Toronto West Enders

Valentine's on St. Clair

2012-02-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

Corso Italia is hosting a Valentine's Day contest this year and the Grand Prize is a trip for two! Not quite sure where, but it's partially sponsored by Air Transat, so hopefully the destination choices rock. We think it's great that the neighbourhood is making an effort to draw in people and interest!

And hey, even if you're not a fan of the lovey-dovey holiday, you can at least get a trip out of it :)

Snowstorm on Saturday

2012-01-30T06:55:00.000-08:00

Who saw THAT coming?!

Earlier in the day we had an old friend over who we hadn't seen in over a year - crazy how that can happen, but better late than never. At around 5:30 our friend left and literally minutes later we looked out the window and couldn't see passed our street because of the huge snowstorm that came outta nowhere! Great timing on our part, sending our friend out in that weather (she made it back home ok, thankfully).

The not-so-great part to it was that we had dinner plans for that night, and there was nothing but choas on the roads. Here's a short video we took on the bus heading down Lansdowne. Our commentator (the bus driver) was pretty funny.

It should be noted that most cars on the road were having a really rough time, and who knows what we would do in that situation. But looks like everyone made out ok as long as they took their time. Lesson learned - gunning your engine on an icy road is NOT going to get you anywhere. Except maybe for the mechanics after you've popped your tires.

Our first mention!

2012-01-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

Seeing our followers slowly add up feels goood...reading your comments is very cool...having one of our posts featured on another site is down right AWESOME!

Covet Garden caught wind of our Hudson Bay Tables and featured it on their site today! Thanks for blog love ladies :)

To read the feature, head over this way.

Especially love the sketch of the table and that the deer was still included :)

I heart cheese

2012-01-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I (Inga) always looked forward to Sunday dinner. That was the night my dad, who is German, would serve a typical German supper which included fresh coldcuts, cheese, bread and tea. Was it because it felt like a little tea party that I enjoyed it so much as a kid? Ummm...no.

It was because of the CHEESE. Fresh slices of Havarti, Swiss, Cheddar - the list of what we would have that night was endless. On a plus side - I got my fair share of calcium. On the not-so-plus side, I also now have hips.

Ah well, you win some, you lose some.

When we moved into Corso Italia, honest to god, one of the first things I thought about was where we could buy cheese.

And then we found Tre Mari (cue choir Aaaah's). I was out with my mom one Sunday, showing her the neighbourhood when I discovered this bakery. As we walked in, the smell of fresh bread lingered in the air. And then...I saw the cheese.

My hips began to scream but my stomach muted them with its cheers.

The woman behind the counter could see we meant business, and was quick to help us pick out our selection. It might have something to do with my face pressed up against the glass, breathing heavily, who knows?

We walked out with some fresh cut provolone and chicken cold cuts, and headed home ready to eat our Abendessen ("supper," in German).

Ja, ja, das ist gut.

Tre Mari is located on 1311 St. Clair Avenue West.

West End: Hot or Not?

2012-01-24T07:24:00.000-08:00

According to The Toronto Star
- HOT!

(OK, have we lost you yet?)

Yesterday, the newspaper published an article about the hot realty spots in Toronto, and The Junction/High Park area, aka W02, was listed as Hot!

Source

What does that mean?

Homes within this area (which includes The Junction, Junction Triangle, and Corso Italia, just to name a few) are high in demand, and on average, sell faster than other areas of the city. We're tied with The Beach, at 36 days, which is more than half the amount that other areas take to sell.

Not too shabby!

Must. Have. Waldok.

2012-01-20T13:51:00.000-08:00

Our house, like most Toronto homes, is old. Like, almost a century old (Our baby turns 100 in 2013!). So, super old.

And with super old comes super small rooms.

Take our bathroom for example...

We didn't do too much to change it. Great updates were made before we moved in and the space was used well. But "space" is also what it's lacking. And unless we want to tear down a wall and make the bedroom next door from small to unlivable, we're stuck with our lovely alley washroom as is.

Who likes to listen to some good tunes when they're getting ready?

WE DO! Especially in the morning, when getting up is like lifting 400 pounds of dead weight (yourself) from the bed, it'd be great to have some added pep to get you going. Unfortunately, the space we have in the washroom doesn't really allow us to plug in a radio or ipod dock station without getting fancy (wireless) or dangerously close to electrocution (wire).

Hmmm...I wish someone would come up with an ipod dock that plugs right into the wall with a speaker attached.

And thus, the Waldok was born.

