hoof! sanagan’s! caplansky’s!

true say. toronto is in the throes of serious love making with all things meat-y.

also doesn’t help that all three places profiled here by nytimes are within a short walking distance from my doorstep. troubling.

but this is the thing. hoof serves up delicious spreads of, yes, meat-based dishes that many vegetarians might cast stern frowns at. but they are presented oh, so, delectably, and they make it abundantly clear that much creativity and care has gone into preparing the dish. and sanagan’s! where do i start? they are wonderful. no, really. everything from the neighbourhood-shoppe decor, to the friendly butchers who will take your inane questions and run with it, to the locally sourced meat they take great pride in serving up, it’s quite lovely. and caplansky’s just hits at my love of knish and kishka.

i am a late comer to this meat-y reverie. i did not eat meat for a long time growing up, and to this day, i am not an aficionado by any measure. in my paradigm of a world more caring and wholesome, no animal would be slaughtered. that being said, i also do not think there is anything wrong with eating meat as long as it is done consciously and deliberately.

well anyways. perhaps meat eating will go the way of homophobia – an outdated convention that seems so crass and ill-informed in hindsight. but until that day comes, sanagan’s will still be my best friend.

craft/kraft night

today felt like the first day of spring.

for whatever reason, i have been waking up very early recently, which has been real great. just this morning, i even had time to work on my @$&#$* paper, go pick up groceries, and get ready for the day. all before noon. unheard of.

so anyways, on this first evening of the first day that feels like it could be spring, we had our first craft night. with kraft dinner (yah that’s right, we went there).

walking over to laur’s place, i bumped into a friend who is working on her ph.d. at massey college. with heels, smart skirt, and a date, she was off to the symphony. “where are you off to, may?”

“erhm, craft night? with kraft dinner!”

we cooked up five whole boxes of kd (mmmmmmmm) and just so our mothers wouldn’t scold us for not eating our greens, i tossed up a bowl of salad with freezé (is that how you spell it i am not sure) and some resplendent looking beets. lauryn and i drank the water that we’d boiled the beets in (“beet juice!”) which totally creeped all the other kids out, but we were undetered in our hunt for the great vitamin c, our lord and saviour.

i’d written about the need to cook more here, and figured nothing could go wrong with good company, cheap wine, and everyone’s secret favourite comfort meal.

the evening did get slightly not-kosher when we decided to go on chatroulette. i had warned the first timers that at least one out of seven “strangers” will be with not much clothes. and of course, the first two connections we get were of masturbating men. in quick succession, there was screaming, pushing away of poor mac whose only fault was having a built-in cam, and down right outrage at being violated in such a personal, but primal way.

but i digress.

and while we’re at it, let me tell you something here. these girls i have come to know through environmental-y initiatives/events/activism/lobby/mobilization/classes/you name it. and they are all incredibly wholesome, and witty, super talented. and they are also all super attractive. they are the type who will grow bee hives on rooftops, plan hiking trips, devour books on Things That Matter, do remarkable things (like painting their bike helmets to resemble UN helmets cough) read the newspaper, and hold your hand if you gently ask. they are all prurient, irreverent, and ebullient. did i mention they practically glow?

and so, despite my original plans of gracing a million other engagements (well, actually only three), i ended my evening where i begin. unknowingly, i had gotten drunk adn easy off of cheap wine (why not wednesday?), and despite the truck load of work that awaits me, i retire to bed happy, well-fed, and feeling lucky to have these kindred souls close at bay.