Ossfest 2107

This afternoon, Teena and I headed up to Ossfest. This is the second year for the festival where Ossington Ave, one of the coolest strips in Toronto, is closed between Dundas and Queen.

They drew a good crowd despite the threat of rain.

I thought this was a clever idea. A place for cyclists to store their bikes fro free safely so they could enjoy the festival and not bother people with their bikes.

The Indie88 people were there giving out sunglasses. Yes, I got a pair.

Some of the booths

Bang Bang Ice Cream was a hit as usual. They don't need a festival to have a line-up as it is lined up, morning, noon and night.

This is a great looking peameal sandwich. It came from Rashers, a restaurant on Ossington known for a variety of bacon sandwiches.

The music stage was up by Dundas and The Painted Lady provided a patio to watch from.

Kunle were very good. The lead singer is from Nigeria.

They were followed by Park Eddy, who were quite good. I really enjoyed their lead guitarist.

Later Tia Brazda hit the stage.

When we walked up Ossington, we saw a wrestling or boxing ring. I wasn't sure which. While walking the other way, a wrestling event was going on provided by Superkickd. It was a lot of fun. They fought in the ring, in the street on ladders. it was a fun way to end the day.

Ossfest was fun and I would go again next year.

Word on the Street 2016 Festival

Today was the 26th annual Word on the Street Festival. I have never been before and decided this was the year to attend. Unfortunately Teena had to go to London today and could not attend.

Harbourfront is the perfect location for this festival. Right on the water and a lot of space. Last year this event had 200,000 people attend and as it was a beautiful day, it likely had the same or more this year. I liked the fact that the space was spread out and never felt crowded.

I attended four sessions today. The first was for writers, What Literary Agents are Looking For with Olga Filina (left), an agent from the Rights Factory, and Carolyn Forde from Westwood Creative Artists. It was a hugely interesting session, especially the question session from the audience. I learned a lot about the publishing industry.

Being a readers event, many authors were there. Linwood Barclay gave a reading and a talk, then signed books for fans. I liked how he took his time to speak to each and every person that had a book signed.

Anna Y.K. Chow, author of Kay's Lucky Coin Variety.

I went to a 30 minute session with Joe Friesen, who read from his book The Ballad of Danny Wolfe.

Afterwards he was interviewed by Sue Carter, the editor of Quill and Quire. It was hugely interesting as the book was about the most wanted man in Canada and his gang, and the stories of how him interviewing the people involved for the story. It's on my books to read list.

My next event was Overcoming the Odds: Long Journeys to Publication with Mona Awad and Anna Y.K. Chow. It was 45 minutes long with very interesting and different stories and approaches to writing by both authors.

My last session involved a cruise on the lake on the Kajama as part of Author Cruise sessions called Baseball Fever. Buck Martinez, Toronto Blue Jays TV announcer and author of Change Up: How to Make the Great Game of Baseball Even Better, was supposed to be there but the Jays/Yankees game went late and he had to stay and call the game.

As we passed the Rogers Centre, we noticed the roof closed and somebody announced that the Jays had won in the bottom on the ninth. A huge cheer went up.

It was a beautiful day for a cruise in Toronto Harbour.

Author Andrew Forbes read from a short story from his book, The Utility of Boredom, about attending a Mets game just before the team was about to move to their new stadium. I never heard of the book but now I want to read it!

He was followed by Dan Robson, co-writer of Change Up with Buck Martinez. He insisted that when he read from the book, we listened with Bucky's voice. He was funny and informative.

Andrew and Dan read from their books as they were already out. Stacey May Fowles and Morgan Campbell, both baseball writers who approach the game from different angles, joined in the discussion afterwords and all took questions from the audience.

I always thought Word on the Street was just a book selling fair but it is much more. I'll definitely be back next year!

The Second Annual Pan American Food Festival

Tonight Teena and I went to the Pan American Food Festival, which is being held at Daniels Spectrum in Toronto's east end.

