So you may be asking what significant contribution and achievement did I make/do? ...Yeah. I was asking myself that too. I did my job. I guess that's what I did. And thanks to a really amazing boss ... who has since left for Ottawa for the glory and prestige of Regina (yeah ... Regina ... I don't get it either) who vouched for me having done a good job -- I somehow was a selected recipient of the medal.
Luckily, the medal ceremony coincided with my birthday so Emma was able to come for the the birthday weekend and stay for the medal ceremony, which was great. I was so happy she could come ... it made getting the medal worthwhile!
Official photograph ... Doug and I
This was a very serious affair in the parade with the uniforms getting all sorts of instructions on marching, saluting, how long to shake the Assistant Commissioner's hand, etc. And us civilians ... we were told to "just walk normally". What a challenge. Despite the formality, pomp and circumstance I had full intentions of having fun with this thing. And I was pretty sure I could nail the walk ... hopefully I wouldn't trip down the stairs with my fab-u-lus new purple shoes!
As well as Emma, my dear dear friends Marlene, Stacey and Sherrylynn all attended the ceremony. And they took my lead to have fun with the ceremony too.
waiting for the guest of honour ... oh yeah
that's me!!!
It would be inappropriate to repeat the commentary that was taking place as some others were receiving their medals, but suffice it to say ... we had some good laughs during the presentations! There was no way we were not going to enjoy this ... I mean how often is the Queen gonna choose me for anything?
FunBobby pretending she doesn't see me walking
down the aisle to get my award ...!
Luckily, I was the last one to go ... so I also took the opportunity to smile and wave to my fans! After the ceremony, I asked the Sergeant Major if he thought us civilians did ok with our 'normal' walking?! He was laughing and said he thought I was pretty funny when I was walking up to meet Doug. For a guy who had to organize and coordinate a very serious and formal event, I was glad that he appreciated me having fun with it and didn't think that I was being disrespectful to the pomp and ceremony. After all this was my big moment too (sort of ...) I should be allowed to enjoy it!
After the ceremony, there was time for socializing with guests and to get more photos. And have some Tim Horton's coffee and tim bits. Ahhhhh ... cops and their Timmies.
After the ceremony, there was time for socializing with guests and to get more photos. And have some Tim Horton's coffee and tim bits. Ahhhhh ... cops and their Timmies.
Kiss the medal! Ahahahaha
Ok ... I know my eyes are closed but this is such a great
pic of Emma I chose it instead of one with my eyes open.
After the reception ... the real celebrations began! Stacey had to head back to the office for a bit but she was planning to rendez-vous with us in few hours for dinner. Emma and I started off with some beers at the Preston Street Heart & Crown ... an excellent choice for a Monday afternoon at about 2pm. Can't go wrong with that.
"Winston" (as we named the medal -- you know after the house of Windsor) enjoyed a pint and the other beers were not even jealous because he was very fun and generous! He was not even pretentious or anything!
Since we were practically the only people in the bar, we had almost the full and uninterrupted attention of the bartender. Although his attention was periodically drawn away from the glory of the medal and our gorgeousness to watch coverage of Super-Storm Sandy on TV. I guess that's ok - it was a pretty spectacular storm after all.
After a couple of pints we headed home to change and relax for a few minutes before heading out to Table 40 to meet back up with Stacey for dinner. Table 40 is the communal dining restaurant attached to, and run by Ross and Simon Fraser, the owners of Fraser's Cafe in Beechwood. It is only open for special events and the "Monday Dinners" (how fortuitous that my medal ceremony was on a Monday!). It is a set menu, that is posted on-line a short time in advance of the upcoming Monday.
Here's Winston checking out the menu -- since the rest of us had
already seen it on-line and knew what we were going to be having!
We got a cozy table up front in the corner. It seated six but it wasn't until after we were finished eating that another couple was seated at the other end of our table. There are about 3 or 4 tables for six and one huge table that probably seats about 20 people I would guess. The decor is funky with lots of wood mixed with modern fixtures.
