Valentine's Day 2009 -- Dinner at Ivar's

Valentine's Day 2009; Ivar's Mukilteo Landing --

Two Sea gull's "begging for a handout" at Ivar's!

This evening, 54 years 16 hours after our youngest birth-daughter's birth, we met Ruth and Paul at Ivar's Mukilteo Landing Restaurant for dinner. Ruth promised that Mother would find something "besides fish" to eat!

This also happened to exactly 61 years after Grumpy presented Elynor with her 1/4 carat diamond ring (the one that about 58 years later became "too small" and was subsequently supplanted by a 3/4 carat diamond -- and larger diameter ring --), the symbol of their mutual commitment to engagement almost 62 years ago. So, with plenty of reasons to celebrate, Mother and Grumpy drove North to Mukilteo to meet the Brandal's.


The choices for dinner were: Cedar-Planked Sockeye Salmon with polenta and string beans for Ruth, Paul and Grumpy; and for Mother, Filet Mignon with saute'd baked-potato fingers and asparagus spears. All meals were declared "delicious", fulfilling expectations at this restaurant bearing the name and reputation of Ivar Haglund, that late, but immortalized curmudgeon of Seattle's "Acres of Clams" fame.

Prior to ordering our choices of desserts, our waitress presented us with a five-question "test", promising that if we got any three correct answers, we would receive a "surprise" reward. Each question was "multiple choice" and should have been "aced" by any trivial pursuits afficianado. Since none us fell into that category, we "flunked" the test, getting only two of the answers correct. However, we vehemently objected to the waitress' labelling our answer to the last question as "wrong"; the last question was, "Clam Nectar is considered an aphrodesiac; what is the limit of Clam Nectars that are permitted for a married man at Ivar's without his wife's permission?" The choice of answers were: "1, 2, 3, or 4".

We chose "1".

The waitress said, "The correct answer is three! I'm sorry, but all of you got it wrong!"
We argued: "But we are quite sure the correct answer is only one!"
"Nope!" replied the waitress. "It is three!!"
To which Ruth vehemently retorted: "Not at OUR house!!"

We all roared with laughter; the waitress nearly doubled over with laughter!!
Obviously a good time was had by all.