The Ladies Who Lunch (Part 3)

[chefmd]

Sushi at Hana Japanese Restaurant near Santa Rosa 

 

[Smithy]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

Kerry dropped me at the curb and the man who eventually became our server and whom I suspect might be either a manager or perhaps a part owner of the restaurant saw me approaching. I am quite obviously handicapped and he was most gracious in taking care of the doors and guiding me to a seat and was solicitous to me in a very friendly way throughout. He even made sure that I was able to navigate my way out of the restaurant after Kerry had left to get the car. stuff like this needs to be recognized I think.

 

I quite agree. What a lovely recommendation!

[Toast]

I agree too.  My mum struggles to walk and it makes such a difference when we go to places where people are able to recognise that and offer help in a kind way. 

 

I was interested to hear your thoughts on Blaze pizza.  I was in Canada for the first time in January and came across this place and loved it.  So much so that I sought it out on my next visit.  We have a lot of good pizza here in London but this concept has yet to make it's way over.  I came across something similar in Las Vegas this year too but I don't recall the name of that particular place. 

[Anna N]

There were three ladies lunching today.
@Kerry Beal, her daughter Kira and me. A few extra challenges for Kerry. Finding an appropriate place to eat when you have two handicapped people with you presents its own special challenges.
 

The van needs a parking spot wide enough to let the ramp down so we can get Kira out in her wheelchair. And the parking spot needs to be close enough that I don’t have to walk far. In addition of course there can be no steps or stairs, reasonably quiet as Kira does not do well with loud noises and the food has to be suitable for Kira. She can eat most things but you would not like to see the mess she makes with rice or soup. 😂

 

We selected and then rejected I don’t know how many possibilities until finally settling on a diner.

 

Wimpys look like a possibility but there was no way that we could find room for the van where we could let down ramp. 
 

We finally ended up at AJs Grill in Waterdown. 

 

 

Kira looking a little worried here. I am not quite sure if this is the point where her mom fed her a pickle and she’s trying to decide what the heck it is.  
 

 

Kira’s grilled cheese sandwich with fries which she enjoyed thoroughly. Mom dipped the fries In ketchup for her. 
 

 

Kerry had the chicken Caesar. 
 

 

The incredibly fresh salad that came as part of my meal. 
 

 

My ”seniors” serving of liver and onions with french fries. 

 

 

[kayb]

Kira is a very pretty girl, even looking worried.

 

[Anna N]

Christmas lunch at The Keg. This is the second year so perhaps it is becoming a tradition.  
 

 

Water for Kerry and a glass of Cabernet -Merlot for me. 
 

 

Bread for the table which we had turned down but our server I suspect was quite new to the job and perhaps somewhat nervous and was not paying very much attention to anything that we actually said!

 

 

Kerry wanted a wedge salad with thousand island dressing but apparently thousand Island dressing is not on the menu. So she settled for a caesar, with regrets, most of it was left. 
 

We both ordered from the “classics“ side of the menu. I even pointed to the meal I had chosen on the menu but again our young server appeared to be zoned out somewhere. Consequently I was not offered the salad which is a part of that meal. No regrets I didn’t want to waste calories on a salad anyway. But when Kerry raised the question our server seemed to assume that we were attempting to be frugal. I found this somewhat disturbing that he would even raise that possibility. However, as I say he was young and perhaps not yet fully trained. 
 

 

so Kerry had the baseball sirloin from the classics side of the menu complete with accompaniments. She had argued with some vigour that I should at least get mushrooms!

 

my 10 ounce serving of prime rib which came from the other side of the menu and lacked the accompaniments such as the lovely vegetables.

 

I ordered the cauliflower mash and Kerry ordered the baked potatoes so that we could each try a different side by sharing. 
 

We enjoyed our lunch and our time together but when it came time for the bill we did harass the server somewhat in what we hope was a friendly manner for his constant use of the words “we” and “our”. As in, “Are we enjoying our meal?”  Both Kerry and I find this worse than fingernails on a chalkboard!  We pointed out humorously that he was not enjoying our meal as we had not agreed to share with him. Where does this nonsense come from? He claimed he was trying to include the whole table but even when we pointed out to him that he wasn’t part of the table he didn’t seem to get it. We partecd on good terms, I hope!

Edited December 11, 2019 by Anna N (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

8 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 

a glass of Cabernet -Merlot for me.

 

25cl?

That's quite a "glass".

I like your class!

Edited December 11, 2019 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[Anna N]

9 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

 

25cl?

That's quite a "glass".

I like your class!

