Garrett's 36th Birthday

Saturday, April 1st, Kristi arranged for all of us for dinner at The Old Surrey Restaurant to celebrate Garrett's 36th birthday. A bunch of organization was required. It had been almost a year since Dad and Ray's mom had even seen each other as well as all of us together at one time. Unfortunately the last gathering was at Dad's partner, Betty's Celebration of Life at the end of May last year. Everyone living in different cities does propose somewhat of a challenge.

Kristi came over from Nanaimo on Friday and went to Squamish to spend the evening of Garrett's actual birthday with Garrett and Kat. Jason unfortunately had to stay at home as he had a procedure done that day to help alleviate his migraine headaches, (we hope  it works), so Kristi came over by herself with only one of her dogs, Zeus, in tow.

On Saturday, Garrett had to attend a trade show on behalf of his new job Saturday morning in Vancouver and left early from Squamish. Kristi and Kat followed with their two dogs later in the morning, met up with Garrett at 1 pm and all of them made it to our motorhome by 1:30 pm. After a couple of hours visit, they all piled in their vehicles, went by the restaurant to drop off Garrett's vehicle and made their way to Ray's mom's in Burnaby to pick her up to bring her to the restaurant. Ray and I went to my Dad's to pick him and Larny up to bring them to the restaurant. Sound confusing.... it sure was!  By 6:15 we were all seated. The entrance to the restaurant was quite a challenge for my Dad. Kristi and I neglected to check if the restaurant was handicapped accessible. It was not. There was a flight of 13 stairs both Dad and Ray's mom had to negotiate to get in while their walkers were carried up the stairs. Fortunately they achieved it but it was touch and go for my dad.

Picture from Google

IT ALL STARTED WITH A CHEF FROM FRANCE

Nestled in the heart of Surrey, the Old Surrey Restaurant is the culinary life force of fine dining this side of the Fraser.

The Old Surrey Restaurant, founded in 1975 by Spain native Valentine Aguirre, serves up fresh, inspired dishes with local ingredients including lamb and veal from the family's Chilliwack farm.

From the complimentary fresh baguette and amuse bouche right through to the Caesar Salad or flambeed Crepes Suzette, prepared tableside, your classically French dining experience will be a night to remember.

The Whole Fam Damily! as Ray's Dad used to say

What a wonderful meal we had. Certainly not budget friendly ($30 or so per entree) but Ray's mom contributed as did we for a great experience. A lot of the food was prepared at tableside. The restaurant is known for "Farm to Table" food.  Everyone savoured their meal ... not one dish was "just okay" so it definetly is a place to keep on the list to go for special occasions.

Ray and Garrett shared the BIG RED SPECIAL for 2 - Crab Cakes, Ceasar Salad, prepared tableside, Lobster with Filet Mignon and for desert fresh fruit Zabayon, a cooked light egg creme dessert with flamed Grande Marnier. Ray said it was the best lobster he has ever had.

It was enough ceasar salad for all of us to have some!

Ray and Garrett's dessert

Kristi and Kat shared the CHATEAUBRIAND BOUQUETIERE, flamed at the table. The other four of us had the Chef's Farm Special which was duck.

Chateaubriand (notice the photo bomber )

For starters I had french onion soup and Kristi ordered the prawns and we all shared a taste of all of the appetizers including Ray and Garrett's crab cakes. Yummm. For dessert, Kristi and I shared a creme brulee and the guys of course had the Zabayon. Kat laughed and said we were definitely an "Asian Family" as we all shared from everyone's plate.

The duck

The chef served us their complimentary amuse-bouche of a meatball and sauce in a spoon served with a basket of fresh baked bread (which everyone wanted a loaf to take home). The service was excellent, food was amazing and the ambiance of the old house was fantastic. All in all a very pleasant experience.

As Garrett already had dessert they brought him a little whipped cream with a candle so they could sing him happy birthday.

Say Cheese!

It was a much later night than we anticipated probably because of all the table side preparation, although we all really enjoyed the show. We did not get back to Dad's until 9:30 pm. Dad went straight to bed very sore after walking up and down that big set of stairs. Garrett and Kat stopped by our motorhome to pick up the dogs and bring them both to Dad's. Garrett and Kat spent overnight at Dad's. Kristi took Grandma home and was to catch the late ferry back to Nanaimo. When we got back home to the coach from Dad's, there was a message on the phone from Kristi ... no late ferry on Saturday so she was coming to spend the night with us. I quickly got her bedding out from under our bed so Ray could climb in as his back was toast after the long day. By 10:30 everyone was in bed and lights out.

We all slept pretty good, including the 2 dogs, and were up at 6:15 am to send Kristi on her way as she has a soccer game later today. Garrett and Kat stopped by at 7:30 to say goodbye and pick up Grandma's forgotten birthday card Kristi recovered having dropped her off, and they were on their way as well. What a 24 hours. Later today I have to go up to Dad's to cook dinner as it's Larny's day off.  Hopefully Dad is okay after such a long day yesterday.

The sun is back out this morning! Yeah.