Awesome Things: Marks Fleece Lined Jeans

Normally $69.99, but if you get them during a sale, along with the Mark's $10 off card (everyone must have one lying around, I got two from my visit there) you can get them for as low as $50.  Their Fast Find is awesome: they didn't have my size, but the were able to order it for no additional cost.  (It was a bit of a hassle to pick them up as they don't seem to like sending Fast Finds to other Mark's locations).  

Anyway, if you don't mind the rather ordinary style (I don't wear brand name acid-washed weathered ripped jeans with special fits and straps and zippers anyway), the fleece lining is awesome in keeping your legs warm in the winter (they're still a bit chilly when it gets to a couple degrees below freezing.  Also, you don't have to worry about wearing thermal underwear, as the fleece lining takes care of that for you.  So far they are worth every penny.

Restaurant Review: Tempus

Downtown Toronto has no shortage of vaguely Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurants, each selling a variety of shawarma, kebob, or gyro, with sides of rice, salad, or potato.  Most will also have a few vegetarian option, such as hommus and falafel.  I would classify this type of cuisine as "generic Mediterranean/Middle Eastern," tasty and filling, but with no real clue as to the geographic origin of the dishes.

This is why I was pleasantly surprised to find a Middle Eastern restaurant on one of my walks that didn't offer a shawarma wrap prominently on their menu.  Instead, this restaurant had a menu featuring various polo's, or rice dishes (linguistically similar to a palau in Pakistani or Afghani cuisine I presume).

One of my favorite restaurants in Irvine, CA is called Caspian, where they serve Albaloo polo, or rice with sour cherries and chicken (one of my favorite dishes), Adas polo (rice with lentils), and a variety of quintessentially Persian foods.  Thus, I jumped at the chance to eat at Tempus.

From the street, this place is easy to miss (I know this from experience, having walked past it twice without finding it on a separate occasion).  The sign that says "Tempus" is rather dark and hard to see, so it is much easier to look for the sign written in prominent Farsi.  It looks similar to Arabic, which people might be more familiar with.

Unfortunately, they did not have Albaloo polo on the menu (and I asked as well, to the surprise of the waitress).  So I settled on their Shirazi salad ($5), and the Fesenjoon ($13).  Service was started with hot crusty flatbread with butter (but no raw onions, as I've seen in other places).  The salad came with the main course, and was a medley of cucumber, tomato, and onion, in a vinegary dressing - nothing inspired, but a good counterpoint to the main dish.  Fesenjoon is a stew made with walnuts and pomegrantes and chicken, which is served with rice.  It is a dark reddish brown color, almost black with a slightly grainy texture.  The flavor was wonderfully tangy and savory, with a hint of sweetness, perfect with the simply prepared chicken breast meat.

To finish the meal, I had some Persian tea- a black tea with a hint of cardamon, which gives it a flowery aroma not dissimilar to Earl Grey.  It is typically taken with sugar cubes (granulated in this case) and is a wonderful coda to the richness of the dinner.

In total, the dinner came out to $19 plus tax, with enough food for 1.5 me's (though I practically licked my plate clean as I was extra hungry).  The service was wonderful.  Most of all, I'm happy to find an oasis of Persian food in a expanse of shawarma sandwich joints.

Darvish Restaurant Tempus
508 Yonge St.
http://www.google.ca/maps/place?cid=3640603321731904266&q=tempus+toronto&gl=ca

YMCA Metro Central

I have been in the hunt for a regular gym lately, and I happened to walk by the YMCA (20 Grosvenor St, map)  on my way to work.  Tonight I decided to take a look.


At the front counter, the very nice young lady informed me that as it was my first time there, I would get a complimentary day pass (score!  It would have been $15).  She commented on my CA driver's license, saying that I'll be surprised by the cold, asked me some personal information, and brought me to the other main desk where I got my towel and lock.  First observation:  these are some of the friendliest people I've met here.


This was the first time in a YMCA since I was a small child, and I was surprised at how nice everything was.  All the furnishings seemed new, the building was modern, the equipment was in great shape.  Are they all this nice?  There was one of those dressing room mirrors in the men's locker room.  Seriously?  And soap dispensers next to all the showers.  Also, the lockers actually closed.  


I'm mostly a swimmer, so I spent all my time in the pool.  Another thing about Canada (as I was kindly reminded by the lifeguard) is that people swim clockwise, as opposed to the US, where I've always swam counterclockwise (like we drive).  This messed up my flip turns in all sorts of ways, and I kept bumping into the lane.  It's the stupid stuff like this that's always the hardest to get used to.  And of course, you can't beat California outdoor pools, and the water in this one was murkier than I would have liked.


All things considered, it might almost be worth the 60$ or so a month for a membership here, as it is one of the nicest gym facilities that I've been to.  Then again, my experience has been almost exclusively H.S. and University gyms.  If I wasn't able to get such a sweet deal at the gym at the University, I would definitely come here.

Canada's National Drink

I've been in Toronto for almost 2 months now (coming up this weekend), and one thing that's welcomed me is the chain known as Tim Hortons  (founded by the eponymous hockey star).  It's the Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts of Canada; there's one on every corner, tucked away into subway stops, in malls, everywhere.  And, as I quickly learned, at Tim Hortons, there is a unique way of ordering coffee.

Size: Small, Medium, Large

Sugar/Cream:  Since they do this part for you, you must specify what quantities to add.  The default is "regular", which I usually go for.  Not too sweet and not too creamy.  If you want double the sugar and cream, that's called a "Double Double."  I suppose if you want 3x that, you would go for a "Triple Triple."  Otherwise you specify in exact amounts "Two sugar one cream," etc.

Photo courtesy of psychopoedia.

This being said, the most popular combination (determined by my statistically rigorous methodology) is a Medium Double Double.  Sitting in a given Food Court you will see Torontonians left and right clutching their medium creamy sugary caffeinated hot beverages.  I've tried a regular double double before- it was quite tasty.  One of these days I will attempt a Medium Double Double.  Then I will proceed to set my desk on fire.

In L.A. and other parts of the western US there is a chain called In-N-Out burger.  Like Tim Hortons, it's pretty popular and well known.  Also like Tim Hortons, there is an ordering code (which I won't go into too much detail here, except to say that my Dad enjoys his burgers "Protein Style" and I am a fan of the Neopolitan milkshake).  At In-N-Out, however, the phrase "Double-Double" refers to a burger with two meat patties and two slices of cheese.  If you wanted 3 meat patties and cheese, you would call it a "Triple Triple" and anything above that, a 4x4, 5x5, etc.  A delicious bovine matrix, if you will, and fodder for all manner of fratty food competitions.

I'm thinking a Double Double sounds about right for the first thing I'll eat the next time I'm in LA.

Introduction

This is a blog about a guy from Los Angeles and his experiences in Toronto.
LAX and YYZ are the airport codes for Los Angeles International Airport and the Toronto Pearson International Airport, respectively.