State Fair Top 10

I was SO happy that while we were home in MN, we got to go to the MN State Fair. I think I have gone every year of my life (at least every year that we were in town). I was so sad thinking that I may not have gotten to go this year since I moved away. Hopefully I'll be able to continue to go as it is one of my favorite times of year.

Mostly, I love the fair because of the food. But here are my top 10 favorite things at the fair:

1) Cheese on a stick - This is my absolute favorite food at the fair. I ate two while I was there this year since I only got to go one day. It is a stick of cheese that is deep fried in a corn batter and served on a stick. I recently bought a cornbread pan specially for making stuffed cornbread muffins and am experimenting with how to make it taste like cheese on a stick.

 

2) Cheese curds - Yeah, yeah I love cheese. If you know me you know I have a ridiculous love for cheese. Cheese curds are a must at the fair, but no way I can eat a whole order on my own. WAY TOO MUCH GREASE.

3) Sweet Martha's Cookies and the unlimited milk stand - These are not just any ordinary cookies. There is nothing like getting an overflowing bucket or cone full of hot gooey cookies and heading to the milk stand to stuff your face full of chocolate chip goodness.

4) French fries - LOVE the french fries at the state fair. That's all I have to say about that.

5) Pronto Pups- Not your ordinary corn dog. I believe these are made with a wheat based batter instead of corn. I like that the booths say "Wiener dun in a bun."

6) New crazy foods (often on a stick) - This year the new food I tried was deep fried cookie dough on a stick. I wasn't sure how it would look, but it was 3 balls of fried dough. Super ooey gooey, hot cookie dough complete with powdered sugar making it near impossible to eat neatly. While we were eating this in the food building a couple from NY was sharing out table and the woman was majorly struggling with eating it off the stick...amateur. They thought we were nuts for putting everything on a stick.

7) Baby animals - The miracle of birth building is both adorable and disgusting. While I do not want to watch a live birth of a cow (especially multiple times, seeing it once was enough), I do enjoy seeing the babies that have already been born. Like these adorable little duckies.

8) Alpacas - There is a booth by the animal buildings that sells alpaca woolen goods, and usually has a couple cute alpacas hanging out there. I always want to buy the hats, but I don't. I also always want to buy an alpaca, but I can't...

9) People watching - The MN State Fair is a prime people watching location. If you sit anywhere for more than 5 minutes, you will watch seas of people wander by. Often these people have horrible outfits, hair, fanny-packs, etc. If I did more picture taking than I did eating, I would take more pictures of things that make me laugh.

10) Fine Arts Building - Most of the buildings at the fair are pretty boring, but I love the Fine Arts Building. There are a lot of talented artists in MN. There were too many staff members in there this year so I wasn't able to take a picture of the amazing mosaic that was there this year. But it inspired me to pick that hobby back up.

There you have it. My top ten. What's yours?

One last hurrah at the State Fair

Yesterday I went to the State Fair for the third and final time this season. It was a long and interesting day going with a group of 12 total family members including 3 in wheelchairs and one child. It was hard to stay together and get around, but we managed pretty well and everyone had a good time. I like going with my family because we can all get different food items and share. A bite here, a bite there is much better than say, eating a whole order or cheese curds by yourself. We had our favorites including cheese curds, onion rings, and Sweet Martha's and milk. I also ate some other things, like this:

That, my friends, is a deep-fried cheeseburger. Bun and all. The batter kind of tasted like onion ring batter. They should have put some fried onions in there too. While it tasted like a heart attack, it was good! I think after 3 days of the fair this year I got my fill of fatty food, people-watching, and looking at buildings full of crafts.

Side note: I finally heard from my husband! I got an email and a phone call on Saturday morning. I had not heard his voice in 4 weeks, it made me feel so happy but also made me miss him more.

Another Fair Day

Today, well yesterday, was a looong day at the State Fair. And it was a hot sticky one. I felt like I was eating all day, but really I didn't eat that much. However it did include not one but two cheese(s?) on a stick (below), some big fat bacon on a stick (which was not so great), hot apple dumpling with ice cream, and the one I somehow forgot to try last year - Pot Roast Sundae :) Potatoes, corn, pot roast, gravy and a cherry tomato on top

The meat was great, but the potatoes were a little runny and it needed thicker gravy. But overall it was tasty. Glad I shared it with my brother though because that's a lot of potatoes to fill up your stomach.

This is my beloved cheese on a stick. Think corn bread filled with melty american cheese, which gave me the idea of making grilled cheese with corn bread...mmm must try it.

Anyways, we also went to the Brandi Carlile and Amos Lee concert tonight at the fair. I adore both of these artists and despite the too long intermissions, I really enjoyed the concert. Amos Lee should have sung more songs. That man has an amazingly soothing and sexy voice. Brandi and her band were amazing, they are so talented and put on a good show. I saw them two years ago at the fair playing on a free stage, and this year they were headlining the Grand Stand with what sounded like the largest crowd they had ever played for (at least in MN). They said they love playing in the cities and will always come back here, which I am very happy about. There is something about Brandi's music that just draws me into it. I feel such an emotional connection to the songs and some of the lyrics just totally describe the way I feel or have felt at times in my life. I actually got teary during some of the songs hearing them live. Part of one song that I had never really felt that emotional about before, but is exactly how I feel now that my love is so far away, is this:

Look to the clock on the wall,
Hands hardly moving at all.
Can't stand the state that I'm in
Sometimes it feels like the walls closing in

 O lord what can I say
I'm so sad since you went away
time time ticking on me
Alone is the last place I wanted to be
Lord what can I say

Try to bury my toubles away
drown my sorrow the same way
seems no matter how hard I try
It feels like there's something just missing inside

Have you ever just connected to someone's music like this before? I hope so. It's a comforting feeling. If you have not listened to Brandi's music, it's kind of folk/rock. I was going to post a video from the concert, but it's taking forever and a year to upload. So here's a link to her YouTube page instead: Brandi Carlile

Is that corn dog pizza?

It's been three weeks since Will left, and now 4 days that I have not heard a word from him. Not liking that part. I feel so much better at least getting an email knowing where he is and what he's doing. And there's so much I want to tell him, but it will have to wait. Time seems to be going pretty fast though. I try to think of it in a matter of weeks instead of days, 52 weeks sounds so much shorter than 365 days. Already 3 weeks done, so now I just have to repeat that about 16 more times, ugh.

In other news, it's MN State Fair time! I went with my brother on the first day and it was perfect weather. I started with my two must-have artery clogging delicacies - cheese on a stick, and cheese curds. Yum yum. The only new crazy thing that I tried was this:

Yes, that is half of a corn dog on a slice of pizza. If the hot dog inside was better, or better yet if it had been sausage, it would have been amazing, but it was just ok. I did get a ton of strange looks from people walking by asking, "is that corn dog pizza??" I will be returning to the fair two more times so there are still a lot of things I want to eat, good thing I have several days to spread them out into. Cheese on a stick will be consumed every time though, that's my favorite. It's basically a corn dog, but the "dog" is a stick of cheese that melts into gooey deliciousness.