Dinner on the river.......

Tonight I rode out Marine Drive to one of my old haunts from the 80's, Salty's. It is my nephew Sammy's birthday, he is 15. Sammy plays hocky on the Fort Vancouver Pioneers, and is very good, probably too good.
My whole family, this time including me, met at 5:30. My ride was as nice as a ride out Marine Drive can be, which is never, ever, very much fun. A whole heck of a lot of money has been spent on bike paths out there. It is truly one of the last places I would want to actually head for on a bike ride. If you pay attention to the direction of the wind, and ride accordingly, the hell can be aleviated slightly. My reccomendation to you is to just ride on the road, as the bike path is along the river side of the dike, and windier than on top of it.
I was seated by a fabulous looking and smelling hostess named Brie. She smiled, was very nice, and made me want to follow her up the stairs to my table.
I had a Jubleale while waiting for my family to arrive (Why is the guy on the bike always there before the cars?) The Jubleale is always good, in my opinion. Everyone started showing up soon after. There is nothing that will make a me happier than when my neice and nephew see me, and race up to give me a hug. ( This only lasts until they turn four, so take it while you can) Lilly and Jaxon are very cute, very funny, and seem to be inseperable. I took some pics of them, and then gave Lilly Grace my camera, so she could take some pics. It turns out a 3 year old takes good pics sometimes.
We ordered many appetizers, as is our habit. We had oysters on the half shell, calamari, some shrimp cooked shell on, and something else that has escaped me.

I enjoyed the oysters, though not as much as my brother and sister, who proclaimed them the best oysters they have had in a while. There was no horseradish or spicy cocktail sauce to go with them, which was a disappointment. The shrimp were good, but quite overcooked. The shell had to be virtually pried off, due to the cooking fiasco, which made for difficulty in my book.
But the calamari, which I generally avoid, having a dislike for tentacles or tubular things, was fabulous. We ate two or three orders of it before dinner. If only I could find a apppetizer made from calamari steak, the real gem of the squid.
I ordered the halibut cheeks, over potatoes and green beans. This was a very good dinner. I recomend it to anybody. The sad thing about halibut cheeks is that they are actually one of the less flavorful parts of the halibut. I beleive that this entree, that has been appearing more frequently over the years, is a ruse by the restaraunt industry to use a generally ignored or thrown away part of the fish. If cooked properly, it can be pulled off, as it was tonight at Salty's.
My dad, Sam, sat next to me, and enjoyed his pork tenderloin. (
I traded him a piece of my cheeks for a piece of his tenderloin, and must say it was also very good.) I suspect it was at least marinated for a while, but probably not as long as I would have done it. But , something broke through, cause it was tender, and slightly pink, as I like it.
My brother had the herb encrusted salmon, which I did not try, but with salmon , it is very hard to cook it bad. And by the way he worked through it, I suspect he enjoyed it.
It appears the highlight of the meal, for the kids anyway, was some corndog, cut up, with french fries, as Lily and Jaxon both hovered over one basket for a while. You can't go wrong sticking to the kids menu.
We had a great time, all 15 of us as it turns out. A hockey player from France is staying with my sister and her family. He is very nice, and very funny.

My father and I decided that we need to go fishing more together, this something we have in common, and it is good for the sole. He and my brother are going to mexico next week to go fishing together, maybe next time I will get to go.
He also told me that after his last fishing trip with my nephew Sammy, in Canada, that Sammy broke some sort of record.
On his first time fly fishing, it appears he became the #11 fly fisherman in Canada, due to what he caught, or how he caught it. I heard the same trip he caught a pike much, much bigger than he was also.
We watched the kids dance a little to the music, shared a White chocolate mouse cake, and I had a very strong latte, thankfully with no foam on it. ( I hate foam, bitter, bitter, bitter!)
All in all we had a fabulous dinner, and a great time.
My family is great.
By the way, all but the food pics were taken by Lilly Grace.