Fooled at Harvey's / Swiss Chalet

We received coupons in the mail recently and decided to head over to our local Swiss Chalet (1 Henderson Drive, Aurora, Ontario)

The coupons included:

1. Two can dine for $13.99 (Basically 2 quarter chicken dinners) but was only valid for Monday to Thursday.

2. 20% off 2 piece Fish & Chips valid only Monday to Friday...Never had Fish & Chips with Swiss Chalet. They are not known for Fish & Chips.

3. $2.00 off the purchase of a Family Pack (we went for this).

4. $3.00 off a Quarter Chicken and Half Rack of Ribs Combo. We thought about using this but a 20 minute wait in the dining room for a seat when there was already a table for two open and not used seemed ridiculous.

So we went for #3 above on the Harvey's side. The Harveys side serves Swiss Chalet take out but has the regular fast food seating of a traditional Harveys.

The Order: Swiss chalet Family Pack (2 fries, 1 coleslaw, 1 corn) and two cokes

We ordered the Family Pack at 5:50 P.M., but did not have the food in hand until 6:00 P.M. Swiss Chalet has a way of providing poor service times. Apparently I'm a fool. Harvey's and Swiss Chalet promise fast efficient take out service with the pimply faced teenaged staff running around wearing hair nets. But when it comes time to deliver chicken and sides that they have based their business on for an eternity, they fail. I was fooled into believing I could get my simple food order in five minutes or less.

Nonetheless, the food was of usual Swiss Chalet quality (perfect temperature and preparation). Really nothing to complain about there.

Later I filled out the Customer Satisfaction survey. My receipt said "Tell Us How We Did Today for a chance to win a * $500 HARVEY'S CARD *" So I went to the Harvey's feedback website indicated on the receipt. Within about two steps completed on the survey I was switched from Harvey's to the Swiss Chalet feedback. I soldiered on to completion where out of the blue I was given a survey code for "a free soup, salad or perogies with the purchase of an entree during your next visit to Swiss Chalet." Um....what happenned to my chance of winning a "* $500 HARVEY'S CARD *"

Oh but wait, there is a chance for a "$500 Swiss Chalet Gift Card" if I spend another 2 minutes filling out yet another online survey. I've been through this before already with believing I could get my food quickly and efficently and then fooled again into believing I had a chance at a "* $500 HARVEY'S CARD *". So I refused to go along as I'd been burnt at least once by Harvey's / Swiss Chalet.

Apparently this is false advertising, I never stood a chance at winning a Harvey's gift card as no where did it say I had one or not. Does this mean I could still win a Harvey's gift card? I won't keep my hopes up as I've been fooled too many times on this visit.

Meanwhile Christine....

Growing up as the oldest of three children you make some observations about your sometimes annoying yet lovable siblings.

My brother Peter is the sporting and active one of the family. He was known for playing baseball throughout the summers in Aurora and accross southern Ontario. The entire family used to come along to the baseball games. My father either coaching or enthralled with the baseball game and my mother sipping her coffee cheering on the team.

My sister Christineloves books. She would be at the same baseball game curled up in a lawn chair reading a book. Any indication that Peter was up to bat she would look up from her latest read and yell like any little sister would "Peter! You suck!" Which would get my brother laughing. My sister would return her gaze to whatever she was reading as if nothing happened. She sure does love reading!

In fact she loves to read so much that she wrote a terrific blog entry on it here.

Not one Lone Star at the Lone Star Texas Grill

This afternoon my wife, a friend and I visited the Lone Star (9301 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, Ontario). We arrived shortly after 1:00 P.M. for lunch and were immediately seated. The hostess, while were on our table asked if we had ever been to a Lonestar before. That is all I could hear as we were moving through the restaurant single file due to how wide the aisle between tables was. Perhaps she should have seated us first, handed us the menus then asked if had been there before and then blathered on about here are the washrooms, etc. and who our waiter is.

Our waiter came by took our drink order and returned quickly. However, after dropping of our drinks he dissappeared for a few moments instead of inquiring if we were ready to order (which we were).

The Order: Southern Po' Boy Sandwich with Fries, Baja Tequila Shrimp with Seasonal Vegetables, Steak Ceaser salad (substitute chicken for steak), coke, water and coffee.

