Although we’re all adults now, one of my family’s favourite Christmas albums is Fred Penner’s “The Season”, a wonderful collection of multilingual traditional and world holiday songs, featuring many different Manitoban choruses and musical ensembles.  Also on the album is a recitation of “In Winnipeg At Christmas”, a lovely poem written by the English writer [...]

It’s the time of year when signs for a certain delicious event can be found plastered all around town… it’s Fall Supper season! When I was growing up, my family’s church had potlucks a couple times a year. This is probably where my logic-defying love of jellied salads (the normal, desserty ones, not the ones [...]

On Twitter last night, I saw @policyfrog refer with disdain to the Winnipeg Free Press’s “It’s a Winnipeg Thing” ad campaign. I wasn’t familiar with it so I tracked down a series of videos for the campaign on Facebook.  And I don’t know… some of them are sort of cute! One video features a perogy [...]

[Updated editor's note: I don't think I explained myself well enough the first time around, but my beef with presentation is not the concept of giving money as a wedding gift, which in my books is just fine. It's the term "presentation" itself, and how it is used in these parts. Read on!] Okay, a [...]

Well, it’s just about wedding season, and that means only one thing in Winnipeg… weird wedding traditions! I sort of avoided writing this post for a while, since it’s bound to ruffle some feathers. I’ve touched on it before, but not in any real depth. So here it is: Winnipeg (well, Manitoba) has some weird [...]

There have been lots of major changes in my life over the last three years. I was none of these things, but now I’m a homeowner. I’m a wife. I’m a mother. These changes all came about after I moved to Winnipeg. They could have happened anywhere, given the right timing and people, but they [...]

This post is more for posterity than anything… this isn’t a riveting topic, but it reminds me of a time when we were new to Manitoba and noticing all the little things that made the province unique. It’s been a year and a half since former WoMH’er Laurel wondered, “Hey Manitoba, what’s up with the [...]

Before I went on mat leave, my wonderful group of colleagues took me for a farewell lunch. When it came time for a celebratory dessert, I was heartily encouraged to try the feature dessert: Shmoo. At first, I thought the waiter was kidding around; I’d never heard of such a thing. Well, it’s real, it’s [...]

Things on my to-do-once-I-move-to-Manitoba list: Get married? Check. Buy a house? Done. Have a baby…  any time now! Yep, my husband and I will welcome our first child very shortly, and since pregnancy is such a major life event, the last nine months have given me a real education in expectation. Reflecting on it all [...]

Tonight’s the night of the “world’s biggest social”, held in honour of Manitoba’s 140th birthday. I’ve been to exactly one social in my almost two years in Winnipeg (two Bud Spud & Steaks, though!) and that’s probably enough for me… I won an incredibly awesome prize that fateful night and would like to keep that [...]