Posted by Sheryl Kirby in tasting t.o. on May 17, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Marusya Bociurkiw is a writer, filmmaker, food blogger, and a professor of media theory at Ryerson University. She has just written a food memoir called Comfort Food for Breakups: The Memoir of a Hungry Girl (Arsenal Pulp Press), which is about food and relationships (and includes recipes!) and she is working on a book about Canadian TV. She has made nine films, the most recent being Flesh and Blood: A Journey Between East and West, in which she investigates why there's no Ukrainian word for sex.
You've got $10 to buy lunch - where do you go?
Well, here's where I go when I've got $6: Pho Phuong (1603 Dundas Street West), for #76: a huge white bowl filled with vermicelli, grilled chicken, spring rolls, a pile of salad-like things that includes mint and basil, and a lovely cold spicy sauce. Ahhhh! In order to spend the entire ten-spot, I'd go further afield to Bacchus Roti (1376 Queen Street West) for the squash-spinach-mushroom combo and a frosty bottle of ginger beer.
The budget's unlimited, someone else is paying and the choice is yours - where do you pick for dinner?
Mildred Pierce (99 Sudbury Street)... Quick, whoever's-paying, because it's closing soon!
Tell us some of the food shops you frequent when buying groceries to cook for yourself.
Food-shopping, for me, is serendipitous, done in different parts of the city, depending on where my work or errands take me, and what I'm thinking about for dinner. It's always a joy to shop at Dufferin Grove Farmers Market (875 Dufferin Street), Thursdays, 3-7, for the wood-oven-baked multi-grain bread, Jessie Sasnicki's organic perogies, Akiwenzie's fresh and smoked Georgian Bay fish, and, of course, the organic vegetables and fruits. Otherwise, it's shops in Little Portugal, where the finest, freshest cornbread can be found, not to mention a good old-fashioned butcher (O Nosso Talho, 1326 Dundas Street West), and decent produce. Cheese from Thin Blue Line (93B Roncesvalles Avenue), dessert from Queen of Tarts (283 Roncesvalles Avenues), and staples from No Frills (900 Dufferin Street and others) complete the culinary treasure hunt.
When ordering in for a quiet night at home, what's your favourite place for take-out or delivery?
In my book, I write about churrasco chicken (say, from Bairrada, 1000 College Street) as the one of the best comfort foods there is for a breakup. In happier times, my girlfriend and I can be found ordering margharita pizza from John's Classic Pizza (591 College Street) while indulging in such guilty pop culture pleasures as American Idol and Dancing With the Stars.
Oh, no, relatives are coming to Toronto from out of town - where do you take them?
I consider my friends to be family, so when friends come from out of town I sometimes drag them to the Friday night community dinners at Dufferin Grove Park (875 Dufferin
Street) where 6-8 bucks buys you a lovely meal made from market ingredients, and the proceeds fund park activities.
Family-family? Probably something more civilized, like The Pomegranate (420 College Street), where the smooth, delicious Persian stews never disappoint and the atmosphere is calm and quiet enough to... reminisce, or hash out old resentments - depending!
Your favourite place to grab a couple of drinks and hang out where everybody knows your name?
Communist's Daughter (1149 Dundas Street West) - they make a great rusty nail, no questions asked, and I can cuddle in the corner with my gal pal if I so desire. Crooked Star (202 Ossington Avenue) is good if you need some fantastic nachos with your beverage, and Mitzi's Sister (1554 Queen Street West), where my last book launch was held, is always fun and relaxed, with an eclectic music and food menu - gotta love their lamb burgers!
What’s coming up?
For the rest of May, I'm on tour in western Canada with Comfort Food for Breakups (Edmonton - May 15th, Vancouver - May 24th, Courtenay - May 30th, Vancouver again - June 3rd). On June 15th, I'll be part of an evening of queer writers hosted by Parkdale Community Health Centre (1229 Queen Street West), and July 28th I'll be reading from my novel, The Children of Mary, at the IV Lounge (326 Dundas Street West). My books can be found at an independent bookstore near you, and you can also sample my writing for free on my food blog, Recipes For Trouble.
