An Honourable Mention to a Hotel

Normally I wouldn't mention anything about hotel breakfasts.  Where they are included in my past hotel stays, they were often Continental breakfasts.  Those are fine during the warmer months, but I personally like to have a hot breakfast during the winter.  Some hotels in which I've stayed provide breakfast buffets which include your standard hot fare like scrambled eggs, bacon and sausages, but I got a couple of pleasant surprises during my stay at Holiday Inn Winnipeg South.

My first surprise was that, though my voucher explicitly stated a complementary breakfast buffet or a standard hot breakfast plate, I was informed by my server that anything on the breakfast menu was fair game.  I decided to try this hotel's version of Eggs Florentine, a version of Eggs Benedict where ham is substituted with spinach and, in this particular case, mushrooms, partly since it stood out for me in the menu, and partly since I wasn't in the mood for a breakfast buffet, even though there were hot breakfast items.

My second surprise was when I broke open the eggs on my dish: the deep golden colour of the yolks.  Alas! I didn't have my camera with me (I honestly didn't think I'd need to take a picture of a hotel breakfast!), but to give you an idea of how golden the yolks were, fortunately my sister has one tucked as part of one of her food blog entires.  I guessed right away that these were not typical, run-of-the-mill supermarket eggs; these were free-range eggs, that is, the eggs are laid by free-range chickens.  One look at the yolks and even you would get the impression that free-range chickens are generally healthier, which is why they produce better looking eggs.

Upon asking my server, it turns out I was right in that they were free-range eggs, and they came from Nature's Farm in Steinbach, about an hour southeast of Winnipeg.  Hopefully there's a farm closer to Brandon that produces free-range eggs; I'd be willing to pay the premium for the quality.  Any Brandonites or Westman residents reading this, suggestions are most welcome!

Kudos to Holiday Inn Winnipeg South... you made my mornings with those wonderful free-range eggs for breakfast!