The Ladies Who Lunch (Part 3)

[Anna N]

Today we enjoyed Korean food from the Owl of Minerva in Hamilton. It is one of the most difficult online sites to navigate. I really wanted to try the beef bone soup in white stock but apparently it is not available from the Hamilton location. That said I thoroughly enjoyed my Kalbi. 
 

 

Kalbi for me along with steamed dumplings, rice and, of course, banchan. 
 

 

 

Kerry had the same but with Bulgogi. 
 

Lots of leftovers including the complementary deep fried dumplings which will get reheated in the Cuisinart steam oven. 
 

 

[Anna N]

There is no logic to it! Even here in the frozen north we’ve learned the secret of air conditioning and those people who live on the Indian continent do not fast through all the hot months. That said, @Kerry Bealand I consider consuming Indian food mostly in the colder months. I think this has as much to do with the wonderful warm atmosphere of the restaurant where we usually enjoy this food. And so with spring supposedly around the corner we ventured to make today our last Indian feast for this winter season. Unfortunately it still is not safe to dine in restaurants as far as we are concerned so we enjoyed it at my house. 
 

 

 

Both plates have the same selection. I like much smaller meals these days so I can enjoy leftovers for days!

 

We have Madras lamb curry, chicken rogan josh, basmati rice, paratha, naan, onion bhajis.

 

 

[Anna N]

After someone posted a video in another thread of Andrea Nguyen making a Bahn mi, my lunch choice for this Wednesday was carved in stone! It doesn’t hurt that I’m happy to help support a small business. But when I logged on to look at the specials the website was still showing Easter week. Have they gone out of business I wondered. On Wednesday morning shortly after 930 I made a phone call to determine if they were still offering lunch specials. I spoke with the owner who is very delightful and he basically said that Wednesday special was always wonton soup! He sounded busy so I did not want to raise the question office out of date website. Still, an out of date website could hurt him so I hope he finds time to update it soon. 

 

 

As I expected @Kerry Bealopted for the soup along with a couple of spring rolls. 
 

 

I had my usual favourite Pork Wreck with spring rolls.  With the extra spring rolls that Kerry left in my fridge I made three meals out of this!  
 

I just logged onto the website and it is still showing the Easter week specials!

[Anna N]

I almost forgot to post lunch this week. @Kerry Beal mentioned she’d enjoyed pizza from a place near where she works in Hamilton. Good pizza is hard to come by here so I thought that this would be a good choice. 

 

 

Kerry’s selection was black olives sun-dried tomato and pepperoni. 
 

 

 

Mine was my usual mushroom and pepperoni. 
 

lots and lots of leftovers in my freezer!

Edited April 16, 2021 by Anna N
Typo (log)

[Anna N]

These ladies planned to enjoy lunch together on Wednesday but the crush of work of one of us, and it wasn’t me, precluded that. So lunch got pushed to Friday. We decided on a place that @Kerry Bealhad driven past on a number of occasions. The Rose Garden Restaurant It’s so named because it is located very close to the actual rose garden of the Royal botanical Gardens. This restaurant has the most eclectic menu I think I have ever seen. It is basically a diner that has segued into the 21st-century.  However, we both stuck with pretty standard diner fare. 
 

Since Kerry was at work I called in the order so she could pick it up on her way over to my house. All seemed well until I received a phone call from a very frazzled restaurant employee. “She has got the wrong order!” I was asked to call Kerry and tell her to return the order she had and pick up the right order. From the sound of the employee’s voice she was bracing for a shellacking. I reassured her that Kerry was not the kind of person who would do that and she should just relax.

 

As both Kerry and I suspected our food had been sitting there now for far too long and although it was edible it did not really do justice to its potential. Oh well there are bigger worries! 
 

 

Kerry’s beef dip with fries, coleslaw and the requisite jus. 
 

 

 

My garden salad to accompany liver and onions. I had lots of leftovers and must say that the salad was very fresh. The fries suffered the most from the long delay. 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Anna N
Typos (log)

[ElsieD]

We have eaten at The Rose Garden a few times.    I remember the food as being tasty enough, and the setting was nice.  When we go to visit John's mom we have taken her there.

[Anna N]

13 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

We have eaten at The Rose Garden a few times.    I remember the food as being tasty enough, and the setting was nice.  When we go to visit John's mom we have taken her there.

Thanks. Nice to know. There really was nothing wrong with the food I had that could not have been fixed by being fresher! 

[ElsieD]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

Thanks. Nice to know. There really was nothing wrong with the food I had that could not have been fixed by being fresher! 

 

Plus, it beats Russell Williams.🙂

[Anna N]

13 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Plus, it beats Russell Williams.🙂

Never had the (dis)pleasure. 

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

 

Plus, it beats Russell Williams.🙂

 

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Never had the (dis)pleasure. 

 

Can you elaborate on Russell Williams, without derailing this topic?

[Anna N]

19 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

 

Can you elaborate on Russell Williams, without derailing this topic?

I obviously don’t know much about the place except for some rumours. But I’ve passed it many times when I was in the car with @Kerry Bealand not once did she suggest that we stop for lunch. That was enough for me. 😂

[Kerry Beal]

Russell Williams is an Aldershot institution - lots of kids from my high school ate lunch there. Not me - I got my burgers and fries at Gus's Pool Hall. Tradition has all the teachers from any aldershot schools meeting there first thing every PD day. 

