Canada Day Celebration
Happy 149th birthday Canada!
There is something about Canada Day that I absolutely love. The idea of Canadians uniting to celebrate the wonderful country we live in gives me goosebumps. I had the pleasure of spending most of my day with Jeff. We woke up with excitement and threw on our new Canada day t-shirts that we purchased for $5.00 each (great deal!) at SportChek just a few short weeks before Canada Day.
We started our day with our tradition of picking strawberries and then rushing back home to make homemade waffles. The tradition started accidentally when we spent our very first Canada Day together. Jeff lived super close to a strawberry field so he suggested that we go picking strawberries. We got back to his place with a bunch of strawberries and decided to make homemade waffles. They turned out FANTASTIC and so the tradition began. This year we got to the strawberry fields pretty early. There was a fair amount of people there and many people who had already picked their berries and were on their way out. The smell and view of the strawberry fields is one of my favourite things of summer. We anxiously waited in line for the employees to weigh our bowls and point us in the proper direction for picking. Once we were in the fields there were people everywhere we looked and we had to do some searching the brightest, reddest, juiciest berries. We realized that since there were so many people picking that we were going to have to do some extra work to find the best berries. I think we did a great job (or at least that's what my taste buds tell me). We paid for our strawberries ($1.60/lb CDN) and were happily on our way. On our way out of the fields there was an employee turning people away for the day! We breathed a sigh of relief and were happy we arrived when we did. On the way home I did dig into the berries and Jeff threatened to separate the berries so I would have one bowl and he would have another since he was afraid I would eat them all (so far neither has happened). :) Once home I got the waffle iron warmed up and of course during the preparation of the waffles I had to sneak a few extra berries. We both had 4 waffles each which were topped with the freshly picked strawberries and maple syrup (or Walden's Farms Pancake Syrup). The recipe I use is one that I came up with myself. I call them Easy Peasy Waffles. After our indulgence we relaxed until it was time to head downtown Fredericton for the Canada Day festivities.
Once downtown we quickly realized that Animaritime was also occurring downtown. I was stoked that I was able to see someone dressed up as Link. They had done a fantastic job and I can only imagine the amount of time and effort that was needed to pull off such a great costume. People were actually stopping Link to take pictures. However, not all costumes were done that well. After we sifted through the Animaritime people we arrived at our destination. There was a huge crowd as usual with plenty of food. Of course, the one thing that brings people together is food. Jeff and I both had our hearts set on pizza and mini donuts but unfortunately they were no where to be found. We had heard that the those two specific food trucks were at another location. Instead, I settled for some delicious chicken biryani and Jeff got a disappointing poutine (will he ever learn that he should only get a poutine when he is in Quebec?).
We were able to listen to some live music which included David Myles and meet up with some good friends. Of course, I was itching for some dessert (specifically ice cream). We contemplated getting some ice cream sandwiches from a sketchy brown van (seriously, this van had EVERYTHING in it. It was packed to the roof!) but opted to stand in line for 35 minutes to get some highly anticipated ice cream. The lighthouse on the green was serving ice cream and they were closing at 10 pm. We got our ice cream at 9:57 pm. While we were standing in line we were sweating bricks (we really wanted that ice cream!). I decided to get peanut butter fudge crunch mixed with chocolate chip cookie dough in a waffle cone while Jeff decided on peanut butter fudge crunch and melted snowman in a regular cone. We were both VERY happy with our decisions ESPECIALLY the peanut butter fudge crunch. If you ever come across it in your travels we strongly recommend it.
We ended the evening with the much anticipated fireworks which didn't disappoint. I absolutely love fireworks and I never understood why some people go just to complain about them afterwards. We don't see them often so I always enjoy them (well as much as my scientific mind will allow) and tell others to do the same. It was an absolute perfect way to end the day!
Easy Peasy Waffles
Ingredients: 1½ cups spelt flour 3 tsp baking powder 1¼ cups cashew milk 1 Egg Directions: Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until smooth. Pour ½ cup of batter into a preheated waffle iron and bake until golden. Cut waffles and top with fresh strawberries and maple syrup. Enjoy!
