Study Abroad Day 51: Cronut burger lush

Today it was time for The Ex! The Ex is also called the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), and it is an annual fair located at The Exhibition Place. I knew a lot of weird food would be there (e.g. bacon with chocolate, fried kool-aid), so I could had been waiting for weeks! But of course something was doomed to happen that day... I forgot my lactase pills and painkillers, meeeh! Darnit, lol. This meant I could not go all out trying out stuff unfortunately. But I was excited for the experience nonetheless!

Before meeting with friends to go to the fair, I got up early to visit the U of T bookstore one last time for some souvenirs. I tried out some tops, and I really liked the one with the maple leaf on it, but the price was a bit steep for my liking! I eventually bought a mug and a few pencils and pens.

I quickly went home for some light lunch and to get ready!

When I arrived I felt like I entered a combination of an amusement park, a carnival, and a zoo. We first checked out the farm building full of (smelly) animals. I found it pretty disturbing that the sign in front of the cows said "beef" and the sign in front of the pig stalls said "veal", lol.

I was so damn hungry walking around in the farm building, I could not wait to get to the food building.

I was on a hunt for (1) a cronut burger, (2) Nutella fries, and (3) a corndog. I also wanted to try out some friend chicken and waffles, and red velvet pancakes. Pretty much anything we do not sell in Amsterdam, lol. But because I had to protect my bowels, I was very selective and ended up trying only a cronut burger and corndog. The C$10 cronutburger consists of a cronut—aka the lovechild of a croissant and a donut—and a beef patty.

Although the price was pretty steep, the burger tasted like nothing I had ever tasted before. It was de-li-cious! I love the combination sweet and savoury in my food. The burger was topped with some maple bacon jam, and it tasted very good (although it might sound a bit off). I heard a few people got food poisening from the burger, but luckily I was one of the lucky few that did not!

The corndog was a major disappointment! I did not expect for it to be covered with soft dough. I thought it would be chewy almost textured like bread. So that was a bummer... Unfortunately the fair would close down soon and I did not have anyone to join me with eating, so I could not try any more dishes. Because my stomach was feeling fine, I decided to have a scoop of cherry flavored icecream to end the night in terms of food.

Because the buildings were closing in a bit we rushed over to another building where clothes and other stuff were on sale, before the exhibition would close for the night. This hall really reminded me of the Dutch 'Nationale Huishoudbeurs' (household exhibition). I bought a black top with a sheer back for C$5. After that it was already time to go home, boohoo. No rides on the rollercoasters thus unfortunately...

Although it was shortlived, I really enjoyed my time at the CNE. Unfortunately we arrived at the fair too late for us to be able to take our time exploring the entire exhibition. I was actually planning to go there earlier, but I felt so tired from the previous days that I decided to sleep in a little and meet up with the rest later. Anyways, my main reason for going there was to try out weird foods, but like I mentioned earlier I forgot my pills so I had to limit myself.

I took the streetcar and subway back home! Tomorrow will be my last full day in Toronto :(

X

Sefanja Rubina