How brilliant is this?! And it looks great on top of it's sheer brilliance. The website states that they're still patent pending, but we will most definitely be first in line for one when it goes on sale.

Now we can mmmbop* our way through the morning.

*Not a Hanson reference.

Italian Neighbours

2012-01-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

Last night, being the proud Canadians that we are, we decided to catch up on some of the new CBC shows that prem'd this season. "Artic Air" was first on the line-up. WOW. What's another word for boring?

(drear, dreary, dry, dull, humdrum, irksome, monotonous, stuffy, tedious, tiresome, uninteresting, weariful, wearisome, weary...think that just about covers it)

Next up was "Mr.D" and thank god we ended the night on a good note. We watched the pilot episode and it was hilarious!! Like, LOL'ing funny! Can it be? Has Canada finally produced another comedy show worth watching since...since...since...(you get it).

After the one episode we were hooked, and wanted to learn more about the actor who plays Mr. D, Gerry Dee. We stumbled upon this youtube video of his stand-up, and this one in particular struck a chord with us...

Bahahaha! Couldn't be more true. We're fairly certain that our neighbours a few houses down, an old Italian couple in their 80's, still don't know ours name despite numerous conversation and gift exchanges... and think I'm native.

Now, if you wouldn't mind, we're gonna go fo coff now :)

Showing some Blog Love

2012-01-17T09:22:00.000-08:00

Torontonians have got a lot to say. Everything from food, fashion, and tech, we often find that the best info we can find on the city are from locals who take the time to write 'em up. Thought we'd share a few of our faves in our first round of Blog Love!

The rules of this award are as follows:

1. To accept the award, you must post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted you the award, and a link to their blog.
2. Pass the award on to approximately 5-10 other blogs that you recently discovered, and think are great!
3. Contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

In no particular order, here is the list of whom we're passing on to:

Sanagan's Meat Locker
If you love meat, you'll love this blog. Created by Peter Sanagan, who owns the Kensington Market butcher shop of the same name, this blog features product info and recipes using Ontario meat and poultry.

The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century
Who knew Toronto had a famous accordian player? We first discovered Joey DeVilla one night at the Rivoli's Sunday night Kickass Karaoke, where he showed off his talents on stage. You can continue to follow his adventures on his blog and find out where he'll pop up next.

Gracious, Good
Written by fellow west ender (and friend), Rhonda Riche; she'll give you the scoop on all the latest trends and vintage finds.

Tasting Toronto
Check out their detailed reviews on Toronto resturants. The photos are enough to make you salivate. Mmmmmmmmm.....

Polish on Digital Paper
Anyone who can take care of a baby and do up killer nails gets an A for awesome in our books.

Book Love in the West End

2012-01-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

Check out this awesome video, created by the owners of TYPE Books, a west end boutique bookstore with locations at Spadina and Queen (the video was produced at the Queen location). And anyone who knows us from The Office Bride blog, knows how much we love a good book :)

Lasagna...mmmmmm

2012-01-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

Last night we decided to try out one of the recipes from Bride and Groom: First & Forever Cookbook, a wedding gift from our friends. Admittedly, this was our first time using the book (Hey! We had a shoe box of a kitchen in our old apartment, and it's been a busy few months in the new digs - get off our backs!), so we opted for one of the classic recipes - lasagna, mmmmmmm.

While Matt prept the meat (ground beef and crumbled italian sausage), I mixed the cheese (ricotta, cream cheese, and fresh parmesan from Tre Mari Bakery on St. Clair).

And then we put it all together to get this:

Pair that with a bottle of Jackson Trigg's Cab, and we got this:

Perfect meal to beat the winter blues!

Spirals in The Junction

2012-01-06T12:29:00.000-08:00

Last Monday we took a walk through the Junction to explore (which translates into "to shop frivolously"). We passed by an art store called Articulations and decided to have a peek inside. Check out the exhibit they had on display!

Love how they made use of the space as both a store and a gallery! The store had a really welcoming feel and we ended up buying a small mannequin for sketching. The owners were really friendly and told us a bit about their open studio space and workshops and invited us to check one out in the future. This one sounded like a lot of fun:

Crafternoon
Sunday January 22nd 3-6pm
(PWYC Suggested $5)
Come get your craft on at Crafternoon! This is how it works: You bring a project to work on and we’ll provide a few extra bits and pieces to keep you inspired. Find out how awesome it is to make things in the company of other crafty pals. Cookies & Tea included!

