I never get excited about spring until I start to see the first shoots of green. I’ve seen a couple this week, so give it another 1-2 weeks and spring is officially here (even in the 6 season sense). My step count has absolutely taken a nosedive this year, but it was bloody cold this winter, so really looking forward to being a lot more active in the weeks and months ahead.

⚽️ Two bloody shots the entire game and the second goes in. Just stupid.

⚽️ Op. That didn’t last long. They’re on again. Because of course they are.

⚽️ That was a pretty boring game of football. Good to see Bruno and Dalot (and uncle Casimero) rested though.

Spring book reading. And I’ve got more upstairs. Doubt I’ll be able to get through half of this stuff, but it is wonderful having all this option available to me.

Fixed the bikes for the season. Unlocking is very nearly over. I have yet to see a single green shoot from any tree yet but the weather is getting warmer and I can get out of the house without a jacket or beanie. Been a pretty long one this year.

During our move, I misplaced some of hardware for our outdoor Ikea furniture. Ikea has a replacement parts area on the website. Ordered the missing pieces, which are being replaced for free. Wonderful service.

⚽ Oh. My. God. That match was something. I was at the optometrist (first time in my life), and we’re 2-0 up. Then I go in and we’re 2-4 down!!! Then as I’m walking to the car, we won the bloody thing!

The Atlantic must have seen how popular David Frum has been recently to The Hub subscribers, so they’ve given the man his very own show, The David Frum Show.

In between all the stupidity and madness coming out of The White House, it’s good to remember that there are some seriously smart people in the US. It’s just that their political system is seriously fucked and can be manipulated by a reality TV parody mafia boss that looks like a 🍊.

This morning was another train adventure with Ryan. Go train out to Rouge Hill.

Carney’s Checkmate. How Canada’s quiet bond play forced the tariffs to be dropped. Now that is what I call a power play. The 🍊and his cronies are so dumb.

This is not a uniquely American problem. Liz Truss lasted less than a lettuce in the UK and did much damage to the economy because of sheer ignorance.

In world politics change requires diplomacy and discussion, not negotiating life a parody mafia boss you baboon.

Reminds me of one of my favourite quotes:

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.
—  Arthur Schopenhauer

Lovely new design for Blogroll.org. Type selection is on point and the colours are just right for this time of year.

🍊 He’s shorted the market. He’s fucking around with the world. Unbelievable really. Monkey with a machine gun.

This interview with Janice Gross Stein, Belzberg professor of Conflict Management and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, was really wonderful and insightful against why Canadians are really scared of the consequences of this tariff war.

⚽️ The quality on this Fubo feed is going in and out constantly. First time ever. Seriously annoying as I generally only tend to tune in for 1 or 2 matches a week.

New album by The Weeknd (ok it’s 2 months old, but for me that’s as quickly as I move sometimes). On in the background while I work on my latest article. It’s been too long old friend (iA Writer).

It’s been a brutally long winter. Since moving to the new house, I’ve not really managed to do very much walking, even though our current location has a lot of walking opportunities.

I’ve also not been able to play outside with the kids (in any meaningful capacity) because it’s either too cold, too wet, to windy, too annoying.

But this week it looks like there will be a dip and then after that we are in an upward temperature trajectory. Can’t wait honestly.

Tron: Ares official trailer . Great trailer. Sets tone. Shows something different we’ve not seen before. And the second most important point, who’s doing the music? Nine Inch Nails. October can’t come soon enough. 15 years after the last Tron movie.

📍. Toronto Public Library. New library branch. Wonderful place. Can drive or walk or bike when the weather is nice.

📚 Finished reading: Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 2 by Kamome Shirahama. It’s been a while since I’ve read something pretty mindless but fun, in a Naruto sort of way. It’s not serious, but it embodies what Manga does really well, keeping the story and characters moving.

🌨️ Honestly Canada, I expected a different April shower. Full blown snow storm in bloody April. Enough of this stupid winter already

I couldn’t help myself. Had to get one. Always been a Williams fan, but they’ve not been a great team for over 20 years.

📚 Finished reading: Scalped Deluxe Book Five by Jason Aaron. Finally finished reading this series. Completed 13 years ago. i began reading it when it first came out and Vertigo Comics was still a thriving imprint. Still trying to digest how I feel about that ending. In some ways its just right.

📚 Finished reading: Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 1 by Kamome Shirahama. This was light and fun. Certainly not in the general demographic for this type of book, but it has vibes of Kiki’s Delivery Service, by way of Harry Potter.

🇨🇦🇬🇱🇩🇰 Red and white. In the fight against the big fat 🍊.

The 22nd Amendment

What has truly made me stop and take a little bit more note, is what previously would have been considered anathema, a presidential third term in the U.S, is now being spoken as easily as running for a first or second term. This article from Politico, from two months ago, explains how Trump (and Bannon) would go about this.

