The above was the scene from our roof. Our hearts sank. We couldn’t tell for sure which house it was, but the street is filled with young families and with elderly people. And it was too close for comfort. After snapping a few pictures I headed downstairs to join the growing crowd.

It seems there was some sort of bbq mishap on the roof. After the owner finished with the bbq in the backyard – not sure if it was all shut off - he flicked a cigarette under the porch and the embers lit up the porch (CityTV), spreading upward and to the neighbouring house (CP24 story). At some point I do believe that the propane tank blew up as well. Fortunately, everybody got out of the house in short order, nobody was hurt. The damage to the house was extensive. As of this writing it still stood, the fire was out, but the work continues. Fire Command isn’t going anywhere yet. One neighbouring house apparently has notable damage, although I don’t know how notable. Not super serious, it would seem. The other neighbouring house seems to have minimal damage; fortunately that couple had moved into an apartment to make renovations easier – work that was supposed to start very soon.

It was wild to see the firefighters and police at work. They are a calm, cool and collected bunch. For them it’s probably just another fire. They know their jobs and they do them very well. For us it’s the story of the day, month, perhaps year.

And just to be absolutely clear, we’re all fine. We were never in any danger.

For those of you into neighbourhood goings-on, our traditionally Polish neighbourhood is hosting their traditional Polish Festival. The main street is shut down for 1km+ and there’s all sorts of food, music and fun stuff. I wrote about rIAm’s and my visit this afternoon (before the rain came!) and embedded lots of photos through flickr.

I also paid a visit to the newly opened espresso bar in our neighbourhood, giving a first look for blogTO.

That Canadian election I mentioned? Yeah, broke that story on blogTO. There’s even a click poll so you can see who’s leading amongst blogTO readers.

Call me festival guy; last weekend we visited our friends linda & Dan in their ‘hood for Justin Rutledge at the Junction Arts Festival.

And I’ll plug it again because I like it so much… I did a profile of my current favourite Toronto chef, Rocco Agostino. He tends to my current favourite Toronto restaurant, Silver Spoon.

As always, you can stay tuned to my author page for all my blogTO work.

Well the meal was amazing, from beginning to end. The conversation, the service, and oh, the food, it was top notch. Well it became clear pretty early on I should do a review, so I took lots of pictures. Then we met the chef, Rocco Agostino, who is actually from the neighbouring village to rIAm’s dad, and in his own right is a very cool guy.

So I had the idea, why not do a profile of Rocco, which can serve to introduce the review of Silver Spoon? They could all launch together on blogTO.

And so they did. Check out the profile and review. And hop over to my author page to see recent articles that I didn’t mention in this space, including the Obama speech watching party in town.

Well, all the work that went into finding the best deal and place to do that is now a blogTO post. Enjoy.

And for all you Chicago area readers, we’ll be in town next weekend. We’ll mostly be in Chicago proper, and we’ll be there with m+h, but it would be nice to see you.

Unfortuantely for thousands of Toronto bike riders, they cannot say the same. Fellow blogTO contributor Roger has had a series of great posts on the recent bike ring crackdown, and tonight I added my part with the news of the latest bike seizures.

Stealing bikes is just plain mean.

We’ve cooked some great meals – I discovered grilling cauliflower gets a wonderful tandoor-like flavour – and explored our neighbourhood, as well as eating at some of Toronto’s finest restaurants and catching a Toronto FC game. And, of course, we’ve done a lot to set up our apartment.

It’s been so nice to have a place of our own again. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed – despite some frustrating moments and trips to Home Hardware – assembling, installing and otherwise being the handyman. There’s one towel bar up that isn’t going to go anywhere. Ever. There’s a kitchen shelf I just hope holds after so many failed attempts, but I feel good about the chances. And there’s a wardrobe that I hope I can just sell to the next occupants one day. But there’s also the Tibetan prayer flags adorning our bay window, recipe books filling out two of Billy’s shelves and “new” vintage furniture we’re enjoying.

So amongst all of these rewarding pursuits I have just lately found some time to blog (the above link goes to one post on blogTO) and tonight I wrote about a local woman who decided that she should put in an eco driveway, and her story is simply wonderful. I gave her a call to get some photos and it was such a pleasant conversation; she seems so down to earth despite having some of the biggest names on the internet featuring her prominently.

