Nom Nom Nom in The Peg: Mrs. Lipton's

In the heart of Winnipeg's Wolseley neighbourhood, there used to be a funky restaurant called Mrs. Lipton's. It was the kind of place that featured a lot of batik and macrame. Mrs. Lipton's was located in an older converted house, so the restaurant consisted of a jumble of small rooms and weird corridors. The tables were handmade out of 2-by-4's by someone who was clearly just beginning an apprenticeship in carpentry. But it was okay because none of the other furniture matched anyway.

In the mid-1980s, my friends and I went to Mrs. Lipton's every weekend for breakfast. It was at Mrs. Lipton's that I first encountered Red Zinger tea, a delicious hibiscus blend that I still enjoy (when I can find it). And Mrs. Lipton's made a homemade oatmeal bread that, cut into thick slices, toasted and buttered, was (simply put) heaven itself.

I'm quite overcome by nostalgia now, thinking of that delicious toast and tea and those weekend breakfasts with friends now largely gone from my life. "Those were the days, my friends, we thought they'd never end," etc., etc., etc.

[The lovely watercolour of tea and toast is by Carol Gillott].