Tag Archive for: justamere cafe

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!

Banrock Station

Backrock Station Shiraz

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. 

Sweet Chili Heat

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. 

After two long work weeks, which included a successful Grad weekend and Mother’s Day, those at the Justamere Cafe who sign the pay cheques decided it was time for a little celebration of the staff party sort! Considering that the restaurant was closed on Monday for Victoria Day, Sunday night seemed like the perfect opportunity to gather for a potluck and some stress relief! While some people like to go for walks to relax, take a bath, or get a massage, those at the Justamere prefer their stress relief to come in the form of food, drinks and dancing. So while the night began with the intention of feasting, it soon turned into a good old fashion kitchen party with lots of dancing!

Quite the spread!

The night began with a kitchen FULL of food – everything from potato casserole, rice salad, nacho dip, spinach dip, bruschetta, mini donairs, mini pulled pork sliders, bacon wrapped figs, cake, and chocolate covered bacon (which sadly didn’t make an appearance, because we all reached a point where food was no longer priority…)!

Mmm, No Justamere Staff party is complete without a bowl of meat!!

Some days I eat Vegan… and then some days I stand by the sink and eat from a giant bowl of meat with a fork.

The ladies were dressed their best, and the men looked equally as sharp! We all managed to stay relatively clean too, considering the smorgasbord  of food covering all free counter space in the kitchen! There were some new faces and some old faces (Hi Emily!) and even a dog (Hi Caper!)

It never seemed to matter that there were at least 3 other rooms we could have hung out in, we always stuck to the kitchen… close to the food and close to the music.

Around mid-night the sing-a-long and dance party began! There were renditions of the Spice Girls, and other 90?s classics, but the favourite was definitely when the whole staff belted out Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and The Darkness’ I Believe in a Thing Called Love! Some of us can sing well, and some of us cannot (I belong to the latter group), but when you’re crammed into a room with 12+ people, no one seems to care what anyone sounds like. It only matters that everyone is singing the same song.

There came a point in the night where everyone thought it was time that Steph put her money where her mouth is, and to show off some of those dance moves that she had been bragging about for days… Thus began the dance party! Steph didn’t disappoint…

Go Steph! Go Steph! Go! Go! Go Steph!

But Mark soon swooped in to show her how it’s really done…

…And that’s basically all I’m legally allowed to show you. Take my word for it though, the night was fantastic! Some stress was relieved and we all became a little closer… especially after those jello shots and leg wrestling matches!

The Justamere Cafe and Bistro is happy to introduce you all to our newest waitress, Sheena MacIsaac! Just two weeks in and she’s already part of the J-mere family! So I thought the blog would be a good place to let you wonderful people, get to know our wonderful people – and what a better place to start than with our newest addition! So here’s a little impromptu survey I sprang on Sheena at the end of her shift today!

  1. Favourite Food?: Cheese! (Who knew?… This is so informative!)
  2. Favourite Movie?: Shawshank Redemption and The Hangover
  3. Favourite TV Show?: Four Weddings… and, wait for it.. SWAMP PEOPLE… (The more you know? Am I right?)
  4. Relationship Status?: Engaged! (That’s right boys, you can stop planning Sheena’s dream date involving a cheese platter and a Swamp People marathon!)
  5. Craziest thing she’s ever done?: Skydiving
  6. Pet Peeves?: When a customer sits at a dirty table when there are many clean ones available (I couldn’t agree more! There could be a restaurant full of clean tables and there’s always that person that will head straight for the table covered in maple syrup and jam! Blarg! Aggravation!)
  7. Why do you like working at the Justamere?: “The people are so nice, I feel like I’m part of the family, and I’m proud to serve the food” (I didn’t even tell her to say that!)

Sheena MacIsaac and the heart shaped potato!

Sheena MacIsaac and the heart shaped potato!

Wow! Don’t you all feel like you’ve just eavesdropped on a girls slumber party! Giggles and secrets and cheese!! What more could you want to know? So why don’t you head down to the Justamere ASAP and meet Sheena for yourself. She’d be delighted to serve you… just make sure you order something with cheese in it!