bobo feed

Looking Up- King West Brickpile

2012-02-11T12:31:00.000-05:00

A handsome old red brick facade near King and Spadina

friday frequencies- channelling our inner boulevardiers

2012-02-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

We're SO in the mood for travel and escape right about now! Things are hotting up down Rio way as the build-up to Carnaval continues, but it's a little early to go there on friday frequencies. Instead, we're going to channel those nights spent sitting in a boulevard cafe in the the 5e or 11e, sipping un coctail and listening to fabulous French acid jazz. Ahhhh....

Have yourselves "un fabuleux week-end"!!

Looking Up...at Bay and Grosvenor Streets

2012-02-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

From last summer. All topped-off now & heading for completion.

IDS 12- The Interior Design Show Trade Day Report- Part 2

2012-02-06T13:36:00.001-05:00

As we reported earlier, it is the quality of Trade Day speakers that draws us each year to the Interior Design Show. This year we were especially determined not to miss the event as current Super Star Bjarke Ingels was the day's wrap-up guest. First, though, we heard from Matali Crasset at 11:00AM and Fabio Novembre at 1:00PM. Here are the bios for all three from the IDS website. Little did we realize as the day began that we were about to have a first hand lesson in European cultural stereotypes!

Matali Crasset

Unfortunately, we just did not connect at all with Matali Crasset. Perhaps she was nervous or jet-lagged, but she came on strong and moved at a very rapid-fire pace through several hundred slides. It was a bombardment of images of her work without any real explanation of context, process,....anything that would have helped explain the logic behind her quirky forms and stripped down material palette. It was just not a good presentation.

With the perspective of a week, our impression (based on the 60 minute presentation and a review of images available on the web) is that Ms. Crasset is strong in Industrial Design and not so much in the areas of Interior Design and Architecture. She is great at shaping objects- we actually love her "cul-de-poule" mixing bowl for Alessi- it is extremely practical in that it can be positioned on its base to suit your specific task, the silicone bulge can be used to grasp it for hand mixing, and all the while it looks terrific:

top: mocoloco.com; bottom: fastcompany.co

Here's an article in FastCompany for some background.

But when it comes to crafting spaces or giving form to inhabitable structures, it seems that the exact same logic is applied in her responses. Everything seems to be simply a collection of objects. The HI Hotel in Paris is one example of an interior renovation she has undertaken, and in our opinion it seems to be little more than an imposition of forms and materials into the volume of some small hotel rooms. What is lacking is the creation or manipulation of the actual SPACE. If any money was expended moving walls inside that building, it was not money well spent! Here's a short video of the hotel interior:

HI-MATIC from Matali Crasset on Vimeo.

The largest amongst the few architectural designs presented was one for the same hotel chain as HI Paris, this time at a desert oasis town in Tunisia. The DarHI Hotel sits on a ridge at the top of the village with a view over the beautiful oasis at the center. Sticking to the regional norms, the hotel is within a walled compound, which once again gave Ms. Crasset the opportunity to fill a space up with a bunch of objects. She then took those objects (the buildings) and filled them with more objects. See what you think:

both photos above courtesy designboom.com

OK, we think you get our point. We'll move on now.

Fabio Novembre

An hour after Ms. Crasset finished speaking we re-assembled to hear from Fabio Novembre, someone who could not possibly have been more different. Aloofness was pushed aside by effusive passion, and so commenced a 90 minute group therapy session. Women, beauty, snakes, honesty and love: these were the touchstone's of Mr. Novembre's talk, although there were many, many more influences. With an impressive slide show of art through the ages to demonstrate his talking points, he set about to explain his modus operandi. Whereas we struggled to understand Ms. Crasset's approach to solving a design problem, with Mr. Novembre we were smothered in his intentions! Professing that ideally we would ALL be sitting together naked, sharing ideas, he proceeded to expose his inner self.

Citing his Southern Italian upbringing (southern being very importantly different to Northern Italian) he spoke of his love for women (both mothers and sex goddesses), the Church (oppression and beauty), snakes (symbol of evil in the West, protector in the East), honesty (his self knowledge guides his design), love (the greatest creative inspiration of mankind- Cupid is one of his branding tools), etc. It was both mesmerizing and cloying all at the same time, much (as he would admit) like the "poor man's" baroque architecture of his home town, Lecce.

The baroque vision of "less"

Fabio/ Twenty First Century Cupid

Love Opens Doors lever set

(above two images courtesy the Novembre website)

"Him" and "Her"- Novembre's "improvement" on the Pantone chair

(image courtesy Dezeen.com)

As different as they were in their presentations and approaches, so were Matali Crasset and Fabio Novembre different in the results of their design efforts. Whereas Ms. Crasset's strength is in her industrial design, we find that of Mr. Novembre to be too flighty. On the other hand, where she stumbles in defining interior spaces, he succeeds. A couple of bars tell the story.

This little hole in the wall in Lodi, Italy is attuned to the fact that a bar's strength is often in its crowd. It uses ghosts and shadows to populate the space before it fills up.

And this club in Milan, named Divina, takes female idolatry to new heights by transforming famous nude paintings into wall decor, and treating the whole disco as if it were a museum. (Read the designer's brief and see more images here)

(Divina images from the Novembre website)

A post-presentation question from the audience about his opinion on the state of present day European affairs brought on a 20 minute sermon that moved from despair (with actual tears) about the bad influence on youth of Berlusconi (they all think they can get whatever they want without hard work) to the power of positive energy to conquer all. Quite a remarkable performance!

Bjarke Ingels

Somewhat reminiscent of a three act rock concert, with only 35 minutes or so until the next presentation, immediately following Fabio Novenbre's wrap-up the crowd began to swell and buzz in anticipation of the headliner. The "b(r)and" BIG and its front man Bjarke Ingels were in the house! By the time he took to the stage it was beyond Standing Room Only!

Bjarke Ingels swung our European tour back northward from the land of love and passion to the pragmatism of Scandinavia. The affable Dane, dressed in trademark jeans, T-shirt and hoody, embodied the Nordic stereotype of deeply-rooted common sense infused with wry humour. His well practiced talk (see below) outlined his firm's philosophy for Hedonistic Sustainability. Starting from the very sensible premise that we will never get a widespread social buy-in to a sustainable lifestyle as long as it is framed in the negative (ie. what you must give up or do without), he argues through his practice that we must define sustainability by what it can offer us. In other words, appeal to everyone's self interest rather than their sense of virtue. And while we're at it, let's make it fun rather than sombre.

Bjarke walked us all through his greatest hits, including the Mountain Dwellings which rise from the flat Danish plain south of Copenhagen, where every apartment gets a large terrace and where the perforated aluminum screening around the parking garage is pierced so that its differently sized holes create the bizarre juxtaposition of an image of the Alps (read more here)...

images: homedesignfind.com

...to the Figure 8 housing block, which ramps the surrounding sidewalks up and through the complex, instantly creating a destination for Copenhageners to visit because it affords them a rare promontory from which to view their surroundings (more here).

top:openbuildings.com; bottom: architectour.net

The Danish Pavilion at the Shanghai World's Fair in 2010 was a near perfect example of national branding. Trading on Copenhagen's current cool cachet, including its internationally known cycling culture, visitors could hop on one of the city's bike-share cycles and ride a spiraling bicycle path to the top of the structure. At the bottom, a pool filled with Copenhagen's now super clean harbour water housed the real Little Mermaid, on loan to China for the fair. Read and see more here.

courtesy archithings.com

Perhaps most emblematic of BIG's playful sensibilities is the scheme for a new trash incinerator in Copenhagen. The facility would need to be colossal in size to store then burn a mountain of garbage. Since they were dealing with a mountain, they theorized, why not turn it into a ski hill and save everybody a 5 hour trip to Sweden? The incinerator was to be the world's most technically advanced, bit since it was not perfect the design called for the top of the hill to blow a smoke ring for every ton of CO2 released into the atmosphere. That way, the reasoning went, any pollution was clearly visible for what it was, inciting citizens to consider putting less waste into the trash bin. Apparently this project has been cancelled due to concerns that incineration is not yet a clean enough solution. No one wanted to make such a statement then be stuck with a monument to obsolete technology.

BIG has built a reputation for creating design solutions that are way outside the box yet respectful of client budgets. Obviously this has contributed a great deal in their success, but for the firm's architects it means a longer and more intensive design process. The following quote is lifted from a long but really great article about BIG here on Wired.co.uk:

"A major part of it is you put your money where your mouth isand really make this shit happen," Ingels says. "People alwayssomehow misunderstand the light-heartedness of our discourse, thefact that we just play around. If you want to break the mould, ifyou want to do something surprising or different, [you need to do]three times the work to make it convincing. If you just follow thestandard, you don't need to make it up because it's already done.You have to take the playfulness really seriously to get it towork."

