What a Mess on Dundas West!

My definition of chaotic beauty

Photos - Hearn Generating Station

I managed to capture only a small portion of the giant smokestack protruding from the decommissioned Hearn Generating Station in Toronto's Portlands area. Originally a coal-fired plant starting in the 50s, it was later converted to a natural gas-fired facility in the early 70s. Hearn ceased to generate power in the early 80s. Here's an analogy, or thought experiment. How many of us experience frustration and the futility of waste when our smartphones (apparently worth $600) last us a year? Scale that up to the humongous (650 000 metres cubed) power generating facility that is Hearn, which fulfilled its function for roughly 30 years.

Rideshare

There is a recurring impression of Canada that we lack culture. I'm going to tackle this one from the architectural front. Sure, we don't have much gothic stuff going on.

Gothic stuff in Belgium

Sure, we don't have bullet holes in our columns (heck we barely have columns).

Bullet holes in a column of a building in Berlin

I don't often go to Union Station now that I live in Toronto, but going home for the holidays I was catching a rideshare from there. I was very happy to have my camera with me as I sat on a ledge outside the station.

The Fairmont Royal York Hotel

Drink Development at R2

Last monday saw a few of the R² baristas brainstorming and shopping for the ingredients of possible specialty drinks. I photographed some of the process. 

Ingredients: result of shopping

We ended up developing two drinks, the orange mocha, and the chocolate chili latte. The orange mocha is currently being served at R², and comes with the lovely garnish of a chocolate-coated sliver of candied orange peel from Delight on Queen West.  

Chocolate-coated candied orange peel slivers

Ingredients of the orange mocha

Me on the phone

Chris, an esteemed regular

Evan, making a free-pour swan

Evan, pleased about something, possibly my photo of his latte art

We will be serving the chocolate chili latte later this fall. 

Chocolate chili latte ingredients

Two pieces of wall candy

I worked on these projects during the winter, accompanied by some red wine. Outdoors was ugly, slushy, and grey, contrasting these colourful fun pieces. The stencilled damask one, done with acrylic and gloss medium, was an experimental foray into stencil work and the craquelure effect. I need to find a way to prevent the stencil from sticking to the painting as I'm workign on it. Perhaps make it out of something other than paper? The craquelure effect should have been done with a matte medium on top rather than gloss. Definitely will be doing this again. The other piece was a mixed-media collage incorporated surreal sort of space invaders thing, and I am quite happy with it.

Garbage Room Finds

I make a habit of visiting the recycling room of my apartment building as often as I can, and it has paid off. In addition to electronics, which I can turn into e-art, I have found umbrellas, some very interesting jewelry, and shoes.  

I Have the Best Ideas at Night

It was 11:30 PM and I should have been sleeping, but instead I had the bright idea to take the trip down to the recycling room of my building and see if there were any good finds. I have been wanting to make some cool coasters for a while, and until last night that meant one of two things. First, polished stone coasters of smooth irregular shapes, not really something I can accomplish with the tools I have on hand. Second, slices of varnished tree trunk. I never thought of how hard it is to get my hands on a tree trunk until then, especially in the heart of downtown Toronto. So my bright idea was to harvest a tree product of another kind from the "forest of the city," in other words, cardboard from the recycling room. A few drawings of Canadiana icons and wildlife later, and some kindergarten-reminiscent cutouts later, and voila: a set of Canadiana coasters.

Dried Orange Peel

These delicious-smelling orange peels were s(h)aved from a bunch of oranges hanging around the apartment using a vegetable peeler. I dried them in a pan on the lowest setting until they felt dry to the touch. As they toasted their aroma deepened. After they cooled, they got stored in a jar... The aroma matures a lot at this stage. I'm not sure what to do with them yet, but every so often I open the jar and smell their awesomeness.





Also, I think they'd be good with duck, or in marmalade.

Love Daniel's Cheese

Just spent over an hour tasting aged cheddar cheeses and chatting with George Batarseh of Daniel's Cheese and Deli in Cambridge, ON. Probably would never have found the place if it weren't for a group deal on it, because it's off the main roads. A great experience and some delicious cheeses!