Blue Velvet Sectional

Never again. In 2008, as I stood in line at the National Archives (on July 4th!), I overheard a conversation behind me.  A young man from Texas was chatting with an older woman, who said she was from Iowa.  I kept my eyes front, but I rolled them, assuming I was in for a long bout of "Obama is a Muslim who hates America" garbage, but I was surprised. Talk quickly turned to politics, as we waited for a chance to see the Declaration of Independence. The man rather sheepishly confessed that he was an Obama volunteer; the older woman replied that she had been holding meetings in Iowa on behalf of the Senator from Illinois. They were both doing all they could to ensure that the first black president was elected. I smiled, then silently chastised myself for making an assumption that just because I was in a very patriotic place on a patriotic day, I'd be surrounded by gun-loving, gay-hating science-denying idiots. Shame on me. Still, there's a reason that I, and ...

Obviously, I love islands, what with a blog called Briland Girl.  That name refers to Harbour Island , Bahamas, the top one on my list.  There are supposedly 700 islands in the Bahamas, and so far I've made it to Eleuthera (Harbour Island is part of it), Abaco, and New Providence (where Nassau is). Only 697 to go! Some days, don't you just wish you lived on a tiny, deserted island? Especially lately. Between ISIS and Donald Trump, I was more than happy to go a week without TV in the Bahamas over the Christmas break.  The news is almost impossibly dreary; I realize more and more that my life is cushy and privileged, and I have nothing to complain about, even if there is something I want, but can't seem to grasp.  At least I am in the position to try.  Anyway, here are some images from our very own  Toronto Islands . Not far enough from civilization on some days, but a lovely respite from the madness of downtown.  A few hundred people have clung...

I don't wear much jewelry.  I figure it's a reaction to how I dressed in high school.  Back then, I looked like a Madonna impersonator, or an extra in a John Hughes movie.  On an average day, I wore brooches, rings, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, all stacked high.  I tied the look together with a big black satin bow in my curly hair. You could probably hear me coming a block away as I jingled under the weight of so much fake Chanel-style jewelry. I routinely set off metal detectors at airports (and once at the Canadian Parliament!) I'd say I looked ridiculous, but hey, everyone did in the 80s! That's obviously not my style anymore. Now, I have three things that I feel naked without- pearl and diamond stud earrings, and two simple pieces that remind me of Harbour Island. A few years ago I found this silver ring at The Sand Dollar, a lovely store on King Street in Dunmore Town.  I love it because the "stone" is actually beach glass from nearby Pink Sa...

Last weekend, I got together with 5 girlfriends I have known since before puberty hit. Lots of history there.  It's less like herding cats to get us together now, since most of their kids are old enough to feed themselves.  We had the same great time  we always did.  And, holy shit, can we ever drink wine! Many, many bottles were consumed. Since we were asked to leave a downtown hotel last year due to excessively loud laughter, this year, I was fortunate to be able to book a beautiful apartment  that could fit everybody.  Some good friends own a stunning Victorian row house in Cabbagetown, and were kind enough to let my friends stay in their garden level rental unit.  It ended up being the perfect solution; we had a great place to hang out, and my old friends were able to meet some of my new ones. After starting our Saturday night with a few bottles of bubbly, we headed out for dinner at Buca Yorkville .  It was fantastic, and different. The ...

On one of my recent purging benders , I found this great old cookbook.  I got it decades ago from Mrs Morland, the mother of one of my parents' friends.  She had been an operator for Bell Canada in the stone age, when phones were essentially tin cans with string between them. Anyway, as a young woman, she'd bought quite a bit of stock in the company. By the time I knew her as an old lady in the late 70s, she was plenty loaded. And if you were even passably flush in Ontario in the 70s, you had a cottage in Muskoka , or as we always called it, "up north." Pointe au Baril, Ontario. This cookbook is from Pointe au Baril , a beautiful area on the Georgian Bay part of Lake Huron, for those of you not from these parts.  I don't remember going there as a kid, but I probably did.  My earliest cottage memories were in Bala  and Baysville, with my family, and with friends in Lake of Bays, or when we were in the mood for bear sightings, Cache Bay, on the nor...

There's a Family Guy episode where Lois serves a casserole for dinner, and someone asks "What are these crunchy things?" She says "I ran out of paprika, so I used M&Ms instead. " That's my mom! My mom is a world class recipe substituter. Nothing quite as batshit as M&Ms for paprika, but pretty damn close.  Once, she tried to make Spicy Szechwan Chicken, but we were out of red pepper flakes.  She used oregano instead.  You would be correct in assuming that this was not a screaming success. In honour of Canada Day, I felt like making butter tarts .  I didn't have any corn syrup, which is called for in the traditional recipe I use, so rather than just doing a straight substitution like my mom would have (and added, I don't know, Sriracha ?), I Googled around and found  this  version, using maple syrup. How apropos! Another professional-quality food pic.  Trust me, they were delicious. These ain't health food, and Goopy  would bitc...

Summer storm season is here.  By that, I mean it's wherever I am.  Apparently, I brought it back from New York  with me.  Last Wednesday, I left the office with my  Wayfarers  on, and walked home in bright sunshine,  thinking to myself, what are those morons on the Weather Network talking about? It's not going to rain!   10 minutes after I got in the door (for once, I was lucky), sheets of water started falling from the sky. Seriously. An hour later, the lobby ceiling in the other condo in this generally lovely complex, which my friends call  Cabrini Green , because the elevators break so often, partially collapsed when a storm drain broke.  This left both buildings with no hot water Thursday morning. Great.  I discovered this at 7 AM by sticking my leg under running water I assumed to be hot.  The shriek I let out woke me, and probably a few neighbours, up. There was no way I was taking an ice cold shower, so I j...