Scugog

Thursday is my day off from school.

Went cycling with Mr. Goodman yesterday - and I got a chance to use my new cycling gloves. Bought them at MEC just the day before. We met up at about 8am and drove out to Utica, about 10km West of Port Perry (er... or 20km North of Whitby). We cycled through the island in Lake Scugog, and ended up in Port Perry for lunch.

For lunch, we settled on this place called the Jester's soemthing-or-other. We each ordered a beer, about 2 lbs of mussels in some kind of seafood white wine garlic sauce, and a side of fries. The food was excellent, although the mussels weren't the freshest. I'd imagine that with some quality ingredients, that meal would have been fantastic. Anyway, despite the scrubbing in the bathroom after the meal, I coudn't get that shellfish stink off my fingers.

Took a different route back to Utica, and managed to go through the highest point on the map. It's called Marsh Hill. Brutal, brutal climb, especially with a belly full of food and cramping, tired legs. We got back to Toronto at about 4pm.

All in all, we covered maybe 50km at an easy-going pace. It was just that hill at the end that wiped us out. Just when we crested the visible peak of the hill, we realize that it goes flat and then even higher, and still higher after that. If that's not demoralizing, I don't know what is. On the upside, what goes up must invariably come down.

While we were out there, we bought some sweet corn off some farmers. That corn was so damn sweet... it was like eating honey. So much better than that stuff you get a loblaws. Possibly the sweetest corn I've ever eaten.

So, after a full day of cycling, what do I do when I get home? Rollerblades on, hit the road with Jess. Good thing you suck at rollerblading, or else I really would have been hurting.

6:30 - Ultimate frisbee at Bayview Park. Can't believe I can still run. Couldn't catch a disc if my life depended on it, though. We were so utterly and thoroughly defeated that we started coming up with some desperate, creative plays. Most of them didn't work out as planned, but it was still good fun.

Biryani rice for dinner. Isn't the way that stuff is prepared similar to paella? My dad used a wok. I like the crispy bits that stick to the wok. Reminded me of curry flavoured rice crackers. I don't like biting into bits of pungent spices though. Reminds me of how I used to discover cilantro in my noodles or congee as a child - unpleasant surprise.

Met up with Felix at night for one of his exercises in futility. Watched Saving Private Ryan with Jane, while Felix nailed away at the computer, wasting his time and efforts. Talked to Jane about her misconceptions about the military, while Felix tried to twist our words into novel (but ultimately false) metaphysical or maybe psychoanalytical interpretions. No, Felix, it's just a cigar.

Went to bed at 3am.

The way yesterday played out is exactly why I came back to Toronto almost every weekend this summer.

-d