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So it finally feels like winter, with snow, -10 degree weather, and all that jazz. Well, no reason to stay couped up inside! Toronto’s annual WinterCity Festival starts today, and there’s a ton of events going on. Check out the website for details. Tonight is the opening celebration, and here’s a list of events. Below are some highlights for the coming two weeks of the WinterCity Festival.

At Nathan Phillips Square, there will be concerts going on for this and next weekend. The bands playing are suprisingly good: including The Philsopher Kings, Sloan, and The New Pornographers. Check here for the complete schedule. The Philosopher Kings play tonight at 8:00pm as part of the opening celebration.

Also at Nathan Phillips Square, Italy’s Kitnob Extreme Theatre Company performs “Carillon - The Flight of Time” on Friday and Saturday of this and next weekend at 7:00 pm. The show sounds quite spectacular, check the WinterCity website to see what I mean. Oh, and while you’re down there at Nathan Phillips Square, you’ll also be treated to Canadian artist Gordon Halloran’s Paintings Below Zero installation. There, I hope that gives you enough reason to brave to cold and head out!

But that’s not all! As we mentioned before, Winterlicious prix fixe menu events are being offered by the fine dining establishments in Toronto. In addition, there are a number of Winterlicious Cullinary events that are not to be overlooked! From cooking demonstrations, to brunch and a fashion show: find the details here.

Lastly, there’s a number of Toronto destinations that are offering coupons during the WinterCity festival, just as a little extra incentive for everyone to go out and enjoy their city. Participants include the AGO, the ROM, the CN Tower, Casa Loma, and other fun places. Find the list of coupons here.

Hart House’s Dinner Series is a chance for students to “enjoy fabolous food and listen to a stimulatin speaker”, all at a discounted price. The upcoming speaker is Howard Moscoe, City Councillor and former Chair of the TTC.

This event will take place on Thursday, Jan 25, 2007, in the Hart House South Dining Hall. Tickets can be purchased at U of T Tix. The (pdf) flyer for the event can be found here. Listed on the flyer is also the next two upcoming talks, by Andrew Coyne (columnist for the National Post) on Feb 21, 2007, and Helen Walsh (President of the Couchiching Institute of Public Affairs) on March 14, 2007.

UTSU, formerly known as SAC (still trying to figure out why people voted to change the name), is giving out free coffee and cookies. Here are the details:

Free Fair Trade Coffee and Cookies (while supplies last) at Med. Sci this week (Jan 22 - 25) during UTSU’s Clubs Week. Come check out the different campus groups this week at Med Sci and Sidney Smith from 11am - 3:00pm Monday to Thursday!

Sick of the meal plans at your residence? Just had instant noodle for the 3rd meal in a row? Exhausted your repertoire of pasta recipes? Well, never fear, blogUT is here! Meal Plan is our new column about how to put together easy, breezy, beautiful complete meals. Today’s menu: Pot Roast. Details after the flip. (more…)

I got together with some friends and attended the $5 lunch at Hart House today, organized by the Chemistry Student Union. The lunch was held in the Great Hall, from 11:30 am to 2 pm. For those of you who didn’t go, I must say, you missed out! The photo you see above is what you get for $5. (Actually, cropped out of the picture is a slice decadent chocolate fudge cake. You can see a hint of on at the top.) The fall-off-the-bone-tender roasted chicken was nicely complemented by a salad with a blue cheese and berry dressing. The chocolate fudge cake was a delight. There were also bulbing flasks of liquid nitrogen on display (to add to the chemistry theme I suppose) and an ipod nano raffle, just for kicks. So, if you missed this lunch, be sure to check out the next one. Read on for upcoming $5 lunches at Hart House. (more…)

Tomorrow, Wed. Jan 17th, there’s an event with free pizza at Student Services.

Also tomorrow, Hart House will be having a $5 lunch in the Great Hall, from 11:30 am to 2 pm. I’ve only heard good things about these $5 lunches, so I think I’ll be checking this one out.

Engineers Without Borders is making nights of African drumming a regular event. This year Karibu Night is happening at O’Grady’s (College at McCaul) on the second floor this Friday January 19th. Doors open at 9:00 PM and cover is $10. Remember EWB is a registered charity.

The potential for a great time is not to be underestimated. Though there will be performances by professionals there will also be opportunity for you to join in. If you haven’t fumbled on a djembe in a circle of supporting beats, it’s about time. Bring a friend! I mean really, a pub, a performance, interactive percussion, charity… it doesn’t get much better than this.

The EWB site regrettably has not been updated with event details. Drop a line to for details or early tickets (only $7).

So, it’s that time of the year again. A chance for us students to get a taste of the high life. Winterlicious is here, with 130 Toronto restaurants participating in the prix fixe menu event. So, book a table at a fancy, or relatively fancy, restaurant for Lunch ($15/$25) or Dinner ($25/$35), and bring a hot date! Bookings start today, so be quick about it!

Both blogTO and Torontoist have written have guide to the event, as has Toronto Life magazine. Or if you want to make your own pick, here’s the list of participating restaurants along with a google map of where they are.