Saturday, May 12, 2007

jaks kitchen redux





Ok, so i've now been a few times. Went for breakfast there last weekend, and what can i say, it was much improved, so much in fact, that i almost want to remove all my previous reservations about the switch over.

To summarize, there were a ton of homies, the fruit was massive, juicy and better than ever, there were specials, one of which i had, and hot damn it, it was overflowing with what it promised. We were out on the balcony, and hot diggidy the service was almost too god in that my coffee never got below half... below HALF!!! I don't even like drinking that much coffee!!! Ya, it was really good.

Partially by chance and partially because of that previously quite large breakfast, we hit it up for dinner last week as well. Again, not disappointed in the least, in fact quite delighted (i need to start using words like 'delighted' when i order bottles of white wine instead of bottles of beers). Non spicy curried cream farfalle!!! Giddeup!!! The mussels were rippin hot too (not like spicy hot, like sexy hot), with pancetta and portabellas in a red wine kickass broth, they were unlike any mussels i've eaten recently (including the ones i had at savanna last night, which you'll likely hear about elsewheres). And the wine, i think we just had house wine, not even bottles, was super crisp and perfect.

So, since i'm just an individual who has little moral responsibility to the community at large and can bounce from one location, to the next, and then back again, i am in the business of second chances, as they often bear juicier fruit, and damn, this time it was falling from the trees. I can't help but feel a little flushed or perhaps setup, as my original posting is on their cork board, but i'm going to pretend no link up was made and these were just natural changes and in no way directed at yours truly. Bye bye stoneface, hello jak. Thank goodness for second chances, proximity will no longer be the only thing bringing me back (again and again).

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

bye bye stoneface

So it's official, "Jaks Kitchen" has moved in down the street, replacing the iconic original location of "Stoneface Dolly's" gourmet homestyle eatery. I am, tres triste. I've been going for brunch still, albeit not as often, regularily over the past few months during the long transition. I've got a few things to say about the changes, and what i like and dislike. I realize some of the things that have changed will improve over time given that it is technically a new restaurant, but i'm going to mention them anyways.

Good Changes
Fruit - the new fruit is good. Big chunks of cantelope and pineapple. The fruit has gone from a whole variety, big pieces to small, on the plate to a bowl, and then back again. I actually can't remember how it was originally, but i remember the occasional blueberry. Now i'm not so sure this is a good change.
Renos - they did some renovations that gave the place a bit more space, which is definitely good.

Ambivalent Changes
Decor - i really liked the old art, then the transitional chunky art, and now i like the mirrors. The new paint is nice too.
Service - the old girls and guys served great, and so are the new. I miss the old cause they knew me of course, and i'm saddened the new may not get to know me as quickly, but i can't hold that against them.
Coffee - perhaps it hasn't changed, i'm not sure, but its still damn good.

Negative Changes
Service Times - No matter how busy it used to be, i used to be able to be in and out in 30 min or so. Last time, i was waiting at LEAST 30 min just for my food, and it wasn't that busy.
Homies - they don't even call them homies anymore!! They used to have chunks of onion and peppers in em, at least on occasion, and they just tasted better. The new ones are probably healthier tho, less butter, but the old ones definitely tasted better
Omlettes - um, hello?? Can i have cheese in my omellete. Both myself and my friend got omlettes, her the goat cheese, me the fruilano (now called peppers and spinach). Neither of us could taste the cheese, and my friend asked them to check that it was in there... they said it was. I'm skeptical. Mine was just not cooked right, the egg was too cooked, and i don't think the spinach was saute'ed at all before going in. Thats just a no-no, especially when you can't taste the cheese.
Portions - the portions are smaller, not by much, but by a little
Coffee Creamers - different company now, used to be organic creamers, now its just regular stuff.
Brunch Specials - there is a complete lack of these alltogether! The specials before were what i went for, only occasionally did i not get the semi-special eggs blackstone or mexican fritatta. Now, there are no specials, and thats just uninspired.

Let me now say this. Breakfast, was awesome, no doubt about it! One of the best breakfasts in ottawa, was and still is. But when you mess with a winning formula, even just a little, its liable to piss a few people (aka me) off. I will go back, i will grow to love it i'm sure, but i'm a little bitter that such an awesome place would every change, even a little bit.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

top uberalbums of 2006

I've been reading pitchforkmedia for some time, mostly for their top albums reviews (2006, 2005, 90s). 2006 is no different, i'm supremely interested in all they recommend. And thanks to a friend of mine, i discovered another music site, short list of music, that has also catalogued their favorite albums of the previous few years (in no particular order).

In order to "give something back" to the community and at the advice of this same friend, i've decided to cross reference the 2 lists this year, looking for hip similarities, exclusions, and things that i already think are large, or think i will probably think is large at some point during 2007.





















































































































