Flight Control, this is the last 40min you wasted

If you have an iPhone, I'm about to tell you about an extremely addictive game to download. I caution you in advance... it is both highly satisfying and time-wasting.

It's called "Flight Control. The highest score I was able to achieve was eighty-something. My husband just emailed me a screen capture proudly displaying his highest score:


Download if you dare...

Feel free to let me know of other fun/addictive/cool games or apps...

New York Follows Me

As you might know, a lot of footage in movies and television shows set in New York City are filmed in Toronto. It's cheaper and the two cities look similar. While walking in my neighbourhood (that's right, I'm using Canadian spelling - we love our "u"s), King Street East was transformed into a Manhattan scene.

Photo below: the line of New York yellow taxis

Photo below: New York news stand and hot dog cart

It looks like the gods didn't think I had enough New York. And, as it turns out, they're right because Husband and I are going to spend the month of May there. We're planning on subletting an apartment and work remotely. The only thing I worry about is how my cat will do in the car for 8 hours. Oh boy.

New York daily, part 2

I finally have a moment to recap the rest of my trip. Getting back to "real" life in Toronto has been busy so cut me some slack!

Monday night: Lower East Side.
Shang Chinese Restaurant by Toronto chef Susur Lee.
Stanton Social for a drink.

Tuesday: Upper East Side.
Got my eyebrows threaded while my sister got her hair did.
Had a bite at Hot and Crusty. My fave bagel place in NYC.
Mani /Pedi - black nailpolish on toes, translucent pink on fingers.
Kinkos to get business cards printed for sis.
Kate's Paperie - beautiful stationary for the office in our company color.
Really mean taxi driver - so funny.

Tuesday night:
Sister went to work function, I went to Whole Foods (saw Seven Weber).
The W Hotel Store - got two little Jonathan Adler ceramic vases (photo below), a wrap cardigan, Hanky Panky undies and pink "Love Quotes" scarf.
Wednesday: Flatiron district.
Guest on The 404.
Walked by the Shake Shack where they're famous for their long lines. (photo below: Shake Shack is on the left, the line snakes to the right.)
Met up with sister, walked by Baked by Melissa and bought a $1 cupcake.... the size of my thumbnail, or as my sister said, the size of a popcorn kernel. (photo below)
Wednesday night: Gramercy.
The Moth with sister and her 2 roommates. TWO MORE CELEB SIGHTINGS!!
- Lorraine Bracco, aka Dr. Jennifer Melfi from The Sopranos and
- Parker Posey, aka KitLex Luthor's girlfriend from Batman Returns (2006)
Gramercy Tavern Restaurant for dinner

Thursday: Chelsea/Meatpacking/West Village.
Bleeker Street pizza - award winning but not my favorite. The crust was too thin and crispy... like a dry cracker. Majestic still my fav.
Art Galleries at 529 West 20th St. - saw my favorite artist, Marco Maggi at Jose Bienvenue Gallery. Also saw a fantastic photographer, Corey Arnold at Sara Tecchia Gallery. (photo below is my favorite photo from Corey Arnold's show... I want it!)
Delicious canollis from Rocco's Pastry Shop - took a dozen back to Toronto.
Louboutin shoes - drooled over shoes. I'm an 8.5 , hint, hint.
Uminov Guitar store - bought some picks for my guitar teacher, one of my employees who plays guitar and me.


Back to Toronto!

Sitting in the studio

I'm sitting at the 404 studio as we speak. I'm a bit early so I'm here alone spending some time on my laptop before the show starts.

Last night my sister had to go to a work function so I walked over to Whole Foods to get some dinner. This is the scene of my next celebrity sighting. As I was spooning noodles into my eco-friendly take-out container, I looked over to see Steven Weber doing the same. He had his usual long wavy hair, and was wearing a trench coat. If he wasn't famous, I would think he was a creep.

New York daily

To finish off Sunday...
After parting with Ralph, I took a taxi from Newark to Tribeca. It cost $60 after adding tolls and tip. Next time I'll take the train.

After seeing my sis and meeting her new roommates, we went to Bouley Bakery for a snack. I had some fancy macaroni and cheese and for dessert, a chocolate croissant and a green pistachio macaroon. Can you tell I was in need of serious comfort food?

