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Feb. 19th, 2007
Sunday Was a Good Day™
Feb. 19th, 2007 09:08 amI had to drop ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kermie_canada off at the airport yesterday. Prior to that I decided that what was really needed for the day immediately after that was a trip to Banff. Mentioning this to assorted people I quickly assembled a full car - thebrucie, nosarious and hadriel ended up joining me.
Our plan on getting to Banff in the early afternoon was to soak in the hot springs then grab a bite to eat and return. Thwarting us was the fact that this is a long weekend after a cold snap. Banff was full of other people who had the exact same idea I had. We couldn't find parking at the hot springs!
We decided to reverse the order of our activities (food first, soak second) and drove back into the town site. Our usual parking spot (beside the Banff Park Lodge), which has always had open spots before, failed us. We found an indoor parkade that was part of the Cascade mall. Strangely they didn't charge us anything. I was half expecting to come back to find the car towed.
We wandered around Banff Avenue looking for an appropriate restaurant. When in these towns my goal is to 1) not eat at a chain, and 2) not eat at someplace I can duplicate easily in Calgary. That's when we walked by the Grizzly House restaurant.
Grizzly House is one of those restaurants that we've walked by a thousand times before, always saying/thinking "we should really check this place out sometime". What's usually stopped us was the fact that they specialize in meat fondues. A little weird for my taste, and I like raw fish. They were advertising a lunch special though - a Buffalo burger for $8. That got us in the door.
Gerry and I both went for the cheap ass Buffalo burger. It was OK, but nothing spectacular. It was about what you'd expect for $8 at a restaurant. For that price we got no sides, which suited me fine as I was peckish, but not famished. Bruce choose unwisely and asked for the game-meat meat-loaf. I tasted it and it was pretty bland aside from a sweetish sauce that I couldn't identify as a flavour if you stuck a gun to my head. Alarmingly, it did not have the consistency of meat-loaf, being pasty like a paté instead. Lisa had the "Montreal Smoked buffalo meat" sandwich. If I had to go back, that's what I'd order.
Bruce suggested that we use the table's phone to call up other diners and warn them not to eat the meat-loaf!
As time went on, the atmosphere degenerated. First, it's one of the few restaurants around that still allows smoking. There were no smokers near us though, so thank heavens for small mercies. Remember what the restaurant specialized in? Fondues! Specifically oil fondues for cooking the meat in. Lots of people near us were trying this out, which meant there was a lot of hot oil in the air. We could feel our pores closing up as time went on and we joked that the staff must get free tubes of clearasil to keep from zitting up. My eyes were watering by the end of the meal.
It was pretty underwhelming. Would I go again? I might for one thing: they had an exotic game meat fondue that's just weird enough to get on your list of things I should try once before I die. In addition to elk and buffalo, it also included ostrich, shark and rattlesnake! It would cost me about $120 for two people (the minimum order) but I think I'd like to try that. Just not too soon, because I need to forget about the bad bits of the visit.
We then went window shopping, stopping occasionally when we spotted something shiny. I bought some candy and was going to rip into this expensive candy bar I wanted to try when Bruce said something interesting:
I also bought some peanut butter logs, which I'm going to have over the next few days, one at a time for dessert. They're about 1 point each so this should be OK. I also bought a bear claw, which I had on the drive home. It was 5 points, but I had 5 points left from my weekly bonus, so I'm still on track for the week.
We went back to the hot springs to find that the parking had thinned out ever so slightly enough to allow me to park. We went in for our soak and found the place as crowded as I've ever seen it. Not that that matters - we weren't going to swimming laps or anything. We soaked for about a half-an-hour during which time everyone said I should buy a hot tub for the house. Maybe in a few years if I get a windfall, but not otherwise. It was fun, and there was a lot of nice eye candy for everyone.
If I were to change the design of the hot springs just a little I would do two things:
We had a peaceful drive home and I dropped off Lisa and Gerry. Bruce and I then stopped off for some dinner at Misai Sushi on the way to his place. I dropped Bruce off and went home, where I discovered the network had been clobbered. Rather then troubleshoot the network I went to bed. This morning I discovered that the standby button on the cable modem had been pushed somehow (I suspect Angus stepped on it while exploring).
All-in-all a good day. Not quite a great day, but certainly a good one.
kermie_canada off at the airport yesterday. Prior to that I decided that what was really needed for the day immediately after that was a trip to Banff. Mentioning this to assorted people I quickly assembled a full car - thebrucie, nosarious and hadriel ended up joining me.Our plan on getting to Banff in the early afternoon was to soak in the hot springs then grab a bite to eat and return. Thwarting us was the fact that this is a long weekend after a cold snap. Banff was full of other people who had the exact same idea I had. We couldn't find parking at the hot springs!
We decided to reverse the order of our activities (food first, soak second) and drove back into the town site. Our usual parking spot (beside the Banff Park Lodge), which has always had open spots before, failed us. We found an indoor parkade that was part of the Cascade mall. Strangely they didn't charge us anything. I was half expecting to come back to find the car towed.
