Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Rick Mercer at the Hoito


Rick Mercer, one of Canada's best comics and possibly our funniest political commentator, visited the Hoito Restaurant recently--Family Day to be exact. Being on the board, I got short notice the night before that his film crew would be at the Hoito around noon, so I made sure to be there! I went with my eldest son, Tammem, and my sister, Katja, and her son/my nephew, Elijah. Our table was just by Mercer's, so I snapped a photo of him over my son's shoulder. What did he order? That I don't know, but I had a Finlandia burger. Mercer came to Thunder Bay to fry some Finnish pancakes, to climb some ice, and to fry in the sauna and then freeze in the snow. You can see all of that in the CBC video, which I found on Facebook, posted by Saku, Pasi's brother. Pasi, the eldest son of Kaija Pinta, the former head cook of Hoito, is the president of the Hoito board. In the interview at the beginning of the video, Pasi is to the left of Rick Mercer; on the right is Marvin Salmi, the president of the Finlandia Club board. You can see me in blue and long hair and my sister, too, in the distance between Mercer and Salmi but we're just a flash! (at about the 34 sec. spot on the video). That's my .005 minutes of fame.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, what fun for all of you in the Hoito, and that sauna scene is hilarious!

Merche Pallarés said...

I'll check the video and I hope I see you! Love, M.

Merche Pallarés said...

HILARIOUS!! are you the one with the back to the camera, long hair, blue sweater?? I saw you!!! If I go to Thunder Bay, I know A MUST is the Hoito and those delicious pancakes!!!! Hugs, M.

Merche Pallarés said...

By the way, I just went to Layla Anwar's blog (arabwomanblues) and, although, she said that she was going to close it, she hasn't. She has only closed the comments. You should read the "Fuck off" post and specially watch the video! and it wouldn't be a bad idea if you post it in your blog. Hugs, M.

northshorewoman said...

yes, it is always fun at the Hoito. It's one of my favorite places. You will always find someone you know there. You can people watch to your heart's content. You feel part of a community. Part of something, not just an urban loner. That's why folks love going there--besides pancakes. They make very good oatmeal porridge, too.

Yep, that is me with the long hair and blue. It doesn't matter if I cut my hair; it immediately grows long.

Layla's post of the video, and her subsequent comments are interesting, that's for sure. That video is shocking. But so true. The racism and sexism, arrogance and rudeness towards the Iraqis is unbearable. I read a story the other day by an AMerican guy of his and his buddies "actions" in Vietnam. The story showed how racist, sexist, disgusting, arrogant and crude they were. But the story, sadly, wasn't a critical reflection on that. It just was a "war story" he said. Seems the Americans have not learned anything at all. They are still racist, sexist, offensive and arrogant and treat people terribly.

I don't, however, agree with Layla's comment on Noam Chomsky. I don't agree that he's a "closet zionist." That is simply untrue. He has written a lot about how US actions will lead to sectarianism in Iraq; he doesn't support that.

Merche Pallarés said...

I just read the Chomsky comment in Layla's blog and, although Chomsky is quite objective in his analyses, I understand Layla's opinion, being a Sunni as she is. Basically, she is very anti-Zionist and anti-American but her point of view is comprehensible under the circumstances... Don't you think? Hugs, M.

Anonymous said...

The Hoito Is Really Disgusting - Old Nose Pickers Are The Servers, Be Ready To Puke

northshorewoman said...

well, that has not been my experience.