10 Days of Yeeehaw!

Calgary Stampede

1410 Olympic Way SE

calgarystampede.com

Stampede 2011 is here and F-Log For Thought is on hand to taste the all delicious “food”. Just like last year, I hit the grounds solo because I have no friends. : (

For those that have been in years past, you'd know what to expect - sketchy rides, impossible-to-win prizes, country music galore, drunk people stumbling around town regardless of time of day, angry animal rights activists making a big fuss about how the animals are treated and, of course, over priced foods. There is a mystical obsession with things on a stick. It's ridiculous. Pizza on a stick, bacon on a stick; You can put anything on a stick and people will buy it for a premium. Bananas - 59 cents per pound at your local grocery store. On a stick? $4. But the talk of the town this year is the donut burger.

Having no regard for my personal health, I decided to give the donut burger a try. The vendor is located beside the Pizza on a Stick shop near the Lammle's Western Wear tent. 

Sandwiched between a glazed donut (The burger is made from a single donut that is sliced in half and not 2 donuts as I was lead to believe), is a juicy beef patty, bacon and processed cheddar cheese (I paid an extra $1 for each of these items, $10 total). It was interesting. It's sweet until you hit the burger part. Then it's savory. Kinda like chocolate cover pretzels but with a donut and a burger. 

A weird combination for sure. It sounds really disgusting but it's surprisingly edible. Plus you get this sweet sticker. That's right, I survived the Donut Burger. But I'm pretty sure my life expectancy went down by at least 5 years.

Just down the way is La Poutinerie where I got the Steak Poutine. For a whopping $12. These guys have a pretty confusing setup. So basically you order from the inconspicuous side window AND then pick up your order from the front window with the giant lineup. There's no signs or anything. You just gotta know... So the steak poutine was pretty decent. Crispy fries, cheese curds and small pieces of cooked steak filled a Chinese takeout container and is finished with a gravy. The steak was pretty tender, maybe a tad on the soggy side. It came from a giant tub in the back. Don't expect it to be grilled when you order it.

After a short break, I headed over to another vendor to get some deep fried Oreos. For a modest $5, you get a tray of 4 Oreos. Battered and deep fried, the cookies are finished with a rather generous sprinkle of icing sugar. A word of warning, do not eat this while walking into the wind. Inhaling icing sugar is not exactly the most pleasant feeling. The Oreos were all melted and gooey (Read: Soggy). Kind of like a s'more but deep fried. This marks the first time I've had something that is deep fried that is not crispy and crunchy.

To wash it all down, I had a lemonade which I also had last year. It was really refreshing. A small was only $3.

I walked around aimlessly for a bit and finished off the day with a berry blast slushy. It's like Jugo Juice but with a different name. It was super hot and anything made with ice would have tasted amazing. I'm sure if they some how put it on a stick, they could sell it for an extra $5.

I opted to not go on any crazy rides as I'm fairly certain the donut burger-poutine-deep fried Oreo combo would not have sat well in my stomach. But I probably deserved that one. So thank you Calgary Stampede for yet another 10 days filled with tasty "food" and scantly clad women. Till next year!

Also, I've got some great ideas for snacks next year like deep fried potato sticks. Or deep fried hot dog on a stick. Wait a minute...