Winterlude Ottawa and Gatineau February 2011

A few shots from Winterlude, which straddles the Ottawa River with snow sculptures on the Gatineau, Quebec, side and ice sculptures on the Ottawa, Ontario, side. We made it to see the snow sculptures.

A nice example of modern art.

Ice slides for the kiddos.

A larger ice slide.

Putting some finishing touches on one of the sculptures.

Parliament Hill across the river in the background.

A nice one of a lumberjack playing an according. Nice spikes.

One of me in front of a hockey scene, just to prove I was there.

A strange one of a skier.

Canadians have their own take on carnival food.

This is the ever-popular (and exceedingly simple) maple syrup on a stick, which is called Maple Taffy.

He pours it out on the snow to cool and while it is still malleable he rolls it up with a popsicle stick.

And here is the final product. How's that for a spokesmodel smile?

I give you the beaver tail, the Canadian answer to funnel cakes. Unlike it's American sister product, the beaver tail comes in both sweet and savory varieties.  It's texture is both soft and crispy (better than the funnel cake--sorry Rhonda). The deep-fried dough comes out of the fryer looking like this.

This is the "classique" variety (we were on the French side of the border, so you have to say it that way or they get mad) with cinnamon and sugar.

I had the one made with Nutella (they called it a "hazelnut spread" to avoid copyright infringement, I suppose, but we all knew what they meant).

Here's a closer look at it.