Fathers and Sons and Wives and Sisters and Brothers

It was another action-packed week, making this my busiest June on record (well, if you consider this blog the record). Early Monday -- appropriately, the morning after Father's Dad -- Dad picked me up for what I hope will become a regular event: a father-son trip. For our maiden (boyish?) voyage, we headed for Ottawa.

I hadn't been to our nation's capital in a decade and was looking forward to checking out the city's impressive list of galleries and museums. In particular, we were both looking forward to the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography; unfortunately, it is currently closed for major reconstruction.

Instead, our first museum stop became the National Gallery of Canada. Their single contemporary photography exhibit doesn't compare with an entire museum of photographs, but we did very much enjoy the feature exhibit of Renoir paintings. Further to my Met visit earlier this month, I'm becoming quite the Impressionista. So inspired, and craving more contemporary photos, I took this picture of a fountain in the Gallery's lobby. Consider it a limited edition Wichman.

We also explored the Canadian Museum of Civilization, where I enjoyed seeing many of the Inuit artifacts featured in a book I recently finished editing. But it was the Canadian War Museum that really blew us away (pardon the pun). We spent an entire afternoon there and only made it as far as World War II before closing time. We were particularly fascinated to learn more about Canada's role in the Boer War. It was the first time Canadian soldiers served in an conflict on the other side of the world, and the citizens of our newly formed country were divided as to how they felt about it. Sound familiar?

Apart from the museums, a real highlight of the trip was the fine dining we enjoyed in the evenings: the restaurants Beckta and Signatures (the latter is run by Le Cordon Bleu culinary institution). The food was stunning, both litearlly -- I was stuffed almost to the point of pararlysis -- and figuratively; I can honestly say that Beckta served the best foie gras in a mushroom terrine with white truffle oil and an apple-sherry jam that I've ever tasted. After full days of museum tromping, it was wonerful to sit and enjoy such fine meals and good conversation with my father. Thanks, Dad. Here's to more such trips in the future.

(That's a paper boat sailing down the Rideau Canal. For the purposes of this blog entry, consider it the equivalent of riding off into the sunset.)

But the fine dining wasn't over yet. No sooner was I home from Ottawa that Jeanette and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary with a meal at our favourite neighborhood restaurant Kamasutra. For the record, flowers are the traditional gift for the fourth anniversary so:

I gave Jeanette a bouquet of her favourite peonies. Happy Anniversary, my love!

But wait, there's more! My sister Leighann and her partner Marianne were in town with some friends and a busy agenda of their own, including the True Colors tour, a conference in Guelph, and Toronto's Pride Week.



Between our busy week and theirs, we managed to see each other for two dinners and a brunch. Are you sensing how much we like food in this family?

And finally, this weekend was also the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Toronto 2007 Celebration of Friendship picnic. This year had a pirate theme, so every kid received a pirate hat. Alfredo loaned me his when I grew too pooped to play more soccer.



While I was content to look like a dork on the sdielines, Alfredo looked cool (and kept cool) by continuing to play even with a sno-cone in hand.


He scored a goal without spilling a drop. Let's see Zidane do that!

All in all, a busy week filled with fun activities with people I adore. And that also makes it one of the best Junes on record (even beyond the record of this blog).

From Big Apple to Big Brother (of the Year!)

*phew* It's been non-stop action since Jeanette and I returned from New York. So much to catch up on! First, the rest of the Big Apple:

We began our last full day in the city with a leisurely brunch in the village, followed by a trip to Magnolia bakery. Jeanette wanted to try those much-talked-about cupcakes, while I opted for the banana pudding -- highly recommended by Anton and now by me. Later, we strolled through Central Park on our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the Met, we spent most of our time among the impresionists, though it was neo-impressionst Georges-Pierre Seurat's "Circus Sideshow" that most intrigued me. Amazing to see pointillsm up close and personal, though it does make you feel like you need your eyes checked. Maybe all the impressionists were near-sighted?

