Mother of the year

Recently a friend and I started joking with the term Mother of the Year (MOTY). This came from recognizing that moms sometimes do things that don't qualify for MOTY status, in the traditional sense at least. I see it everywhere...hung over mothers at hockey practice, moms bribing youngsters so that they stay quiet or take a nap, buying *gasp* chicken fingers and non-organic ketchup to keep the peace at dinner time. Yup, I've done it. And I will again. 

If you're an honest mom, you know what I mean: no one is perfect and by no means is anyone a perfect mother. And if you think you are, I suggest you don't read on. I actually think that being a less than perfect mom, in the June Cleaver at home serving the family all the time way, makes some moms (like me) better. I like to have a busy and active life. I work a fair bit and I want to be successful and fulfilled in my career. I love my family and friends and spending time with them is important. I love food, wine and interesting restaurants. I like to travel anywhere and read anything. Conversations about things other than children and schools and neighbourhoods fascinate me. But, conversations about children and schools and neighbourhoods can also fascinate me for periods of time. Above all of this, I love my son more than anything in this world and anyone who knows me, even a little bit, gets this. 

Some may say I'm untraditional and I thank them for it. I hate baking but I have made a schedule where I can walk my son to school almost every day. That will certainly be more memorable than me baking a lopsided cake every January for his birthday. I have to travel for work sometimes so get taken away for days at a time, BUT I will come home and wake up at 5am on a Saturday while on Vancouver time to tie up skates in a cold arena in Toronto. Things such as this make my life work. I may not be on the PTA, make a big homecooked meal every night, or be able to meet at Starbucks to plan a school fundraiser at 3pm on a Tuesday, but I feel I am MOTY in my own right and so is everyone else I know who maintains interests and engagements in a realm outside of their child or children. It IS possible to do both.

I am going to plan a MOTY banquet which will be held in my kitchen. I may be hung over and the food will definitely be ordered in. But I am honoured to know many fantastic women who fit the bill of MOTY. They keep my life, and their children's, interesting.

Scarpetta, Toronto

Ate at Scarpetta last night despite mixed reviews. Since it's new and the one in New York is supposed to be quite good, I wanted to try it anyway. I was quite disappointed. The space is nice, quite open and modern. I liked the wine we had and the service was good too, very attentive. The food left lots to be desired though.

I started with the beet salad as I often do, and it was mediocre. Could have had it anywhere. My companion had the polenta which was quite good I have to say, but polenta is hard to screw up so it's a safe bet at most places where it's on the menu I find.

For my main, I had the Sable fish. It was slimy and well, gross. I even sent it back as it was undercooked at first. When it came back, I still couldn't get through it. The other main at our table was the duck and foie gras ravioli which had decent flavours, but not decent enough to make me want to go back.

Finished with the cheese plate as I was still quite hungry. The cheese was ok, but the chutney type things it came didn't work with it and ruined the flavours of the cheese.

Overall, I think this place will be heading to Groupon territory soon. If you don't understand that reference, I find Groupon's generally are used to try to re-energize a restaurant where business is slowing down. It's still early days for Scarpetta, but I think it will happen soon.

Au pied du Cochon, Montreal

Sat at the bar, with a guest. Blown away in the most casual sense.

Foie Gras is served like water, everything cooked in duck fat, and meat, meat and more meat in big portions. Vegetables are rarely seen and when I asked for a side of them, I was given an odd look but they accommodated with something green (doused in duck fat and bacon).

It was by far one of the richest meals I’ve ever had – rich in flavor, fat and Quebecois goodness. The French Onion soup knocked my socks off. Literally. It was the best I’ve ever had. Duck Magret as my main was equally delicious and I also got to try my companion's Duck in a can...wow.

While at the bar, i was entertained by a little unrequited love affair going on in the kitchen. Brilliant to watch and I want to know what happened next.

I will go back, if I can, every time I'm in Montreal. Other cities lack something this good and it's kind of a shame.

Table for 1: A Tru Review

I was recently in Chicago for meetings and the timing of this trip was perfect. One, it was the week of my birthday and two, the Michelin star ratings for Chicago had come out a couple of weeks before. I decided that I would treat myself to a dinner at one of the restaurants that received the rating. After researching long and hard, I landed on Tru which is touted as one of the finest restaurants in the city. Generally it could take some time to get a reservation, but I feel that Open Table took pity on my party of one and I got the time I wanted. And so begins my experience...

When I arrived, I was whisked into the open and airy dining room which was certainly designed for elegance, dates and special occasions. I was seated at a table along the side, facing the entire restaurant. Good for people watching, but it also meant people could see me. Generally when I dine alone, my BlackBerry or book is my best friend and ensures that I don't have to look up and meet the awkward stares that can come with dining alone. At Tru, no BlackBerry allowed and it didn't seem the right place to whip out my book either. Eyes up and open. Fortunately I had about 19 servers at my beck and call who ensured I wasn't alone for very long.

