Canning Show 2009

Last month, Jac, Juji, Jay and I went to this year’s Canning Show.

It was a sunny hot day. We hadn’t eaten lunch and we were all hungry and thirsty. Juji kicked things off with a raspberry snow cone. Now, this looked good, but it proved difficult to consume – the syrup was mostly at the bottom, under all that shaved ice.

We found a bench to sit at and eat our lunch. I ordered fish and chips and shared the chips with Jac.

Jac found a sausage sizzle stall and got one with the lot – sausage, fried onions, mustard and tomato sauce. But when she showed me, my first thought was “Where’s the sausage?” (It was in there, just buried!)

Jay and Juji got chilli fries to share – they were basically hot chips topped with a chilli con carne mix with beans in it, a drizzle of what appeared to be sweet chilli sauce, and a tiny sprinkling of grated cheese on top. A little weird, but tasty enough.

One thing I had been craving and hoping to eat at the Show was a hot, greasy doughnut. I bought a pack of three fresh cinnamon doughnuts for $3 – one for Jac, Jay and me.

As you bite into the doughnut and sink your teeth into the soft, fluffy inside, coating your lips with sugar and grease, you know it’s really not good for you! I could easily eat so many more of these in a sitting… but I had just the one.

But what about Juji? She had a jam-filled doughnut. :)

She even offered to set up an innards shot for you guys. See?

After our doughnuts, we had a look at some of the exhibits. First, the model boats/ships.

On our way to the fresh produce displays, we saw these alpacas. The brown one standing with its face closest to the black feedbag pretty much hogged the feedbag the whole time. I took this shot in the 2 seconds or so its face wasn’t buried in the bag. :-P

Looking for bling? Look no further!

Jac spied this baby costume for sale. I love food, but I don’t think I’d ever think to dress my kid up as a hot dog (or any other kind of food).

There were lots of vegetables on display.

The leafier vegetables were starting to look somewhat droopy from having been on display for hours on a hot day.

We then moved on to the crafts. I’ve always admired people who can, using their hands and tools, create objects from raw materials.

There was even a Lego display.

We don’t use any of our teapots often, but if we did, I’d totally want a tea cosy.

I thought the lone white teddy bear must be lost, sitting there with all the dolls. ..

…because the rest of the bears were together on the other side of the table.

I liked these two fuzzy brown bears the best.

As we stood looking at the jars of jams and preserves, we overheard two ladies talking. One of them explained to the other that some people put custard powder into their lemon butter to make it extra yellow – but the judges were aware of this practice now and didn’t look favourably on it. I did think some of the lemon butters looked an unnatural bright yellow, more like paint than lemon butter.

This was Jac’s favourite section of the display of stuff in jars – the pickles, especially the pickled onions. :)

There was a range of different homemade honeys, in jars and in slabs.

After looking at the display of sausage rolls, I began craving one…

I moved onto the pikelets…

…then muffins and tarts…

…then the cakes.

I liked these little blue monster faces, gnashing their teeth.

After spending quite a while browsing the displays in the pavillion (we looked at photographs, paintings, and flower arrangements too), it was time for Sideshow Alley. First stop – bumper cars (some people may call them dodgems). As we got into our chosen car Jac noticed I had my camera in my hand. “You’re not planning to take photos during the ride are you?” she asked. Heheheh. Well, Jac was the driver, so yes, I did take photos!

A violent bump jolted my camera-holding arm, resulting in this photo of my leg. Heheheh.

Feeling thirsty again, Juji and Jay made a stop at the Super Slush Truck.

It’s a self-serve multi-flavour slushie machine. You basically choose whatever flavours you want and fill up your cup! They chose peach and something pinkish I can’t remember – or was the pinkish stuff the peach? Juji, jog my memory?

Every show or fair we attend, Jac must ride the Waveswinger, her favourite ride of all time. And every show or fair we attend, I say no thanks and find a spot on the grass to sit, watch and take photos. Jay and Juji rode the Waveswinger with Jac this time.

After the ride, it was time for another round of refreshment. We’d walked past the gelato van a few times – finally, we decided to have some!

I had lemon sorbet, which was tangy and studded with tiny pieces of lemon peel. It was quite refreshing.

The last stall we stopped at before we left was this liquorice stall. I can’t stand liquorice.

The others aren’t so keen on the original black ones, but they love the flavoured ones.

After much consideration, they bought a few different flavours, and started munching on the way home. :D