I was confronted by a young reader of my blog who demanded to
know why I hadn’t blogged in a while, and when my next blog entry was going to
come. I didn’t want to bore him with
excuses about buying a house, moving and all of that fun stuff that tends to suck
up your time like a hoover. I told him
that there was a blog post in the works, which seemed to appease him.
My wife Courtney’s birthday is coming up, which also means
that the yearly struggle of trying to impress and surprise her slides onto my
shoulders as well. Last year was a
semi-success in that I surprised her, but failed to impress her.
Courtney wanted to go out for dinner on the night of her
birthday and she wanted me to pick out the restaurant. I was happy with that arrangement, and began
ambitiously searching online for restaurants.
Perhaps I should preface this story by telling you that my
wife only likes one restaurant, and only one thing on their menu. I, on the other hand, love trying different restaurants
and different menu options.
I certainly didn’t want to go to that restaurant – we had
been there so many times; they were about to rename Courtney’s favourite dish
after her. I wanted to find a restaurant
that was ethnically authentic, had an original menu, a memorable interior, and
a warm atmosphere.
After a lot of searching and reading various reviews, I
settled on a real beauty. It was a
European themed restaurant in the heart of downtown Hamilton. It is from this point that our experiences
began to go their separate ways.
The drive to the restaurant
Greg
Ah, I love
downtown Hamilton! So much
character! There is so many interesting
people and cozy little shops. Oh, I can
see the European restaurant up ahead. I’ll
just park beside this group of nice young people.
Courtney
I do not
like downtown Hamilton! I wonder where
Greg is taking me. I wish he would keep
his eyes on the road instead of looking at all of these dumpy shops.
What is he
doing now? Why is he parking beside that
street gang?!
Inside the restaurant
Greg
Wow – this place
is oozing charm and character! Look at
their coo-coo clock collection – beautiful.
Everything feels so European too – from the unfriendly service, the
outrageous prices, to the lederhosen – I feel like I am back across the pond.
Courtney
Where am I,
and why is that guy wearing those funny shorts?
Who does he think he is – Heidi’s grandfather? If I hear one more coo-coo bird, I’m outta
here. I am not sure what Greg was
thinking, but I guess I trust his judgement.
Oh no, the
guy with the weird shorts and accordion is leading us to the table underneath
the deer heads. How am I supposed to eat
when Bambi and his extended family are staring down at me? I better steer clear of venison…
At the table
Greg
These menus
are great – the owner of this restaurant must have brought them with him when
his family immigrated after the war. Too
bad they scribbled out all of the old prices and sharpied in the new prices.
There is so
much to choose from! Snitzel, croquet,
frikendel, and venison – just for starters.
Hmmm… Venison is oddly appealing for some reason. This menu is an embarrassment of riches.
Courtney
Are these
menus handwritten? Look at all of the
food stuck to the pages – what is this scratch and sniff or something? I can’t read a single thing in these menus
either. Why did I let Greg choose the
restaurant? Leave it to him to find a
place like this. He’s taking a long time
with his menu too – at least I’m not the only one who can’t read this decrepit
thing.
The Order
Waiter
“Ya, vhat
vill you hebben?”
Greg
“I will
have the snitzel!”
Waiter
“Ya, goed choice!”
Courtney
“I will
have the uh, the um, the… the fish dish.”
Waiter
“Ya, de
fish are fresh from de Hamilton harbour!”
Greg & Courtney
“WHAT?”
Waiter
“Ya, I make
a yoke!”
Greg
Great service
here. Charming servers and funny too!
Courtney
If those
deer heads looming over our table did not kill my appetite, surely the thought
of eating a fish from the harbour did the job.
As you can see, Courtney and I were not on the same
plane. I felt like I was in the heart of
the Bavarian black forest, and Courtney felt like bolting. In hindsight, it wasn’t the best place to
bring Courtney – I should have stuck with our usual digs. The coo-coo clocks, deer heads, and lederhosen
should have tipped me off when I was looking up the restaurant online previous
to our visit.
Then again, it was a very memorable birthday dinner – one of
which we still laugh about today. If we
had gone to the same old place with the predictable menu options, would we have
remembered that evening? Not likely.
Now that her birthday is approaching, I am in the same bind
again. Should I go for the safe, predictable
choice this year, or be creative and choose the restaurant on the path less
traveled? I think I’ll take my cue from
Robert Frost.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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