Eau de Fair

Our State Fair is a great State Fair. If you haven't gone, it's a must to-do. It wasn't until I lived here, and done with grad school, that I went. I hopped on the bus, walked around and feasted on a funnel cake.

This year, we managed to get over there earlier than planned. Going with someone is always great, you can split all the food- therefore increasing your number of must haves. Well, when it comes to having a complete off day, you have to go in with a plan.

I love the smell of the Fair. That yummy sweet smell of fried treats, the smells from the grills, that sweetness of summer. One new thing I took in this year, I walked up to the Rabbit and poultry pavilion and saw the chickens. Such beautiful chickens! And the weirdest thing I saw all day- a couple of people were grooming and BLOWDRYING a chicken. I really want to raise chickens at some point, part of my live like Martha Stewart pipe dream. They were also selling broiler hens for $8, so I came kinda close to buying a chicken. Of course, the reality of getting it back to the car sunk in- I don't think the shuttle bus driver would of let me take it on the bus.

We took in the sights- of course the butter cow is a must see. She also did Shawn Johnson too. My roomie has proclaimed that if she ever "makes it", she doesn't want a street or school named after her- just to her likeness to be sculpted in butter at the Iowa State Fair. There's something to be said about that.

When we were in line waiting to order our pineapple, we talked with the most amazing couple. They were grandparents with their grand daughter who was 2. She was living with them for 6 months while her mom was in the job corps in another state. I couldn't even imagine leaving my kid for that long or the struggle she goes through daily. And how great it is for the grandparents to pitch in and help. That is just an amazing family for that little girl to be blessed to come into. I wish them the best.

My roomie was slated to be a celebrity chef serving at the Pork Tent- her apron was just the cutest thing. And yes, when she was done she smelled just like a pork chop on a stick. Mischa loved that smell and had to lick her upon returning home.

We ate:

An order of fried ravioli- always a favorite
Soft pretzel
Apple cookie and apple pizeta
Home made potato chips and AE dip- which rocked!
Turkey burger for dinner
Deep fried pineapple- good but a lot of work to eat. There was a bit of the core in the piece of pineapple which made it difficult to cut off a bite to eat. ( Of course, the atmosphere we were in was quite atrocious- at a picnic table within range of the WOW radio station broadcasting Sean Hannity live blasting away. Grrrrrrr........)

So, we fared pretty well. I had my craving for fried veggies taken care of the previous night at Taki, a Japanese steakhouse and sushi place, which we girls from Penzeys went to celebrate our 4th anniversary. Oh, Mischa ate some of the tempura crust from a sweet potato slice I took home. And he ate a hunk of brioche bread I got from La Mie at the farmers market. Weird cat.

So final tally:

Butter cow- spotted
fried food consumed- only 3
beer sloshed on me- yep
mullets spied- oh yes- it was East Side night
weird guy with belt buckle with picture of rooster and word "cocky"- check
Shammy show

And after I was done- I still had $8. So, I totally could of gotten that chicken anyway. Our lease doesn't say anything about a chicken...

Anyway, this week is going to be a busy one. I am heading home on Wednesday. My Mom is having surgery on Thursday to remove a cataract. I'm really glad that she's getting it done, now she can see better to drive!! Nothing like being a passenger in her suv while she's backing out of the driveway and she mentions nonchalantly "you know, I really can't see over here- it's such a bother to turn my head to see"

My mom did get a pressure cooker- so we have a new toy to play with this week. Hopefully we'll follow the directions and I won't have to go back to help her paint the kitchen ceiling.

Have a good week!