This loops us nicely back to comments that Fabio Novembre made earlier in the day about Berlusconi's tragic lessons to the young people of Italy that it's possible to cut corners and succeed without effort. As any designer will tell you, the result that ends up appearing the simplest or most effortless only comes about through a lot of hard work!

If you want to see pretty much the same presentation as the one Bjarke made in Toronto at IDS 12 (except this one's a little quicker) check out his Hedonistic Sustainability TED Talk here:

Seen...the promised land

2012-02-05T11:00:00.000-05:00

friday frequencies- do you believe in magic?

2012-02-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

You know we like to try to make you shake your bon-bons from time to time. Check out this decade old number from Bent. You can sway slowly or you can twirl circles around the room- this one works on many levels!

Hope your weekend is simply magical!!

Body Shame? Not in Brazil!

2012-01-31T21:55:00.000-05:00

This was shared by blogging buddy Jim who lives across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. It's a commercial currently running non-stop in their neck of the woods by and on TV network Globo, promoting the upcoming Carnaval. Here's a link to Jim's post.

Makes "Let's Go To The Ex" feel a little stodgy, no?!!

IDS 12- The Interior Design Show Trade Day Report- Part 1

2012-01-30T16:53:00.000-05:00

Well, the unfortunate glitch of having our keys and our downloading cables locked in the office over the weekend has prevented us from getting this posted in a more timely manner, but since it is a re-cap of Trade Day, it's not like there is information here that would have been crucial to your enjoyment of Saturday and Sunday's general public days. So if you did venture to the show over the weekend, we hope you enjoyed it, and let us know what YOU though of it. Do you concur with our observations and standouts below? We thought Friday was a pretty successful day, and we must congratulate the organizers of the Interior Design Show for staging yet again a really top-notch event.

Over all impressions? The show continues to solidify itself as the premier residential design show in the city, and probably the country (although we haven't seen their IDS West in Vancouver). Where IIDEX/ NeoCon Canada's annual autumn show is more heavily oriented towards the commercial market (and, indeed, is partnering even more closely with the architectural community this coming year), IDS has over the years continued to focus more consistently on the residential market. And yet, the Azure speaker series at IDS regularly outpaces IIDEX's offerings, even in the arena of speakers with greater appeal to the commercial sector of the design industry. And it is because of those speakers that IDS is a "must attend" event for us.

We'll return to the speakers in our next post, but first some general observations about the exhibition portion of the show:

Kitchens and baths probably comprised about 40% of the exhibitors. Some impressive stuff if you're in the market, but uniformly outside of our snack bracket.
A good amount of condo furniture as well. It's very interesting to see that a lot of occasional seating is shrinking in scale to fit smaller apartments, while sofas, especially sectionals, continue to get bigger. The trend seems to be towards a living space whose boundaries are defined by an oversized sectional sofa acting as both seating and a space divider. Probably makes sense in open kitchen/ dining/ living environments, otherwise best suited to the Great Room in your Muskoka monster cottage.
The rest was mostly a mix of outdoor furniture, rugs, fireplaces, home entertainment, lighting, and an assortment of this and that. Many of these exhibitors are well out of their league by being at this show, especially in a design sense.
We noted that Natural Walnut seems to finally be on the wane although, to be sure, there was still plenty of it on view. Lighter and whiter woods are coming on stronger. Keep an eye out for unstained White Oak.

We didn't make it to the How Do You Live "feature exhibit"- only so much you can squeeze into a day, especially when about 4 hours are devoted to the Trade Talks series. Did you see it? What did you think of the various vignettes presented?

image courtesy blogTO

Our standouts on the exhibition floor?

The Lissoni Lounge, featuring outstanding products designed for various manufacturers by Italian master Piero Lissoni.

Photo above courtesy ramblingrenovators.blogspot.com. More of their pictures of the Lissoni Lounge at the end of this post

Stonetile's Patricia Urquiola- designed collection of porcelain tiles for Mutina- these are a couple of years old, but they're stunning!

Photo courtesy stonesource.com

Jardin de Ville- this new-to-Toronto Montreal- based furniture house has some great contemporary looks, designed for outdoor use, but so sexy they work equally well indoors. They also have a great line of bags made from their outdoor fabric.

The super-hot Biomega bicycles repped by Expedition Toys from Ottawa. We have a serious craving for this "Copenhagen" model.

Brent Comber's Shattered Spheres in the Offsite/Onsite space on the lower level. We've seen beautiful furniture from this BC-based artisan before, but these art pieces are gorgeous!

photo courtest brentcomber.com

Many of the low- slung, luxe pieces from Edmonton- based IZM.

...and as always, a lot of the exhibitors in the ProtoType area featuring Canadian small crafters, including this great toy train set from Ayu Larasati

Thom Fougere from Winnipeg with this table using Manitoba's native tyndall limestone

Aloisi's lovely screen

And a nice pendant lamp from Dystil

The media this past weekend was full of coverage, so no doubt you already have a good idea of what the show was about even if you were unable to attend, but here's a bit of blogTO coverage from Friday evening.

In our next post we'll take a look at the three speakers' presentations we attended during Trade Day- stay tuned!

The Joy of Fashion...at any age

2012-01-29T15:11:00.000-05:00

We have recently heard that our friends at "Advance Style"

will soon be premiering their very own movie!

From the advance trailer, we can see that latest MAC contributor,

as well as Cover girl and our "fav"

Iris Apfel

will figure prominently.

This got us thinking again of all the incredible "Advanced Fashionistas"out there

...and many more than one would think happen to be of the male persuasion!

As we mentioned in our earlier "Birthday Post" we are pleased that many of our past posts continue to have relevance today.

So please indulge us as we re-post our love of Fashion at any age.
"The Age of Fashion"

photo credits: MAC; Tommy Ton for GQ

friday frequencies...gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day!

2012-01-27T09:15:00.000-05:00

Yuck! Our household has just emerged from 10 days of a shared head cold. What a relief to finally escape its clutches! One song came immediately to mind this week following our liberation.

A great rendition of a great Johnny Nash song. It's been a while since we've heard from the Holly Cole Trio. We miss Holly's great voice, but equally so the impeccable pianist Aaron Davis and bassist David Piltch. Wonder what they're up to? Talent too good to waste!

Have yourselves a bright, bright sunshiny weekend!

Happy Birthday to Bobo Feed!!

2012-01-27T08:45:00.000-05:00

This past Tuesday was our second birthday- woo-hoo!!!

And as with most mid-week birthdays, it was a low key affair. An excuse, though, to look back a little bit, to reflect on the past year of posts, and to make some plans for the future.

During this past year we started our "friday frequencies" feature. While it was by no means an original idea- in fact many of you regularly post music clips yourselves- it is mostly drawn from our own collection which probably makes it a bit unique. We hope you're enjoying our eclectic selections!

We were also pleased to come across a couple of articles leading up to birthday #2 dealing with topics we'd already covered.

Toronto Standard featured a piece last month by none other than John Szabo entitled "Bring Your Own Wine Glasses? How the Glass Can Alter Your Enjoyment of Wine". The concept of the glass influencing one's perception of the wine is a dear one to our hearts after having conducted a simplistic test ourselves using new Riedel glasses. We reported on that experience in our post "Cheap Trick: Add $5 to the value of your pizza wine". Are we going to bring our glasses to dinner with us like Madonna did? No. But here at home, we'll always try to choose the right shape for the right wine.

We were also really pleased to read in blogTO in January of the amazing shop Tosho Knife Arts. We've yet to visit this Mirvish Village newcomer, but it is a "must see" for us after having had a fantastic experience with one of the shop's owners, Ivan Fonseca.

photos courtesy blogTO

Ivan sharpened our knives for us, which we reported on in "The Knife: FYI Part 2" and it was a fantastic experience. In fact we're well overdue to take them in again, and at $5 for a hand sharpening, we really shouldn't be strangers to this place. The only problem might be resisting the urge to pick up another new blade every time we visit!

As for new features, we're planning on introducing Tuesday Travels in the near future, which as the name suggests will focus on places other than here. We certainly have gone down a few roads in our time, and we plan to share some details of those with you. But we also know that many of you have had your own excellent adventures and we hope (indeed we will be prodding and cajoling you) that you'll choose to share some of them with the rest of us. Stay tuned for details on how to participate.

You may have noticed that Google launched its Google+ service last year, and although it is by no means yet an active part of our social networking lives, we felt the need to be present. We sense that over time more and more of us will migrate there, especially those who feel that their personal privacy is compromised on Facebook (although Google's recently announced privacy policy effective this coming March may give some pause). So if any of you have signed up for Google+, we hope you'll add our page to your circles. You can find us here.

