Working in the restaurant industry has allowed my servers and me the unique experience of catering to some of our customers’ most guilty pleasures! Whether it be our homemade Coconut Cream Pie for breakfast or our Eggs Benedict and 3 spicy Caesar for lunch, we see, in the run of a day, tons of people giving into their weaknesses for sugar, liquor or simply a nice meal by themselves with all the trimmings!
Now guilty is defined as “having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong” and when we’re talking about Caesars in the afternoon, that just doesn’t sound right! We, at the Justamere don’t see anything “offensive” about indulging in what makes you happy, and we love to see people come in to enjoy a great meal! In fact, the term “guilty pleasure” should be completely banished, and I will hereby refer to them as… “shameless amusements” (big shout out to thesaurus.com for that one). So, in the spirit of indulgence, I will now stroke my own ego and indulge you all with some of my Shameless Amusements!
An Exhaustive Archive of my Shameless Amusements
(thanks again Thesaurus.com)
1. Ice Cream: I bleed that stuff. Ever since I was little and I can remember my dad giving me ice cream to sooth the chicken pox IN MY THROAT (yeah, seriously, down my throat and in my ears), I haven’t been able to get enough of the stuff. Honestly, it ruins every diet I’ve ever been on… except for the Ice Cream Diet, that one went over quite well. Everything can be A’ la mode….
2. Wine: I highly recommend not mixing #1 and #2… it can get quite interesting….(OR intigestioning… Did I just make up my own word?? TAKE THAT thesaurus.com!) But seriously, Mmm Mmm wine! Am I right? I prefer red, and luckily (not that I had any part in this) the Justamere Cafe serves my favourite kind, Banrock Station Shiraz! You can get it by the glass, the 1/2 Litre, the Litre… and maybe even the box… but that would be quite excessive… but hey, I’m not judging your shameless amusements! There isn’t anything nicer than relaxing after a long days work with a nice glass of wine!
3. Canadian Classic Burger: Speaking of red wine, it pairs quite nicely with my next shameless amusement… the Canadian Classic Burger from the Justamere Cafe and Bistro. My life changed the day that this burger appeared on our menu! It is Ah-MAZING. A fresh bun, BBQ sauce, cheddar, bacon and burger… *drool* It is a daily struggle to not eat one of these for lunch. Together ice cream and the Canadian Classic Burger were solely responsible for the destruction of my Vegan lifestyle.
4. Degrassi: For my ideal date… er day… I’d be at home in my PJ’s with my cats, eating a Canadian Classic Burger, sipping a glass of wine and watching Degrassi! Which Degrassi you ask?? ANY OF THEM. Degrassi Junior High, Degrassi High, Degrassi the Next Generation, The movie’s Degrassi High: School’s Out, Degrassi Takes Manhattan, or Degrassi Goes Hollywood… It matters not. I can’t get enough of those crazy kids. That show is the reason I will never do drugs, have unsafe sex, or break into a chemical plant with my leather jacket wearing boyfriend, Claude.
5. Dresses: I could be absolutely broke and I would not be able to pass up a cute dress… Pants are part of my past… I hate them. This phase is reminiscent of my Birkenstock phase where I refused to wear shoes, even in the winter, and instead opted for 2 pairs of socks and my moms old Birkenstocks. My budget for socks alone that year was ridiculous. I recently bought a purple dress from Walmart with horses on it… Eileen refuses to let me wear it to work, saying “It isn’t appropriate” … to that I said “When isn’t a horse dress appropriate??”
Modcloth (I must have this)
6. Horror Movies: People are often surprised to find this out about me. “But your hair is curly!” they all say, ”but you wear dresses!” they gasp! Apparently I don’t have the look of someone who doesn’t truly appreciate a movie unless there is some sort of bodily dismemberment or a blood loss quota to be met. The gorier the better, the more I jump the more happy I am. I love them. They are all I watch. The worse they are the better sometimes, the cheesier the more entertaining. Horror movies aren’t meant to be taken too seriously, and sometimes we could all be a little less serious, so I enjoy relaxing in the evening not just with a glass of wine, but also with a little bit of gore.
7. Sweet Chilli Heat Doritos: My oh my… It wouldn’t be out of the question for me to eat a bag of these a day… in fact I think that’s exactly what I have been doing for the last week. They however, are not low fat and as such, make my refusal to wear pants even more steadfast.
8. The Justamere Cafe and Bistro: It is REALLY, REALLY hard to work at the location where many of your guilty pleasures are created! Walking around all day with the wonderful aromas of Stirfry, Quesadillas, fresh baked Coconut Cream Pies, and Canadian Classic Burgers can be awfully tempting. But it isn’t just the food that makes this place a shameless amusement for me, although it does help. There often isn’t a day that goes by that we’re not buckled over in laughter at some point. Even today Chelsey had to pull up a seat while she caught her breath from laughing. To me, a guilty pleasure isn’t really a guilty pleasure, like I’ve said. It’s something that should bring you joy and make your life a better one to live. For me the Justamere is exactly that.
