2025, Food, Kids, State Fair

Fair Food Roundup – 2025

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I know that I always say that YA and I don’t go to the fair for the food but it would be a lie if we didn’t enjoy the food part of each day.  Here’s a lowdown on the 2025 fair foods for us:

  • Hot Siracha Funnel Cake Bites. This is not a new food but it is still the first thing that I get on the first day of the fair.  It doesn’t hurt that the owners of the stall know me and have the bite dough ready for me; normally they don’t make the bite dough so early because most folks want sweet in the morning.  Savory and just a bit hot with the siracha sauce.
  • Beignets.  This was a new stall this year and they knocked it out of the park.  The beignets were hot, fluffy, just the right amount of powdered sugar.  They also had a lot of tea and coffee selections, although the beverages were on the pricey side.
  • Sweet Squeakers. As always, The Blue Barn knows what we like.  This year’s new offering was cheese curds batter fried with lemon whipped cream and raspberry sauce.  A perfect way to start Day Two.  The pierogies and the French toast bites are still on the menu and we sampled them on Day Three and Four.  Still yummy.
  • Filled Churro and Chimney Cake. I’m putting these together because they were actually similar and disappointing in the same way.  Both were churro/doughnut dough caked and filled with stuff: the churro with Nutella and the chimney cake with ice cream and Nutella (although not much Nutella).  Both suffered by being stuffed which decreased the crunch factor.  Nutella and ice cream however were excellent.
  • Dessert Dog. This is the second year that the West End Creamery was disappointing.  This new food was advertised as ice cream sandwiched between pieces of coffee cake, drizzled with strawberry/rhubarb sauce and on a stick.  First off, the stick was a waste – you could NOT eat this off a stick – fork was required.  The coffee cake was more like cookie dough but not that good.  And the price was outrageous.  Probably no West End Creamery for me next year.
  • Green Apple Sucker Ice Cream. YA had this and informed me immediately that I wouldn’t like it because it tasted exactly like those green apple caramel suckers.  Which she adores and I do not.  Five stars from YA.
  • Jumbo Tater Tots. We finally had these on our final day – YA had been dragging her feet for some reason.  We got the cheese bomb version and they were exactly as expected – huge cheese filled tater tots.  We had sour cream and chives on the side and they were delicious.

All the rest of our favorites were still great:  roasted corn, Hawaiian shave ice, pickle pizza, cheese curds, potato cheddar crepe, blueberry pie and multiple applications of cookies.  Can’t forget to mention my favorite mocktails from Summer Lakes.  They have several varieties and I switch up but my favorite one is the Wedgehammer – orange juice, lemonade, lime juice, ginger and a slice of orange.

When I read through this, it sounds like all we do is eat, but remember all this is spread out over 5-6 days and for the most part we share everything.  There were several new foods we didn’t get to – if they’re still around next year maybe we’ll get to them.

Anything you’ve been craving this week (food or otherwise)?

30 thoughts on “Fair Food Roundup – 2025”

  1. When the temperature suddenly dropped last week, my dinner plans shifted from salads and watermelon and corn on the cob to more warming things like soup. For no particular reason I had a sudden craving for moussaka. Our own eggplants this year were kind of a bust (all of our raised beds were strangely unproductive this year) so I picked up a nice glossy eggplant at the store and last night made the moussaka. It’s kind of a big production because you have to prepare the eggplant, the filler and the bechamel sauce separately and then put them all together to bake. It takes me a couple of hours but it was worth it.

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  2. Husband has had a real sweet tooth lately and decided he had to make kolache on Sunday. It was the recipe from the New Prague Inn cookbook. He made his own apricot filling. They were delicious.

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  3. I don’t think we have ever had as many tomatoes as we have this year. If I’m counting correctly, I believe I have seven different tomato dishes in the refrigerator right now. This includes the tomato chutney that I just made yesterday. So whether we’re craving tomatoes or not, that’s what we’re eating.

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  5. I’m craving organic Honey Crisp apples! I haven’t had time to check out apple orchards and find some. I stock up on them every year.

    I’m also craving the end of moving. My body is telling me that I’m not a youngster anymore. I used to be able to do this stuff quickly. It just looks like a mountain to me now. Each day I take more steps, so the end is in sight. This coming weekend will be the first in my new home. I still have to clean my old home and get it listed, but most things will be out of here and in the new place. Not organized, but in.

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  6. Now I’m craving some of Bill’s moussaka…

    I too started cooking as soon as the cool weather hit – we made sauce from our tomatoes, instead of just tossing them in the freezer. Then I made my turkey chili with the sauce, and it was delicious.

    Warmer weather coming now for a while…

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  8. I’m not sure why, but sweet corn just isn’t working for me this year. I’ve bought it a few times, we eat a couple ears and that’s all. If I remember before it dries out, I cut off and freeze it, but the chickens have gotten more than me this summer.

    Usually I love sweet corn.

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  9. Like Bill, last week’s colder weather had me hankering for soups, stews, and heartier foods.

    Hans had picked up three beautiful eggplants at the local farmers’ market, and with the abundance of tomatoes from the garden we had the key ingredients for several dishes. We settled on ratatouille and eggplant caponata, not quite as labor intensive as Bill’s moussaka. We’re having the remainder of the caponata tonight with roasted chicken.

    The next few days are forecast to be warmer, so there may be a salade Niçoise coming up pretty soon and maybe something grilled on the patio, too.

    I’m currently unable to “like” anything, not even the main post.

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  10. I had a COVID shot yesterday and have spent the day feeling unwell. I often react to vaccines like this. Sigh. Food has nit appealed to me today. But during the cold streak I wanted my homemade tomato basil soup with grilled cheese.

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  11. I also went on a cooking and baking spree over the cool weekend: biscuits and gravy, chicken curry, beef stew, bread, peach pie.

    Not craving any specific food at the moment, just wishing for more time in the day.

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  13. Ode to Popcorn

    I pour the shape-shifters
    out of the old mason jar into the pan.
    The color of honey, sleek
    in their pile of streamlined sibs,
    not one of them cares if they’re on top,
    no rivalries, no grasping,
    nothing falsified from skin to core,
    no hint about what’s pent inside
    their quarter inch of seed
    that only gets expressed
    when, as now, they’re being boiled in oil.

    Soon they’ll snap the strappings of their haiku form,
    explode ten times their size,
    go wild, expressionist; no two the same:
    fist, cloud, snapdragon, cauliflower,
    elephant man, barnacle, merengue, a bowl
    of almost weightless meteors,
    an orchestra of mutant trumpets
    all playing off-white tunes, although,
    in each, their husk remains, in caves
    or sunk in sockets like weird eyes.

    For flakes like these, no way back
    to raindrop symmetry. A little salt and butter
    then on to meet their call: to melt
    in mouths that crave a hint of paradise.

    – Peter Harris

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