 

Not great food. 

[blue_dolphin]

58 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Can you elaborate on Russell Williams, without derailing this topic?

 

From the answers in this thread and Google, I have learned that Russell Williams is a Canadian convicted murderer.  Russell Williams is also an Aldershot institution. Aldershot is a town in Hampshire, England.  Not sure why an Aldershot institution is named for a convicted murderer.   Teachers from schools in Aldershot apparently meet at the Russell Williams Institution on PD day.  PD day might be professional development day or personal development day but I'm not sure.  

Edited April 24, 2021 by blue_dolphin (log)

[DesertTinker]

8 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

From the answers in this thread and Google, I have learned that Russell Williams is a Canadian convicted murderer.  Russell Williams is also an Aldershot institution. Aldershot is a town in Hampshire, England.  Not sure why an Aldershot institution is named for a convicted murderer.   Teachers from schools in Aldershot apparently meet at the Russell Williams Institution on PD day.  PD day might be professional development day or personal development day but I'm not sure.  

Try this Russell Williams, I Googled “Russell Williams food”.

Edited April 24, 2021 by DesertTinker
Punctuation (log)

[ElsieD]

21 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

From the answers in this thread and Google, I have learned that Russell Williams is a Canadian convicted murderer.  Russell Williams is also an Aldershot institution. Aldershot is a town in Hampshire, England.  Not sure why an Aldershot institution is named for a convicted murderer.   Teachers from schools in Aldershot apparently meet at the Russell Williams Institution on PD day.  PD day might be professional development day or personal development day but I'm not sure.  

 

Russell Williams, the murderer, has nothing to do with the restaurant.   Two entirely separate entities.

[blue_dolphin]

35 minutes ago, DesertTinker said:

Try this Russell Williams, I Googled “Russell Williams food”.

There's my mistake. I Googled “Russell Williams Canada”

And apologies to @Smithy for derailing the thread with my foolishness.  Just made me laugh that the helpful responses did little to enlighten me!

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

From the answers in this thread and Google, I have learned that Russell Williams is a Canadian convicted murderer.  Russell Williams is also an Aldershot institution. Aldershot is a town in Hampshire, England.  Not sure why an Aldershot institution is named for a convicted murderer.   Teachers from schools in Aldershot apparently meet at the Russell Williams Institution on PD day.  PD day might be professional development day or personal development day but I'm not sure.  

The convicted murderer came well after the restaurant I believe - but I can't be totally sure his parents didn't name him after it. 

 

Professional Development day is correct. 

 

Aldershot is also a town in Ontario, Canada but it is now part of Burlington - used to be it's own thing when I grew up there.

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, DesertTinker said:

Try this Russell Williams, I Googled “Russell Williams food”.

See the map linked to there? See the turtle pond? That was in my back yard growing up. 

[gfweb]

21 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

See the map linked to there? See the turtle pond? That was in my back yard growing up. 

I see swimming pools only.

[ElsieD]

@Smithy  The Russell Williams restaurant is a favourite of a lot of people who live in a nearby retirement residence, John's mom being one of them.  She used to like to go there for lunch whenever we went to see her and she really liked the place.  Us, not so much as the food isn't that good.  However, we kept going there because it made her happy, and because it made her happy, it made us happy.   Then one day it so happened that we went to the Rose Garden.  The food and atmosphere is much better than the diner (like real tablecloths).  She preferred it as well so that is where we go now.   

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

I see swimming pools only.

You might have to manipulate them map a bit but it is in the bottom right hand corner in LaSalle Park. 
 

[Anna N]

I am quite certain it will take me less time to post our lunch then it took me to delete all the extra photos that were airdropped onto my iPhone! Some technical glitch that was!

 

This week @Kerry Bealand I decided it was time for a return to one of our favourite restaurants, Sakai. 

 

Complimentary sushi. 
 

Kerry’s Nabe with soba noodles, an appetizer of shrimp rocks which we shared and the complimentary sushi which we also shared. 
 

 

 

 

Similar appetizer and sushi accompanied by yuk gae jang (a spicy soup with brisket). 

 

[Anna N]

Lunch last Wednesday got cancelled by Covid. Lunch this Wednesday got cancelled by Covid. @Kerry Bealand I were wondering if we would ever have an opportunity to share lunch. But ….serendipity!  A Covid related errand brought Kerry into my neighbourhood not too far from our very favourite Vietnamese restaurant. It was perhaps the shortest lunch we’ve ever had together but that made it only that much more special. 
 

 

The noodle soup special of the day for Kerry. 
 

 

My usual Pork wreck. 
 

It was so serendipitous because I’ve been dreaming of this for days but I did not want to suggest it for a lunch because we seem to have it so often!  I have no complaints. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

 

My usual Pork wreck. 
 

It was so serendipitous because I’ve been dreaming of this for days but I did not want to suggest it for a lunch because we seem to have it so often!  I have no complaints. 

While husband is wont to say "But we just HAD that!'", if I love something i seem able to eat it endlessly.    And "pork wreck", what a delicious overdose!

[shain]

Out for hummus, not our usual place (the latter is a bit too crowded and we prefer to take out form them). This place is quite and has a nice garden. Great pitas, quite good hummus and ful. Nice tahini, schug and olives as well.