This Saturday we headed down to Sugar Beach on the waterfront to check out a cabane à sucre, and enjoy some nice weather and Québécois music!
Sugar Shack TO.
The cabane à sucre (or sugar shack, or sugar house) is the traditional name for a cabin or collection of cabins where maple syrup is made by boiling maple sap. These days, the concept of a sugar shack is a place you can go to gorge yourself on everything maple syrup, particularly maple taffy which is made by pouring the syrup onto a patch of (preferably clean) snow. There are lots of cabane à sucres in Quebec, where a lot of maple syrup is produced, and the temporary sugar shack we visited featured all things Québécois - maple treats, live music from Québécois bands, and poutine (of course).
Live music.
We’d seen posters for the Sugar Shack TO event all over the city, and since it was such a pleasantly (weirdly) warm day we decided to head down to get our maple treat fix. Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to have the same brilliant idea, and when we arrived we were met with some very long, intertwining queues.
A line-up for... something.
Having arrived hungry for lunch, we decided against spending an hour in a poutine line-up and instead headed to a nearby supermarket to pick up some hot sandwiches and some fruit. We then made our way back to Sugar Beach (so called due to its location opposite a sugar factory) to set up a very pleasant little picnic on a grassy mound where we could enjoy some Québécois jazz.
Luke enjoying a hot sandwich.
After lunch we briefly attempted to take part in an ice carving workshop, but were disappointed again to be confronted by yet another hour long queue. We quickly abandoned that idea and headed back for more of the music, before heading home.
All in all it was a bit of a disorganised affair. We’d hoped to at least be able to buy some maple goodies, but there were no stores on site. Nevertheless, we did enjoy our picnic in the sun, which gave us a tantalising glimpse of what the Toronto summer might look like.
All in all it was a bit of a disorganised affair. We’d hoped to at least be able to buy some maple goodies, but there were no stores on site. Nevertheless, we did enjoy our picnic in the sun, which gave us a tantalising glimpse of what the Toronto summer might look like.
(SLIDESHOW)
This time last year, we were celebrating Irish Heritage in the run up to St. Patrick's Day, and back in 2014 we were learning the ancient craft of felting.
