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By Gary Roberts, September 28, 2009

“Last weekend, I went to the Air Canada Centre to watch the game,” wrote Fred—our grammar instructor at Tuesday’s night class—who turned away from the blackboard to take stock of the expectant expressions on the faces of the students staring at his neatly scrawled words.

“Now, who can tell me: what’s the object of this sentence?”, he asked, as one eager student chirps up with “Baseball! It’s all about baseball!”

Blank looks notwithstanding, the Grammar for Editors and Writers class at George Brown College is actually (to me) an engaging subject. As nerdy as it may sound, it’s an interesting study of the English language, its many discrepancies and irregularities, and it’s ever-changing usage in everyday life.

In today’s fast-paced, wired and insanely jumbled world—where “rule of thumb” could actually be considered a valid writing style—it’s almost like grammar has become a raft in the middle of a heaving sea of Facebook status updates, cell phone text messages, instant messaging and hastily written emails, if u no wot i mean.

Call me a diehard, but I still prefer to take the time and effort to upper case the beginnings of my sentences, or punctuate where appropriate (and necessary!), and to spell correctly. I guess that’s why I’m enjoying Fred’s class so much.

Still, to err is to be human, so I’ve no doubt there’ll be mistakes here and there in the posts on this blog; hopefully, however, not as many as there were before I took this course.

So, bring it on, Fred. Tell me more about subordinate clauses and the proper use of parentheses. Make me think about where I should place my commas, semicolons and apostrophes—I’m in a subjunctive mood today!

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By Gary Roberts, August 14, 2009

Well, that’s what I’m hoping to get eventually. I’ve taken the first step by signing up for two courses: Grammar for Editors and Writers, and Fundamentals of Reporting.

I’ve been procrastinating for quite a while now, about going to night classes, but I finally decided to take the plunge and sign up for the courses. I’ll have another two compulsory courses to take after the ones above, then one elective before I can apply for the Journalism certificate. And that’s assuming I make the grades, of course.

Still, I’m looking forward to getting my brain active again after a seemingly long hiatus, so fingers crossed!

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By Gary Roberts, February 24, 2009

Chefs in the City 2009

Today was George Brown College’s Chefs in the City™ 2009, an annual cooking competition for senior high school students. The students have approximately 6 weeks in which to prepare for the competition by doing research and deciding on what they’ll serve, at which point they’ll cook and bake on the day itself and present their entries to some of the top chefs at GBC.

This year, the hopeful students had the opportunity to hone their skills at the newly-renovated Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts. The new kitchens and labs (with an open concept view at street level) were a perfect training ground for these potential chefs and the lobby was well suited for hosting the awards ceremony after the heat of the kitchen.

I took a few minutes out of my day to pop across to the Centre, located on Adelaide Street East, to catch a glimpse of the awards ceremony.

It was refreshing to see the excitement in the faces of the young competitors – they seemed to be having a fantastic time of it all. Here are a few photos I uploaded to Picasa (opens in a separate window) of the buzz at the awards ceremony.

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By Gary Roberts, December 17, 2008

So in the earlier post I come off all Grinch-like and tell you I don’t celebrate Christmas, whereas in this post I’m telling you we’re having our office party later today, to celebrate the holiday season. Hmm…

We’re heading out at around noon to walk over to a colleague’s condo, where we’ll have the whole party room to ourselves on the 33rd floor overlooking (I’m assuming, at that height!) Lake Ontario. We’ll start the party with a Mediterranean style buffet catered by the CN Tower 360 Restaurant’s former General Manager, Maitre d’, sommelier and GBC Chef Doris Miculan Bradley, then kick back, relax and enjoy a variety of games including billiards, cards, Wii, and twister etc.

All this is but a prelude to the Secret Santa gift exchange. I bought my gift last minute on the way home from the office yesterday and wrapped it quickly at my desk this morning, where I now have a glitter-filled keyboard!

Last year, in lieu of a gift, I made a donation to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. This year I’m supporting Ten Thousand Villages’ Fair Trade practices by purchasing from their store.

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By Gary Roberts, November 14, 2008

Jamie Oliver cooking at The Chefs' House, Toronto

This morning in Toronto, the famous British chef Jamie Oliver made a guest appearance at George Brown College’s The Chefs’ House, to be filmed on CTV’s Canada AM making a quick mushroom bruschetta with his usual flair. Once again, he made the art of cooking look incredibly easy - at least  to those of us whose idea of cooking a good meal is a healthy serving of baked beans on toast. And if we’re feeling wild, we may even add a bit of Marmite to that!

Here’s a video of Jamie Oliver in action in The Chefs’ House kitchen. Enjoy!

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

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By Gary Roberts, October 18, 2008

Yesterday’s send-off lunch for Ricky at M&B was a success, I think. There must have been around 20 people or so in our group at the restaurant, which was already quite busy with regular customers besides us, so the buzz and the ambiance was great. Our party was seated at two long tables, right next to each other, so we could move freely from table to table to sit and chat with colleagues, both past and present, who had come to wish Ricky all the best in her new job at Ryerson University.

