Geeky Cat Miusings

There are so many ways to get ready for Paris, aside from packing pretty blouses, sleek skirts, and kitten-heel shoes. Here is how I am preparing for my journey.

Listen French music or at least songs with “Paris” in the title:
“Getto le braccia attorno a Parigi” or more commonly known as “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” by Morrissey from “Years of Refusal”
“Oh, Paris” from the recently released “The Good Feeling Music of Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele”
“A Paris” by Po.Lo. from the album “Paris Fetiche - The French Classic Rendez-Vous”

Read travel, history and cultural books of Paris.
Bloom’s Literary Guide to Paris: It takes you on a literary tour of the city, examining it as a setting in various works of literature, and as it has served as an influence for various authors. Reading the book enhances the experience of walking through the streets where Proust, Faubert, Wilde, Balzac, and Hugo loved, lived and died. If you have time to read fiction set in Paris, you deserve a box of macarons for your efforts.

Watch DVDs on any topic related to Paris.
There are many videos worth watching but I started with the impressionists: Morisot, Pissarro, Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Degas. Knowing more about the impressionist movement and the painter’s lives will enhance my appreciation of their art at the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Musée de l’Orangerie and other galleries. I was planning to watch other art videos as well as French movies, but I ran out of time so I’ll have to wait until I get back. The French film festival in Toronto was a start. Wouldn`t it be great to watch a French film in Paris!

Learn the language.
Learn to speak French. Or, if you are in a hurry because you didn’t plan your trip two years in advance, learn important, everyday phrases. For example, “On n’apprend pas aux vieux singes à faire des grimaces, which translates as “You cannot teach old monkeys to make faces“`can be handy when you are trying to buy bread in the boulangerie.

“Rien ne sert d’être vivant s’il faut qu’on travaille“ which translates as “Being alive serves no purpose if you have to work. I can picture myself sitting at a cafe, drinking un espresso and whispering that phrase while gazing into the distance, my shopping bags by my heels. Then I`ll be brought back down to earth by a philosopher who says, “Le travail éloigne de nous trois grands maux: l’ennui, le vice et le besoin“ (Work delivers us from three great evils: boredom, vice and want - Voltaire).

à bientôt

I used to have issues with the box of aluminum foil: It would always come flying out of the box when I pulled on it. Someone has discovered little tabs on the sides of the aluminum foil box/ that keeps it from rolling out of it’s container. Knowledge is power.

Are you tired of eating sad, soggy sandwiches. Hate dragging that squashed sandwich out of your bookbag? The latest scoop is that adding potato chips to your sandwich is the way to make it crunchey and full of flavor. This is one secret the foodies have successfully kept from me. But now I know.

I will be staying in Le Marais district of Paris. Le Marais means ‘the marsh’ but not to worry, I won’t be sleeping in any marshy conditions. The marshland was cleared in the 12th century by the Knights Templar and it looks pretty clean and civilized now. In fact, there is an Italian Cafe close to the apartment I’ll be staying at.

More information that the foodies I hang out with insist I must know: Macarons, what are they? Dating back to the 18th century, the macaron is a traditional French pastry, made of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar and sugar and has a round meringue-like domes with a flat base. They are filled with a cream or ganache. Macarons are not to be confused with macaroons. Macaroons are dense cookies made either with coconut or with a coarse almond paste.

Neko Case’s third fully solo album of original material, Middle Cyclone, was released on March 3, 2009. Middle Cyclone debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts in its first week of release. She has a great voice. Here is what is said about her:

“Her voice is a force of nature.” - THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

“She has one of those huge, powerful voices that pulls you in and swirls you around — kind of like a tornado. Her new album, Middle Cyclone, is full of songs with meteorological references: storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and cyclones.” NPR

What she has to say:

“I just really dig feeling subservient to nature,” she says. “It brings me a peace and calm. Kind of like a Faustian thing, I think, where you want the devil’s minion to tell you, ‘You know, Faust, I could tell you what the meaning of life is, but your human brain is so tiny, you just wouldn’t get it.’ So that’s kind of what weather is like for me, I think: that reminder that should make you feel cruddy about yourself, but you just go, ‘You know what, you’re right, I feel so much better”.

Here is animated video set to “People Got a Lotta Nerve”. I like the way that it can be interpted in many ways.

I had such a fabulous trip to the beautiful and majestic Arizona.

I seem to be fascinated with cactus. It is a hardy plant, well adapted to the very dry climates, but can still be seen in snowy environments. They can be served up for dinner as cactus fries with prickly pear sauce.

Please have a look at some of my photos

Notable epicurean delights I have had of late:
Popcorn Tea - not really recommended but it does remind one of popcorn, in a slightly off way.
Panetone Tea - lovely, and it really does remind me of the fruity type of panetone with its citrusy and vanilla tones.
Polenta Budino - a delicious and delectable dessert. I’ll happily have your portion if you don’t like polenta (you know who you are!).
Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage and Amaretti - yes, that is a dessert sprinkled on the pasta entree - a fascinating combination and totally divine.

I am making good progress on visiting all the cafes on my best of list. I’ll update you later.

Happy Feasting!