Here is a more detailed look at what I had:

Wine:
I perused the wine list and settled on one of their proprietary blends from Napa (Cristom Sommers Reserve Willamette Valley 2006). It was fantastic from the first sip and got better as my meal went on.

Menu: 
Since I was alone, I opted for the quicker three course menu rather than the full tasting. I think to really experience Tru (or any restaurant for that matter), the tasting menu is the way to go. But, the three courses I had were more than enough and there were plenty of bonuses added in that I had a fantastic experience anyway. 

For my first course, I had the Nantucket bay scallops, organic polenta, winter truffle, crispy bacon. The first bite may have been one of the best things I have ever tasted. The polenta was perfect and the way that the flavours of everything else melded together really blew me away. The portion size was perfect as well.

Based on one of my 19 servers' recommendations, I had the spiced cervena venison, savoy cabbage tart, pear chutney as my main. When I saw the cabbage on the menu, it threw me a bit, but in the end I'm glad I ordered it. I'm generally not a big venison person, but this was incredible. I will always remember it. I could have done without the cabbage, but everything else on the plate made up for it.

Tru is known for their desserts. I had the milk chocolate + cherry bitter almond cake, vanilla custard. It was very good, but not as memorable as the preceding courses I have to say. At the end, they also brought me some truffles which were amazing and a caramel exploding chocolate that was unreal. The caramel was pure and liquid and captured in a square of dark chocolate that was perfect. How they did that, I will never know and I don't care to know as I like the mystery of it all.

Service:
The service was by far the most professional I have seen anywhere. They weren't afraid to make recommendations and if I dropped a crumb, they would sweep it up. This much attention can be annoying, but they were professionals of the highest order so I just felt looked after and not annoyed in any way. Also, as I left one of the servers walked me out, got my coat and held an umbrella for me out to my cab as it was raining. Brilliant and perfect.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience even as a lone diner. The crowd was an interesting mix...many dates, some significant work dinners, some groups of friends out celebrating. I'm glad I went and I would jump at the opportunity to go again and do the full tasting menu to get that experience as well.   

Breaking up is hard to do. Seriously.

It used to be that when a break up happened, it was a real breaking of ties. Sometimes maybe you would see that person again, depending on proximity of work, school and/or residence, but sometimes you could go years or an eternity without seeing that ex again. Not anymore. I love Facebook as much as the other 499,000,000 members, but it presents a serious problem when you just want to move on and forget about an ex.

I recently broke up with someone after a year of courtship. While the break up was fine and reasonably friendly, there is really no need to know what he is up to all the time, and he doesn’t need to have access to my musings either. So the result, after a boozy conversation with two of my most trusted advisers, is that I’ve deleted him from Facebook. No bitterness, just done. I like that when I log on now, I no longer have to get hit with his whereabouts and thoughts. It’s nice…for the most part…

All was well throughout our relationship and as a result, our social worlds collided and combined. This of course means we share many Facebook connections—family, friends, colleagues. Now comes my new dilemma: do I leave my delete at just him or do I do a full blown Facebook sweep and delete all of the mutual connections I met through him, while also asking my friends and family to delete him? That may seem mean, but the reality is that when you lose the connection point—i.e., the ex—to an in-law, why not take it even further? The only reason you hung out with them was because technically you had to, so what’s the point of staying in touch unless they are really fascinating people (which I have to say many of his friends are, others not so much) or buy you really nice presents? Sometimes the best part of a breakup is losing connections to their family and weird friends. Not always, but seriously a lot of the time and I’m sure you want to admit it too, but can’t if you’re in a relationship.

Is the Facebook sweep akin to going through and deleting all photos of him and saying bad things about him in the public arena? It feels like the perception will be that I can’t handle it, like I would be yelling: “Woe is me in this world without said boyfriend!” UGH. The reality, however, is that I can handle it but I don’t really want to be blasted with photos and posts about him when I log on. Is that so wrong? I was with another one of my advisers the night after the deletion and she brought up the very valid point that to really move on from a relationship, access to the ex needs to stop. It’s a good point. How can one really move on if images and information of your ex constantly appear? I have no idea how celebrities do it.

In the good old days of the early 2000s, breaking up with someone involved not talking anymore and not really knowing anything about them. That was grand. In those days, maybe I would see an ex out at a bar or in a food court, but that was it. Sometimes I would maybe hear some gossip about something they did, but that could be easily avoided and usually by the time I heard it, I was over it anyway. Facebook provides facts. Facts of the ex moving on. Facts about who they are connecting with. Facts that prove they may be over you. Facts that they are maybe doing weird, out of character things. Or, simply the fact that they continue to do things that you used to enjoy together and then that makes you a bit sad.

It’s weird to have an all access pass to someone’s life that you really shouldn’t have. How can one move on with that? I deem it a little impossible. I'm not ready to delete the fascinating friends yet, but as soon as my ex starts making a regular appearance on their profile I will have to call it quits.