I had to work every day during Stampede, and as I mentioned in my previous blog post, my life was nothing more than working, drinking and sleeping. It is tradition for workers in my industry to party every night after work until 7am. So it was an exhausting 10 days. I did manage to slip into the Stampede grounds for a few hours before work last weekend in order to do some food research. In three hours I managed to break even on the Stampede Slots, prove that I am the undefeated wack'a'mole champion, and remind myself that I am terribly afraid of heights as I sat on the Sky Lift fearing for my life. I also consumed a disgusting amount of food, which I will share with you now. Above you can see my mini corn dog. The corn dog is a must at any fair, and comes in various sizes. I chose the mini corn dog in order to save room for everything else I wanted to eat.
This is bannock, a Native American food, which is fried bread. It may or may not have existed prior to European settlers, but certainly the popular version of bannock shares the same list of ingredients as, say... a scone. I always thought it was baked, but apparently it is commonly fried in rendered fat. This piece of bannock was obviously deep fried, and it was delicious. I kind of regret not trying a bannock-dog, bannock-burger, or bannock-breakfast sandwich. The bannock booth is located just outside the Indian Village, and the bannock is made to order, so you'll have to take a number and wait for it to cook.
This is a Hot Beef Sundae. It was really no big deal. It's got beef, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn and cheese in it. Basically, it's not much different from one of those bowls you can get at KFC. As I took a couple bites, I could hear the vendor in the next booth shouting about their donut burgers. So I didn't finish my Hot Beef Sundae, and instead moved on to bigger, fattier things.
This is not the best shot of the donut burger you will find on the internet, but this is an accurate representation of what you can expect. A maple glazed donut is cut in half and a patty of coarsely ground beef is stuck in between. I opted out of the cheese and bacon, which will cost you a little extra and add a helluva lot more calories. I have to admit, about half way through eating this I started to feel a little light headed and sweaty. I took a couple more bites and discarded the rest. Everyone that walked past me was like, "Is that the donut burger!?" And that made me feel like a rock star. Or a disgusting pig. I needed to walk around for a while to recover from this experience. All in all, it doesn't taste bad. Sort of reminded me of a McGriddle sandwich, savoury and sweet.
There are a couple places you can get Smoked Turkey Drumsticks and Corn on the Cob. This is the set up. Very tempting! This year they also had Turkey-tinis, which are kinda like the Hot Beef Sundae only they feature turkey, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce with mashed potatoes in a martini glass.
But I went for the straight-up-old-school Jumbo Smoked Turkey Drumstick. I actually brought this to work with me, as I was running out of time. I didn't realize what a spectacle I would be; a so-called vegetarian sitting in the work cafeteria eating a giant piece of meat like I was Fred Flinstone. The meat was nice and smokey, but a little tough.
Mac'n'Cheese Pizza. Such a great idea! This was new this year, and many sought after it, and many couldn't get their hands on it. But I found it and consumed it with no problems at all!
I would often pass by these contraptions used for smoking beef and the smoke would billow all around in kind of an annoying, yet festive way. I wish I had more time and stomach room for some smoked beef on a bun, or a waffle dog, or some deep fried goodness. There's always next year, of course. For now, I am working on getting my life back to normal by eating real food, cleaning the house, and realigning myself with a fitness routine.
