The Works!
Finally, after two failed attempts, I have made it to The Works! For those of you unfamiliar with this phenomenon, The Works is a burger restaurant in Ottawa (and I think Toronto too...) that serves any type of burger you want including beef, elk, bison, chicken, turkey, veggie, and portobello mushroom with ANY kind of topping. By any I mean any - peanut butter, blue cheese, sun dried tomatoes, avacado, chili sauce, etc etc etc. You can choose from a suggested set of toppings or you can build your own burger. I tried a portobello mushroom burger on a whole wheat bun with havarti cheese, caramelized onions, and avacado... Mmm mmm good!
Each burger comes with your choice of side - fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, salad, etc. I tried the french fries with this amazing homemade dipping sauce (I forget what they called it now but it was soooo good). Apparantly the onion rings are really tasty so next time, I'll have to partake in those.
Along with burgers, the other specialty item on the menu is the milkshakes. There was about 25 to choose from and they serve them in measuring cups - small = 1 cup, medium = 2 cups, large = 3 cups of milkshakey goodness. I tried a sip of Jenn's strawberry-chocolate one and it was delicious!
An Ottawa essential for any visitor or local because you can get something different every time. One drawback - no reservations allowed - too poplar so you may end up waiting an hour or more for a table. My conclusion - it's worth the wait.
Each burger comes with your choice of side - fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, salad, etc. I tried the french fries with this amazing homemade dipping sauce (I forget what they called it now but it was soooo good). Apparantly the onion rings are really tasty so next time, I'll have to partake in those.
Along with burgers, the other specialty item on the menu is the milkshakes. There was about 25 to choose from and they serve them in measuring cups - small = 1 cup, medium = 2 cups, large = 3 cups of milkshakey goodness. I tried a sip of Jenn's strawberry-chocolate one and it was delicious!
An Ottawa essential for any visitor or local because you can get something different every time. One drawback - no reservations allowed - too poplar so you may end up waiting an hour or more for a table. My conclusion - it's worth the wait.
The Candied Pecans Won Them Over...
My first dinner party - sans Cheryl - went so well! I had my 7 Ottawa girlfriends over on Tuesday night for a real grown-up dinner prepared by me of roasted chicken breasts, green beans with toasted almonds, and an arugula, Boston lettuce, pear, celery, blue cheese and candied pecans salad. My friend Jenn D brought a great dessert of fresh fruit salad. I set the table with name cards and wrote a little limerick about each girl and put it on their plates. Chris brought the Tinkerbell napkins (I thought of little Allison every time I wiped my hands).
The meal was surprisingly easy to prepare (thanks again to Susan and Mom for the sound advice and Chatelaine for their detailed description for the salad). I prepared the candied pecans and homemade salad dressing ahead of Tuesday to save myself time and the rest was easy! If you can read and follow directions, you CAN cook! I am living proof.
PS: Thanks to those who have posted some recipes in the Comments section - keep them coming!
The meal was surprisingly easy to prepare (thanks again to Susan and Mom for the sound advice and Chatelaine for their detailed description for the salad). I prepared the candied pecans and homemade salad dressing ahead of Tuesday to save myself time and the rest was easy! If you can read and follow directions, you CAN cook! I am living proof.
PS: Thanks to those who have posted some recipes in the Comments section - keep them coming!
Casino Night
Jenn, Chris, Mark and I went to Casino du Lac Leamy in Gatineau on Wednesday night to partake in some gambling activities (another item on Chris' Bucket List). I had never been to the casino here (I've only ever been to a casino twice before actually). The girls had come a few times before and after a little walk-around and some money changing ($10), we settled in at the horse race simulator. For a quarter, you could bet on the horse to win based on their odds and the comments about the horse (For example, Orchild - finishes strong) and you could also bet on first-second. There were 6 horses in each race and the race itself took about 45 seconds. You could spend hours at this game and not spend much money at all.
Everyone had their own strategy - Chris tended to choose a long-shot and a horse with good odds, Jenn chose a mix and I chose mostly the favored horses, then threw in a long-shot here and there. Chris' strategy paid off once in awhile but I think Jenn took the most wins in that game.
We moved onto the slot machines - they had everything from 1 penny up so again - you could spend HOURS and not much money. Jenn and I finished off our money at the quarter machines and Chris played her last bit of winnings at the 1 penny slots.
Results -- Jenn and I were down $10 each, Chris up 1 cent! Two hours of fun had by all :)
We took a walk around the casino afterwards - it's pretty impressive! There's a glass elevator to the upper floor where you can overlook the gambling and there's a number of restaurants up there including a very high class seafood restaurant. The casino also has a large aquarium and waiters walk around serving you drinks (free pop!) right to the machines (clearly a lure to keep you from leaving the betting tables, but still a nice perk!)
Casino Tips:
- Choose how much you want to spend before you go and stop when you run out of that money
- There is no skill when it comes to slot machines...
- For fun, use casino lingo like "I'm going to play the one-armed bandit" especially in earshot of hard-core gamblers - you will be glared at
- No photographs are allowed at casinos, therefore use your iPhone to take pictures in a non-obvious way :)
- Beware of lurkers... if you're unsure of what I mean, check out the Friends episode where Phoebe goes to the casino in Vegas - the DO exist!
Everyone had their own strategy - Chris tended to choose a long-shot and a horse with good odds, Jenn chose a mix and I chose mostly the favored horses, then threw in a long-shot here and there. Chris' strategy paid off once in awhile but I think Jenn took the most wins in that game.
We moved onto the slot machines - they had everything from 1 penny up so again - you could spend HOURS and not much money. Jenn and I finished off our money at the quarter machines and Chris played her last bit of winnings at the 1 penny slots.
Results -- Jenn and I were down $10 each, Chris up 1 cent! Two hours of fun had by all :)
We took a walk around the casino afterwards - it's pretty impressive! There's a glass elevator to the upper floor where you can overlook the gambling and there's a number of restaurants up there including a very high class seafood restaurant. The casino also has a large aquarium and waiters walk around serving you drinks (free pop!) right to the machines (clearly a lure to keep you from leaving the betting tables, but still a nice perk!)
Casino Tips:
- Choose how much you want to spend before you go and stop when you run out of that money
- There is no skill when it comes to slot machines...
- For fun, use casino lingo like "I'm going to play the one-armed bandit" especially in earshot of hard-core gamblers - you will be glared at
- No photographs are allowed at casinos, therefore use your iPhone to take pictures in a non-obvious way :)
- Beware of lurkers... if you're unsure of what I mean, check out the Friends episode where Phoebe goes to the casino in Vegas - the DO exist!