The coolest clock in the world, best chocolate shop in Toronto

Happy birthday to my friend, Joey Shoji!

My friend Parki, a.k.a. Brian Parkinson. has made the coolest clock in the world. This model is called "Prayer." It's ethernet enabled (http, ntp, osc). Parki has a knack for turning ordinary household items into works of art. You can see the clock and other of his amazing creations -- and like the clock, some are for sale -- at his site:

Push-Pull-Twist-Turn.com

Jeff and I went to a party last night in honour of Parki's impending departure on a mega motorcycle trip across Canada as well as the birthday of our friend Roxanne. Before the party, we dropped by Soma.



Soma (55 Mill St. (at Cherry St.) Distillery District, 416-815-7662) is one of Toronto's best-known chocolatiers, and according to this review is the only chocolatier in Toronto to make chocolate straight from the beans.



In addition to a wide variety of chocolate made in the shop and imported chocolate, Soma has a cafe area in which you can order from a variety of hot drinks, including their famous Mayan Hot Chocolate (voted "Best Hot Chocolate" by Toronto Life Magazine) while nibbling on fregolata or other baked delicacies.



Soma also offers homemade gelato. Yesterday's flavour offerings included pomegranate, Ontario blueberry, milk chocolate, mango, roasted almond, Thai coconut, pistachio, caffe latte, dark Venezuelan chocolate, lemon sourcream, Madagascar vanilla, and roasted hazelnut.



But the focus, of course, is the chocolate. Jeff and I don't tend to visit Soma often because of its upscale prices and somewhat inconvenient (for us) location, but the chocolate is well worth the occasional treat. As far as I'm concerned, a visit to Soma qualifies. :-)



My favourite: Butter caramel dipped in Venezuelan dark chocolate with a sprinkle of Fleur de Sel.



I allowed myself to have ONE of the above mouthwateringly amazing chocolates. As I've mentioned before, I've been told by my doctor that I need to lower my blood sugar, so I'm reserving real chocolate for special occasions.

So I was delighted to discover that Soma makes sugar-free chocolate:



I had a tiny piece last night after we got home...it's VERY GOOD!

It's been about a month, by the way, since I started cutting back on refined sugars. So far, it's been easier than I expected. I used to crave sweets after every meal, but now I only crave it occasionally. There are far better sugar-free alternatives than I expected, but I'm never tempted to over-indulge because of side effect warnings. I'm eating more fruit to satisfy cravings, but I also don't deprive myself of sweet indulgences completely.

I'm exercising more and my form-fitting clothes are a tad looser. But I'm also well aware that the coming months will be the real test, to see whether or not I can successfully adopt my new eating habits as a (potentially) lifelong strategy. So far, the payoffs have been well worth it.

Anyway, I made it through a visit to my favourite chocolate store in Toronto with only one "real" piece of chocolate (though sorely tempted), so I figure I'm doing okay. :-)



I created the illustration above for Illustration Friday. This week's theme: "Citrus."



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Running through cemeteries

Sometimes I run through cemeteries.

Cemeteries freak some people out. Our real estate agent told us that many clients refuse to consider a house anywhere near a cemetery. I haven't visited the cemetery in which my brother, sister-in-law and mother are buried in many years. Cemeteries are a comfort that way for some, but not for me. It's impossible for me connect a plot of ground with my brother, for instance. Jim's not there; he's in my head and my heart, and in the memories of everyone who knew him.

I've always enjoyed walking through cemeteries in general, however, and these days I've started running through them.

There's no car traffic, so I don't have to worry about where they are so I don't accidentally run into them (or rather having them accidentally run into me).

There aren't many people. I've never been a social runner. I'm the slowest runner in the world, and prefer running at my own pace. Plus I also prefer running in silence; it gives me room to reflect and think about whatever I'd like.

There are no intersections, which means that I don't have to stop unless I want to.

It's quiet. I listened to the birds as I ran earlier this morning, and the wind in the trees. It was a glorious morning for a run, sunny but with only a hint of the heat that will likely come later today, and the sky a brilliant, endless blue above.

Cemeteries are a great place to find interesting names for my books.

Cemeteries are full of stories. As I run past the tombstones, I'm always aware that every stone has at least one story behind it. The couple who were obviously devoted to each other, for example. The grief behind the few words adorning an infant's stone. The family stone. The stone of a husband or wife, with space for the other. The gravestones that are obviously visited frequently, adorned with flowers and carefully tended plants. The lonely-looking gravestones whose engravings are starting to deteriorate.

Cemeteries are inspiring visually, with their sculptures and different textures, groomed gardens and trees.

Cemeteries remind me of my own mortality, of time passing. I'm reminded of loved ones long gone, and of friends who have also lost loved ones. Someone in my writer's critique group lost his mother two days ago; I thought of him and others with recent losses.

But most of all, running through cemeteries reminds me to value all that I have that much more, and to not take people or time for granted.

Link O' The Day

Self Defense Video: Wrist Grabs - Free self defense videos by Jason Hall, a professional self-defense instructor. The page has links to other self-defense videos.

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Herb-y goodness

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. Click on the image above for a bigger version.

My indoor herb garden has been gradually expanding. I've also ordered some herbs and seeds from Richters Herbs; hopefully these should arrive soon!

A survey for you gardeners out there:
Do you prefer growing plants that are nice to eat or nice to look at?

I lean heavily toward the former whereas Jeff is in the latter camp. This makes our garden revamp discussions interesting, but I think it'll work out without too much bloodshed. My favourite plants in our current garden are the purple lilac (I love the fragrance), mock orange (again, heavenly fragrance) and our quince (gorgeous flowers). Our new garden will incorporate a space for a herb garden, yay!




