Manhattans

[vaneramos]

Sylvie graduated with honours yesterday. She was a full-time student when we became friends in 2001, but has completed the last few courses one at a time while working full-time as a baker. The sad part is, my best friend is bound to move away. She plans to begin teacher's college in September 2009, and would like to do it in Ottawa where her native French is spoken.

To celebrate Sylvie's commencement, I took her and Sarah to Manhattans for dinner last night. I started off with an acid jazz martini, something involving vodka, blue curacao and lemonade. Main course was maple-glazed salmon, slightly sweet and crispy around the edges, on a bed of saffron rice and barely-steamed asparagus. For dessert, crème brûlée with a hint of raspberries—delicious!—and a bananarama martini.

Manhattans features live music (with no cover charge) most nights of the week. Monday night is songwriter's café, when anybody can sign up for a chance to perform in random groups with other artists. Some good talent turns up.

I was surprised to see my botany prof on the stage. His chief claim to fame is as director of University of Guelph's Cliff Ecology Research Group, which discovered that diminutive white cedars growing along the Niagara Escarpment are the oldest trees in Eastern North America, some more than 3,500 years. The story appeared in Nature in April 1999.

Sylvie pointed out his bass guitar appeared to have been altered somehow. It turns out Doug Larson is not only a research scientist, but also a luthier who builds his own furniture and instruments. His band will be launching a CD soon, but I missed the name, and "Doug Larson" is too common to Google effectively, so I must do some more sleuthing.

Manhattans' staff were fun, and the food was excellent. Not a treat we can afford very often, but for four-dollar martinis we're bound to go back when in the mood for live jazz.

While we were waiting to catch the bus home, lightning flashed across wide expanses of sky. Thunder continued rolling through the night. The storm had turned gentler by this morning, and I had the pleasure of walking with my umbrella. It was not cold at all, a perfect summer rain. Another image posted to texture.