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Ukuleles and cheese shops
13 July 2009
[indent]
Spent a few days in Toronto last week; a mini-vacation, our first time off together since spring, 2008. Susan had the time off work, so we booked a hotel and stayed in the city. Parked the car and walked miles through downtown. It was great, and a romantic time for just the two of us to be away together.
First stop: visit my mother, in her nursing home at the far reaches of Scarborough. She had a serious fall the day before and was in a lot of pain. We found out only yesterday that her X-rays showed two broken ribs. Hard on an 89-year old, and slow to heal. She has been on light painkillers, but nothing else.
We stopped at the 12th Fret on the way in from there. This great music store had moved from its old location to the Danforth at Woodbine; within a block of our old Toronto house. We spent an hour or so looking at instruments - me salivating most of the time - but the uke selection was mediocre. Mostly mid- to low-end Kalas and some cheaper Mahalos. I got excited by a couple of electric sitars, but again Susan's presence dampened my willingness to spend $700-$1,000 on one. Had the store been there when we lived nearby, we probably would have been a lot poorer. I'd have one of everything...
We took advantage of the stop to grab an inexpensive but tasty lunch at a nice little Japanese restaurant across the street. Then I drove downtown, straight along Gerrard. That was slow, but gave us a little sightseeing time. Despite the garbage strike, Toronto wasn't really looking all that bad.
After checking in (Delta Chelsea, at Gerrard and Yonge), we walked down Yonge Street. I took a detour into HMV to check out their foreign videos (picked up the 1968 film, El Topo, as well as season one of Mad Men; passed on Inherit the Wind though). Then we sauntered into the Eaton Centre. Susan spent an hour or two shopping for clothes; I browsed the Indigo store the whole time, but didn't buy anything (I was tempted by a new biography of Casanova, and a literary criticism of Kafka's works, among several that I stopped to peruse, but decided I'd be frugal and bought none). Then we walked around the downtown a bit, before heading back to the hotel.
Sadly, the Eaton Centre as we knew it is no more. It's taken over by mostly upscale clothing shops - most of the smaller boutiques and the restaurants have been pushed out in favour of trendy apparel stores where 20-somethings can spend exorbitant amounts to look like one another in fashions that look like they were recycled from the 1960s. It's a bit sad seeing all those shops with the look-alike clothes all pretending to be different.
Part of the trip was a chance for me to attend the weekly Corktown Ukulele Jam, in the Dominion pub, 500 Queen Street East, Wednesday night. Before setting out for the jam, we stopped for a filling and tasty Indian meal at the nearby Saffron restaurant - far more food than we expected. Had we been in Collingwood, we would have taken the leftovers home. Not hot, sadly, and even the "hot" sauce they provided was merely lukewarm. The local Tandoori House restaurant will provide a truly blistering hot sauce if you ask. But I got to try Cheetah, and Indian-style beer made in Toronto, and advertised as being brewed specifically to accompany spicy meals. It was quite good.
We grabbed a cab to the pub, two ukes in tow. The jam had already started - the pub was full and we got sent to the back where it was hard to read the screen. It was an 80s' theme night and we arrived during the workshop portion, when songs and chords are projected on a large screen and the group works through the songs collectively, led by several musicians on the tiny stage. Some 30-plus ukes were strumming along with songs like Karma Chameleon and Down under. Didn't think they'd workout, but they did. It was really a lot of fun.
After the workshop ended and following a short break, individuals got up to play their own 80s' tune. One song apiece. I was surprised and delighted by both the choices and the talent. I had fears of endless Michael Jackson tributes all night ("And here's my version of Billy Jean on ukulele, but this one's in C...") but the mix was pretty good - only one MJ tune. I never thought I'd say punk sounded entertaining on a ukulele, but it does. In the right hands, of course.
That night, the people from Stringalong Ukes, in Hamilton, came to offer a wide selection of Ohana ukes for sale, from sopranino to baritone. I was sorely tempted by the sopranino, but it sold before I got a chance. I gave passing thought to a Vita model, but decided it wasn't so different from my other ukes, not enough to justify $250+ dollars. At least not while Susan was watching. Met a few of the members and chatted a bit with the people I knew only online.
Next day we walked several miles through the core; up to College, over to Augusta for a stroll through Kensington market, down Spadina past all the open-air Chinese markets and stalls, to Queen, then east along Queen to Bay and back to Gerrard. Several hours of window shopping and store browsing. We both love just wandering, enjoying the rich cultural diversity Toronto offers, and mingling. Ended up with a sports jacket made from bamboo fibre. Didn't even know anyone was using bamboo for fabric. Nice, light summer wear.
