By George!

Dined at George on Queen on Friday night. Albeit for the Iberian lacking wine menu and mini "tapas-style'' portions, chef Lorenzo Loseto's Ital-Canadian fusion creations are deee-lish-us!
Meritxell, Dulce, Celia and I munched our way through a delightful amuse-bouche of beet infused tuna tartar on a crunchy scallion pancake. The champagne from Tazmania was a tad yellow in colour (evidence of passe) and wines are sold by 3oz and 6oz glasses (absurd) as well as bottle size. I make it a rule never to eat gnocchi outside of my mother's house (it's true, ask anybody, they are the bang-on best) however, I caved at Loseto's ricotta blend with smoked porcini mushrooms. Meritxell and I could have eaten the whole pot. Seabass and je ne sais quoi was equally as pleasing as were the bison steaks, beef tenderloin, and prawns with cherry tomatoes. I was pleasantly surprised part way through the evening when the sommelier approached us to introduce herself to me. It appears that my wine-importing husband has far-reaching tentacles.
www.georgeonqueen.com

Wee David Banda

I love Madonna. I love her sass, her morbo, her trailblazing. As the mother of all Material girls, she objectified herself to no end, at her own expense and gain, into the self-promotion powerhouse the likes of which 20th century pop culture has never seen.

However, even I draw the line at the current trend of African baby-as-fashion accessory. Much has been bandied about in the press about how Madge and Guy went about all the normal procedures for international adoption, (funny how the Malawian government waived its residency requirement for the Ritchies, just like entre nous). The cynic in me wonders if this is a simply a bid for more of the rat race competition for face time with the press. No worries though, Queen Esther will prevail as she has a live on-air blessing from Mother Oprah lined up for Wednesday night. Madonna in her own words:

'After learning that there were over one million orphans in Malawi, it was my wish to open up our home and help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and in many cases death, as well as expand our family. We have gone about the adoption procedure according to the law like anyone else who adopts a child. Reports to the contrary are totally inaccurate. The procedure includes an l8-month evaluation period, after which time we hope to make this adoption permanent. This was not a decision or commitment that my family or I take lightly. My heartfelt thanks for all the good wishes I have received and I hope the press will allow my family some room for us to experience the joy we feel to have David home.'

Hmmmm. Makes you wonder how many agencies would be chomping at the bit to release a 14-month old into the arms of an 'anyone else who adopts a child ' who was:
a) almost arrested for grabbing her crotch on stage in the 'facist state of Toronto'
b) has had run-ins of blasphemy with every major religion on the planet
and
c) had 10 years previously published a sexually-charged-coffee-table-smut-bible.

My guess is they would show her Versace-clad booty to the door.

I am currently engrossed in A Race Against Time, by Stephen Lewis. In his 2005 Massey lectures Lewis rails against the western world (including the World Bank, the IMF, Bob Geldof and his singsongs) and the shame with which we have turned our backs on Africa, its AIDS-infected millions , and the scores of orphans, mothers, sisters, and grannies ravished by the wretchedness of the pandemic. Will the philanthropy of the Jolie-Pitts and Ciccone-Ritchies get the world (read the United States) to shed more light onto the plight of Africa's dying and undoubtedly spawn copycat trends from Paris Hilton to Lindsay Lohan?

FARM AWAY!!!

Among the numerous treasures we discovered this weekend in Grey County is our very own organic beef farmer! Creelo! Better for you and better for your farmer to buy beef farm direct. I saw it myself and it is THE REAL THING right down to Anthony's good ole fashioned farmer values. He rises his rock solid frame with the sun every morn' for chores before heading out to his day job at the local mill only to return in the afternoon for more (as clean a barn stall as I've ever seen them). Them bovine eat nothing but sweet smelling hay (sniffed it myself), cracked corn, and some molasses for the odd nursing mother. We came back loaded with ribs, sirloins, prime rib, and T Bones which we grilled on our BBQ on Monday night with a bottle of Italian Prosecco. Many thanks to Anthony and Alfreda, their charming daughters, and energetic puppies!

Milles mercis for Thanksgiving

Milles de gracias to our wonderful friends Alain, Jocelyn, and Sapphire in Grey County for hosting our second annual Thanksgiving extravaganza. The weekend was peaceful, sunny, glorious. Ventured through the crunchy woods while the grain fed organic 16 pound foul from Butcher By Nature (along with maple roasted squash, sweet potato rosti, chocolate banana fritters and vanilla panna cotta) simmered. Tasty despite the golden price tag and 8-hour roasting marathon. I made a mental note to switch to cracked corn fed turkey from Loblaws for next year. Washed it all down with a fabulous 2000 Lagar Viejo from Bodegas el Molar, available only at the SAQ (www.saq.com) on this side of the pond. www.bodegaselmolar.com.

Sunday was delightful as we picked Northern Spys for our friend Graham at his folks apple farm.http://www.smithsapples.com/ Outstanding place! They only sell to the public via their farm and all labour is local. I'll upload of a photo of our apple-picking stint, just like the Cider House Rules.

Ventured out to Port Elgin's Pumpkin fest (got loads for free gourds, a pumpkin, and a ji-normous zucchini.) where we drooled over an original 1968 Pontiac Firebird convertible---identical to my Zio's before Judas Iscariot sold it off. It made me nostalgic for rides with the ragtop and buying my cousin's first Mr. Turltle pool at Towers. http://www.pumpkinfest.org/fest.org/
We strolled along the beach overlooking gorgeous Lake Huron where Antonio rediscovered my heart ------------------------------------------------------------------>>>>>>>


On Monday morning I retired my brown velour weekender and took a turn as a Mennonite farmer's wife (clad in sequins and designer jeans). Picked loads of beets, onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic, sage, and oregano all waiting to turn into soul warming soups and comfort preserves.

Nuit Blanche

The streets of the T.dot were transformed into a living, breathing, contemporary 'art thing' as Nuit Blanche kicked off its North American debut. Not even the rain could stop hundreds of performance artists that transformed the streets of Toronto. Twas a city that did not sleep! Pioneered in Paris in 2002, in 2006 Toronto joins Brussels, Rome, Riga, Montreal and Madrid as Nuit Blanche allows artists to reveal the cultural energy that sets their city apart from any other place in the world. http://nuitblanche.livewithculture.ca/

I painted my first watercolour at the Gardiner Museum followed by a glass of the good stuff on Bruce Kwabara's beee-you-tee-full terrace overlooking the boob drum, University Ave, and the Libeskind/Lee-Chin rystal. Standing room only at the ROM with beats by Afro-Cuban jazz artists. We will definately return for Christmas carol services at the cozy Church of the Redeemer. Kelly Mark lit the entire church in candles for her exposition 'Hold that Thought'. Antonio and I did a little jig in front of the Bata Shoe Museum's free frame shadow screen before finishing the night off at the Drake with the sweet soul boogie funk of Ivana Santilli. www.ivanasantilli.net

Vino Rosado 2006