Tag: Toronto the good

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Diversions Toronto

Tourist in my home town – The ROM

India’s painted and printed cottons

In the many months since March 2020, I have been back to my office twice: both times on a Sunday to pick up things I needed. And then IT asked that everyone come into the office during September 2021 for updates and to make sure everything was still working etc.

EEK!!

Grey haired female with a periodic table of elements mask and a TTC stop in the background
Waiting for the bus for the first time in 18 or so months

So I got up, showered, put on office clothes!!, and waited for the bus. Overall the day went pretty well. Only a few of us went in. Toby encouraged me to get a nice lunch as a treat. And then I left work a little early to take advantage of being downtown and walked up to the ROM.

The benefit of a membership I think is that I do not feel compelled to see.all.the.things! I can look at what’s happening, chose one thing and then just see that and leave. And that’s exactly what I did.

The exhibit is on until January 2, 2022 so you can definitely still go and see it. It was pretty nifty. All about cotton and how artisans in India created and advanced their craft time and time again.

The colours and patterns were stunning. And so interesting to see the differences of the fabric made for different markets!

  • Fabric for Egypt
  • In Japan

Both of the above were made in India but for export to different markets: Egypt and Japan. There was also Sri Lanka, Iran, Indonesia and of course Canada:

Made in the 1990s from Indian design for Canadian market

There was also a discussion of how local makers took inspiration from Indian chintz but also made it their own:

From Indian chintz to Javanese batik

And from Indian chintz to African prints. The ROM exhibit explained that in East Africa, women first dressed in printed cottons imported from India but by the 1970s they had switched to their own designs.

Why yes, orange does happen to be my favourite colour, why do you ask?

There was also a little section showing how some of the dyes were developed.

If you have a smart phone you can listen to a free descriptive audio tour of the whole exhibit with 10 or so stops. As someone who has a bit of working knowledge of fabrics from my own forays into knitting and basic sewing and cross-stitching (and some embroidery) I was just amazed by the variety and the obviously huge amounts of work involved.

I was pretty impressed and happy with my little visit. I checked the ROM website again afterwards and found a few links to talks and interviews they have posted to youtube about Post-Independence revival of India’s craft industries and with the curator of this exhibit. I love that they made it easy to dive as deep as you want to go on the topic. I’ve added the “Ethics of Production in Historic Chintz” to my future watch list!

I recently decided that I want to do a deep dive into fungi and lichen so I’m off to the ROM website again to see what they’ve got…

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Diversions Toronto

Tourist in my home town – Grange Park

NOTE: I took these pictures in October 2019. I thought they would be good to share now during physical distancing so we can remember what’s waiting for us all when we’re done.

Tucked away behind the Art Gallery of Ontario and OCAD University is the most lovely little oasis.

At one time it was basically the back yard for The Grange (which was the original home of the AGO and has it’s own long history) and now it’s a lovely spot to wander, listen to kids playing on the playground, or water gurgling through the splash pad (in summer) or from the fountain:

(there was a person who was obviously quite fond of the fountain hanging around it and every time I went to take a picture would try and move into the shot. I’m not sure if they wanted to be in the picture or just stop me from taking it but I eventually got this photo)

I really love the way Toronto can pull off nature in the middle of the city!

And of course, the love affair with Henry Moore continues:

Large Two Forms - Henry Moore
Large Two Forms – Henry Moore

The Henry Moore Sculpture Centre in the AGO is the largest public collection of Henry Moore’s work – and he gave most of it to the gallery.

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Diversions Toronto

Being a tourist in my home town – Visiting the AGO

Now that the weather isn’t so unbearably hot and humid for me I thought I’d try and go out for a walk during my lunch break every once in a while. The Art Gallery of Ontario is just around the corner from my office so I figured that’s a great place to start.

In September I went and saw a photography exhibit called “women in focus.” It was lovely.

Here are some of my favourite photos:

This one is from Lotte Jacobi – I love the way the movement is captured. I keep expecting the dancer to keep going!