AlbumPitchfork RankOn LonglistLargeLikely to become Large
Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time12YesYes
Belle And Sebastian - The Life Pursuit30Yes
Cat Power - The Greatest28Yes
Danielson - Ships31YesYes
Girl Talk - Night Ripper34Yes
Hot Chip - The Warning26Yes
Joanna Newsom - Ys3YesYes
Liars - Drum's Not Dead6YesYes
Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor32YesYes
Matmos - The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast47Yes
TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain2YesYes
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife41YesYes
The Knife - Silent Shout1Yes
Be Your Own Pet - Be Your Own Pet21
Beach House - Beach House16
Booka Shade - Movements50
Boris - Pink9Yes
Brightblack Morning Light - Brightblack Morning Light36
Califone - Roots & Crowns27Yes
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country45Yes
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury7
DJ Drama & Lil Wayne - Dedication 237
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies18
Ellen Allien & Apparat - Orchestra Of Bubbles49
Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things39
Ghostface Killah - Fishscale4
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House8Yes
Herbert - Scale35
J Dilla - Donuts38
Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye11
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds25
LCD Soundsystem - 45:3322
Lily Allen - Alright, Still29
M. Ward - Post-War46
Man Man - Six Demon Bag20Yes (Zaphods, tonite!)
Mastodon - Blood Mountain42
Mission Of Burma - The Obliterati33
Peter Bjorn And John - Writer's Block24Yes
Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That13
Scott Walker - The Drift10
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped43Yes
Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming15
T.I. - King19
Tapes 'N Tapes - The Loon40
The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America5Ya, Duh??
The Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home48
The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes44
The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine17
Tim Hecker - Harmony In Ultraviolet14
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass23
Against Me! - Americans Abroad Live In LondonYes
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - So DividedYes
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & RollYes
Beck - The InformationYes
Beirut - Gulag OrskestarYesYes
Bonnie Prince Billy - The Letting GoYesYes
CSS - Cansei De Ser SexyYes
Country Teasers - The Empire Strikes BackYes
Cursive - Happy HollowYes
Dabrye - Two/ThreeYes
Dead Heart Bloom - Dead Heart BloomYes
Editors - The Back RoomYes
Field Music - Field MusicYes
Forgive Durden - WonderlandYes
Jeremy Enigk - World WaitsYes
Kidd Jordan - Hamid Drake + William Parker- Palm Of SoulYes
Kimya Dawson - Remember That I Love YouYes
Love Is All - Nine Times That Same SongYes
Mates Of State - Bring It BackYes
Mew - And The Glass Hand KitesYes
Midlake - The Trials Of Van OccupantherYes
Mohair - Small TalkYes
Mute Math - MutemathYes
Neil Young - Living With WarYes
OOIOO - TaigaYes
Peeping Tom - Peeping TomYes
Raconteurs - Broken Boy SoldiersYes
Regina Spektor - Begin To HopeYes
Roots - Game TheoryYesYes
Secret Machines - Ten Silver DropsYes
Serena Maneesh - Serena ManeeshYes
Skream - SkreamYes
Spank Rock - YoYoYoYoYoYes
Teddybears - Soft MachineYes
The Blow - Paper TelevisionYes
The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of ControlYes
The Hush Sound - Like VinesYes
The Stills - Without FeathersYes
The Strokes - First Impression Of EarthYes
The Velvet - Teen Cum LaudeYes
The Weepies - Say I Am YouYes
Tom Waits - OrphansYesYa, but its not really 2006
Vaux - Beyond Virture Beyond ViceYes
We Are Scientists - With Love And SqualorYes
Wolfmother - WolfmotherYes
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your BonesYesYes
the Bronx - The BronxYes



If you've got any suggestions for albums to check out on the list, let me hear em. Or perhaps if you know of a better way of presenting this massive tabular data on a blog, cause i agree this is nasty.

Friday, March 16, 2007

lunchtime





Not much has changed, not much is new. Life has been very good lately. As evidence of this, i will present this image, my lunch on this march 16th 2007.
- de cecco tagliatelle, comes in spools, best dried pasta you can buy
- 3 large mushrooms, sliced
- 8 cherry tomatos, halved
- a bunch green onions, 1.5 inch pieces
- 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- half red pepper - unnecessary
- pinches of hot peppers
- tons of s & p
- large bunch parsley, chopped
- a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil
- a bit of wine, a bit of broth, optional, unnecessary

1 Start water on high, start fry pan on med-high
2 add shrooms n pepper, cook for a few min
3 add pasta to water when boiling
4 add oil and s n p n hot peppers to pan
5 a few min later add rest of stuff to fry pan
6 keep on kookin!
7 when pasta done, spoon directly into pan, add a bit more oil, combine

Eat!!! This may not be everyones cup of tea, but a refreshing pasta lunch like this revitalizes me like nothing else.

I'm working from home today, it rules. Things of note:
- Apparently my blog is worth a little over 500 bux:
- Its getting warmer! Soon to start running in prep for 10 million K!!!
- House stuff mostly on hold, trying to find people to build a deck for you can be hard work.

Monday, March 5, 2007

inspired by seahorses

I think this is pretty inspiring. Even without him ever earning a dime for it, I think its beautiful, and sad to think of what was happening to those precious baby seahorses (being chewed up).

I think its also scary and great that CBC calls it news!!!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

cats attacking

Ok, now that i have cats, its time to mix that and youtube and show you all what my cats can do. This is just the first vid, no edits, but i think it speaks for itself if you can wait through the first dark 15 seconds.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

idea - returnable take out bins

Thanks to the ontario's governments great new idea/plan to return various liquor bottles to the beer store, i've come up with another idea.

The amount of garbage i create has gone down considerably since i've got a compost.  The most massive thing that gets added to my garbage these days is take out bins, styrophoam, and i guess the tops of the metal ones.  What if various environ-concious restaurants (ie green door, table) joined a program where their take outs were actually decent plastic/pyrex/ceramic containers with good tops (microwavable of course) and charged a deposit for them, say, 5$.  Each of the bins/containers would have some sore of id/barcode/something on the bottom so as to discourage falsifying them for the 5$.  Any store that took part could have the (dirty) containers returned to them.

I'm thinking a place like the yangtzee could cut down massively on landfill if they did this.  Think about the amount of landfill they take up in a night for their hot and sour soup take outs?  I must take up a cubic metre a year just on those styrophoam things...  i'd gladly pay a 5$ deposit for each thingy, could exchange them with the delivery guy after the first purchase, etc..

Well?  Would it fly??  Been done?