How a Kijiji-promoted dream of Jiggs dinner became reality

A couple of displaced Newfoundlanders sat down to a good feed of Jiggs dinner on Sunday, after finding someone on Kijiji to cook it for them.

Craving a traditional homecooked meal, Joel Whalen and his roommates posted an ad on Kijiji Calgary this May, looking for a "Newfie lady to cook Sunday dinner." 

After receiving more than 50 replies, they finally decided that Lacey Haskell was the woman for the job.

This Sunday, their dream of salt beef and pease pudding became a reality.

"It feels amazing. It's one of the best feelings I've had in a while," said Whalen.

"She's a sweetheart who felt bad I wasn't eating proper."

The perfect Jiggs

Haskell came to the men's house and cooked up the Sunday dinner of their dreams: boiled vegetables, salt meat, pease pudding, turkey and — of course — lots of gravy.

She was excited to help out some fellow Newfoundlanders, and to share the recipe she's spent years perfecting.

"When I found the ad on Kijiji I thought it was pretty hilarious, but I also remembered when me and my fiancé moved here eight years ago," Haskell said.

"You just moved out of your parents'. You're out by yourself, so far from home and wanting a good feed of Jiggs dinner and we had to figure out how to make it for ourselves," she said. 

"Over the past eight years, we've been perfecting our Jiggs dinner so I thought I could just share that."

Kyle Pardy couldn't wait to sit down to eat. He said getting together for a cooked meal is an important part of his family life back home.

"It's just a family tradition back in Newfoundland. We'd have 20 people at my nan's every Saturday," he said.

"We kind of did it as a joke, I guess. But now that it's actually here it's hilarious. It's amazing—a cooked dinner, you can't beat it."

Whalen said that as fantastic as the dinner was, he wasn't surprised that the ad got such a warm reception.

"I was expecting people to reply. Newfies just stick together," Whalen said.