Zydeco Smokehouse

In December I was anxiously and excitedly waiting for the opening of the new Zydeco Smokehouse on Preston Street.  They very smartly posted the name of the restaurant and the menu long before they opened so that by the time the doors officially opened for business I could hardly stand to wait any longer to taste the tempting southern, smoked, barbeque offerings.

 

 

I had checked out the reviews on-line before heading over there on very cold January late afternoon and even though everyone posting about Zydeco was raving about the pulled pork I had a hankering to try the chipotle meatloaf ... what a brilliant idea.  Sadly, this was bad planning on my part as it was only about 30 minutes before closing for the day and the chipotle meatloaf was all gone.  According to the owner, the cooks from the Italian pub next door (which I'll not name here but which I can totally understand being familiar with the mediocre food they serve over there) were over and bought up the last 3 orders.  Well, at least you can take that as proof that everything is fresh made.  Since I was foibled on the chipotle meatloaf I decided to stick with the opinion of the masses and picked the pulled pork even though I was pretty tempted by the barbequed chicken.  Along with the pulled pork sandwich I went for the mac n' cheese which the on-line reviews and the owner recommended; and of course I had to have the Louisiana cole slaw - since I'm a huge fan of the oil/vinegar style.

 

Before I give you my review of the meal, I will tell you that I was on my way home from walking my princess Gwenny, and it was a pretty chilly -15*C temperature, and it took us about 15 minutes until we were home from Zydeco.

 

on chilly days even dogs need a moose antler hoodie sweater!

 

By the time we got home the food was cold.  And this was definitely a factor in me enjoying the meal.  The pulled pork sandwich is loaded with pork and the smoky barbeque sauce.  Unfortunately, there was a fair amount of liquid in the sauce and from the cole slaw which basically saturated the bun.  Cold, soggy bun = not good.  I ate the pork and threw the bun away -- extra carbs are not necessary anyway.

 

 

For me, it was not the best pulled pork I've ever had.  There was a spice in the meat that wasn't to my taste.  Clearly other people absolutely love it and it wasn't bad - it just had a bit of an odd after taste for me.  The cole slaw was too oily and needed more vinegar -- and for the take out service I'd rather see the cole slaw in a separate container.  Finally, the mac n' cheese was not good.  It was really mushy and overcooked and somewhat bland.  Again, I would say the basic cause of my failing to enjoy the mac n' cheese was from having been sitting in the steam table for a long time.

 

Sadly I was very disappointed with my experience at Zydeco but I`m not giving up on this place.  First off, the owner is incredibly friendly and wants to please his customers and I'm a firm believer in supporting local, independent businesses.  The cold walk leading to cold food and soggy bun were partially my fault; as well as me showing up just minutes before closing lead to me getting the over cooked macaroni.  I`m still holding out for the chipotle meatloaf and there are lots of other sides to check out.  Next time I`ll pass on the cole slaw and check out some of the other sides.

 

 

Two Six {Ate}

Shortly before Christmas Caitlyn and I had to get together for dinner as we had not seen each other for some time.  A new place had recently opened on Preston just a few blocks from my house called Two Six {Ate} ... how clever since it is located at 268 Preston Street ... and I was anxious to check it out as I loved what I saw of the decor from peeping in the window and was intrigued by several items on the menu.

Two six {Ate} specializes in small plates with fresh, local ingredients; they are house smoking meats ... there is usually a special which is an entree size meal rather than the smaller snacking size and sharing plates and of course they are changing up the menu seasonally.

After careful contemplation of the menu, Caitlyn and I agreed that we were gonna do some share-zies but also the were a couple of choices that each one of us had more of a preference for as well.  We were both also thrilled to see local brewery "Broadhead" on tap and we both started off with a pint while making our decisions.

Round one we started with the crispy house smoked chicken wings and the ham and cheese arancino (which included an Italian lesson from our waitress on the correct pronunciation:  air-an-chee-no (singular) or air-an-chee-ni (plural).

These chicken wings are to die for.  I remember raving about the chicken wings at The SmoQue Shack on a previous post but I'd have to rate these chicken wings right up there - if not better.  The wings (as the name suggests) are smoked in-house and they are perfectly crispy on the outside but juicy and full of flavour on the inside.  The pièce de résistance though is the "valentina hot side" sitting right there in the centre of the plate.  OMG ... it is hot but flavourful hot not burning, it has a smokiness ... if the chef/owners ever decide to bottle this sauce it would be a world-class money maker.  Outrageous!

