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On Being Love

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  I have been absent for awhile - busy accomplishing in a variety of areas.  Over the course of my last 20+ years I have lived a very peaceful existence - having seldom if ever experienced malice or even negative situations lasting more than a matter of minutes. My last 3 months have been much more tumultuous - causing me to reflect - and to make efforts to change my circumstances back to those of the past 20 years.  Actually - I traced this all back to errors caused by myself - in my outlook and the way I was managing myself. This blog is about finding Heaven on Earth - here on this earth and in this time.  There is nothing more important to this than in endeavouring to be love in every moment.  Love is God's currency - and when we are being love - by giving of our selves - our utmost - ato anyone and everyone and to anything and everything - we are as close to God as we can be. My course over these last many years has been a charmed one.  Ultimately you will all be able to experi
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Bangkok Express: A Delight on Monkland!

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It had been a whirlwind couple of weeks where I have barely had time to keep my head above water!  I surfaced today and had time to plan a luncheon meal at Bangkok Express on Monkland. From the street what you can see is a lovely terrace - which was quite active on this day which was about 25° C and overcast - so not too hot.  Upon entry the restaurant is warm and inviting - and nicely laid out with tables and booths for 2 - 4 and more. We were helped to our table by a very friendly young lady - who brought us a decanter of water and glasses.  On the table was the restaurant's lunch specials menu - a choice of appetizer - choice of main dish (with rice) - and beverage - all for $16.95! From the appetizer menu of five items including Imperial Roll, Spring Roll, and two types of dumplings - I chose the dumplings in peanut butter sauce.  These were very tasty little morsels - served 4/order in a little black ramekin - a great kickoff to our meal! From the main course menu - I ordered
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Leon Maliniak: A Full 360° Turnaround

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  It gives me great joy to write this message.  I have known Leon since the late '70's when he was a squash and tennis member at Cavendish Club and I was the racquetball pro.  Our friendship has gone through many phases - I have called him 'Bones' for years - referring to 'skin and bones' - which he never was - as in the vast majority of times he always carried a rather large abdomen owing to his love of food. By education - Bones was a lawyer - and an excellent one.  But he was so much more - he was a great multi-sport athlete - playing football for McGill - hockey -and a very good game of squash and tennis.  He put himself through school as a professional musician .  And even more interesting is his abilities as a scientific mind.  He has explored a wide variety of subject areas - coming up with alternative therapies for some.  As testament to his guidance from above, he wrote, scored and performed an amazing love song he envisioned Celine Dion singing to Rén
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Insights Into Heaven on Earth

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This blog in general is about people and places - mostly in NDG - and my experiences with these.  Yesterday I had an amazing day I would like to share with you. It started early - just before 6am with my connection to my eternal soulmate Norah Jones through her amazing 20th Anniversary livestream of Come Away With Me  - something I do every morning.  At just before 7am CBC News had an interview with a friend and amazing person - Dany Bouchard - who is a music therapist at the Montreal General Hospital and heads up a program called Musi-Art .  Dany was speaking about a show they were doing yesterday afternoon at the Osler Amphitheatre at the MGH - a free concert - for the program.  I hadn't connected with Dany for several months and seeing this I was motivated to email him my best wishes - as I couldn't attend the concert. As I headed for my 'office' at 7:30am - I came across a lady taking pictures of for rent signs on apartment buildings.  I stopped her and told her abo
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Yangtze: Good Old Fashioned Chinese

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In the 70's and early 80's - my Dad owned Harvey's Sport Shop - the neighbourhood sporting goods store in Snowdon.  He worked 'til 6pm Mondays through Wednesdays - then 'til 9pm on Thursdays and Fridays.  A special treat for us kids on Friday evenings was that we got to stay up late and have Yangtze dinner with my Mum and Dad - which he picked up from the location which at that point was on Van Horne. In those times, Yangtze was renowned for having the best egg rolls in the city - to go with great 'Jewish' Chinese food - otherwise known as Cantonese.  That location was gutted by fire on December 4, 2011 - and soon thereafter rose from the ashes in its second life as Tchang Kiang by Yangtze on Sherbrooke.  I have been there a handful of times - and had heard from a friend that the old cook from the Van Horne restaurant had given the secret recipe for the egg rolls to the new owners and that they were finally as good as previously. I had been dying for Chines
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Resto-Depot: Much More Than A Meal

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About a month and a half ago - my great friend - Leon Maliniak - who is a career lawyer - real estate developer and professional musician - told me about this place on Somerled where on Tuesdays they offer a great meal combined with live music all afternoon.  He invited me to join him the following Tuesday. I didn't go with Leon the following week - but I did meet him there along with some of his friends.  I sat with some people I know from the neighbourhood - who I didn't know patronized this place.  The meal I received - as I explained to Tasha Lackman (the Executive Director of the Depot NDG) in an excited email to her - I would have gladly paid $20 plus tax and tip for in a restaurant.  Add to this that there was a very proficient musician playing guitar and singing - which only added to the amazing chemistry of the very full venue. Since that day I have become a regular.  My situation is not unlike many people in NDG at the moment.  With the rents soaring to unprecedented
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Barbie's West Island: A Nice Alternative

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I got home from a busy day today at 3pm - to receive a message from my sister Jo-Anne - inviting me out to my favourite Szechuan restaurant - Emeraude Bangkok - at 6pm.  I was really excited as I have had a hunger-on for good Chinese for a couple of weeks now and hadn't seen my sister, brother-in-law, Al and my Mum for several weeks. I got to the restaurant with about 10 minutes to spare and to my dismay found the door locked - owing to a family emergency.  I called my sis and she said she was almost at the resto so she would come and we could decide where to go from there.   We decided on Barbie's - which is in the same little plaza just off 55th Ave in Lachine.  I haven't been there for probably 25 years and was very impressed with the decor and overall liveliness of the place.  We started with drinks to cool us down as we perused the menu. Jo-Anne and my Mum split an order of ribs and wings with fries, Al had a meat lover's pizza and I had a Barbie's Classic Bu
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