It snowed in Edmonton a few days ago. Yes, I know that it's May and winter has no right to dump snow on you this time of year, but it snowed. At school people bemoaned this fact, leaving me as perhaps the only one who welcomed the snow. The snow meant no soccer game, no soccer game meant free time, free time meant going to the hotel McDonald with my mom and grandparents to celebrate their 60'th wedding anniversary.
As I write this I can just imagine Julia sadly shaking her head. "They're wasting their money on Mark," I'm sure she'd be thinking. "he's such a picky eater." This is a fair point, I'd agree. However, I not only enjoyed my experience at the hotel, but I believe I gained some valuable wisdom which I'll shortly be sharing with you. Let me break it down.
Upon arriving at the hotel, my group had our coats taken from us by some guy in a tuxedo and were led to our seats. These offered perhaps the best view of Edmonton you could hope to find in the city, giving the city a momentary illusion of beauty.
Upon being seated I made my first observation about the night, which is that good food doesn't necessarily make you happy. There were only two other people in the restaurant when we arrived, both sitting on their own. What made me sad was that both of them looked downright miserable. The one nearest us in particular had a clear look of discontent on her face, and seemed to take absolutely no pleasure from the meal.
Observation 1: do things with people you like.
Drinks were soon ordered, with dinner following soon afterward. I went for the standard steak, forcing myself to accept everything that came along with it. You see, I have a past as an extremely picky eater, and although I've truly been making progress this last year I'm still uncomfortable with many foods. Last night, I figured that the chef would be insulted if I tried to tamper with his dish, and so I let the weird leaves and potatoes and unknown vegetables pile up beside the meat. I was then rather amused when I saw that my grandmother didn't give two hoots about what the chef thought, and fixed up her order to her liking.
Observation 2: Older people are known to care about trivial things, but they also have learned to think along the lines of a "screw it" mentality when it comes to certain topics.
When the food did come, I was rather surprised to find it slightly lacklustre. There were actually very few compliments in regards to the food that night, leading me to my third observation: just because it costs more doesn't necessarily mean better quality.
After the main meal came dessert, which again was more or less average. Despite this, my opinion of the restaurant was instantly restored when they brought out a special cake made just for my grandparents, with the words Happy 60'th Anniversary spelled out in chocolate.
All to soon, it was time to leave and get back to homework and the real world. Thinking back on the post I've just written, I feel like I've left a decidedly negative review- and I don't want to do that. True, I think that you can find better food elsewhere for much better process, and I found the formal atmosphere stifling. Despite this, the people were friendly and I know that my grandparents enjoyed themselves, which was truly the reason for the meal. Happy 60'th, Mana and Dumpy (long story on those nicknames). I love you.
Thanks for reading this (currently unedited due to droopy eyes and a possible case of developing chicken pox) post,
-Mark
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