Went to “La Bodega” for dinner tonight, here in Toronto. Herbed goat cheese, mushrooms and red wine pear for appetizer, bordeaux and filet mignon in cognac sauce for dinner, and coffee/creme brulee for dessert… and a big surprise “happy birthday” dinner out of it all.

One of the best meals of my life, I think. I mean, the quality compared to other great place I’ve visited before, but just the environment, the meal, everything… now I know what Anthony Bourdain was seeking.

I love this city.

The worst smell in the world is “burning house”.

I’m sure many of you have walked by a building before that is on fire, maybe smelled it, to some degree. But I assure you, until you have been in a house that is burning, this smell isn’t such an alarm…

I have experience with this…hence the shots of adrenaline that hit my head as I walked in my front door yesterday and smelled burning.

I ran around the house looking, looking…M’s space heater? No. The stove? No. The fireplace? No. I couldn’t find anything…. but I know I smelled it, especially in the entrance hallway.

For some reason, I went back out the front door, I guess to look around…and then I notice a huge pink sign on the front door of the neighbor directly across from me.

“ENTRY TO THIS BUILDING PROHIBITED UNTIL REPAIRS ARE MADE”.

Yow..

Throwing some garbage away later, I went down the back staircase, in hopes I could see a little more regarding what happened. It was dark out, but I look up and see a huge (about 10×4) piece of plywood covering a blackened piece of the condo, and on the ground, I see what appears to be the remains of a balcony, piled up in a blackened, ugly mess. After looking again this morning, i realised that it was only part of the balcony, mostly the rail that faced what must have been the site of the fire.

I wonder what happened. I think the damage must have been SEVERE.

I am heading to Toronto in a bit. Cheers!