Crafty in Corso

2012-01-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

Our first Christmas in Corso was a whirlwind of a month full of parties, good food and bottomless drinks :)

It also meant that we had to be smart with our budget and not to go overboard. Thank goodness, we embraced the life of crafting this season and ended up with some great gifts that were personal and easy on the wallets :)

Our first project was homemade ornaments for a family Kris Kringle Ornament exchange. A visit to our local Dollarama gave us plenty of options for materials. We walked in without any ideas and came out with these:

I made glitteriffic dumbbells for my sister-in-law, who is an athletic outdoors machine who also loves fashion.

Matt made an ornament for his other sister depicting a scene of a Christmas tree faling on his mom, lol. True story. Everyone laughed for a good couple of minutes when that was unwrapped on Christmas day.

For our parents, we took a page from one of my favourite blogs, The Art Of Doing Stuff. We visited our favourite local shops in Corso Italia and put together a food gift pack with pasta, rosemary infused olive oil, mini Panetonne, waffle cookies, and paired it with our favourite bottle of Sangiovese.

Cat not included...

And finally, the piece de resistance. Our Canadian inspired guest room was missing bedside tables. But not wanting to buy new furniture, I needed a crafty alternative that would be functional and cheeeeap. So, when I found some Hudson Bay popcorn tins on sale, I turned this:

...into this:

Doesn't get anymore Canadian than that! The popcorn tins were on sale, but I had a giftcard, so they were "free." The legs came from Ikea and cost $20 for a pack of four. They were easy to drill into the tin (I only used three), but I had to be careful not to drill right through otherwise the nail wouldn't catch. If I wasn't lazy, I could have added a piece of wood in the inside of the can for extra reinforcement, but the legs seem really stable without that.

Not too bad for our first crafty Christmas in Corso :)

Rifling through the Butler's Pantry

2011-12-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

It was a cold and stormy night...

No really, it was last Monday, wasn't it? After work we had to stop by the Annex Animal Hospital to buy some more special cat food. That's more than you needed to know, but since we were in the hood we thought we'd try out a new restaurant.

To be honest, because it was rainy, we walked into the first place that looked open and warm. And thus, we found ourselves in The Butler's Pantry.

Open since 1985, the Butler's Pantry offers "comfort food for the health conscious customer." And now that we're on a crunch to get fit before 2012, we are now under that category. The restaurant has a warm and inviting atmosphere. It's actually quite big in the inside, but it still felt cozy. The walls are covered with original water colour art (there's a story about that at the end), and there were small groups of customers scattered in different booths, enjoying their meals.

Man, were we hungry.

We started off with some hummus drizzled with olive oil.

Matt had the Beef Burgundy Casserole - a savoury beef stew slow cooked with carrot, sweet pepper, onion and a hint of red wine. Then topped with a layer of onions and mushrooms, then covered with creamed potatoes.

If that doesn't say "raining day dinner," I don't know what does!

I went with something a bit more exotic - the Chicken Bastilla Pie, which is one of the Pantry's more popular dishes. This famous Moroccan dish is a chicken pie with onions, mushrooms, eggs and cinnamon-scented almonds, wrapped in many layers of buttery filo pastry.

The service was friendly and prompt and our meals were delicious! Definitely would recommend for dates and small group outtings. Or, in our case, a safe haven from the crappy weather outside.

....

Ok, so about those paintings. They are beautiful, that should be stated first and foremost. But the one above our table had a slight creep factor and I happened to say it out loud when our server came by our table with the cheque. She asked what was creepy about it and I pointed out that while I liked the top portion with the animals, at the bottom of the canvas were two naked women with, what appeared to be, blood steaming from their bodies. I'm not a painter, what do I know?

Well, I defintely didn't know that I was telling the painter herself that I thought it was creepy. The moment the words came out of my mouth, Matt gave me that "look" that said "Yup, you said it" and then I looked at our server and asked "Please, don't tell me you're the artist."

Luckily, she laughed and said she appreciated honest feedback.

Also, lucky for us that I opened my big mouth AFTER our meals arrived.

The Butler's Pantry is located at 591 Markham St.

Corso Italia on The Grid

2011-11-29T10:55:00.000-08:00

Formerly, Eye Magazine, The Grid has a great website that covers everything from the print edition and more. We especially love the neighbourhood features. Corso Italia has it's own section along with all the other major west end hoods. Don't forget to comment about any of the plceas you've been to!

You can check out Corso's page here.

Christmas Lights On Steroids

2011-11-26T13:59:00.000-08:00

While walking south on Caledonia Road...

