Food at the Capital Fair 2015, Waffle on a stick,mini doughnuts,fried Mars bar and poutine. A petting zoo too! (former Gloucester Fair, The Ex).

The 2015 edition of the Capital Fair just opened and is running until Aug 30.
Admission is FREE and it is located at the Rideau-Carleton Entertainment Center.
This is the same venue where they hold horse races and some concerts.
I have not been to any fair in quite a few years and thought it would be fun to check out for the petting zoo, stunt dog show and the food!

First I'll start with the food.
There was the typical fair food-poutine,fries,slush,pizza,mini doughnuts and a stand selling some waffles on a stick.
That sounded like an interesting item to try-I had a pepperoni and cheese filled waffle that came with marinara dipping sauce.
The waffle was made when I ordered it and the cheese was in the middle,with the pepperoni and batter on the outside. This was not a big sized item,but was very tasty- very similar to a pizza. I would definitely order this again.
There was also a grilled cheese and bacon waffle and that looked good too. There was some kind of bacon "bomb" waffle meat thing,but that was sold out-so did not get to try that.
Cost was $5.00

WAFFLE ON A STICK:Pepperoni and cheese!

Inside of the waffle on a stick!

Tom's Doughnuts and Cotton Candy from a vendor.

I also bought some other typical fair foods to take home-mini doughnuts and some cotton candy!
The doughnuts were from Tom's doughnuts and cost $5 for 18 from the stand when you come in the fair. There is also a Tiny Tom's doughnuts in the fair and they are $5 for a dozen.
My doughnuts were made right when I ordered them and were piping hot,so I thought they were really good.

Also had a lot of fun at the petting zoo,the goats and llama were very friendly!

Giant Portabella Mushrooms Invade Ottawa!

Giant Portabella mushrooms have been spotted and are invading the grocery store shelves!
Ok, maybe not invading-but these have to be the biggest mushrooms I have ever seen.
The one I bought, which was one of the smaller ones was 71/4" across and 1" height.
The size of a small dinner plate-my dinner plate was 7 1/2" and the mushroom fit exactly.
I saw another Portabella mushroom there that was over 12" in diameter and bigger than a typical dinner plate.
My sis took a pic and I am awaiting that.

The mushrooms were found at Cedars and Co grocery store on Bank St. and the price was also very good.
I paid $5.19 a lb and my mushroom was .57lb (costing $2.96).
I'm going to grill that with some hazelnut oil and stuff with goat and Parmesan cheese!
These would be great on the BBQ also.
I will surely be getting more of the Portabella mushrooms from here as they seem quite fresh too.

Cadbury Creme Egg Twisted Bar! Easter is Early?

I was walking through my local drugstore and happen to see a display near the cash registers!
It was a large display bin with a poster advertising  Cadbury Creme Egg Twisted bar.
What is this?

Of course,I had to buy two as creme eggs are enjoyable once in a while and usually only around at springtime.
The Twisted bar is a different format of the familiar Cadbury Creme Egg.
Instead of being the egg shape, it is the similar chocolate in a filled bar form.
The cream inside the bar is still the same sugary stuff that is remembered by everyone.
Price for this bar was around $1. I have also seen these bars at a few smaller stores and am thinking they will be widely available for a limited time.

If you wait until spring every year just to get the Cadbury Creme Eggs, you will be happy to know you can get this new version right now.
Let me know if you happen to find these in your area,this bar was bought at a Pharmaplus in Ottawa.

Malak Pastry Gelato and Ashta ice creams review! Yum!

I've been passing by this small pastry shop on Bank street for quite some time and finally found the time to stop and try the gelato and baklava that is freshly made in store.
I've sampled and bought at least a dozen kinds of gelato and sorbet and will write about that for this post.
For people who do not like dairy products there is usually a large selection of different sorbet made daily.
There is a pineapple sorbet that is very refreshing and has small bits of pineapple in it. I really noticed that this sorbet is different from what you find at the grocery store as there was real bits of fruit and no artificial colors in this sorbet was a white shade.
Mixed berry sorbet- that one was a dark purple shade and I'm guessing there was raspberry,blueberry and blackberry in it. It was quite sweet,but also nice with all the fruits in it.

The gelato I tried on my last visit was Banana gelato!
I did not buy this as I already had 2 small containers of gelato to bring home,but sampling this in the store the banana taste was very light and refreshing almost.
The banana gelato was a light beige shade and it seems there was a lot of real fruit in that too.

Now onto my gelato purchases!
Ashta "gelato" this is a type of Arabic custard like cream that is seasoned with rosewater and has either pistachios or roasted almonds in the mixture.
As well Ashta ice cream is thickened with a kind of tree gum that comes from Balsam (found this out speaking to the older man that works there).
This ice cream is very different from what the other places in Ottawa are making and I really recommend that people in that area of Bank st make a trip just to try this treat!
The Ashta ice cream was also nice after a dinner that was very spicy and really cools off your mouth too.
If you are having a dinner party, some of the ice creams from here would surely be a hit.
You can get a small cup for around $3 and other than that the ice creams are sold by the weight and I'd say a 250ml container is around $6
(The picture above,the one with the white ice cream, that one is the Ashta "gelato")..

The next two flavors I bought were Dark Chocolate and the lighter one in this container is Cappucino.
The Cappuccino gelato was quite light in texture and had a rich coffee flavor.
Usually at the grocery store the coffee ice creams there are always quite weak in flavor.
I did not always see this flavor there, so I guess the flavors change weekly.
The darker ice cream in this container was Dark Chocolate gelato.
The ice cream has a much thicker texture similar to the Ashta ice cream. It was also sort of "chewy" for an ice cream,and that made it very different to eat.
Now onto the taste...I found this ice cream to be extremely rich and full of dark chocolate flavor.
Almost like a frozen dark chocolate.
I had a few "chocolate experts" sample the Dark Chocolate ice cream (someone called "Monsieur Chocolat" from out of town) and this chocolate expert thought the ice cream was as rich as a 70% cocoa chocolate bar.
I'd have to say that this would have to be one of the richest chocolate ice creams I have eaten.
For people who do not like such rich chocolate ice creams, there is also a Milk Chocolate version (that I have not tried yet).
I've also been to their Carling Ave store and they did not seem to have any ice cream a few months ago-not sure if that has changed or not as I do not frequent that area often.
The website for Malak Pastry can be found at:
http://www.malakpastry.com/ice_creame.html

Malak Pastry is located at:
1216 Bank St, Ottawa (in the Sunnyside area near Riverdale ave and across from the Subway restaurant).
tel: (613)526-2002