Restaurants

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Why Not Minot?

I am at the Applebee’s in Minot, North Dakota posting from my iPad. I’m off to Verizon next to see about getting the US cell phone activated with a data plan.

As I approached the border this morning, the last words spoken to me by the customs supervisor last year echoed in my mind. I made some notes in your file. As long as you’re back in Canada by April 7th, your next crossing should be easier.

He wasn’t kidding. Had the agents not struggled with getting the front door opened, I would have been through in under four minutes. My having to get out and unlock the door for them delayed the process by a whole 30 seconds. They rummaged around for a bit and then the lady handed me my passport and told me to move ahead. I asked her where she wanted me to park because her instructions seemed vague. “No. You’re clear. Have a nice trip!” Yahoo!!!

Miranda is parked at the Walmart, one of the worst lots I have stayed in, hard to get around in and on a slope. But there aren’t any obvious alternates and it’s just for a night.

I seem to have changed time zones as my iPad says it’s 12:45 and I distinctly remember pulling into Minot at that time. It’s been a short driving day having left Estevan less than four hours ago, but I’m beat and glad to call this drizzly day done.

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I’ve Had Better Road Trippin’ Weather

Movin’ through the Rockies by way of the Crowsnest
These rocks are cursed, thrown up by some god
Who turned his back on a word called love— Paul Gross, ‘Angels’

I set off for Fort Steele at about 8:30 yesterday morning. I’d been following the forecast for a week and knew that I could expect some flurries through the Crowsnest Pass, but expected good roads since that forecast kept improving day by day. HA HA HA HA HA. By the time I hit Fernie, the roads were pretty slick. But I knew I was heading downhill from there and had a better chance of hitting good weather quickly if I kept going west than if I turned back east.

I was right. The first 50 or so klicks out of Fernie were abysmal but, without warning, the pavement became dry. It was really quite amazing. I pulled into a turn off to let an idiot race past me only to discover that half of the turnout had several inches of snow and the rest of it was bare! So it was smooth driving to Fort Steele from that point on.

I arrived at 12:45, only 40 minutes ‘late’ as per my GPS’ initial arrival estimate. So that just goes to show that slowing down for the conditions really doesn’t add that much time to a trip when compared to having to wait for a tow truck because you spun out into a ditch!

Donna wasn’t home from work when I arrived, so I had a few minutes to snuggle my favourite dog in the universe while Ken brewed me a very welcome cup of coffee. Donna arrived with vittles and we had lunch and gabbed for most of the afternoon.

We went into Cranbrook for dinner, all enjoying a very satisfactory dinner at ABC Country Restaurant. This is a BC chain of casual family restaurants; I ate at one in Victoria. Donna and Ken had been there a few times and had a few recommendations, including getting the roasted red-skin potatoes in lieu of baked or mashed. Yum!

Back at the Ark, we gabbed some more, then Ken retired for the night. Donna and I chatted into the wee hours of the morning as she ran down the battery on my iPad playing a game. It’s a good thing I brought it. I’m not sure how she would have entertained herself otherwise. 😉

Needless to say, we all got a very late and lazy start to today, which included watching two movies. I headed out around 3PM in good weather conditions and had nice dry pavement all the way through the Crowsnest. I thought I was home free. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

The sky became more swollen and angry the further east I drove and it finally erupted over Fort McLeod. I pretty much crawled for the last 50 klicks of the drive in near zero visibility with big fat snowflakes clinging to my windshield wipers. It’s still snowing and it’s sticking. Yuck! I am so glad to be home. I just checked the forecast and Lethbridge is under a winter storm warning.

Even though the driving conditions were less than ideal, I am so happy that I had a chance to visit with my friends before the spring migration. Based on today’s projections, we will see each other again sometime next summer…

Before I sign off, does anyone care to guess what the liquor store in Blairmore is meaning to say with this sign?!

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The Week That Vanished

Is it really Friday again?! I know it’s rent collection week, but still, it’s been busy! The transcription hasn’t let up either, which is a Good Thing.

For lunch today, I decided that since I haven’t had sushi in weeks, I’ve been (and will be for the foreseeable future) too busy to go out for dinner, and it’s been a manic week I had earned a treat. So I called Dono this morning to place a pick-up order for lunch. I wish I had thought to do this before! I normally pay about $30 (plus tip) for a sushi dinner out and I got more food for lunch today for $19 (no need to leave a tip) than I do for a dinner. I had them make me up a bento box with an assortment of things and was really pleased with what was chosen for me, which including a type of sashimi I’ve never had or seen before (possibly mackerel). I had thought that for $13, I’d get a light lunch, so I added two pieces of nigiri (octopus and eel) to round out the meal, but I didn’t need to, not with the soup, salad, tempura (all included with the lunch special!), five huge pieces of sashimi, two other nigiri, and a gigantic shrimp tempura roll (the only disappointment (and a mild one at that) since that’s a bit too heavy/western for my palate).

