Sept. 10: Pickles and perogies

 The address of Sara's Pyrohy Hut will forever be etched in my mind. It was located at 1216 Centre Street Northeast, Calgary, and was one of my family's favourite restaurants. I always ordered the same thing - a plate of beef perogies with a side of dill pickles.

The Pyrohy Hut is no longer with us, its former proprietor, Fred, lost in the sands of the past. I know that the restaurant was named for a dog, Sara, but I don't know who Sara belonged to. Sara is dead now. So it goes.

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I've never had perogies as good as the ones at Sara's. I know I never will. The emotional part of my mind won't allow that. My heart will always insist that the best Ukranian restaurant exists only in the 1980s and 1990s. Readers of this blog should not be surprised by that. If the Rotating Pineapple has a constant theme, it is that I messed things up in the past and would love to go back and rectify my mistakes.

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Google tells me that a TD Canada Trust branch now exists at 1216 Centre Street Northeast. It is funny to think about things like that, isn't it? When you buy a house, isn't it natural to wonder about the people who lived there before? When you work in an office, isn't it natural to wonder about the previous tenants?

I never had to wonder that when I worked at the newspaper. As far as I know, the building has always housed a paper and had been like that since 1892. It's been a year now since the newspaper stopped printing. The building sits vacant, though there's word that a local graphic design business wants to move in. So far, I have seen no evidence of that. I await the day when a FOR SALE sign will go up in the window.

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Memo to Fred, if he's out there: Why not move to Glengarry and open a perogy restaurant at the old Glengarry News? Then there would be some great serendipity. 

This is what heaven is like.

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