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Whether you're hunting for parts to build your ultimate Alex Murphy-style cyberman, or just looking for a cheap flash drive, digital camera, USB headet or external hard drive, these guys have the best prices and great selection. So much better than Best Buy or Future Shop, it's not even funny. The College Street location is just north of Kensington, so you can get juice at Rice Bar on your way home with your new toys.
Fun and laid-back; you pull one big oar in a wide, stable boat with 18 rowers and a coxie to call the strokes. I did it last year, it's all-ages and easy. Rowing costs $130 for the full season of training 2 nights a week on the water down by Cherry Bridge. Sign up online; registration week is April 21-24. The awesome end-of-season Viking Festival happens June 12-15 on Toronto Island. Proceeds support inner-city kids programs. Dom, the head coach, is a BIG personality and always makes me laugh.
Nerd alert! I read a lot of fantasy and a bit of sci-fi as a teenager, and even way back then, Bakka was feeding my overactive imagination with Spider Robinson, Charles DeLint, Anne McCaffrey and Orson Scott Card. Staff are warm and cuddly and give great recommendations. Also, I have to love any store named after Fremen legend. In Frank Herbert's novel Dune, Bakka was "the weeper who mourns for all mankind." I just wish they’d stop moving around: Queen, Yonge, Queen again? Stay put!
I like the nice, cozy, almost untidy atmosphere of this store. Everything is in its proper place - a wide selection of needles and a fantastic stash of yarn - but there's no sense of teutonic order. Discoveries and magic still lurk in the bottom of the sale bin. Speaking of which, prices are good and the staff are friendly, willing to help you meet your gauge requirements, give pattern advice, talk shop about new brands or just shoot the breeze about coffee and cats.
http://www.knitomatic.com/
This store does not screw around about innovation in sweet delights. Pushing the envelope of what you can acceptably bathe in chocolate, proprietress Jenn Stone lovingly handcrafts each truffle, filling them with bizarre but mouthwatering items like tarragon and black pepper, cinnamon marshmallows, rosemary, cardamom caramel, and chipotle sesame with lime. Her bravery is breathtaking. You can also educate yourself with chocolate making classes at this chic boutique. http://www.jsbonbons.com/
Plant World has been owned by the Reeves family for over 100 years. With 5 acres of shopping, a huge parking lot and massive greenhouses, it’s a year-round gardener’s haven. Buy a ton of mulch, rocks for your hard landscaping, perennials, annuals, Japanese maples, roses, hostas - if you can plant it, they have it. They also do stunning floral arrangements and custom container plantings. Be sure to meet Manager Paul Zammit, a gifted agriculturist and one of the nicest people on planet Earth.
Got beakers? These guys do. And telescopes and magnets and prisms and skeletons and all sorts of other cool science toys for kids and grown-ups. Board games and books galore for puzzle lovers, budding biologists, future chemists, young geologists, aspiring zoologists... Located under Holt Renfrew its hard to find, but worth it for the antique science kits in the window display alone! Good selection of cards and calendars, hours are 10-8, M-F, 10-7 Sat, 12-6 Sun.
If Terry Gilliam owned an ice cream parlour, it would look like Dutch Dreams. The surreal interior is cluttered with tchotchkas: clogs hang next to hockey skates, not an inch of wall left unadorned. The Monty-Pythonesque décor carries on outside, with cows floating in midair, anchored to the brick exterior. In business for 20 years, they serve 50 flavours of ice cream and 3-scoop Dutch pancakes. Milkshakes are a full litre in size. No dieters, please. Open noon–midnight in summer.
Coming in April, Toronto baritone Brett Polegato will be singing the title role in Eugene Onegin - a Russian tragedy scored by Tchaikovsky - at the shiny new Four Seasons Opera House. We're lucky to have him home for the season: Brett is usually stolen away to perform in foreign lands. His charisma, sense of humour and passion for his craft always show in his roles. Listening to him sing as Valentin in last year's 'Faust' was glorious. He's also ridiculously good looking. ;)
Sarah's has long been my Annex staple for low-budget, high-flavour grilled falafels; be sure to ask for spicy sauce and extra tahini. They carry my own personal crack (Peach Snapple Iced Tea) as well as guava, papaya & mango juices in cans. For dessert, there's baklava dripping with honey and pistachio bits. Bonus points if you try "halvah". It looks like a brick of beige cement but it tastes divine - like sesame snacks but with nicer texture. Great meal for under $10.
Caveat! Not only did I work at the Snail, I dated the manager for several years. Overtime and heartache aside, the Snail is a landmark and a paradise for comic & toy lovers. It's Nerdvana. Want to buy Iron Man's helmet? A CGC copy of Spider Man #1? The Knives of Legolas? A lightsaber? JTHM? Muppet toys? Ugly dolls? The Snail provides. Canadian to the bone, run by the Van Leeuwens for over 30 years, it's a Queen Street legend. The staff and managers know comics. Essential pilgrimage for geeks
This was my first comic shop, where I nervously developed my snooty taste for obscure graphic novels. While technically Birkemoe and Butcher do sell Marvel and DC titles, Spidey and the Hulk are tucked away on the 2nd floor, next to the nasty hentai. They specialize in Seth, Chris Ware, Joe Sacco, Daniel Clowes, Julie Doucet... not so much caped crusaders. Proud creators of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, they are popular with local comic creators and sell original art. A great place to shop.
