Hi guys! it’s Sarah here trying for the 1,000 time to publish a successful food review! lol
Now, my Double Date guests are a couple I met on FaceBook! Michael is a trusted friend for quite some time and he arrived in Toronto to visit me with his GORGEOUS wife Luana, a brazillian beauty!
Because I tell him all of the time how much I love this small place down the street called SABAI SABAI & drinks, he FINALLY came to town! What a friend!
Patrick wondered about this strange dude that his girl talks to all the time! Always the bodyguard, Patrick and I approached the table cautiously with me smiling like a fool! Seeing my friend Michel in person rocked my world and meeting his superstar wife was brilliant.
After introductions, we ordered. We decided on getting several tapas style sharable dishes to begin with. One Masaman curry with perfectly prepared shrimp delicious gravy, and some red peppers – $7; some sticky rice – $3. Now, this curry dish is too spicy or my palate, however Luana practically devoured it! Michael then ordered our FAVOURITE dish Kal Soi with egg noodles and super tender chunks of beef, curry, veg, and for presentation sake some FLASHED FRIED noodles which gave the dish height, drama, and excitement! 8-11$ :D
To test his heat tolerance, I ordered what is usually the hottest dish on the menu, their Green Mango salad. With Thai Bird chilies and Habanero ones too secretly mixed in to the mélange, Michael claimed that it was not spicy whatsoever… We knew the truth though!
Dessert changes regularly but ranges between $5-7 and have some Thai flavor too, lemongrass frequently takes a staring roll.
In the end, we ordered half the menu many alcoholic drinks at 5-6$ each the total was still under $120 including tax and tip!
Split between 4 people we say, it is THE spot you should check the next time you are trying to make reservations.
Tip from me to you: call ahead because it gets busy! Order as much as you can! ;-)
Whenever we can afford to, Sarah and me like to try out a new place to see how well it sits with our delicate culinary sensibilities.
And, truth be told, we are actually pretty snobby about food. Now that I’m thinking about it, we’re fairly uptight about our drink too.
And for good reason, I figure — now matter where you go, you’re paying for what you get, so why not get the best deal for your money?
When it comes to food, cheapest is hardly the best, but neither is the most expensive. It’s those in-between gems that manage to put together a tasty, filling meal at a great price that we focus on — sensible satiety.
Every once in a while we manage to get a few words in with the owner, or the head chef, or whoever has just delivered a meal worth writing about. Most of the time, though, we sit back unmolested and are thus able to bring you genuine reviews.
Nevertheless, it’s a pretty massive breach of electoral rules, and it basically makes the Harper government illegitimate. Little wonder they’re in no hurry to get to the bottom of things.
The auditor general himself said today this has nothing to do with improper use of government money . . . There is some lack of clarity. The auditor general has made some suggestions on how we can be more clear in our tracking in the future.
So, basically, nothing’s wrong here, we just need to tweak a few (billion) things.
The audit people were in lock-step with the Prime Minister:
… audit officials chalk up the discrepancy to lax bookkeeping. The audit suggests several scenarios for what may have happened: the funding may have lapsed and never been spent; or it may have been spent on anti-terror efforts but reported as other program spending; or it may have been spent on program unrelated to security.
Basically, the money could have gone anywhere and been spent on literally anything.
We didn’t find anything that gave us cause for concern that the money was used in any way that it should not have been,
Nothing to see here!
That massive pile of cash that could’ve helped to pay for things like Toronto transit … better that that money just disappear and no, you aren’t allowed to ask any questions. Heil Harper!
You know how it is … you’re strolling down the street thinking to yourself, “you know, it’d be nice to have a massive, fatal coronary right here and now”. Except every time you’ve tried that, those damn EMS people come by and resuscitate you.
“She’s making it sound like everyone in Toronto loves streetcars. That’s how she’s making it sound, that everyone is Gung ho and it is the total opposite. The mayor won with a clear mandate from the people of Toronto to build subways and she’s gone, in my opinion, and sold a bill of goods that is inaccurate in my opinion.”
