Visitors to the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), currently on in Toronto until Monday, Sept. 5, will find the answer is no, no and no.

This year the buzz in the Food Building at the CNE is over the latest culinary creation, or what some might dub ‘culinary catastrophe’: Epic Burgers and Waffles Doughnut Cheeseburger.

This entree/dessert combo consists of a hamburger patty topped with cheese, lettuce and tomato, and sandwiched between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Adding a fried egg and bacon is optional.

Tipping the scales at 1,500 calories (minus the egg and bacon), it isn’t for the faint of heart. And probably not a wise choice for the strong of heart either!

Also making their appearance at the fair are deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and deep-fried butter balls (introduced in 2010), as well as an assortment of other foods dipped in batter and fried in oil. Apparently deep-frying just about anything makes it taste good? Just not so great for one’s waist line and arteries.

Give these treats a try if you must. It is the Ex after all and nutritious eating does tend to be the furthest virtue from peoples’ minds while there and confronted with options like deep-fried cola and deep-fried slushies. Yum. Once you’ve indulged, please wipe this fair fare out of your mind as future dining options!

In addition to fried foods, decidedly popular is anything edible served on a stick. This video by Jennifer Bain, the Toronto Star’s food editor, documents 30 foods served skewered at the CNE!

If you’re heading to the Ex this year, seems there’s a good chance you’ll be downing something bathed in oil or pierced. Bon appetit!

Looks like many who watched William and Kate tie the knot yesterday did so while drinking a cup of tea – and wearing a hat!

The proof is in the pictures of these Royal Wedding celebrations submitted to CTV for their Tea Time with CTV gallery from across Canada.

Easter baskets don’t get much better than this one!

Filled with chocolate! And I didn’t have to hunt for it!

A favourite way to spend a summer night in our newly landscaped backyard! We just didn't do this often enough!

Link:
* Wright Landscaping

Hot dogs taste best cooked over an open fire and eaten outdoors - slathered in condiments!

Heading to New York - via Amtrak (my favorite way to travel!) - to visit my sister Loreen on Long Island, and drive to Washington, DC with her for the weekend.

Links:
* Amtrak
* Loreen

The Library of Congress in Washington was on our list of things to see in Washington.

Link:
* Library of Congress

There are lots of profound quotes on the walls in the Library of Congress. This was one of my favourites.

A fellow tourist pressed up against the fence in front of the White House in Washington, with camera at the ready, was sure she saw Obama walk in front of one of the White House windows. I was pretty sure it wasn't him.

The Washington Monument at dusk, seen during our After Dark Tour of the national monuments.

Link:
* Washington DC After Dark Tour

During our whirlwind weekend trip to Washington, we drove out to Mount Vernon to see George Washington's house and garden, but while waiting in line to buy our admission tickets, we decided it was just way too hot and humid to be outside (the Washington area was experiencing record-breaking temps that weekend!). So we hung out in the air-conditioned gift shop for a while, and visited George's estate and house in cool comfort via the gift books and postcards.

Link:
* Mount Vernon

On the way back from Mount Vernon, we stopped in Old Town Alexandria where we enjoyed a delicious crab cake sandwich platter at The Fish Market while it poured rain outside.

Link:
* The Fish Market

After watching the play Half an Hour (it was about 35 minutes long!) at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, I enjoyed afternoon tea at the Prince of Wales with my sister-in-law Connie and niece Karly who were visiting from Winnipeg.

Links:
* Shaw Festival
* Afternoon tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel

The inaugural meal (brunch!) with the new patio furniture - on the new deck.

First time at the Rogers Cup in Toronto with friends Lee and Maddy from Fredericton. We were there to see Rafa Nadal.

Link:
* Rafael Nadal

What do you do with last few chocolate chip cookies and a few spoonfuls of chocolate chunk ice cream? Make ice cream sandwiches!

Making pizzas (ham and pineapple, and fresh tomato, basil and feta) with Becky, another niece from Winnipeg who visited this summer.

Another trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake! It was a cool, windy day, but Becky and I were determined to carry on with our plans to have a picnic by Lake Ontario.

