JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

On the way over to walk through Exhibition Place, we saw this sign through a basement window in the Scholastic building. It appeared to be a storeroom...or was it? What secrets truly lay in this black sheep of a room? The Princes' Gates...or Piazza Prince's Gates , as the area surrounding it is now known. Left: a fountain detail. Right: the floor of the piazza is laid with provincial mottos and stones showing the official provincial flora. Sadly, the territories are not deemed worthy enough to have a motto. We passed through the south end of the grounds, passing barracks and tugs, resting for a moment at seats left over from Exhibition Stadium . We then arrived at our main destination... Toronto's newest stadium, BMO Field is the home of Toronto FC. We joked that based on the sponsor's initials, it could easily gain the nickname "Bowel Movement". Somebody noticed a gate was open, so most of the group wandered in to take a look around. They r...

Last weekend's second group dinner moved north, to Seoul House on Dufferin, just south of Yorkdale. The grill was eager for our arrival, even if it was feeling a little blue. Our selection of ban chans (Korean side dishes). Clockwise from top left: kimchee (mildercompared to other versions I've had, but still good), shredded radish, bean sprouts, sliced fish cake, peanuts and anchovies (most grazed on the peanuts and left the fishies alone - I like these crunchy little creatures) and marinated eggplant. Left: steamed dumplings. We also ordered the fried version, both palate-pleasing. Right: A large plate of jap chae (sweet potato noodles). Hard to pull apart sometimes, but one of my favourite Korean dishes. Not as gummy as other places I've been to. We ordered four batches of kalbi for the grill. All slices had been removed from the bones and nicely marinated. This was the action at my end of the table... ...while the other end stirred away at a...

At Bairrada Churrasquiera on College St, the space is divided in two and I accidentally went into the wrong, classier-looking one on the left. Turned out I wasn't the only one who did this, which might have been an omen. I started off with the soup of the day, a cabbage soup that resembled a bland minestrone, thanks to stray pasta and beans. We shared a couple of plates of Queijo Português ("Portugeuse Cheese"), a bland white cheese that resembled fresh Mexican versions. I didn't notice the slight goat-cheese aftertaste that others did. The highlight of the evening arrived next: Chouriço Assado, which lived up to its English name, "Flaming Sausage". A giant sausage was lit and swirled around in a ceramic pig, with no verbal equivalent to "Opa!" The sausage itself was nicely seasoned and would have made a decent main pared with sides. We were disappointed by most of the mains. The grilled sardines (pictured on the left) were the ...

Star Pizza has been out of business for years, but its signage lives on. Their special has gradually dropped letters - for a long time, they offered "Lice" for 99 cents, a deal that earned them a picture in the back of eye years ago. The lice and lies weren't cheap enough to draw crowds. Glassy, very glassy.

While doing some research in the Toronto Reference Library last month, I went down to the newspaper collection in the basement and photocopied the front page of the Windsor Star from my sister's birthday, which I used to wrap one of her presents. While scrolling through the microfilm, I also took a look at what was playing on local screens the day she arrived. (Her birth notice proved interesting, as a few babies down was one of my friends, who I didn't meet until nearly a quarter century later!) Note the lengthy run of Silver Streak , a rarity at the multiplex these days. Also note the odd pairing at the Windsor Drive-In: a Led Zep doc and a road-race comedy. The movies at the bottom of the page also couldn't be more different: Voyage of the Damned was an oscar-nominated drama about Jews attempting to leave Germany in 1939, while Mako: The Jaws of Death was one of the first Jaws ripoffs. As for the theatres in this ad: * The Devonshire ran through the 90s, its...

While subbing at Amherst about a month ago, Amy discovered that the old weight room by the gyms had been converted to a team room. Not just any team room... My timing with these photos was interesting, as both honorees passed away six years ago last week. Not sure when the room was named, but it's a nice tribute to both. Dad coached football and basketball for nearly two decades. Growing up, I usually tagged along, keeping score for his basketball squads from the middle of elementary school onwards. After my lacklustre football playing career (spent mostly on the can to relieve nerves before practice), I helped him as team manager. Both sports meant a lot of bustrips for us, which lead to a few memorable events: * Watching basketball players learn it's not a good idea to taunt drunken fans with cries of "go back to the tomato field!" in Leamington - they'll try to topple your bus. * "J'aime le poisson!", heard after taking in the stench in ...

On a recent research trip, I discovered hard copies of a 1890s newspaper called Truth . Most of the advertising revolved around pianos, matches, patent medicines or, as in this example, sanitariums. The only information that seems to be available on the web is an except from a pamphlet just after the turn of the century , touting its proximity to Toronto and Hamilton. If anyone knows where Lakehurst was located, or long it survived, leave a comment. Stories, most with a casually racist tinge reflective of the time, that surrounded this ad included: * Tips on why breathing through the nose carries less risk of invasion from "foreign substances" than mouth breathing (the secret is mucus!) * Why Piegans were more clever than Crees: a Piegan warrior saved himself from a Cree party by figuring out a trick to make it appear as if there 69 other warriors with him by going around the same rock opening on a certain angle, even if all 69 carried the same gun, wore the same cl...