Dave, Yarn from Uruguay, and Poutine

July 1 was Canada Day (which rhymes with Eh!)... which I as a Swede was not quite sure how to celebrate - but, being my father's daughter, I opted to celebrate the evening portion of it in the company of a jazz giant and one of my teenage favourites - Dave Brubeck (w. quartet). Honestly, in my ignorance I thought that he was dead already, but no, there he was on stage in his white suit, still nimble-fingered, flawlessly musical and ever the able entertainer. But whenever he spoke between songs, his smile was papery and fragile, and his voice had the old man's wheeze... But hey, still on stage at 88 years of age. :) And yes, he's still a favourite. (That's him at the piano)

Dave Brubeck Quartet
performing at the Toronto Jazz Festival on Canada Day

Then, two days later...

...I continued my quest to serially do or learn stuff that I had no idea I wanted to try - I went to a knitting crash course workshop at the Knit Café on the ever-baffling Queen Street*. The lovely people there offer courses long and short so that newbies can learn at a reasonable tempo, and the experienced get a challenge or two.
We were four boys and five girls at that newbie course (boys and girls being around the ages of 30+), which I think says something either about the times we live in, or the Torontonians, or both. :) Plus it's a very quaint yet positively charged feeling to house a café and a yarn shop in the same room. Apparently, every Tuesday the more seasoned knitting crowd gathers there for a 'Stitch and Bitch' session. Sounds nice and friendly, Eh?

Finally, the crowning event of Saturday (today) was my first Poutine. After having read about it and having been urged by several people to try it, I figured it was about time. Since Queen Street is my all, that is of course where I found the three-week-old establishment 'Poutini's house of Poutine'. So it was fate, m'dears.

And oh - it's a lot tastier in real life than the wikipedian description suggests. Really. Voilá:




*I swear, there is an establishment for EVERYTHING on this street!