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| Stuff, fried |
Have you recovered yet? It has been a little over a week since The Calgary Stampede closed it's gates for another year. If you haven't been, it is essentially a ten day party in the city, where things go a little cowboy crazy. Self-respecting business people don jeans and cowboy hats to work, there are beer tents on the corners, and you can find multiple pancake breakfasts every day of the week. The Stampede grounds showcase the world's best rodeo, musical and carnie talent around. Yeehaws and yahoos abound!
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| Corn Dog |
Husband and I went down to the grounds on a food-venture. Carnival fare is an essential food group during the 10 days of Stampede, and while it may be the only time of the year when I will munch on a corn dog, I thought there may be other culinarily interesting things going on, and I wanted to check them out.
The two key terms to remember during Stampede are "fried" and "on-a-stick". Everything tastes better fried, right?! Stampede gives us crispy treats like the Colossal Onion Blossom, Bacon On-A-Stick, Fried Oreos, and Fried Cheesecake. The ultimate combination of fried on-a-stick has to be the luscious corn dog... mustard only please. While photographing my little indulgence, one friendly fellow Stampeder thought it would be wise to tell me that I had inadvertently dipped my camera lens into the mustard! Extreme close up!
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| Marshmallow |
Another treat that I tried this year was a gooey combination of four marshmallows (on-a-stick, of course!) coated in caramel, rolled graham wafer crumbs and cinnamon. Sweet, creamy and delicious, this thing had all the merit of an ice cream sundae without the melt factor. Very smart on a July day in Calgary.
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| Mac N' Cheese Wedges |
By far the best fare of the day went to the Mac n'Cheese Wedges. I had heard about these from several people and the only trick was to find them amongst the chaos. After several texts and bbm's, we finally asked an information booth attendant. She knew exactly where to send us, and we picked up the crunchy little treat. It consisted of something akin to boxed mac and cheese, coated with batter and fried triangular. Odd, but, somehow, quite delicious! And worth the hour we spent wandering around to find it!
The party is over for another year, so, I am putting away my cowboy boots in favour of running shoes. Looking forward to see what next year has to offer!
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