It's Canadian Music Week! Here's something American.

Hi! It's me, e! Did you have a good winter?

I'm back in Toronto (well, the suburbs anyway) and loving the crisp weather and wide open spaces. Hong Kong was great, but there's something about Toronto that puts a spring in my step and a twinkle in my eye (not unlike what show tunes do for NPH). Or maybe that's just the reflection off the snow. It didn't help that during the descent into YYZ the flight attendant announced that Canada had just won hockey gold. It was like a Molson Canadian commercial, but in the air. And without the beer. Eh?

So, real quick, I just wanted to share some tunes with you. I apologize that it's not Canadian. However, Ontarian Timber Timbre and Vancouverite Dan Mangan are playing this Thursday March 11 at the Great Hall. Check them out if you can, cuz they're great.

You might remember the morning benders from our previous posts. The boys' newest album, Big Echo, is out today, and they are all over the internet promoting it, from blogging to tweeting to appearances on major music blogs. Still relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, the band (more specifically, their new label Plus One) has embarked on an ambitious media blitz trying to promote their album release (like making it easy for people like me to embed their album on my blog, even though I don't really know how I even did that).

Here it is for you to stream. You can catch the guys at the Drake Hotel on April 14th (tickets available at Soundscapes and elsewhere). I'll be the one in the front, starry eyed, notepad in hand.

I'm partial to Excuses. What do you think?

e

this west-ender walks.

There sure are less blog posts these days. I spend less time these days on the internet and more time meandering around the neighbourhood with lots and nothing going on at the same time.     

I watch Toronto Stories, which fills my heart with more love for the city.  So touched by the first story that this West-inclined Torontonian makes it a point to leave her neighbourhood to explore the city's Cabbagetown (having already found what could possibly be the best coffee in the city at Jet Fuel).     

I listen to Ohbijou’s Beacons and decide that Friends of Bellwoods is worth buying on I Tunes (this purchasing local music through Itunes is new for me!). I also consider spending the $20 dollars to participate in my yoga studio's rumours of spring workshop, where we'll celebrate the Spring Equinox to live music by Ohbijou members Ryan & James. How fun?     

I savour injira and wot at Naz’s and decide that while it’s super popular and often packed, it’s worth the wait. It is as good as they say. And it's the cheapest home-cooking you'll find. The space was recently renovated to include what was once a roti shop, but the liquor lisence only covers Naz's portion of the restaurant...so if you order wine you have to sit at the left side of the bar or the left side of restaurant. Funny.      

I spend my nickels and dimes at Saving Gigi and Bloorcourt café, and decide that coffee is worth not scrimping on (I can never make it taste as good!). Plus the floor to ceiling windows allow me to take in the Vitamin D that my East-facing apartment won't.     

I see a flyer for a community visioning meeting organized by the Bloorcourt BIA and decide I gotta get in there. Why practice all this community development way out in the suburbs without doing it where I live??    

Whenever I have a free moment I walk west on Bloor past Dufferin and stroll through Captain’s Treasures to scope out their antique mirrors collection, envisioning my apartment full of mirrors.     

Mirrors open up the space.

S. 

What I ate today

Hi Friends! So I'm still here in Hong Kong, getting used to the way things work. I'm doing lots of walking and eating and exploring (I've also been to pretty much every museum here, and last week I went to Disneyland!). There are lots and lots and lots of people here, so personal space is largely nonexistent (except at the museums, no one else seems to want to go to those).

I've found that most people eat out every meal, and all everyone eats here is meat. Street food is grilled meats, fancy food is roasted meats. I tried to be a vegetarian for 2 weeks, but when I tried to order a vegetable sandwich, I was asked if I wanted chicken or beef. Another time I ordered steamed vegetables and was served a large plate of boiled lettuce. Eventually I just gave up.

Today I went to Tai O, a fishing village on Lantau Island, the largest island in Hong Kong. Many people still live in wooden stilt houses on the water and work on fishing boats. We stopped at a street stall in the market and ate some local food. Our lunch for 3 people cost $35 HKD (roughly $5 CDN).

We had tofu dessert with powdered rock sugar, served in a wooden well.



Boiled quail eggs in a paper bag that you can eat on the go.


Spicy curry fish balls and squid bits.


Rice noodle rolls with sesame sauce, hoisin sauce, and hot sauce. You don't get a fork or chopsticks, they just give you long pointy skewers.

