#The Keg

Last Saturday evening we went for supper to the Keg. We don’t go their often. Even though they serve good steaks, the atmosphere is a little bit to noisy for us. The young crowd likes to go to the Keg. The last time we went there was three years ago.

So why did we go this time? Well, we had a gift card from one of our sons for the Keg; that made up our mind for us. We went to celebrate my wife’s birthday.

Our first choice was the one on Gary Street, downtown Winnipeg. We don’t like to go downtown because of the parking. It is difficult to find a parking spot and it is too expensive to park and you are limited with time. We actually did find a parking spot on Broadway. Since it was Saturday, parking was free with a two hour limit. We were only a block away from the Keg.

The Keg doesn’t take reservations on the weekend from 5:00 PM until 8:00 PM. It is first come first serve. When we got there we saw a bunch of people waiting to get in and we were told it would be an hour to one-and-a-half hour wait. Too long for us; we'd run out of time at the parking meter, so we left and drove to the one in St. James; it took about 15 minutes drive to get there.

Parking there was no problem. They have a large parking lot, but the wait was for thirty to forty minutes. We actually had to wait only ten minutes to get in. I didn’t care much for the table we sat at; it was too close to the entrance and in a walkway, but we were happy to have a table. The place was crowded with guests and it was noisy. If you want a quiet, intimate dinner you don't go to places like The Keg.

We noticed all the hostesses were nice-looking girls with short dresses and the waiters were young men, also dressed nicely. Not all the guests were dressed that nice. Just an observation. We like to get dressed up when we go out to eat. We got served quickly. I ordered the Prime Rib and my wife had the chicken breast with shrimp, scallops, and crab. We didn’t have to wait long to get our order.

Everything was fine. My #Prime Rib was a bit rarer that the medium I ordered and about ¼ of it was fat, but it tasted good. The steak rested on a bed of some dry noodle-like things. I have no idea what they were and I only ate a few of them. The baked potato was large and tasty.

The chicken breast was good also, according to my wife, but she only got 2 shrimp, 2 small pieces of scallop and a teaspoon of crab meat. She almost didn't recognize it; she thought it was part of the mashed potato.

We enjoyed the evening and I don’t have any complaints, other than that I had to wait for my beer, which I had ordered to be served together with my meal. A small quirk I have. I don’t like stale beer. I was surprised to see that so many people still go out to eat, because the prices for restaurant meals have in my opinion gone through the roof. It cost us $92.00 before the tip. When we were in Germany we ate for half that price, and in a way I thought I received more value for my money. The variety of food was better and the food left me more satisfied. Most likely I was a bit biased, because I like German Food.

The other problem is that my wife is a good cook and I am probably spoiled. I barbeque my steak the way I want it; it usually tastes better because my wife spices it nicely, and we always have fresh salad and a heap of vegetables, which we didn’t get here. Okay, we had a Cesar’s salad between the two of us, but there wasn’t much to it. When we add shrimp we don't add only two. The most important factor though is the price. Home cooked meals are so much cheaper and always tastier.

I mentioned the beer. We paid $6.00 for 11 oz of draft beer. That’s not even a bottle of beer. That seems overpriced. We paid $3.50 Euros for ½ liter beer in Germany; that is about five bucks at today’s rate of our Canadian dollar. I said it many times before: Alcohol is too expensive in Canada. We are being gouched by our government and the restaurants.

I’ve got a couple of carboys with 23 liters of red wine juice sitting in my basement right now. They will be ready to bottle in a month or so. 23 liters give me about 29 bottles, that’s about $1.60 for one bottle of wine. And I can guarantee you that this wine tastes as good as the $50.00 bottle of wine you can buy in the liqueur store. Sure, it is a lot of work and it takes time to get the wine to the bottled stage, but it is a labor of love. And the results are worth the trouble.

About three weeks ago I bottled a batch of beer at the cost of 60 cents a bottle. Now we are talking my language. Okay, I’ll have to wait about 6 months to let it age and before I want to drink it, but the beer tastes great. I could make it even cheaper, but I buy 23 liters of must and add no water, just yeast. It tastes just like bought beer and there is no residue in the bottle. One thing with homemade beer, you can let it sit for years and it will only get better. I’ve had beer that was over 5 years old and it tasted great. You can’t do that with bought beer. It’ll last about a year if you are lucky.

It proves again there is nothing better than homemade stuff. I can’t wait for summer to get my garden going again. I can already taste those sweet tomatoes, the peppers, the lettuce, and all those other wonderful vegetables. Better tasting and healthier than anything you can buy in the stores. No chemicals or preservatives, just good old natural fertilizers, water, and sunshine. And lots of LOVE.

Until next time.