I love free meals

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

We had received a $50 gift certificate from our son to visit Moxie’s, a restaurant in Beachwood. When Holly and I get a gift certificate for any amount, we do my best to use every penny of the gift without going over. Fifty dollars is a hell of a lot of money for a penny-pinching miser like me. I could eat out all week with that if I could pick the places…but they wouldn’t cash it at Kleifelds in Willoughby.

I knew I was in trouble when we pulled in the lot and they offered valet parking. No one offers valet parking unless they’re going to hose you on the prices once you get inside. I pulled around back to where the help park and we hiked back to the front door. I figured to add the time to my workout for the day. Anyway, we walked up to the hostess stand and were greeted by two attractive, young ladies dressed in black. They looked at us and smiled, but after saying ‘welcome’, went mum. The ball was in my court, and so I suggested they seat us for dinner. She looked me over, decided I wasn’t there to apply for a job in the kitchen, and told me it would be about a twenty-minute wait for a table. They were slammed. She had suggested something about a ‘raised table’ in the bar, but I didn’t know what that was and decided to wait. I peered into the dining room and was sure most of the diners had stopped eating, turned and stared to see someone of my status in their space. After a couple of shocked moments thinking about if I’d be seated anywhere near them, they went back to eating and drinking. I walked to the bar, checked out the raised tables and figured they were good enough and the crowd more appropriate to my company.

The menu was the next shocker. I knew my entrée would have to be under $20 if I was to make my goal, which pretty much left the appetizers or a burger. I opted for the $16 burger and diet coke, which left a couple of extra dollars for Holly to get a real dinner. When the waiter asked us if he should bring us out bread, I had concerns that they charged for it and I would be going over budget. He brought a plate with some oil and what appeared to be some kind of dip blopped in the middle. I tried dipping my bread in it and found it to be very good, though unidentifiable. I managed to clean it up with my fourth piece of bread and Holly asked if I was still hungry after eating all the bread I’d dipped in butter.

“That was butter? I thought it was like some kind of dip or something,” I said.

“Did you see any appetizers? Anything that you might dip in dip…you dip?”

I hadn’t…now that she mentioned it, but it would have made good dip…butter or not.

The food came…Holly was having Lamb Chops. My burger was big, juicy, covered in cheese and delicious. I’d asked the waiter to leave the bacon off the burger because…you know…extra calories. When we’d finished, the waiter presented us with the bill and the dessert option, to which I said no and Holly replied ‘let’s see the menu’ simultaneously. When he walked away, she looked over the bill and said that we still had $4.38 left in our $50 gift certificate.

“We aren’t going to get the change, so we have to order dessert,” she said. I looked at the prices and asked her if she was going to order half of something since everything on the menu would put us over the $50.

“We’ll spring for the extra,” she said. I must of looked pale because she asked me if I was alright. Of course I wasn’t…make up the difference?

We finished up and with the tip, I was out of pocket about $12. I suppose that’s not too bad for a free dinner, but that’s all I would have paid for dinner for two at most places I’m willing to go.

Oh…and I ran hard today. I covered a course that normally takes me 30 minutes in just over 28. I knew it was going well from the start since I was moving smoothly uphill over the first 8 minutes of the run. I was thinking if it was the Clear Creek course, I’d be going for my pr, but I knew I was still holding something back to be certain I was completely healthy. There will be other days.

Run duration: 30 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 145 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 500.