Above: Thyme (regular) and rosemary. I bought the thyme earlier this week and have already used some in a recipe last night: Grilled Lime Chicken with Onion Compote from Grilling For Dummies by Marie Rama and John Mariani.



My friend Luisa recommended this book, and it's packed with excellent advice about all aspects of grilling as well as recipes. I love cookbooks that include explanations of WHY certain cooking techniques work, and general principles instead of just specifics. Anyway, I grilled chicken for the first time last night, and it turned out very well. I was doubtful about the onion compote recipe but the long simmer with thyme (freshly picked from my window garden!) mellowed the onions into a wonderful complement to the lime-marinated chicken.

Yum.



Above: I love using fresh basil in my cooking, so have planted a window box full. Those little seedlings you see sprouting up between the basil plants are parsley; I'll transplant those out to their own containers when they're big enough.



And because one can never have too much basil, I've also planted a bunch of seedlings (see above for a close-up of a few). I love fresh-picked basil leaves roughly torn and scattered over a mozzarella and tomato salad. I love basil in soups and stews, throw in at the last minute. I love the scent of fresh basil so much that I'd put a bunch in a small vase as substitute flowers in the kitchen, just so I can smell it all day (and then eat it, of course).



And here's my indoor plant, which I bought last week. It's been wonderful to pick fresh tomatoes off the plant, but I've noticed that more and more of the leaves are starting to curl up and turn brown. :-( I've been following the instructions that came with the plant, watering it from the bottom instead of from the top. The surface is still dry, so I don't think I'm over-watering.

Any advice from gardeners out there would be appreciated!





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I'm glad I'm not a giraffe

Above: A gorgeous bowl made by my multi-talented friend Luisa. She took pottery classes a while back, and continues to experiment with different types of pottery.



On the weekend, our nieces came for a sleepover. During the visit, we went through some of Jeff's old childhood memorabilia, provided by his mom. The picture above is an excerpt from his "About Me" book. For the record, I'm glad Jeff isn't a giraffe, too.



Here, Jeff holds up an old school photo. My nieces could hardly believe this was Jeff. From my perspective, however, the photo seems pretty close to how I remember Jeff when I first met him. I can see the difference between then and now, of course, but the "essence of Jeff" remains the same.

We also went through some of his old report cards. I was pretty surprised by the teacher's comment at the bottom of Jeff's Grade 1 report card: "Jeff is a very bright, courteous, well-mannered boy. However, he has some very persistent nervous mannerisms, such as talking continually, blinking and rolling his eyes, and sticking his tongue into his cheek. He seems to be ashamed to cry. These problems appear to be deeply rooted."



Dear lord. I'm not a parent, but I can't help but feel this sort of comment is more appropriate to a parent-teacher interview than a written report. And what's the deal with the "these problems appear to be deeply rooted" remark? How can ANYTHING be "deeply rooted" in someone who is only in first grade? And geez, many kids (and adults) I know are embarrassed about crying in public. Ok, I'll stop ranting now.

I like Beckett's comment in Flickr:

"Heh. Sounds like every single Kindergarten boy that I know (and I know quite a few right now...). Tell Jeff if he were in my guys' classes now they would think he was really cool and want to be his friend...
Oh wait, they already think he's way cool."





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Spechelle Michelle

Thanks to my friends John and Kristen for inviting me over for dinner yesterday, and to Tom and Michelle for hosting the dinner. The four of us have known each other for many years. John, Tom, Michelle and I met back at the University of Toronto (I dated both Tom and John), and I met Kristen shortly after when she and John got together. The four are neighbours now, babysitting each other's kids, inviting each other for dinner. My contact with them has sometimes been sporadic but we always manage to get together at least several times a year.

Because of Facebook, my contact with John and Kristen has markedly increased. Most recently, John started The Michelle Sagara West Fan Club (anyone on Facebook can join) on the site; Michelle only found out about it recently. Heh.



I recently posted a musical tribute called "Spechelle Michelle" to my friend Michelle on the group page but since Michelle isn't on Facebook yet, John and Kristen invited me over for dinner (a.k.a. MSWFC Theme Song Launch Party, where MSWFC = Michelle Sagara West Fan Club) so I could see Michelle's reaction in person when she heard the song:



And then:




Heh. Highly satisfying.

By the way: Joey Shoji, if you're reading this, look out. Michelle knows you're on Facebook now. :-)

For those wanting to find out about Michelle's books, please do check out her Web site. You can also get a peek into her writing life in her Livejournal, "Musings of a Reality-based Curmudgeon in the Making."

re: the Spechelle Michelle song. Until I get more of a handle on how MP3 downloads will affect my .Mac traffic fees, I'm just posting the URL on Facebook for now. I've just discovered that I can post MP3s on .Mac as podcasts. How cool is that?




Anyway, many thanks to John and Kristen for cooking, and Michelle and Tom for hosting. It was a lovely dinner, and it was fun to catch up. I enjoyed getting to know Tom's and Michelle's eldest son better, for example, and was shocked to discover that he's suddenly TALLER THAN ME. When the heck did this happen? I clearly remember when he barely reached my knee, toddling around and reaching for anything looking electronic.

Holy toledo, I'm old. :-D

Also really enjoyed talking books with Kristen. Kristen is the only person I know who has hit the max permitted number of books borrowed at one time from the Toronto Public Library (50!). Like me, she always has many reads on the go, depending on where she is in the house. :-) Bookaholics should visit her blog, Read Or Die.



A survey: Do you tend to read one book at a time or several? What are you reading right now?

Below: John's creative arrangement of vegetables for his son.





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