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By Gary Roberts, November 15, 2009

Coffee at the Luna Cafe

There was a young 20-some-year-old girl sat opposite me yesterday, as I stopped for a coffee at the Luna Café at Argyle & Dovercourt. She was listening to her iPod while reading a magazine. Her eyes never remained still for long, though, on whatever article she was supposedly reading. She kept glancing furtively at what few patrons were in the coffee shop, including myself. It was a bit disconcerting to feel like I was being watched continuously, as I sat and read at my own table not too far from hers. It made me nervous to the extent that I found myself copying her by peeking in her direction a few times. Once or twice our gazes clashed and we looked away quickly, as if caught in an illegal act of some sort. It was beginning to irritate me and I had to make a conscious effort to focus on my reading and not look over at her table.

I wonder what she was thinking at the time? I wonder if she’s now writing a blog entry about the strange guy in the café who kept looking in her direction?

Whatever. It was all very weird.

Our visual fencing didn’t stop me from enjoying the last rays of the sun, however, as it streamed through the windows of the café. I’d discovered this place while on a bike ride a few months ago and had promised myself I’d return to sample the coffee. I was also looking for a bite to eat, but the waitress told me they’d sold out of pastries and the kitchen was closed (it was around 3:30 p.m.). My only option was a packet of small, soft cookies. Meh! I settled for the coffee only, which was very good; thick, dark, strong. It packed a punch!

I read for a while—revising for a class I’m taking—before making my way home after an hour-long stroll around the west end of the city. The day was glorious, for November, but I could feel a chill in the air whenever I was out of the sun’s rays.

As I left the café, I couldn’t help but risk one more glance at the gadfly by the window, whose eyes quickly darted away from mine as she pretended to go back to reading her magazine.

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By Gary Roberts, August 21, 2009

Promo images for the single

I’ve always like that song, by R. Dean Taylor. Ironically, he was from Toronto, Ontario, which is where our guests Tony and Marie were flying out of last night, on their way to Indianapolis, Indiana, to visit family. Having stayed with us for a few days already, they left our home yesterday afternoon for the second leg of their trip to North America.

I have to say, they were the perfect guests—clean, tidy, extremely helpful in the kitchen; they even washed, dried and folded all the bed sheets and towels they’d used during their stay, and then left a ‘thank you’ card and two bottles of wine on the kitchen counter. It was certainly a pleasure to have them stay.

I wonder if they had Indiana Wants Me playing in their heads as they sped towards the airport in a taxi—and as huge black thunderclouds loomed on the horizon, preparing to unleash their fury on southern Ontario?

There was some fairly widespread damage done last night by the resulting tornadoes that touched down in certain areas. The atrocious weather conditions caused all flights from Pearson Intl. Airport to be canceled, including the one Tony and Marie were scheduled to take.

So it came as no surprise when we finally received a text message from them, asking if they could come back in a cab and stay with us some more!

The earliest flight they could take, after the scheduled one was canceled, was for the following day. Given that they were only staying in Indianapolis for a couple of days before flying on to Montreal, it didn’t make sense to fly back and forth across the country in such a short period of time. So, we made enough food for four people, cracked open the wine they’d left for us and threw open our door for their return visit.

At least there were crisp, clean sheets already washed and folded for them.

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By Gary Roberts, August 19, 2009

Fruit and vegetable stalls in the St. Lawrence Market

It’s nice having guests stay with us. It’s like having your own little family there, ready and waiting when you arrive home from work and shout: “Hi, kids - I’m home!” Of course, our current guests aren’t exactly kids; they’re two friends of mine, Marie & Tony, from way-back-when in the U.K. I got to know Marie at work, when I still lived in England, and she and I hit it off and became friends over a long period of time. Her husband, Tony, also worked for the same company as us, although he arrived there much later. They’re both very well traveled and have lived in a number of countries over a period of 10 years or so, including such places as China, Switzerland, Spain, Singapore and Dubai.

