Since hubby decided to go to Kingston to compete in the Kona fleet at the Canadians last weekend (starting Friday) that left me as a single parent. The whole family couldn’t go for the weekend because my son had a soccer tournament on Saturday afternoon. Well all was not lost as this was the weekend of the Carp Garlic festival.
So Saturday morning after a quick egg, ham and cheese bagel sandwich for breakfast, we headed off to Carp. We arrived in Carp around 9:30AM and it was buzzing. Entering the fairgrounds, there were a couple of food stalls serving various food from egg rolls to breakfast. Past those stands, were the produce/garlic stands that lined the gravel parking lot. In the middle of the parking lot was garlic tasting of over 8 varieties and the results of the judging. I was quite impressed by the number of garlic vendors; many with an impressive variety of garlic to sell. Everyone had the Music variety which is the “Ontario” variety. There were many others including Red Russian, Hungarian. It was sold by the pound or half pound. I bought a pound of Hungarian which I was told is very hot (spicy) and grows well in our region.
Some vendors had garlic food stuffs such as garlic jelly, garlic pepper jelly, scape pesto, scape cream cheese, garlic breads and chocolate garlic fudge.
Garlic jelly is a translucent jelly that is sweet with a little sour overtone and lots of garlic flavour. This is good on crackers. I really liked it as a condiment for my BBQ pork chops.
The chocolate garlic fudge was very different…two flavours; dark chocolate and garlic. The jury is still out on this.
All in all not a bad little Garlic festival especially since the admission was free!!!
That was Saturday morning…after the soccer tournament; we decided to meet the hubby in Kingston… only 1 hr 40 minutes to get to St. Lawrence College; ok so I was speeding a little bit.:)
In Kingston, the windsurfing gang had already been to my favourite tapas bar, Tangos, on Friday night. Reports are that the menu has shrunk but the food was even better! Saturday night, the dinner spot was Curry Original which is right next to the Lone Star. We had the back room…prices for each individual curry is not cheap but the taste is very different from what I get in Ottawa. The butter chicken is yellow with a hint of sweetness and almond flavour. My son was able to eat that. The pineapple chicken is a mild red curry that was tasty but there was nothing special or distinct about the flavours. The saag lamb was wonderful. The spinach and lamb were excellent together. Be warned when ordering the Vindaloo, I hear that the next morning is not so pleasant; you need to make sure there is something mild to absorb the heat. If I had to do it again, I would get one of the dinners for 2 as you get more food for the money.
The Marble Slab Creamery just opened in downtown Kingston. This is a franchise that has been popping up in various cities in Canada. They have 20 flavours of ice cream and then you get to add one mixin which your standard small order…that is m&ms or caramel or cookie dough etc (you get the picture). They take the mixin and a large scoop of ice cream and plunk on a cold marble slab and start mixing it. Then the mixed ice cream is put in a vanilla waffle cone. The small order is pretty expensive…over 4 dollars.
A little bit of late driving fuelled by a huge cup of Jasmine Green tea and we were home in Ottawa by 12:05AM…not bad for a day of adventure.
Sunday morning came around and we were off to the farmer’s market across from Carleton University. I like this market as I now have my favourite vendors. Since I don’t make it to the market very often due to the travelling on the weekends so when I do, I love getting all my favs (I don’t always remember the names).
Art-is-in-bakery. My son loves their raspberry donuts; deep fried raspberry compote filled donut. The raspberry filling tastes like eating sweet fresh mashed raspberries. The garlic /rosemary bread (not the sourdough) is perfect for sandwiches, cheese or dipping in sauce. The crazy grain bread is a lightish grain bread that is flavoured with molasses; again great for sandwiches.
The samosa guy…he sells chicken samosas (deep fried or baked); veggie samosas (deep fried or baked); deep fried beef samosas. I’ve only tried the baked varieties and I can say they are yummy especially dipped in that sweet red sauce.
Limeydale farms. I think they have the best corn. Everytime I’m there I always ask which is their favourite variety for the week (which is the sweetest) and I’ve never been disappointed. My son has fun picking out the 12 cobs.
Hall’s Apple Market. My son always has to stop here to sample the apple cider. Some weeks it has lots of macintosh flavour and other weeks it has more delicious. We always pick up a 2 L jug for the week.
The stall beside Limeydale. I’ve bought carrots from these guys and I can say they are sweet. The purple carrots are so purple that they stain your fingers when you cut them. I wonder how they get the carrots so purple…mine are just purple on the outside but orange on the inside.
The ice tea stall. These guys make an unsweetened apple cider ice tea which I find very thirst quenching. The last couple of weeks, they have been offering raspberry lemonade. The lemonade has that fresh raspberry puree flavour with a bit a lemon tartness.
The sheep cheese guy (I bet you can’t say that 5 times fast without tripping). My son and husband like some of his sheep cheese. Many different varieties (hard and soft) to sample and buy.
Ottawa Valley Honey (there are a couple of honey stalls now). The one product that my son really likes is the chocolate honey that they make. My son likes it on his croissants and toast in the morning.