Basket B

Today is YC’s and my 24^th wedding anniversary.  I’m going to share a memory about one of our more common dates.

We liked to frequent a restaurant called, “Dickens” at Midland and Finch.  It was a Hong Kong style café and it was quite the happening place in the 90s.  The crowd was mainly university students or young adults in their mid to late 20s.  We’d often bump into other friends there, also going on dates.  Then one of YC’s high school friends got a job as a waiter there and so he would get us extra food once in a while.

I don’t think we had dinner there a lot.  We generally went there after dinner and a movie.  So we’d go there around 10 PM and there were still a lot of people there.  This was the “siu yeah” (midnight snack) meal that was common for the dating scene.  Sometimes we would go there for a snack before the midnight show at Market Village when they still had a movie theatre there (remember that?).

So what kind of snacks did we have?  Well, recall my blog about our Montreal Trip this past Christmas.  In there I mentioned something called, “Basket B” and that it would be the subject of a future blog.  Well, this is the blog.  YC and I would order Basket B – that’s how it was labelled on the menu.  They had foods that were served in baskets and this one had fries, onion rings, chicken wings, fried shrimp, and I think calamari.  Basically, it was just a bunch of fried stuff.  I don’t think I would be able to handle all that fried food today but back then it was the perfect snack!  YC didn’t like fried food as much as I did so she only had a few nibbles.  But she liked to watch me enjoy the food and rave about it.  She would order a bubble tea (or “pearl milk tea” as it was called back then).  She maintains that she was enjoying bubble tea before it became a “thing”.  Yes, there were no bubble tea stores in the 90s.  It was just another item on the menu.

After we got married and moved downtown, we went to Dickens a lot less.  Then after having a baby, we didn't go at all.  And one day when we did bring our daughters there to introduce them to Basket B, it was gone!  I don’t know when that Dickens store closed down but I think there is one in Markham somewhere.  Maybe I will bring my daughters one day and enjoy a Basket B with them.  YC, my love, I know you will be watching us and enjoying a bubble tea.  Happy Anniversary.

Big Oh