Peasant child, you're into botany.

Well, after everyone's comments on my last post, I feel like the January blues are a very common experience. It makes me feel better; misery loves company, I suppose. This weekend, however, was so awesome that I feel that I've left my winter blues behind.

I had a very chill evening on Friday night with Jason. I made chickpea & cashew curry, and we ate some pretzel M&M's while catching up on this week's Parks & Rec and 30 Rock. I believe last weekend it was me who was really tired and fell asleep watching TV. It was the reverse this week, which was okay 'cuz I was able to catch up on laundry and reading while Jason fell asleep. We did, however, both manage to be awake to catch the end of Letterman which I really wanted to see because my beloved Los Campesinos! were played. With having both Kathleen Edwards and LC! play this week, I guess Dave's got the same musical tastes as me. Hmmm...

On Saturday morning, we decided to go out for brunch. Jason suggested The Three Speed, which is on Bloor between Dufferin and Lansdowne and completely hidden. I have a new hypothesis about cool/hidden gem Toronto restaurants. My hypothesis has two tenets:

a) They have little signage and dark windows, so if you didn't know about them, you'd walk right by them and never be the wiser;

b) They have hand-written menus.

The Three Speed fit both criteria, and was great. We got there before the rush, and I had some delicious banana french toast.

While we were brunching, I was looking at the extensive bourbon menu on the wall. "I think one of my goals for 2012 is to try bourbon." I said randomly. I dunno, I think I just want to be tougher or something. Bourbon seems rock and roll.

Jason said "that's a very achievable goal." Yup, it was. Achievable goals are the best kind.

After brunch, I headed to the gym and ran 10K. It was tough to finish off the distance, because I was getting tired, but I did it. I was pretty fast during the last K, which I think bodes well for May.

After my run, I met up with my pal Matt from Winnipeg, and his friend Mel, to go out for dinner before catching Los Campesinos! at Lee's Palace. I took them to The Ace on Roncesvalles, which is the restaurant that Jason and I went to for his birthday. It also supports both tenets of my Toronto cool restaurant hypothesis.

It doesn't take reservations, but we were able to get three seats together at the bar, which was actually a fun spot to sit. In addition, I noticed that they had a wide variety of bourbon, which lead me to tell my dinner companions about my goal.

"Let's do it!" said Mel, and we decided that we'd try it. Of course, neither of us knew which kind to get or how to drink it, but luckily, our waitress was able to give us advice. We went for Maker's Mark on the rocks. It was strong, but felt good going down. We both felt empowered ordering such a tough drink. However, I kind of ruined the toughness by clapping when I finished mine, which lead one of the waiters there to join in on clapping for me. It was hilarious.

The food was delicious too. I had the fried chicken, and chocolate rosemary ice cream for dessert. (They made their own ice creams there.) When we got the bill they missed charging us for the bourbon, but we like to keep our karma in check, so we fessed up.

After that we headed to the Bloor/Bathurst area for the show, but still had some time to kill so we went to Mel's favourite frozen yogurt place where I sampled a bit and technically had second dessert. To kill more time, we went to a pub for another drink. They only had Wild Turkey bourbon, which burns more than Maker's Mark. (It's the cheapest bourbon, which we completely rejected at The Ace.) I'm well on my way to to knowing my bourbons!

Finally, we got to Lee's for the show. Matt decided to join us in the bourbon club at that point. The opening band, Parenthetical Girls, were entertaining to watch. It didn't seem to take long for LC! to take the stage afterwards, and they were so fun to watch. All of their songs are easy to sing along with, and they are energizing and make you want to dance. They played a good assortment of new stuff and old stuff. It was super fun.

So a delicious dinner, a goal for 2012 made and completed in one day, and a great show made for a really good Saturday evening. Yay!

Today I need to get caught up on work, yuck. Oh well, the weekend can't all be bourbon, desserts, food, and concerts, can it? Too bad.