You might think it is going to be hard to move on from this course but no ... the ham and cheese arancino exceeded our expectations ... by a long shot.  And you all know how obsessed I am with all forms of arancini right now.  It was sooooo freakin good we actually ordered more as the night progressed.

 

The rice is soooo rich and creamy from the cheese ... I described it to my sister as the best "mac" and cheese I've ever eaten ... and its not even "mac" ... it's rice.  And then, add big chunks of delicious (again house made) ham for just the right amount of saltiness.  Hot, crispy, creamy ... deee-lic!  It's served with a small frisee salad topped with chili lemon dressing.  I liked the frisee salad ... Caitlyn loved it ... I barely got any!  Kidding   :-)  I've recently been back to Two Six {Ate} and they have changed the arancino from one large size rice ball as we had shown here to two smaller balls.  But still every bit as delicious and perfect for sharing (so you know everybody is getting the same amount and one person isn't bogarting the whole thing for themselves!)

 

Next we went off on our own for ordering.  Caitlyn ordered a tuna dish ... which she absolutely loved.  I had a small bite even though I don't really like fish.  Don't be shocked that I didn't like it.  For me it gave me the impression of canned tuna rather than a fresh tuna fillet and for me, it certainly wasn't the best bite of  fresh tuna I've ever had (I'm thinking of Allium with Marlene or East and Main Bistro in Bloomfield with Stacey and Emma).  But, the important thing here is you shouldn't go by my opinion on that dish and you should rely on Caitlyn who is a huge seafood/fish lover and she assured me that it was fantastic by making lots of mmming and yummming noises while eating. 

 

I, on the other hand had something that looked like this:

 

 

Honestly ... I don't remember what it was.  This is my bad for taking soooo long to update my blog.  Anyway -- I do recall that it had the same frisee salad with the chili lime dressing that was served with the arancino, so I let Caitlyn eat all of it when we ordered our next round.  I'm guessing whatever this was -- it was ok.  I certainly don't remember disliking it but I also don't remember loving it.  And since Two Six {Ate} changes the menu it is no longer on the current menu so this dish will remain a mystery!

 

For round three, we went back to sharing and we chose the chicken confit poutine and the Italian style bahn-mi sandwich.  The italian style bahn-mi sandwich is basically a sub.

 

 

In the tradition of the Vietnamese sandwich of its namesake it has pickled carrot and eggplant, cilantro and then branches out from the traditinal pork by stacking a variety of house-made italian style meats (mortadella, sausage and ham).  There is no shortage of meat in this sandwich, so again, its a good sharing plate.  It is served with chicken liver mousse (on the side if you are worried) and the now famous frisee salad.  For both of us, this was the lowest point of our meal.  There was nothing wrong with it - it was tasty but it was a sandwich.  We both thought there was nothing extra special about this plate and we agreed we would not order it again since there were so many other things on the menu that we definitely wanted to try.

 

Along with the bahn-mi we had the chicken confit poutine which is a fairly large portion and its veerrrryyy rich so it is definitely a dish to share.

 

 

The idea of a confit is preserving meat by salting and seasoning it and letting it absorb some deep flavours by marinating in it's own fat and juices.  There is no shortage of cheese curds (Pine River) or gravy on this dish.  The fries are made in house (you really couldn't expect anything less) and they were piping hot when they arrived at our table.  The gravy, being chicken based was rich and thick but I guess for me I prefer the taste of a beef gravy.  Overall this is a good dish - it was quite rich for both of us ... perhaps we should have ordered it a little earlier in the meal and we might have enjoyed it even more.  Not that we didn't manage to eat every last bit of it and consider licking the remaining gravy off the plate.

 

 

We had exceptional service (that is our waitress in the background) as well as a delicious meal which of course means lots of fun as usual for Caitlyn and I.  As I mentioned, I've been back to Two Six {Ate} with Stephanie and because of the things that I loved soooo much I had to order several of the same dishes again (i.e. ham and cheese arancino and the house-smoked chicken wings).  On my second visit, I also tried the mini fried calzones and I would agree with most people's reviews about this dish:  they are good but the ratio of filling to dough is a little small and overall just a tad on the bland side for me.

