Meet Lunenburg Nova Scotia's 82-year-old Glo McNeil
$250,000 grand prize winner of Canada's Recipe to Riches contest!
Welcome to Glo's fun & delicious antidote to doom-and-gloom!
by Jodie Turner
Glo and her very proud husband.
Glo and her home-town grocery store manager Crispy Crispin.
3rd runner up in Glo's category Mijune Pak was confident she was sitting with the grand prize winner - and Mijune was right!
It's been a fun and tasty couple of months in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia - and beyond.
It started for me when I spotted the Save Easy Grocery Store sign congratulating Glo McNeill, one very youthful 82-year-old. Although I didn't realize it then, I've gotten to know her better the past few weeks.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Have you heard of the Food Network's latest show - Recipe to Riches? Each week, Canadian home cooks measure, chop and whisk their way to a dream-come-true. To win $25,000 for their original recipe and have it become a President's Choice product. And for dessert? A chance at taking home the grand prize of $250,000!
Glo's recipe recalls life as a girl in England. After years of pitifully frugal grocery rations, World War II ended and options opened. The glorious lemon lit up her home like a beacon announcing a new, happier way of life.
The first time I met Glo, sort of, was at SuperStore in Bridgewater where her winning Luscious Lemon Pudding was being launched with appropriate fanfare, free samples and enthusiasm.
Although Glo wasn't at her display when I arrived, her spirit certainly was. A young, snappily dressed team handed out samples - oh so good - and waxed poetic about Glo. Who was, at the time, making sure all was well in the production of the free samples. "You won't believe she's 82," said one adding, "everything has to be perfect, she keeps her eye on the entire process."
Through "G-Lo's" facebook page, I got a link to her experiences in Recipe to Riches. I wasn't planning to watch the entire 40-or-so minute show. But . . . I got hooked and . . . devoured the full meal deal.
I learned of the G-Lo Group and was delighted to join. Hanging out on the page, reading people's comments - from right across Canada - is a refreshing antidote to our daily over-dose of bad news.
On December 1, many of Glo's fans, including yours truly, changed their facebook profile picture to hers as a visible sign of their support.
From December 7 - 9 Canadians were allowed to vote once a day for their favourite recipe.
Finally, on December 14, at the Recipe to Riches finale, the grand prize winner was announced and Glo McNeil was presented with a larger-than-life cheque for $250K.
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Are you on facebook?
Click and Join G-lo's page! -
Try it yourself!
Click Glo's Luscious Lemon Pudding recipe
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