Lastly, it wouldn't be a Bobo Feed Public Service Announcement without our requisite call for new followers, would it?! If you haven't already done so, we encourage you to like our page on Facebook- just go to the "Find us on Facebook" box to the right, click on "bobofeed", then like us at the top of the landing page. One bonus of Facebook liking is that we often share links there that don't make it onto the main blog, like this recent one.

OR, if you have a Google account (gmail, etc) you can have Bobo Feed come straight to your inbox by clicking the "Join This Site" button to the right.

As always, we'd like to end by thanking each and every one of you who take the time to read our posts for your loyalty. It's hard to explain the need we feel to share the things we do, but it's really rewarding to know that we find an audience. We would love to hear from you if you have any ideas for subject matter that you think we should cover, and PLEASE comment on the posts- it really makes our day!

Enough about us!! There's a design show to be covered....stay tuned!!

friday frequencies....bonjour, madame

2012-01-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

Who couldn't use a little taste of la Côte d'azur right about now? Especially if it comes with a case of Grand Marnier, whose commercials have popularized this cut, borrowed here from Youtube.

The piece is from Ursula 1000 and after Shazamming it we ended up buying the album! Here's the wiki page and here's the myspace page. If you like, it's easy to purchase on itunes.

We wish you all a toasty-warm cognac and orange-infused weekend!!

Breakfast with Bittie

2012-01-17T10:02:00.000-05:00

We were only vaguely familiar with Mark Bittman before buying this book, but we picked it up on a friend's recommendation. Not a traditional cookbook, this is really a manifesto on how to save both the planet and your own health at the same time, and eat well while doing it. The premise can really be summed up in one catchy tagline- "vegan till 6:00PM".

A brief digression: After having owned the book for a while, we became better acquainted with Bittie via the strange and wonderful TV series "Spain- On the Road Again". If you haven't seen it, Google it and watch a few episodes. The series is a food- based road trip to every corner of one of our favourite countries, featuring the somewhat odd foursome of Mario Batali, Gwyneth Paltrow, Spanish Actress Claudia Bassols, and of course, Mark Bittman. The group was split into twosomes for the travel clips, with Mario and Gwyneth, and Bittie and Claudia making small talk as they cruise around in huge Mercedes convertables with Willy Nelson playing in the background. Weird.

Top: from claudiabassols.com

Below: from spainontheroadagain.com

And we have to say that we'd much rather have breakfast with Ms. Bassols than Mr. Bittman, who based on his generally crusty temperament is probably not at his best first thing in the morning. But alas it's his book, so what can you do?

Speaking of the book, while we have every intention of one day reading the first 100 pages we naturally skipped straight to the recipes. And amongst those we regularly prepare is this very straight forward granola which we have atop our blueberries, banana and yogurt every morning. As he says, anything goes. Follow the basic ratios, but improvise to your heart's content. (as long as you're not sneaking in overly processed foods, 'cause that would be pretty cheeky given his thesis!)

Here are the basics. We add in whole flax seeds as well:

Mix it all together with the maple syrup and spread it out on a parchment- lined baking sheet.

We give it three 8 minute sessions, completely turning the whole lot between each go.

Let cool then store. Yummm!!

Thanks, Bittie!! Have yourself a swell day!!

(photo above from thekitchn.com)

Snow Day! Adventures on Two Wheels...

2012-01-15T14:49:00.000-05:00

As anyone here in Southern Ontario knows, last Friday brought our first real winter storm. It wasn't a bad one, as winter storms go, but it put a little wrench in Bee's bicycle wheels. We have a Bixi subscription (earlier Bixi post here) so we can use their sturdier bikes on days when it's a little messy underfoot, but Friday was just a little more than we bargained for.

There is a "shared motivation" group out there on Facebook that we've joined called The Winter B-icicle Challenge (Facebook page). It provides our incentive to keep cycling on lousy days, so there was no way we were about to let a little wind and snow deter us. And so, off we went...

One of the "tools of the trade" is a sturdy brush to get rid of the frozen rain droplets that have coated the seat.

It was tough going. The snow was thick and wet, so staying in control was a challenge. And just when you had things in hand, the gale force winds pushed you back into the deep stuff. Splatter from passing cars was also an issue. The City had salted the streets but there had been no actual snow clearing. The bike lanes were mostly obstructed except for an 18 inch wide strip where the action of the traffic had melted the snow, so riding was done perilously close to the cars. We tried a couple of quiet side streets, but they were much worse.

We made it most of the way, but called it off at a Bixi docking station about 4 blocks before our intended destination. Oh, well...props for trying, we told ourself. Luckily, things were much better by the end of the day, and we managed to cycle back home without any trouble.

One thing we'll say about riding in the snow- the effort involved is gonna keep you nice and warm! It may have been -10C outside, but underneath all our layers we were working up a sweat. We arrived at the office with red cheeks and a feeling of exhilaration- not a bad way to start a work day!

friday frequencies...a moody Mexicana

2012-01-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

This week we're posting a couple of clips from a Mexican singer named Sara Valenzuela. We don't know a lot about her other than we like her sound. We probably first heard her on KCRW.com, a great on-line radio station from LA (see the Ear Candy listings to the right for the link), or perhaps a podcast series we have called Ritmo Latino, a great eclectic music program that has now ceased publishing (although it's probably still available on iTunes). Her sound is reminiscent of Suzanne Vega in that indie/ folkie kind of way.

First up is Lado Este ("East Side", we think):

Next is Esta Vez ("This Time" ?):

Here's a bio on her from Yahoo. And here's a link to her MySpace page. we hope you like.

Have yourselves a great weekend!

Sorry, We're Closed...

2012-01-12T14:36:00.001-05:00

No, wait!! We're actually open!

Looking Up...

2012-01-11T14:57:00.001-05:00

...at the offices of Barr, Robinovitch and Tchobanian.

This pretty red brickpile on Queen St. W. was used as the location for the offices of the legal firm featured in the old CBC drama Street Legal.

Balzac was Crazy!!

2012-01-08T13:26:00.000-05:00

The café, that is!

We recently paid a visit to The Distillery District on a Saturday afternoon. The weather was fine and tout le monde was out on the streets. And all of us visiting the Distillery, it seems, had the need for caffeine at about the same time.Yikes!!

Of course, though, it's always worth enduring a crowd at Balzac- the space is very cool and the coffee is fantastic!

*******

Balzac's Coffee Roastery

55 Mill St

Toronto, Ontario

(416) 207-1709

Seen...Kensington Commentary

2012-01-07T19:33:00.001-05:00

Art and graffiti on Baldwin Avenue

Remodelista Repost- The English Inn Re-imagined

2012-01-07T12:52:00.001-05:00

Remodelista is a great source for scoping out the current craze of Nordic Rustic interior decor, and we really love this little inn that was recently featured.

It's called The Crown, and it's located in Amersham near London, England. It provides the best of intimate, cozy old-English charm, but ditches the asthma- inducing mustiness of many such places, and instead infuses the interiors with some of that Scandinavian-inspired simplicity (and, in fact, there is also a great British tradition for simple modernism, and according to the article most of the pieces used are British).

The modern pieces, so thoughtfully used, remain quite true to the inherent warmth and character of the structure, yet are clean and fresh feeling. The end result seems a more "opened-up" place, and what might be expected to be a stark contrast between old and new is in fact quite a seamless blend.

As if any of us needed another excuse for a London shopping expedition!

All photos courtesy Remodelista.com

Original post with additional photos is found here

A little Canadian "Geek" chic perhaps??

2012-01-02T17:55:00.003-05:00

It would seem that our friends at G.Q have a thing for us "Canadians".

Not only do they have Toronto native and Jak&Jil Blogger, Tommy Ton

on their roster of incredible street photographers,

seems they have a new "thing" for Port Perry, Ontario native and new reality T.V. hopeful,

Brad Goreski

We do wish him good luck...though, in these

faster than you can say Kardashian who?? times,

...maybe he should stick with his gig at G.Q

Lunch at Jules

2012-01-02T14:54:00.000-05:00

We've worked just down the street from Jules Bistro for over 5 years but had yet to pay it a visit. We finally remedied that on the Friday afternoon before New Years. We were off work but in the area- a perfect opportunity to take the measure of the place without the pressure of rushing to get back to the office, or of dealing with the lunchtime crush. Turns out Jules is a charmer.

The room has a casual yet sophisticated vibe, with the feel of an authentic French café layered on top of a space best described as "urban loft chic". Exposed exterior brick walls and pipes have been whitewashed to soften their industrial hardness, but the common wall separating Jules from the next door neighbour is done up in chalkboard paint, deftly texturized with handwritten wine and food menus, and a casual cushion-clad bench with tables pushed up to it runs along the wall's length. Near the back of the room is a bar and partially open kitchen.

