Lunch at La Brass today on 10th Ave

We learned La Brass has AC so went there today for what is apparently the last really hot day. We were pleased with our lunch.

We both began with the  fish soup which was less rich (a good thing!) than the Provence Marinaside example. It was good on a warm day because it is so much south of France for us but we will enjoy it on a cool Fall or Winter day as well.

It's actually rather rare to get this dish outside of France. It is a fish broth which you pour in the gruyere cheese and accompanied with crostini and rouille sauce (is a sauce that consists of olive oil with breadcrumbs, garlic, saffron and cayenne pepper).

Then I had the calamari salad which was very good but really too much calamari for me although it was very nicely grilled with no batter.  Jim helped out.  Getting a perfect calamari is very difficult as I prefer it deep fried with a very light batter but it has to be just perfectly cooked which almost never happens.

Jim had the steak frites which was probably one of the best steak frites ever...wow!  I got a bit.

I can see Jim always getting the steak frites and I just might get that too from time to time and I almost never order steak.  But I will have to try the bouillabaisse next, then the prawns basquese, then the rack of lamb first.

Newfoundland

I loved this article Brian passed along to Jim and also was very interested in this Canadian Impressionist painter, Maurice Cullen. I hadn't heard of him although there was a relatively recent exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Paul West was a prof of Brian's at Memorial University when Brian was doing a degree in English and French.

Maurice Cullen, Fishing Stages, Newfoundland, c. 1911

The sensations of landing on the island long ago haunted a writer’s final memories

By Paul West | December 7, 2015

"My first teaching job carried me straight from the RAF and England to St. John’s, Newfoundland, when I was but 27. I still find my first impressions to be the overpowering ones: of fog or knocking sea. The town seemed nothing like the Oldest City in North America. It clutched and clung to the rocks like snails—perhaps the mist might have dissolved it or the sea gnawed it down. From the air it looked precarious; from the sea, as I sneaked in through the Narrows, as sheer a pair of nautical jaws as one could wish for a landfall, the effect was altogether different: still the shantytown with much rust and much gesticulating new paint, but also the settled center of a kind of commerce, silver oil tanks glittering in whatever sun there was. The harbor had the slack gape of a transatlantic Cardiff or Merseyside in miniature."

This article is a really good read.  For the rest:

https://theamericanscholar.org/my-newfoundland/#.W1dSBkyZPVV

Dinner at Minerva's with Donna

We always so enjoy our meals there and lots of reminiscing...seems to be the week for that!  We do have such fun together.

I had my usual lamb souvlaki and have leftovers for lunch.

Donna tried the special of the night...fresh halibut in a lemon caper sauce. It looked wonderful and Donna really enjoyed it.

And Jim, of course, never varies from his chicken parmagian.

Lovely ocean swim yesterday evening

Lots of people having picnics and enjoying the sun, sand, and ocean.  We didn't have any trouble getting a parking spot. We were wondering what it might be like on a Saturday night and it is the Celebration of Light fireworks. I guess you'd see something from Spanish Banks but it wouldn't be the greatest viewing area. As much as we did enjoy them we are delighted not to be affected by all the traffic, people, and road closures that it involves.

Vancouver is getting some haze from wildfires but our area and where the fireworks are happening don't have an air quality warning yet at least so all the folks who come to enjoy the fireworks shouldn't be adversely affected.  I hope that continues to be the case for Wednesday and next Saturday.

From The Vancouver Sun:

The Honda Celebration of Light will return to Vancouver’s skies again this summer for the 28th year.

Tuesday the organizers behind the fireworks show — who say their show is the world’s longest-running offshore fireworks competition — confirmed the schedule, which will once against take place over three nights inside a week in the height of summer.

On July 28, South Africa will be represented by Fireworks for Africa.

On Aug. 1, Sweden’s Unique Pyrotechnic will take over the skies and on Aug. 4, the finale will be presented by South Korea’s Daehan Fireworks Co.

“For the first time ever, all three participating countries will be required to incorporate the same theme into their fireworks display and musical accompaniment. As voted by the public, this year’s theme will be Love,” the organizers, the Vancouver Fireworks Festival Society, said in a statement.

As usual, each night’s show will start at 10 p.m., rain or shine, using barges moored in English Bay, near First Beach on the downtown peninsula.

Music will be simulcast on LG 104.3 FM and through the festival’s mobile app, which will be released this summer.

While Canada is not participating this year, it’s not the first time either, as there were no Canadian entries in 2016, 2014 or 2012.

Very Itty Bitty Book Reviews 2

from Disney Addicts

Always tremendous fun...

