The Rise of the Barbers

Every time period has signposts or indicia that mark it, for good and for bad.

The 1990s introduced us to Grunge, flannel, and dial-up Internet.

The 2000s was when smart phones and social media were popularized. Garage music enjoyed a short lived revival.

And the second decade of the 21st century, what will mark this era? Well, besides the fact that this is the age of Trump, I think there is something else that will mark this period for all time: ubiquitous beards and barbershops.

I am serious. They are everywhere on everyone.

In my neighbourhood there are 5 barber shops within a 10-minute walk and that doesn't count the three or four hair salons.

Here is number #1, the Brooke barbershop. That's where I go as its closest to my house. The atmosphere is hipster-ish meets bad-ass rocker. Bonus: they take Internet reservations.

Number #2 is a traditional old man style barbershop. The prices are much lower than the others in the area but you ain't paying for atmosphere!

Ah the mysterious #3, Barber + Shop (I think the real name is Foxhole Barber), the newest kid on the block. Not sure what their deal is yet but they seem to sell clothes and haircuts. Interesting innovation. I'm guessing it has a hipster atmosphere.

#4: Hair Fellas. Is this a hipster empire in the making? They have two locations in Ottawa. I walked in once at 2 pm. They weren't taking reservations until 6 pm.

Last but not least is #5, the Gray Whale. From their website it seems this is the place you go if you want to spend close to an hour getting a haircut and beard trim. I'm sure it's awesome (all straight razor and such) but you pay a pretty penny for it.  Also hipster.

5 barbershops in one neighbourhood! But don't worry, no matter what type of hipster you are, they have a place for you.

Pupusa Fest!

There is no denying it; my neighbourhood is pretty homogeneous. Although socially and economically diverse, almost everyone from the rich to the poor is white.

That almost makes my family (me: half British/half El Salvadorian; Glosette Girl: half French Canadian/half Lebanese; Margot a blend of the two) the minorities of the hood!

So to add a bit of ethnic flavour this past weekend, we decided to head outside of Hintonburg and down to Brewer Park for ...Pupusa Fest! I couldn't believe it when Glosette Girl first mentioned this gathering of the local El Salvadorian community. Pupusa Fest?! A festival dedicated to the tortilla based dish that El Salvadorians are famous for...?!

I think it's just an excuse to have a big El Salvadorian get-together and party.

In any case, the timing is perfect as we are going to be visiting El Salvador over New Year's this year and the festival made for a great preview of some of the delicious food we can expect.

Of course we ate lots of pupusas...

We tried pupusas from two places. This was the first...

...and this was the second.

... but besides eating delicious food we also got to see a few dance numbers...

..and I got to see a lot of people who reminded me of my Uncle Tio and my El Salvadorian grandmother, IA (p.s maybe it's just me but I always have the urge to help old hispanic ladies cross the street and do chores! They just look so friendly and remind me of my own grandmother!)

I've never really explored the El Salvadorian side of my heritage before, so it was interesting for me to take part in a festival that I have a cultural connection to. Of course we stood out like sore thumbs (note to self: bring a soccer jersey to next year's Pupusa Fest), but was still fun. Next stop: San Salvador!

Merry Dairy and the Allowance Lesson

Another ice cream place, the Merry Dairy, has just as opened up near our house. It's even closer than Stella Luna, which is quite a feat given that Stella Luna is only a couple of blocks away.

The Merry Dairy's spin is that they serve frozen style custard, rather than ice cream. From the first bites I can say that it's quite tasty! The Merry Dairy originally started out as a food truck but a few months ago they rented the location of a former convenience store and "poof" they are now in business as a full-fledged ice cream store.

Margot is always looking to eat ice cream and last Friday night, after dinner, she asked if we could get her some. Glosette Girl and I thought this would be a good moment for a life lesson (THANKS DAD screams my sarcastic inner teenager!). We give Margot two dollars a week and she can decide whether she wants to put it into the "Save" jar or the "Spend" jar. The "Spend" jar is for everyday goodies while the "Save" jar is for big gifts like Pokemon packs or an around the world adventure (her latest dream). 