We stopped in the cheese shops in Kensington, sampling, pointing out treasures, trying to to end up with one of everything. Managed to escape with just four cheeses, all 100-150 grams. But that small amount cost us about $25. Had we had a better place to carry and store the cheese during our visit, we would have spent a lot more.
Also made a stop at the House of Spices, getting a few bottles of hot sauce to refresh my depleted collection, as well as some dried spices. The hot sauces I chose were mostly Mexican habanero sauces, but I did get one Piri Piri I hadn't seen before. The Mexican sauces are those I usually buy when I'm in Mexico, but simply ran out because we weren't able to get down there this year. I meant to pick up some tomatillos at one of the shops, but forgot.
Spadina has always been a lively street; now it's more animated by shops with goods on the sidewalk. It gives the street a very urbane feel. We were reminded many times of walking the main street in Zihuatanejo.
Queen Street west used to be a community. Now it's like the Eaton's Centre: dreary, overpriced and pretentious. Not to mention all so damned similar that you go into one store and you've been in them all. The only things that change are the mannequins and the wall colours. All the life has been squeezed out of the district by the chain stores. All of the great little restaurants we enjoyed when we lived in Toronto are gone. It's a very arid space now; just a mall without a roof.
I dropped in to Steve's Music, one of the few shops still there after 20 years since my last visit. It's crammed full of stuff for musicians, but an even more mediocre selection of ukuleles than the 12th Fret offered. I debated buying a Line 6 Pocket Pod effects device, but couldn't justify the price just for my noodling. I hemmed and hawed, but walked out without it. I used to spend a lot of money at Steve's, and when we lived in Toronto, I had several keyboards, amps and guitars, plus audio, recording and mixing equipment all purchased there. But I didn't get the same sense of camaraderie this time around. Maybe I should have dropped a few hundred to get one of the staff to smile or make eye contact.
I noticed Silver Snail was still there, as was the Black Bull tavern, but not much else I remembered. I spent more than a few hours at the Bull, but we didn't stop there this time. I've since read that Pages, the last bookseller, is being forced out by high rents to another cookie-cutter apparel store can go in, instead. Are there really enough customers for all those clothes and shoes?
We walked through Nathan Phillip Square to see the picketers in front of city hall, then ended up on Bay a block from the hotel at another Japanese restaurant for a late lunch. Interesting that the same Bento box downtown cost more than twice what we paid on the Danforth for roughly the same amount of food. This time we got a little hot sake to lubricate the meal. But price aside, it was good, the service excellent and it was nice to sit and eat outdoors so we could continue to watch the river of people flowing by.
All these restaurants and fresh food markets reminded us both of what we miss in Collingwood - the diversity, the choices, the range. We have some choices here - Indian, Thai, Italian, but not the range of nationalities Toronto offers. Sadly no Japanese or Mexican here, either. And certainly no one up here no one offers or sells a decent hot sauce (aside from the Tandoori's special home-use sauce).
We stopped by our room to get refreshed and leave our purchases, then headed out again to continue our sightseeing. This time we walked down Yonge to Front, stopping at many shops along the way, and then east to Church. Found a bargain bookstore at Church and Front where I got a book on the fruit fly and its role in scientific research. Then we headed north up Church to Dundas and back up Yonge to the hotel.
Dinner Thursday was a question. We wanted Mexican, but there aren't a lot of choices downtown. We thought about Dos Amigos, at Bathurst and Dupont - well recommended by friends - but it was a bit too far to walk and we were still in a walking mood. Ended up at Cocino Lucero, just south of Wellesley (Maitland actually) on Yonge. Great food - really delicious and filling. Not a great tequila selection, unfortunately, but a few 100% agave choices. We did get a couple of margaritas made with Cazadores. After the meal I tried a Jarral mezcal - very nice. Have to look for that in the LCBO. Small place, but well worth investigating if you're in the neighbourhood.
Overall, a great trip. We had a great time - although we were so busy people-watching and walking around that we simply couldn't do the things we planned, like the visit to the ROM to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. Damn. But it reminded us that Toronto is truly a great city; wonderful architecture, hugely multicultural, rich in diverse pleasures and a fun place to visit and walk around in. Sadly lacking in the richness of ukulele culture it deserves, but that may change. I wasn't able to buy anything uke-related this trip - except for a single set of Aquila concert strings for the Ohana - but maybe next trip there will be a better selection.
The photo at the top, by the way, is my current ukulele collection (minus one: I have another Northern uke in need of repair). From the top, left to right: Kala spruce, Pono cedar; upright: Fluke; Tom Guy cigar box, Pono mango; Mainland cedar, Kala cedar; vintage soprano banjo uke, Lanikai 8-string, Waverly Street banjo uke; soprano Ohana zebrawood and triangular, concert Northern uke. So maybe, as Susan is wont to remind me, I don't really need another ukulele right now... but I'm always looking.