(photos above courtesy of alannacavanagh.blogspot.com)

(photo above from the restaurant's website)

The menu is quite traditional, with a few modern touches. We jumped at the Croque Monsieur but alas, they had run out. We opted instead for a Pan Bagnat, served with the soupe du jour (Vegetarian French Onion). While very good (and slightly reminiscent of an Asian broth) we would probably have preferred the heartier beef or veal or chicken stock of a traditional onion soup. Nonetheless, we were being open minded enough to not expect a caricature-French meal, so we went with the flow. The sandwich was excellent- a fresh and crusty roll with some of the bread "correctly" removed- and the ingredients were nicely bound together with generous lashes of a rich mayonnaise. (For those who are unfamiliar with Pan Bagnat, it is essentially a Salade Nicoise sandwiched between bread) We washed it down with a glass of a lovely light Mouvedre.

Sorry about the grainy photo above of our actual lunch- the shot below from foodnetworktv.com better captures a traditional Pan Bagnat.

Service was excellent. We were met at the door by a friendly greeter/ seater who ensured that we were happy with our prospect and that we had a fresh carafe of water on the table. The sole waiter on duty this afternoon was a lanky, singing Aussie who was knowlegable about the menu and the wines on offer (deftly suggesting the Mouvedre to accommpany the southern flavours of the sandwich) and who casually belted out duos alongside Arcade Fire's Win Butler on the sound system. Fortunately his night job as a musician meant that he could hold his tune!

We're anxious to get back to Jules for that missing Croque Monsieur, and to sample more of the offerings. We're pretty sure that as well as being a delightful place to lunch it would be a safe bet for a lovely and unpretentious dinner.

*******
Jules Bistro

147 Spadina Avenue Toronto, ON

(416) 348- 8886

http://julesbistrocafe.com/

seen...snow while it lasted

2012-01-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

Friday we actually saw some snow on the ground! Of course by Saturday it had all vanished.

Grange Park, behind the Art Gallery of Ontario

seen...(and BTW, anyone need a hug?)

2011-12-30T11:36:00.000-05:00

Feeling a little blue after the holidays? We know just what you need:

Everything's gonna be just fine!

(This one crossed our paths via one of our faves, Swiss Miss blog.)

friday frequencies- hangin' with the in crowd

2011-12-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

Hey...dig this jazzy retro vibe from Ramsey Lewis!

A little somethin' groovy for your New Year's Eve Eve. Here's hopin' if it's square you ain't there!

And remember this: whatever crowd you're in....is in!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Seen...(does Monopoly have Condo game pieces yet?)

2011-12-28T14:07:00.000-05:00

Traveling through Pearson airport in Toronto last Friday we caught sight of this artwork. It's called Title Deed, it's by artist An Te Liu, and we think it's great!

It's a photo relic of Liu's work for The Leona Drive Project which took place back in the autumn of 2009. Several houses on North York's Leona Drive which were slated for demolition were temporarily given a second life as installation pieces. We love Liu's for its simplicity, its instant recognition factor, and its comment on the economics of real estate development. Here's a photo of the text accompanying Title Deed at Pearson:

Further information is available by searching The Leona Drive Project. Here's a link to the website for the project.

friday frequencies...Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-23T11:00:00.000-05:00

How better to send us all off into the Christmas weekend than with a little J.S.Bach? A favourite, not specifically Christmas-y, but definitely wintery, is from Cantata 147.

And then, of course, there's the Christmas Oratorio:

To all our friends near and far, please enjoy the spirit of the season and have yourselves a peaceful and joyous weekend!

See you after Boxing Day!

Last minute wish list...and last chance, too!

2011-12-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

Well, uhm......Santa tells us that you still haven't made up your minds about what you think we'd really appreciate receiving this year. OK, this is pretty much your last shot, isn't it? Truth is, we'd love to unwrap some of this gorgeous, simple pottery from Another Country, once again featured recently on Remodelista:

We promise to invite you to brunch if we get a few pieces,

really we do!

Last minute wish list...just a couple of extra ideas!

2011-12-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

OK, thank god you're all like us and wait till the last minute, otherwise our tips to you for what we'd love to see under our tree would be so wasted! Here are a couple of additional ideas for all you procrastinators, once again from our friends at Remodelista.

After all, we plan to cycle right through the winter this year! Thank you soooo much!

Last minute wish list...

2011-12-21T11:58:00.000-05:00

OK, just in case you haven't finished shopping for us quite yet, here are a couple of ideas to help you open up your wallets. These are courtesy of Remodelista, here and here. The clock is from Lukas Peet in Vancouver, and the shaving kit can be found at the fabulous Mjolk, here in Toronto's Junction neighbourhood.

Thanks so much!

The Colourful Confrontational Cocoons of Arne Quinze

2011-12-19T10:00:00.000-05:00

These photos of an installation by Arne Quinze in Brussels, posted recently on Design-D'autore, took our breath away. They're part of an ongoing (ever growing?) project that will run till 2013. Perhaps "installation" doesn't do the work justice. One of its objectives is to re-connect Brussels' residents to one another, creating an environment within the city that will encourage communication amongst citizens. The canopy follows streets that link the Flemish Parliament and the House of Flemish Representatives, which make rather fitting anchors considering the project's goal. The project is called The Sequence, and here is the link to it's web page.

The above photos are from design dautore. Photo below from The Sequence webiste

Arne Quinze is a bit of a Rock Star designer/artist. We were fortunate to have seen him speak at the Interior Design show in Toronto back in 2008, where he shared a few works that were obviously the precursors to The Sequence.

above courtesy of stylepark.com

Above is "Cityscape" on a plaza in Brussels, 2008 (the photo is from a delightful blog called Garden History Girl)

Photo above from abitare.it

In 2006 Arne built an amazing pavilion called Uchronia at Burning Man. The form, delicate yet forceful, perched on the flat desert, is mesmerizing. And the interior volume must have felt like being in some fantastic cathedral in the middle of nowhere!

above courtesy burningcam.com

above courtesy artandculture.com

And then, of course, he burned it down!

If you want to find out a little more about this guy, check out his website at http://www.arnequinze.tv/

friday frequencies- There's nothing like it...

2011-12-16T14:41:00.000-05:00

This week's Friday Frequencies is dedicated to all the home improvement and cooking show presenters who feel compelled to breathlessly share their brilliant new holiday entertaining ideas with us every year. The only good episode we've seen so far is from Jamie Oliver, who roasted an amazing jerk ham. Hmmm...did someone say ham?

That last one was great, if only to catch a young Babs a little out of her element!

Get out there this weekend and make the world your stage!!

sorry we're closed...

2011-12-15T10:00:00.000-05:00

...not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

in transit...killin' time at Queen Station

2011-12-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

friday frequencies- Jamie Lidell multiplied

2011-12-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

Well, after posting Jamie Lidell's infectious "Little Bit of Feel Good" on an earlier friday frequencies, how could we not come back for a second helping? We just had to multiply the effect!

Interesting that he appears here (and we're not sure of the setting) with our fellow Canucks Feist, Gonzales and Mocky.

Wishing you all a multiplicity of fun this weekend!

seen...late night pit stop...

2011-12-08T11:00:00.000-05:00

...somewhere along Queen St. W.

Loblaws Maple Leaf Gardens- Opening Weekend

2011-12-05T14:17:00.000-05:00

"before" shot courtesy Fanbase.com

We've been watching the transformation of The Gardens for well over a year, after first waiting and wondering what was to become of the place for more than a decade. Living on a nearby block, we've had perhaps more reason than others to be curious (even apprehensive) about the outcome. What was going to happen to the traffic situation in our neighbourhood? Were they going to do a respectable job of honouring the shrine to the Leafs that is such an icon in our 'hood? Would it help revitalize the ailing block along Church Street where it sits?

We're very happy to report that everybody touched by this massive makeover seems to have come out a winner: Ryerson University is about to get a fantastic athletic facility; Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the company that own the Maple Leafs brand seems to have backed away from its petty and unenforceable insistence that the place not continue to be called Maple Leaf Gardens, and have allowed that name to remain on the historic exterior marquis; a hockey rink will continue to thrive under the storied rafters of the Gardens' giant roof; parking is minimal and is sensibly accessed only from Carlton Street; and the huge windows into Loblaws along Church Street have instantly brought the block back to life. And best of all for us- we have a huge flagship supermarket right next door!

