In the kitchen, I’ve used Global knives for many years. They are light, sharp and hold their edge really well. It all starts with the G-2 Cook Knife, a classic chef’s knife that can be used to cut anything. However, I like a straight bladed knife for vegetables so I also have a G-5 Vegetable Knife.
Lately, Santoku knives have been really gaining in popularity as “all-in-one” knives for everyday cooking. They have a much straighter edge like the vegetable knife but curves up a the tip like a chek knife. Many new santoku knives are “fluted” so that it’s harder for things to stick to the knife after you cut them.
Global knives are available at national stores like Williams Sonoma as well as local stores like Nella Cucina and Pepper Mill.
Amaya is a new Indian restaurant on Bayview south of Eglington. Getting reservations with them was a bit tricky, the first message I left was unreturned so when I called back I made sure I talked to a human. After that, they handled things very well and called me the day before to confirm the reservation. They have an online reservation service on their website but I did not use it because those forms have been unreliable in the past - maybe this has changed.
The tasting menu was ordered and it was a very nice sampling of many good dishes. The appetizer plate was the pakora trio that were easily shared. They were great but being unfamiliar with Indian appetizers I had to look at the menu to describe them: onion bhaji, paneer pakora and a mushroom fritter.
There were several main dishes, almost too many to sit on our table of four! They were all served in gorgeous copper bowls that reminded me of an Indian restaurant that I went to in New York. We started with a chaat dish that was prepared in a lovely pastry shell. There was a fantastic beef rib vindaloo that was cooked so wonderfully tender. A prawn masala was served which is the first time I’ve had seafood at an Indian restaurant. The butter chicken was very nice, the sauce very smooth. I tried the orka dish a bit too quickly, so I don’t remember it that well. The appetizers were accompanied by crispy pappadum and the mains with two different types of naan bread. The last dish was a spinach dish whose name I don’t recall, but it was really good! I kept having more even though I was full.
Amaya is highly recommended. It wasn’t busy when we arrived but packed up very quickly - I recommend reservations. Amaya also does takeout through a dedicated website.
Amaya - The Indian Room
1701 Bayview Ave.
Toronto, Ontario
416-322-3270
Now that BMW offers the 335 in xi trim we have two all-wheel drive tourers from the Germans. The BMW 335xi has a lower list price ($54,100 CDN) but the Audi S5 ($65,900) comes with a lot more standard options. What is the price difference when these cars are optioned out as close as possible?
2008 BMW 335xi Coupe
Base Price: $54,100 Selected Options:
sport pack (18, sport seats) $2000
premium sound $1200
premium pack (garage door, dimming mirrors, lumbar, compass mirror, bmw assist/bluetooth, leather) $3950
servotronic $350
park distance control $450 Options not selected:
navigation $2900
sport seats $800 - already on sport pack
comfort acces $750
rear sunshade $400
bmw assist $1100
usb audio $350 Total Price: $61,700
Audi S5 4.2 quattro
Base Price: Selected Options:
Audi Care $700 Options not selected:
navigation $3500
Audi navigation system plus with six disc CD changer* $3,500.00
Audi side assist $650.00
Stainless Steel Texture inlays $500 Total Price $66,600
The only remaining difference is that the A5 has 19″ rims standard and the 335i only has 18″ as the largest option. The comparable prices are $61,700 for the 335xi and $66,600 for the S5 - just short of $5000.
Wow, what happened to the Toronto Star? Since they’ve laid off their web development staff the website has just gone downhill. Just today I went to the site and the weather is reporting 11C while the Weather Network and CityNews both report it as 18C. Their market indicators named “Today’s Markets” are showing yesterday’s closing numbers. And people are posting short, three sentence articles about what will be in tomorrow’s paper.
I used to use the Star’s website for the best Toronto news, but I think I will switch to CityNews.
Is the best steak in town from one of the popular steakhouses in the city? No….
Cumbrae’s offers a superthick (almost 2 inches) 30-day aged ribeye that has the rib bone still in it. My brother and I cooked it rare on a charcoal grill after prepping it with only salt, pepper and olive oil. Delicious!
Next I’m going to try Ontario-raised Wagyu steaks…
I was wondering how my current (and discontinued) DSLR stacked up with the newest and greatest prosumer camera that Nikon offers when it comes to ISO Noise. It’s a tough comparison since the D50 is such and old camera and is only 5MP. the D300 has a 12MP sensor.
Youtube is hosting a video of a drag race between the new Nissan GTR and a Lambourghini Galladro. It isn’t the new LP560-4 but it’s still a mid-engined, v10 exotic versus a coupe from Japan.
When Vista was released from Microsoft, it was up to digital imaging providers like Nikon and Canon to write their own codecs so that their image files could be viewed by their users. Unfortunately, relying on Camera manufacturers, usually foreign, and without good ties to Microsoft Developers has led to some complications.
Most noteably, anyone using the 64-bit version of Windows has not been able to view their raw files (.NEF) since Vista was released. Nikon provides a codec for XP and 32-bit Vista only.
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