The food, once ordered came fairly quickly (15 minutes max). My Southern Po' Boy Sandwich arrived on a oven baked hero you would find at a Mr. Sub shop (read: no real specialty made bread there...it even had the same bread pan marks as Mr. Sub...Mr. Sub should sue for copyright infringment on their tradmarked (????) it is so obvious) with chicken covered in Jack & Chedder Cheese. From the side of my plate I added diced tomato and guacamole. The only complaint about garnishing my own sandwich was the lettuce leaves were not sliced to sprinkle on the sandwhich. I had to hand shred them to my liking, which seemed a little much. The fries that came with the sandwich were warm but weren't anything to write home about.

My wife had the tequila shrimp which she liked. However, she did point out the "seasonal vegetables" was an uncut piece of broccoli that you could find in the produce section in the local No Frills that at least appeared to be steamed.

The Steak Ceasar salad was o.k. but nothing to write home about. Our friend subsituted chicken for the steak and that was perfectly done by the kitchen.

During the meal our waiter came by and refilled our drinks. His attention to detail was better than at other restaurants where sometimes you have to wave your hand like a banchee trying to get a refill on your overpiced soda.

Overall Lone Star Richmond Hill is a decent place to eat.

Is this New York?

Last night I had dinner with my wife in Richmond Hill and took VIVA Blue home. This VIVA ride was a little more interesting than normal.

Instead of the usual quiet ride home with the business people half asleep, reading a book or staring forlornly out the window, we had some interesting characters.

The first we noticed was the black man, "Rapper", sitting on top of the standing room area in the middle of the articulated section of the bus. He was literally sitting on the top of the place where riders are supposed to be leaning against the backrest and holding the pole. He had his rap music blaring from a cell phone sized piece of equipment. Periodically "Rapper" would tap his hand against the poll. This caused even more noise as the metal from the rings on his hand met the metal of the poll. Other passengers just gave him the lazy dissapproving look or were trying to ignore him to the best of their ability. Trust me on this, it was not easy to ignore him.

Across the aisle from my wife and I were and older gentleman and a lady. The lady and man were talking about relationships and how there never seemed to be any women interested in the man. This lasted for about halfway on the trip from Richmond Hill to Aurora. Then she started saying he shouldn't be drinking. I looked over and he has a LCBO special pulled out and proceeded to drink straight from the bottle. It seemed I was surrounded by loonies on this bus.

At Bloomington Road on our trek northward three young teens get on the bus. One of the three was no more than five feet tall, 100 lbs (soaking wet with a brick in his pocket) wearing an earing with a huge rock. Man was this shrimp trying to look tough to his "Homies". At least this was somewhat typical of the area, a suburban kid trying to look tough. I laughed later that this kid probably wouldn't last five minutes in Long Island or Yonkers nevermind Brooklyn or the Bronx. In fact the kids I taught in Rockaway Park (Queen's) would've eaten this kid as a small snack nevermind lunch.

At one point I thought I was reliving my days of weirdos on the New York City Subway. But then again, it truly wasn't like New York, in the half hour trip not once did I see someone selling DVDs. Alas, this wasn't a true New York experience.

The Vancouver Olympics are like Olympic Mittens

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics have evolved just like HBC's Official Red Canadian Olympic Mittens after one wears them for a week.

The mittens have generated excitement when they first hit HBC Stores. HBC couldn't supply the mittens fast enough they were so popular. For $10 Canadian they were also affordable for almost every Canadian. The mittens are a way to show Canadian Olympic pride. In fact the mittens are so popular that even U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was caught wearing them when he attended the Opening Ceremonies.

The popularity of the mittens is like the popularity and energy found before the opening ceremonies. Vancouverites and those arriving from around the world could feel the energy and anticipation of the games arriving the week before they opened. The airport and the city itself had a buzz to it. That buzz still exists today as the games pass the ten day mark.

But after a couple of days of average wear and tear the mittens start to show fraying around the edges. These frays are best seen by loose threads and the noticeable "less white" of the white maple leaf in the palms of the mittens. On the inside of the right mitten I've developed a hole in the lining. This hole has developed despite hardly wearing these mittens since they were brand new last December. The quality of mittens seems to be a little suspect.