Later that night we got dressed up and went to our 9:30pm reservation at Megu. We're taking full advantage of Restaurant Week here in NYC when normally out of reach restaurants put out a prix fixe menu for just $35/person. It's similar to Toronto's Winterlicious (& Summerlicious) event.

Monday (today):
Sister got a call from her boss - had to do some work this morning. I got a call from Husband at the office - everything was falling apart without me there. Actually, he just needed me to make a couple files and email them off. I also bought Replay Media Catcher for $30 to try recording the live streaming video off of Ustream.tv. I would like to record the preshow when I'm on the 404. Unfortunately, Replay Media Catcher is a piece of shit. This is the second time buying the software - the first time was back in October for my first 404 appearance and I got a refund. I downloaded it again thinking they may have had time to work out the bugs. We'll see if tech support replies to my email. You'd think it wouldn't be so complicated.

We walked over to Century 21 (financial district), tried on some clothes and left with Jelly Belly's. Go figure.

You can't be in New York without having a daily greesy slice. My long standing favorite is Majestic Pizza . I used to only get one slice per trip but now that my sister has moved to Tribeca, we're just a couple blocks away. I'll tell you right now, I will be eating Majestic Pizza till my flight leaves.

I'm best friends with Ralph Fiennes

So, yah, I'm pretty good friends with Ralph Fiennes. And by good friends I mean, we were on the same flight. He's super good-looking in person. I gave him a warm smile followed by a nod. This simple gesture said to Ralph, "I know who you are, I appreciate your work, you are very handsome and I respect your personal space." I'm sure he got all that - I could tell.
The last movie I saw with my close buddy Ralph was the Constant Gardener. As you may know, I don't spend much time reviewing movies on this blog. However, there just so happens to be an entire entry in November completely devoted to reviewing a deserving movie... The Constant Gardener. If you didn't read the review, you can click here to see it. But I wouldn't bother. The details are not important. The fact is, I wrote a review about it. Really, don't read the entry... especially if you're name is Ralph Fiennes.
Anyway, I'm in New York now so stay posted...

Little word, big difference

Today I changed my blog to "from" from "in". In other words, from "in" to "from". Confused?

"Debbie in Toronto" describes my current location and it's not always true. For example, I'm leaving for New York tomorrow. If I wanted to blog while I was in New York, that would make me a big liar. Also, Husband and I are thinking of moving to Los Angeles sometime in the relatively near future. How could I continue to be "Debbie in Toronto" then? So, the decision was made in the spirit of looking ahead and keeping me honest. I am now "Debbie from Toronto". This is true of me anywhere I might be in the world, both literally and philosophically. I feel good about the revision and I hope I haven't lost any readers because of this transition.

I was also able to snag debbiefromtoronto@gmail.com so the transformation is truly complete.

More about my trip to New York later... I'm flying with Porter - can you say "free internet access?" I'm sure I'll blog again at the gate to let you know all the exciting things I have on my list. FYI, I'll be on the 404 podcast on Wednesday.

Gimme deep fried dough!

Husband is away, spending this weekend out in Vail, Colorado snowboarding with friends. He keeps calling me from the top of the ski lift wanting to stay on the phone with me to "take me down the mountain" with him. It might be fun for him to have me on the phone but it's far from being virtual reality for me. All I hear is Husband yelling "left, right, left, right" over the sound of wind whipping against the microphone. The first couple times was cute but this third time I told him I was on the other line and had to go. He's so cute for missing me.

So, I've been fending for myself the last few days. I am even MORE boring than I thought. Friday was pretty eventful because I was here at work with the girls (our employees) and then did family obligations that evening. Saturday I spent the ENTIRE day at home watching MTV gems like "Paris Hilton: My New BFF". I had several offers from friends to go out especially since I mentioned his absence in my Facebook profile but it turns out that I would rather spend my time with my BFF... me! JK!

For today's dinner, I will get a Panzerotto from the local Italian cafe near our office. I got to thinking how many names there are for this heavenly combination of dough, cheese and tomato sauce. And, by "many", I mean three: Panzerotto, Panzerotti and Calzone. And by names, I mean two. Panzerotto, it turns out, is made up since I can't find it in Wiki. One thing is for sure: the only way to eat a Calzone/Panzerotti is deep fried. Not every place has a deep frier big enough for this son-of-a-B but when you find an establishment brave enough to dunk an entire pizza folded in half into hot oil, put their telephone number on speed dial.