Living For The City

Another LONG day at the IDSA… I normally don’t really mind conferences but this one was particularly slow so there was a lot of thumb twiddling, small talk and busy work… Wicked fun. You know how we do!

When I checked out of my hotel this mornin’ I had to leave all this behind! Cryin’ shame, I tells ya!

After Singapore Veg. turned out to be kind of a bust I decided that today I’d venture back into Chinatown and give Kingdom of Vegetarians a shot. The Wonton Soup was as good as I’ve had, maybe even better, but I couldn’t get right into my main – Cumin Lamb. I mean, the ‘meat’ was incredible in terms of texture but I think I like really saucey meals and this one had kind of a dry rub feel. Would repeat but would order something else…

I went back by the Sailor Jerry store (based almost purely on the fact that they were listening to Mariachi El Bronx when I was in there yesterday) to pick up a little somethin’ for a bud.

I ended up hanging out there for a while, chatting, drinking some Spiced Rum and ultimately leaving with a lot more than I’d planned on going in.

As it turns out, Phil who works there used to roadie for hardcore bands and tour all the time so he’s been through Toronto a bunch (working shows I’d been to going back about 10 years) and knows a lot of the same folks… Small world!

I really wish I’d taken the time to chat earlier because I was struggling to find something to do yesterday and they gave me a bunch of places to go and things to check out (like the Paul Romano solo show) but alas, I had a plane to catch. Huge shout out to Phil & Lauren from Sailor Jerry for making my last few hours in Philly pretty sweet!

I figured that I better play it safe, head back to the hotel, get my bags, have a drank and get to the airport to avoid having another fiasco like the other day… As I write this I’m sitting at the Airport, having first been dropped off at the wrong terminal and then finding out that my flight has been delayed, fuming.

Not only could I have gone and checked out other areas of town but I’m going to get home super, super late on Halloween! Exhausted, sore, annoyed, possibly getting sick and missing out on this here mega babe!

C’est la vie, right? Goodnight, Philadelphia!

I woke up early and spent the bulk of the day at the convention center but managed to get out in the afternoon for a while to explore the city a little more…

I hit up the ReLoad factory / store and had to seriously fight the urge to come home with a new bag but the fact of the matter is that I don’t need to spend $200US + on another bag when I have 2 big bags that work just fine for the time being.

The ReLoad store is on the edge of Chinatown and any traveling vegan knows that if you’re hungry and you don’t know where to eat, Chinatown is a sure bet. I’d been told to check out Kingdom of Vegetarians but one of the guys at ReLoad recommended Singapore Vegetarian so I went there instead – the staff were friendly and the appetizers ok but the main was less than fantastic… Will not return. God damn, I miss Bo De Duyen.

I found a pretty sweet (& huge) army surplus store around the corner from my hotel where I found the perfect replacement for my trusty, albeit disgusting, flatcap. She’s a beaut, bahd! 14 bahk!

Who wouldn’t you kill to live on a little street like this? Right off a main street in a major city? Yeah bahd!

I also stumbled upon a pretty sweet occult shop where I picked up some new Mystical Baths, Magical Stones and Anointing Oils. Wouldn’t you know it? My usual occult shop back home was all sold out…

I wandered back down to South Street and did a little antiquin’… I wonder what “you’re gonna love my nuts” would have been in the nomenclature of the time?

I didn’t find too, too much but I got to lookin’ at Philly specific stuff and made off with this pretty rad little turn of the century bottle made right here the city of brotherly love. I imagine that this is what the folks from the Portland General Store (thanks again Tami) are going for… 9 bahk! She’s a beaut, bahd!

Now I’m back at the hotel watching the worst movie in the universe and drinkin’ PBR tallies, waiting for my Gianna’s order to arrive and trying to figure out what I’m going to do tonight. A friend from Chicago is in town tonight and is supposed to give me a shout if he’s free but I think I might already be looking at my Friday night… To Be Continued…

Update: My calzone from Gianna’s came and I don’t think I knew what I was getting myself into.

Artichokes, Spinach, Tomatoes & Pine Nuts… Hot damn! I made it through less than half of it and that was that! I hope this thing keeps overnight because there is no way I’m cramming anything else down my throat tonight. Holy shit.