For myself, this is just astounding and if I was a US Citizen I would be absolutely livid. Not because of this particular amendment being broken. In other countries, having a political leader to run for longer than 8 years is very common, but the Americans have always held their sacred Amendments as untouchable. I would be livid because the frankly unethical Amendment to allow idiots to bear the right to hold semi-automatic weapons as a constitutional right.

The only good thing about breaking this 22nd Amendment would be that the other Amendment would be fair game. But in that world, democracy would have truly been ripped and America would have been plunged into a new Civil War. I’ve not been this interested in what is going on in the news cycle since Covid hit 5 years ago. Make it stop. Please.

🍳 Apple and Butternut Squash Risotto.
Only had beef stock and I think vegetable (or chicken stock) stock would have been better. Also the squash in the mix melted away but didn’t add any colour. Next time roast the squash, blitz it before adding it. The roasted pieces on the top were great. Maybe a little bit more seasoning next time.

🍳 Lamb and potatoes in the oven - with tzatziki and Greek salad.
Complete auto pilot on this one. Would have been good with a bit of my fresh pita bread but was busy this morning. Didn’t have a green pepper or feta for the Greek salad, but that’s ok.

🍳 Chickpea Curry.
Another autopilot curry. Had to adapt a little for the kids (no spinach which was annoying). I would have loved to add more cayenne, but 1/8th of a teaspoon was more than enough for the rest of the family. Basmati rice. Lemon wedges with some yogurt and coriander. The only ingredient that was missing was a red pepper. Also brown sugar is a must.

Kinda liking what I’m seeing with the new Pebble watches. Sure still pretty geeky looking but I like the charge it once a month situation.

The train museum led me to Raymond Biesinger (a Canadian artist based in Montreal), which then led me to the 305 Lost Buildings of Canada book, but also all of the prints across North America. It’s really fascinating to me how little regard for historical buildings is given in different parts of the world (Europe being the extreme opposite).

Don’t buy a Tesla. Every time you look at the passion and gritting of his teeth as he does it - he clearly means it. Someone give this guy a copy of Ryan Holidays Ego is the Enemy.

Today is a train themed day. Ryan has always been enamoured with trains (since our time in Copenhagen). He loves watching them go by and is fascinated by them. So taking him to Union Station (on the subway) to check out some trains going in and out of the station. Then we’ll walk over to the Toronto Railway Museum and probably spend a good while in the gift shop (we need some more art on our walls in the new house).

America’s position in the global hierarchy isn’t guaranteed. It can be lost with stunning rapidity when an economically illiterate con artist and a cadre of ideologues are drunk at the wheel.

From The Index article on the new world order.

🍳 Aloo Gobi. This is one of the things that I can typically put together quickly and easily. Full of flavour and a solid vegetarian dish.

Ughhh. Scratched the car getting into my tight ass garage. It was really only a matter of time. It’s a few centimeters on the bumper and honestly just annoying. I guess scratches happen.

🍳 Zaatar Chicken. Muhammara (from scratch including roasting peppers). Turkish Salad. Pomegranate molasses (made it myself this time). This all came together really well. I’m into Turkish food this month, so trying a bunch of Mediterranean food now.

It’s a Turkish cooking kinda weekend I think.

That got dark very quickly. Frum gives a little bit of flavour as to why Trump is going after Canada. It’s nothing to do with the economy, it’s about demographics and racial rebalancing. Totally agree with the thought, too ugly to make a joke about it, to stupid to talk seriously about it.

📚 Finished reading: Tokyo These Days, Vol. 3 by Taiyo Matsumoto. Really loved this series. Wonderful 3 volume edition but the very final punch was how we can all reflect on what the main character is going through as an extension of your own life. Slice of life in Japan. Just excellent.

🍳 Steak dinner. Mushroom sauce is on autopilot mode. Super easy but full of flavour. Got some soft meat (tenderloin) for the kids, but because of thickness was this perfect pink but obviously too pink for Yasmine and the kids. The adults had rib eye steaks. Oven fries were a little cwispy. No greens which I would have wanted.

Yes for unlocking. First bit of decent weather, sun was out and likely can hide my big parka for the season until next year. Patagonia make some incredible stuff (bought 6 years ago and looks nearly new).

Started a new A6 sketchbook. Hoping to just kick start a habit I can lean into in different situations.

Music introduction for the kids, that was a very welcome ear worm for them, Pearl Jam’s Black. Can’t stress how proud I am of the boys humming this in the background all day.

Micro.social is one of the best new apps to hit the Micro.blog circuit. Polished and being updated regularly. I really want to contribute an icon to the app, which is on my list.

The theatrics in the American congress its just incredible. It’s like a personal wank-fest of the 🍊. Some ridiculous rhetoric. What’s super interesting to me is whether this shit ends up with a third term. If that happens, and there isn’t a civil war in America, then you’re the next dictatorship. Watching this bollocks is just incredible. Mango-Mussolini.

I hate being awake during hour of the wolf.

🍳 Cream of Broccoli Soup
Another first. I looked at a recipe online for like a few minutes and then just put it together based on instinct. Turned out friggin great. We also had some fresh naan bread from yesterday which got sliced as strips.