Holy dresses, Batman! Everything at Want looks not just pret-a-porter but pret-a-manger (French for "good enough to eat"). These are clothes season 7 Rory or season 4 Willow would wear. Fresh, funky, unconventional. Satin and cashmere and silk, oh my! If only I could afford a $300 princess-sleeved v-neck babydoll dress to wear over my $180 jeans. Rich potential husbands who want to buy me these things, please apply here (with credit report, natch).
Some days Toronto's hectic pace gets to be too much, and you need some love from Mother Nature. High Park is great, but it doesn't have waterfalls. Less than an hour west of the city lies Spencer Gorge, just off Highway 5. Bring hiking boots, a picnic, and $5 for parking. Enjoy walking behind the cascade of Webster's, or keep going to see the 41 meter drop of water at Tew's -- nearly as high as Niagara, but fewer tourists and less fudge. Don't litter, and remember, the park closes at sunset.
Hodo Kwaja, aside from sounding like food Yoda would eat, are walnut-shaped baked snacks made in a crazy Korean waffle iron that is the size of a small car. They are served up hot and fresh until 11pm daily in the bakery of the same name, at Bloor & Christie. The pastries are full of tasty walnut, almond or red bean paste filling and at $1 for 6, they make Timbits look expensive. Man, are they ever good. Buttery and delectable, blow $3 and buy the 18-pack to share with friends.
When Kevin Smith came to town, I partied with his film crew at this dark, snug old bar on College Street. We laughed, we danced on the tiny dance floor, we drank many a beer (and a few shots of Jager for good measure) and had a rockin' good time. The bartender was laughing right along with us, not at us, and ponied up a free round in honour of our raucous shenanigans. Plus, it's named after an Atari video game and they serve deep fried Mars Bars. What's not to love?
One day I'd like to own my own sheep, that I could shear and milk and love (not in the nasty way). Until then, there's Riverdale Farm. The farm's market runs from 3 PM to 7 PM each Tuesday, early May to end of October. All vendors are certified organic, and carry fresh local seasonal food. From fiddleheads to fresh baked sourdough bread, lamb, yogurt, fish from Georgian Bay, bison... it's a cornucopia of Edenic fruits, veg, dairy and meat.
The Tap
517 Bloor Street West
Toronto M5S 1Y4
p: 416-533-5321
Category: Nightlife
This pub was built with Annex student slackers in mind. They have table hockey at the back. They have a PacMan table you can play for a quarter. They have 4 busts of Elvis painted to look like KISS. They have chili dogs and poutine and nachos and many other things to help clog your arteries. Nearly everything served in the bar has bacon on it. There's beer galore and frozen Jager and big screen TVs and gruff yet lovable bartenders. The Tap: for all your slackin' needs.
I’m not usually an absolutist, but anyone who says raw fish is gross is just plain wrong. Well prepared sashimi, especially ruby-red maguro (tuna) and fatty sake (salmon) are the jewels of the sea. At Fuji (Yonge & Gerrard), sashimi combo #11 comes with salad, miso soup, steamed white rice, and a filling selection of fresh fish for just $13. The dining area is small and being one door south of the Attorney General’s office means it’s bustling with lawyers at lunch: take-out is recommended.
Only open until 2am, Insomnia is a misnomer – folks with sleep disorders should go to 7West at 4am for snacks. But the morning after a wide-awake night, do head to Bloor & Bathurst for the comfort of perfectly poached eggs nestled in hot toasted English muffins, with fruit salad and the most incredibly addictive sauce-slathered potatoes anywhere. They also have great coffee, amazing waffles, dreamy cream-cheese filled French toast and a fully stocked bar, as well as local art on display.
I’ve eaten dim sum in Hong Kong, and frankly, the Metropolitan Hotel’s ‘Lai Wah Heen’ is superior. The eating area is clean, bright, spacious and elegant. The food is hot and fresh and not deathly expensive. Steamed crab dumplings shaped like crabs and marshmallow desserts like bunnies are part of the fun. Chef Terrance Chan prepares hundreds of tasty Cantonese treats, such as crystal shrimp dumplings and the classic BBQ pork buns. Call ahead for a lunch table (11-3) on Saturdays 416-977-9899.
A lovely old church at Bathurst and Lennox (one traffic light south of Honest Ed’s, across from Central Tech) is home to a lovely little theatre space. The building’s been around since 1888, and I bet the congregation back then would have been shocked to know that in 2008, their pulpit is being used to perform “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (current) or “Footloose: the Musical” (April), thanks to the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $20 through TicketMaster.
When it's cold outside you want something warming in your belly. Everest delivers with their Tibetan beef bowl; a heavenly dish of noodles, beef strips, veggies and thick, brown, scrumptious gravy. It sticks to your ribs and puts hair on your chest. Also goes nicely with a cosmo, so order one from the shiny granite bar. Open until midnight every day, 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. A pleasant walk along Queen, just west of the opera house (beefy noodles are a great end to an evening of Puccini).
Fast and fabulous, this is where Toronto's bike couriers go for service and parts. Full of fenders, pumps, locks, tires, bells and bikes, all at reasonable prices. All staff are die-hard cyclists and keen on customer care. If they don't know something, they'll admit it and do their best to find out for you. Eye candy alert! Repair room is full of extremely cute guys covered in little grease smudges with tattoos peeking out from their Sugoi technical shirts, some with Russian accents.
Back in the day, the Mango was a hole in the wall on Yonge St near the Brass Rail, serving $5 noodle combos and coconut soups. It was tiny and cramped, with a line of hungry customers stretching out the door. Now there are several locations, including a posh sit-down place across the road from the original (which is still open). Green curry vegetables and basil chicken are personal faves. True story: I once flew a take-out container of their food to Vancouver for my cousin.
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