As soon as we sat down we were served a fresh, home baked loaf of bread which was yummy and delicious. More recently than this dinner I've been out a number of times and it seems that bread being served to start a meal is just not happening so much anymore ... and I say bring back the bread dammit! You can't beat delicious fresh bread to start off a nice meal.
Winston checking out the bread and waiting for his soup
while Stacey reads up on the "All Time Favourite Casserole Recipes"
from the 1977 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.
We started with French onion soup with Swiss cheese mustard toast. The soup comes to the table in the pot, steaming hot and you serve yourself. The soup was absolutely delicious. It was smooth and velvety and the onions were sweet and cooked perfectly. It was also nice that the Swiss cheese mustard toast was served on the side because Emma is not a big fan of traditional French onion soup which can sometimes be overloaded with cheese. Serving the toast on the side also kept it nice and crispy rather than soggy from absorbing all the broth. It was a Dijon mustard so it added some zing to the flavour. I decided that I was going to try making this toast at home some time it was so good.
Winston checking out the soup and you can see the Swiss cheese
mustard toast on the side
As I mentioned wood features prominently in the decor at Table 40. You can see here all the food is served on a variety of sized, thick slaps of wood - which is cool and fun for the customers and definitely adds to the home-y, comforting communal dining feel -- but as our waitress mentioned, they are not the easiest to pick up off the table and can become quite heavy when laden with food. You definitely need muscles to work here!
Awaiting our next course, we had some time to enjoy some wine, and Winston was chatting up all the ladies.
The main course was described on the menu as Braised beef and oxtail ragout pasta, tomato sauce, broccoli and Carrot salad with walnuts, parsley, cumin and yoghurt (their spelling) dressing. From the description we thought the ragout had the pasta, tomato sauce and broccoli in it but these were three separate dishes. The sauce on the ragout was outstanding - but for the fact that it was too thick, I would have just poured it down my throat! The flavour was very good but we all found the one of the meats was dry (while we could clearly distinguish that there were two kinds of meat in the dish, we just could not tell which one was which).
We've already dug in to all of the dishes but Winston
remains poised for any falling bits of food.
The pasta was fresh made, and as a general rule I don't always love home-made pasta. I often find it dough-y. This pasta was perfect. It was light and soft - I think you would call it 'pappardelle'; it was basically long, thick strips in shape. The tomato sauce had lots of fresh tomatoes and a nice amount of cheese. It was excellent. And the broccoli was broccoli. It was cooked well; but was just steamed broccoli. I could have done without it.
You should also notice the massive wood plank (essentially a 2-inch thick slab of tree trunk!) and some yummy delicious salty olives strategically placed all over the plank. As the waitress came to remove the plank when we were finished with our main course I noticed there were still a couple of olives hiding on the far side of the dishes so I had to snag those before she took them away.
The best thing I can say about the carrot salad was that it was incredibly beautiful. It was totally not what we were expecting - it was a frisee salad with some beautiful heirloom carrot curls on top. The entire salad was very fresh and crisp. Sadly, we found the cumin and yoghurt dressing quite bland. It had so much potential but we all felt it fell sort of flat. Oh, and those tongs were useless for serving the salad.
Finally, to finish off the meal: Poached pear tart for dessert. Now I've already talked about how often last fall poached pears kept popping up everywhere I was out eating. What's up with that?
In keeping with the family style dining theme, three pieces of poached pear tart were served on a wooden plank. The plank was first drizzled with a maple caramel which was delicious. The tart was fine. It was not overly sweet, so the maple caramel really added to the flavour. Overall it was tasty but not my favourite thing ... but then again, unless its chocolate, dessert is never going to win out over good savoury dishes for me.
Finishing off the last bite!
Clearly ... it wasn't bad since we finished off the whole thing and scraped the maple caramel off the wooden plank. I loved the experience of the family-style communal dining theme and I really love the atmosphere/ambiance of Table 40. It is a really great, unique dining experience. There was a birthday party at the big table and we really felt like everyone in the restaurant was a part of the party.
We had such a great time at the ceremony and the after parties. I was so blessed to have such wonderful friends around to share the experience with me. After all, it's not every day that the Queen picks you to get a medal and it would have meant nothing if I wouldn't have been able to spend the party with my friends. Thanks to all of you!