Links:
* Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce and Visitor & Convention Bureau
* The Town of Niagara-on-the-lake

This free online magazine also includes an article I wrote on when and what you should eat before sleeping. And there’s a recipe for the Nutri Cookies pictured here.

Nutri Cookies

Check out this issue and subscribe (it’s FREE!) to receive future issues of this fabulous design magazine by visiting roomplanners.com. Sure, I’m a little biased because Roomplanners is written by my sister, but check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!

When the world is all at odds
and the mind is all at sea,
then cease the useless tedium
and brew a cup of tea.

There is magic in its fragrance;
there is solace in its taste.
And then laden moments vanish
somehow into space.

The world becomes a lovely thing;
there’s beauty as you’ll see.
All because you briefly stopped
to brew a cup of tea.

~ Source unknown

I’ve been too busy watching episodes of my new favourite TV show – Come Dine With Me. (Yes, I’ll admit it! I’ve been tied up watching the telly!)

If you aren’t familiar with Come Dine With Me, here’s the premise of this British (reality) series.

Five strangers get together to each host a three-course dinner party on successive evenings. At the end of each evening, the guests score the host on his or her hosting/cooking/entertaining skills. The host with the highest score is revealed on the last night and wins £1000, and the title of top dinner party host for the week.

The show is a real life comedy, drama, tragedy, cooking show and sometimes worst nightmare all rolled into one. Things invariably go wrong in the kitchen, personalities clash, and the competitiveness of some ALL of the participants fuel each half hour episode and make for sometimes strange and bizarre, but rather entertaining TV.

Then you mix in the British accents, eccentric characters, the chance to peek into other people’s homes and see how they prep for and host a dinner party in the UK (one of my favourite countries!), and you’ve got a recipe for a show quite unlike others currently available for sampling. And if you really want to sample, often there are some inspired and inspiring menu plans and recipes served up! (And posted online for viewers who saw something that whet their appetite.)

I can’t forget to mention the show’s host/narrator. Dave Lamb (his voice, accent and witty comments!) is a huge reason why I like the show. Throughout each episode he interjects a comical runny commentary about what the participants are doing – or should or shouldn’t be doing!

The show runs in half hour episodes (one dinner party per episode) on W Network on Sundays starting at 1 p.m. There are five hosts per show so if you tape or PVR the show and get a bit behind watching them as I have, you’ll have 2-1/2 hours of Come Dine With Me each week to catch up on!

You can watch full episodes online as well as get the recipes for dishes the participants prepare for their guests. And, there’s more info about the episodes and the show’s guests on the UK’s Channel 4 Come Dine With Me website which airs the show in Britain.

Casting is currently being done for a Canadian version of Come Dine With Me. If you live in the Greater Toronto Area, like to cook and entertain and want to be wined and dined in return, and want to win $1000 as well as the title of best host for the week, apply to be on the show.

I’ve got excuses! Lots of them.

* I’ve been busy with my work blog – Everything Eggs.

* I had to develop recipes to teach a couple of Afternoon Tea classes – one at Thyme to Cook in Guelph and the other at Household China and Gifts in Waterloo.

Triangle- shaped herb-crusted egg salad sandwiches pair perfectly with a cup of tea!

* I’ve been doing some recipe development and food writing for Roomplanners‘ e-zine.

* We’ve been doing some spring cleaning, home renovation and backyard landscaping.

We cleaned out the garage. Yes, we kept the sleepy looking dog!

We sold a few things on Kijiji.

Did some much-needed landscaping. Well, we hired someone to do it who actually knew what they were doing! Here's the start. Bye bye old back yard as we knew ya!

* Cocoa got some new pet steps to get up onto our bed, and he had to be taught how to use them! LOL!

Note the treats on the steps! This was the only way to get him to go up the steps. I'd love to be rewarded with food every time I do something right! I'm sure I'd be eating non-stop. Ha ha!

Going down was less of a problem.

* I’ve been doing some traveling – for work and for pleasure:

• Spent a few days in Ottawa (all work except for a fun wine and food pairing event one evening!).
• Took the train to New York to take a Meringue class at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan and to visit Loreen on Long Island.

