Stories from the casino : Grand American Grill

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Continuing on with my casino themed posts.  It had actually been several years since moving up here that I was able to go to this area's closest casinos.   Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley.   Both are located about 1 hour north of me.  Mille lacs is a smaller establishment, however it is nicer if you ask my opinion.  Usually though I end up at Hinckley - because Hinckley has live music for free 5 days a week.  That means it's one more thing to do that isn't related to gambling.  Ironically enough I'm not a big gambler other than my game of bingo.  (Yes you may call me an old lady if you like.)  My first thought was the Grand Casino is an incredibly uninventive name.  Grand?  Really? Couldn't they have thought of something more original?  My first serious boyfriend worked at Grand Casino.  He was working in one of the restaurants.  He wasn't a cook, or a server - but the guy who put the butter on the toast and the parsley on the plate.  His real ambition in life was to be a writer "like Stephen King" however his stories weren't written down for anyone to read they were "just in his head" with no plans to write them.  Apparently he was waiting for someone to discover him.  Now, I'm not too sure how you became famous author like Stephen King, without writing your material down (or at least hiring someone to transcribe it), but... there you have it.  He would tell me stories though, about the kitchen and about working there.  They have a menu item called "Marge's wild rice soup".  Apparently at some time in the past there was a real "Marge" who made the soup.  But after she quit the soup was frozen soup from a restaurant supply place.  I see now that they are tearing out the Grand American Grill - the restaurant where my (ex)boyfriend worked.  How odd that this should make me feel oddly nostalgic, since I don't miss him or the restaurant.