Yaw, yaw! Peep dis! So, I’ve got a 7:25 flight out of Toronto to set up a project for a client at the IDSA in Philadelphia. I’ve got a car coming to pick me up at 5:50am so I needed to pack last night and sleep early – I got packed but could not, for the life of me, fall asleep until after 2 am… I woke up at 5:45, panicked but managed to get ready for 5:55… Not bad, but then I had a last minute “do I have everything?!” freak out that set me back until somewhere between 6:05 and 6:10.

Keep in mind; I’ve got to be at Pearson by 6:25 or I risk missing the flight… The limo driver rips ‘er, I do an electronic check in on my phone (which crapped out twice during the process – thanks Air Canada!) and finish just as we’re pulling into the terminal…

With me I have 4 Laptops, 1 Router, 2 Switches and a buttload of cables in addition to all my clothing and whatnot – both business and otherwise… Basically, I’ve got a ton of really heavy and important shit and cannot miss this flight or my ass is grass!

I maneuver through trough the terminal like a salmon upstream and slide through the check in like Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom, hat and all, and managed to get through customs without them having a fit about the mass amounts of bombs making equipment consumer electronics I have on me. I made it, but only by the hair on my chinny chinn chinnnnnn….

I get to Philly just after 9:00 and my badass cab driver, Rev. Dr. Stephen (Neither a Doctor nor a Reverend), gets me to my hotel where I call the guys I’m to be working with and have them tell me “this is a union city, these guys are taking their sweet ass time and there won’t be anything for you to do around 1″.

Great because now I can walk around and FEED THE BEAR! Bad because I just had a retardo morning for no good reason… Extra bad because as I set out to my favorite place to chow down in Philly around 10:00 I find out that no one here opens anything until noon…

…except MAOZ! Spark & Rob will appreciate this! We ate here a bunch when we were in Barcelona and they are bringing Maoz Vegetarian to North America with the first one being in Philly! Second being in NYC fyi… Falafel and vegan rice pudding for breakfast? Giddy up!

Thought Wong might appreciate this…

Pimpin’…

Like A Boss…

I have a new hero.

I missed Obits when they were last in Toronto so I debated going to see them with Pinback tonight buuuuuuut I’m going to prioritize sleep, or at least try to!

So, once noon hits I make my way over to Gianna’s and get me some of that sweet vegan cheese steak. mmmm, mmmm good!

As I was leaving I spotted the vegan mac n cheese and figured that I’m going to need dinner, so I took some to go…

Then I spotted the vegan carrot cake cupcakes and figured I’m going to need desert so I took 9 to go… ok, just one, and I just ate it and it was fantastic…

The rest of the time was spent setting up at the conference and then working the floor for a couple of hours… I’m exhausted! It’s been a long, long day but all things considered it’s been really good and I have very few things to complain about… Who’d listen?!

As I type this, I’m havin’ a couple of bevies in the hotel lounge while the Phillies play the Yankers and these two gents discuss the finer points of this great American past -time and their various regional allegiances. It’s fun.

Goodnight, sweet princes and princesses.

A while ago (a couple times, in fact) I referenced these vintage lab / drafting stools that I wanted for my kitchen. A couple of months ago, I was in talks with the owner of La Merceria (which is a fantastic little shop at King & Portland next to Sadie’s Diner that you should check out) to buy hers when they changed the configuration of their shop. When the time came she said that she wanted $175 each and knowing that I’d seen them for $150 each I wavered… I asked for a couple of days, went back to where I’d seen them and they were gone! Unfortunately, when I went back to La Merceria they’d been sold that morning… You snooze, you loose! C’est la vie, right?

For the last few months I’ve scoured the internet and antique shops to no avail – at one point I nearly drove to Michigan to pick some up but again, it fell through… Those weren’t anywhere near as nice, anyway.

Well, this week my good bud (and fellow Craigslist junkie ) Tami sent me a link to 4 stools up on the auction block for $75 each. Based on the photo, they weren’t exactly what I wanted but for $100 less than I’d been willing to pay I jumped at them!

When I got there, the previous owner explained that he didn’t have an actual photo of his chairs so in his Craigslist posting he used some that were similar enough and wouldn’t you know it? The ones he had were 100% identical to the Bevco stools I’d missed out on at La Merceria… but $400 cheaper! Booya!

I live a charmed life, mostly.

Last week I mentioned picking up some old barnboard from my buds Nick & Ben to install on the back of the butcher block island in my kitchen.

