This past weekend I had a chance to visit some of my friends downtown Toronto, relax a bit, go out and do things not pottery related; and it was wonderful! :) Nuit Blanche was also going on and so with my good friend Mike, we ventured off into the night to see some of the artistic festivities.

The night started off with a bang, as Mike cooked (with very slight help from me) an incredible lemon parsley chicken dinner with asparagus and brown-ish/turned to white rice. It was phenomenal, not many can wine and dine me like Mike, but he never ceases to amaze me. Coupled with our own signature scotch, some Amaro and candles to complete the mood, everything was shaping up nicely. I also decided to get into the artsy fartsy mood of nuit blanche, and took several "artistic" photo's of the chicken, which look almost pornographic to me, but hey, that's art too right?

We also signed our finished bottle of scotch, and now need to pick up a new one to get started on. Also, another artsy fartsy picture, this time of the Amaro with some random filter I applied.

As for Nuit Blanche itself, this is my third time going out for it, and from previous experience, I usually don't like it at all. The majority of the exhibits seem like a gross waste of money to me, ill planned, hastily thrown together, and all around too artsy fartsy. I'm all for promoting the arts, but there's only so much "Hey, look at me!!! Look at how AMAAAAAAAAAZING and creative I am!!!!" I can take. This year was basically the same. There were a few exceptions, things that were genuinely creative and meaningful, but I also know that 5 minutes later, people will already have forgotten them, which is also a shame. It was also JAM packed with people, especially on Queen street where we spent a good portion of our time. Here are some of the things we saw:

People waiting in line for... something?

This next one had actual candy come out, so it was probably the highlight of the night! :D

So glad they let people actually smash the pinatas :)

Definitely another high point, busker showing off some serious soccer skills (not an actual part of Nuit Blanche)

Photo's of Syrian refugees, interactive display where you actually got text messages from the people in that event. One of the meaningful one's.

Oh and the rampant amounts of trash and garbage everywhere. We're such a classy city

And finally, probably the most memorable part of the night was discovering a nice cocktail bar on Queen called Barchef, where they served specially in-house prepared cocktails that were quite good! All the ingredients were made using their own methods, and they offered some very adventurous modernist drinks that really pushed the boundaries of what a cocktail should be. All included an edible portion made from the same essences as the cocktail itself and served in a unique way. The majority started at $25 and some went up to $45 (which is quite steep for a drink!), but I do have to admit, they were quite good! I didn't get one myself, shy perhaps? but Mike and his friend John ended up trying 3.

This one was ocean breeze themed and had sailor Jerry rum :) as well as beach essence, which I guessed to be sand, dirty water and hotdogs

The Mad Man (men? no idea) Can't remember any of the ingredients, but I did make fun of John for having to drink out of such a ridiculous glass :p

By far the best one, this one was Chocolate truffle themed, and the small serving spoons contained magical delights with sweet, chocolaty, tart and savory flavours, all layered in an amazing way, topped with dill. It was incredible!

and there you have it, a blog post with absolutely nothing about pottery and just random things :)

~Peter