Jack's Family Restaurant

Here is a restaurant that is located very close to the St Jacobs Farmers Market, and I am going to tell you it is a place that you need to go and have a meal. The staff are extremely friendly and are going to make you feel welcome as soon as you walk in the door. The restaurant itself isn’t fancy, but I must tell you that the food is wonderful, and it will be worth the wait.

Jack’s mission is simple, they want you to feel right at home when you are in the restaurant and that is something that I can say they achieve. Their menu is something that you need to look at and my one warning is that the meals are large, so you better be hungry when you go and have a meal there.

My husband and I have been to Jack’s a number of times and our visit experience let us know that the meals were going to be extremely large, and we were going to have to be hungry when we went. I decided to order a Hot Turkey Sandwich and from experience in a lot of other restaurants I felt I would be able to finish it without any problem. What I didn’t expect to have was a sandwich that was extremely large and full of turkey and something that became a challenge to finish. I ended up finishing the meat but left quite a bit of the bread because it was that large. The meal was so good, and we knew that we would be returning for other meals.

The breakfasts are Jack’s are also something that you are going to have to be prepared for because depending on what you order you may have an issue finishing it. During the week they have a breakfast special that it is the classic Jack’s Traditional Breakfast which is 2 eggs, hashbrowns and toast with baked beans as an optional addition with no additional charge (pictured).  On weekends you will have to pay to add bacon or sausage but during the week those meats are included. If you want to add Peameal bacon, or turkey sausage or polish sausage you will have to pay for the upgrade. The other options include waffles or wraps but be prepared that these meals are going to arrive rather large, so you better be hungry.

In the evenings Jack’s can, be extremely busy given that they do close early (8 pm) so be prepared to get there early and be prepared to wait for a table. The dinner menu also is wonderful, and the meals are large so again be hungry when you arrive for dinner. What we have found works for the two of us is when you are staying at a hotel that is within walking distance we will walk over and order one meal that the two of us will share because there is enough food for two in one of their meals. One of our favourite meals is the Cattleman Chicken and rice (pictured).  By the time we have that we are both full and happy with our choice for dinner. The other option we have found is grabbing one of their burgers and upgrading to a Caesar salad and that once again is a meal that two people could share.

The meals are Jack’s are all homemade and you are going to be extremely happy with whatever you order. We haven’t had any meals that have disappointed us and this time we are thinking that we might order a Chicken Stir-fry to share.

If you are visiting the St Jacobs Farmers Market and you are looking for a homemade meal that will leave you full, Jack’s Family Restaurant is a location you need to visit. It is located just down the street from the Farmer’s Market, and it is across from the Outlet Mall. I know that when we visit St Jacobs next time, we will be going to Jack’s at least a couple of times and maybe doing takeout a couple of times so we can share our meals.

St. Jacobs Farmers Market

Here is a spot that a lot of people are unaware of, and it isn’t that far from Toronto if you drive. It is the St. Jacobs Farmers Market, and it is in the Waterloo Region. What you need to be aware of is that the Farmers Market itself is only open on select days. Yearly it is open on Thursday and Saturday and then in the summer (late June to late August) it is also open on Tuesday.

The St. Jacobs Farmers Market is more than just an outdoor area where you can purchase locally grown fruit and vegetables. You will find buildings where you can purchase local grown meat, cheeses, baked goods and a lot more. Being able to give yourself quite a bit of time to walk
around the entire market is so enjoyable. You will see lots of different handmade items as well as some commercially made items, but it is so worth the walking around. You will also find The Fritter Co (see blog entry) in one of the buildings and purchasing some apple fritters is highly recommended.

Besides visiting the Market itself there are a couple of nice antique markets that are very close as well that require some time to walk through them if you are looking for something unique. Each time you go to these antique markets you are find different things as the stock does change so don’t be surprised if you find something today that it might not be there when you look again.

My suggestion is if you are wanting to see everything in the area you aren’t going to be able to see it all in one day, so I would look at maybe booking a hotel room that is within walking distance to the market so that you can enjoy your time and not feel rushed. Being able to spend a day at the market and then have some time to explore the area around is so good. St. Jacobs Village also offers some nice shops, and it isn’t far up the road from the Market.