Well, yesterday Andrew & Alex came over and generously donated their time and efforts to help me get one more project ticked off the list.

Because of the variation in the planks, sometimes gaps and pieces of missing plank revealed some of the uglier parts of the cabinet backing (mostly the seams) but fortunately Andrew & Alex thought to widdle down some scrap pieces and wedge them into the gaps which looks awesome.

Roberto & Tamo popped in for a little visit…

…and to admire my new vagina trash cans. I love craigslist.

The backs of the cabinets are clad in a super thin masonite so we had to think of a good way to mount the wood that would actually hold them in place. I opted to chop up the top of my old desk to make little blocks to screw into. It’s not the most elegant solution but it works and they’re hidden inside the cabinets – I may eventually take them out and implement a nut & bolt fastening system but for the time being, everything is secure and I’m happy.

I opted to leave the sides of the cabinets white for the time being so I could sleep on it but I’m pretty sure that I’m now going to finish the sides of the island in barnboard as well…

…which would look more or less like this.

C’est fini*!

*For now, anyway. In addition to changing how they’re mounted and adding siding, I have plans for a barnboard shelf with mason jar lamps and perhaps even a barnboard backsplash…

Kelso got a new lighting kit last week in the mail (trying to ride from the post office with it was… fun) so like a kid on christmas morning she ripped open the box and got right down to business… It’s not even like she set up a full 3 point shoot or anything like that – she set up a light and snapped some really sharp lookin’ test photos of her room-mate / husband Carly and yours truly. Check ‘em out!

There are a bunch of bike related Halloween events happening this year – I’m going to be in Philadelphia (on business… but mostly gorging myself on vegan cheese-steaks at Gianna’s) on Halloween and won’t be attending anything…

…buuuuuut tomorrow marks Tom Mosher‘s first real event with HELLTRACK!

• There will be three main events: school loop heat races, best trick and footdowndrome.
• TONS of prizes from a bunch of awesome sponsors and lots of giveaways just for coming out!!

This week a couple of the graphic / art blogs that I like to read (Synaptic Stimuli & Information Is Beautiful) posted up some work by a guy called Michæl Paukner and I was instantly drawn to it. I don’t think that he has anything for sale but I really hope that he’s got that in mind because I’d hang some of that stuff on my walls for sure.

Check out Michæl Paukner’s Flikr for more…

These pieces reminded me, at least a little, of the work of Mark Weaver which I’ve posted about before.

Speaking of Mr. Weaver; he’s got a couple of new prints for sale
which are pretty rad and it looks like the General Lynx print that I already own has doubled in cost, which is cool, because… well, I already own it!

I remember starting to write something about The Revival a couple of months ago but I just looked through the archives and I guess it never got posted… In any case, the film is almost done and ready for public viewing! There aren’t a lot of these types of videos that I’m all that interested in but, aside from the CanCon which is an obvious plus (eh), this one has some really beautiful shots (specifically the mountain road riding) and I think is going to be a real treat to watch.

There also will be a Revival Alley Cat which will start at 7pm the same evening at Bomb Shelter and finishing at Bikes On Wheels in time for the premier at 9:30.

& for the West Coast Hombres:

Coming home from a long day to a mailbox full of new/new old stuff? Yep. That’ll do!

Sparkles’ grandfather was a tailgunner! No, no, not like that… you shitheads! He manned the tailgun in a Havoc bomber during the war… While looking around at vintage military stuff on eBay I got to lookin’ at those old planes and boom! There she was! Sure, it’s nowhere near as nice as the stuff Spark gave me to hang on my walls but I think he’ll dig it! Budz.

Then I got to openin’ the big tube from Shirts & Destroy! I’d totally forgotten that I’d even ordered this shirt… All Seein’ Eyes a plenty! Well alright!

This is the last time I’ll mention it, I swear, but that Thomas Hooper / Doomriders piece is fucking awesome.

I don’t currently have any other Giclée prints and I’m really, really impressed with the quality of this print by Alpha Reprographics. It’s got a really incredible feel to it; the stock is perfect and it looks so much like it were painted by hand in watercolour.

14″ x 21″, 42/50 (or 100? I’ll have to check) – numbered & signed by the man himself. I may be filtering out the amount of skulls displayed in my place but this one is going to have to be one huge exception – it’s beautiful. I think there are still a few left so if you’d like one go on and git!

