taste of toronto

I just ordered a couple of shrimp tempura and
asparagus & broccoli norimaki ($1 each) from this Edo booth
at the Taste Of Toronto street festival.



The Toronto Film Festival's in full swing, with lots of celebrities and even more food. Being more interested in the latter yesterday, I went exploring the Taste Of Toronto Entertainment District party on Duncan Street, where various local restaurants were offering free samples as well as smaller portions from their menus for a few bucks. I was in heaven! I've always been vulnerable to option paralysis in restaurants, so was very happy at the option of being able to sample a little bit of everything (ok, maybe not EVERYTHING).



A busker near Roy Thompson Hall. When I came back
an hour later, the street was packed with hopeful onlookers,
press, and security. Is it just me, or is "Intimately Powerful"
a rather silly marketing slogan for a symphony hall? Sounds a bit
like something that should go in the torrid romance novel
that I appear to be co-writing with Tom Jeffers in
the Livejournal comments section for one of my postings right now.



As for the celebrities, hordes of them have been invading my street for the gala openings at Roy Thompson Hall. Came back from my wanderings last night to find crowds lining the temporary barricades in front of my building, clinging to railings, craning their necks for a glimpse of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, or Gary Sinise in The Human Stain. I craned as well, but was too lazy to stick around and wait.

I guess I'm a tad jaded after having already done the crowdwaiting thing for the Queen and other famous-types visiting our street in past years. But hey, if it was SEAN BEAN (Boromir, y'know), be assured that I'd be out there with a portable chair and a book and a bucket of wings.

I did poke my head out of my office window when the crowd outside burst into cheers as Nicole Kidman stepped out of her limo but from the 24th floor I could only see the top of her head, which wasn't particularly exciting. Yesterday, Nicholas Cage was across the street for Matchstick Men. Tomorrow: Denzel Washington, Dean Cain for Out Of Time.



I bought some excellent pad thai and some grilled shrimp
and chicken on skewers for $3 from this Whistling Oyster table. Yum.



Jeff and I had brunch with Parki at Bonjour Brioche yesterday where I had a wonderful smoked salmon & horseradish & scrambled egg dish. Then we went to Vistek, where Jeff bought me a Canon PowerShot S400, an upgraded version of my old camera. I am restraining the urge to insert a LOT of exclamation points here. Anyway, Jeff told me he's been thinking about doing this for a while since I use mine so much and get so much pleasure out of it. What a sweetie.

It's VERY cool, and I spent most of yesterday afternoon reading the manual, playing with the new features. I'm also going to take a weekend sometime and learn to use Jeff's camera as well (much better than mine but also much bulkier), all part of starting to investigate the fascinating possibility of photography as a potential source of additional freelance income, researching licensing fees, and other legal aspects.

So many interesting things to do, so little time. And hey, I can now take MINI-MOVIES with my camera, woohoo! The possibilities are endless. Can't wait until the next Urban Tapestry practice, mwa-ha-ha...

Some links:

John Scalzi posted a photo I took of him and Cory Doctorow in his journal as well as saying kind things about mine.

Cory Doctorow posted this photo of me at Torcon (what was I DOING??) on craphound.com moments before I took this appealing rakish photo of him and John.



Duncan Street was closed off for the Taste of Toronto
Entertainment District party.

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