Of course, Dougie is fully entitled to his opinion, but based on the abject failures that comprise his own brother’s travels (still waiting on all those Chicago jobs!), you’d think he might temper his criticism a bit.
But then again, these are the Fords we’re talking about and they aren’t really about “subways, subways, subways!”, or “casino, casino, casino!”, they’re about getting and retaining flunkies who will toe their line on any old issue they pull out of their ass. And, being the Fords, the naturally believe that women make the most natural and passive of subservient flunkies.
The über-brief, late-evening, and mostly one-sided conversation comprised of Ford advising Kirbie to get her name on the ballot, and at that time he’d give her more advice. In other words, make sure you’re running against Ford — become his opponent — and he will advise you on how best to defeat him.
Maybe I’m reading a bit between the lines here, but I’m getting the nagging feeling that the Ford brothers think that we’re all complete idiots (and extra on you ladies!)
The recent news that hundreds of students in Ottawa have been suspended from school for not proving they’ve been immunized reminded me of what’s wrong with the thinking behind the whole effort. Or rather, the lack of thinking behind it.
The best argument supporting immunization is: look at how far we’ve come and how many diseases we’ve virtually eradicated … introducing an unvaccinated child into a school potentially reverses all of that progress and puts everyone at risk!
Right…
So if we bring a kid with, say, polio into a school where all the other kids have been vaccinated, they’re all at risk of catching polio? In other words, the vaccine is so ineffective that the moment you sneak the bug back into the general population, it’s game over. So get your shots so that everyone’s protected!
I suppose one could make the argument that if you choose not to be vaccinated and subsequently contract the illness, you should have to pay for your own treatments. Harsh, and not something I would support (my tax money supports lots of chronically ill people and I think that’s just fine), but at least there’s a cold, logical connection there.
But to claim that the vaccinated population is at risk of contracting the very disease that they’ve been “protected” against by being exposed to said disease, however that happens, is such an idiotic, nonsensical, and backwards argument that it’s hard to believe that anyone could repeat it without bursting into laughter.
The other argument I often hear is that if we allow people to make choices for themselves, they will choose to abstain from vaccinations and we’re going to end up with a pandemic, essentially destroying our healthcare system, etc. Basically, it’s about money, and isn’t it ridiculous of us to expect to be taken care of by the government that takes so much of our money under the auspices of using it to take care of us? If it’s good for us, we should be forced into it, so it’s vaccinations, cigarettes, booze, and a dizzying array of “safe” pharmaceuticals and continued government vigilance for everyone!
If you believe that vaccinations are ultimately useful, I’m happy to support your right to that opinion, and I’m even willing to have a part of my tax money to provide you with vaccinations (in fact, this is happening without my consent anyways), should you choose to get them. Choice is the operative word here.
In the meantime, let’s not throw around these infantile arguments that do nothing but imply that we’re all complete idiots while we’re forced to succumb to them whether we like it or not. It adds insult to injury.
Just so I’m clear, I support neither the Tamil Tigers nor the Sri Lankan government in their ongoing struggle. Yes, I do know a bit of the history of the island, the forced displacement of the indigenous Tamil people, etc., but not enough to take a firm stand either way.
But that’s not my point in writing this anyway.
I want to expose the hypocrisy, arbitrariness, and two-facedness of our government in designating enemies and terrorists, especially now that they’ve pushed the “anti-terrorist” Bill S-7 down the throats of Canadians (the latest in a long line of tyrannical, totalitarian, deadly measures that have only one, logical conclusion).
The Tamil Tigers consider themselves freedom fighters, fighting an evil and corrupt strong-man government (openly and proudly installed and maintaned by the Harper government). Sure, many people wouldn’t agree with that definition of the Tigers, but that’s beside the point — Harper loves him his Sri Lankan “authorities” and has made sure Canada’s been helping out since 2006 while simultaneously ensuring dissent is fully destroyed:
Canadian interest in Sri Lanka is also driven by a foreign policy commitment to the principles of freedom of expression, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
In April 2006, Canada listed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a terrorist organization under the Canadian Criminal Code, and in June 2008, the World Tamil Movement was also added to the list.