What makes such guests even more welcome is when they happen to be good cooks! I met Marie at lunchtime yesterday and we grabbed a bite to eat at the historic St. Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto. After we ate, I left her as she went on her merry way and did some food shopping for later on that evening, when she and Tony had promised to cook us a meal. So by the time El Franco and I got home yesterday, everything was prepared for a delicious dinner of:

• Freshly-made bruschettas for the appetizer
• Some melt-in-your-mouth risotto with leek, sage and plenty of parmesan
• Fresh strawberries cooked in a reduction of balsamic vinegar and basil, with dollops of soy ice cream

Hmm, mmm! Tony and Marie, if ever you read this: there will always be a place for you in our home, our hearts, and more importantly, our kitchen!

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By Gary Roberts, April 17, 2009

Can't see a bloody thing!

I’d prefer it if you left your Frankenstein goggles at home, next time we go out together – they clash too much with my Burberry frames.

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By Gary Roberts, April 4, 2009

Me and Michael (and two unimportant people sat next to him)

The British Isles Show is on at the Exhibition Centre in Toronto right now. Every year there’s an appearance by a different cast member from Coronation Street, who joins the show as a special guest so people can line up for the opportunity to have their photo taken with one of the Corrie cast. This year we had Michale Le Vell (a.k.a. the Street’s motor mechanic, Kevin Webster) in town, so we went to the show yesterday after work (sorry Ricky, last minute decision, no time to call you!) to see if we could maybe invite him out for a beer or two after the show.

Yeah, right - what were we thinking?

By the time we got there, the organisers had closed the line-up, so we were left stranded on the other side of the cordon with no hope of having a chat to Michael/Kevin. Instead, we had to settle for second best and creep up to the waist-high fence separating the stars from the rest of the crowd, and sneak a couple of shots with M/K schmoozing and signing autographs in the background.

But I’m not bitter (well, maybe a little). I guess it just wasn’t meant to be – the Rover’s Return regular missed out on the opportunity of knocking back a few Canadian beers with two Old York regulars.

Not that he would’ve joined us anyway. He’d probably have thought we were freaks for even asking him out in the first place!

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By Gary Roberts, March 10, 2009

Gary Roberts

Don’t worry, it’s not me though - it’s the other Gary Roberts who’s reported to be retiring. I shall continue on in my career until the bitter end.

I do wish my namesake all the best though, and would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all the traffic he inadvertently sent my way via Google, et al.

Good luck in whatever you do now, Gary!

Sincerely,
Gary.

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By Gary Roberts, March 6, 2009

There’s a new crazy lady on the Interwebs! She sounds familiar, almost like I know her from somewhere…

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By Gary Roberts, February 14, 2009

Ricky York bites!

Ricky York is anti-Valentine’s Day. I know this because on February 13th I went (yet again!) to Statlers Bar in Boystown to watch my friend sing. After announcing a couple of months ago that her singing career had come to a close and that she was throwing in the towel, she nevertheless decided to make a comeback on this one special occasion; the night before Valentine’s Day.

Ricky hates all things shmaltzy and Valentine’s Day is of particular anathema to this Village Diva. And the owner of Statlers bar obviously knows this, as he invited her to take the stage that eve to belt out a repertoire of appropriately depressing tunes for yet another rapt audience.

With her sidekick, Anne Marie, at the piano (and what a pianist she is, too!), Ricky proceeded to entertain us all with hits such as:

• “Crying” by Roy Orbison
• “It’s Too Late” by Carole King
• “You’ve Lost That Lovin‘ Feelin” by The Righteous Brothers
• “Crazy” by Patsy Cline
• “D.I.V.O.R.C.E.”  by Tammy Wynette
• “End of the World” by Skeeter Davis
• “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” by Dusty Springfield
• “All By Myself” by Eric Carmen

And then there was my favourite of the evening, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. Although in this rendition Ricky added a uniquely Ukrainian accent to this popular song, so that it would’ve been better billed as “I Vill Surrrvaive!”, sung with a no-nonsense Eastern European attitude. You certainly  wouldn’t want to meet her down a dark alley at night, after watching that performance!