So this time, instead of just buying Margot ice cream we told her she would have to use some of her "Spend" money to get it.

Explain' how to use allowance

It was a tough call but Margot decided  she wanted to use some of her Spend money to get herself a small cone (we helped a bit!). I have no idea if these lessons will work but hopefully, over the years, something will sink in.

Yum!

But back to the Merry Dairy! It's a cute store and I hope they make it. They aren't on Wellington Street, which is the main drag around here, so their customer base appears to be much more local. The food truck version is still truckin' along too so if you live in Ottawa you may see them in your neck of the woods too.

p.s can you spot the Merry Dairy truck in this earlier post?

Margot and Dada in the Canadian Shield

Guess what? I'm a single dad!

Well, sorta.

Glosette Girl has been (and still is) taking in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with one of her best friends this past week. Lucky girl! She is still over there. I'm sure she is getting up to all sorts of  geeky-yet-funky-drama-related trouble. That scamp, we miss her!

8 nights sans enfants did you say? Which way to customs?!!

So it's just been Margot and I touring Ontario, visiting my family, and generally having a province-cation.* That's OK as its given Margot and I a lot of time to get to know each other better. I am proud to say that it has pretty much been smooth sailing ('Course it doesn't hurt that I let her go to bed much later than usual and eat lots of ice cream).

One of the things Margot and I got to do this past week was go camping in Killbear provincial park. It's located in the "near north" of Ontario, a.k.a. "cottage country". That's a part of Canada that many people think of as quintessentially Canadian (along with the Rockies, Beavers and lots of snow). Much of the landscape is rugged Canadian Shield, which consists of Precambrian and high-grade metamorphic rocks that are millions of years old. Translation for non-geologists: there are a lot of pretty and hard rocks up there.

The trip to Killbear almost didn't happen because the weather forecast right up to our departure was pretty grim. In the end though we decided to play the odds and enjoyed two nice days of hiking and swimming with my sis' and her gang before some thunderstorms rolled in.

Margot and her cousin swimming the crystal clear waters of Georgian Bay

Before the storms hit we spotted some of the local wildlife including deer and the Massasauga Rattlesnake. Rattlesnakes are very rare in this part of the world and the Massasauga has almost a legendary reputation in these parts ("I once saw one twenty feet long with eyes like the fires of Hades itself..."). Very cool.

The sighting!

Of course, we did other classic camp stuff including eating marshmallows, enjoying some cold brewskis by the fire, and putting ourselves through the torture of sleeping in tents.

Ahh the lazy, hazy days of summer!

*vacation where you stay in your home province. Copyright me 2017.

Ottawa the Boring?

Ottawa, my poor city, you have such a bad reputation!

Is it due to poverty you ask? Nah. Overall, people are fairly well off in a city of your size.

What about crime? Well...there was an uptick in violent crime recently...but overall its pretty low. Good on you.

Ah, maybe it is because of all the natural disasters that hit? Hmmm can't think of much other than that magnitude 5.0 earthquake back in 2010 that freaked everyone out but didn't do any lasting damage.

Nope, Ottawa, your problem is that people think you're BORING.

Well, that's what some people say.

But don't worry Ottawa, the trends, you see, are all going in the right direction. New and creative restaurants are opening all the time, the craft brewery scene shows no signs of abating, and just a couple of days ago a giant mechanical spider and giant mechanical horse-dragon marched down the streets.

Um, say what you ask?

You know, the North American premiere of La machine, where people got to see Long Ma, the horse-dragon, and Kumo, the spider, tear up the streets.

Um, is that getting closer?

Ottawa, you rascal, you've really broken out of your shell this time. It was pretty fun to see the crowds embrace performance art..or whatever this is.

Uh I think its getting closer

And a North American premiere to boot! Isn't it nice to be first in something other than civil servant employment statistics?

Feed that kid to the spider and run!

So don't worry Ottawa, I'll defend you, I promise!