We were provided with a list of items to find within Yorkville and were given 1.5 hours to find the items and take a creative photo of our find. Here we find a popular salsa dance club called Babalu. It seems natural to have us dance for the photographer. I could feel the urge for dancing grow in me that day.

Somewhere under the rainbow…rainbows bloom.

We find the clothing store called Rainbow and we make a rainbow shape with our arms.
We are a colourful bunch and I’m not just referring to my colourful dress.

Here we resuscitate a patient in spirit of the old Mt. Sinai hospital which used to be located in Yorkville. In 1923, Toronto Hebrew Maternity and Convalescent Hospital was opened at 100 Yorkville Avenue and a year later the name was changed to Mount Sinai Hospital. The facade of this building still stands today.

Like I said, these guys make me feel like a princess. Here my shining knights open the door for me. I’m glad I wore my colourful Buddha dress (for the colourful image boost) with my flip flops (for comfort).

Small dress with big impact.

Will the real psychic please stand up? We don’t know what the psychic in Yorkville thought of us as we pose for our own psychic shot, but he knew that we were coming. Right?

What a fun event this was. I hope to experience another one in 2012!

~A poem I wrote on June 7 2011

This is a great project for anyone who is interested in cooking and looking to explore new cooking options. The danger is that sometimes you wonder why you bother going to mediocre restaurants and pay heavily for doing so…

What has happened since then? I had a pretty good trip to Chicago. Getting there was quite a challenge. I took the over night bus and faced 11 hours of an uncomfortable journey — not being able to sleep because it was too cold on the bus and it was also pretty smelly. Getting off the bus at the US border was unpleasant in its own right - it was the middle of the night so the mind is no where near being alert enough to handle the questions asked by the suspicious of everything border guards.

Fortunately, Chicago is a gorgeous city and my architecture loving heart was so filled with joy that I did not notice the lack of sleep when I slipped into town and set eyes on the gorgeous Harold Washington Library. I couldn’t take my eyes of the owls.

I had barely got off the train when I signed up to become a member of the Chicago Architecture Foundation and immediately took Architecture River Cruise along the unexpectedly beautiful Chicago River. It is lined with buildings that makes this girl say *wow* nonstop. There are so many pleasant surprises on the relaxing boat ride on a very beautiful and warm day.

During my stay I took as many of the architecture tours that I could fit into my schedule. There were some areas that I just fell in love with and visited over and over again. Millennium Park is one of my favourite places in Chicago with the BP Pedestrian Bridge, Lurie Garden, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the Bean, and a nice artificial waterway where I cooled my travel-worn feet. They seemed to have free concerts there every day and I was happy to enjoy them which was easy for me because I stayed in a place just across the street from that marvelous park. I really enjoyed the Crown Fountain too - it is a must see. There were many wonderful places to eat in Chicago and I did more than my fair share of eating. I also loved taking the subway there, especially the elevated L which takes you away into a bygone era. Such a lovely view and well worth taking even if you don’t need to go anywhere. There are times for aimless travel and sometimes those travels are the best you’ll ever have.

A couple of things to consider when going to Chicago: make plans to see theatre (it didn’t work out for me because of circumstances) and bring mosquito repellant (they really went after me, even when I dined inside downtown restaurants).

Asparagus “…transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume.” Marcel Proust

“You cuss, I cuss, we all cuss for asparagus” Gary Larsen

In Melch I came across a tempting jar of roasted apricot kernels. Remembering that apricot kernels are poisonous because of their cyanide content but feeling confident that this reputable tourist area and shop would not be selling toxic food, I bought a jar (sadly, only one jar) and opened it up immediately to nibble on these bitter sweet nuts. A website I consulted claims the cyanide is destroyed in the roasting process so I have concluded that I’m safe. Besides, the kernels are used in confections and to flavour liqueurs so I’ve had the kernels, unwittingly, in other forms. Some people even claim it is an anti-cancer agent and that they are very nutritious, especially high in vitamin B17, a nutrient that is neglected in our modern diet. Bring on the Amaretti di Saronno!

A Salzburg basic food item is the pretzel which comes in a variety of sizes and types from the light coloured and salty to the rich with molasses to the covered with chocolate. In the market there are pretzel stands with a delicious selection and the tables in the beer gardens have pretzel stands to accompany your beer. The abundance of pretzels made me think I found its birthplace but I now know that an Italian monk invented it to reward children for praying. Amen!

Prague is somewhat known for its absinthe and drinking it is listed as one of the top tourist things to do when visiting. I have always been slightly curious about the culture and lore around it.
Numerous artists and writers living in France in the late 19th and early 20th century were noted absinthe drinkers who featured absinthe in their work. These included Vincent van Gogh, Édouard Manet, Amedeo Modigliani, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Later artists and writers drew from this cultural well, including Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde, and Ernest Hemingway. Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec helped popularize the notion that absinthe had powerful psychoactive properties but there is no evidence that it causes hallucinations. In 1905, Jean Lanfray murdered his family and tried to kill himself after drinking absinthe and subsequently the beverage was banned in various countries. In the 1990’s countries started to reverse the ban. It is a popular drink in Czech and I was tempted to try it but instead had the absinthe ice cream after a fair amount of searching for the fabled treat. I found it to be very tasty and high in alcohol (they won’t serve it to minors) causing me to feel a little tipsy.