It tasted better than it sounds!

e

Catch her before she gets big and before she leaves the Cameron House!

Alejandra Ribera has been playing at the Cameron House on Tuesday evenings for over a year now. I was meeting my date in the Queen and Spadina area on a Tuesday night and I had also heard Alejandra on CBC one morning, so we met at this Queen West relic (booze, art, music and theatre all in one space!) for a drink in anticipation of some decent live music.

 (pic courtesy of her website!)

Around 9:30 pm, the place started to get packed but luckily we got  there early had scored some decent seats. From 10 pm onwards we were somewhat mesmerized by this young woman who performs with a vocal range that runs so deep and is filled with such maturity that you'd expect her to be in her fifties at least, not her late twenties!  She performed with a talented group of jazz musicians whose repertoire included jazzy ballads, smoky Spanish love songs and even a French number or two.

It's not only a cheap (pay-what-you-can) date night, but also a great show to bring relatives or your parents over Christmas. It attracted a diverse age range. Sadly I didn't take a any pics, nor could I find any pics on the internet of the inside of the Cameron House, but we watched Ribera and co play against a backdrop of red velvet curtains, frescos on the ceiling and walls adorned with both ants and x-mas lights. Curious yet? Yes it was both kitchy, surreal and romantic; a bar worth checking out if just to have the owner sell you beer in his shorts. And...might it be rumour? I was getting my haircut at Grateful Head and the guy beside me was chatting about it closing down to be replaced by a Crate and Barrel???? Even more reason to see it. 

Her final show at the Cameron House is on Tuesday the 29th! Get there early!  

Otherwise...her 2010 schedule is as follows:
Hugh's Room- January 17th
Moonshine Cafe- Oakville, February 27
Czehoski Restaurant, March 11th

S.

A Jolly Good Fellow

Hello friends!

e has left the T-dot. I am currently miles away, in an entirely different time zone, illiterate in a foreign language. Here's a hint

What am I doing here? I don't really know. But when i figure it out, I'll be sure to tell you.

In the meantime, on behalf of both S and myself, I would like to bid butgooddifferent a Happy Anniversary! Our first post was 1 year ago, on November 29, 2008.

Thank you, all y'all, for your support, and for your comments, for letting us take your pictures, and jumping in with your thoughts too. A blog with no readers is just a diary, so thanks for listening to what we've had to say over the year, and I hope we can continue to inform and mildly amuse you for many more years to come!

XOXO
S & e

Remember summer e?

 Margaritas, mojitos, nachos and guacamole? Patios, sandals and Cuban food?

That's not all Julie's has to offer. This cute Cuban  restaurant on darling Dovercourt, north of Dundas is also seafood lover's delight! All their camarones, calamaris & cerviche tapas dishes are to die for; affordable, fresh, salsa-spicy, garlic-y and delicious. 

We ate on their patio way back when in September for e's birthday, and took all these photos. I decided to post them now, because 1)  I miss summer and 2) I miss e! The traffic on this blog has way-slowed down because e left the Tdot to go gallivanting in the land of down under! (This does leave openings in the butgooddifferent blogsphere; anyone have some pics and stories to share?)

Check out Julie's Cuban Snack bar if you are looking for a unique dinner experience; a cozy neighbourhood vibe, great cocktails and Cuban tapas..... 

......Hey Senorita e, any good Cuban food in the land down under? Send us some news!

blogging solo, 

S.

Best Shawarma in TO

Meat lovers, you're in for a treat! I found the most delicious chicken and beef shawarma restaurant in Toronto's west end; The Empire (not to be confused with Shawarma Empire) at 1018 Bloor Street West.  If you're like me in that you usually choose falafel sandwiches over shawarma because the meat is looking sub-par (ie: dry...fatty...overcooked as though it's been roasting on the skewer for days...) then you'll be happy to hear that the chicken and beef shawarma at Empire is succulent, juicy, fresh and melt-in-your month tender. Not sure what makes this place so different, but they're one of the only Sudanese restaurants in Toronto. I was so excited, I got a mixed beef and shawarma plate, for only $7! Added bonus: there's always free tables to eat at, unlike other falafel joints and you get a true taste for the middle east by watching Al Jazeera on the TV. Finally, if you are into falafels, theirs is pretty delicious and offers more toppings, spreads and spices than your average falafel place...but the quality runs neck and neck with the falafel at Ghazale and Sara's in the Annex. 

S.