A Game to Pass the Time

A few more random thoughts as I try to look useful at the food and wine show, going on this weekend at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

1. Do conspicuous consumers of food and drink really need to feel as though they are indulging inside of a refrigerator? It has been a constant source of amazement to me since we started this marathon at how fricking frigid it is in here. The temperature seems to be inversely proportionate to the amount of people in the room. The busier it gets, the colder it gets. They tell me that this is an ideal environment to sell vodka. I'm just plain cold!! I have been seen several times over the past 48 hours in full winter regalia, gloves included! I feel like I am in Vegas where they purposefully lower the thermostats in the casinos in order to encourage wakefullness and supposed sobriety. Of course, the half-naked refugees from Sex and the City don't seem at all fazed by their trek through the tundra!

2. The Older Son and I have been playing a people watching game entitled "Spot the agent from the AGCO". Apparently the alcohol and gaming commission has been here in full force, but they like to play it cool, discreet, and undercover. Maybe the hidden agent is the middle- aged guy with a pot-belly and silver mullet? Maybe it is the hoser bitch who claimed that the vodka, which has been in an ice bath since yesterday morning, wasn't cold enough for her? Maybe it is the Muslim couple in traditional garb, conspicuously avoiding all alcohol booths? Or, maybe it was the slightly tipsy twenty-something wearing the tell-taled iron ring of all Canadian engineers, who kept coming back for refills with her friends hoping that we would comp her a shot! No dice!! The game continues.

Keep posted for further updates. I need to go find my gloves. My fingers are freezing!