Looking in from Church Street (above)

Ryerson's new rink (below)

The beautifully restored (or re-built?) marquis on Carlton St. (above)

They opened last Wednesday to all day line-ups of the curious waiting to get in, and this past weekend things really didn't subside any. While we were able to walk straight in on Saturday afternoon, by the time we left there were once again police officers at the front doors doing crowd control! We predict things will stay this way till we all go into hibernation mode around January 5th of next year.

The photos below show the great volume that has been maintained in the space. On the second level is the Joe Fresh shop, a liquor store, and a Loblaws cooking school.

We're ecstatic about the on-site Ace Bakery. The loaf we purchased was unbelievably fresh! This is probably the closest we've come locally to the experience of buying fresh bread in France!

We're not sure what use a "wall of cheese" is, other than being a pretty design feature, but we aren't fussed- Church Street doesn't lack for excellent cheese and Loblaws still won't be our first "go to" spot (sorry, Galen!)

Lot's of freshly prepared food options, right inside the front door.

We love that the wall beside the escalators was kept entirely as found. You can see the old bricks, blue wall paint and the profile of the stairways that used to take you to the nosebleed levels! And the clusters of old blue- level seats welded together to form a 3D maple leaf is great!

The Loblaws folks are to be congratulated for embracing the mythology as well as the bones of this historic Toronto temple to sports and entertainment. What could have been a soul-less supermarket in a building saved but stripped of its former glory is instead a study in how to do it right in today's financial climate. Sure there are those who will continue to decry the fact that such a significant piece of our heritage has been given over to commerce, but who else could have saved it? The old pile of bricks sat for over a decade, slowly decomposing, while being occupied and appreciated by no one. Now it's wide open for Torontonians to enjoy, without even the slightest cover charge. We'll appreciate that with every Ciabatta loaf or bottle of Tanqueray we buy!

(Above, part of the ad campaign in College subway station)

Seen...Downtown View

2011-12-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

Looking downtown from the Panorama Lounge atop the Manulife Centre.

seen...in the Too Much Information aisle...

2011-12-03T17:28:00.001-05:00

...at the new Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens

friday frequencies- a little more Gabin

2011-12-02T10:30:00.000-05:00

We posted a couple of weeks ago about Gabin, an Italian duo who are mainly influenced by the French lounge scene, and we felt the need to share a little more before we were done with them here on friday frequencies.

A guest artist who appears on several cuts on their album Third and Double is Z-Star. We're not familiar with Z-star, but they seem to have released a cut called "Slow Dancin' " that was later re-worked by Gabin. So here, first, is the original, followed by Gabin's "Slow Dancing dans la Maison"

Finally, we're suckers, as you know, for a Brazilian beat, so here's Fim de Noite by Gabin, featuring Barbara Casini, an Italian songstress who is one of that country's preeminent Bossa Nova artists.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!!

The Folly at Honeywell Hill

2011-11-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

As you may recall, we vacationed this past October "in our own backyard" by renting a charming property called Honeywell Hill just outside of Cobourg, Ontario (Property link here). The land was quite spectacular, rising steeply behind the house to a ridge with views back to Lake Ontario, then gently climbing further to an old stacked log fence, now quite grown in, which probably at one time marked a property line.

A broad opening in the fence row (photo below) leads into an adjoining pasture with views to the north across a forested valley and over to the next ridge. In the autumn sunshine, it was breathtakingly beautiful!

If you continue to follow the path flanking the fence eastward towards a wooded boundary, suddenly you stumble upon the "Sunset Folly". The Folly is an absolutely charming little structure, romantically dilapidated, constructed of an amalgam of old windows, and designed for viewing the long- lingering sunsets of summer.

As with all of Honeywell Hill, there has been a sophisticated artistic hand at work here. The transparency reveals a palette of primary colours, and within- just as throughout the main house- the space is home to art. In this case, the artwork is doing double duty in providing expanded quarters for a family of birds.

We think it's safe to say that it's been a while since anyone actually used the furniture while contemplating nature, so nature has decided to take it upon herself to re-acquire the raw materials...in her slow and deliberate way.

The October sun slips away too far to the south for us to have been able to experience sunset across the meadow at the Folly, but even in the morning light it's not hard to imagine just how magical it must be!

Seen...made us smile

2011-11-23T21:52:00.001-05:00

One of our neighbours thoughtfully cuts the Sudoku from her paper every morning and leaves it at the door of a second neighbour. For the longest time we'd seen the little clipping lying on the second neighbour's stoop every morning as we left for work. But magically one recent day, the Sudoku was pinned to the door jamb. One of the two had realized that a magnet combined with a metal door frame was a far more convenient (and elegant, we would argue) solution to the daily hand-off. If anyone ever wanted a definition of what design is, this is it: simple, functional, and pleasing solutions to life's "problems", however big or small.

Balcony Farming- still sputtering along!

2011-11-22T14:19:00.001-05:00

We're a little surprised, but these little fire bombs just keep on going and going! It's hard to imagine they'll retain their enthusiasm after today's temperatures, but we'll be patient as long as they wanna stay and play! (photo from 2 days ago)

friday frequencies- our current infatuation

2011-11-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, a song playing in the background on our usual internet radio station caught hold of our ear and made us check the screen credits. Gabin. Never heard of them. A short itunes search later and we were hooked. And there was also a small dent in our credit card, a result of having aquired the album called Third and Double. Go figure- it's their third album, and it's a double set! It's an eclectic album- jazzy, housy, some more traditional instrumental cuts- but it was the two "nu- jazz" (hate that term) songs below featuring soulful Mia Cooper that really resonated.

Here's a link to Gabin's myspace page, and you'll find a little bio here. And, of course, you can preview and purchase on itunes here.

This first song, "So Many Nights", is the one that snagged us. A Bacharach-esque lead-in sets up a forward- moving rhythm. It's melody is melancholic yet optimistic, in that "Got through it before and I'll get through it again" kinda way. Love it!

The second cut- "Keep It Cool" has a funkier groove. Make sure you stick with it past the 45 second mark, where it really kicks into gear!

Have a great weekend, everyone! Keep It Cool!

In Transit- Southbound at Bloor

2011-11-17T14:00:00.000-05:00

In Transit- at Bloor Station

2011-11-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

Looking Up- Flaunting Wealth, Old School Style

2011-11-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

...at the corner of King St. E. and Jarvis St.

Looking Up- in St. Lawrence Market

2011-11-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

Hazy Saturday afternoon in the market

#11ElevenLive- 23:00EST

2011-11-11T23:41:00.000-05:00

Wow! What a day! So, here we are on our balcony, where we began it 17 hours ago! Still about 30 minutes left in 11.11.11, but this is the closing of an amazing experience for us. We hope you all had a great day.

But remember- it's all just a few numbers, and if you approach every day with same attitude that you did today, then every day of the rest of your life could be awesome.

Sounds sappy?

Well, actually, it's within your power and it's all up to you!

Have a great life!!

#11ElevenLive- 22:00EST

2011-11-11T23:22:00.000-05:00

Well, you know how TV is these days- 200 channels and there's nothin' on-- sooo... we're wasting a few brain cells watching some queer TV before the night ends- welcome to OUT, the campiest way to veg in front of the tube. And you know what? It's pretty funny!

#11ElevenLive- 21:00EST

2011-11-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

Consuming pizza...

...of course, we start with opening a nice bottle of wine. Tonight a shout out to our friends in Mendoza!

uhmm...looks like those oven dried tomatoes weren't entirely "dry"

#11ElevenLive- 20:00EST

2011-11-11T22:01:00.000-05:00

Pizza prep

Friday night ritual chez nous. The unusual addition for tonight is the oven dried cherry tomatoes.

#11ElevenLive- 19:00EST

2011-11-11T20:02:00.000-05:00

After that we really need this cocktail!

#11ElevenLive- 17:00EST

2011-11-11T18:36:00.000-05:00

The ride home from the office:

#11ElevenLive- 18:00EST

2011-11-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

Back on after a mild re-set...worx like a charm....

...now

********
A trip to the grocery store on the way home:

...not attending Bear Night later on, BTW

#11ElevenLive- 16:00EST

2011-11-11T16:47:00.000-05:00

Investigating the next steps...

#11ElevenLive- 15:00EST

2011-11-11T15:55:00.000-05:00

workin', workin' workin' ...

some folks are headed home already:

what are YOU doing RIGHT NOW?

Let us know and we'll share...

#11ElevenLive- 14:00EST

2011-11-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

meanwhile back at the office, time for a re-boot:

#11ElevenLive- 13:00EST

2011-11-11T13:00:00.000-05:00

The usual lunch routine:

#11ElevenLive- 12:00EST

2011-11-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

Lunch Hour stroll- the usual territory, but leaving the routine behind:

the back stairwell

the park across from the office

memorial to run down skateboarder

Symmetrical ductwork

behind the youth hostel

flat tree

graffiti alley

graffiti alley meets Queen St. W.