This evening, I continued working on the study. Oh? Earlier this week, I took an evening and emptied the study of everything but the desk and the filing cabinet. I have been really unhappy with the paint job in that room so I decided to take advantage of the fact that I’m out of the rig to redo it and get it right. Tonight, I sanded down the walls and gave the whole room a good scrub. I’ll prime tomorrow and hopefully get a coat of paint done on Sunday. I haven’t picked out a new colour yet and am torn. I love the current colour, but it’s a bit dark. It’s just that it’s so hard to get the right shade of light green. I’ll see what options the home store has compared to the green in the curtains and decide then. I’ve also decided to relocate the wall cabinet for what will have to be the last time as I am down to the last possible place to put it! I hope that I’ve finally found a home for it where it will be usable.

Once the study is back together, it’ll be time to start thinking about slowly moving back home!

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A Touch of Cabin Fever

The week has been bitter cold, with day-time temperatures dipping into the mid negative 20s, with the windchill nearing -40. I don’t even want to get into the nighttime temperatures! I went for a quick walk on Monday afternoon, but heeded the frostbite warning the last two days and limited my outdoor time to running around between my buildings. I’ve also had a huge transcription project the last three days that ate up the rest of my days. So I haven’t had much of a change of scenery for four days. Today, it’s a balmy-feeling -18, so I’ve decided to walk the two blocks to Montana’s for dinner!

In the RV, having to do several days of hard work with no real opportunity to go outside hasn’t made me feel claustrophobic. I get to prepare and have my meals in another room and at the end of the day, I can retire to the front room to decompress before moving to the loft. In The Apartment, I have to stare at the same four walls all day. It’s slowly becoming an insufferable situation. While I am thrilled to be in a warm place this week, I am very glad I only have about eight weeks left to go before I can move back home. This winter has proven to me that it is the number of rooms in my home, not the square footage, that determines how happily I can live there. If I had to stay on in Lethbridge in The Apartment for any longer, I would be quite content to remain there, but I would get furniture that would allow me to separate my spaces. Not that I need to think about that!

One of the things that I will doubly appreciate when I return to Miranda is the fridge. Do you housebound folks have any idea how LOUD a compression fridge is?!

In other news, a tenant must have noticed that I was working late this aftenoon and brought me a cup of tea and a slice of banana cream pie. There are perks to working here. 🙂

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The Keg Restaurant, Lethbridge

The tenant who gave me the hilarious holiday card also included a gift card for The Keg restaurant. I decided to save the card for a week night after a busy day when I just wouldn’t feel like cooking. Tonight was the night!

The Keg specializes in steaks, which I don’t eat, but I checked out the menu ahead of time and saw that they had some chicken and seafood dishes, so I knew I’d be able to find something I like. This restaurant isn’t one I would choose to go to since it’s a tad more upscale (read pricey) than what my budget can absorb, but I was happy for the chance to go without breaking the bank.

The decor is quite posh, with very low low lights, dark wood, and leather seats. Definitely not my usual ambiance! I settled into a private booth, was served water in a delicate wine glass, and then took a moment to peruse the drinks menu. I decided to splurge on a cocktail, if one struck my fancy, since my meal would be paid for. I don’t drink a lot of cocktails, but I like to experiment once in a while. A ‘Cinnamon Girl’ made of rum, cointreau, pineapple juice, and a dusting of cinnamon sounded delicious, so I ordered one.

My gift card was worth $25, but that doesn’t go far at The Keg! I eliminated all the options under the seafood header, but found a surprisingly reasonably priced (by The Keg standards) $19.99 Creole chicken dish topped with scallops and shrimp. Perfect! I opted for rice pilaf as my side.

The cocktail wound up being worth the $9.95 price tag. I don’t think I could have designed a cocktail better suited to my tastebuds. Yum!

Dinner was surprisingly ho hum. I know it’s not fair to judge a restaurant when you haven’t had its signature food, but I found their Creole chicken to be rather bland and much too oily. The seafood, however, was fantastic, with just enough kick and cooked to perfect. Once I added a few dashes of salt to the rice, it went from meh to woah! The meal was served with asparagus, a vegetable I now know I didn’t like growing up because it was always served overcooked (in other words, I loved The Keg’s asparagus). There was also a basket of warm, yeasty, bread with butter as an included starter.

Dinner at The Keg was a nice treat that cost me $10 out of pocket (including a generous tip for the attentive server), but I know it’s not an experience I’ll be repeating on my own dime.

My neighbours did seem enamoured with their steaks!