A one of a kind gastronomic event is taking over the heart of Toronto, one that promises to reveal the flavours of the Americas, local artists and talent: The PAN AMERICAN FOOD FESTIVAL.

From August 8th to the 10th, the second annual PAN AMERICAN Food Festival will showcase the best of the best food products, celebrating the great cultural diversity of the 41 countries of North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. The Pan American Food Festival (PAFF) will showcase restaurants, food producers, chefs and the variety of national and regional cuisines of the Western Hemisphere, with a spotlight on one country each year. 

A cultural festival of art, music and folklore will enhance the food experience to celebrate the region’s diverse cultural expression.

This is the second year for the festival, we missed the inaugural one. The draw for us this year was that Peru is the featured country. I was in Peru back in 2001 and loved the country, people, history and the food. This was a not to-miss-event for me.

Here I am in Peru October 2001. If you enjoy traveling, Peru is a must see country!

The festival was held on a closed off Regent Park Blvd. There were vendors outside selling clothes, jewelry and, of course, Latin American food.

 

 

 

 

 

Now, my favorite vendor, and the highlight of my day was the Aborigen Handcrafts table.

Founded in 2010 in Toronto, Aborigen Handcrafts specializes in importing unique handcrafts and products exclusively from Ecuador. Our main import are straw hats known as "toquilla hats."

I am a hat guy and I thank Teena for being so patient while I tried on hats and being honest in her opinions. Here are a couple that didn't work.

 

Here I am with Priscilla, who was very helpful in helping me select the hat I am wearing in the picture. What a great hat! Perfect for me... of course, I bought it!

I had a Ceviche from Valdez, which is located on King Street West. Ceviche is raw fish or seafood cooked in the acid of lime juice. No heat, just citrus. I had it many times in Peru. How was this one? Delicious! In it was scallop, tomato, chili, cilantro, citrus and Andean corn nuts. I loved the crunch the corn nuts added to the dish. I had it with a Tecate beer from Mexico.

 

 

It was a coincidence that our neighbor, who works at Valdez, was there selling food and drink tickets.

Teena had roast pork and rice which she enjoyed. I have a half dish later, and yes, it was quite good!

 

There was a tamale contest featuring six chefs from around the city. 

 

This year the festival is having its first Wine and Spirits Salon.

The Wine & Spirits Salon brings the tropical taste of Latin American beverages to Toronto within the Pan American Food Festival - the only festival in the world that celebrates the best food, drinks and culture of the Western Hemisphere. The influence of Latin American culture is very visible in what Canadians are drinking every day: margaritas, mojitos, ipirinhas and pisco sours, not to mention Argentinian and Chilean wines. For this year’s event, we will feature pisco from our host country, Peru, as well as tequila, mezcal and rum from participating producers and distributors.

 

When I was in Peru, I fell in love with Pisco Sours. The basic formula is three parts pisco to one part simple syrup and one part lime juice ... with that goes Angostura bitters. They had them here and they were fabulous so I had a couple. I have to learn to make this at home.

 

 

I had a chance to talk to the fellow who was in charge of the sampling of pisco and had no idea it was made from grapes. He poured me a sample and it was great by itself! Yes, I have to go and get some pisco for home!

There were some things lacking form the festival, which I offer up for consideration for next year.

When we arrived, we were unsure if this, in fact, was the festival. The signage was poor. The sign at the top of this article, originally was half way down the event. Later we found it moved to the street. There were no large signs to indicate the Wine and Spirits Salon. We knew where it was as we were in the festival website before we arrived but if you just happened on by, you wouldn't know about it.

The other thing is that there should have been live South American music. There was none. We have been to many street festivals that have had bands from down there.  In fact, there is a Peruvian flute band that I always enjoy that was a must for there.

We had a good time, though, and I came away with a great hat. I look forward to this festival growing in the future.