Looking Up at Queen and Spadina

Lunch rush on Spadina

friday frequencies- the 11ElevenLive edition

2011-11-11T11:54:00.000-05:00

It's Friday and that means it's friday frequencies day! Today we're staying in theme for 11.11.11: the routine of friday frequencies and the beauty of Imogen Heap.

Imogen Heap is the Executive Music Producer for the 11Eleven Project and will score the soundtrack of the documentary film resulting from the project. We think Hide and Seek is a thing of beauty:

Hide and Seek ~ Imogen Heap by Cehcw

#11ElevenLive- 11:00EST

2011-11-11T11:00:00.000-05:00

#11ElevenLive- 10:00EST

2011-11-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

view from the office window:

#11ElevenLive- 09:00EST

2011-11-11T09:15:00.000-05:00

Old reliable just before the ride to work,

in front of a little "fall colour"

#11ElevenLive- 08:00EST

2011-11-11T08:40:00.000-05:00

Today Bee's going to be wearing one of his favourite shirts-

a gift from Jay!

#11ElevenLive.....Mornin'

2011-11-11T08:15:00.001-05:00

#11ElevenLive- 07:00EST

2011-11-11T07:40:00.000-05:00

We love our Italian perpetual calendar

...also our home made granola...

...and our morning breakfast routine!

#11ElevenLive- 06:00EST

2011-11-11T06:30:00.000-05:00

As the dawn arrives, yesterday's full moon is about to exit our view. A chilly +3 degrees at about 6:30AM. Time for breakfast!

The Prologue to 11ElevenLive

2011-11-11T01:11:00.000-05:00

Good morning! Today is Friday, November 11, 2011.

Or put another way, it's 11.11.11.

Because of its numeric uniqueness (at least for another 100 years) a young lady in Australia has started the 11Eleven Project to capture and document the activities of the world on a single day. Here's a link to the about page for the organization. Participants- and it's not too late for any of you to hop on board if you're reading this on 11.11.11- will submit their photos, videos, sounds, blog entries, etc. for compilation into a world music collection (curated by Imogen Heap, no less), a photo book and a 2 hour documentary. While we harbour no illusions that Bobofeed will have any place in the final product, the thought of participating was really appealing, so here goes!

Of 11 (naturally) suggested topics around which to organize our material we've decided to try to fuse "beauty" to "routine". Routine is obviously the most accessible way to blog our way through the day, but what good is it, really, other than being a piece of mostly boring archival material? So we thought it would do us good to stop at least once during each of our waking hours to appreciate beauty in some form in what we're doing or in our surroundings, and to share that with the world.

We'd LOVE for YOU to participate with us! Please comment on any and every post-- for instance, just tell us what you're up to, or what beauty you noticed in that hour-- or e-mail us any of your own photos & we'll re-post them here on the blog.

So here goes! This initial post is programmed to launch at 1:11, 11, 11, 11, and we'll catch up with it again when we arise on Friday morning. Hope to see you then!

Happy eleven eleven eleven!

Previously Picked Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

French heirloom pumpkin pile, Kensington Market

Seen...sunny Sunday

2011-11-06T17:02:00.001-05:00

Picture perfect Fall afternoon in Ramsden Park

friday frequencies- tango time!

2011-11-04T10:49:00.000-04:00

Well, as we inch our way towards winter it's always worth remembering that somewhere on this blue orb the embers are starting to glow a little hotter. Down Buenos Aires way, for instance, they're heading into the equivalent of our May, and things are starting to heat up nicely. Perfect time, we think, to indulge in a little Electro- Tango with Bajofondo's Pa' Bailar. Mmmmm...dulce de leche in motion!

Have a great weekend!

The Watching...

2011-10-31T12:30:00.000-04:00

Something's lurking in the garden this Halloween night, and it's watching you, waiting...

Wishing you a terrifyingly Happy Halloween!!

(photos from our recent vacation home)

Late Harvest

2011-10-29T13:48:00.000-04:00

A few more hot peppers are still on the vine struggling a bit to ripen up, so this is probably the last major harvest for this year.

The genesis of it all is covered in our previous Balcony Farming post here. We're already looking forward to next year, but meanwhile it looks like it's going to be a spicy winter!

We're Ready to be Copenhagenized!

2011-10-26T14:46:00.000-04:00

We are loving this little clip from Copenhagenize! It's a great example of that "delight of discovery" that can occur when you're moving through a place using your own energy. And it's a great example of how small thoughtful additions to the public realm can make everyone's life a little happier.

Copenhagenizing Copenhagen from Copenhagenize on Vimeo.

Copenhagenize is a consulting company founded by ex-pat Canadian Mikael Collville- Andersen (who also runs the popular & trend-setting Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog). The city of Copenhagen has been so sucessful in implementing integrated urban infrastructure, with a massive emphasis on bicycle use (as opposed to "cycling" which is a segregative term), that its citizens are able to provide consulting services to the rest of the world on how to "Copenhagenize" their own cities! Amazing!

Looking Up...urban billboard

2011-10-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

near the expressway, Queen's Quay East

Apple Pie--- Sky High!

2011-10-19T11:46:00.000-04:00

If you read Monday's post, you'll know that we harvested a ton of apples and pears from the orchard on our vacation property. And what else do you do with a half a ton of apples? Why, of course, you make apple pie!

We probably peeled and cored a few more than necessary, but who doesn't love a Sky High Pie?

And...we just happened to have some creme fraiche left in the fridge from our pumpkin pie of Thanksgiving weekend. Apples, sugar, butter, creme fraiche.....could there be anything more heavenly?!

Mmmmm...that was deliciously familiar!!

The Johnny Appleseeds of Hamilton Township

2011-10-17T16:25:00.000-04:00

It's no surprise to those who know us or follow our antics here on the blog, but let us just reiterate that when we take a vacation we love to forage for local food then take it home to prepare and consume it. It's just one of our ways of getting a real feel for where we are.

This year, since we're staying pretty close to home, we've mostly been getting our "local" fix by patronizing the nearby farm market stores. You know the ones, those little places at the side of the highway with a wagon full of pumpkins out front and a half dozen cars in the side lot, and a big table of pickles, jams and baked goods inside. We've found a good one, Burnham Family Farm Market between Port Hope and Cobourg, and it's provided us with great fresh vegetables and an awesome pumpkin pie!

"Local", though, has taken on a whole new meaning this year; we have an orchard in our backyard. Well, not our back yard, exactly, more a side yard down by the road, but it's here on the property and it's all ours!

We started our stay by undertaking a modest harvest of apples and pears, just to get us through a few days' worth of breakfasts. But today, sensing that the season was rapidly coming to an end, we went a little crazy! Not only are we stocked for breakfasts for the rest of the week, but we'll be doing a little baking tomorrow!

Anyone care to drop by for some apple pie?

Hangin' Ten, Cobourg Style

2011-10-15T16:20:00.000-04:00

A Saturday morning trip into downtown Cobourg today to visit the Farmers' Market was cool and blustery. After picking up a few things we fortified ourselves with a hot coffee and headed for the beach to have a look-see. It was very reminiscent of the North Sea...past visits to Scotland and Holland sprung immediately to mind. We could see the waves breaking into huge plumes of spray on the end of the wharf and we decided to hop into the car (for protection) and take a closer look.

Imagine our shock and delight to discover this intrepid band of about a dozen wet-suited dudes, oblivious to the cold wind, jumping off the far end of the pier with their surfboards! We were filled with questions...Do they belong to a club?... Or do they just put the call out when that surf's up?... Does this happen often in Cobourg?... Are they crazy??

Whatever the answers, we have to say it made our day!

Seen...Taking One's Self Too Literally

2011-10-12T10:00:00.000-04:00

Seen in Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, July 2011

Vacation Time!!

2011-10-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

So, it's time for our annual autumnal getaway! Our plans had originally been to visit that little flat land of exquisite modern design and impossibly chic cycling (Denmark, if you need to ask), but life got in the way, plans deferred till next year. Ever the lemonade aficionadi, though, we squeezed the sour little fruit till it gasped repentance, and have managed to find a great renovated farm house for a couple of weeks only a hundred miles or so out of town.

Heard of the "slow" movement? Well, we're opting in! We've committed ourselves to a quiet time away so as to fully recharge the batteries. So...you probably won't hear too much from us until after October 21st.

We've pre-programmed a few posts, and if the mood strikes we may journey into the nearest burg to access the internet, but no promises!

In the meantime, have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love and abundance, and enjoy the beautiful days of Indian Summer for as long as they may last!

Bee and Jay

friday frequencies- No Sympathy?

