Minnesota Fair and Family Fun, August 2006

Soaking up Minnesota atmosphere (read: farm animals and food-on-a-stick) at the State Fair. . .

Since it was Thrifty Thursday--and opening day--fair admission was only $7 per person. We parked in an unofficial lot for $5, the cheapest we saw (sadly, there was no free parking if you had a Thrifty rental car--though that would have been extremely cool).

Over the course of the day at the Fair, this is what we ate:

• caramel apple malted sundae (not on a stick) $4
  yummy, malty, and caramel-y, but we had tried to order a malted shake, so we were mildly disappointed

• smoked pork chop on a stick $6
  fabulous, juicy, moist, delicious--my favorite savory thing there
  
• ice water from the KARE 11 tent $0
  you gotta hand it to the midwest--they know how to push their free ice water!
  
• deep-fried American cheese on a stick $3
  all right, not at all bad, but not up to the par of other items
  
• deep-fried cheese curds (not on a stick) $4
  really good--squeaky even under their breading
  
• fudge puppy (Belgian waffle dipped in hot fudge, topped with whipped cream and sprinkles) on a stick $2.50
  droolingly good, my favorite sweet thing there, and on sale for Thrifty Thursday (though the cashier, a friendly blonde Minnesotan--what else?--didn't know that
  
• deep-fried Snickers bar on a stick $3
  very nice--definitely s'mores-like and melty inside
  
• two small draft root beers (not on a stick) each $1
  we tried two stands that make their own (or so they say) and we interrogated another stand that makes their own and a plain old Mug stand (though it advertised A&W); each root beer salesman/woman tried a different technique, some maligning the competition ("They use Mug!"), some advertising a money-back guarantee ("You drink it before you decide if you want to pay me"), some shrugging and saying they just work there, and some insisting that we'll like it but offering us nothing either specific or special to make us try it: both root beers we tried were good, in different ways.
  
• Famous Dave's "hellfire" deep-fried (?) pickles (not on a stick) $4
  not good, weirdly sweet pickle slices in a not-really spicy but savory batter with a savory mayo; odd combination, and we didn't finish them, but they, too, were on sale for Thrifty Thursdays, and there was excellent service

Besides eating, we also saw the Minnesota state fruit and veggie tent (free soybean plants for kids), the 4-H tent (no, Robert, it doesn't stand for "husbandry" and three other things) with high school art and science projects, the sheep barn (they're covered in blankets to stay clean, we were told; my nose was covered to stay away from the smell), a chicken-judging competition (apparently egg-layers are judged on the width of their hips (chickens have hips?) and they have different colored spots on their ears which tell you which color eggs they lay--brown, white, blue, or green), the needlework and crochet prize-winning entries, and the baking and preserving prize-winning entries. Why does no one I know submit things to the Fair? Wow, it was wonderful.

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Created: 8/28/06. Last Modified: 8/26/06.