2024, Family, Food, State Fair

Fair Food Review `24

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Another great year at the Fair.  Five trips for me… six for YA (she did a Grandstand show on Tuesday).  As usual, we had a list of foods that we wanted to try; some of them are new offerings this year and some are our annual favorites.  When we started to work on the list, YA said “where is last year’s list” and was disappointed that I didn’t have it on the computer.  So…  now we have a spreadsheet.  Figures.  What follows is this year’s food review.

New Stuff

  • Cookie Butter Crunch Mini Donuts. Vanilla sugar mini donuts topped w/ cookie butter drizzle and Biscoff crumbles.  Not overwhelmed by the Biscoff taste.  They also dipped the edges of the bucket in the cookie crumbs which was cute but VERY messy.
  • Deep Fried Haloumi Cheese. Cheese wrapped in filo and fried, served with sweet chili sauce.  Cheese had an unusual texture – more like thick cottage cheese.  Very very salty.   Could have been much better.
  • Berries & Cream Nordic Waffle. Such a good idea but the problem with the Nordic Waffle is that to make them flexible enough to fold around different items, they have to be on the soft side of cooked.  Doesn’t take long before they’re a little limp and mushy.
  • Chili Mango Whip. YA tried this, as she’s liked the Whip options before.  This was their mango whip with a  “chamoy and tajin” topping.  She said it was “ok” but a little “fake” tasting.  She didn’t have a better explanation.
  • Patata Frita Focacciawich. Kettle chip flavored ice cream between focaccia bread topped w/ honey butter, kettle chips.  Sounded intriguing and smelled marvelous but the focaccia overpowered everything else and the ice cream on it’s own really didn’t have much kettle chip flavor.
  • Amish Donut. In a surprising turn reversal of roles, YA wanted to try to the Amish donut from Peachey’s – enough to stand in line for almost 45 minutes. (I didn’t not stand in line with her – no way I’m waiting that long for anything, even a donut.)  The donut had a great smell of vanilla and sugar but it was heavy and my three bites sat like lumps in my stomach.  We threw the last 1½ donuts away.  That’s right, VS threw donuts away.

 

Oldies but Goodies

So all the new foods we tried this year were a bust.  Luckily there are plenty of other favorites that don’t disappoint!

  • Cheesy Sriracha Funnel Bites. Hot, cheesy fried bites with green onions and sriracha mayo.  They love me here so I get ranch on the side as well for no extra cost!
  • Roasted Corn. Why does it taste better at the fair?
  • Australian Battered Potatoes. We had them with ranch and cheese this year.
  • Sweet Martha’s Cookies. Most dropped food item at the fair… I always bring a Tupperware but still only get the small serving.  They’re really best the first day.
  • Potato Cheese Crepe. YA’s favorite savory breakfast.
  • Pickle Pizza. I could live without this but YA loves it!
  • Brim’s `Sota Jammy Sammy. Almond butter and Minnesota blueberry jam on grilled cinnamon bread.  Yum-O.
  • Cheese Curds. One day we had the garlic ones, yesterday we had the ranch ones.  We always get the smallest dish.  Too many cheese curds can do us both in.
  • Potato Pierogis. Also another savory breakfast with a tangy horseradish sauce.
  • Hawaiian Shave Ice. What can I say?  Gotta have it every trip!

Guess the spreadsheet will be updated for next year by removing the new foods only!

What’s on the menu for your Labor Day?

29 thoughts on “Fair Food Review `24”

  2. – If you drop a Martha’s cookie, do you brush it off and use the 5 second rule?
    – I’ve been telling people about the Australian Battered Potatoes for years now – but I now realize how limited is my knowledge of Fair Food! And yes, of course you need a spread sheet.

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    1. I only use the five-second rule in my house or in the home of someone that I know well. At the fair, absolutely not. Of course I don’t have to use the five-second rule at home too often because Guinevere is fast!

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    2. I am a fan of the Austalian battered potatoes, but as a rule I don’t do the cheese sauce or the ranch. The potatoes themselves are sufficient in all their golden crunchiness.

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  3. Too soon to tell what dinner will be. I have to weigh the options.
    We have had a bounty of eggplants from our two plants. In the last couple of weeks we froze an ample supply of breaded and cooked eggplant slices for this winter and I’ve made moussaka, baba ghanouj, stir fry with eggplant (twice) and last night an eggplant parmesan. The one thing I know for certain is that tonight’s dinner will not include eggplant.

