Filipino Home Cooking

I'm still thinking about the delicious fundraising dinner event for the Canadian Red Cross for the victims of typhoon Haiyan that I attended this past weekend.  Artist Gene Pendon, brother Dave Pendon and their uncle Ed orchestrated a Filipino menu that tasted almost like my mother made it...almost.  The awesome volunteer kitchen and wait staff at the Sparrow hustled-to say the least-to fulfill the orders of the packed restaurant/bar that has probably never seen so many adorable kids underfoot.  Cue to this sibling pair pictured above, with their t-shirts emblazoned with a classic dish: the chicken adobo.  If you are not vegetarian, please, please, try this dish, so simple, so deeeelish.

You missed out? It's never too late to donate!  Or check out Fantasia Festival's fundraising fun featuring Filipino filmmaker Erik Matti (info here!)  Or enjoy the Franco Proietti Morph-tet's jazz vibes at BBAM! Gallery (event link here!)  With surely more events to come!

Ok, serious stuff:
Climate change is real, freak storms are becoming the norm.  Yeb Sano is still fasting. Food for thought.

Atelier Frank & Oak

Frank & Oak the purveyor of stylish and affordable duds for the hip and young gentlemen crowd threw a party to welcome guests to their street level presence.  Mmmm, I love me an iron pressed grilled cheese sandwich.... The online-only retailer wanted to provide their clientele with a space to interact with the brand, be it trying on the latest shirts on the rack, by getting the barbershop treatment or settling into the couches and leafing through recipes from The Kinfolk Table.  Come and stay a while!

Isabel Marant pour H&M

photo: h&m

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Last night Montreal's flagship H&M store hosted a shopping preview for many press/industry-ish guests of Isabel Marant's collaboration for the Swedish mega-chain.  As I waited to enter, I watched through the windows as the frenzy began for her signature pieces of boho/rocknroll/rolled-out-of-bed-looking-this-fabulous/cool girl styles.  But this collection wasn't just for the ladies, Marant designed her first capsule collection for men (and kids!) so they could have a piece of that cool-knit pie. 

obligatory crowd shot

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PR gurus for H&M Karen & Denis decked out in Marant finery

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Debbie tries on (L) leather trousers, (C) boys hat, (R) shiny patterned trousers 

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Yours truly was unsuccessful scoring any Marant booty, but the cream puffs kind of made up for it. Yum!

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friends helping friends clean up and clean out

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all gone

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So the preview was totally cleaned out.  But don't despair!  There's plenty to be had when the collection drops November 14, 8AM at select stores.

Detroit, MI

These images came from a recent day trip to Detroit, a city that I associate with techno, GM, the Crow, Robocop, and maybe the Red Wings.  More recently Detroit filed for bankruptcy, a culmination of years of debt, corruption and a bad Wall Street deal.  Sure Toronto's got Rob Ford, Montreal's got Coderre now, but Detroit's had this guy to thank for part of their problems.

After a browse through the sprawling John K King bookstore, we took a drive around various parts of the city.  One thing that is apparent is the abandonment and the decline of population.  Parts of the city felt ghostly, with stunning historic buildings either boarded up or windows blown out.  We made a stop in front of the old Michigan Central Station and a man named Harrison (pictured above) sauntered up to us.  The self-proclaimed "ambassador" to the city filled our heads with stories of the station, Detroit pride, and visions of revitalization.

In his own words:
"This place was built in 1912 [...] the same artist who built the station in New York, it's the same artist here...the last train out was in 1988.  I used to be able to go up on top and take a bar-b-q pit up there and watch the fireworks and chill with a lawn chair.  I really miss that."

On his connection to the building:
"I'm a part of this, through time, and it grew on me.  Yes I am, yes I am, in my heart because I come through here everyday to make sure this building is ok."

He then kindly asked for a tip-we handed over a couple of dollars, we shook his hand and wished him well.  And then the station's ambassador made his way over to chat up another set of gawkers.

Glitch #2

Beachball of death.

Unresponsive scripts. Do I wish to continue or stop script?

The perpetual spin of a loading page. 

Everything's up to date, and yet I get these abundant and visually wonderful glitches.

Maybe the universe is trying to tell me to get off the internet as one of my favourite sites to browse, Refinery29, no longer loads its slideshows...

Maybe it is the ghost in my machine.

Nike Air Max 1:Liquid Metal

Actress, funny gal in the kitchen and friend, Debbie Wong has just come back from a trip to China with an ass-kicking cadeau from Nike.  Feast your eyes on those crazy WMNS Air Max 1 SP liquid gold kicks, from their "liquid metal" collection (yes, the liquid silver is out there too.)  Complete with the periodic table symbol "Au" inscribed on the tongues so you can teach a little science to your friends while you're at it.

Debbie wears her kicks with a tuque from Muji, a super huge vintage Ann Demeulemeester scarf, a shirt from Uniqlo, blazer with gold buttons (nice touch!) from Boy. by Band of Outsiders, and joggers by Roots.   Cozy styles for a brisk fall day, but i'm getting cold just looking at those exposed ankles...

FNC 42

The 42nd edition of the very wonderful Festival Nouveau Cinema has just come to a end.  Twelve days of cinematic good times flew by and I unfortunately only got a miniature sampling (only caught two features this year!)  But I squeezed in the last hurrah to attend the festival's closing party.
Above, projections light up the dancefloor
Middle, 1st AD Catherine wears an intricate leather necklace by LaLaYeah
Bottom, leaving the party for a rainy, late-night bike ride home