http://www.adhambley.com/Victoria/British_Columbia/Condos/Downtown/Downtown/Agent/Listing_1550864.html
It should be up on mls.ca shortly. Hopefully we'll sell quickly.
*****
Did everyone have an exciting and fabulous St. Valentine's Day? Well, I had a fabulous V-day, but only because I have THE BEST fiancé in the entire world ;) When a colleague and I headed to Starbucks on our coffee break, who did I run into on the street carrying a beautiful bouquet of red roses? My fiancé, that's who! He was on his way to my work to hand deliver him, but we bumped into each other on the street (what are the odds?) - it is so great to be back in the same city again - whoot for new jobs! Did I mention that Pat has a new job? I won't mention much about it here, because he is way more private about stuff than I am…but let's just say that life has been amazing to us!
Anyhoo, back to the V-day. Patrick had made reservations at a swanky restaurant called Camille's http://www.camillesrestaurant.com/ . He had made the reservation while on Salt Spring Island, before he got his new job back here in Victoria, so he made the reservation for the second dinner seating which was 9:00pm. That is the thing about special dates here in Victoria, one can't make a reservation for any time they choose. You usually have an option of two seatings…which you have to leave your credit card number for. Should you not show to your reservation, your credit card will be charged.
Anyhoo, to fill the time between work ending and our reservation at 9:00pm, we decided to catch a movie. We went to see Definitely, Maybe. I thought it was very cute - Pat wasn't so impressed with it. However, this might have been because we had to leave the movie 30 minutes early to make it to our reservation on time. We would have only missed 15 minutes of the movie, but they played some of the previews over again (Why? I have no idea). Once we arrived at Camille's we were crammed into a small space (I would say 4 feet by 10 feet) along with what seemed like 20 other people. Apparently Camille's likes to seat everyone at the same time…so the entire restaurant was cleared out of the earlier seating and we had to wait for them to re-set all of the tables before anyone could be seated. Why? I have no idea.
The restaurant itself is very lovely. It has a great ambiance…the lower lever has booth areas with cozy cushions…very nice. We had a great table beside a couple that we think were getting engaged that night…we ended up leaving before the Big Event though :(
Once we left the "holding pen" like a bunch of cattle and were seated, we were offered our menus. Camille's has a lovely assortment of wines, but considering it was about 9:30pm on a work night, we opted for some beer and cocktails over a $60 (low end) bottle of wine. Probably a good decision, otherwise l wouldn't have made it to work the next day!
Like most restaurants here in Victoria on festive dates, the menu was set. After a long delay in drink service, we were offered our first course. Venison Carpaccio. I'm terrified of eating Bambi - eep! No thank you! Pat ate both of ours and seemed to enjoy them…
The second course was potato and leek soup with smoked salmon…not a big fan of anything smoked - the soup itself was tasty albeit a little over salted.
The third course was a trio of salads. One was a Waldorf Salad with smoked salmon (I *heart Waldorf salad…but again…not a fan of smoked anything). The next salad was goat cheese with beets…the only one I ate. The third salad was Tuna Narcoise with potato. Not a fan of raw tuna…and the potatoes would have been lovely, but they were mixed with pureed olives - not a fan of olives! Gee whiz…I sure am picky!
The fourth course, was to be the Main Event. We were given a choice of a seafood dish (although I enjoy fish, not a fan of shrimp and scallops), a mushroom ravioli (don't eat mushrooms!), a duck dish (not a fan of duck - too fatty), and a lamb dish (not a fan of lamb…but if cooked thoroughly, I'll eat it…but honestly, doesn't anyone remember "Lamb Chops" play and sing along???). Pat ended up with the duck and I had the lamb. I don't know if it was because it was about 10:45pm or if it was being corralled into a holding pen for 15 minutes, but the main event wasn't so eventful. It was tasty, but nothing spectacular.
For dessert we had a pistachio cake/torte thingy - it was the best part of the meal and I'm not even a fan of pistachio!!! LOL
You might be wondering why we didn't ask what was on the menu before making our reservation. Well, we thought FOR SURE that there would be a chicken or beef option…yes, I realize I don't have the most mature palate. Secondly, Camille's is a "west coast dining experience." They attempt to get all of their ingredients within 100km (or something?) and as a result they don't know what they'll be serving until that day…
So, if your looking for a find dinning restaurant serving innovative west coast food, and you don't mind being "surprised" about what your eating, you might like Camille's - however, I don't recommend going on St. V-day.
After everything is said and done, I had a fabulous V-day - I got to spend it with my awesome partner and we were able to have a good laugh about the whole thing. We did learn a valuable lesson, which we should have learned from St. V-day last year, and New Year's Eve…it is best to stay in on crazy busy special occasions. Last year we went to Il Terrazzo and it was so crazy busy…as a result we don't think we got the greatest service nor the full Il Terrazzo experience that everyone seems to rave about…and likely won't be going back for a long time (too much $$$ for crappy service and sub par food!).
*****
Until we take some more pictures of the house on Saturday, here are the one's we took last weekend. We now have all the siding (needs to be painted), we have insulation, we have all the windows, AND we have a door! Whoot!
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