The Steps (also known as the Casa Loma Steps). I’ve been jogging the path that zig-zags up and down the steep escarpment for years and the views you get from the cascading terraces towards the City and present day Lake Ontario at sunrise are sublime. You are trying not to step on left over debris from the night before, receiving nods of approval from the community of runners you pass by, and the whole time you can’t ignore that you are at the ancient shoreline of Lake Iroquois. It’s a real Toronto moment.
Obsidian It’s the experiential installation at the AGO by Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi; a 25 minute continuous looping soundscape in a pitch black room, complete with reverberations, flashes of light and fossilized scents. It’s primal. You have to be patient with it. It’s a good place to go and dream about creating something new. The perfect post-pandemic piece.
Finding Fire It’s a cook book/encyclopedia on the culture of food and fire by Lennox Hastie that I can’t stop reading. It has got me experimenting with cooking vegetables (and stone fruits) over open fire, embers and in ashes; while learning how to read the different stages of fire. It completely changes how I look at ingredients and everything that goes into making a meal with family or friends. I love that you can do this in the great outdoors or right in the City at a fire-pit in your neighborhood park.
Spruce tips I started using the soft light green buds to add a citrusy, grassy forest flavour to beverages, salads, and desserts. They are one of the easiest and most sustainable wild foods to forage in late spring.
Omusubi Bar Suzume This is my go to lunch spot right now for Japanese comfort food at Scadding Court Community Centre’s outdoor shipping container market. The menu features a weekly special reflecting what’s in season and available next door in Kensington Market and it’s often an experimental blend of European and Japanese dishes. The way they are not afraid to break the rules and take creative risks is inspiring. It’s a weekly dose of pure invention.