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    2. I know you’ve all been on the edge of your seat wondering what I would make.
      I had a pork tenderloin in the freezer that I cut into cubes and marinated in a mixture of lime juice, basil leaves, garlic, jalapeño, fish sauce, fennel seeds and a couple other spices and grilled it on skewers with red onion and slices of zucchini. I made sweet potato fries (courtesy of Trader Joes) and chipotle aioli to go with the fries. We had half of a watermelon, which I cut into bite-sized cubes to make it easy to eat.

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  4. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I ate so well during the rest of the weekend, that moderation is on the Labor Day menu. We are just back from a weekend with my sister’s family where we had Iowa Cut Pork Chops (Fareway’s specialty), Sweet Corn, a delicious apple/pear salad made by my brother, and pie by me (cherry and Fresh Peach). On top of my annual State Fair mini donut binge Wednesday, it was a lot, so now I am ready to practice some self-discipline. We also went out for a BBQ meal which was delicious.

    I must finish my puzzles. Wordle took me awhile this morning. The rest of the day I am actually catching up on housework, laundry and some yardwork. The big branch is gone (thank you to the neighbor with a chain saw), but I found another downed branch lurking behind the Joe Pye Weed. The lawn needs some cleanup around the edges, and my zinnias were knocked around by the wind and rain of last week. My vegetable garden looks pretty sad after the storms. But right now it is too wet and dewy to work in the yard.

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  5. Breakfast was some cold pizza and OJ. I might have another snack shortly.

    We don’t always do much for lunch, depends where and what I end up doing today. I think I’m headed into a theater to do some stuff.

    Supper will probably be leftovers. I made chicken breasts and instant mashed potatoes for supper last night.

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  6. grandkids back from kosovo yesterday so state fair today
    start with deep fried pickles and bucket of french fries then on to curds cheese on a stick and falafal king my noodles in international village are gone which will motivate me to try my eemembered version of it
    i loved those noodles

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  8. Despite not enjoying crowds, I made to to the Fair twice – though I only stayed 3.5 hrs the first time and 5.5 hrs the second time. Food is not the reason I go. Over those two visits I had one ice cream cone from the Dairy Building, a cream puff, and the Swedish sundae (lingonberry sauce + Ginger cookie) at the Salem Church dining hall. Not much else appeals to me.

    Spent just over an hour paddling my kayak on a quiet Keller Lake this morning before the wind picked up. Food today will be nothing special – cereal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, maybe grill a burger for supper. I will be hiking the National Parks in Utah next week so am trying to clean out the fridge and freezer before I leave on Sunday.

    Happy Labor Day!!

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  11. Yesterday I made a big batch of fresh, chunky tomato sauce with Roma tomatoes from Friday’s farmers’ market. Tonight I plan to make eggplant lasagna Florentine, using eggplant instead of pasta sheets, spinach instead of meat, and some of the chunky tomato sauce. Should be an easy dinner once it’s all assembled.

    Looks like our traditional Labor Day celebrations at Ann’s house have come to an end. Ann will be 90 next Sunday, and her memory has been slowly deteriorating for a couple of years. We stopped by yesterday for a short visit and it was obvious that she was completely oblivious to the fact that today is Labor Day. I’m not sure whether I should feel relieved or sad; I think I’m a little of both.

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  12. We arrived home from Fergus Falls about 2 hours ago. We had 4 days with son, DIL, and grandson at an air B and B on Ottertail Lake. We are exhausted. The garden has gone wild. I will have updates this week.

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  13. Tonight we had Portuguese Stew from Cape Cod with clams and linguicsa sausage we made in the winter and froze. That, with Gallician bread was heavenly, as we are exhausted from driving 370 miles today from MN to our home.

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  14. I tried the “walking shepherd’s pie” at the fair this year. I liked it. I thought about going for the purple sticky rice, but the crowds were thick and I grew faint of heart. O’Gara’s didn’t have a long line.

    The vegie fries were also good – battered and deep fried onion, carrrot, cauliflower, potato, and zucchini. I don’t get them on the same day as the battered potatoes, though. You don’t want to deep fry to excess.

    There used to be a booth in the Coliseum that had chocolate dipped strawberries for a dollar. That’s a thing of the past now.

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