Let the games begin

Hibernation countdown - starting to pull books, creative projects, ideas and planning to surf and sleep the entire month of February.

Meanwhile have a few weeks of catching up to do with family, friends and brain food. Here's a go of what's in front of me:

[Words]
Re-reading "The Berlin Stories" by Christopher Isherwood
Hating [but tub reading] "The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave
In Spanish & English, "Fully Empowered" by Pablo Neruda

[Opinions]
Check out Urban Food Production

[yum]
While in Toronto next week will be eating at Fressen, Banu and Osteria...reviews to follow

Back to the drawing board...

As the weather cools, time to change activities and add some layers. Here's a few things that have kept me distracted of late:

[Yum!]
Foxley - Toronto joint that has many small plates of goodness.

[Heard]
Bought a baglama or two in Greece - december holiday with the family may never be the same!

[Ca m'interesse]
People's Food Policy Project

[Lu]
The Winter Vault ****
The Year of the Flood ****
The Friends of Meager Fortune ****
Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape ****

15 days in Greece

Athens
From the lukewarm response I heard about Athens - it's clear not many people really get to know the city. It's an amazing place of contrasts and offers so much to be discovered with relative ease. Had a great time touring sites and galleries, shopping [EU!] and my favourite part, the wholesale districts, central and flea markets. Had nice sunny weather and with a map, set of in a different direction daily.

Stayed at Hotel Attalo - close to everything including the metro, had breakfast room and rooftop bar, very reasonable and helpful, friendly staff.

In addition to eating street food (corn, chestnuts, pretzels) and snacking through the markets, had a great meal at Filema where the waiter treated (and joined for) me to Mastiha, and Bliss, where the organic Greek beer flowed :-)

More on Filema is here http://dineoutathens.blogspot.com

Bought a baglama (small bouzouki) at John Samuelian's shop which was full of local musician and met an Iranian musician who promises to try and visit Montreal on his future Cdn tour...i'll post more info when I hunt down his moo card (which I loved seeing so far away from NA, they remind me of a present day calling card)

Thessaloniki
Greece's second largest city - like Athens very diverse and beautiful in a 'gritty' way (thanks H&J), despite light rain all three days, quickly got the lay of the land and walked it easily.

Stayed at Hotel Egnatia - similar to hotel in Athens, and good location. Thess has a central market and a lovely waterfront to wander along. A university accounts for a large student population, out in force while I was there protesting against the government's and country's financial affairs (which are beyond dire in case you haven't heard - interesting article here from Vanity Fair that I had read on the way over...)

Ate at Mylovos where I had my first (and probably last) glass of Greek wine - just brutal but food and atmosphere was worth it. Thess also has a lot of well known sweet shops (every two feet it seems), so sampled cookies and cream-filled pastries, worked off (I hope) with all those walks.

Agios Germanos, Prespa
Once off the train in Florina, was picked up and driven about 1 hour north to visit friends in the village of Agios Germanos. As a country mouse the days were filled with walks, talks, eating, drinking and singing [70 songs?] with a day trip to Albania and massage by Spanish hands thrown in for good measure. Hopefully the pictures will do it some justice (given "micro-climate" it was foggy most days) and you can read more here

all trip pics here - let me know if you have any questions.

But....you are!

Had an interesting week of people preceding their statements with "I'm not [racist, mean, shy, sarcastic] but...". Well guess what, you are. So save the 'but' and the kind of double negative and just say what you have to say! (saddly, we'll still have to listen to it).

En tout cas, the flip side is a whole wack of fun things still abound:

[Creatively speaking]
Some stories are more fun to tell than others, here's a recent example: www.getaloadofmilk.ca.

[Words]
Vous Revoir - not a challenging read, but one I can understand in my ongoing pursuit of french fiction. French cheese!

[Opinions]
My salute to the pie-making moms I love : Pie vs Cake - finally someone breaks it down. [via Leigh's Blitherings]

[Yum!]

Cookies Unite - a fantastic idea to showcase sous-chefs and line cooks from some of the best restaurants in the city, making Mondays something to look forward to.

[Scene]
La nana - A maid trying to hold on to her position after having served a family for 23 years - a good film that stays with you (or at least her eyes)

[Play]
If you drama in your life, this blog is for you - reviews of theatre in Montreal

Top 40

Hibernation over, and having celebrated 40 years of Spring in March, am looking forward to whatever lies ahead. In the immediate, here's a few things to consider:

[Creatively speaking]
www.legoclick.com, a collection of ideas, inspired moments, quirky stories, solutions and tips - a collaborative platform to inspire people.

[Words]
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

[Opinions]
Bill Gates talks about ‘vaccines to reduce population’

[Heard]
Last week a Russian Folk Festival brought out a variety (truly) of individual talents, particular enjoyed the russian singing of the French gal.

This week, Joseph Arthur is playing a solo show, should be amazing...

[Travels]
Spent a weekend in Wakefield and surrounding area a few weeks back, lovely meal at Soupcon and music courtesy of the Black Sheep Inn.

Notes from Near and far - a welcome addition to the blogosphere, straight outta Prespa.