Winterlude 2009 – The Works and Darcy McGee’s

P1060860, originally uploaded by palm0014.

This year Winterlude was quite the extra special treat as a good chunk of the Palmer Clan ended up in Ottawa for it.

On Thursday night, Mom and Dad rolled into town which gave me reason to take Friday off to spend with them. After a few beer, I convinced everyone to walk over to The Works, a great gourmet burger joint right in behind our place. Mom found it quite pricey ($13 for a burger!) which I must admit it is, but it was a stellar burger nonetheless. I had the Jamaican Jerk which did not disappoint.

We walked home in the winter wonderland which Ottawa had become after a deep thaw which gave us patches of grass all over the place and ice on the roads. Poor Mom slipped at one point but we managed to save her from the wolves.

On Friday the day was bright but there was a wicked wind when we headed out through Orleans to do some shopping. The first stop was to find a good, cheap breakfast joint around 10AM. Unfortunately the Tartan Pub and Grill was closed so we headed to Tim Horton’s at the Wal-Mart. They didn’t have any eggs for the B.E.L.T.! We then headed back down to the other Tim Horton’s which was the pay-off but it was quite the messy place to eat in.

Afterward we headed to Home Depot where we learned a little about what styles of toilets to purchase. We were on the hunt for some toilets and sinks to put into the cottage down in Gaspe. After Home Depot, we headed down to BMR which is the same type of store they have down in Gaspe. We were amazed to find a pedestal sink for $40+ instead of the $100+ we were finding at Home Depot! I couldn’t get over the price of the pedestal alone being $13! Can you even make those things for less than $13? BMR has now become a spot in the back of my head if I need anything for the house.

We then headed out to Le Baron where Mom bought a hat and I spied this ENORMOUS frying pan. I’ve never seen a frying pan that large before. Dad said you could probably fry a dozen eggs as well as a dozen burgers at the same time!

A quick stop over to IKEA was what the doctor ordered. I treated the parents to some great hot dogs. Yes, I am a pretty nice guy. Those are some expensive hot dogs at IKEA.

Along the way, we stopped by the restaurant within IKEA and Dad was astounded at the prices within. $2 for a pasta dish! 50 cents for a hot dog! $1 for a breakfast! We started walking away but he couldn’t hold himself back and laid down $2 for a pasta dish. Really, it’s no worse than what I would have prepared for lunch myself. Some pasta in a plate with some sauce poured over it. It’s not a bad meal at all! I’m going to try out their breakfast one day.

After IKEA we headed home where Mom and Dad got ready to head over to Lynn and Sue’s place. I went out to Sobey’s to pick up some stir fry ingredients (and some great bruschetta bread!) and Mike, Vero and I dined while watching How I Met Your Mother.

We headed out around 9:30 towards Darcy McGee’s where everyone was meeting up. We headed downstairs and I spied Rob, Matt, Karilee and a bunch of others hanging out downstairs. I chatted with them for a bit but realized I should try and find my cousin’s table to see if they could come downstairs. I found them upstairs and many handshakes, hugs and beer were passed around. There was no way we would move their table of 15 people downstairs for I spent the majority of the night upstairs but headed down once in awhile to chat it up.

For historical purposes of this entry (as my grandchildren will want to know), the price of a pint of Guinness was $7.75.

It was a good night at Darcy McGee’s. I was glad to see Troy and Connie finally make it up to the fabled event. It’s fabled in our mind…in the end, here’s what Winterlude usually amounts to:
Friday: Go to Darcy McGee’s and close out the place.
Saturday: Nurse the head, go to the Canal, get a Beavertail, go back to a pub for rest of the night.
Sunday: Leave.

There’s nothing much to it! Friday night, we did in fact close down the joint. However, there were some laughs along the way.

When I arrived there I had to hold my tongue with one of the waitresses. I spied two empty chairs at a ‘reserved’ table. Let’s keep in mind here that we are in a pub here, not a restaurant in Paris. I nabbed two of them for my lady and myself with the notion of returning them if the ‘reserved’ party should show up. The waitress came up to me and said “Do you understand the meaning of the word ‘reserved’?” I had to hold my tongue and say I was sorry and would return the chairs. I swear five minutes later a group of people who had been standing around for awhile nabbed the tables for themselves! Oh well.

Around midnight, the date changed to February 14, so I hauled out a photo of Vero and I and proclaimed my love for this woman. I also showed it to a few people around the pub and let the guys know that she was off-limits. I thought this was pretty funny.

We ended up bringing back Rob, his uncle-in-law Serge, and Rob’s cousin Cheryl back in the Tempo. Vero swore that the car wouldn’t even make it up Trim Road as she had the pedal to the metal and it wasn’t moving too fast!

We said good night to the crew staying at Chateau Laurier and headed home ourselves a few moments afterward.

iplaying: Change – Thornley (Tiny Pictures)