Okay folks, I'll admit it... I was COMPLETELY unprepared for the Iowa State Fair. Somehow, I've managed to get through nearly 38 years of life without ever going to a state fair before... and now I wish I could go every weekend!
.... except that doing so would probably would lead to a life of hideous obesity and type 2 Diabetes. *sigh*
Sunday morning, Tim and I drove out to Des Moines (Paul Simon playing on repeat... I'd forgotten how much I love that album...) and
We ogled all of the prize winning fruits and veggies... and stared, in slack jawed wonder at the super sized pumpkins and giant heads of cabbage.
We waited on line for 15 minutes to see the butter sculptures -- which were the highlight of my day!
... and then we ate a lil' somethin'
We rode A ride (they were $5 a go -- insane!) that spun us around til we could barely see, walked through the crazy carnie game tents, and then ate a lil' somethin' else...
We looked in on the cows, pigs and sheep.... visited some amazing fancy chickens and rabbits -- and strange long eared goats. I bought a tote bag, which lists the top 10 things you can do at the fair... and one of them was, "You can LOOK at the animals, and then you can EAT the animals!" ... And they weren't kidding! Tim picked up that lamb burger right outside the land of sheep... which I found a wee bit creepy.
We spent an insane amount of time looking at jars of jams and pickled things. There were prize winning cookies, candies, pies and cakes on display, including this gem of a squirrel cake:
And then we had a snack...
... looked at some farm machinery, some quilts and the world's largest bull, before deciding to have a bit of dessert...
I'll admit that there were things about the Fair that bugged me a bit... the only veggies to eat there were so fried they looked more like donuts than vegetables. It felt VERY corporately sponsored/funded -- all about soybeans and the wonder of corn. This was the part I really disliked about the whole thing... it wasn't really about little farmers at all -- more about big business farming -- which made me sad. I got angry when we saw this display about "What Cow's Eat" and corn was at the top of the list (grass towards the bottom...). I hope that one day, that focus can change ---- and not just because I've become (quite literally) obsessed with the farm to table movement, but because the State Fair should celebrate real farms... not only the farm-like factories.
This concludes the food rant portion of this evening program, we now return you to our regularly scheduled presentation of "State Fair Euphoria"...
We spent six hours out there -- eating, people watching (stellar!) and celebrating all things farm-ish. I honestly had the best day I've had in ages. My only regrets:
a) We didn't save room for deep fried oreos on a stick (Oh. My. GAWD!).
b) We had to leave before Journey and Heart took the stage in the bandstand.
Otherwise, the day was all I needed it to be... one spent sharing tons of laughs and speared foods with the man that I adore.
Perfection.
Lots of love and Pickle Dawgs..... xo!
1 comments:
Yeah...I went to my first state fair (mind you, after YEARS of the Douglas County Fair in Lawrence...but really only going to that for the demolition derby) when I was pregnant with Sofi. I *thought* we were going for the George Jones concert...but, like you, became totally obsessed with all the fried foods, craft and canning displays, and the FAIRGROUNDS. (In Missouri, most of it appears to have been built after the turn of the century...brick buildings that announce the exhibits in very unsubtle tile mosaics: "SWINE" "COMMERCIAL" etc. http://www.mostatefair.com/description.html ) Glad it gave you a lift after a less-than-awesome start to your fall season at Pulp.
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