From the Met we headed south on foot and paid visits to Bergdorf's, Grand Central Station, and finally the Dean & Deluca at Rockefeller Center to meet Antonio. Sadly, he couldn't dine with us due to a work crisis, so Jeanette and I headed back to the apartment. We hit the Village once again for a wonderful last-night meal at Extra Virgin (wonderful gazpacho soup!) and spent the rest of time at Anton's gorging on his HBO and Showtime on demand (Curb Your Enthusiasm and Dexter).

We arrived back in Toronto Wednesday night, and Thursday morning I donned my finest suit and went to work. I don't normally wear a suit at work (though perhaps I should -- lots of compliments!), but that night was the Big Night Out -- the annual black-tie fundraising dinner for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto. Alfredo and I were invited to accept the Big Brother of the Year award! I received the call a few weeks ago, and right up until they handed us our framed award, it hadn't really sunk in.

It's an incredible honour to have received this award, and Alfredo and I both were a little overwhelmed at the scale of the event: Hundreds of guests dressed to the nines, CEOs, celebrities, TV cameras... We weren't required to give a speech or anything, but even so we both felt more relaxed once the ceremony was over and we could dig into our desserts. We made room for the chocolate mousse (his) and strawberry-rhubarb tart (mine) even though neither of us had finished our main course -- fortunately, Alfredo had the presence of mind to request doggie bags to take the gourmet food home to his mom and sisters. What a kid!

Here we are (far left) with the Big and Little Brother and Sister award-winners from all the other categories. On the far right is BBBST interim president Sandy Somers, who phoned us in May with the good news.

And here we are with Match Support Coordinator extraordinaire Michelle Bernstein.

As you see, Alfredo was in full-blown deer-in-headlights camera-shy mode, so it's wonderful that the framed award includes such a great picture. I've never been able to capture one of Alfredo's big smiles on camera. Lucky for me, Big Brothers doesn't grant this award based on photographic evidence!

That weekend we played our first game of soccer this season in the park, then went for burgers and ice cream. A little more our speed after the Big Night Out, and a wonderful way to round out an unforgettable week.

When David Met Reuben

Jeanette arrived on Saturday without problem and we managed to meet at the convention center, despite our decision to meet "at the Starbucks." It turns out that at the Javits Center, agreeing to meet at the Starbucks is like agreeing to meet "at the tree" in a forest. Nevertheless, we found each other and were swept off by friend and author Mark Shulman for a quick tour of his neighborhood (the guy is -- no kidding -- a card-carrying tour guide fully authorized by the city).

It wasn't long before our stomachs were rumbling, so Mark took us to the world famous (take note Druxy's) Katz's Deli. You may know the place from such films as When Harry Met Sally ("I'll have what she's having.") It turns out that Meg Ryan wasn't performing -- the food is that good.

(photo by Leon Barnard: http://www.leonland.com/travels/ny4/)

I ordred a Reuben and I can honestly say it was the best sandwich I've ever experienced. And "experience" is le mot juste. Mark showed us the ropes, including the proper tipping technique to get the best pastrami and which beer goes best with which sandwich. He even proved his chops as a true New Yorker by finishing his own sandwich and a good chunk of a friend's. Jeanette managed less than half of her roast beef while I had to leave a third of Reuben behind. I'll miss ya Reub. We had some good times.

After the world's biggest sandwich and a glass of beer, I slipped into a food coma, so Jeanette carried me back to the hotel. Unfortuantely, this meant missing Mark's ensuing pub crawl tour of the lower east side. Fortunately, I awoke from my coma the next morning feeling refreshed. I was able to work the last day of BookExpo America without any ill effects, and Jeanette enjoyed a day at the spa. That night, we met Anton and Vinaya for dinner at the Blue Smoke restaurant for some top notch barbecued ribs. More meat-induced unconsciousness soon ensued.

This morning, we woke up to tropical-storm-level rains. Fortunately, they let up by lunch time and Jeanette and I set out for Soho, where I visited the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art while Jeanette did some shopping.


The museum had an interesting retrospective of Stan Lee (including some of his original type-written "scripts" for the first The Fantastic Four comic) and a fascinating exhibit on the depiction of African-American characters in 20th century comics.

The sun has now come out and it's a cool, beautiful evening in New York and tomorrow is supposed to be equally gorgeous... much better for seeing the sights.