 

Don’t know but it was a generous pour. 6 ounces maybe. 8?  I think it was closer to 8 ounces. 

[Kerry Beal]

8

[Margaret Pilgrim]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

8

Yep, looks like the typical french demi-pichet -> 25 cl     Or, of course, a splash more in imperial fluid ounces.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

That's what you get for ordering cauliflower.

 

[Anna N]

 Yesterday the Ontario secondary school teachers called another one day strike and so Kira was off school once again. So we were three ladies for lunch. I had suggested that we go for pho in Hamilton where the staff have known Kira since she was a baby. It seemed like a good idea but apparently, despite her heritage, Kira is Vietnamese, she’s not big on their food!

 

No photographs but Kerry had tea as usual and I had a Vietnamese iced coffee.

 

 

Fresh salad rolls

 

 

Beef and chicken pho for Kerry..

 

 

Rare and well done beef for me. 
 

 

Mine fully dressed!

 

Kira’s pork bun (salad) with an extra topping of shrimp on sugarcane. 
 

 

Dipping sauces for the fresh rolls and Kira’s bun. 
 

Kira did not do especially well with her food so we dropped into the Men’s Mission in Hamilton and scrounged a small yoghurt for her and then when we got back to my house she was able to have toast with some really tasty fig marmalade that Kerry had brought for me and some shortbread cookies that I had hoarded in my freezer. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

 

Fresh salad rolls

 

 

Oh, yes!  Gỏi cuốn, my favorite order.     With grilled chicken or barbeque pork.  Nice to have something so delicious also be healthful.   

[Anna N]

Today @Kerry Beal needed to make a fast road trip to Kitchener (about a one hour and 20 minute drive from Oakville, in ideal conditions). I was invited along for the ride. The conditions were not ideal as we were driving through snow squalls but it surely wasn’t that bad.

 

While Kerry navigated her way around transport trucks, drivers who still think it’s July, and little old people who should probably surrender their drivers licences, I researched a place for us to have lunch.

 

It did not take me very long to find  Veslo .  it certainly sounded interesting and had good reviews.

 

The wine list makes no pretence of being exhaustive. if you want wine by the glass your choices are quite simple: red or white!  There are advantages to being a peasant like me. I chose red. 

 

 

Kerry asked for tea with lots of milk. It’s amazing how “lots” seems to be as interpreted as anything more than one.  We eventually managed to flag down our server and get some more milk.

 

We had only one dish which we shared but I bullied Kerry into taking photographs from multiple viewpoints for your viewing pleasure. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Platter for two (starving farmhands maybe?). 
 

4 chevapi (grilled pork and beef sausages), 1 pork chop, 2 pieces of shish kebab,

1 small Vienna schnitzel, 1 smoked sausage, 1 karadjordjeva schnitzel all on a bed of coleslaw at one end of the platter and home fries at the other end. 

Guess who will be eating for a week on the leftovers. 

 

karadjordjeva= it is a Serbian rolled schnitzel filled with homemade cheese. 

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by Anna N
To fix misplaced photograph (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Hey - there was no shish kebab! Looks like the chunk of ham replaced it.

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Hey - there was no shish kebab! Looks like the chunk of ham replaced it.

By golly, Sherlock, I think you’re right. 

[Anna N]

OK I admit I really stretching to make this food related but it was in its own way. @Kerry Beal and I went on a road trip today out to Markham. On the return journey which stopped in to @Alleguede’s bakery, Goûter.  There we were gifted some of his marvellous baked goods including baguettes, croissants and cookies. I enjoyed a couple of slices of baguette with liverwurst for my lunch since we did not stop for lunch this time. Both of us have family obligations later in the day. But on the way back home Kerry spotted this, in the very heart of Toronto’s Jewish quarter, so I offer it to you as your Christmas Eve smile. Proof that the ecumenical movement is still alive and well. 
 

 

Happy holidays to everyone from two of the Ladies Who Lunch. 

[chefmd]

Overpriced but tasty lunch at the Breakers Hotel yesterday with MIL.  Seafood club sandwich and fried calamari.

 

[Anna N]

Normally @Kerry Beal and I go out to lunch together on Wednesday but Wednesday being Christmas day we postponed it until today. But today is boxing day which is a holiday in Canada and many of the places we frequent were close today. 

But Kerry spotted The French in Hamilton which sounded very interesting and was definitely open today. 
 

There were quite a number of items on the lunch menu that appealed.

 

However, when we arrived and were offered menus they were very different from what we had seen online. We later learned that during the holidays they offer only a brunch menu. 

