Tut Show

Outside the Art Gallery of Ontario in December sleet, colossal Anubis guards the treasures within. The King Tut: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs show is a wonder and very much worth the expense to visit. For my full review, check out my article on Examiner.com (I'm their new Toronto Cultural Travel Examiner) and while you're there, subscribe!
The story of Tut is actually the story of two boys: the mysterious Egyptian Boy Pharaoh and another, more modern, English boy who would grow up to discover his tomb.  Howard Carter (1874-1939) was a sickly son of humble origins, his father a draughtsman who educated him as an artist.  In 1891, seventeen-year-old Howard was hired by the Egypt Exploration Fund to document finds and left his drizzly homeland for the first time, making the expedition to strange, sweltering Alexandria.

By the age of 25, diligent Howard had attained the position of Inspector General of Monuments for Upper Egypt, his duties including the overseeing of all Nile valley excavations.
It wasn't a straight-up trajectory to the discovery of Tut's tomb in 1922, though, or afterwards. The fascinating Find a Grave website tells Carter's story very well.  It's a story just as surprising as Tutankhamun's.

Searching for Cinderella

One of my most anticipated guests was missing at Thanksgiving, though I'd hunted all over Toronto for her. I'm talking about Cinderella, the cheese from St-Raymond de Portneuf, Quebec, voted best in the world recently at the World Cheese Awards 2009. The nice guys at Alex Farm (Danforth and Chester) were confident their supplier would come through by Friday but when I ran in there, breathless, like Cinderella at the appointed hour, she was a no-show.
This was the first time ever that a Canadian cheese has won the award, causing a nationwide run on the belle of the ball.  A reasonable price (about $5 for 125 grams) guarantees Cinderella's dance card will be full for a while. The producer--La Maison Alexis de Portneuf--says production is based on demand so will go up, but since it is artisanally made, the vegetable ash-covered, soft surface-ripened goat cheese could be in short supply for a while. As I scribbled my name and every single one of my phone numbers on a scrap of paper for Alex Farm's order book, the counter guy gently informed me that Cinderella's real name is Le Cendrillon.
How embarrassing! South of the border they've anglicized the name, but up here we're supposed to know French.  I'll be working on my language skills--and keeping an eye open for Cinderella--in Montreal later this week.  I'll let you know if I find her.