The Olympic Games are just like the mittens fraying. At the games there have been issues ("frays") that have been pointed out by the press. Issues include the chain link fence keeping spectators back from the Olympic Cauldron, issues with the ice resurfacing machine at the Long Track Speedskating Venue and the poor conditions at Cypress Mountain due to high temperatures and lack of snow. The major hole in the games, like in the right mitten, was the death of the Georgian Luger. But unlike the mittens, the quality of competition doesn't seem suspect.

However, like the mittens, despite the fraying around the edges there is excitement. Excitement when medals are awarded, excitement during competition like tonights U.S. vs. Canada Men's hockey game and the prospect of a similar game occurring in women's hockey.

After the games the mittens will form a kind of rememberance. Worn and frayed around the edges, but full of memories. Memories of great competition and artistry. Memories of great friends and excitement. Memories from 2010 and hopes of the next Olympic Games in London 2012.

Reflections of Olympic Proportions

NEWS FLASH: The 2010 Olympic Winter Games are in Vancouver!

But of course, unless you were under a rock, you already knew that.

The Opening Cermonies were quite well done with only a few hiccups. K.D. Lang singing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah was moving, the standing ovation upon the arrival of the Georgian Olympic Team who were wearing black arm bands in rememberance of their fallen comrad. There were at least two flubs, the first and most obvious was the failure of the Olympic cauldron within BC Place to rise on time or altogether (i.e. one of the arms didn't rise leaving Katrina Lemay-Doane standing centre stage with nothing to light). The second flub was by the host television network, CTV, for those watching the feed online. At midnight Eastern (Toronto Time) just as the indoor cauldron was about to be lit the feed cut out for good. I had to reload to the TSN feed. By the time I got the TSN feed up Wayne Gretzky was running up the stairs to leave the stadium on his wild ride on a back of a pick up truck through the streets of Downtown Vancouver to light the outdoor cauldron. But such is life without cable.

One ongoing Olympic embarassments in Vancouver is the outdoor Olympic Cauldron itself as the Toronto Star reports in today's paper. The Olympic Cauldron on Vancouver's waterfront is surrounded by 10 foot high barbed wire and chain link fencing to ensure it is secure. While the general public (read: the great unwashed) mass along the fenceline wishing they could get closer, the overpaid big wigs, media and others running around in official looking Olympic gear probably made in China but not sold at HBC Stores, get their pictures taken at the foot of the cauldron. What is really galling to Canadian taxpayers is the bill for security for these Olympic games is going to be over 900 million dollars. Yet a chain link fence has to be erected to keep people from vandalizing the flame instead of a couple of a couple of burly Canadian Mounties in red with Army back up. What a disgrace.

But there was good news from Vancouver on Sunday. Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau finally ensured Canada struck Gold for the first time while the Olympics were on Canadian soil. Bilodeau took Gold at the Men's Mogels. Now thanks to him and other Canadian Olympians, Canada has the "Royal Sampler" of Olympic Medals.

As Alex Bilodeau said: "The party's just starting for Canada."

Decent Daybreak

Today my wife and I had brunch at Daybreak (14800 Yonge Street, Aurora)

Daybreak is a typical breakfast place serving delicious greasy spoon food that isn't overly busy but not "HEY STAY AWAY NOBODY EATS THERE!" empty either.

We got to choose our own table and the waitress came soon after to drop off the menus and take our drink order.

Shortly thereafter she returned with our drinks (glass of water and Orange Juice) and took our order.

Order: Waffles with Strawberries and Whipped Cream and OJ, Big Breakfast (2 pancakes, 2 sausages, scrambled eggs, toast and homefries

We waited about 10 minutes for our food to be cooked and delivered.

The waffles had a decent, but not generous, amount of strawberry topping topped with a decent amount of whipped cream. The waffles themselves were not overcooked and dry like I've suffered at another breakfast place.

The pancakes, with just a little syrup, were typical and nothing really special. But the homefries were quite tasty as compared to other restaurants renditions in the area.

Overall the food is better than provided at other locations. The price however, has risen a couple of dollars per plate ($7.99 for the waffles instead of $5.99). This is especially noticeable considering that the old menu with prices is still posted on the wall. It is time for this place to update their menus posted on the wall with the correct prices so that they match what is on the menu handed to the customer sitting at the table.