Apologies for the delay between broadcasts. I’ve been sick this week so that’s killed any desire to do much outside the home. Wednesday was the worst. On the other days I was at least well enough to do some work but Wednesday I slept until 11 and then in the afternoon only had enough energy to watch Outrageous Fortune, an 80s film with Bette Midler and Shelley Long. It was good for the soul.

It’s my second cold this year already and has been more than just a sniffle. I rarely get sick back home but it seems I’ve fallen prone to something over here. And it’s not like I’m interacting with enough people to catch anything. Maybe that’s the problem. I haven’t built up an immunity to Canadian germs.

Anyway, enough about illness. It’s boring.

Friday Glen and I went out for lunch at Spirits, a bar on the corner near our condo. We’ve been past it so many times and eaten at the restaurants next to it that we thought we’d finally pay them a visit. Friday. Lunchtime. Packed. But we still got a table. I had chicken biryani while Glen ate chicken and mushroom fettuccine. Both were pretty good, atmosphere was nice (there was curling on the TV. It must be curling season). We’ll go again.

Afterwards we went to the ROM to check out the Forbidden City exhibition, which opens to the public on Saturday. As members we were able to go to the “preview” and check it out before everyone else.

The exhibition is divided into three parts: Outer Court, Inner Court, and Inner Sanctum of China’s Forbidden City. Like the function of the three spaces in the Forbidden City, the spaces were filled with fewer people the further you went. Everyone was bunched up at the start (which meant Glen and I didn’t linger because you can only see around so many people) and then you were practically on your own by the time you got to the end. It was uncanny. I don’t know where everyone went.

I liked seeing the big bells and chimes. A 60-piece orchestra would be on hand all the time to play for whatever ceremonial function was required. The rest of the exhibition was mostly made up of pieces of Ming and Qing pottery, scrolls, screens, and a few personal items of the Emperor and his family.

Throughout you’re aware of how strongly the Emperor ruled the life of the Empire’s 400 million inhabitants (and also the sub-standard existence led by the palace eunuchs), yet when it got to the Last Emperor, Puri, who was young and forced to abdicate, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad for the end of all that tradition, of that lineage.

In the evening, we met Rob and Adam for dinner at Canteen at TIFF. Three of us had fish and chips, while Glen ordered a pizza. He didn’t like it so we swapped meals halfway through so he wouldn’t go hungry.

After dinner, the four of us saw 300: Rise of an Empire (film about Darius the First’s attack on Athens) at Scotiabank Theatre with Peter and Royden. I had almost no expectations for this film, other than that there’d be a lot of blood and a lot of half-naked buff men. It delivered. Out of the six of us, I think I probably enjoyed it the most.

The script wasn’t very good, the multiple accents were hilarious (the lead was South African and there were two Brits in it (one who played James Cook in Skins) and they were almost cockney time accents), the amount of blood was comical, yet the battle scenes were pretty good, lots of abs and pecs and biceps to drool over, and the epic nature of the story made it a bit of a romp. Don’t see it if you’re expecting anything really good.

Oh, and David Wenham was in it, with a bit of a funny accent. Really he could have just kept his Australian one and he’d have fit right in. And when did he get buff?

This morning we went to St Lawrence Market with Pete and Royden. Saturday is Farmers’ Market day there so it’s good for getting fresh veggies. We started off with crepes and coffee, then bought fish and cheese, before loading up with vegetables at the farmers’ market side, and then back again to get some more food.

In the afternoon, I made laming tons to take to Ur and Israel’s tonight as we’re watching Muriel’s Wedding and some other Toni Colette movie. It’s the third time I’ve made them and it’s getting easier. Plus this time I used a tray lined with coconut to do the covering which was much easier. Also, I used a different size of shredded coconut this time so they’ve turned out prettier.

So that’s what has been happening this week. I’ve still got a bit of a cough but I’m hoping that will go in the next few days.

Ciao.