fourONEsixSTYLE

If you’re one of those people who, all winter long, talk of nothing but the crappy weather there might be something you can do to turn that frown upside down: snowboarding. All summer long while everyone talks about how beautiful it is I’m secretly wishing snow would fall, and keep falling.

Finally the wait is almost up. This weekend’s Toronto Ski, Snowboard and Travel Show marks the unofficial start to the season. From today at 3PM through to Sunday at the Automotive Building, Exhibition Place, you can find all the snowgear you’ll ever need and plan any winter getaways too. Gear is usually last year’s stock and priced to fly. It’s not just boards and bindings, great deals can be found on sporty winter jackets and “underwear” too.

All that’s left to consider is where to board when the flakes start falling. Mount St. Louis Moonstone offers great beginner “discovery” packages which include a lesson, rentals and lift all for under $55, but if you’re serious about the white stuff Blue Mountain’s selling a 5×7 - all nights and weekdays lift pass - for $164 until October 22nd. Last year I waited too long and had to pay double - still worth every penny. This time, I’ll pick up my pass at the snowboard show. They’ll take my picture and I’ll be done with it - no hour long lines when I’m busting to get on the hill.

Admission to the show is $15.

I’ve been eating mac and cheese since I was a key kid and, as Gridskipper’s Chris Mohney puts it best, I expect to be gumming it down well into my dotage. The best place for the chewy cheese in Toronto is, hands down, Freshwood Grill on Roncesvalles. Made with four cheeses, fun spiral pasta and a bit of tomato and basil, I guarantee you’ll come crawling back for it on your carb-carving days. At $10 bucks a pop this ain’t kid’s play though.

Scanning through Gawker today I came across a link to Mr. Mohney’s piece on the Best Mac and cheese in the big Cheese - NYC. I was thrilled to learn about S’Mac in Manhattans’ East Village. The people who created this divine orange eatery (pictured above) must truly have macaroni madness. I used to make fun of a co-worker who’d spend his long weekend’s visiting the last few St.Hubert’s in Ontario, but now I’m geeking out at the thought of taking a trip for a little NYC S’Mac.

The journey starts in the Toronto office of Vice, in Parkdale, where Derrick Beckles is doing an impression of God creating woman (read boobs). It’s the intro to Beckles’ piece on Paraguay for the Vice Guide to Travel, out on DVD. Sitting with him is Johnny Knoxville to whom he reveals he’s heading to Nueva Germania to see what still remains of the place that survived briefly as an “Aryan utopia” in the 1800’s and later became a refuge for exiled Nazis after the war. The answer is not much, just a couple bricks left to disintegrate.

With no real story to follow Beckles piece starts falling apart here too. To keep it going he finds some backwoods brothers rumoured to have turned to cannibalism. He asks the geezers a few questions, none of which get to the heart of the dark deed. It’s journalism-lite but Vice seems happy just to prove to us they can look danger in the face and take us along for the ride.

In the guide, which Vice co-founder Suroosh Alvi calls a “60 Minutes meets Jackass” kinda thing, Vice correspondents take us on a tour of 7 not-so-hot tourist destinations like the most radioactive place in the world, Chernobyl’s Red Forest, and then a Pygmy village in the heart of the Congo in search of a dinosaur.

Finding a prehistoric beast or a wild boar with two heads presents a serious challenge and the guys in Vice don’t always get their goal. Maybe that’s why I was most impressed with Suroosh’s own segment in which he hooks up a visit to the largest illegal gun market in the world in Darra, Pakistan, a place where we see kids casually making bullets by hand. The BBC couldn’t gain access to this dangerous place but Surroush walks in, charms the locals, buys a gun and gets his money shot.

You can’t blame the little guy for wanting to head south to warmer weather, especially when it wasn’t his intention to hitch a ride to Toronto in the back of a truck anyway. Problem is no one will take him. If it were any other animal it wouldn’t be an issue, but for this smelly stowaway going back to Cali is not so easy. A one-way ticket could cost as much as US$6,000.

Though he appears friendly, the Toronto Wildlife Centre can’t release the skunk because he could spread disease, but getting him across the border might be a huge problem too. Let’s hope some big-hearted Torontonians come to his rescue. Anyone headed to Lalaland?

(photo: fieldsbh)

blogTO reported this morning that someone could be missing out on a chance to claim $355,000 in winnings from Lotto 6/49. The lottery ticket was sold in South Western Ontario last year but has yet to be claimed. The deadline to claim the cash is 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 4, 2007. I could rifle through all the drawers in my house or just pull the ones off the fridge my man’s been waiting to claim. Maybe we can have our dream vacation after all.

This photo is hands-down the most gorgeous photograph of Toronto I have ever seen, flickr buffs call it cloudporn. Local blog Torontoist (note lack of link) credits their reader Gareth for submitting it, but unfortunately they don’t offer a link to his site(s), as most blogs would do. So I’m left searching the back pages of flickr on my own just to find more of these delicious shots. I’ll share them with you here at fourONEsixSTYLE as I do.

air
Originally uploaded by 416style.

I’ve complained before about the ridiculously high landing fees at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson airport. They’re higher than Tokyo’s Narita, and part of the reason why Hamilton and Buffalo’s airport are becoming more attractive transportation hubs to frequent travelers.

What bothers me even more is that our airport has no rail link to downtown Toronto. If we want to continue saying that Toronto is a “World Class City” we’ve got to be able to put our money where our mouth is. A cab to my home in High Park, 20 minutes away, costs about $45, and the Go train to me is ridiculous. If you wanna hop on the train at the Dundas West platform you need to go down to Union station to buy a ticket (I’ve been told by their staff). To me it’s really no wonder we didn’t get the Olympics. It’s a damn shame. If we can’t sort out our own citizens’ transportation issues how are we going to look to the rest of the world if they come visit? Certainly not world class. If it takes bringing in some European experts in transportation efficiency let’s do it. Nobody wants Toronto to be the next LA. We complain car culture is killing us but there are still so few alternatives. Let’s show the rest of the world we can do it, and earn the title “World Class”.

industrial go karts
Originally uploaded by 416style.

The Amazing Race has long been a popular show in Canada. It’s certainly been a favourite of mine since the beginning. As a bit of a computer and TV geek a couple years ago I decided to particpate in a chatroom where TAR’s host, The Philminator, answered questions about himself and the show. There were some funny questions like “Who picks your wardrobe?” Just so you know, it’s not Phil. He wasn’t crazy either about some of the knit sweaters he was made to wear. Another question was “When are you coming to Canada?” He didn’t answer it. Well, now they’ve come and gone, and while it makes me happy they showcased this multifacted city in their final episode I think they could’ve done a bit better. The Bata Shoe museum wouldn’t have been my pick for a city landmark, though I suppose it is original. I also wasn’t so happy they profiled the Kajama, it was a bit too close to home: my friends and I like to get it for the night for some crazy on-board parties. They also showed Queens Quay Yachting, another place my friends and I like to rent boats. Just hope there’s still availability when we try to book it next summer.

I would’ve suggested a trip to the islands, perhaps in a canoe, or a visit to our little known Olympic Museum.

I did like their task while at the CNTower. Couldn’t have been easy finding the marker located in this Go-Karts area.

Hopefully the show will help this city’s profile. It appeared the American contestants enjoyed it…and in case there are any fan’s out there reading this…rolling lumber is not a national sport.