The main flavour in absinthe is anise but I understand that the proper preparation of the beverage at time of serving can bring out the other, more subtle flavours. The French method of serving absinthe involves placing a sugar cube on a slotted spoon over the glass and pouring water over it so that it dissolves into the alcohol below it. The Bohemian method involves burning the sugar cube which also burns up the alcohol.

I was delighted at finding the green fairy. Děkuji - thank you in Czech.

Driving out of Salzburg towards Prague I stopped at Passau, a charming German town where three rivers meet. It was dinner time and I had not yet had lunch so I was starved and ready to chow down anything, even stale pancakes. But it was clear that the epicurean gods were looking after me for, the first restaurant I came across, had pancake soup. I have never had or even heard of pancake soup and was curious about it. In my hungry state, I was picturing a big flat pancake sitting at the bottom of a bowl of broth but the dish consisted of long, thin strips of pancake in a vegetable broth (for moi) with some veggies. This is a typical soup served in German weddings. I find it sad that people say “yuck” when I tell them about my pancake soup because it was so delicious and the Germans and Austrians make their pancakes so well. I know that the soup I make will never taste like the soup I had in Passau but I will try this recipe soon.

Telc. In Telc it was a matter of getting fed so that I could have enough energy to move along.

Returning to Vienna, I became engaged in the Sachertorte wars. You might not have heard about the Sachertorte wars since it doesn’t make headlines on our local newspapers but there was a big fight as to who can claim to make the original cake. Yes, there was a lawsuit that lasted for years and you can read about it here. I intended to try the Sachertorte at both Sacher Hotel and Demel for comparison but I only tried it at Demel. It was a good chocolate cake but would not make my top ten cakes of all time list.

I love cheese but ordering a plate of cheese for just me to eat at one sitting was just too much. This excellent assortment of Austrian cheeses would keep me happy for a few days.

As I strolled through Vienna I saw a lot of references to Sisi, the Austrian Empress with a twenty one inch waist and ankle length tresses. Apparently she had a passion for crystallised violets. Eager to try food fit for an Empress, I bought a packet and discovered the pleasure of a very sweet floral treat. I wondered if she had the opportunity to try macarons. I did find the French speciality at Paul, the Parisian patisserie chain.

One thing I hope to learn and remember from this trip is to always return home with an ample supply of tasty food and beverages that were sampled in the journey, to ease the nostalgia for foreign lands that will overcome me even before I have had time to unpack.

Grüß Gott

One of my favourite spots is the High Line Park built on a section of the former elevated freight railroad of the West Side Line, along the lower west side of Manhattan. The High Line was built in the early 1930s by the New York Central Railroad to deliver freight to warehouses. When I looked at the map of the park I thought it started at 34th Street. When I couldn’t find the entrance, I kept walking south until many, many streets later, I found a stairway going up. When I visited NYC, only section 1 was completed but when all sections are complete, the High Line will be a 2.33km-long elevated park, running through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen. The view of the city is beautiful and not to be missed, especially the city lights at night. The combination of wild plants, lawn furniture, and art makes this a perfect place to discover the lesser known parts of Manhattan.

Look at this beautiful slide show of the park and these images of the old freight line.

Happily, I have been able to dedicate myself to this fun experiement since August and made the following recipes. Many of them can be found online at one of my favourite gourmet websites, Epicurious.

Butternut squash soup with lemongrass chilli mint - excellent mixture of tastes and very warming
Caramel popcorn with chipotle - yummily addictive
Morrocan Quinoa Butternut Squash - Wonderful!
Mashed Sweet potato with lavender, lime, and cilantro - gorgeous
lavender rice pudding - I absolutely love this
lavender blueberry muffins - needed more lavender. I love lavender, can you tell?
leek, chive, gruyere turnover - very tasty
Thai Jasmine Rice with tempeh - good dish - I’m looking to expand my collection of tempeh recipes since it is supposed to be good for health
Curried Millet, Shiitake, and Corn Salad Restey - very nice
Spanish White Beans with Spinach - okay
Curried Potato and Leek Soup with Spinach - yummy and didn’t need too much richness
Black Bean and Roasted Tomato Soup - good
Whipped Chipotle Sweet Potatoes - yummy and spicy
Red Lentil Soup with Spiced Oil - red lentils are always a winner
Provençal Bok Choy - nice
Braised Turnips with Poppy-Seed Bread Crumbs - A winner

I would like to do at least 52 new recipes, so I have a way to go. Bon Appétit til then!

Amongst the line up of short animated films included two directed by Chris Landreth, Ryan and The Spine. Chris Landreth was present to discuss the creation of his films and provided the audience with insight into the artwork and his use of ‘psychological realism’. I found Chris Landreth an excellent speaker. I was hoping to get a chance to ask him about the meaning of certain animation quirks, such as the strips of character’s forehead flapping around.

Ryan is an animated tribute to Canadian animator Ryan Larkin. Thirty years ago, at the National Film Board of Canada, Ryan produced some of the most influential animated films of his time.

You can watch Ryan online: http://www.nfb.ca/film/ryan/

I also hope you get a chance to watch The Spine.