 

The really great thing about Two Six {Ate} ... well really there are several great things ... (not the least of which is the food) is the relaxed, casual atmosphere.  The food is not pretentious ... it's fresh and very good; the portion sizes for a "small plates" restaurant are a very decent size.  The service both times I've been there has been excellent - both friendly and knowledgeable.  There is a good variety of items on the menu for enough choice but it is not overwhelming.  They keep the 'staples' which have come to be must-haves every time you visit but change up items to keep the menu new, fresh and interesting.  I think Two Six {Ate} is one of the best restaurants I have been to in a very long time and I will continue to recommend it.

 

 

 

 

Mini Apple Fritters

As I mentioned in the post from 10Fourteen after trying their BLT fritters I started thinking we should eat more fritters.  Why don't we make fritters?  So I came across a recipe for "Beer Battered Apple Fritters" and I thought ... here we go - perfect opportunity -- fritters and beer.  Perfect.  I was hosting B&B Club so I decided to make a practice run with the fritters to see how they would be.

The recipe is not that complicated -- and me being me -- I had to make a few of my own changes!

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 tblsp baking powder
1 tblsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

1.  In a large bowl sift together the above ingredients and set aside.

 

In another bowl, whisk together the following:

1 cup beer (the recipe called for "de-alcoholized" beer but that just makes no sense to me)

3 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tblsp orange zest

3 tblsp orange juice

1 tsp vanilla

 

 

Now you don't need the whole bottle of beer for the batter  ... so go ahead and pour the rest into a glass so that you can keep hydrated while you are doing all that whisking.

 

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened; fold in 3 finely diced Courtland apples.  Heat oil in a large saucepan (approximately 2" deep); heat over medium-high up to 375*F.  Working in batches, carefully drop heaping tablespoon fulls of batter into hot oil and fry until golden brown - about 2 minutes per side.

 

 

Remove and and place on a paper towel - I have my paper towels on a cooling rack.  Let cool and dust with icing sugar.

 

 

I had some trouble with the "dusting" with icing sugar; even though they were cool, it was melting into the fritters or just not sticking at all (notice the pile of icing sugar on the plate!).  I even added more sugar the next day.  They are very tasty; they are small so its best to dice the apples fairly finely.  The cornmeal adds a nice bite of crunch to the batter and they hold over well to the next day (although lose the crispiness of being fried).

 

Next time I make them, I would put more cinnamon in the batter and maybe even a bit of brown sugar to make them a bit more caramelized.  But they had good flavour and everyone who tried them said they really liked them.  Mine didn't look as nice as the picture in the magazine ... but it was mostly just because of the dusting of the icing sugar.  They are pretty easy and not too time consuming and a nice fall treat.

 

 

10Fourteen

Stacey and I were heading out to meet up with her friends Sonia and Steve for one of the last nights of live music before the closing of the iconic Elmdale House Tavern (of interest, the old Elmdale has now closed for good but is being renovated and will re-open as the Elmdale Oyster House by the owners of The Whalesbone ... and it's also right next door to my fave burger joint -- best in the city:  Hintonburger ... and no I will NEVER stop talking about Hintonburger, accept it!).

So, of course we had to go out for some yummy eats before heading over to The Elmdale so I chose 10Fourteen, a relatively new resto along the newly gentrified stretch of Wellington just west of Bayshore and, ironically, located at 1014 Wellington Street West ... perfect as we were only steps away from the tavern.  This is the start of of Hintonburg's trendy new restaurant area and I absolutely love this neighbourhood.

The website for 10Fourteen is lacking but I'm attaching the link as they have some much better photos of the inside of the resto than I took that night but other than a map there is not much else on the website.  It's worth it to check out the pix - the decor and ambiance is great.  It's upscale casual with some beautiful mirrors on the walls and a comfy lounge-y area at the back.  The bar was packed with a couple of groups of friends laughing and having a great time (and pretty much every time I've walked by in the evenings I've noticed a group of people having fun at the bar).  There was some jazz music playing and our waitress was pleasant, knowledgeable and appropriately attentive.

Diners are provided with the house made chili-spiced popcorn to munch on while looking over the menu.  The restaurant specializes in "small plates" and the menu, while not extensive, changes frequently so you could basically have something new and different every time you go there.  The chef is also really big on unique and interesting presentation.

