Aug 16 2024 - CNE "Fun Food"

 

The CNE "Fun Food" was announced this week - Gerry and I were at the Eye Doctor for his check-up and I got to watch it on the screens in the office. The hosts of one of the morning show were sampling a few things. The announcements led with the wasabi ice cream, followed by chicken coated in sugar cereal, cheesecake topped with zippy tzatziki buttercream, crisp pita, fresh dill, and garlic.  I am not sure if that is one cheesecake slice topping or a selection of toppings.  All or any sound unpleasant.  There are mac and cheetos popsicle pictures.  Fried mac and cheese - so not sure there is something cold in there. For a real vegetable try the uni-corn - rainbow-hued cheesey coating on a cob of corn.  Pictures of these things are HERE. What the TV hosts were sampling were pepperoni pizza and poutine cookies.  I think these are two flavours, and they come from Craig's Cookies. I enjoyed watching them try to chew them, along with the grimace expressions. It takes a lot of bravery to be a TV host.   Cute decorations at the Fantasy of Trees - they make a festive tree when it is covered in Monk's chocolate candies.

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Aug 18 2023 - CNE Food

 

When did the CNE become the hot spot for strange food combinations?  This year there's quite a line-up covered extensively by blogTO HERE  "Choose from dill pickle fries, pickle cotton candy, and peanut butter pickle dogs; Fruity Pebble-topped mini pancakes and deep fried cheese curds covered in the cereal; and pink champagne mac and cheese, pink stuffed chimney cones, pink dragon fruit fluffy pancakes, pink pina colada sauce-covered nachos and an extra pink strawberry milkshake full of extravagant fixings. Continuing on the sensational side, there are also Korean fried frog legs, a whopping four-pound taco that is hard to carry with two hands, a burger with watermelon slices for buns, foot-long fries, bacon-wrapped chicken wings, a Krispy Kreme blueberry chicken sandwich, peanut butter jelly corn on the cob and street corn lemonade. The stars of this year's foods will definitely include the deep fried pizza slices from Pizza Pizza, which come in three varieties: classic, buffalo sauce, and hot honey-pickle-creamy garlic-Doritos. Another is the cheeseburger and street corn soft serve cones from So Cute Ice Cream, which is the same company behind the ketchup and mustard-flavoured desserts last year. If you can stomach them, the cheeseburger option comes with a pickle and pretzel in a cheese-coated waffle cone, while the street corn flavour includes lime, cotija cheese and chili seasoning on top." Do you want to see pictures of this weird stuff?  Here's the National Post coverage with pictures HERE.  I didn't find any history of the  CNE's weird food - it doesn't compete with a roller coaster or a ferris wheel, I guess.   Here's another watercolour image - this one of leaf pressings.

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Aug 19 2022 - The Ex

Microsoft Bing's Search Page today has a picture of a ferris wheel and the headline "Let's Go to the Ex".  I remember the song, and they are playing it on the radio again so it is lots of fun.   Something that caught my attention is that there will be a Drone Show every night.   But much attention leading up to the Ex is the food news.  There is always weird and wacky food that brings headlines.  Here's the list:  Light Sabre Cotton Candy Cookie Butter Frites Mac & Cheese Pizza (Macaroni Pizza, as the CNE, puts it) Krispy Kreme Pulled Pork (you read that right) Two-foot long nachos Pirate’s Treasure (vanilla ice cream inside an edible seashell, apparently) Spice Cream (like ice cream, but spicy) Squid Cakes (self-explanatory) Squid-Ink Korean Corndogs State Fair Hot Dog Croffles (Croissant Waffles) Cinnamon Curd Crunch (deep-fried cheese curds topped with cinnamon sugar) Deep Fried Coffee (a deep-fried funnel cake topped with cocoa beans, to be transparent) Giant Mozzarella Sticks Deep Fried Snickers Dole Whip Pineapple Split and Pickle Split (banana split with a twist) Eva’s Mac & Cheese Cones Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Smash Burger and Burrito Edible Rainbow Slime Candy Ketchup and Mustard Ice Cream - this is the news this year Leaning T.O-wer of Pisa Seoul-ful Taters And the drinks? Mac & Cheese Lemonade Spicy Pickle Lemonade Colour-changing purple slime soda Vegan Sorbet Floats And while you are munching on the CNE treats, the drone show sounds like the new thing to see?  What is a drone show?  It is performed by illuminated, synchronized, and choreographed groups of drones that arrange themselves into various aerial formations. Almost any image can be recreated in the sky by a computer program that turns graphics into flight commands and communicates them to the drones.  Does that make fireworks obsolete? Stay tuned.

I somehow have not been to the CNE summer exhibition in quite a few years.  This picture was taken on the grounds, but not during the exhibition. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

 

Aug 3 2022 - Princes' Blvd

 

I know we're not at the end of summer yet, but I was interested in great exhibition/fairs. The Canadian National Exhibition happens at the end of August and represents and celebrates Canada in its festival of food, fun, agriculture, cars, sports, and just all kinds of stuff.   There is a bigger state fair.  The biggest state fair is Texas with 2.25 million visitors, then Minnesota with 2 million, then the Big E - Eastern States Exposition held in Massachusetts with 1.5 million, the Great New York State Fair at 1.2 million visitors.  So the CNE would squeeze in there ahead of the New York State Fair with its approximately 1.5 million visitors. Its location is 100 Princes' Blvd. and it is interesting that the street has a "possessive" name.   The grand structure of the Princes' Gates was opened in 1927 - to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation and the visit of the Prince of Wales who later became King Edwards VIII, and his brother Prince George who was the Duke of Kent.  I don't remember ever taking a picture of the Princes' Gates.  It is such a busy spot - it would be a "drive-by shoot".  Here's a glorious gate on the grounds of the Guild of All Arts.

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CNE Rose Garden

It's a special year this year for roses - they are abundant and lush.  The rose garden at the CNE is a treat and well worth the visit.  Here are some of the highlights.