We wandered around Banff Avenue looking for an appropriate restaurant. When in these towns my goal is to 1) not eat at a chain, and 2) not eat at someplace I can duplicate easily in Calgary. That's when we walked by the Grizzly House restaurant.
Grizzly House is one of those restaurants that we've walked by a thousand times before, always saying/thinking "we should really check this place out sometime". What's usually stopped us was the fact that they specialize in meat fondues. A little weird for my taste, and I like raw fish. They were advertising a lunch special though - a Buffalo burger for $8. That got us in the door.
"You can really smell the seventies", said Bruce.Yes folks, the place was opened in 1967 (making it as old as I am) and in that time, they haven't changed the decor once. Hell, I think our server was original issue too. It had the same wood panelling that your uncle's rec room did. The muzak played the original version of "popcorn". There was even a disco ball as well as "avant garde" advertisements from the seventies. All the tables had phones so you could contact the front desk (or other tables)! We didn't test this.
Gerry and I both went for the cheap ass Buffalo burger. It was OK, but nothing spectacular. It was about what you'd expect for $8 at a restaurant. For that price we got no sides, which suited me fine as I was peckish, but not famished. Bruce choose unwisely and asked for the game-meat meat-loaf. I tasted it and it was pretty bland aside from a sweetish sauce that I couldn't identify as a flavour if you stuck a gun to my head. Alarmingly, it did not have the consistency of meat-loaf, being pasty like a paté instead. Lisa had the "Montreal Smoked buffalo meat" sandwich. If I had to go back, that's what I'd order.
Bruce suggested that we use the table's phone to call up other diners and warn them not to eat the meat-loaf!
As time went on, the atmosphere degenerated. First, it's one of the few restaurants around that still allows smoking. There were no smokers near us though, so thank heavens for small mercies. Remember what the restaurant specialized in? Fondues! Specifically oil fondues for cooking the meat in. Lots of people near us were trying this out, which meant there was a lot of hot oil in the air. We could feel our pores closing up as time went on and we joked that the staff must get free tubes of clearasil to keep from zitting up. My eyes were watering by the end of the meal.
It was pretty underwhelming. Would I go again? I might for one thing: they had an exotic game meat fondue that's just weird enough to get on your list of things I should try once before I die. In addition to elk and buffalo, it also included ostrich, shark and rattlesnake! It would cost me about $120 for two people (the minimum order) but I think I'd like to try that. Just not too soon, because I need to forget about the bad bits of the visit.
We then went window shopping, stopping occasionally when we spotted something shiny. I bought some candy and was going to rip into this expensive candy bar I wanted to try when Bruce said something interesting:
"You should eat that when you're in Vancouver"A subtle way of saying I should stick with the program so I can lose that pound I need to lose before I plan my trip! Good advice that I'm going to take. The candy bar is going into my luggage where I'll forget about it until I'm packing.
I also bought some peanut butter logs, which I'm going to have over the next few days, one at a time for dessert. They're about 1 point each so this should be OK. I also bought a bear claw, which I had on the drive home. It was 5 points, but I had 5 points left from my weekly bonus, so I'm still on track for the week.
We went back to the hot springs to find that the parking had thinned out ever so slightly enough to allow me to park. We went in for our soak and found the place as crowded as I've ever seen it. Not that that matters - we weren't going to swimming laps or anything. We soaked for about a half-an-hour during which time everyone said I should buy a hot tub for the house. Maybe in a few years if I get a windfall, but not otherwise. It was fun, and there was a lot of nice eye candy for everyone.
If I were to change the design of the hot springs just a little I would do two things:
- add some small islands to the middle so that there are more ledges to sit against.
- Make it so that you don't have to walk past the urinals to get to and from the change room. Walking bare foot against a damp floor next to a urinal is just unnerving.
We had a peaceful drive home and I dropped off Lisa and Gerry. Bruce and I then stopped off for some dinner at Misai Sushi on the way to his place. I dropped Bruce off and went home, where I discovered the network had been clobbered. Rather then troubleshoot the network I went to bed. This morning I discovered that the standby button on the cable modem had been pushed somehow (I suspect Angus stepped on it while exploring).
All-in-all a good day. Not quite a great day, but certainly a good one.
Good News, Bad News
Feb. 19th, 2007 11:21 amReading the Herald today I found an interesting article - the top 10 turn-ons and turn-offs for men and women.
The good news, I'm Intelligent, mannered and goofy. The bad news, I'm a sarcastic Brainiac. I guess that gives me a net effect of +1 though so I'm happy.
( All four lists, in case you're interested... )
The list is also interesting because of the things I disagree with. I actually like some of the things on the men's turn-offs list.
The good news, I'm Intelligent, mannered and goofy. The bad news, I'm a sarcastic Brainiac. I guess that gives me a net effect of +1 though so I'm happy.
( All four lists, in case you're interested... )
The list is also interesting because of the things I disagree with. I actually like some of the things on the men's turn-offs list.