The More Delicious Part of History

When I first confirmed that I would be attending Lakehead University, my parents' first recommendation - before telling me to wear flip-flops in the shower stalls, avoid walking across campus alone at night, don't leave my drinks unattended in a bar, get lots of sleep, do my homework, or not to skip class - was to go to the Hoito and eat pancakes.  It took me three years to finally go, but once I did, I understood why the one thing my parents, two Lakehead university graduates with plenty of good advice about surviving postsecondary - thought to tell me before leaving home was that the pancakes at the Hoito were a freaking delicious, life-changing experience. 

A field trip to the Hoito would therefore be incomplete without a late lunch of pancakes.  True, I missed my opportunity to climb to the top of the Finlandia Hall, but the desire for pancakes is impossible to ignore, especially against a rickety ladder and an almost debilitating fear of heights. 

When the pancakes look this good, rickety ladders don't stand a chance.

Besides, I had a pair of cameras with my that day and one of my classmates was kind enough to take on up to the uppermost reaches of the Finlandia Hall and took the following pictures.

While everyone else was upstairs, Dr. Devine, Mel, and I went downstairs for some delicious, Finnish food from the Hoito restaurant. 

Dr. Devine and Mel smiling because we're in the Hoito waiting for food.

The Hoito menu.  Dr. Devine graciously indicates what he is going to order: the Mojakka.

Dr. Devine approves of this trip to the Hoito.  Mel does too.

The drinks arrive!

Dr. Devine turns the camera on me!  Fie!  A pox upon him!

Mel is not happy that I'm taking pictures of her while she's eating.  She will probably ask me to take this picture down. 

Dr. Devine is not nearly as disgruntled that I am taking pictures of him while he eats.  I blame the deliciousness of the Mojakka.

Janelle joins us for brunch!  She survived the ladders!

I realize that part of this response was supposed to centre on the Finlandia Hall.  I can say that Dr. Devine's impersonation of Walter Epp was beautiful, as was his recitation of "Fire and Ice." 

Dr. Devine and his Epp-personation.

Nevertheless, I do think that my excursion to the Hoito for a pancake brunch constitutes an engagement with history, even if it is only a personal one.  I went to a restaurant that both my parents went to when I was their age, that, had their parents gone to post-secondary school, they would have also gone too.  The Hoito has existed in Thunder Bay cultural consciousness for generations, and the fact that it is connected with the Finlandia Hall makes it a part of the same history we were discussing.  It's just the more delicious part of that history.