2011-10-07T10:00:00.000-04:00

Well, it's true- we probably don't deserve any sympathy. After all, we're off on a two week vacation tomorrow! So how 'bout instead we give thanks (on the eve of this Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada) for Metric, a great little band from right here in the T-dot.

First up, "Help I'm Alive" followed by the infectious "Gimme Sympathy"

Choose who you'd rather be, and enjoy this great long weekend!

An Island Getaway...Toronto Islands, that is!

2011-10-05T10:00:00.000-04:00

On a Friday afternoon earlier this summer we hopped on our bike and headed for the ferry docks. Destination? Ward's Island. We had decided it was time to check out The Rectory Café, which happens to be a stone's throw from the Ward's Island terminal. It was also a good chance to visit a place we really hadn't been to in a number of years, and while we were at it, we thought "why not cross that little bridge and check out Algonquin Island for the first time ever?"

Lunch at The Rectory was a delight, (check out our posting here) and it was the perfect way to ease into "island time", meaning that we were more inclined after eating to mosey around exploring the backroads, rather than blasting from one end of the islands to the other.

After lunch we headed over the arching footbridge to Algonquin Island and had a look around. The properties seemed a little more spacious than at Ward's Island, and the feeling was less intimate. But boy, some of them have killer views!

Ward's Island (history here) still had the great character we remembered, even despite the rampant renovations that have gone on. The paths are narrower than at Algonquin and the whole place has a more overgrown and intimate feel. And yes, there are some gems there, too.

With some heavy clouds building on the western horizon, we reluctantly hopped back on the ferry that would take us home to the concrete jungle.

What a great afternoon! We'll be back next year.

The "Real/Sureal" World that is Fashion.

2011-10-03T19:22:00.000-04:00

Yes it is that time of year.

The Ready to Wear/ Prêt à Porter collections have started for Spring 2012.

We have so far had New York,London,Milano

and now "La Grande Dame"..Paris is about to wrap up.

As important as we believe these shows to be,it is a reality that most cannot afford or be lucky (some would say unlucky) enough,to work,within the milieu,or be up close and personal with all that is new for this "season" in fashion.

Much as some would love nothing better than to be A.D.R.

it is a sad reality that most aren't.

That is why we prefer to focus our attention,as we have done in the past, to outside the shows.

The real fun is checking in with the guys.The street fashion photographers who are really the one who are telling all of us what the true trends are.

Here are our top three,that we feel, are indispensable in chronicling the fashion
of the moment outside the shows.

Toronto's own: Tommy Tom

The Sartorialist himself:

Scott Schuman

and,Phil Oh
....as well as many others,who have the ability of showing us on a daily basis,the true stars of the fashion world.The buyers,editors and models in all their finery coming and going the day of the shows...

...or more often than not,simply posing.

Here are a few images that particularly caught our eyes...

So let us dream and allow ourselves to be voyeurs into this rarefied,glorious world that is fashion,

outside the shows of Prêt à Porter Spring 2012

Oh yeah baby...

Here's looking forward to the Men's Spring 2012 Shows.

Sorry- We're Closed...

2011-10-03T10:00:00.001-04:00

No chicken tonight...

Ossington Avenue during Nuit Blanche 2011

Seen...Fueling Up during Nuit Blanche

2011-10-02T16:35:00.000-04:00

1:00AM- Mobs of hungry kids at Queen and Spadina

2:00AM- Getting caffeinated for the final stretch at Yonge and Alexander

friday frequencies- celtic memories

2011-09-30T10:00:00.000-04:00

So, we're approaching our annual Autumn vacation time and a recent episode of "Life Is A Highway" on CBC got us thinking back to a stupendous trip we took to Nova Scotia in 2004. Our second and final week was spent on the road, culminating in a few days on Cape Breton Island, and it was a life altering experience! The annual Celtic Colours festival was in full swing, and although we were unable to partake in any of the actual events, the passion was in the air everywhere we went. So, in tribute to the indomitable spirit of all Cape Bretoners, on whatever shore you may have landed, here are a couple of our favourite tunes to get us into the weekend. May you be lucky enough to attend a raucous ceilidh tonight!!

Up first, Ashley MacIsaac with Mary Jane Lamond workin' Sleepy Maggie. After that, the Rankins performing their iconic "Fare Thee Well"

Have a "reel"-y fantastic weekend!

Seen...the diminutive guard dog

2011-09-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

This little guy was seen outside the door of a storefront in one of those bleak suburban business parks. Wonder what his story is?

Seen...Official Notice

2011-09-28T10:00:00.000-04:00

...in a Kensington Market laneway.

friday frequencies- Koop takes the time to take 5

2011-09-23T11:27:00.000-04:00

This jazzy, loungy piece caught our ears a while back. It's from a Swedish duo called Koop, who apparently painfully construct each song using thousands of clips from existing records. We think we hear a little Dave Brubeck peeking out. We like it's laid back vibe.... perfect for coasting through a Friday afternoon!

Have a great weekend everybody!!

Agua de Jamaica

2011-09-20T11:41:00.000-04:00

One of our regular lunchspots here in Toronto is Taqueria El Trompo in Kensington Market. Sometime between that original post, when we were ordering Ginger Ales with our tacos, and now we discovered the pleasures of Agua Fresca de Jamaica (or Jamaica Tea). Now before you run out and order something that sounds like the Caribbean nation, keep in mind that this is a Mexican drink so you've got to soften that J and pronounce each vowel individually. It sounds something like ha-ma-EE-ca. Jamaica is the Spanish word for hibiscus so, as you might expect, the beverage is an infusion of the dried petals of the hibiscus flower.

We pick ours up in bulk at one of the Latin food stores in Kensington, but variations of this beverage are so widely consumed around the globe that it should be pretty easy to find. Check your local health food store if you can't find it elsewhere. If you want a packaged variety, it will be labelled Flor de Jamaica.

This is a fantastic summer cooler! On its own it's very tart, and we're pretty partial to it that way. At El Trompo, though, it comes well sweetened- not as sweet as a soft drink, but enough that the sour edge is gone. We usually dissolve a little sugar into ours, but we find the tangy-ness helps make it a lot more refreshing on a hot summer day. We brew up enough to fill a two litre juice container & keep it on the door of the fridge. It has become a household staple. Here's a good recipe. (Although we'd suggest you start first with very little sweetener then add more to suit your personal taste)

Saludos!

Looking Up...on Yonge Street

2011-09-18T17:00:00.000-04:00

...or is that "Looking Down"?

friday frequencies- 3 x Zero 7

2011-09-16T11:00:00.006-04:00

There was a time, just slightly before the dawn of iTunes, when we came to discover a musical duo called Zero 7. Originally it was hard to tell exactly who or what they were- a band? DJ's? In fact, they turned out to be a pair of guys who had not only a strong recording engineering and production side, but were great songwriters as well. And they had a knack for putting together ensembles of musical talent to help them create their luscious albums. We came pretty close to wearing out a couple of their CD's.

Here's a trio of our favourites to send you into the weekend. Enjoy!

Nigella Lawson, Earth Berm Markets, Jackie Kennedy Pillbox Hat, Tickling

2011-09-12T11:00:00.012-04:00

Know what a keyword is? Every time you type a series of words into a search engine window, you've given that engine the key words you want it to use in its search. How the search engine goes about sifting through the billions of words out there on the net is best left to others to explain. Suffice it to say that some search engines are better than others, and even the best, despite their successes, will still tend to present you with a lot of content that's irrelevant to your search.

On the other side of the equation, if you're a blogger your interests are served by frequently using words that are searched most often by folks who are interested in what you write about. To be honest, we're pretty bad at this. There are those that would tell us that our post titles widely miss the mark when it comes to being obvious hits for search engines. We prefer to use titles that are pretty relevant to the post, or are hopefully going to catch your eye, as opposed to those of all the web crawlers.

We have a feature installed on Bobofeed called Google Analytics. It provides us with data on the number of visits to the blog, the countries of origin of that traffic, whether our visitors were referrals (ie from our Facebook page), direct links such as those of you who look us up by yourselves, and traffic driven to the site by key words.

It's fascinating stuff. Rest assured, your visits are private- we have no way of knowing exactly who stopped by, but we do know that in the past 30 days we've had over 240 visits from 25 different cities within Canada, amongst Americans we're most popular in California, and that our #4 and #5 countries for visitors are Brazil and Argentina. Visitors have come from more than 50 countries across the globe.

And if we start looking at the key words that brought people to Bobofeed, (often to end only in disappointment, we presume, based on some of the words searched!) the results can be hilarious. We've had several searches looking for content about earth berms and earth berm markets. (What the heck is an earth berm market? Maybe we should Google it!) OK, Bobo Areas of Paris is pretty on the mark, even Hot Boots if you consider that we've posted about sexy footware. Jackie Kennedy Pillbox Hat Inauguration, and a half dozen variations on that theme, seems to also be popular.

