After attending the excellent Canada Day parade in New Germany earlier that afternoon, I traversed several secondary paved roads (and a couple tertiary dirt roads) to arrive in Baker Settlement right around the corner from the hall that was home to this supper.
From previous years, I was expecting a big lineup when I arrived. It wasn't as long as I feared, but that was because I had 'just' missed the first sitting. I found myself joining in with the other diners, counting how many people were ahead of myself in the line, wondering how many could be seated in the hall at once...
I was standing behind 3 elderly women, who had quite an interesting conversation about the recent provincial election. If you aren't aware, the NDP (left'ish leaning social democrats) swept all 4 south shore seats, ousting the tories, much to the surprise and chagrin of the women in front of me. It became obvious very quickly that these women were life long tories ('progressive' conservatives), and as far as I could tell, at least one of them was heavily involved with the party executive. Nothing earth shattering was overheard:
"I hear Carolyn will run again"
"Yes, I read that in the paper"
"I knew Gary Ramey's parents, his father and my father served in the war together"
"Gary and Carolyn both spoke at Shipyard Landing"
And so on....
Before too long, my two guests from Lunenburg arrived. By that time, the line was stretching wayyy down the hill from the hall. Lucky for them I had saved us all a spot for the second sitting!
When you approach the door of the hall, you are greeted by a 'cloak room' of sorts...the inner door to the hall remains closed like some booze can in Toronto. Every now and then, the elderly 'bouncer' dressed in full fire department regalia would open the door and ask, "how many"?
A wave of hot, humid air blew in our faces as I gestured with my hand, "3". And then, we were in.
We had an AMAZING server attend to us throughout the supper. First, she brought us our styrofoam plate of ham and beans. The beans were piping hot, a pleasant surprise! Sweet molasses bread, chow chow, coleslaw, pickled beets and bread and butter pickles complemented the meal nicely.
I like the whipped cream smeared on the kid's face, it must be 'some good'!
I felt like a kid again when I was able to choose Kool Aid for my beverage. I was very, very thirsty. I felt like I drained an entire pitcher of water over the course of the meal!
At one point, failed Liberal candidate Mark Fury was seated further down our table. Our server told him he "didn't want to sit by those ladies"...she was referring to the elderly tories seated beside me, the same ones in front of me in the lineup. Political intrigue was everywhere!
Suspenders are still en vogue at these functions, so is brill cream.
Eventually, it was time for desert, but there was 'no room at the inn'. Luckily, our server was a veritable superstar and she packed up our strawberry shortcake for take away in...you guessed it, more styrofoam! But the desert extravaganza didn't end there....she brought by a plate of 'table cake' and asked if we'd like to take some chocolate cake with us as well. As Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys would say, "does the tin man have a sheet metal cock?"
The infamous 'table cake'
So, we exited the premises with 3 containers of strawberry shortcake and a plate full of chocolate cake. A perfect way to end this year's Canada Day. Well done to all the hard working folks who helped put this supper together this year!