A month or so ago Spark and I were in The Monkey’s Paw and we spotted this cool ‘Story of Coffee’ book from 1938 that we both thought would make a fine little house warming gift for Sam.

When Andrew and I were in there on the weekend I picked it up for him and gave it to him on mine and Spark’s behalf… He gave me a cupcake from OMG and I had a delicious vanilla soy latte and a sip of siphon coffee – it was perfect.

Nick & Ben did a big barnboard haul this weekend and I was fortunate enough to get in on it so that I can run some along the back of cabinets on the massive island in my kitchen… Can’t wait to mount it!*

The new Breadwinner space is definitely still under construction but it is going to be incredible! Here’s a little sneak peeeeeek…

Random iPhone snaps; including but not limited to dancing, babes and dancing babes…

*That’s what she said.

This weekend was thanksgiving and my sister and her husband are doing a bunch of work on their house that prevented them from coming out this way so off to Aylmer we went!

I made my way out to the folks’ place in Mississauga and ditched the bike…

…hopped in the car and headed west!

It was great to see my parents but I see them all the time. It was great to see to my sister but I saw her last week so the reeeeeal highlight of the trip was my favorite little guy Alastair.

Alistair always looks at this page in this book and tells me to get out of the water. He doesn’t want Uncle Matt to catch a cold!

I was tired, it was wicked cold and I was way under-dressed so I rode down to the train station and took the easy way home!

Ok, so you don’t want to ride your bike through the winter – that’s fine*, but your bike doesn’t want to sit outside all winter either so if you don’t have the room to store it inside, why not drop ‘er off at Bike On Wheels and let them hold onto it until Spring and tune ‘er up while they’re at it?

*if you’re a huge pussy, of course.

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On an unrelated note; can someone please buy me some or all of the following?

With the one week of summer that we had this year long behind us and the temperature rapidly dropping, I figured I’d take the opportunity to get at least one decent ride in this season so Roadie Robbie and I mounted up and headed east.

We were going to just head out to the beaches but we were both feelin’ pretty good so we opted to head out a little further and make our way over to the Scarborough Bluffs instead.

The hill heading into the Bluffer’s Park is gnarly; having now done it once and knowing what to expect I’d like to try it with a bit more speed but still… riding fixed / brakeless down that thing is a little unnerving… What’s worse is that, for the second time ever that I can remember (the last time being a gnarly incline in Vancouver), I had to walk my bike part way up the hill.

Despite making fun of some of the TOfixd folks for walking up this hill a while ago, I had to swallow my pride and start clompin’. Robbie; riding a geared carbon bike, not weighing 215 pounds and having ridden a LOT more this year than I did handled it just fine.

Despite rushing home to beat the sun (we both left the lights at home) we had to stop off at this rad little architectural salvage shop along Kingston Road. I wish we had more time and I had more money because this is exactly the type of joint that I could loose myself for hours in…

There were a couple other little shops along that strip that I’d really like to go back and check out…

But alas, darkness was on the horizon and beers of the world awaited us…

…to be continued.

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…continued. On the way back from the east side we also made a stop at the Queen’s Quay LCBO (Sparkles made a stop at the Summer Hill LCBO) and we picked up a solid variety of beers from around the world, some of which we’ve tried and many of which we hadn’t (and shouldn’t have) for a little sampling session.

When I was a young pup I had a serious Mac N Cheese problem. I’m not kidding, I would save up my allowance and money I made doing odd jobs to buy cases of Kraft Dinner because my need for macaroni noodles smothered in cheesey goodness outweighed my parents desire to provide. KD was good, no doubt, but nothing compared to my mom’s Mac N Cheese baked to perfection in the oven.

Just the same, I’ve had vegan KD alternatives and they are… um, ok. In fact, the first website I ever built for anyone other than myself was for Road’s End Organics well over 10 years ago and I did it in exchange for a case of Shells & Chreese.

But I digress; on a recent trip to Chicago I discovered Teese but only bought the Mozzarella version… So when Katie from Sadie’s Diner said that she was going there and was kind enough to offer to pick up some more for me, I couldn’t refuse. She grabbed me some of the cheddar so I could breathe new life into one of my favorite childhood memories.

So, with Momma Rennick’s recipe and my vegan alternatives all lined up – a new generation of Mac N Cheese was born in the Rennick kitchen…

…and it’s fucking delicious.