By William Crooks
My grandmother was a monster in the kitchen. In a good way. The absolute highlights of my culinary years growing up were her Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. I was lucky that my grandparents (mother’s side) lived so close (Beebe) and then even closer as they got older (Lennoxville). English cooking, and her cooking was very English, is often lampooned as being bland, but her meals never were. How could pickled beets and onions, and delectable meats with chutney, cranberry sauce and horseradish be considered bland? Often, the wide array of tasty vegetables were fresh from the garden. Her pies made from scratch were incredible. I was particularly fond of her “cheesy cauliflower” and trifle dessert. “Cheesy cauliflower” is not easy to make in the oven while keeping the cheese sauce thick and not watery. “More, Bill?” was a common occurrence at every meal, because I eat fast, and the answer was always, “Yes!” She used to single-handedly feed up to 15 people and clean up afterwards. I told my grandfather how lucky he was a few times; he would respond with a non-committal grunt of acknowledgment. Best of all, though, was the “gubbins”, which were the inevitable leftovers that would make their way back to my house in a plastic tub, usually all mixed together. I’d eat them, often cold, for breakfast the next day…
Off to the Sherbrooke Airport for breakfast! Didn’t know they had a restaurant, did you? Well, they do: Resto YSC. There were three of us today. It is worth mentioning that this review will come with a sort of asterisk. This is because the place is short-staffed and offers a much more limited menu than it has previously. This spot was a favorite of mine when it was run by a husband-and-wife team, who have now moved on. Now, there was one younger man who served both as waiter and cook.
