Walk into the colourful world of El Catrin at The Distillery

Getting out of the grey area
Most of us currently suffer from cabin fever. Unfortunately, taking a walk with all that grey stuff melting on the ground is not really appealing. (To add insult to injury, it's giving way to the garbage which wasn't picked up before the first snow fall.) This is the time of the year when the destination is more important than the journey. And the Mexican restaurant El Catrin is whimsical enough to tempt me to stroll around The Distillery.

Walking into El Catrin for the first time is quite a visual experience. You go from the austerity of the Victorian red brick wrapping the whole Distillery to the explosive reinvention of a Dia de Los Muertos, with adorned skulls and skeletons.

During the Christmas Market, the patio was heated and equipped with a wonderful central fire pit. On summer nights, the exotic terrace is bathed in yellow lights. The alley leading to the entrance is covered with dozens of lanterns and iron panels along the fence reproduce the chiseled scenes one normally sees on papel picado banners.

El Catrin has replaced the Boiler Room but it has retained the mezzanine and two-storey high wall which is now completely covered with the best kitsch mural in Toronto. (I'll let my pictures do the work.)

Me and my good friend Pascale (another of my partners in crime) had delicious margaritas, guacamole made before our eyes, and an amazing trio of fish tacos. It's not cheap but there are many affordable options on the menu. The place is open daily for lunch and dinner, as well as for brunch on the weekends, and they have a kids menu. (You'll need to make reservation for dinner and brunch.)

I can tell you one thing: Life seems more colourful when seen through glasses of margaritas. ;-)

Canoe Landing at minus 10?

Bring it on!

This week, I had a good reason to take my friends to Canoe Landing Park on a little night stroll, in the cold. A production team from Montreal and Ottawa needed night shots of the cityscape to enliven a potential new series called J’habite ici, where my friends and I were to talk about what it feels like to live in Toronto as francophones. Spoiler alert: It feels good!  

But baby, it’s cold out there

When you know you’re going to be in front of the camera, you make vanity-based decisions: no big chunky winter boots, no hat, no shapeless coat. It took the team over an hour to film all the takes they wanted around Canoe Landing's very cool public art by Douglas Coupland: giant fishing bobbers, beaver dam and a big red canoe overlooking the traffic jam on the Gardiner. 

By that time, my friends were frozen, but they are good sports (I had bribed them with the promise of some wine). I convinced them that it would warm us up to walk to the Puente de la Luz, the pedestrian bridge running over the train tracks, just north of Fort York Avenue. It offers a great design enhanced by dramatic lighting. And looking up as we walked, we could see that the tops of surrounding condos are adorned with coloured lights. Then, there’s the unavoidable CN Tower with its own set of changing lights.  

On our way, I had noticed a new restaurant which wasn’t there last time I visited in the summer (it opened last September): Hunters Landing, at the corner of Fort York and Capreol Ct. We decided to check it out, attracted by the burning fire on the outdoor patio.

Inside, we went for delectable sweet potato fries (not on the menu but we asked for them and they obliged) and warm mulled wine (a mix of spiced whiskey, red wine, clove, cinnamon and ginger), which succeeded in thawing our little gang. It was the perfect ending to our outing and a bonus in the neighbourhood.

This summer, the large outdoor patio will definitely add to the fun of this stroll (the walk #3 which I call LAKE SHORE Land of the Giants Stroll in Toronto Urban Strolls 1).

 

Sobeys to the rescue

There’s basically no street parking in the area but your way around it is to park in the underground parking lot of Sobeys (off Telegram Mews, follow the red P sign). Once inside, there’s a section for visitors on your right. The parking was $8 after 6 p.m. on a Friday night, and Sobeys reimbursed $3 off our parking ticket because we spent at least $10 at the supermarket. (Take half the parking stub with you after you've parked.)

Glen Stewart Ravine: The "Fifty Shades of Grey" Stroll

Winter walk

Flexible hours are golden. This morning with a friend, I treated myself with a scrumptious salty muffin from Remarkable Beans (2242 Queen East in The Beach). 

Then, we drove north of Pine Avenue on Balsam Avenue and parked near the entrance to Glen Stewart Ravine (between two residential houses facing the school) to access the staircase leading to the ravine.

The city noise was muffled by the fresh snow. All we could hear was the sound of the wind passing through the branches and the singing stream running along the trail. Blissful urban winter.

Will be missed: Victor's Letters of Love around the Red Rocket on Danforth

Street art is short-lived. This week, as I was walking to the Red Rocket café (1364 Danforth E.), I was sadden to see that most of Victor's letters (painted two summers ago) have faded away. (See The ABC of strolling to read more about this cool street art project of "love letters" along Danforth east.)

On a happier note, inside the Red Rocket, I saw a tongue-in-cheek screen playing the video of a fire in the fireplace by comfortable leather sofas! And I had one of their flaky egg empanadas. Yum!

It feels warmer! 

The Last Hunt: The future of books?

My next project as an author will certainly be an eBook! In the Globe, Simon Houpt told us about this new form of interactive production by the NFB: The Last Hunt. It made we wonder if this it the future of books?

Not long to watch and a perfect activity for a short coffee break, The Last Hunt takes more after books than films, presented as a gorgeous animated photo album, with music in the background. You're not told the story, you have to read it. As you scroll down, some images in the text get animated. (The photos are by photographer Montreal-based Alexi Hobbs accompanying his grandfather to his cabin.)

I don't know how much it costs to produce such an "eBook" but I could see it changing the way we read books in the very near future.

Fun fact: When you google "the last hunt", the first website that pops up has nothing poetic about it! It is a bargain website, featuring a polar bear's head with the tag line "Hurry up before they disappear!".