The place wasn’t packed, which actually made for a more enjoyable evening. It was at just the right capacity, with room to wander if needed, while still having enough people inside to make it seem like a good event, which is was. It was obvious Ricky was enjoying herself. There was lots of tongue-in-cheek interaction between her and Anne Marie, as well as (more importantly) Ricky and the very receptive audience. The pre-Valentine’s Day party goers seemed to revel in the genre of the music and lyrics, the content of which was so atypical of the usual songs you’d normally hear around this holiday.

And Ricky wasn’t holding back on the comments she made to a lovestruck couple in the audience, who were gazing a bit too deeply into each other’s eyes. Besides telling them in no uncertain terms that their behaviour was making her feel sick and that she wanted to vomit, she also had a go at them for the oh-my-god-it’s-so-obvious discrepancy in their age. Poor things.

Now I know how a deer feels, when it’s caught in the headlights.

Ricky belts out the tunes as Anne Marie plays piano

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By Gary Roberts, February 12, 2009

Happy Darwin Day!

Today marks the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882), the famous British biologist who proposed the theory of evolution* and who, in 1859, published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

Darwin’s theory has stood the test of time (not to mention direct observation) to become the predominantly accepted theory as to the origins of new species.

However, the theory of evolution hasn’t been without its fair share of controversy; not only in Darwin’s day (he was reportedly concerned about how his theory would affect his wife’s devout religious beliefs) but even in today’s modern world. Despite the evidence (for example), there are many opponents to the theory of evolution. Evangelical religious groups in the United States are particularly adamant in their refusal to accept the idea that homo sapiens is an evolved species, which shares a common heritage with apes, our closest relatives. These groups prefer to believe in the teachings of the bible and take the contents (particularly the parts dealing with abiogenesis) literally.

So Darwin’s theory has certainly drawn a line between two camps, with evolutionists on one side and creationists on the other; in effect, pitting science against religion. In a well known legal case, the 1925 Scopes Trial, a teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was actually convicted and fined $100 for teaching evolution in the classroom, which didn’t reappear in schoolbooks until the 1960s.

Many religious groups would like to see a revamped version of creationism—Intelligent Design (or ID)—taught as part of the school curriculum. The Dover Trial was another legal battle between the proponents of evolution and Intelligent Design, one in which reason prevailed. In 2004, the Dover High School Board in York County, Pennsylvania, inserted a statement into the biology curriculum, which read:

Students will be made aware of the gaps/problems in Darwin’s theory and of other theories of evolution including, but not limited to, intelligent design. Note: Origins of life is not taught.

The plaintiffs in the case were parents of students enrolled in the school, who were against the inclusion of such a statement into the curriculum. The judge eventually ruled in their favour. A BBC dramatization of the events in the Dover Trial can be seen on YouTube.

It’s been 200 years since the birth of the great scientist and 150 years since the Origin of Species was first published. His seagoing journeys on The Beagle took him to far away lands where he first began to speculate on the origin, and continuing evolution, of species. After all this time, his theory has the power to both thrill and offend deeply, depending on which camp you’re in.

The controversy and debates which began so long ago continue today and will, no doubt, be still around 200 years from now when our descendants celebrate the quatercentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin.

[* It should also be noted that at the time Darwin was formulating his theory, similar ideas were also being developed by another British scientist named Alfred Russel Wallace.]

This entry is part of the Blog for Darwin carnival.

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By Gary Roberts, February 9, 2009

One of the video headlines on the Canada AM web site this morning was “Gordon Ramsay cooks up a storm in T.O.” It seems the Brits are invading as, yet again, we have another famous chef appearing on breakfast television in that cool and trendy new venue, George Brown College’s The Chefs’ House.

Gordon was his usual confident and slightly cheeky self as he toyed with Seamus O’Regan while cooking cod and tomato chowder and, at the same time using the opportunity to plug his new book, Healthy Appetite.

It seemed at one point that Seamus may have even brought a tear to Chef Ramsay’s eye, after declaring his love for him!

You can watch a video of the segment here.

Update: Here are some photos of Gordon Ramsay at the Chefs’ House [opens in a separate window].