Katy and David arrived from London Wednesday and are staying with Liz.  They all came for lunch yesterday. Always so much fun and so many memories.  Great that Richard could get the day off. Looks like he's heading to Bangladore, India soon to give training sessions. It will be an experience for sure but a long flight...

Lots of laughs and reminicing and glad we took some photos at the beginning.  I'm learning.

And another wonderful ocean swim yesterday evening

It was just perfect and Carol and John met us there so we all had a swim together. Great to see them! I think we've got it all figured out now.

Introducing Susan to avocado toast...

She loved it and even sketched it. Well, not so unusual since she is always sketching.

Susan in great anticipation of the famous avocado toast at Sweet Somthings.

My photo

Very cool photo from Liz in Barcelona

Gaudi's floor with sneakers.

And more photos from her trip in Spain that I particularly liked.

Grafitti can be cool too!

Paradise

We just came back from the most amazing ocean swim at Spanish Banks and a wonderful time sitting on the beach. The water was VERY warm and the views are just spectacular from this side. And a bonus was we actually saw a freighter coming in. We almost never see these freighters moving.
We seem to always get a breeze up here so we're managing quite well with the heat so far.

Sunsets

It's very relaxing to sit in our "sunroom" and watch sun set...it's a wonderful world.

More on the Bard

Linda gave some very good advice for parking if you go. We'll be doing this next time for sure!

"Cheryl and Dave (daughter and son-in-law) go every year and are going this Friday for her 44^th birthday.  Last year we went with them.  They get there very early, park facing the way out and very close to the exit at the Planetarium.  It worked great for us.  They said they’ve also been held up forever in the traffic jam exit…also pays to book a seat near the exit. "

They are seeing Macbeth which is also apparently very good according to the woman I was sitting next to. We probably saw the most unusual performance ever of Macbeth in the first season of the Old Globe in 1997. We were thrilled to be able to be at this wonderful reconstruction of the  Globe by the Thames in its first year. 

We also saw Henry V which was traditional Shakespeare. The Zulu Macbeth was in Zulu!  It was interesting for sure but seemed an odd choice for the opening season.

https://variety.com/1997/legit/news/zulu-macbeth-to-play-bard-s-old-globe-1116676963/

Some of the "groundlings" in the performance of Henry V were acting like the groundlings in Shakespeare's day. They were making comments to the actors and I would say the actors weren't exactly pleased. This was among one of the first performances and I wonder if they now have restrictions about this.

I picked this up on Trip Advisor from 2014. For the Zulu Macbeth we stood as groundlings and for Henry V we had a seat.  If I remember correctly we missed the second half of the Zulu Macbeth and retired to a pub on the Thames. Standing in the crowd was rather uncomfortable but it was an experience. I guess the actors are used to this now but in the perfomance (Henry V) we saw they were rather bewildered!

"Don't miss a play at the Globe, even if you aren't sure you love Shakespeare. The experience is unique: the actors interact a bit with the groundlings standing near the stage and interesting things happen during the performances: pigeons swoop, seemingly on cue; it might rain for a while, and even a helicopter whirr can get incorporated into the dialogue. I recommend paying for one of the tiny, narrow seats and renting a cushion rather than standing, but suit yourself."

Jokes

I hate Russian dolls...so full of themselves.

Hoping for an ocean swim today...but probably not

It's on the cloudy side and only 21 C and a bit of a breeze.  The next five days are 26-29 C and we'll probably all be complaining about the heat but it should be good for swimming.  Hide tides are in the late afternoon so that works well.  We'll see...

We'll stick with the pool for swimming today.  And the Blue Jays won so all's right with the world.

From the balcony...

Bard on the Beach

We went to the "As You Like It" performance at Bard yesterday evening. Wow...what a performance!   I can see why this just might hit Broadway. The performers had to sing, dance, and do Shakespeare and they all did it all magnificently. It's sold out and revenues are the highest ever. Good on everyone involved!

The sets were very cool (Volkwagon bus included which did get "rockin') and there were 25 Beatles songs that fit perfectly. There were cuts in the play but Jim said they really only cut the boring and rather incomprehensible to modern audiences parts. They also cut the five songs in the original play. That wouldn't have made sense with all the Beatles songs.

It was just so much fun and the audience went wild. It certainly ranks among the best live theatre experienes I've had.

We parked in the Planetarium parking lot. Next time we'll do this a little more strategically. Quite a nightmare getting out with cars and people everywhere and the darkness.

Lots of interesting items in the giftshop but I'm trying to get rid of things not get more things...

Wrestling is part of the beginning of the play and they had this very funny wrestling spectacle before the performance began.

The beginning scenes of the play, then Jim told me we weren't supposed to take photographs. Good thing we didn't get thrown out since Jim is doing some presentations at Brock House on the play!