Happy birthday, Dick!

The main reason for our trip to Victoria last week was to celebrate a friend, Dick, as he turned 80.  On a Wednesday afternoon, his actual birthday, family and friends gathered together in Goldstream Provincial Park north of Victoria to fete him.

Dick and his wife, Annalee, owned Don Diego's restaurant in Terrace as well as Cow Bay Cafe in Prince Rupert.  I started work waiting tables at Don Diego's in the summer of 1990, and after I finished by undergrad in 1992, I began work at the restaurant full time, learning to cook.  I did any job, really, though mostly I was in the kitchen.  I also spent much of one summer going down to Prince Rupert to work with Dick at the newer restaurant there.  Their eldest son, Aaron,

and I met in grade 8 and graduated high school together.  Their middle son, Andy, was a year behind us.  Neil, the youngest, I've known since he was in grade school.  I've known the eldest grand-daughter, Nerissa, pretty much since her birth.  No, I am not related, but Dick and Annalee are family.

Don Diego's was a family as well.  No, I don't keep in touch with everyone I used to work with, but oh, how awesome to see folks again.  Laura,

Chiron,

Renetta

- it was a mini-reunion for the restaurant.  And there were longtime customers/friends, like Glen (and hooray for meeting his husband Casey after hearing so many lovely - and true! - things about him over the years). 

And there was even my fifth grade teacher! 

That was a trip, meeting up after over forty years.

Conrad and I spent a handful of hours at the event, then headed back to the city before it got dark.  He was a little peckish, so we headed to Marilena, across from the hotel and sat at their remarkable bar. 

We had some raw bar items - oysters

and tuna tartare

- and cocktails (two each, both delicious). 

And then went to bed.

It was great to be in Victoria, however briefly, after all these years, and I'm sorry it took a major event to get us there.  But ah, how terrific to celebrate!  Happy birthday, Dick.  I hope there are many more to come!

Victoria, for the first time in years

Nine days ago, Conrad and I made our way to LAX,

board a flight

to San Francisco, then another flight from there

to Vancouver, then rented a car and headed to the ferry, made the crossing to the Island,

and - 12 hours after leaving the condo - got to our room at the Hotel Rialto in Victoria.  At long last.  A view of city hall,

a bed to sleep in. 

And it was only dinner time.

A local friend wasn't wild about the hotel restaurant, The Palms Inspired Kitchen and Cocktails, and had advised going across the street.  Conrad suggested that, too.  But I was tired and had forgotten any advice.  So we went downstairs.  And you know, it was fine.  It needs work, but it was fine.  The bar looked pretty darn good, and I was able to order a martini made with Ungava gin,

which I am always delighted to encounter.  The glass of wine with my meal wasn't as good, and I think that drinking it with the food disguised that it was veering toward what Conrad calls sports bar wine.  The food was not bad.  An appetizer of scallops,

a short rib for my dinner,

a creme brulee for dessert. 

I'd rate the short rib as the best, and I'd suggest that they make the creme brulee smaller and not serve it with a chocolate dipped spoon.  Conrad's tuna was fine enough, though the dish was overloaded with ingredients. 

I liked his salad more than my scallops, and he preferred my appetizer to his.  It's all good.  It was food, and it was an excellent value, and we were alright and ready to unwind.

Until I got a message from Owen reminding me that we were meeting for drinks.  Merde!  Off we trekked, over to Clive's Classic Lounge to meet him and his boyfriend, Dale. 

So yes, we were tired, and yes, we had had a couple of drinks, but still.  So good to see Owen again and meet Dale for the first time.  And fun to have a cocktail in a lounge that seemed to know what it was doing.  The Deep Dark Forest for me, a smoked concoction. 

Tasty!

And then we got to go back to the hotel and sleep.

Wednesday came, and there was an event ahead, but that wasn't until mid-afternoon.  Time enough to go out, see the city a bit, get some things done.  I took Conrad through Market Square

where I used to go every weekend for comic books when I was in undergrad.  We headed over the water of the Inner Harbour

and into the VicWest area to a Starbucks,

grabbing breakfast and lattes before cutting through the roundhouse area

and then over to the waterfront to head back to the hotel. 

Not directly back, no. 

It was nice weather for a walk, and we needed to get a shot or two at Rebar so as to send one to Rachel. 

Inside joke, sorry.

After the walk and getting dressed, there were errands to do.  Banking, for one, and a stop into a nearby wine and spirits store where we saw this 3L beauty. 

I was sorely tempted.  Ah well.  And then on past City Hall

to the Victoria Public Market at the Hudson. 

The old Bay when I lived in Victoria.  I can see what they are trying to do with the space, but it's not quite there at this time.  Still, we had lunch and it was good.

The rest of our day was mostly taken up with the birthday party, but ah, that's a separate blog post.  In the meantime, a simple reflection.  Several years ago I went to my high school reunion, and I was disconcerted by how my home town was simultaneously changed and yet familiar.  I recognized things, I was confused by the loss of other things, and I was unsure about the things that were new or different.  A former friend asked me why I hadn't expected change.  I had, in fact, but that didn't stop the change from feeling odd to me.  I was from there but no longer of there.  I had a similar sensation with Victoria, but not as strong.  A city I knew when I was younger, when I was in undergrad at UVic.  I remembered some storefronts, I was perplexed as to what had happened with others.  Change, and I don't know how I feel about it.

Too long since the last trip to Victoria.  I shan't let that happen again.