When you are in the area around St Jacobs you will have to keep your eyes open for horse-drawn carriages or horse and buggies, that will be sharing the road with you. The Waterloo Region is home to the largest population of Old Order Mennonites in Canada. So, keep your eyes open and be prepared to slow down and share the road.

There is a lot to see and do around the St. Jacobs Farmers Market so ensure that you have on some comfortable walking shoes because you will get lots of steps in especially when you are exploring all the different things there are to see in the Market itself and the areas around it.

The Fritter Co

I would like to write a bit about a little shop "The Fritter Co" that I would like to highlight because it is so worth visiting. This shop is in the St. Jacobs Farmer’s Market, so it is only open either two or three days a week but when it is open it is so worth stopping to visit it. One warning that I am going to say that you are going to have to be prepared to stand in line, but the wait is so worth it.

We discovered this little shop during of our visits to the St. Jacobs Farmer’s Market and now it is a stop that is on our list for every visit, and it has now become a spot where we have breakfast on the day or days, we are visiting the Farmer’s Market. This shop offers warm apple fritters that are something that I am going to say that I cannot miss having when I am at the market. 

The staff are extremely friendly, and service is prompt, and my biggest advice is when you go is to order at least 6 of the apple fritters because I don’t think you are going to just want to eat one of them. The first time we went we ordered 6 thinking that we were going to get one for a snack and then take the rest of them back to the hotel to have later. Well, before long we had finished the first one each and then started in on the second one and by the time we left the market there were no apple fritters left.

When so many of us think of an apple fritter, we think of something with a lot of dough with a little bit of apple bits mixed in. Well, in this case we are talking about slices of apples with a light batter around them and fried and then coated in sugar and cinnamon and served warm.  For us, what we do is we order the half dozen and immediately sit down and eat them because they are wonderful warm. I am not certain what they would be like once they were cold because we have never let them get that way.

I know that we go to the market we are prepared to stand in line to wait to get our fritters but for us it is so worth the wait because it is a treat that we get when we go to the market. For me the biggest recommendation is if you are going to go and get some apple fritters is to enjoy them when they are freshly made and not try and take them home because they aren’t going to taste the same.

I do know that the next time we are at the St. Jacob's Market, it is going to be very easy for us to figure out our breakfast and this time it might be twice given we are going to be able to go to the market twice during our next stay in St. Jacobs.

Your resume

I am currently mentoring students that are in college or just recently graduated and a question has come up about how much work experience should I put on my resume. This is a hard question to answer because it depends on your age. 

Just starting your career 0 – 5 years

• Include volunteer work

• Co-op programs

• After school activities and groups

• Any part time jobs you have had (past 5 years max)

Have been working 5 – 10 years

• List the jobs that you have had through that time (5 – 10 years)

• Also volunteer work

Having worked 15 years

• Include jobs you have had in the last 15 years

• Include any volunteer board’s you have been on

In a lot of cases, it depends on the job that you are looking for, but it is important to show that you have experience. Why I am writing this is because I was chatting with a college student who is a mature student, and the college was telling them to only include the last 5 years of experience because employees don’t want to see anything past that. I have some to realize why the colleges are saying this is because a lot of students have just recently finished high school, so they don’t have a lot of work experience.

It was almost mentioned by another international student who I was mentoring that they shouldn’t put experience from back home on their resume. Only experience in Canada is what you should include, and I totally disagree with this because if you have experience no matter where it is from, it’s experience. 

It is so interesting listening to what is being taught because your resume can either get you a job/interview or be the issue of why you aren’t getting an interview. Of course, if the resume is being marked as part of a course, then I would follow the instructions that are given. Now, when it comes to applying for jobs, I would include past experience even if it is from another country because experience matters.

Your resume is what helps get you an interview so making sure that you are providing the necessary information to show you are qualified for the job you are applying for. If the job descriptions asks for 3 – 5 years work experience and you have been in school that long but you worked prior to going back to school, make sure you add that experience from before going back to school. 

So, how much work experience should you put on your resume, it really depends how long you have been working.