I just want to know what she’s thinking! This is called “Sea of Ice (Genevieve)” from 1935.

This is a print from Violet Keene Perinchief – originally from England but moved to Ontario and “found commercial success as the manager of the Eaton’s photography studio” before setting up her own shop. The eyes. Really, that’s it. Just the eyes.

Taking pictures of photos behind glass isn’t a strength of mine obviously. Here’s a better version of the above photo:

More from the AGO in the future that’s for sure, especially because now I have a membership.

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Food Review

Purple Penguin Cafe

I really want to start talking a lot more about nifty stuff in Toronto – places we’ve been, food we’ve eaten, things we’ve seen. And this came to me of course as soon as I had something that I knew you’re really gonna want to try yourselves: the apple fritters from the Purple Penguin Cafe. (They’re also on facebook and twitter – well, the cafe is, not the fritters 😉 )

Located in Leslieville right at the corner of Queen East and Logan, they’re open every day and occasionally have a sale on the fritters – 12 for $12 (instead of the usual $15 – which is obviously still an awesome deal for freshly-made apple fritters!)

We stopped by Saturday morning, calling about 30 minutes in advance to reserve a dozen – they were quickly enjoyed by everyone at work. So quickly I forgot to take a photo so had to ask June for one:

We also picked up a chocolate brownie for the Mighty Q. He said it was good and when I asked if he could compare it to other brownies he’s had, without hesitation he declared it the “best ever. ”

(I’m not going to bother to tell him it’s vegan and gluten free!)

vegan AND gluten free! who knew!?!

Oh and a better picture of the “best ever brownies” (remember this is the kid who is on an ongoing search for the city’s best pain au chocolat!)

best ever brownies

And then on Sunday, when we were out running errands, Toby asked “where was that place that you got the amazing apple fritters.” And he ate his a good 7 hours after I picked them up. It just so happened we were driving up Logan so I was sure to point out the purple corner!

taken from google search

Definitely a local business we’re happy to support – fresh, natural, and amazingly delicious.

(a final note, these are definitely my thoughts, I paid for everything, it wasn’t until after everyone devoured the fritters that I thought it would make a good blog post. I did ask June for some pictures but well after I did the draft and she’s gonna see this post at the same time as all of you!)

Categories
Diversions

B is for Beer

So like I said in the Main B post I went outside my comfort zone and bought a new beer: a limited edition release barrel aged kriek from Big Rock brewery. Which is basically a cherry sour beer. I shared the first bottle with our friend who was kind enough to make a pit-stop that day to pick them up.

enjoyed at the Hotel Cavell

An amazing colour. A wonderful smell. Not something I could drink. So one of the bottles made it to our best friends and another to our piano teacher. Which leaves the fourth. Which randomly ended up having the same number as our house. I’m holding on to that one!

Then there was a pint (another barrel aged) and the Big Sleep before our dinner out at the Fifth.

at the bar hop bar on Peter Street

And the new-to-me brewery Muddy York – an old nickname for Toronto.  And yes, while they have a few IPAs (my favourite style), they also make porters, lagers, and stouts and more!

The website lists 19 current beers (and 5 retired ones!) although not all the current ones are available right now. In any event, they list:

  • 6 pale ales
  • 3 IPAs
  • 2 lagers
  • 2 porters
  • 1 amber ale
  • 1 bitter
  • 1 double IPA
  • 1 hefeweizen
  • 1 hoppy wheat
  • 1 stout

I’ve had two IPAs, a bitter, the hefeweizen (which is one of my new favourites!), a pale ale and a lager. And one smoked beer they don’t currently list on the website (drinking something that tastes like smoke is a little weird for me). I’m likely only to have a taste of the porters and stouts, or maybe I’ll head to the brewery for tastes of them. But I’d love to work my way through them all. Hmmmm I wonder if they do flights in the bar! I’m trying to do low carb now for a bit again so it’ll all have to wait.