stupid camera, stupid meal

When we went to our first house meeting, we received a gift certificate from the home builders for dinner at The Sawmill or Tom Goodchild's Moose Factory. We've been saving it for a while, and we only just got around to using it this weekend.

Idle Husband had been to the Moose Factory for lunch many times before, so that's where we decided to go. I'd never been before, but let me tell you, it's a pretty classy (read: expensive) place.

As usual, if there's calamari on the menu, that's always what we start with.

The calamari was delicious. It wasn't at all chewy and it was seasoned perfectly. The tzatziki dipping sauce, on the other hand, was like...milk...no. Not like milk. It was milk. With herbs floating in it. So it was impossible to really dip the calamari into it without the tzatziki dripping off all over the place. Somebody needs a lesson in tzatziki making.

I don't know what was wrong with my camera (the one I keep in my purse at all times), but after the calamari, it just did not want to focus on anything. We had skipped lunch specifically because we'd be eating out, and after taking three pictures of Idle Husband's steak, it just wasn't fixing itself. So even though I realized it wasn't focusing, I didn't bother taking another 30 pictures per plate because we were starving. Sadly, blurriness is one problem I can't fix after the fact, so sorry for the lame pictures.

Idle Husband heard about filet mignon from some Gordon Ramsay show and has wanted to try it ever since. He finally got his chance. As promised, the meat was so delicious and so tender. It was really good. I'm so thankful he shared with me! I also got to eat his asparagus and carrots which were cooked perfectly, and honestly, right up there with the steak in deliciousness (yuck to peppers).

(ugh. terrible)

He also ordered a side of mushrooms for his steak which came all hot and sizzling in the cutest little cast iron pan (I need a set of these in my life!). They were really good, too, and slightly onion-y. I had some serious mushroom overload afterwards!

(sigh)

I ordered the chicken scallopini (which sounded so good on the menu), and I'm so bummed that I did. The chicken was all right, but bordering on overcooked and kinda flavourless; the angel hair pasta...who does this to angel hair pasta?! Someone actually thought, I'm going to take the most delicate, thin, beautiful pasta and dump way too much of the thickest, creamiest, most gelatinous sauce on it, and that will be perfection? Well, guess what? It wasn't perfection. It was kinda terrible, actually. I tried eating it (cuz I paid my damn money), but I ended up just picking out the mushrooms and calling it a day. It also looked like it had been sitting out for a while, you know? It had that weird film on it. I don't know how to explain it, but it just didn't look fresh (I think despite the blurriness, you can tell in the photo). Again, thank goodness for the carrots and asparagus. Best thing on that plate, hands down.

I'm so sad about this meal (especially because it was a gift certificate meal -- although the amount didn't cover dinner completely). They had a buffet which looked ok, but because I was starving, I had a feeling I would go overboard if I went that route. Now I'm super sad I didn't. At least then I could have tried a little of everything, and something probably would have worked out to be more delicious than what I ended up having.

Sigh. What a sad little meal. I definitely won't be going back.

Note: I would like to make my own chicken scallopini now. Just so I can see how it's supposed to taste. I betcha it's really quite delicious.