Hot & Spicy Festival at Harbourfront

It has been a glorious and HOT long weekend in Toronto and the perfect time to go to Harbourfront to have a taste of the HOT & SPICY FESTIVAL.

Vancouver's Celebrity Chef Vikram Vij was there to do a cooking demo of his families Curry Chicken Recipe and talk about all things spicy.  According to Vikram Hot Countries eat Spicy food to "expel heat"  and cool countries eat certain foods to "retain heat".

Alison Fryer and Chef Vikram Vij

Well this weekend is a good time to eat lot's of Spicy Food to expel lot's of heat for sure.

There was lot's of things to see and do at Harbourfront like Bingo and all kinds of cooking demos to see and music and dancing and all kinds of different things.  I saw a few minutes of Chef Marcus Monteiro talking about Cheese making and passed another demo about Herbs.

I wanted to go support a couple of food industry friends at their PARTY FOOD on a STICK competition.  Four competitors were tasked with creating party snacks like popcorn, pretzels, cereals or that sort that can be eaten on a stick.  I am happy to say that Aphrodite Cook's Chef Vanessa Yeung won 1st place for her bacon and cheese on a pretzel and my other foodie friend Paula Costa (Dragon's Kitchen) took 3rd place with here piri piri sweet popcorn and cereal on a stick, although I liked hers the best.

There was lot's of Hot Sauces to sample.

There wasn't a lot of food samples besides the hot sauces but there was a couple of independent vendors and the food in the World Cafe.  I had the Choco Churros - 2 for $5 from one of the stand vendors and tried the Thai Meal Combo for $9 at the World Cafe.  The Thai food was pretty tasty. I also had a sweet grilled corn from the Jamaican vendor who is there all season long. Always a good bet but they are always so busy that the vendors are pretty exhausted.

The sun was out and there was a great breeze coming off the lake but I left at about 7pm because all the selfie sticks and huge families descended upon the lake front and so did the noise.  Music coming out of restaurants and all kind of buskers started to set up their stations along the boardwalk. A few different musicians, artists, magicians, and balloon makers.  My nice peaceful day by the lake changed into a day at the busker festival so I left.  I was looking for a quiet and peaceful festival hoping that everyone was at the CNE or Fan Expo.  I guess I must be getting old or this city is just getting way to noisy and packed with people these days.  I have to say that the subway ride home was also extremely chatty and loud.  Maybe too many people eating loads of sugar things this weekend.  Tends to make everyone a bit louder and a lot more hyper.  Who knows but it was fairly quiet up until that point.

The festival runs all weekend and a couple of other friends are doing demos today even so you still have time to check it out.