We were having a lovely visit with my mother-in-law up near Arthur, Ontario today when the sky suddenly darkened and turned a little green. It was time to go, so we we rushed the kids into the car to outrun the impending storm. (Plus the regular TV programming that was interrupted before the power went out had announced of a possible tornado.)

So off we went! At a safe, legal speed, we passed many Mennonites or maybe Amish also rushing in their horse drawn carts to safety and for some time, we believed we were staying ahead of it. But then suddenly it caught us. The sky darkened like it was night. A large sign blew into the road beside us, the hail started pelting our car.

The kids were sort of scared (and so was I) and they were hungry! Of course. It was about 5:30 so of course regardless of any circumstance, we had to stop for food.

We were coming up on Guelph ON, so decided to stop at Angel’s Diner – a well established 1950’s inspired family restaurant that we’d been to once before.

We waited for a slight pause in the downpour to make a run for it into the restaurant. We got inside and with shivering children ordered vanilla and chocolate milkshakes for them to share. It was meant to be a treat and although we were all cold, these milkshakes were good! Thick and made with ice cream they were everything a milkshake should be (apart from the absence of the old silver mixing container – they just came in a normal plastic cup).  That was a good start.

I guess our Daddy was also glad to be alive and announced that the kids could order anything they wanted! (Unheard of in our family as we usually make some effort to eat healthy.)  Unfortunately, the food was terrible. I had ordered fish and chips but substituted the fries for mashed potatoes with gravy because I was cold and wanted some comfort food. Perhaps I also wanted some comfort to overcome my fear that our car could have been swept away in some crazy gust of wind. Some others in our family had burgers with fries and our little ones had some kids meals.

Not to get into all the details, I can honestly say that dinner was a massive disappointment. My fish smelt so strong, I had to force myself to even try it. It tasted as good as it looked, and smelt. Sort of like it had been served the day before, sent back because it was unacceptable and left out in the heat for several hours – then salvaged and re-deep fried for my dining pleasure this evening. Greasy, hard, stinky… just gross. The mash was also horrible (don’t even know how to describe it) and covered with a thick, dark congealed substance some may call gravy.  The burgers were “hand made” but were so overcooked so they were dry, hard and tasteless. To top it off, they were served with massive chunks of onion.  I’m not sure if the under-experienced chef was on tonight – but it was one of the worst meals we’ve had at a restaurant ever.  Every meal was yuck and I hate to say it but there was a whole lot of food waste going on this evening.

I sent my meal back as promptly as I could having to help kids before I could start and then waiting for the waitress to come back around.  Having eaten less than 1/5 of it, I suppose we were meant to be grateful when they refunded us half of it. I wasn’t thrilled. The waitress seemed kind and sorry, but the manager was not and was just cheesed off that we dare complain.

It was great to get out of there and back on the road which had cleared sufficiently that we could get home without further incident. As I write this, the rain and thunder are loud outside of our home, but I have a glass of wine and a little Lindt chocolate to get the bad taste of stinky fish out of my mouth.