The Yum Yum Factor

Concession Road God, I love a good media dinner. My friend and fellow blogger, Vicki of Mom Who Runs , knows how to put on a good dinner. She makes sure that the kitchen plates up the food and places it up front, right by the windows (she also makes sure to hold these things nice and early so we have good light) and we all crowd around like a pack of wild animals, photographing all of the delicacies that we will soon be tasting. This way, once we sit down to eat, we can concentrate on the food instead of fiddling with smart phones and cameras, trying not to put anyone's eye out with an arrant elbow as we contort our bodies in order to get a decent shot of each dish. This week, we hit up Concession Road, the newest restaurant from  Harsh Chawla and Derek Valleau,  the people who brought us Pukka which happens to be one of my favourite restaurants in the city. This strip of St Clair, just west of Bathurst, is increasingly becoming home to tons of new restaurants, many of ...

The Kid and I accompanied Shack to Ottawa for the long weekend since it was a holiday and we have been leaving The Kid at home up until this point. Every kid, even a full time working man with facial hair, has to spend at least one long weekend suffering through his dorky parents. We didn't do anything touristy, just walked around, ate some good food and showed the manchild the city before hopping on the train with him to come home Monday night, leaving his papa there to work nights for the next few weeks out in the woods. Oh, we did go see Ant Man on Sunday night and IT WAS FUNNY. Who knew?? A movie about a superhero who fights with an army of ants didn't suck? We made return visits to Ace Mercado, Ola Cocina and Lowertown Brewery (more about those places in last week's roundup, here ) so that I could write actual reviews, which will be coming soon. We also fit in a visit to Oz Kafe  , one of Shack's favourite places to get late night snacks - okay, it is als...

I am actually covering two weeks in my week in yum because I missed last week as I was busy being a tourist in Ottawa. I will be spending lots of time there this August and so I will be cooking less but eating out more as I travel back and forth to divide my time between The Kid and Shack. Alysha Brilla and her kick ass female horn section On Saturday, July 18 I had been invited to go down to Woodbine Park by Two Oceans to have a glass of wine and check out some music as part of the Jazz Festival. I hate big crowds so the chance to sit in the VIP area and watch the bands was an offer I could not refuse ( I love what the Jazz Festival does for my Beaches neighbourhood but I can't go myself). Along with some tasty beverages, we heard this amazing young Tanzanian Canadian singer/songwriter, Alysha Brilla   Imagine Amy Winehouse if Amy Winehouse had a bit of a reggae vibe, was full of positive energy and light and taught yoga instead of drank lots of booze and wrote so...

ahhh, look at that sway backed, knock kneed , young beauty rocking the sweater vest circa 1969.  I can't even with my mom's patriotic red and white ensemble I think I kind of love Ottawa. My first real trip anywhere was to Ottawa as a five year old so it holds a special place in my heart. The Doctor ordered my mom to rest when her ulcer got really out of control but our Dr knew that this mother of five and wife to a man who demanded a steak on the table within five minutes of walking in the door would never be able to accomplish this. He told her and my dad that she had to hit the bricks and go visit someone so she decided to take me to visit her oldest sister who worked for the government in our nation's capital. If my memories are correct, I think we even flew there but my mom is no longer here to answer my questions and nobody else in my family remembers anything about it. If I didn't have this terrible photo of me in front of the parliament building, I would be...