Made angel food cakes (plain, green tea, and citrus), among other egg white-based recipes in the Meringue class.

Enjoyed afternoon tea at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan (near Central Park) with Loreen.

Sipped Sangria with Loreen at her lovely home on Long Island, closely watched by Jerry the cat (and his brother Ben).

• Spent an extended weekend in Las Vegas.

View from my hotel room (the Hilton) in Vegas......

More view......

And still more of the view from the hotel room!

• Spent a few days in Niagara-on-the-Lake, one of my favourite places in Ontario. Stayed at the Prince of Wales Hotel where we also enjoyed afternoon tea and a couples’ massage. Saw two plays at the Shaw Festival, did a little shopping – bought a small Edward Spera print of an adorable baby chimp (click on the link, then scroll down to see Gombe Girl – I bought a print, not the original!!). Walked around the historic part of town and enjoyed the beautiful flowers. On the way home, stopped in Port Dalhousie for lunch and a stroll down to the beach.

Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake

Can you see Toronto - and the CN Tower? Looking at it across Lake Ontario from Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Just some of the flowers in Niagara-on-the-Lake !

Ducks sunning themselves on a dock in Port Dalhousie.

Enjoyed a Cobb Salad for lunch on the patio of a bar near the beach in Port Dalhousie.

But the main reason for not posting for so long will be revealed in my next post!

“Jimmy, please wait until we say our prayer,” said his dad.

“I don’t have to,” the boy replied.

“Of course you do,” his dad insisted. “We always say a prayer before eating at our house.”

“That’s our house,” Jimmy explained. “But this is grandma’s house, and she knows how to cook!”

At the Chocolate class I taught at Thyme to Cook in Guelph a couple weeks ago, one of the recipes I made was Chocolate Crepes with Cream Cheese Filling.

You could easily use another filling of your choice for these crepes: chopped fruit, caramelized bananas, ice cream, sherbet, frozen yogurt, pudding, or ????  What do you suggest?

Or, you could simply roll up the crepes and drizzle them with fruit syrup, maple syrup or chocolate sauce.

Chocolate crepes filled with chocolate ice cream and topped with strawberries and a sprinkle of icing sugar

Chocolate Crepes with Cream Cheese Filling

(Makes about 18 small crepes or 10 large crepes)

Crepes:
2 eggs
1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp (45 mL) sugar
2 tbsp (30 mL) cocoa
¼ tsp (1 mL) salt
1-1/4 cups (300 mL) milk
2 tbsp (30 mL) melted butter
Vegetable oil
Filling:
1 pkg (250 g) regular or light plain or chocolate cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup (75 mL) sugar
1 cup (250 mL) whipping cream (35 % M.F.), whipped
Grated chocolate or icing sugar
Chocolate sauce (optional)

In a medium bowl, with electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs. In another bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to beaten eggs, alternately with milk, beating until smooth. Stir in melted butter. Refrigerate batter for at least 20 minutes or up to 2 days.

When ready to cook crepes, remove batter from fridge. If batter has thickened, thin with the addition of a 1 to 2 tbsp (15 to 30 mL) milk. Heat a non-stick frying pan or crepe pan on medium-high heat until a water droplet sizzles. Brush lightly with oil. Stir batter; pour 2 to 3 tbsp (30 to 45 mL) into the pan, rotating panas batter is poured so batter covers the bottom of the pan evenly. Cook until bottom is slightly browned, about 45 seconds. Flip crepe over and cook for about 20 seconds. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter, adding additional oil to pan between crepes if necessary.

To make filling: beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Spoon 2 to 3 tbsp (30 to 45 mL) filling down the centre of each crepe or spread over crepe. Fold or roll up crepe. Sprinkle with grated chocolate and serve with chocolate sauce, if desired.

Tips:
* Use an 8″ (20 cm) frying pan to make small crepes and a 10″ (25 cm) pan to make larger ones.
* Crepes can be made ahead and frozen. Let thaw in fridge before separating and filling.