As we drove across the New Brunswick Nova Scotia border it was a little bit like déja vu. We had done this drive back in 2012 in the Canadian Chefs’ Congress kitchen bus, The Northern Light. We made the same initial stops this time in our Folkblogen mobile. We stopped at Masstown Market like before, stocked up on produce, baking and a little lunch. Only difference this time is that it was just the two of us instead of nine and Nobuyo wasn’t modelling hair hats. We were so excited to be able to buy local greens, fresh picked strawberries, local carrots, oysters, smoked mackerel, tea biscuits to pair with our strawberries and a bottle of local chardonnay. That night we stopped at Laurie Provincial Park just outside of Halifax where we were among very few other campers in an idyllic setting overlooking Grand Lake. We met some other Westy owners that greeted and chatted with us for quite a while. Turns out he is a university professor that does research for Cooke Aquaculture, the anti-christ of farmed salmon. Nice guy though! We thoroughly enjoyed our meal that night.

The next morning we made a beeline for Halifax specifically, Inkwell Modern Boutique, on Market Street. Andrea and Daniel are the proprietors, makers and curators of a remarkable collection of printed ephemera some of which they print on our old and first letterpress – a Vandercook SP15. It was great to see our old workhorse in its new home. The icing on the cake was that our friend and former letterpress apprentice, Ray Fenwick, happened to be in Halifax on holiday with his partner Meaghan and son Cooper. Ray went to school at NSCAD and they lived in Halifax for many years before returning to their original home Winnipeg. So, they met us at Inkwell Modern where we were reunited after not seeing one another for way too long. We also finally met Cooper which was an absolute joy. We hung out and then had lunch at our pal Craig Flinn’s newest restaurant, 2 Doors Down which highly recommend. We worked closely with Craig over a 2 year period to host the Nova Scotia Canadian Chefs’ Congress in Grand Pré back in 2012. It was great that our working worlds collided right here in Halifax kind of like a family reunion.