Once we all got settled, Ricky’s manager and friend, Maria, got up to give a short speech on how much we’d enjoyed having her at the college and to wish her well for the future. At this point, Ricky was presented with her gift, which we had all contributed to - a certificate for a session at Elmwood Spa in downtown Toronto. I’ve been to this spa on a number of occasions, and it’s a very nice place; good service, well-trained staff and the building is old and pretty cool inside. Ricky was quite impressed with her gift and with all the attention she was getting this day and she gave a little speech herself (and presented us with a signed photo from her earlier, singing career!), to thank everyone for being so kind to her. I got up and also gave a short speech, which included a list of all the things I was going to miss the most about Ricky. At this point I pulled out a tiny, tiny piece of paper from my pocket and read from the list, which contained just one item: Ricky’s favourite phrase - “Look it!”, which she was forever using whenever she was telling a story. I mean, truly - these two words were repeated and repeated, over and over again by Ricky, all the bloody time whenever she opened her flamin’ mouth, it eventually became a standing joke between me, Ricky and El Franco!

Anyway, the food was good, too, although the service was a bit slow; given that we were quite a large group and that the place was already busy to boot, this was okay. Besides, the staff and owners of Mangia & Bevi* are great people and some of them are George Brown grads, so we were more than okay with the service. At this point, I must say Ricky behaved herself (for once!) throughout the whole lunch and was very reserved.

After lunch, we went back to the college where Ricky did the rounds at the end of the day, to say goodbye to everyone. My friend Lawrence and I then took her out to the local Bier Market, where she dined on mussels and Belgian frites, and washed it all down with a pint of Stella. We had fun with the waiting staff there, too, who seemed to be in competition over who should serve us. The two guys didn’t seem to like each other very much and weren’t really discreet about it. It was great for us, damn good entertainment watching them both take each other to one side and argue, heads together! I mean, come on - just bring us the beer and food, guys, without the testosterone, please!

All in all, I think Ricky had a great day and I was more than happy to organise this event for her. She got a good send-off with people she liked, delicious food, a nice gift and card signed by us all, and fond memories of her 17 months at GBC.

Now it’s onwards and upwards, so “look it!” - all the best in your next job at Ryerson, Ricky!

* Apparently, Mangia & Bevi may be moving at some point, possibly into the former Montreal Bistro and Jazz Club at 65 Sherbourne Street.

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By Gary Roberts, September 25, 2008

A view of the open concept kitchen from our table

Lunch at the Chefs’ House went well; the new venue is a mix of exposed brick walls, trendy light fixtures, floor to ceiling windows, open concept kitchen and comfortable seating arrangements. As soon as you walk in, you’re greeted by students from the School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts who show you to your seat and go about the usual business of pandering to the client’s needs by offering water, bringing the menu, etc. The purpose of this restaurant is to train students in the hospitality and culinary fields, so it’s a perfect way of getting them used to a real life, client-focused environment.

At certain strategic points along the walls, you’ll find large flat screen LCD monitors that display real time footage from the kitchen. The cameras point directly at the stove tops, so you have a bird’s eye view of your food as it’s being cooked. It’s an interesting concept and the Chefs’ House has taken it one step further by placing two of the screens against the windows looking out onto the street, so that passers-by can also stop and take peek at what’s cooking.

The menu consisted of a fairly large selection of salads and chowders for starters, along with chicken, bass, lamb, steak and gnocchi as the main dishes. Normally, I try to eat only vegetarian food, but every now and then I’ll make an exception, especially if I’m dining out, so on this occasion I decided to try the bass, which was cooked to perfection and was served on a bed of creamed potatoes and seasonal vegetables along with a very tasty pumpkin-style sauce. There were three desserts offered and I went with what was referred to as a ’students ice cream’ sandwiched between two crispy waffles; the ice cream was actually more like a very thick clotted cream and was absolutely delicious!

I would definitely recommend going to the new restaurant not only for the amazing food, but also to have that experience of dining in a teaching environment where the students line up at counters and are taught how to act, how to serve wine and how to clear tables. It’s a great way to spend a lunch or dinner, actually feeling like your part of the hospitality training process. Most of the serving staff are young students who have chosen to embark on a career in the service industry, so it’s interesting to see these new waiters, chefs, and maybe even future sommeliers in action.

It’s a lot more expensive than going to a local diner for lunch, but the ambiance and attention you get is well worth it, I think.

I took a few pictures while I was there, but on my phone, so the quality isn’t that good.

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By Gary Roberts, September 24, 2008

The Chefs' House undergoing renovation in 2008

I’m on vacation this week, just taking it easy after a busy month putting the Full Time Calendar online at George Brown, and also doing a bit of needed painting at home. Today, however, I’m meeting a couple of colleagues at lunch time to try out the menu at the new GBC Chefs’ House at 215 King Street E. I’m looking forward to dining there and checking out the venue for what was formerly The Dining Room (which was formerly Siegfried’s) on Adelaide Street East. The old building has recently undergone a renovation in order to create classrooms for the students in the Chef School, as well as becoming the new venue for the restaurant.

The Chefs’ House will be open to the public in November, 2008, but right now it’s offering a fresh menu for staff at the college. I’ll post the menu and a review soon.