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Toronto East General And You

Photo: danforthlife.ca

 

The Toronto East General Hospital is big.  Over the years it has expanded by way of new buildings and additions.  Some of those buildings don’t quite line up – so in some cases you have to go down to up or go east to go west.  And it’s old.  And you know how old buildings can be.  The heating and cooling and plumbing and electrical can get a bit tricky – to say the least.

The good news is there is a grand plan afoot to completely redevelop the hospital.  The bad news is it will take a few years to get shovels in the ground and a few more years before the new building is up and the old building is down.  However during the entire process the hospital will continue to provide 100% of its services.

A community hospital like TEGH isn’t particularly sexy like say, a world-renowned children’s hospital.  It doesn’t evoke the kind of philanthropy that you might find at a downtown cancer centre.  But babies are born there.  Grandparents spend their last days there.  Hearts are fixed.  So are broken bones and broken minds.  And it’s ours.

TEGH would like your input about what the new hospital will be.  What will the green space look like?  Is there room for beauty and art?  What colour should the walls be?  How should the waiting rooms be designed?

The TEGH CEO and Director of Pharmacy and Emergency, as well as the project architect met with the DECA executive committee last month to introduce us to the plan. It’s ambitious and is trying to take into account the community in which it is set.  Now they would like you to come and hear more about the plan and provide your two cents.

Monday, November 22nd at 6:30 p.m. at the Toronto East General Hospital (Coxwell and Mortimer) in the E2 Lecture Theatre.  www.tegh.on.ca

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Let Us Eat Cake!

Pat Chartier is the Kermit T. Frog of DECA Diaries.  She’s out on the street getting the scoop on what’s coming and what’s going on the Danforth.  Here’s her latest post from the field:

There’s a neat new business coming to the Danforth, immediately west of Celena’s Bakery near Woodbine and Danforth:  Madame Gateaux Patisserie!  OMG ANOTHER bakery, you’re thinking. But no. The owner, Noel Yim, is a trained pastry chef, and she is going to offer cake baking and decorating classes, and also sell baking utensils/cookware. Fred and I peeked in and the place looks great. She hopes to open next Saturday or early the following week. Her sign should be going up a.s.a.p.

Cake decorating is hugely popular these days–look at all the TV  reality shows with that focus–so Madame Gateaux could potentially draw customers from outside our immediate area, and that would be good for all our wonderful neighbourhood retailers. I know I certainly would love to take a decorating class or two. Here’s wishing her well!

Butter Tart Boys

Check out their sweeeeet jazz sound this Friday night at True Brew Cafe.  This is a great event for families because it happens from 7 – 9:30 p.m. and there are yummy treats!  True Brew is at 2116 Danforth, just east of Woodbine.

Little Footprint Toys

This local web business sells ‘planet friendly fun and gear’ including toys and games for all ages.  Owner, Barbara, is holding three ‘pop up’ sales this holiday season at the Cool East Market (1390 Danforth Ave near Greenwood Stn).  The sales are Nov. 19-21, Dec. 3-5 and Dec. 17-18.  Each weekend will include a special promotion so check out the website (here) to learn more.

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Full Bellies and Warm Hearts

Every year, among many other things, Catherine Porter, organizes generous community volunteers to cook dinner for the farmers and their helpers at the East Lynn Farmers Market.  She sent along this note of thanks.

The last farmers’ market this year was cold and damp.  The farmers had dwindled down to 14, selling apples and honey and what’s left of the broccoli and lamb. But, at 5:15 p.m. they shovelled in warm bangers and mash and were, as usual, very grateful. I handed a steaming plate to a new farmer, who arrived to the market for the first time with Ruth’s cheese. He was bewildered.

“What is this?” he said. “Our community is grateful you are here. So, we feed you every Thursday so you leave with big, warm bellies,” I answered.

He beamed at me.

It was another great moment of many this summer.

