Social weekend
I did just about no cooking today, having made plenty of arrangements to dine with friends. In fact, I did very little aside from socialising with friends. But since I haven't done that very much as of late, I'm glad that I did.
Yesterday, I spent much of the day cleaning up the house. I had bought some wooden dowel and sawed wood all morning. No no, not snoring, that's what I do at night. Then, as swestrup suggested, I fed this through the holes in my shelving. Perfect. And it looks about right. I filled up half of one bookshelf with computer books before realising what time it was.
You see, I was to go to Simon Forman's birthday party later that evening. And I had yet to run out to get his present. So I ran into the drizzling afternoon, got lost several times, and eventually wound up at Le Valet d'Cœur. Very nice place, but service was so difficult to get. I managed to find someone to help me just as they were closing up.
I ran home with the gift in tow and finished tidying up a bit. Then I dashed over to catch the 80. Which I just missed. So I walked to the nearest Metro station. By the time I arrived at the party, well, the party wasn't populated by very many people. Apparently, musicdieu had come and gone. It was fairly cool though, since I haven't seen Simon in a long time, so I chatted with him for a while. Then Mary showed up and we sat around talking until Andrew appeared. By this time, people were starting to get tired, so Andrew and I shared a cab ride home.
This morning, I woke up to a kitty cat sleeping on my stomach. After getting out of that tangle, I got up and did some more tidying. Then it was time to go downtown for 點心. I missed the 80 again and was forced to walk to Chinatown. I have got to learn the schedule for that route. Eating at 富麗華 is a hit and miss experience, but this time was excellent. The food was reasonably fresh and everyone ate their fill. There was a Republic of China Veterans' convention going on in the same room, so we were treated to a lot of announcements coming over the loudspeakers. Still, I managed to enjoy conversing with France, Damian, angorian, Luke, and Jaleen.
After our meal, we wandered lazily downstairs to the street. France had invited us to see the Farha Foundation's au cœur de la mode, a fashion sale charity for AIDS research. We walked about the Palais des congrès until my feet hurt, searching out someone good and cheap. I managed to snag a knee-length jacket that seems pretty sharp. Actually, I'm glad I did because it got rather chilly on my walk home tonight.
Which brings me to why I didn't cook dinner. You see, for the longest time we've been saying that we ought to eat some Ethiopian food. Well, azhrey made reservations at Au Messob D'or (5690, av. Monkland. Montréal, QC. 514-488-8620.) This was a far more familiar environment and the food was quite well spiced as well. What I found strange was that all the dishes were on the rather dry side. Perhaps this is an aberation though. I understand that there is proper coffee service at this restaurant, so I'll have to go back some time.
On my walk home, I passed by the park in front of my flat. (How could I not?) I noticed a great many people playing in the grass and beating drums and chanting into a microphone. Ah, of course, tam tam. I am reminded of this because I'm sitting in my bedroom and I can still hear them. It is quite a rambunctous affair.