But our all time favourites are:

foot tickling fetish provider brooklyn (bravo!- very focused search, although we're not sure how we ended up a hit!)
tickling newark (OK, this searcher was obviously willing to travel around greater New York to scratch that itch)

Nigella Lawson
Nigella Lawson Cardigan
Nigella Lawson Sweater
Nigella Lawson Hips, and of course, the inevitable after that foreplay,
Nigella Lawson Sex

Of course there is good reason that Ms. Lawson garnered hits at Bobofeed- you may recall that we cooked up a batch of her Butternut Squash Curry last year. And so to please her many fans, and hopefully to make a few new friends here at the blog, especially those searching the net for, uhmm, "culinary indulgence", we present a little more Nigella:

Happy Googling!

Seen- sign on the door...

2011-09-11T11:52:00.000-04:00

...of our local video shop

friday frequencies- bacharach 1

2011-09-09T14:12:00.000-04:00

So who's your favourite- Dionne or Aretha?

In Support of Bread AND Circuses...

2011-09-07T10:00:00.004-04:00

Even in these very challenging times of municipal fiscal restraint we continue to believe that for any city to thrive, the arts and culture must also flourish. This is why our collective hearts burst with pride at the beauty that is the latest to open in the new East Bayfront area.

After the success, albeit a somewhat misunderstood and under-appreciated one, of the "Wave Decks" east of Spadina on Queen's Quay....

...what a breath of fresh air it was to find this glorious little "Beach" on a bright sunny week-day morning.

In two great examples of combining public infrastructure with enlightened design, Torontonians are now benefiting from improvements to waterfront public spaces and cleaner waste water entering the harbour while simultaneously enjoying a couple of additional parks.

"Sugar Beach" and the new beautifully finished Sherbourne Commons (also known less poetically as the Sherbourne Storm Water Treatment Facility) have been a joy to discover. Combining function and beauty has never looked so effortless. And as they say, that is a very good thing...

Of course, there are the naysayers: "What good is that? We can't swim there, why do they call it a beach?", "How much did that cost? Couldn't we have used that money to combat the variety of ills this city already has?" "What are they actually doing down there on the waterfront? So much money, and nothing's happening"...

Some of these questions are worthy of discussion, and in fact it can be demonstrated that the works will pay for themselves in added value, but in its "nickel and dime" mentality all of this misses the bigger point:

A city is more than cheque books and balance sheets. In order to thrive it has to engage, support, and foster pride of place within it's citizens. Although a balanced city budget is commendable, it alone will not contribute to residents' quality of life, nor attract the bright minds and 21st Century employers that will power the city's economy into the future.

Cities are not bucolic landscapes. They are creations of human expedience. People gather because doing so is mutually beneficial. And yet we are all genetically programmed to appreciate nature and beauty. So over the centuries mankind has developed ways to make their communal living spaces more beautiful, from parks to boulevards to the buildings that provide our shelter. Human beings are also inherently curious & creative, so naturally there are those among us who seek to express new ideas, including new ideas about what is beautiful.

The R.O.M. Chin Crystal is the perfect example of a new idea that, so far, few of us appreciate or understand. What it has brought us, though, is discussion and engagement, and this is what ultimately powers cities. IDEAS! The Chin Crystal is good for Toronto, even if we all have agreed to disagree.

Currently Winnipeg is going through what one might call somewhat of a civic renaissance. Why? They have just gotten their beloved NHL franchise back and The Bombers are super hot this season. There's a flurry of new construction, including the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights All this brings smiles and pride to the city, and when you feel good it's not long before those around you feel it as well. When you feel good you also feel more confidant, which if our friends in Winnipeg will forgive the winter analogy, "has a snowball effect. Pride equals confidence. Confidence equals investment. What every city needs!

Remember when our beloved Jays won the World series? TWICE!! What a feeling!! It's not all about sports teams, though that seems to reach the most people, but architecture, design, art or an incredible stage production can have just as much, if not more, "thrill factor".

Because cities are the centres of expedience that they are, the instillation of civic pride usually requires a little additional investment. Could we imagine that iconic symbol of Toronto, new City Hall, ever being built in these current tumultuous financial times? Not to mention it's green roof! Or Ontario Place, once a symbol of hope in the dreary "waspishness" that Toronto was in the early 70's? There was vision then. Civic Pride. Yes we paid a little more for it, but we also saw beauty flourish for all to enjoy, and these civic works helped us in becoming the great metropolis we are today.

...Or going even further back, how about the Harris water filtration plant in The Beaches? Or the Prince Edward Viaduct over the Don Valley? Had civic leaders of the past not seen the merit in investing a little more up front in major (& even minor) public works, so that they would become sources of civic pride, we would certainly not have any more money in our pockets today, but we would all be poorer for the short- sightedness.

Some time ago our forefathers agreed that by taxing ourselves and pooling the resources we could advance society for the benefit of all. Today we take for granted all that taxes do for us. We all want to pay less of them, but the reality is we must sacrifice (read pay taxes) for the things we want and continue to demand more of. Roads, bridges, social housing, libraries, public transit...the list goes on and on. The infrastructure of our cities is in need of a major overhaul, but since the mantra of lower taxes became the norm, we've even stopped maintaining what we have, let alone creating new!

We don't have answers as to how to solve all of our fiscal woes (OK, we have a few ideas, but...). We're simply here to argue that continued public investment in our communities is necessary, in many cases urgently so, and that a little more up front today will pay off in spades down the road. We're not even sure that the beautiful new waterfront infrastructure cost any more than rock bottom basic engineering would have, but we are sure that there was an added investment in nourishment of the human spirit, and for that we are grateful.

The Roman Emperors did it out of self preservation, but they were smart enough to realize that grouping a lot of people together in a city, if efficient, was stressful, and that the citizens needed to have their minds stimulated. In our cheek to jowl urban existence we not only need to be fed, but to be entertained. We're arguing for a higher form of mental engagement than gladiator rings (some of our current city councilors may disagree, however!), but we nonetheless firmly believe that we need investment in both bread AND circuses.

What do you think?

Fancy Boy Dinner- Roasted Halibut from The Balthazar Cookbook

2011-09-05T13:06:00.000-04:00

The Balthazar Cookbook, from the folks who founded the New York restaurant of the same name, is one of our favourites. The recipes are not overly demanding and they are very reliable. We love this roasted halibut dinner- delicious fresh fish; an earthy base (literally, a base) provided by the roasted potatoes, and a beautifully balanced topping of chopped fresh tomatoes punched up with "pickled" shallots, and a satisfying crunch of toasted sliced almonds.

One thing about this volume (which we've noticed before in other cookbooks from the kitchens of restaurants) is that they often rely on the use of several basic "house recipes", which they group together in a section at the end of the cookbook. This can create a hazard for the unsuspecting or unprepared cook- the shock of realizing after you've begun preparations at 9:00PM that the little confit on page 242 requires 45 minutes on the stove top! Well, we confess to having taken a few time-saving shortcuts last evening, and we don't think the results were diminished in any way. Firstly and foremost, we did not bake the potatoes in the oven. We gave them a short steam, then finished them of in a sautée pan. Being farm-fresh fingerlings, they were absolutely delicious. Secondly, we did not spend 45 minutes gently reducing our sweet and sour shallot mixture- more like 15 minutes in a larger diameter saucepan. And finally, we never remove the skins from our tomatoes. If someone wants to do that for us when we're paying for dinner, then go ahead, knock yourselves out! But chez nous, we always eat our tomato skins!

We paired our dinner with a Niagara white from Malivoire. The "Guilty Men" of the label refers to the fact that the winemakers once vowed to never produce a blended bottle, but are now guilty of recanting and doing just that. This is a nice blend of Reisling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. The Riesling allowed this wine to pair well with the sweet and sour shallots, we thought.

So here it is- simplicity on a plate, really. Golden browned potatoes, crushed rather than mashed, the luscious roasted halibut, topped with fresh tomatoes from the "balcony farm" which have been "infused" with a confit of sweet and sour chopped shallots (simmered in sherry vinegar and white and brown sugars long enough for it to reduce to a syrup), all sprinkled with toasted sliced almonds and fresh Italian parsley.

Delicious!!

friday frequencies- There's Somethin' Happenin' Here...

2011-09-02T12:24:00.000-04:00

Our reactions against recent political activities in our neck of the woods have been causing us flashbacks to our youth. Here's a classic from our library:

Have a peaceful long weekend, man!

In Transit- College Station 1

2011-08-29T09:04:00.000-04:00