[/indent]
First stop: visit my mother, in her nursing home at the far reaches of Scarborough. She had a serious fall the day before and was in a lot of pain. We found out only yesterday that her X-rays showed two broken ribs. Hard on an 89-year old, and slow to heal. She has been on light painkillers, but nothing else.
We stopped at the 12th Fret on the way in from there. This great music store had moved from its old location to the Danforth at Woodbine; within a block of our old Toronto house. We spent an hour or so looking at instruments - me salivating most of the time - but the uke selection was mediocre. Mostly mid- to low-end Kalas and some cheaper Mahalos. I got excited by a couple of electric sitars, but again Susan's presence dampened my willingness to spend $700-$1,000 on one. Had the store been there when we lived nearby, we probably would have been a lot poorer. I'd have one of everything...
We took advantage of the stop to grab an inexpensive but tasty lunch at a nice little Japanese restaurant across the street. Then I drove downtown, straight along Gerrard. That was slow, but gave us a little sightseeing time. Despite the garbage strike, Toronto wasn't really looking all that bad.
After checking in (Delta Chelsea, at Gerrard and Yonge), we walked down Yonge Street. I took a detour into HMV to check out their foreign videos (picked up the 1968 film, El Topo, as well as season one of Mad Men; passed on Inherit the Wind though). Then we sauntered into the Eaton Centre. Susan spent an hour or two shopping for clothes; I browsed the Indigo store the whole time, but didn't buy anything (I was tempted by a new biography of Casanova, and a literary criticism of Kafka's works, among several that I stopped to peruse, but decided I'd be frugal and bought none). Then we walked around the downtown a bit, before heading back to the hotel.
Sadly, the Eaton Centre as we knew it is no more. It's taken over by mostly upscale clothing shops - most of the smaller boutiques and the restaurants have been pushed out in favour of trendy apparel stores where 20-somethings can spend exorbitant amounts to look like one another in fashions that look like they were recycled from the 1960s. It's a bit sad seeing all those shops with the look-alike clothes all pretending to be different.
Part of the trip was a chance for me to attend the weekly Corktown Ukulele Jam, in the Dominion pub, 500 Queen Street East, Wednesday night. Before setting out for the jam, we stopped for a filling and tasty Indian meal at the nearby Saffron restaurant - far more food than we expected. Had we been in Collingwood, we would have taken the leftovers home. Not hot, sadly, and even the "hot" sauce they provided was merely lukewarm. The local Tandoori House restaurant will provide a truly blistering hot sauce if you ask. But I got to try Cheetah, and Indian-style beer made in Toronto, and advertised as being brewed specifically to accompany spicy meals. It was quite good.
We grabbed a cab to the pub, two ukes in tow. The jam had already started - the pub was full and we got sent to the back where it was hard to read the screen. It was an 80s' theme night and we arrived during the workshop portion, when songs and chords are projected on a large screen and the group works through the songs collectively, led by several musicians on the tiny stage. Some 30-plus ukes were strumming along with songs like Karma Chameleon and Down under. Didn't think they'd workout, but they did. It was really a lot of fun.
After the workshop ended and following a short break, individuals got up to play their own 80s' tune. One song apiece. I was surprised and delighted by both the choices and the talent. I had fears of endless Michael Jackson tributes all night ("And here's my version of Billy Jean on ukulele, but this one's in C...") but the mix was pretty good - only one MJ tune. I never thought I'd say punk sounded entertaining on a ukulele, but it does. In the right hands, of course.
That night, the people from Stringalong Ukes, in Hamilton, came to offer a wide selection of Ohana ukes for sale, from sopranino to baritone. I was sorely tempted by the sopranino, but it sold before I got a chance. I gave passing thought to a Vita model, but decided it wasn't so different from my other ukes, not enough to justify $250+ dollars. At least not while Susan was watching. Met a few of the members and chatted a bit with the people I knew only online.
Next day we walked several miles through the core; up to College, over to Augusta for a stroll through Kensington market, down Spadina past all the open-air Chinese markets and stalls, to Queen, then east along Queen to Bay and back to Gerrard. Several hours of window shopping and store browsing. We both love just wandering, enjoying the rich cultural diversity Toronto offers, and mingling. Ended up with a sports jacket made from bamboo fibre. Didn't even know anyone was using bamboo for fabric. Nice, light summer wear.
We stopped in the cheese shops in Kensington, sampling, pointing out treasures, trying to to end up with one of everything. Managed to escape with just four cheeses, all 100-150 grams. But that small amount cost us about $25. Had we had a better place to carry and store the cheese during our visit, we would have spent a lot more.