Baby Jesus would be proud, and possibly blinded.

Big Love for The Big Ragu

2011-11-25T07:17:00.000-08:00

I think I've died and gone to food Cielo.

Last night, Matt's parents came down to visit and we decided to take them to the popular Corso Italia restaurant, The Big Ragu.

We arrived just in time - the owner and head chef, Carmine Accogli, had just finished a shoot for OMNI TV, and the restaurant was open for business. Carmine greeted us warmly as we entered and joked about how he was going to be a big TV star.

As we were brought to our table, we noticed two women having dinner in the corner, and one of them was our very talented wedding caterer, Jen Draper, from Eatertainment. Suddenly it felt like we were regulars at a local Trattoria, and Carmine commented that Jen seemed to know everyone. She told us that The Big Ragu was the first place she goes when she's craving Italian cuisine, and she lives on the other side of the city. And knowing that Jen has a palette for fine food, we knew we were going to have a great meal.

So, let's just get to the food already!!

For appetizers, we had grilled calamari served over a bed of greens topped with homemade salsa verde...

...Along with "magic mushrooms": Portobello & button mushrooms baked with goat cheese over arugula with a wine reduction...

...oh, and don't forget the toasted bread with prosciutto, pear, gorgonzola & toasted walnuts, drizzled with honey.

Pair that with a bottle of Italian white wine, and we were off to a good start.

For my main dish, I went with one of their specials for the evening; Tagliata di Manzo, a savoury steak fillet on a bed of arugula and paired with roasted potatoes.

YUM.

Matt had a pasta dish drizzled in Truffle oil (a favourite of his since our honeymoon in Tuscany), and his parents had a white fish filet dish and a chicken filet in a lemon & white wine sauce.

The service was great (our glasses were never empty and the bread basket was always full), the atmosphere was pleasant (lucky for us, we got there before the regulars filled up the place), and well, suffice to say, the food was delicious!

If you're looking for an intimate space for great Italian food or a venue to hold your next special event, this is definitely the place to be.

Big Ragu, you've made regulars outta us. See you soon!!

The Big Ragu is located on 1338 Lansdowne Avenue, just south of St.Clair.

Sunday Morning at Nova Era

2011-11-24T07:43:00.000-08:00

What smells like fresh baked bread and sounds like a bunch of old Italian / Portuguese men deep in conversation?

Give up?

Nova Era on a Sunday morning!

Matt, sporting his Movember 'stache, which only makes him look more like all the other patrons.

Heading over for some coffee and almond filled croissants after a night of debaucheries has become somewhat of a tradition for us since we moved to the west end. Walking in, it's as if suddenly we've been transported to a local bakery in a small Italian village, where's it's packed with fresh baked goods and tons of chatty people (how do they do it so early in the morning?!).

Another highlight for us is bumping into our friend's dad ("Home Deeps") and all of his friends, who also make it a point of meeting there every Sunday morning to talk about work, politics, and women (mind you, these are all guesses, since they're speaking Portuguese and we don't understand a word they're saying).

We've been here so often that on our last visit the cashier said our order out loud before we did. We've finally reached "Regulars" status and we're loving it.

Corso Italia's Shnazzy New BIA Site

2011-11-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

Check it out!

Corso Italia's brand spankin' new website!

For those left in the dark, every major neighbourhood in Toronto has a BIA (Business Improvement Area). A BIA focuses on local events, businesses, and beautification projects within that neighbourhood. It's a great way to build a sense of community and attract new residents.

What we love about Corso's new site is how clean and modern it looks. It's very well organized and represents the area with a good mix of tradition and modern. The featured merchant section is a nice touch.

We're glad they kept the Corso map though (below)

To find out if your area has a BIA, check out the City of Toronto BIA website for listings.

Stockyards Development

2011-11-19T08:50:00.000-08:00

While paying a visit to our new favourite store, Home Depot (or as our Portuguese friend's dad would say "Home Deeps"), we realized that we didn't know much, ok anything, about the Stockyards development across the street. So we got our Google on at home later and learned about the new commercial space being put up.

Trinity Development Group is the developer of the site and focuses primarily on suburban power centres. We'll let the video of the proposed plans do all the talkin'. Although, we suggest turning off the volume because the cheesy classical music kinda kills it.

