greek festival deliciousness

This past weekend, one of Calgary's most delicious festivals, the annual Greek Festival, took place in the community of Spruce Cliff. Now, I know what you're saying, perhaps you're groaning thinking of all the "same old" stuff. Some souvlaki, some tzatziki. Who cares right? Perhaps. But just hold on though, when prepared with a little love and care, what can possibly be wrong with some juicy meat on a stick? Totally tender and delicious too. Okay, so there's nothing too extreme or bizarre at this festival, no octopus or cooked greens, but there was some good home-style cooking made with a lot of love and care. It's just good stuff. There were plenty of options to choose from including souvlaki, gyros, roast chicken as well as baklava, kataifi, and loukoumades (like donut holes!) for dessert. We opted for the Greek salad, tzatziki with pita, arni souvla (roast lamb on a spit), and tyropita (feta cheese pie). All in all it was very, very good, but the roast lamb was absolutely brilliant. Well seasoned, ridiculously juicy, and virtually fork tender, this lamb hit the spot. I could probably eat it every day. The thing I really like about the Greek Festival, besides the food of course, are the incredibly devoted volunteers. Not only do the volunteers make all of the food, which is very, very good, but they also serve it up. I have to say the amount of organization, and practice, it must have taken to get this right is quite impressive. There are a lot of people moving through the line in a short amount of time. They were on top of it; extremely efficient. It has to be a labour of love to cook lamb on a spit. I wish I had a picture of the two "old guys" tending to it as if it was their life's work. Maybe it was. Gotta love that. A close-up of the juicy succulent lamb roasting on the spit. Here's what I mean about the volunteers. They were efficient. I think it also takes a certain amount of guts to be able to serve up that roast lamb all day and not eat all of it. Stay tuned for next year's festival. I'll see you there! Calgary Greek Festival