Also made a stop at the House of Spices, getting a few bottles of hot sauce to refresh my depleted collection, as well as some dried spices. The hot sauces I chose were mostly Mexican habanero sauces, but I did get one Piri Piri I hadn't seen before. The Mexican sauces are those I usually buy when I'm in Mexico, but simply ran out because we weren't able to get down there this year. I meant to pick up some tomatillos at one of the shops, but forgot.
Spadina has always been a lively street; now it's more animated by shops with goods on the sidewalk. It gives the street a very urbane feel. We were reminded many times of walking the main street in Zihuatanejo.
Queen Street west used to be a community. Now it's like the Eaton's Centre: dreary, overpriced and pretentious. Not to mention all so damned similar that you go into one store and you've been in them all. The only things that change are the mannequins and the wall colours. All the life has been squeezed out of the district by the chain stores. All of the great little restaurants we enjoyed when we lived in Toronto are gone. It's a very arid space now; just a mall without a roof.
I dropped in to Steve's Music, one of the few shops still there after 20 years since my last visit. It's crammed full of stuff for musicians, but an even more mediocre selection of ukuleles than the 12th Fret offered. I debated buying a Line 6 Pocket Pod effects device, but couldn't justify the price just for my noodling. I hemmed and hawed, but walked out without it. I used to spend a lot of money at Steve's, and when we lived in Toronto, I had several keyboards, amps and guitars, plus audio, recording and mixing equipment all purchased there. But I didn't get the same sense of camaraderie this time around. Maybe I should have dropped a few hundred to get one of the staff to smile or make eye contact.
I noticed Silver Snail was still there, as was the Black Bull tavern, but not much else I remembered. I spent more than a few hours at the Bull, but we didn't stop there this time. I've since read that Pages, the last bookseller, is being forced out by high rents to another cookie-cutter apparel store can go in, instead. Are there really enough customers for all those clothes and shoes?
We walked through Nathan Phillip Square to see the picketers in front of city hall, then ended up on Bay a block from the hotel at another Japanese restaurant for a late lunch. Interesting that the same Bento box downtown cost more than twice what we paid on the Danforth for roughly the same amount of food. This time we got a little hot sake to lubricate the meal. But price aside, it was good, the service excellent and it was nice to sit and eat outdoors so we could continue to watch the river of people flowing by.
All these restaurants and fresh food markets reminded us both of what we miss in Collingwood - the diversity, the choices, the range. We have some choices here - Indian, Thai, Italian, but not the range of nationalities Toronto offers. Sadly no Japanese or Mexican here, either. And certainly no one up here no one offers or sells a decent hot sauce (aside from the Tandoori's special home-use sauce).
We stopped by our room to get refreshed and leave our purchases, then headed out again to continue our sightseeing. This time we walked down Yonge to Front, stopping at many shops along the way, and then east to Church. Found a bargain bookstore at Church and Front where I got a book on the fruit fly and its role in scientific research. Then we headed north up Church to Dundas and back up Yonge to the hotel.
Dinner Thursday was a question. We wanted Mexican, but there aren't a lot of choices downtown. We thought about Dos Amigos, at Bathurst and Dupont - well recommended by friends - but it was a bit too far to walk and we were still in a walking mood. Ended up at Cocino Lucero, just south of Wellesley (Maitland actually) on Yonge. Great food - really delicious and filling. Not a great tequila selection, unfortunately, but a few 100% agave choices. We did get a couple of margaritas made with Cazadores. After the meal I tried a Jarral mezcal - very nice. Have to look for that in the LCBO. Small place, but well worth investigating if you're in the neighbourhood.
Overall, a great trip. We had a great time - although we were so busy people-watching and walking around that we simply couldn't do the things we planned, like the visit to the ROM to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. Damn. But it reminded us that Toronto is truly a great city; wonderful architecture, hugely multicultural, rich in diverse pleasures and a fun place to visit and walk around in. Sadly lacking in the richness of ukulele culture it deserves, but that may change. I wasn't able to buy anything uke-related this trip - except for a single set of Aquila concert strings for the Ohana - but maybe next trip there will be a better selection.
The photo at the top, by the way, is my current ukulele collection (minus one: I have another Northern uke in need of repair). From the top, left to right: Kala spruce, Pono cedar; upright: Fluke; Tom Guy cigar box, Pono mango; Mainland cedar, Kala cedar; vintage soprano banjo uke, Lanikai 8-string, Waverly Street banjo uke; soprano Ohana zebrawood and triangular, concert Northern uke. So maybe, as Susan is wont to remind me, I don't really need another ukulele right now... but I'm always looking.
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