Admittedly, our first reaction was "Heck ya, a Target!". And then we considered the pros and cons about the development, such as:

PROS:
- New life to an otherwise dead stretch of land
- Access to tons of big name stores

CONS:
- The suburban feel
- More traffic

If they can put in restaurants, a movie theatre, or some kind of entertainment area that would keep people there for a length of time in one visit, this could be a great addition to the neighbourhood. An example of this is the Quartier Dix30 development that was put in Quebec. It is currently Canada's largest lifestyle commercial centre which was designed to emulate an urban or downtown shopping experience with boutiques.

Waddaya think?

3 Months of Fixin' thanks to Friends of Dufferin Grove Park

2011-11-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's been a while since our last post, we know. But for good reason, we swear (although judging by the zero comments on all previous posts, we're not sure it really matters). However, for the love of our end of the city, we wanted to keep the post alive for a little while longer.

So about this delay. Well, who woulda guessed that a 98-year old home would need some work?! For the last three months, we've been busy updating the electrical, installing new eavestroughs, doing cement work...just to name a few tasks on our ever-growing house to-do list. How exciting our lives have become :)

When we first set out to get it all done, it dawned on us that as former apartment renters, we didn't have a clue who to reach out to to get the work done. And while we fancy ourselves as smart urban professionals, there was no way we were going to trust ourselves to undertake the big jobs. It felt a little hopeless at first.

So when a West End Friend sent me a link to Friends of Dufferin Grove Park, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel (even if the light was wired with knob and tube). On this site, residents of Dufferin Grove, which is just one neighbourhood Southeast of us, can post recommendations for house maintenace professionals. Thanks to this site, we found our electrician (Ken = amazing) and our carpenter (Vlad = also amazing), two very honest and hard working professionals who got the work done at a very reasonable price.

Now our dear old home is safe and up to code. And we'll be paying it off for the next year.

Yay home ownership!

Check out the site if you're looking for anything from electricians, carpenters, landscaping, and plumbers!

Dusk Dances in Earlscourt Park

2011-08-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

On our way home from the soccer game last Friday, we heard some music playing in the park and decided to investigate*. What we walked into was a huge crowd cheering on a group of performers dressed in traditional West African clothing and dancing to the beat of the drum.

We soon discovered that this was part of Dusk Dances, a free outdoor dance festival that showcases local talents of different dance backgrounds. This is the 17th season for the festival and we're glad that one of the venues is right in our hood!

There was a really positive energy in the crowd and the performers were lively and entertaining. Unfortunately we're still learning how to use our fancy new camera, but these shots will give you some idea...

*During the month of July there was at least one festival every weekend, so hearing music coming from the park is nothing new to us :)

Climbing Monkeys at Boulderz

2011-08-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we opted for physical exercise over sleeping in (what were we thinking?!) and checked out Boulderz- an indoor climbing gym in the Davenport neighbourhood. We have a couple of climbing enthused family members who told us about the place and we were pleasantly surprised to learn how close it was to home.

Boulderz is primarily a bouldering gym, but there are opportunities to harness in and climb up, up, up. We decided to try bouldering, since it looked fun and relatively easy.

Pfft. Right.

The fun part we got right. It only seemed easy because of the other pro climbers in the gym who scaled the walls like monkeys. Regardless, the fun definitely outweighed the challenge. Matt had a natural knack for it, and managed to reach the goal several times over.

I, on the other hand, couldn't quite get passed the fear of falling, and never made it high enough. BUT - Boulderz is also equipped with a small workout area on the second floor, and it was there where I discovered my true talent...

I kept at it for almost 10 minutes until I realized we were at a climbing gym and that I should probably get back to that.

Looking forward to going again!

Manila Food

2011-08-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

After a Friday night soccer game at the St. Michael's School field, we decided to walk west along St.Clair on our way home. Just up ahead we saw a guy bbq'ing in front of a storefront called Manila Food and we knew we'd have to stop for quick snack break (I'm also half-filipino, so I was happy to discover a filipino store near our hood).

He was cooking up some talapia and BBQ chicken - Yummmm. Ok, so Matt was the one to play soccer so he had an excuse for his appetite. I'm just hungry all the time, so that's my excuse.

We didn't get his name, but the guy running the BBQ was really friendly. I guess it helped that I also used the little filipino I knew to thank him. Yup, I pull out that card every once in a while :)

Taking a walk through Corso Italia

2011-08-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

Loving our new neighbourhood! Just a few pics during an hour walk around the new hood...

A busy bee working on a sunflower in the Community Garden (Earlscourt Park)

Something about catching of a glimpse of the CN Tower makes it feel more like home :)

Soccer = Corso