Today is YC’s and my 25-year wedding anniversary and I want to share with you one of our dating habits.
A few weeks ago we were in Collingwood for M2’s dance
competition and I had a chicken salad sandwich.
It’s something I haven’t eaten in many years and it reminded me of a
chicken salad sandwich I used to get from the Bagel Stop by our condo when YC
and I were first married. That reminded
me of how we used to choose places to eat at when we went on dates.
Have you heard of the Entertainment coupon book? I think it’s still around today but maybe it’s
an app now. It’s a book of coupons that
generally give you BOGO deals. It had
fast food, casual restaurants, fine dining, golf, bowling, skiing, and other
activities I can’t remember. My company
sold this book for about $30 and I would get one every year (coupons were valid
for one year). It’s a pretty good price,
if you use it.
So when YC and I were dating, we would often choose a place
from the book. She liked to choose a
different place each time because she loved to try new restaurants and
different types of food. Being with YC
definitely broadened my palate. Before
dating YC, I had very simple tastes. I
never had Japanese food nor Thai food.
Even when I went to a Chinese restaurant, I would get beef and
vegetables with rice – likely one of the most boring meals on the menu.
Through the coupon book, we found a nice Japanese restaurant
near Scarborough Town Center and a good Thai place around Avenue Road and
Lawrence Avenue. I don’t remember the
name of either place and they’re probably not there anymore. The Japanese restaurant had really good
tempura and the Thai restaurant was memorable because they gave a complimentary
basket of shrimp chips.
For casual dining, there was a card that came with the
purchase of the book and when you presented the card, you would get the BOGO
offer. For the fine dining restaurants,
you could only use the coupon once a year.
We would choose a different fine dining place to go to each year. I remember we went to a good restaurant in a
hotel once for brunch. YC was always excited
each year when I brought home the book to see what fine dining restaurants were
available.
After we had children we didn’t go out to eat as often so I
stopped buying the book but I was reminded of it, as I said earlier, because of
the chicken salad sandwich. When we were
newlyweds we lived in a condo at Bay and Wellesley and beside our condo was a
Bagel Stop. YC and I liked to have
breakfast there occasionally before work.
She liked bagels a lot and even though I wasn’t crazy about them, I was
there to use the coupon book. (I had a
crazy habit of keeping track how much we saved on the second meal each time we
used a coupon. This way I could
calculate the rate of return on my $30 investment for the year. Just another crazy quirk of mine that YC
tolerated.) What I did enjoy there was
their chicken salad sandwich, which I would get if we went at lunch time. And that’s what I was reminded of when I had
that chicken salad sandwich a few weeks ago.
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