One of our 86 year old Mom’s favourite restaurants is Dessert Sinsations Cafe.  Her criteria for a great restaurant is surprisingly different from yours and mine. She likes that Rich, the owner is an old friend of mine and that he comes over to our table to be reacquainted. This makes her feel very special.  She enjoys that even though the restaurant is located right in the heart of downtown Winnipeg, there is plenty of free parking and easy access into the cafe with no steps or ramps.  Mom appreciates that the tables are nicely spaced out so that she can maneuver around with ease and that there is a spacious wheelchair accessible washroom that is not down a complicated route of hallways.

You may be wondering, does she enjoy the food?  Mom is a fabulous cook in her own right and religiously watches the Food Network with Jamie Oliver being her favourite Chef.  But her tastes have really simplified as she has grown older, eating small portions of a few of her favourite things for example she loves chips and gravy.  Years previously, when we use to rent a neighbour’s cabin at Grand Beach, Mom found a hamburger stand called Jo-Anne’s which prepared a rich mushroom gravy to have with fries.  Jo-Anne’s is long gone now but that summer, we found any old excuse to have her savoury gravy and fries as our dinner.

Her tastes have broadened to the extent that she does enjoy sweet potato fries and this is what she had her heart set on when we assembled for a girl’s supper out recently.  She was not shy about telling Rich’s daughter who was our server, that she really likes gravy and to make sure that the portion was a hefty one.  Our server smiled and indicated that she would do her very best.  Mom was sheepish when she couldn’t get anywhere near finishing her mound of fries or the gravy that she frequently dipped into.

The 3 Sisters had salads, as well as Daughter #1 who was invited to join in on this day.  The Quinoa with Chicken, Thai Steak and Taco Salads were all abundant, delicious and cleverly prepared.

Mom also appreciated that we could leave our cars in their parking lot, while we headed next door to view the 100 Masters exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.  By the time we returned to our cars, the place was humming even though it was pleasantly unbusy when we enjoyed our early supper.

Kath’s quote: “I come from a home where gravy is a beverage.”-Erma Bombeck

Love-that is all.

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