Sundays are Fundays: Eating Out

I am ramping up for a fast-paced last week in Vancouver. Yesterday, I didn't eat a single meal at home. Let's recount.


Breakfast - running late to church. Didn't have time, grabbed a juice box in the lobby. Great gathering, sat way up front, which is strange for me.


Lunch/Brunch - I have been looking forward to eating at The Naam with a university friend for 3.5 years (since I first moved here and discovered this hippy/veggie joint). Today was the day. Forgetting the reality of restaurants in Vancouver at noon on a Sunday, we arrived shortly after noon...waited half an hour for a table. Ordered. Got our hot drinks. Texted a friend we were going to meet up with later. Chatted. Waited. Noticed a table who came in after us getting their food...

I said, "If that table (pointing at another table seated after us) gets their food before we do, I'm going to say something to the waiter."

They got their food. I caught the waiter's eye. Before I could say anything, he said, "You guys should have your food. I will check on that right away. I'm sorry." I said, "Thanks."

He came back. "They lost the bill, so I've put it in as a rush. And it'll be on the house. I'm really sorry about that." We are appeased. Our food comes. In great quantities. My friend insists on finishing every morsel on her plate. I give up and leave one potato and a toast crust. We wonder out loud if "on the house" will include our drinks. We decide we don't mind paying for drinks, and when the waiter comes by, ask the drink bill. He tells us the whole deal is on the house and apologizes again.

We leave a tip and then we leave. Happy, full, and late to meet our friends at The Regional Assembly of Text. I love introducing people to Regional Assembly of Text. It is the store I will miss most as I leave the city. I almost buy a shirt with birds on a wire. I don't know why, but I love birds on wires. Especially when made up to look like musical notes. If I were going to get a third tattoo, I would consider getting this. (I do not have any tattoos. And have two ideas that rank ahead of this one, if I were to ever get a tattoo.)

The four of us head downtown. Two hours after brunch, it is time to eat again.


Lupper/Supper: Salt Tasting Room. Visit #1 for all four of us. It is quite empty, which surprises me, even though it is an odd time for eating (4pm). But it is fantastic and deliciously fun to share a meat tasting plate and a cheese tasting plate. I have a glass of white wine that is a great compliment to the smoked pork, spicy fennel deli meat, and another meat with figs. For cheese, there is a cheddar, a camembert, and something else...clearly, I was too busy enjoying to worry about taking note of what it is I'm eating & drinking. Oops.

I like these girls and we laugh a lot. Here is the tasting tray I shared with one friend, and here she is looking very happy with her smoked pork:
Her face says it all. If you haven't been, you should go. Unless you dislike meat, cheese, wine, and dessert.

I was tempted to get the Rhubarb Trio for dessert, but wait! I have one more meal-date to come...


Dessert: It is my last chance to hang out with Sarah and JHau. They are good friends, great people, and former coworkers. We tend to laugh a lot together. I find them easy to talk to, even if JHau's facial expression never changes. I like watching them interact as a married couple.

Tonight, we meet at Breka, a 24-hour bakery (what a brilliant idea! It's a good thing it is far away from me). We eat our desserts and talk, and I am fully distracted by someone who eats twice as much dessert as the three of us ate combined. I enjoy a white hot chocolate. I don't like white chocolate, but I do like white hot chocolate. Hm.

They drop me off, and we say the goodbyes of friends who are okay with change. We know we will see each other again. Someday. Sarah lets me say hello to the Little Beans (aka, the unborn twins). I am the first (and possibly last) person to touch her pregnant belly. Now that is friendship.

I arrive home feeling glad for my friends, full, and ready for bed...