Festival Diary: Wayhome 2016
Wayhome- we're back! It was Year Two and we knew what to do. As usual, the festival was looking beautiful with flags all over the place. Majestic. The headliners this year were LCD SoundSystem, Arcade Fire (ahem, Richard Reed Perry went to the same high school as me) and The Killers. Other acts I was excited to see: Badbadnotgood, Chat Faker, Beirut, FKA Twigs, Major Lazer, Keys N Krates, Young Empires, River Tiber, THE LIST GOES ON AND ON. Food-wise, I inadvertently went of a Wayhome tour of nachoes over the course of three days. Going to Wayhome feels like being in Toronto, but in a fresh open field. It's large, but there's a small town feel when you inevitably end up bumping into old friends- which is also kind of my favourite part. It ends up being like a reunion of people from camp, high school, university, work, freelance life. This year, I stayed at a friend cottage instead of camping, and I honestly did miss that experience and ease!
As usual, The Drake was on deck to deliver some stellar eats in the VIP Barn. It's a treat to go from themed stall to stall, and the food is quality despite it's shipping container beginnings (the most gorgeous shipping container you've ever seen, scroll down). Each inspired by Toronto elements, like how "Sneaky Tee's" is a nod to Sneaky Dee's and their beloved Mexican food. I love how in the picture, the guy in Hawaiian shirt is walking with so much purpose. On the first day, we loaded up on The Drake goods like these killer nachos, spicy chicken tacos and pork and shrimp dumpling with bok choi and enoki mushrooms. Nacho-wise, I loved how fresh and clean these tasted after a long day in the sun (us, not the nachoes). Pretty classic with pico de gallo, gaucamole, beans, crema, etc.
Part of my experience at Wayhome involved Equinox fitness classes on the Saturday and Sunday mornings- available to all VIP pass holders. Happy that I made it up in time for both! Nice way to start the day. One of the classes involved doing yoga while being serenaded by Jesse Gold- not too shabby. ToFoodies was officially invited out for the relaxation and snacks like these.
We saw SO many great acts, some that I wasn't even planning on seeing, but a serious highlight was when Chester Hansen from BadBadNotGood surprised me by wearing his white ToFoodies hat on stage! We go back to high school and live in the same building. A couple of weeks before the festival I gave him a hat, and he joked about wearing the hat at WH16, but I didn't get my hopes up. This (top photo) is the only photo I didn't take myself. I tried - but I saw so many camera's trained on them that I hoped I might be able to find an even better photo after the festival was done. And I did! Thank you Benjamin Bush of Trashboy Photography.
These days, it's seems like it's not a festival unless there is some kind of offering from Anthony Rose. Their nachos had cherry tomato salsa, green onions, black beans, queso and the most delicious meat sauce. It was more like a bolognese, with Tex-Mex flavouring. So rice and tender. Dare I say, my favourite of all the nachos?
And finally, last of the Tour De Nachos, the least traditional nachos of the bunch. Or shall I say, "naanchos"? I shall. These came from Curbalicious and were technically butter chicken "naanchos", with naan chips, tandoor corn, sour cream, cheese and cilantro. I loved these! They blew the accompanying meatball sub out of the water. Not that the sub was bad, but these naanchos were infinitely cool and unique. The tandoori corn provided a nice sweetness, and the presentation could not be prettier...
All in all, another super-successful Wayhome eating and listening journey! Next year, we'll be coming back even bigger and better.