Every Thursday — rain or shine — when you are rushing home, someone is rushing out to the farmers’ market not to pick up supplies (although, maybe that too), but to bring each of them a homemade meal.

Some people cooked once, which was fabulous. Others cooked twice and three times, which was mind-boggling. And every Thursday, the farmers said how grateful they were for the generosity and kindness.

As I’ve said many times here before, the farmers feed us, and we feed the farmers. They have helped make our little pocket of the city more of a community, and we in turn, want to include them in that feeling.

It’s a lot of work, for very little pay. But it was very much appreciated.

So, please, thank with me the following cooks, who arrived on a Thursday with every thing from Morroccan chicken curry to lasagna:

Susan Spratley, Nicola St. John, Susan Cox, Susi Tarleton, Pat Chartier, Kirsten Hurd, Shelley Pogue, Mary Egan, Sara Heinonen, Nicola Yap, Robin Forbes, Susan Crofts, Frances Bartlett, Tanya Geisler, Jessi Schmiedchen, Laurie Smith, Catherine Dorton, Ruth Heathcote, Lorraine Cheng, Alisha Austin, Wayne Chee, Melissa Peritti, and Alison McMurray.

If you want to join us and cook one night — or many — next summer, please let me know: catherine_porter@rogers.com

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Pumpkin Parade Appreciation Part 2

Our Pumpkin Poster Artist – Tak Bui

Thank you to Tak Bui, designer of our first-ever Pumpkin Parade poster. He’s a man of many talents and is committed to community service, as you’ll read below:

Tak Bui is the cartoonist of two syndicated comic strips with the Washington Post Writers’ including “Cheap Thrills Cuisine,” with Chef Bill Lombardo, a longtime friend who is also a local resident.

A native of Vietnam, Tak won a scholarship at 17 to study in the U.S.  He has won awards for editorial illustrations and has illustrated Vietnamese and Canadian children’s books.  McClelland and Stewart will publish his next book of cartoons for children in 2011.  Tak has also taught cartooning for non-profit art organizations in Toronto.

Tak is a founding member of the Stephenson Ave. Community Garden near Main and Danforth, which won a Beautiful City award. Last summer he played mandolin at farmers’ markets around town (including the East Lynn Farmers’ Market)  with Bad Dog Trio, a retro country band. Tak is married with two adult children.

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Pumpkin Parade Appreciations Part 1

Heather Bean organized the fabulous pumpkin parade last week and she has sent along this note of thanks…

Photo courtesy of jaaaarel

Pumpkin parade appreciations

What a great night! I had a blast at the pumpkin parade. Here are a few thank yous to the people who pulled it together.

Thanks first to Natasha Granatstein for offering orientation and lots of good advice, Sarah Kiliuk for handling media contacts, and the whole DECA crew for helping to harness this great neighbourhood’s enthusiasm and community spirit.

Huge, huge thanks to our volunteer crew for the event: Julie Doucet, who managed to photograph the event as she lit your pumpkins and doled out candles; Anita Schretlen, who showed up after the parade to haul pumpkins, taking on the grunt work and not much glory; and most especially to Johanne Von Zuben, who showed up an hour before the parade began and cheerfully stuck it out to the bitter end. A special award goes to Andrea for volunteer spontaneity–she came for the parade but stayed to help us clean up.

Thanks, too, to City of Toronto Parks Manager ,Bob Ward, and his cleanup crew; the next day there wasn’t a pumpkin seed in sight. Amazing.

And finally (and crucially), thank you to everyone who brought a pumpkin to share! Each pumpkin made the parade bigger, better and more beautiful. Hope to see you all out again next year–tell your neighbours!

Show us your pictures!

There were lots of cameras at the pumpkin parade, and we want to see your favourite photos! On Flickr, tag them “DECA Pumpkin Parade”, or email them to hbbean(at)gmail.com

And we’d love to hear from the owner of the giant monkey Jack O’Lantern, the king of the parade. Where’d you find that pumpkin???