Being off work for 8 days is great, especially when you get paid for it. As per my New Year’s Resolution, I signed up for line dance classes. Line dancing does not involve dancing with a partner which I particularly like because I enjoy the sensation of freeness that it entails: You can do whatever you please and you can add your own particular flair whenever you want to. I really signed up for dance classes just for the fun of it plus I already know a couple of the people there so I knew we could have fun together. So far I learned how to dance the Slosh, Electric Slide, and the ever romantic Rhumba.

I have tried a raw food restaurant called Rawlicious on Dundas Street. In case you were wondering, raw food is anything that has not been heated over 40 °C. Proponents of raw food diets believe that heating foods over that temperature causes them to lose much of their nutritional value and become harmful to the body. I believe that we should try to get a healthy dose of raw foods in our diets, but I am not a raw foodist. It is great to give it a try to see what kind of food the raw chef can come up with. I tried the nori rolls stuffed with quinoa; pizza made with sprouted buckwheat crust; lasagna made with layers of zucchini instead of pasta and nut butter instead of cheese; and coconut and pomagranate tea to wash it all down. It was all very tasty.

I went to the animated short films screening at the National Film Board to see the following:

• Bestselling and celebrated Canadian novelist Roch Carrier narrates this animated adaptation of his beloved story, “The Hockey Sweater.”
• NOËL NOËL the story of a misguided billionaire, is in love with Beatrice, a bespectacled fairy. But thanks to little Zoey, her dog Snooze and a blue-eyed reindeer, his eyes are finally opened. Enlivened by a humorous and rhymed narration spoken by Leslie Nielsen.
• LÉON IN WINTERTIME where an eight-year-old adopted bear suffering from an identity crisis.

Aside from their screenings, you can go to their digital viewing stations and choose from 4600 NFB films on demand.

Going to Kensington Market is always wonderful. I shopped for food since their prices are good and you can find unusual products there. I shopped for inexpensive clothes I tried two cafes which were on the best cafes of west Toronto list. My friend bought some great fridge magnets and we adored a beautiful dog. We will be back!

This is a sweet claymation video for the Fleet Foxes White Winter Hymnal:

I love going to cafes but am a little tired of the sameness of the big chains such as Second Cup and Starbucks, even though I do love their coffee when it is fresh. It can be difficult to know where to start the journey of cafe discovery but I was fortunate enough to have a friend point me to a useful site called Blogto. Someone there already started the cafe investigation and posted their results online for the rest of us, who are a bit short of time to really get out and crawl through the city for a cozy up with a caffe latte.

I went to Beaver this past weekend but I found their coffee tasted burnt and the joint itself was only okay. The quilts on the walls did not make up for the hard seats and very loud music that is difficult to yell over. Manic coffee doesn’t bombard you with loud music so that you can sit on the cozy sofa at the back and listen in on a discussion about literature and the local music scene, hoping the discussion would get personal and juicy. The barista made a latte with a beautiful decorated foam topping and it tasted good, but I really judge a cafes quality by ordering a regular brewed coffee. They had a small selection of vegan cookies which are very nice. I have been to Tequila Bookworm a couple of times this past summer and enjoyed their food, but I have never had their coffee. Once I went there to play a board game with some friends and liked the relaxed service since it meant we could play for as long as we wanted without being kicked out.

I revisted Tan Coffee, a cafe that I found this past summer. My visit to Tan in July was one of the highlights of my summer. I ordered an avocadocino and sipped it while laying in the hammock in their back patio. This time around there was no hammock option since the windchill of -20 discourages patrons, but they do have nice sofas to relax in and delicious vegan cheesecakes to help generate internal heat.

My hope is to check out all those cafes listed there and find a truly cozy spot to have a great mug of coffee.

This is a great song and I would love to see it expanded to opera length because there is enough material in my TTC travels for a full-length story.

Winter is upon us and I am feeling very chilled. This weather is hard to take for someone who thrives at temperatures above 25 degrees. Darkness falls around 4:30 so I don’t see any daylight. When my work day is done I long to get home and cover myself with a warm blanket and a cat or two.

I have seen some great shows lately: The Sound of Music with its catchy tunes and its must see mountain; Legoland and its twisted characters, A Christmas Carol with its ominous ghosts promising us bad dreams if don’t propogate the spirit of giving. I saw a live concert by Sondre Lerche who sang songs for the movie “Dan in Real Life” and I tried very hard to remember the story line.

I had some wonderful meals this past month, the most memorable was at Live at Dupont and Spadina, a place that specializes in raw food. Their combo plate is delicious — a must try. Pizza, macaroni and cheese, stir fry, I can’t remember what else. I have a hard time finding their website.

I love the atmosphere at Madeleines Cherry Pie and Ice Cream. It feels very old world — I just wanted to stay there and nobody seems to want to show you the door out either. Try playing their gourmet trivia pursuit game while you nibble on some lavendar biscotti.

Taste Cafe is a hip joint in Parkdale. A great place to sample different cheeses. It is run by three brothers who are friendly and a bit theatrical. If you like surprises, they will offer to bring you a sample of mystery cheeses and wines that complement the cheeses. After you have tasted it all they will tell you what you have just eaten. It is a surprise and it is fun.