Three Beautiful Things 08/06/13: Being Sir Edwin, Locksmith Success, Dinner at the Excelsior

1.  I hope that in some small way my portrayal of Sir Edwin, admirer of Thomas Becket, was of help to the Vacation Bible School children today.  It was fun pretending to be someone who had dropped into the 21st century from the 13th and to tell the children a bit about being a servant. . . but I'm not sure I am that good at making such things interesting to kids. 

2.  After much Herculean struggle, Tim the locksmith, was able to extract the double cylinder lock from the driveway door, rekey it, as well as the front door, and help me feel better about our lock and key situation here at the house.  It was a tough job for Tim.  It set his day back -- and to add insult to injury, he had to deal with all the street construction going on in our neighborhood and had a hell of a time getting to the house in the first place.  In the end, though, he was gracious about it all.  I hope his day improved.

3.  I received a 50 buck gift certificate at the Excelsior when I retired and after fourteen months of having it sit around unused, I finally went down to the joint and used it.  I had to get over feeling like it's too classy of a place for me, which I got over by going early when it wasn't too busy and by sitting in the bistro section, not the restaurant section. I felt less out of place in the bistro section.  My dinner was good.  I opened with a Jameson's on the rocks.  I was served whole wheat homemade bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Then I ate a decent, but not great, Caesar Salad.  I ordered the sockeye salmon fresh fish special which came with vegetables raised on the Excelsior farm and sauteed beautifully.  The fish was served on a bed of couscous.  The salmon was good, but I enjoyed the zucchini, yellow squash, cherry tomatoes, and onion with the couscous the most.  My glass of pinot gris was a satisfying pairing.  I ended my retirement dinner with a cognac on the rocks.  I enjoyed the solitude of being an early diner.  I'm grateful for the gift of the dinner.  But, I gotta say, for a working class Kellogg, Idaho kid like me, I'm much more at home at Billy Mac's where I love the food and feel like I belong.