Lise's Ramblings

Today, it operates as a national museum of immigration, but in its heyday, Halifax’s Pier 21 was Canada’s ocean gateway, welcoming more than a million new immigrants and refugees to our shores. (For my American readers, Pier 21 was our Ellis Island from 1928 to 1971.)    While I’ve walked through the museum’s collections and exhibits, I, like one in five Canadians, also share a personal connection to Pier 21. In October 1941, my grandfather , along with his fellow Royal Canadian Air Force servicemen, other military personnel and plenty of frozen mutton, shipped out of Halifax on the HMT Mataroa to support our allies.  Years later, my British grandmother was one of nearly 50,000 war brides who sailed to Canada for fresh starts with colonial hubbies they met during the Second World War. I believe Mom-mom arrived on Cunard’s RMS Mauretania , before she passed through the doors of Pier 21’s immigration shed. Pier 21 marked a transition point for so many. I can only i...

Sniff, sniff, sniff. Who hasn’t been lured to a mall food court by scents wafting from a Cinnabon? Even if you don’t cave, that sugar-and-spice combo causes your nose to perk up. Cinnamon donuts (mini-beignes) and cinnamon rolls at farmers’ markets and mom-and-pop bakeries are that much more enticing. You fool yourself into thinking the treats are somehow wholesome, because of where you buy them. Then, since they’re small and delicious, you wolf down far more than you should.  Source: BeaverTails media kit www.beavertailsinc.com  Well it takes a whole other level of self-restraint to resist BeaverTails ―a.k.a. Queues de castor―in Ottawa , Halifax, Vancouver and other Canadian cities. That smell of warm cinnamon causes even the healthiest people to crave a cinnamon, sugar, dough and butter delicacy. You’re even more likely to give in to those BeaverTails when you smell them late at night and if you’ve been out drinking. Come to think of it, I ate my last Beaver...