Comfortably Fun

Saturday night, I headed to the Bathurst and St. Clair area for a house party of an old friend. The residential areas here were new to me and although it was too dark for details, I noted some interesting features. It was a boulevard-style street, which for a residential street in Toronto usually means strips of greenery and trees between the sidewalk and the road, but here it was a true median. There was even a small roundabout at one end for some Continental flair. One side of the street had no sidewalks though, something I've only ever seen in the suburbs.

These large houses were mostly single family dwellings though I was glad to see that a few near the main road were converted to multiple apartment units (likely in the past) and remained so. One house seemed to have been turned into an unusual rowhouse-esque hybrid with all 4 doors clustered together at the front. With a ravine in the area, and some good retail on St. Clair including the relocated Lamesa with its tasty filipino cuisine, I might return here in the summer to do some more exploration.

The home may be of average size out in the suburbs, but for Toronto it was quite spacious. There were around 35 guests tonight. It was a different vibe than my usual haunts of bars and DIY venues. Certainly it was an older crowd, although there were about 10 people in their 20s. But mostly because they were professionals in tech, academia, medicine and so on. In other words, folks with actual careers and financially stable, not working the gig economy and sharing an apartment with 3 roommates. I ran into some old colleagues and "dinner party" acquaintances, some of whom I haven't talked to in 5 years or even a decade.

The hosts had laid out a generous variety of finger food including fresh fruit, cheese spread, and dips. Being an avid amateur baker, they also had numerous home-made desserts including cookies and chocolate truffles. While they manned the kitchen to churn out some hot food like battered shrimp and apple and grilled cheese toast, a hired bartender made delicious drinks for guests.

I sampled a little bit of everything. The grilled cheese was nice but the apple slices just needed a little more caramelization. My favourites were the strawberries, quite large and juicy for mid-winter, and the chewy Dirty Chai Earthquake cookies.