The Golden Mile Restaurant- A Great Place for a Turkey Sandwich and a Family Meeting

I am linking up with Mama Kat for her Pretty Much World Famous Writer's Workshop!

Assignment- Write about your favorite place to eat when you were a child.

I was born and raised in a little place called Porcupine, Ontario, Canada.  When I tell people this, they have RARELY EVER heard of Porcupine so I have to refer to the City located about 15 Kilometers west...Timmins.  Yes, this is the birthplace of Shania Twain.  Yes, we were best friends growing up.  (I'm kiddin'.  About the best friend part.)  But I AM NOT from Timmins.  I am proudly from Porcupine.  Well, for the sake of full disclosure, I am in actuality from Pottsville, which is smack dab in the middle of Porcupine & South Porcupine.  However, no one EVER KNOWS Pottsville, even the people who actuall live there.  LMAO!  Besides, when I tell people I am from Porcupine, it's an EXCELLENT conversational starter...Porcupine?  Really?!?!  LOL!

Anywho, now that I have CLEARLY identified the origin of my "roots", I would like to share with you ONE of my many favorite places to eat as a child...The Golden Mile Restaurant.



Being from such a small town (I've established that right?) the choice of restaurants was always quite limited.  My family liked loved The Golden Mile and in it's time of "glory" it was one of the best restaurants around.  Even people from Timmins would come to eat there, imagine that!  We would have supper there at least once a week, sometimes more.  I have so many fond and not so fond memories (see below) of time spent  having "family meetings dinners" at this restaurant.

My sister worked there for a short period of time.  She says she quit but I think she wasn't a very good waitress...enuf said.  But even after she told us that they "recycled and re-served" uneaten buns, we still remained loyal, consistent customers.  (However, to this day my mom sticks her finger in her dinner roll if she isn't going to eat it to save someone from being served it...LMAO!) 

Without fail, I'd order the same thing, a toasted turkey sandwich with all white meat on white bread with just a little bit of lettuce and mayonnaise.  I honestly don''t recall eating anything else there.  I don't even remember if I had fries, soup or a salad with that sandwich or not.  I only remember how delicious it was.  They used  FRESH roasted turkey and just thinking about it makes me want to "pop" one in the oven right now! (But it's never as good as when someone else has made it.  Don't you agree?)

The other thing I can picture in my mind as clearly as if I were sitting right there, right now, is the clock that hung just over the kitchen doors.  It was one of those really cool (or at least at the time) clocks that a had a waterfall image running on the side of it.  Kinda like this one, only not really...

As I entered into my teenage years, The Golden Mile became a place known for "family meetings". So much so, that if a life issue arises today that requires a family "discussion", we will joke that it's time for a "Golden Mile Meeting".  I can't tell you how many "meetings" I have had there with my mom & dad. 

Allow me to share a few...

There was the time that I was failing Grade 10 math for the 3rd time and the "law" was laid down,  I'd better pass or no more school dances.  Or how about the "discussion" regarding me not returning to University and ultimately deciding to attend the local community College for business?  Only to have another meeting dinner ( 3 SHORT  months later) to help me realize that I was far better off in obtaining a diploma in the social services field.  Oh!  I can't forget the time when I called a "family meeting" to beg ask my parents to please allow me to move back home after a year and half of trying to make it on my own.  Then there were the countless "dinners" when we sat down to "break bread" only to have to work out a payment plan of some sort for my spending indiscretions. (Geeesshhh...I'm so sorry mom & dad!  I turned out ok in the end, I suppose. LOL!)

But The Golden Mile "family meeting dinner" that I remember most is the one where we discussed the pros & cons about me moving all the way across the country to start a new life.  That meal was charged with so many different emotions, at least for me.  I was so excited about the "unknown" that was ahead.  I was sad that I was leaving the only home I'd ever known.  But mostly, I was proud that this was one of the first dinners (in a long time) we were having that wasn't centered around a "problem or issue".  That it was a meal to talk about how I was taking the first step to becoming an adult. (After all, I WAS 24 years old, it was time.)

That was the last "Best Turkey Sandwich" I ever ate and the last Golden Mile Family Meeting Dinner we have ever had.  The doors to that restaurant have long since been closed and every time I return "home" in the summer I have a quite moment of memories of meals shared there.  Looking back, The Golden Mile was instrumental in helping me make life decisions (along with the support of my parents, of course). 

Moving so far away from my hometown was one of the hardest but best decisions I have ever made in my life.  Because of that decision, I built my career, became more responsible & I met the man I married and have children with.  So in a sense, I owe the life I have to that turkey sandwich and all those family dinners!

Bon Appetit Everyone!