The CNE has arrived and my stretch pants are ready! ! This year there’s another incredible line up of food at the CNE. and I was all too happy to snap a few photos and taste a few items as well.

Here’s just a few examples of what you can expect to indulge in!

1. Bacon Nation has created a Canada 150 inspired ALL Canadian Red Hot Burger. (Location: Food Building)
2. The King of Curds will be serving deep fried cheese curds sprinkled with icing sugar and served with pure Canadian Maple Syrup. YUM. YUM and more YUM.  (Location: Midway)
3. This photo says it all (location: Food Building)
4. Tim Hortons as always,introduced some tasty Canadian-themed treats.
5. Yatai (a sister project of Kanpai snack bar) has created this pretty epic fried chicken burger that’s in between fried ramen (instead of a bun) along with two kinds of kewpie mayo. Loved it and you will too!6. Pizza Nova has introduced a Pizza made with Carbone Dough.  Basically this is their traditional dough infused with activated charcoal and I regret not tasting it!!7. The Lisa Marie food truck will be serving an enormous double lobster patty burger. Seriously this burger was bigger than my hand. 
6. You can also find this deep fried goodness at this years CNE.

Seriously there’s no end to interesting food at the CNE: Deep Fried Chicken Feet, Cricket Cones, Peanut Butter Sriracha Bites, Spaghetti Donut Balls, and more!

There’s also the Midway and I couldn’t resist playing one of my all time favourite games….

Not to mention that this years’ CNE features OH Canada! Aerial Acrobatics & Ice Skating Show with internationally renowned skater Elvis Stojko. There’s two free performances every day (2 and 5 pm).

Details that you should know about the CNE 2017:

-The CNE opens from Aug 18 to Sept 4, 2017

-Gates are open daily from 10 am to 10 pm (rides and midway stay open until midnight)

-Labour Day Monday: Gates close at 5 pm. Buildings close at 7 pm, rides and ground open till 9 pm.

-General admission $19 (14 to 64 years)

-Children (5 to 13 years) $16 Children under 5: Free

-CNE Family Pass (2 adults and 2 children, or 1 adult and 3 children) $59

Specials:

-Opening Day Special $10 (Friday Aug 18 only)

-Kids Toonie Mondays

-$8 after 5 pm on Monday Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays

To learn more about the CNE and about special offers and discounts please visit www.theex.com or call the CNE info line at 416 263 3330

Share this:

I was in Ottawa this past weekend – one of those very (very) quick visits. i.e. drive in to Ottawa on Saturday and drive back to Toronto on Sunday.

Clearly when we got home, no one was in the mood to cook dinner or even go out for dinner.

This is where the foodora app came in handy. Oh how I love technology!

We were in the mood for Thai and within minutes I was able to place the order, add tip, and even track the delivery. When placing the order, I could even find out what ingredients were in each dish (in the event I was allergic to something or didn’t like a particular spice etc).

When dinner arrived, we ate in comfort (on the couch) – where we belong!!

I wanted to bring it to your attention that it’s possible to enjoy some of the city’s most decadent menu items without venturing down to Exhibition Place with foodora, Toronto’s leading on-demand meal delivery service?

Celebrate the end of summer with fair-type foods delivered so quickly that you’ll enjoy every ooey, gooey bite. For example!

The Notorious P.I.G from Bacon Nation
The restaurant cautions that this item is only for true bacon lovers. This hand-crafted beef burger is topped with bacon strips, peameal bacon, pulled pork, lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, onion straws and BBQ sauce and come served on a bacon brioche bun. It’s also served with fries.

Fran’s Triple Decker Reuben
This Toronto special features sliced corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Fran’s homemade dressing, on three slices of marble rye.

The Jurassic Junkie Thin Crust Pizza from Junked Food Co.
This ingenious Junked Food Co. pizza features creamy mac & Cheese, Dr. Pepper pulled pork, maple bacon, mozzarella and Junked cheese sauce.

The Lord Cheesus from OM Grilled Cheese
One of the city’s best grilled cheese sandwiches is the Lord Cheesus which comes loaded with cheddar, brie, brick, harvarti and mozzarella.

Don’t Even Go There from Old School
This cheesecake stuffed egg bread is rolled in toasted coconuts, topped with whipped vanilla cream and orange honey drizzle.

Foodora really left an impression on me and I have no doubt that I might be using this app more often!!

For more information:

Website: www.foodora.com

Twitter and Instagram: @foodora_ca

Disclosure: I was provided a discount code however all opinions are my own

Share this:

The CNE Media preview is one of my favourite events of the year. Especially the food. That doesn’t come as a surprise to you, right?  Indeed I cheated on my low carb diet. I just had too!!

Here’s just a few items that you will find at the CNE this year!!

1.) The Big Pickle Dog – Sadly I didn’t get to try it but I will as I’m planning a second visit to the CNE. #onevisitisntenough

2.) The Chocolate Diablo – Vanilla soft serve coated in cookie crumble, cocoa puffs and wasabi peas with a sriracha caramel drizzle. I loved it. Something about the crunchy and sweet and savoury combo, really appeals to me!!