Now, John Baird, the guy currently running this part of Harper’s shit show, has this to say about the same government that they’ve been brown-nosing and loving up over the past 7 years:
“We’re appalled that Sri Lanka seems poised to host CHOGM and to be chair-in-residence of the Commonwealth for two years,” he told the Guardian.
“Canada didn’t get involved in the Commonwealth to accommodate evil; we came to combat it. We are deeply disappointed that Sri Lanka appears poised to take on this leadership role.”
This in-your-face hypocrisy is troubling on many levels, but there are two that stand out above others.
It’s excruciatingly obvious that this has nothing to do with “terrorism”, supporting human rights, ensuring equality, etc.; it’s all about arbitrarily (at least, on the surface), vilifying one group or another for reasons of conquest, division, strife, and control. And while simultaneously decrying our new enemies abroad (but not actually doing anything to back up the vociferous fist-pounding), the government is passing measures designed to go after its own people in the most draconian manner and with complete impunity at home (again, see S-7 for just a smattering).
This dark and unsettling road that we’re on is nonetheless clearly marked, and has an even more clear destination. It’s not as if history hasn’t shown us example after example of where all of this leads (if we let it), and those who choose to remain ignorant, or worse, supportive of it, also have plenty of first-hand experience to draw on:
“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!
If…if…
We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
Not what Stintz said, but given the collective capacity for comprehension behind Ford Nation, let’s just say close enough.
Except that Ford did’t write or send the response, he got one of his lackeys (George Christopoulos), to do it. In fact, there’s no indication that Rob Ford was involved in anything to do with the situation.
To be fair, he was probably busy clearing his schedule in order to personally respond to each constituent’s phone call (as every mayor of every large metropolitan area should) — a conservative estimate of 300,000 calls a year, or 820 calls per day — and delegated this lowly task to Christopoulos. Or maybe he was coaching football. Whatever. Clearly Ford showed leadership and world-class initiative, and got right out in front of the issue.
Specifically, Stintz says that Ford is “abdicating his responsibility” (to Ford Nation: that means failing to do his job), by continually putting off on hearing about various transit funding options for the city (expected to need about $2 billion over 25 years).
The options, put forward by Metrolinx, include:
Parking fees levy: An extra $1 a day, for a total of $1.4 billion a year.
Sales tax: An extra 1 per cent added to the HST, for an estimated income of $1.4 billion a year.
Fuel tax: An extra five cents per liter of gas, estimated to bring in $330 million a year.
Payroll tax: With a hike of 0.5 per cent, this would be expected to generate $700 million a year.
Property tax: Estimated to bring in an additional $670 million a year.
Vehicle travel fee: Drivers would be charged 3 cents per kilometer traveled. Expected to raise $1.6 billion per year, but the setup and administrative costs would probably be massive (if this was even doable).
Highway tolls: Same as above, but only on highways and at 10 cents a kilometre. Expected to pull in $1.4 billion a year.
Development charges: Developers would be dinged with a 15 per cent increase, amounting to about $100 million a year.
Transit fare increases: Guaranteed increases each and every year (in place now — thanks, Rob!), are apparently not nearly enough. An additional 15 cent per ride is expected to generate $50 million a year.
Land value capture: This weird one has private land owners forking over cash to the government when their property values increase as a result of adjacent government projects (they build a park next door, claim that it makes your property more expensive, and skim the difference). No figures provided.
I’m not going to sit here and claim that any of these are giving me a boner, but with these few, short paragraphs, I’ve managed to do infinitely more research into the topic than Ford.
Maybe none of these ideas have any merit at all. Maybe some of them are quietly and not obviously brilliant. Rob Ford will never know as his only response is to obstinately stick his fingers in his ears, scream “I can’t hear you!”, and blame everyone and their dog for lack of planning, poor leadership, and a lack of momentum.
In the meantime, you can actually hear the paint dry as Robbie mulls over his own, intricate and vast transit plans, which comprise of:
... with pictures
... with sounds
... with videos
... with opinions
... that's shorter
... that's longer
