Table for Two

There is, in my life, a person whose company I never tire of; whose very presence makes me happy; someone I think about every single day; who I have never had an argument with or exchanged a cross word with in the entire time I have known her: my goddaughter, Taya.  And, today she turns 15.  I can not believe that my little sweetheart is one year away from learning to drive and only three years from finishing high school.  I have been a part of Taya's life since the day she was born and can not imagine what life would have been like without her.  She stole my heart the first time I held her and has greeted me with a smile and a hug every time I have seen her since.

A few weeks ago while Christmas shopping, Taya and I stopped for lunch at one of those national chain family restaurants.  We began talking about the service and the food and Taya mentioned that she had been thinking about culinary arts as a potential field of study after high school.  This, of course, was met with much excitement by me and we discussed many of the career paths in the industry and also discussed how to critique food and food service.  We both decided that the restaurant we were in rated about 2.5 out of 5.

Today, as I stated, is Taya's birthday and tomorrow I will be taking her for dinner to her first real fine dining restaurant.  My hope is to expose her to some finer dining than what she is used to and let her see what it might be like in the industry (hopefully the restaurant will be busy).  I was given the name of a restaurant in Whitby that my sister and brother-in-law raved about and has had many good reviews and I hope this will provide the experience I am looking for.  Part of the deal is that Taya will be evaluating the food and the service and will rate them against her previous experiences.  Maybe I will be able to convince her to put her thoughts down on paper and publish them here.

Now,  Taya is not wholly without some fine dining experience; two and a half years ago we travelled to British Columbia and enjoyed afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel.  Best $50 cup of tea I have ever had and the experience of watching a little girl try so hard to act like a young lady was worth every penny.  The waiter was brilliant and after pouring the tea asked Taya if she would like sugar with hers to which she responded "yes, just one please."  This seemed to impress him but more so when he turned and asked me and I asked for two.  He made a face and gestured toward Taya and the two rolled their eyes in mutual deprecation.  I responded that he was lucky I wasn't asking for coffee.  After tasting the tea I had to admit that one sugar would  have been plenty and I thought that this was the first time I had ever really had a good cup of tea.  For Taya and myself, this experience is how we judge all restaurants in terms of service and food preparation and the Empress, for us, is now the standard.  It will be interesting to see how this little restaurant in north Whitby compares.