 

Stacey chose some red wine while I got some local micro-brewed beer.  Every dish has a title and a very brief description of the ingredients so you really rely on your server for an explanation of the dish and how it is prepared and presented.  We found the descriptions of the upcoming plates that we chose to be spot-on and we appreciated the explanations.  We told our waitress that were were going to order a number of dishes in sequence so as we ordered one item we continued perusing the menu for our next selection.  The time for preparation and delivery to the table was very quick so we finished one round before ordering our next sampling.

 

For 'round one' Stacey picked the "Bahgi" (their spelling) which was identified on the menu as Onion/Curry/Tamarind and I chose the "Poppers" which were described as Artichoke/Chiorizo/ Cheese.

 

The Baghi (background) were perfectly crispy and I love the sweet/sourness of the tamarind.  They were perfect and I don't think that you would know that your favourite Indian mummy-ji had not made these perfect little bundles for you.  The jalapeno poppers were filled with smooth-creamy cheese and lots of chiorizo - so they were already spicy to bite but with sufficient cooling cream cheese to find them enjoyably spicy not too hot to burn your taste buds and miss the smoky flavour of the sausage.  However, if you wanted even more of a kick, that is sriracha dotted alongside them (I did).

Next up, was "Glass of Bacon" selected by me and described as Rhum/Coke/ Lime while Stacey chose the "Mac N' Cheese" explained as Bechamel/Cheddar/ Biscuit/Butter.  The waitress described the bacon as being marinated in the rum and coke then grilled and finished with the lime.  The Mac N' Cheese also came accompanied by a side of a beautiful purple cabbage slaw.

Both of us agreed we could not get any of the flavours other than bacon (not a bad thing mind you ...) from the bacon - the marinating and finishing we didn't find added anything.  Really - bacon is already good as it is, it doesn't have to be made any better.  The Mac N' Cheese was super creamy (and unbelievably hot) but we both found it a tad bland.  Stacey and I both agreed that we should have added the bacon to the Mac N' Cheese and it would have probably improved both dishes.  The biscuit was warm and freshly made with herbs and we both loved the slaw.  Overall this was our least favourite course.

On to 'round three' and we went for the two specials of the night:  "Supreme" which was Boar/Chili/Verde/Jalapeno/Cheese and the "Platter" described as BLT/Fritter/Aioli Leek/Rings/ Apple.

The boar chili is on the left side.  It was delicious with tender chunks of boar and was spicy but not overly hot and very flavourful.  The salsa verde was piled on top and gave a nice temperature and crunchy texture variation from the hot chili.  At the far right side is the BLT fritters.  These were really good.  They were crunchy and hot.  The aioli was delicious -- creamy and tangy.  Really good and made me think I need to make and serve food as fritters in the future - change things up.  And finally, in the centre are the "leek rings" -- essentially an onion ring made with leeks.  These golden nuggets were crispy and and delicious.  They had a much subtler flavour than onion rings and I absolutely loved them.  They were laying on some pureed apple sauce - not for me but Stacey enjoyed it.  I didn't really see the point of adding a sweet fruit (and apple sauce is not one of my favourite things in any case) but it was a flavour and temperature contrast to the leek rings.  I could have popped these golden, crispy babies in my mouth all night.

Alas, it was time to begin the short walk down the street to catch up with Sonia and Steve; the bill arrived in a wine pourer/measure so Stacey decided to put a bill of her own right back in the measure glass to pay!

We had a great dinner and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, enjoyed the company of my great friend and the restaurant.  The food is top notch and we really liked it - in all honestly some of the small plates are a little on the 'small' side and we totally figured had we wanted to, we probably could have eaten every dish on the menu.  In fact we only missed the "Protein" (Lentils/Beans/Chickpeas/ Onions/Cauliflower/Kale) and the "Greek" (Pita/Chips/Cucumber/Tomato/ Onion/Olive) which our waitress told us was essentially a Greek salad with pita chips so we didn't feel like we were missing anything we had not had before.  Nonetheless I have recommended this resto to others and look forward to going back again ... sometime.

coupl'a drinks later and heading out to the tavern ...

Medal Ceremony and After Parties

So by some bizarre twist of fate I was nominated (I did not self-nominate) for a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal.  According to the Governor General the medal "is a tangible way for Canada to honour Her Majesty for her service to this country. At the same time, it serves to honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians".  Yeah, that's right ... the Queen loves me!

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.

  

Great friends like this make it all worthwhile!

 

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!