I have been quietly curating a small table of Ontario craft beers I’ve been sampling over the last few months. My only gripe is I wish there was an integrated way in Micro.blog that would allow me to create new tables and let me add new entries to them. I can see myself using this for coffee beans, stationary, films, wine, spirits, chocolate, apps, anything really that I want to sample.

@manton where should I put a feature request? Haven’t done one of those in a really long time…

🍳 Sticky Date Pudding
This was a first attempt. Didn’t use brown sugar (which made the cake lighter in colour). Over cooked it and that made it more cake-like instead of sticky. Flavours were great.

🍳 Butter Chicken and Fresh Naan
Textures were perfect. The only thing I messed up was the seasoning at the end. Should have checked (it’s a classic mistake) but next time will get ahead of that. Also maybe don’t get coriander and stick to parsley for the garnish.

1st day of March means welcome to Unlocking.

There’s an Arabic saying, which goes: ‘Weapons in the hands of shit, is harmful.’

🇺🇦🇵🇸 As an honorary Canadian, I am proud to be firmly against the United States in supporting both Ukraine and Palestine. In both cases the aggressor is clear. The 🍊 is a complete fool who is fundamentally unqualified for the role that he is in. Words and actions have weight and this guy clearly hasn’t got a fucking clue.

🇺🇦 Proud of Zelensky, standing up to a pair of ignorant, entitled, billionaire degenerates.

Had a few Canadian firsts today. I slipped for the first time today. Not a terrible fall but that melted snow turning to ice is lethal. The second first was turning the corner and being met with a full production crew. Clearly a car scene with license plates from Illinois. Gettaoutmywayalready!

Pomera DM250US. Don’t know if I’ll back this, but it does look like a pretty nice focused tool. The sort of thing that the guys at iA would appreciate. Having single purpose tools sometimes feels like the right call. $400 is not cheap for a punt however.

Last year (today), I had just discovered that they were making a Fantastic Four movie. Now I finally got to see the first trailer. So much to love about this incarnation. The biggest compliment I can give is that this gives me strong Invisibles vibes but with something seemingly more elegant (if that is even possible). The CGI for The Thing is on point. Also the music crescendo is so good.

🍳 Mushroon Pasta
Yasmine didn’t like that is was very garlic-y. Next time, reduce the amount of garlic. I thought I’d put in too much dijon mustard for Ryan, but turns out that was fine. Also it could have done with 2 boxes of mushrooms instead. Overall though, very good little vegetarian dish.

🍳 Moroccan Chicken
I’m going to log a few other the things I’ve cooked to see what I cooked (to either remind myself when I did it or how often things have happened). This one can be a regular. Used thighs (without skin) and dates instead of apricots. There are a couple of ingredients that I could use (preserved lemons, apricots and almond slivers) that will elevate it.

I don’t always do this but I think I’ve decided on my 2025 watch. First dive watch and only my second Swiss watch. Usually a summer purchase.

⚽️ Oh man this has been a real tough watch but somehow things have been turned around at least to a draw maybe…

⚽️ It’s been brutal watching this United team. They are so bad to watch…but like a moth to a flame ‘I can’t help myself…’

⚽️ What a bullshit goal. VAR to the rescue? Oh FFS!

That. Was. Satisfying. Just finished watching Cobra Kai and it tied a bunch of threads and ended it on a great note. Sure there was plenty of hokie moments, but it all came together in the end. Favourite part was definitely the ‘No. Mercy.’ line. Excellent and clever writing.

I’m absolutely going to feel that tomorrow. Spent an hour after work shovelling part of that alleyway with a few of the neighbours trying to get it ready to accept cars coming in and out. Hard work out but also a good community activity. If I had a beer fridge I would have definitely shared while we shovelled some snow. Maybe next time.

Something tells me I’m not getting the car out of the driveway. Oh, Canada.

⚽️ Twelve bloody minutes for Spurs to score. So annoying.

⚽️ Strangely I’m kinda excited to see the kids feature in this game. Except Lindeloff, they’re all PL debutants :).

Taking the kids to the YMCA in a new area has also meant that I get to discover different neighbourhoods and different stores. The Black Canary espresso bar and my new favourite used bookstore The Great Escape Book Store.

❄️ First major snow shovelling. Backbreaking work for a city slicker like myself. 20cm of snow easily around us.

Cobra Kai final episodes are finally out. Fantastic way to get through this snow period.

Kids first snow day ever. It’s February. Two more weeks to the end of Winter and move into Unlocking.

The 🍊 is showing what a real asshole he is eh? If you shake his hand, check for the number of fingers left…

Somehow I had completely missed the existence of Berger Books, the real successor to Vertigo Comics, easily one of the most diversely awesome imprint in comics history.

The Growler – Ontario’s craft beer guide stopped publication last year. Clearly not enough interest in the publication, which I find strange. It’s a well put together guide, with a very dense layout capturing an enormous amount of information. Still I have an issue and it will likely be enough for a few years at least. Would love it if they released the maps so that they can be updated by others.