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Bread and bouquets in downtown Brandon

Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 at 9:01 AM | Comments: 1

Because my girlfriend and I both work downtown, we make it a point to lunch downtown at least once a week.

In the warmer months, that often means we'll take sandwiches and picnic in the park, but as the mercury drops, that becomes less appealing.

Luckily, there are loads of great restaurants downtown. In just over a year of concerted efforts, I think we have managed to try all of them at least once -- even all the Town Centre food court spots -- and several of them we've been to more often that that.

But even inveterate downtownites like ourselves can sometimes find something new. And that happened to me twice last week.

First, while walking back to the Brandon Sun after one of these lunches, I passed by Brandon Hispano, an Hispanic market that's been open at 833 Rosser Ave. for almost a year now. But I could see through the windows that something had changed — they had bread.

As I popped inside, the unmistakable fresh bread smell was everywhere. And even though I was stuffed from lunch, I walked out of there with a French-style loaf, a guava-and-raisin Christmas ring (pre-wrapped!) and a cheese bun hot from the oven, that I munched on right then an there.

Here's a picture that I snapped on my iPhone:

Willmar Lopez (at left, who helps run the store with Bibiana Mendoza, at right), says that they've been trying to get a bakery started for several months, but that the paperwork just came through in the past couple of days.

I can vouch through stuffed cheeks that the wait was worth it.

Brandon's got a few great bakeries, but there's room for this one. And any expansion of the downtown food scene gets a thumbs up in my book.

Also last week, I thought I would surprise my girlfriend with a random bouquet of flowers. I figured Friday, a day that she had to work late, would be brightened up if she got home to a little sprig of spring on the table.

Alas, Friday was the day that we got snow dumped on us all day long.

So I didn't much feel like driving up to the Corral Centre just to buy flowers. Now, I've thought about this off-and-on for the past few days, but there's no particular reason why I buy my flowers from Safeway -- I'm just being a creature of habit.

Faced with the fact that I really didn't want to brave two bridges and that parking lot for flowers, my first thought was that I could go to the Safeway at the Shoppers Mall, too. But that, of course, involved nearly as much winter driving and the same number of parking lots.

That's when I had one of those head-slappingly obvious moments of "d'uh!" realization: I work almost precisely one single solitary block from a florist -- Academy Florist, at Sixth and Princess.

Some justification, if it helps, is that I come to work at the Sun from the east end, and always head down Fifth Street, so I never actually go past Academy Florist.

However, last week, they were perfect in a pinch.

When I went in, there was a guy behind the counter who understood me perfectly when I told him I was looking for a bouquet.

"What were you thinking?" he asked.

"I think you've overestimated my preparation for this," I replied.

"Okay, let's do this the guy way: How much do you want to spend?"

And five minutes later, I had a great bouquet that precisely fit my budget.

It looked great on the dining room table next to that guava-and-raisin Christmas ring. Thanks, downtown! That was two great moments in one week.

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Posted by:JustMe5

November 26, 2011 at 6:23 PM

Hey Grant, I just wanted to say that I read your column regularly. I was raised and Brandon but have lived in Winnipeg for over 20 years now and am not a big news reader and never click on the different columnists...I scan the headlines of the Free Press and the Brandon Sun online and read a story or two if something catches my attention. But I always click on your column and enjoy your stories every time! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your words!

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