This and that

Dinner out chez Toque! (The exclamation point is part of the name. Pronounced Tock-Ay)

Had the most expensive dinner out I've ever had last night. (Or rather, that I paid for.) The restaurant Toque! is known as the finest in Montreal. We invited our old neighbors to go there as a thank you for presenting a buyer for our old place that we sold in January. After all, we were able to sell the place without an agent saving us a bundle on the commission, so we thought it right to "thank" them in some way. We all took the seven course tasting menu with wine, and I shamelessly snapped pics of each course. Sure it's gauche, but what's a blogger to do? We all had a lovely time and I couldn't believe four hours had passed when we got the bill. The bill was stunning in its magnitude. I don't want to talk about it.

In other news, I received a judgement against me in the mail yesterday. You see, I was caught in a criminal act back in November. A criminal act you say? The act was smoking a cigarette in the smoking section of a restaurant. Apparently it was criminal because the cafe is located in a Metro station area. Anyway, the patrons that day were cited for smoking, all of us slack jawed as the agents issued tickets to each of us. The bitterness of this event propelled me to write to the Director of Operations for the Cafe Supreme asking why they were offering a smoking room with ash trays on all the tables if in fact, smoking isn't permitted there. I received this reply from the company (STCUM is the transit police):

Dear Tornwordo,

I apologize for any inconvience, the STCUM has made an error, we are indeed permitted to have a smoking section.
The STCUM will be tracking the tickets it has given out within 7 days, we advise you not to pay it, and the error will be corrected.
We are continuing to offer the smoking section at our Cafe in the McGill Metro, we have been assured there will be no further incident.

Best Regards,
BRIAN DEMERS
Director of Operations
Cafe Supreme Canada Inc.
Tel. (514) 875-9803
bdemers@cafesupreme.ca

So I followed Mr. Demers advice, and yesterday I received a judgement in the mail, $125 payable by August 24th. I'll be on the phone to the big Brian later today to discuss this. ( There is no further recourse with the court as the judgement has been rendered.) I think some free coffee is in order, don't you?

Lastly, I wanted to address some fallout from yesterday's story. It's true that I have always enjoyed taking inopportune photos of my friends and family. Back in the day, I had the charming habit of bursting in on someone in the bathroom, bowels in mid movement, to snap a photo. It took a few years, okay decades, to realize that this was not appreciated by people. So I have stopped. I committed to stopping after the ball event a couple of years ago. And though I have had the urge now and then since then, my sneaky picture taking fetish is gone. Let me just go on record saying that I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused anyone. (Giggle.)