The first table we were offered was somewhat smaller than a round bar tray. Kerry wisely asked if we could please have something just a little larger. We were given what I suppose is a banquette. Not a bit comfortable and extremely difficult to get into if you were slightly bigger than a four-year-old. 
 

I knew Kerry was extremely unhappy and suggested that perhaps we should go find somewhere else but she had already paid $10.50 to park. 
 

There really wasn’t a lot on the menu that called out to either one of us. And some things seemed egregious. 
 

Lamb porchetta?  I thought perhaps I misunderstood the meaning of the word so I looked it up when we got home. 

por·chet·ta

noun

1. (in Italian cooking) suckling pig that has been boned, seasoned with garlic and herbs, and roasted, typically sliced and served as a filling in sandwiches. Oxford Dictionary.  

Tostado rancheros in a French bistro? Duck waffles? It all sounded a little spaced out. 
 

 

 

But we were there and we had paid for parking so we decided to try and make the best of a bad situation.

 

Kerry did ask if it was possible to order from the normal lunch menu but that was nixed by our server. 
 

so we decided to order two entrées and share them. Lamb so rarely appears on menus that even if they were going to call it pork I wanted it. steak and eggs can really be wrong can it?  
 

Yep it can. The menu describes it as including two sunny side eggs. Kerry asked if one egg could be ”over lightly”.  I don’t know how many times she’s stressed that only one egg should be over lightly because I liked my eggs just the way they came. 

 

nothing at all like “over easy” on this egg. 

 

 

nor this!  The salad was fresh but the dressing was vapid. 

 

 

The lamb burger which was definitely lamby not porky and the fries which were not bad. That sauce on the side though we are pretty sure came from a bottle. It was nothing like an aïoli. 
 

At no time will we asked if we would like something to drink. The service simply poured tapwater for both of us.
 

But we always manage to find something amusing no matter how bad things get.
 

We could see things happening out of a window. There were very expensive movie type cameras being utilized and people dressed in outfits that were inappropriate for the end of December in Ontario. At first Kerry thought perhaps it was a movie being filmed there. But everyone who passed by that window seem to be carrying a blanket or had a blanket wrapped around them. Eventually, with the help of Google, Kerry determined that we were at the finishing point of some kind of marathon. The cameras were probably local news crews. 
 

And there was this which caught my eye as Kerry parked the car so I asked her to grab a photograph. 
 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Anna N
Failed attempt to get the right font. And to add the note about the lack of a drink being offered. (log)

[blue_dolphin]

My "like" is for your attitude and friendship rather than the food or service described above 🙃

[Anna N]

Since my Bestie, aka @Kerry Beal, has a nasty cold which I prefer her not to share, my daughter treated me to lunch out today. We get did go to a favourite haunt—Celadon House in Oakville — where Kerry and I have enjoyed a number of excellent lunches. 
 

 

Ginger tea for my daughter and a glass of Shiraz for me.

 

 

I don’t know if this is my favourite calamari preparation but it is certainly my favourite sauce accompaniment which is a flavoured vinegar.

 

 

 

 

I should apologize for having eaten most of the Garlic Mushroom Gambas before taking a photograph but they are so good that anyone who tried them would understand how this could happen. 
 

 

Curry beef noodle soup for my daughter. 
 

I think she will be returning with her girlfriends to this restaurant as she was very impressed. 
 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

@Kerry Beal flies off to Rimini, Italy (follow her adventure) this evening but still managed to find time to pick up some lunch and bring it to my house. 

 

 

Onion bhaji, lamb korma, chicken tikka and naan. 

 

 

 

My plate.

 

It all just hit the spot and there are leftovers!  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by Anna N
Add back in the lost word “house” (log)

[Smithy]

How I admire the take-out meals in your part of the world!

[Anna N]

Today @Kerry Beal and I hooked up with honorary lady @Alleguede headed off to Kaka Sushi for lunch.

Not sure if these 4.photographs cover everything we ordered but they at least cover most of it.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

warm sake and seaweed salad for me. 
 

The other two “ladies” had miso soup

 

 

and Kerry had tea and the other “lady” had water. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

Today I expressed a wish to eat somewhere familiar. Some days you crave novelty and some days not so much. So after taking care of some business and doing some grocery shopping we had lunch at an old familiar place, Lemon Grass. 

 

A glass of Pinot Grigio for me. A glass of Pinot Grigio for me.
 

 

Ginger tea for Kerry and our rice. 
 

 

Shrimp salad roll with a pleasantly spicy peanut dipping sauce. 
 

 

crispy duck which we shared. 
 

 

with peanut dipping sauce for Kerry

 

 

and orange sauce for me.