Weird dining experience

The Intervals

Interval training is pretty tough.  Luckily, I had the MVCC  track all to myself for most of the 3 – 3 x 6 series.  3 minutes of hard running, 3 minutes of easy recovery x 6 sets.  The Garmin made this easy because I programmed in the workout based on time/rest/time.  At the end of each 3 minute hard run I was SO  listening for those little chimes.

Here’s the breakdown

I really enjoy my nice long Saturday morning runs over this interval stuff.  Next week I’ll miss my long run again because Sunday is the Utica Boilermaker Road Race.  It’s a 15K and I’m hoping to finish with a great time.  I said YEARS ago to family members that the year I run the Boilermaker will be when I can run it in 1 hour 10 minutes.  It’s a goal, a bit aggressive but we’ll see if I can come close. I’ll settle for 1 hour 15, given the crowd…10,000+ people! Wow!

Friday night dinner out.

“Where do you want to go”? 

“I don’t know – let me think”.

“How about Valley View?”

“That sounds okay”.

We arrived at Valley View

and were seated immediately however couldn’t get outside seating. It was a perfect night to sit outside but everyone beat us to it.

We sat, chatted with an ex-wife of a good friend (sounds weird), then ordered wine with a waitress we hadn’t seen before at this restaurant we visit quite frequently.  I ordered a Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay and Ted opted for a Labatt’s Blue.

The waitress arrived with an ice bucket and set it at our table,. I said “WHOA!  I would like a GLASS not a BOTTLE”.  She whisked the bucket away with a hopeful glance towards the  bar that they hadn’t opened the bottle yet. 

When the waitress returned with my wine, Ted’s beer, she said “I was actually quite impressed when I thought you were ordering a bottle of wine and he wanted a beer”.  She continued…”actually I could drink a whole bottle”.  Somewhat amused and left wondering about this girls drinking problem, we ordered our dinner.

The Kendall – Chardonnay that was almost a bottle, deserves to be in black and white like an old Alfred Hitchcock movie since it was the beginning of some strange events.

We started with standard garden salad, oil and vinegar with crumbly bleu on the side.

The waitress brought the salads and returned with a bottle of oil ONLY.  She said “did you want vinegar or just the oil?”   …..never been asked THAT one before! 

Of course we didn’t JUST WANT OIL?  Who ever wants JUST OIL?  We politely said “yes, we would like vinegar, please”.  Usually, we are asked if we want Red or Balsamic vinegar but NEVER JUST OIL.   Our vinegar arrived!  Oh happy us!

We had a little chuckle, ate some delicious bread and tiny slices of tomato pie

The waitress returned and set my baked haddock down.  While she was setting Ted’s Chicken Francais down, a different waiter, one that usually serves us, approaches me, leans into me and says…”I’m SORRY!”.    I began thinking ….”Honey it wasn’t YOUR fault you didn’t get our table tonight!”…and “yeah, we like you but really”…..   He continued…“I’m SORRY! That’s MY haddock with out the skin”.  Oh! I said ..”Well you can have it – go ahead”.   He said “I’ll be right back with yours”.  

In the meantime, our waitress was watching and as my pale haddock was whisked away, she said “ I have no idea what that was about” and somehow, that didn’t surprise us.    So I simply asked her, while looking at my lonely dish of mixed vegetables….. “Can I have some grated Parmesan, please?”. 

A plate of haddock finally made it’s way back in front of me.

The haddock that had my name on it was very good. As you can see, a little overly greasy but it was pretty darn tasty. No complaints.

Of course I topped off my meal with an uneventful cup of coffee.  That was about the only thing, other than the bread, that made it to our table without some weird story attached to it.

We walked outside and…..LOOK AT THIS!

Oh Mr. White Lamborghini, be still my heart!   It was a 1984 model. We walked gingerly around the car.  Not a scratch.  Not ONE speck of dirt….AND IT WAS WHITE!  How did the owner pull THAT one off in upstate New York?!!!   Beautiful car.

Weird night. Good food. The check was about HALF of what we paid at Delmonico’s the previous night.  Amazing. 

I left a note on the receipt to our waitress because she must have been new, but was so cute and innocent looking.  I wrote “Great job, Amanda.  Thanks. Ted and Joanne”. 

What was your most amusing experience in a restaurant?

Joanne