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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???

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Amazing

Amazing is the word I heard over and over and over again at DECA’s first Pumpkin Parade. It really was.  Nearly 500 pumpkins lined the walkway and the pool.  Here are just a few.  There are a whole bunch of thank yous to come for this one, but let’s just start with the fabulous organizer Heather Bean – who had a great idea and ran with it.  That’s pretty amazing too.

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