I haven’t forgotten about our pastabroccoli readers; thanks for checking the site. I hope to have more regular content here in the coming weeks and months, with a “tour” of our new place on the short list.

I’ve also discovered that writing for blogTO is very rewarding, and leads to all sorts of cool things. I can get access to great events, make contacts with good people to know and even have a reason to go hang out with a chef for a while so I can do an interview.

Now I’m very excited that rIAm and I have a great apartment in Roncesvalles, a great Toronto neighbourhood. We spent our Canada Day painting, and the place looks really good. We’ve got some nice colours and have overall brightened the place up. With a delivery tonight, we’ll also have a nice mix of vintage furniture and Ikea. But it’s so exciting to be so close to our independent lifestyle again, and to have it in such a vibrant community. Just visiting Roncesvalles excites me about where I’m about to be living and Toronto in general.

Of course I’ve also figured out a few things I miss about Chicago, and perhaps even the States in general. The obvious first thing, other than the fact my family isn’t in Toronto, is that the Mexican food scene is pathetic. I visited a new place that makes their own tortillas, and while the tortillas were great, the tacos were awful. Other spots that come close to good Mexican fare do it either at high prices or mediocre quality, or both, so it’s hard to be all that excited. There just isn’t the population or competition like Chicago has. At least we have found some good sources for a number of Mexican ingredients, and we are even growing our own tomatillos in nonno’s garden.

I also miss the clothing selection and sales and outlet malls of the US. It’s not like I went shopping that often, but I find it difficult to find reasonably priced options to suit my needs and desires. I’m not being cheap – most of the cheap stuff just looks cheap to me now – but I’m also not looking for the most expensive stuff – and there isn’t a heck of a lot in the middle. I think I was spoiled by the outlet malls, and for the first time, I can sort of understand the obsession my in-laws have with the outlet malls.

I also really miss the great public space in Chicago. The parks, paths, incredible architecture and so much more really contributed to an awesome feeling in the city. Although Toronto is a great city, it doesn’t grab at your emotions in the same way at all. Toronto is a city you aren’t blown away with, but slowly come to love and appreciate. You have to make it your own; Chicago asserts itself.

And this leads me to the big thing I have realized I miss about Chicago: enormous pride in your city. Canadians can’t let the name of a famous Canadian go by without annoucning that person is Canadian, but when it comes to Toronto, residents are as apt to blast a new project as anything else. I hear so much complaining about this that or another – much of it for a reason – but in such a way where no credit is given to the good. In Chicago, perhaps this is unique, the love of the city tops all else. Yes, there is disagreement over how to do things or whether something is good or bad, but at the end of the day, Chicagoans love Chicago and you know it. I can’t say the same for Toronto.

The roots of Chicago’s love go a long way back. Perhaps it was galvanized by the 1893 Columbian Exposition, as Daniel Burnham led the city’s efforts to put on one helluva show for the world. That pride has never gone away, and is stronger today than ever.

Perhaps what I also miss is an iconic, benevolent, dictatorial, corrupt (?) mayor. For all of the criticism that Da Mare (Daley) gets, he deserves every re-election he’s had and I thank him for all of his years of service because despite whatever forays into silliness he’s had, Chicago is one helluva city, and he’s a big reason why.

Over here in Toronto the same can’t be said. Trying to introduce more street food vendors is a good example. Street hot dogs are a bit of a staple in this town, but with all the immigrants – Toronto’s multi-culturalism is incredible – there was a plan introduced to expand the street food vendor cart options to better capture Toronto’s many flavours. Well the plan was ready to be implemented when it got mired in beaurocracy about who should own the carts, who should operate the cars, what should be offered and so on and so forth. Now it looks like it will take years to implement what could have – should have! – been already in place.

But then I visit Roncesvalles and get all excited about Toronto again, because there’s a lot of great stuff happening there and all over the city. I’m getting to know the bike routes, and can’t wait to be so close to the Lakefront Trail. I’m also feeling well connected to the local/seasonal food scene, and I’m feeling more and more comfortable being stopped and asked for directions. I can look around and find stuff that could – should – be improved, but I can also see a great city I’m living in.

And more than anything, I can’t wait for Saturday evening, when rIAm and I are left with our nicely painted apartment filled up with all sorts of boxes. There may not be a tree, but waking up Sunday will be like Christmas morning: I won’t know which box to open up first, and can’t wait for the surprise of what’s inside!