighty Ghost) Some songs I love, some I don't love (I'm not a fan of Bryan Adams, Neil Young or Joni Mitchell) and some from Quebec I hadn't heard of.

With each song, there is a picture and a high level description of the song.

The big surprise to me was the Great Big Sea didn't make it to the list.

So of the 100 songs that made the list, here are my favourites:

Wolf & Firkin, Toronto, ON

After spending almost five hours at the spa, Gord and I were hungry.
We went across the street to the Wolf & Firkin.

It's a cozy place.

We started with nachos ... but we were so hungry that I forgot to take picture of them!

Wings were 50¢ each and that's what I had (medium).

Gord had chicken gumbo soup (it was kind of wimpy ) and cajun wings.

The dill dipping sauce wasn't as dilly as I've had in other Firkins.

They gave Gord a free shooter since we were celebrating his birthday.

And here are Gord and I ...

Our servers were quick and friendly. It's a fun bar and I'll be back for a drink.

Elmwood Spa, Toronto

Gord and my tradition for birthdays is to take each other to a spa to celebrate.

Since Gord's birthday was Thursday, we went to the Elmwood Spa (Yonge/Dundas W) this afternoon.

First up were water therapies ... spending time in the pool and the hot tub.

Then we had an 80 minute couples massage.

My bed was by the fireplace.

There's Gord already to go!

Andre gave me a wicked massage ... he found so many places that were sore. Ouch! I'd never had an 80 minute massage (I'd had a 60 minute massage max) and it was heavenly.

Then we had a deluxe pedicure. Here we are with our legs wrapped with lotion and our feet wrapped with hot paraffin wax.

Needless to say, we were very relaxed!

I got my toes painted "Maya" (Gord named our car Maya when we got it in 2004).

I had to let my toes dry so we had a couple glasses of bubbly in the bar in our robes ....

I could have had a nap right then as I was so relaxed.

Definitely a relaxing fun afternoon!

Book ~ "The War of the Roses" (1981) Warren Adler

From Amazon ~ The Roses met at an auction on Cape Cod. Oliver had just bought a Staffordshire figurine - one of a pair - but Barbara outbid him for its mate. The figurines belonged together, and so did the Roses. Now the two objets d'art sat together on a shelf in the Roses' home - symbols of the passion their owners shared. A passion that united them and now was about to tear them apart .

Sharing for Oliver and Barbara Rose was a way of life. Living in the mansion they had restored together, with the antiques they had collected together, their rare wines, their orchids and their children - all the beautiful things they owned - they were happy. Their latest project had been the kitchen, which was to be the core of Barbara's new-found career as a caterer of gourmet foods. Though Oliver was a busy and successful attorney, he had shared all the planning chores with her.

The tripping point occurred when Oliver collapsed with what seemed to be a heart attack and Barbara, as he had expected, did not rush to his side. Her indifference to his fate was both galling and an eye-opener about the truth of their marriage, a truth based more on materialism than mutual sharing and love.

The War of the Roses is a timeless novel. Yet this is a story uniquely of our own time where more and more people measure their happiness and success in terms of the things they possess.

I haven't seen the movie that is based on this book in years and remember not liking it.

When I came across this ebook, I gave it a chance ... and I'm glad I did because I enjoyed it.

I liked the writing style ... it was quick and funny and the story moved along.

It was fun to read how Oliver and Barbara started with simple pranks to drive each other out of the house and spiraled into madness.

I wasn't crazy about the character of Ann, the nanny. She was too wimpy for my liking and I was happy when she left the house.

Now I want to go out and rewatch the movie!

Toronto Blue Jays 13, Minnesota Twins 3

Gord and I always go to the Blue Jays' home opener ... and tonight was this season's.

We had seats in the second level.

They started by presenting José Bautista with the Silver Slugger Award.

Roberto Alomar and Pat Gillick were honoured because they are being inducted into the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame as Blue Jays.

The Mounties came out for the singing of the national anthems.

Two of the "Billys" from Billy Elliot: The Musical sang the national anthems. This guy did the American one ...

And this one did the Canadian one ...

The game was sold out!

Let's play ball! The Twins were up first.

Then the Jays came up ...

The crowd went crazy waving the towels that were given out when Bautista came up to bat.

Here are Gord and I ...

The Jays won 13 - 3. Whoohoo!

J. P. Arencibia hit two home runs and a triple tonight ... and got a pie in the face just before an interview.

It was an exciting game ... definitely a great way to start the season.

Keep it up, Jays!

Town Crier Pub/Halfway Beer House, Toronto, ON

For supper before the Blue Jays game tonight, Gord and I went to the Town Crier Pub/Halfway Beer House. It's at John/Adelaide Street and recently opened (it's where the Fat Belgian used to be).

Gord had been there on Wednesday evening and liked it.

It's a cute place. There are two levels and it was packed. We managed to grabbed a table upstairs.

They have about 50 drafts from around the world at the two bars.

Gord had gotten the chicken club sandwich and fries Wednesday night and got it again tonight ...

I ordered the burger and fries.

It was okay ... the burger was a bit dry and not very juicy. The place was packed and our food came out quickly so I'm assuming it was precooked and put on the grill to heat up.

Toni, our server, was great ... friendly and fast.

I'll be back for a beer.