Ottawa Ribfest 2009

While cleaning through my external hard drive (during the June 23rd, 2012 weekend), I found some photos from the ribfest back in 2009. And to my surprise, I didn't write about it at all. Lucy had written about one of her lunches she bought there but I didn't write about our dinner.

Not wanting to look stupid when I ordered food, I stood in the background and watched other people buy ribs, chicken and pulled pork for a bit. Being a newbie, I didn't know where to go and had no idea which stands were good. Everything was quite overwhelming to me.

The two-time defending champs banner caught my attention. It would be a safe bet that Camp 31's ribs would be tasty. I made a mental note and continued to walk around and check out the sights and smells.

Walking by the Uncle Sam's BBQ stand.

The ribs at Bibb's BBQ looked really good. I noticed that most of the rib stands put out some extra BBQ sauce for customers. It's a great idea!

It was quite hot and muggy that day. After watching and baking in the heat, I got thirsty and bought a small lemonade to quench my thirst.

As I sipped on the lemonade, I walked back to Camp 31, lined up for about half an hour, then bought some ribs. I also picked up half a rack of ribs and a pulled pork sandwich from another place, after waiting for just as long. On my way back to catch the bus home, I got caught in the torrential downpour. Not fun. Wasn't prepared and didn't have an umbrella.

The food remained dry throughout the trip because the two boxes were tied in a plastic bags, which I luckily had in my camera bag. I love when I think ahead like that.

I was surprised at how much I ate that night. I had the meat sweats and suffered a food coma. When I woke up the next day, I felt like I was sick with a stomach flu. I felt so weak, dehydrated (though I wasn't), and lethargic. Lucy laughed and said that it was probably because my body spent all my energy to digest all the protein I ate. Yeah, maybe. I feel fine now. But you know what, I'm not a big fan of ribs. Probably because I overdid it. And because I find it too monotonous, despite the coleslaw and the beans.

In the future, I'll try to get other people to help me buy the food. We could split up and tackle more places.