3) The Cartoon Dog – No doubt there was a trend this year to sprinkle cereal on many different items! Trust me – I’m ok with it.

4) Blueberry Pie Milkshake: I didn’t try it but it sure did look pretty!

5) Deep Fried Butter tart: This was decadent AND brilliant too!

6) Try to imagine a traditional cheesesteak between a chocolate eclair, topped with bacon, whipped cream and chocolate icing.  Yes – this exists. Talk about creativity!! P.S  this can be found at Philthy Philly’s in the Food Building). 7) Tim Hortons Froot O’s Donut: Bring it on!!

8) Canadian Bacon Taco – this was probably my favourite. NO CARBS and freaking delicious. Way to go Bacon Nation!! 

9) Deep Fried Peanut Butter Cups: What can I say? I like anything deep fried and anything that involves a Peanut Butter Cup.

10. Chimney Stax is offering a frozen yogurt dessert in one of their famous rotisserie-baked breads. See…. not everything I eat was fried!!
By the way,even though food captures my attention, I have to admit these giant prizes captures my attention too.

For more information:

CNE – Aug 18th to Sept 5th, Exhibition Place, Toronto

Website: http://theex.com

Hours: http://theex.com/main/hours

Tickets: http://theex.com/main/guest-info/tickets/ticket-prices

Share this:

I generally don’t include photos of myself in blog posts, but this photo truly reflects how I was feeling at the CNE media preview. I just couldn’t stop smiling. Please continue reading so you can find out why I was smiling!!

The food served at the CNE is creative, fun, tasty, and memorable!! There is a reason why more than a million people flock to the CNE every year. Here’s what caught my attention at this year’s CNE media preview.

1. Tim Hortons served a Honey Dijon Ham  Pretzel Donut Sandwich that was simply too good for words. I had one bite – then two bites – and then I had to force myself to put it down. I’m still thinking about this sandwich as I write about it as I wanted to eat the ENTIRE thing.

2. Tim Hortons also served  two Timbits (cotton candy and cola) as well as a Tim Horton Poutine. It’s described as a sweet “poutine” made out of Timbits  and decked out in delicious decadent dessert toppings. I had the Timbits (I’m a huge fan) but will have to return for the poutine!!

3. Fran’s Restaurant Deep Fried Rice Pudding. This item really stood out as it was the perfect combo of crunchy and creamy. I wish this was on their menu all year long!!  (are you listening Fran’s Restaurant?).

4. This Frosted Flake Battered Chicken on a Stick  (from Iron Skillet Sirloin Tips) also caught my attention. There was something about mixing sweet with savoury, plus a bit crunchy – that really appealed to me. It was truly Grreaaaaat. (Tony the Tiger would approve. I’m sure of it).

6. Bacon Wrapped Grilled Cheese from Bacon Nation: 6 strips of bacon weaved around a grilled cheese sandwich. Need I say more? I will happily run a few more kilometres so I could consume one of these sandwiches!

I hope this blog post has inspired you to head the CNE for some imaginative offerings!!

For more information:

Website: www.theex.com

Dates: Aug 21, 2015 to Sept 7, 2015,

Location: Exhibition Place, Toronto

Twitter: @LetsGoToTheEx

Instagram: @LetsGoToTheEx

Share this:

The media day for the CNE has been marked off in my calendar since July 9th. I’m not kidding, this is one event I was not going to miss!! It’s an opportunity for me to sample an array of goodies all at one time. Note the word “sample”.

However, as much as I wanted to sample everything …I didn’t. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I only sampled 4 items. This means I will just have to return to the CNE. Right?

See what I mean?

This is what I sampled and seriously you should go to the CNE and eat these items too. You can thank me later.

1. The All Bacon Canuck Burger from Bacon Nation: An all bacon burger served on an all bacon bun. Topped off with 2 strips of bacon and 1 slice of thick cut peameal bacon. Please try this. I insist.

2. Nutella Fries from Spread Nutellerie. These fries are simply brilliant. I loved how they had just the right amount of sea salt on them. The combo of the chocolate and the sea salt was heavenly (my taste buds were telling me). Congratulations to  3. The EPIC Maple Bacon “Cronut” Inspired Burger. What is it exactly? It’s a maple bacon cronut inspired burger rolled in cinnamon sugar, sliced in half, filled with 100% Canadian , all beef patty, cheese and topped iwth a home made maple bacon jam, (both Canadian too). Congratulations to Epic Burgers and Le Dolci who partnered this year to create this sensational item. My waistline thanks you.

PS the Maple Bacon Cronut inspired Burger is only available at the Canadian National Exhibiton from Aug 16th to September 2nd. I’m crossing my fingers that Abbey’s Kitchen will host an event with them in the near future. Please cross your fingers too.

4. Panini Gelato  OK picture this. …A combination of fresh gelato sealed within a warmed sweet fresh brioche. Can you say “Un-freakin’- belieavable”
 

My stomach had such a good experience, that it wouldn’t surprise me if you saw another blog post about the CNE!!

The CNE runs from Aug 16th to Sept 2nd at Exhibition Place, Toronto Ontario.

Website: www.theex.com

Twitter: @letsgototheEX

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEx

There is even a CNE app!!

Share this: