I was lucky to visit the Iowa State Fair three times last week, twice for work and once for fun. I took the day off on Friday and had a blast eating my way through the State Fair with my sister. Our first stop was the corn dog stand. We decided to stick to the original instead of trying the funky varieties offered this year (bacon maple, sweet corn & honey).
On my first afternoon at the fair, I grabbed a lamb burger at the Iowa Sheep Association's stand. The burger was grilled perfectly. And the lamb burgers must be popular, because people were buying them two and four at a time!
I wanted to try something a little crazy for dessert, and I saw that the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers stand was offering apples with caramel dip and bacon. I pretty much love bacon on everything, so I thought "Why not?" They served me an Iowa grown apple, of course.
But I have to admit, I was a little disappointed when the kid behind the counter sprinkled bacon bits on top of my caramel apple. I was hoping for chunks of bacon, not powdered bacon. But it still was a surprisingly good combination. I ended up eating most of this, because I loved the caramel dip!
I was also craving onion rings, and I stumbled upon a food stand offering homemade onion rings. These onion rings are the real deal. I had to wait 6 minutes while they cut, battered and fried them on the spot. I think this is my new favorite fair food!
Did you visit a fair this summer? What was your favorite food? I wish I had the appetite to order a funnel cake, too, but I'll have to wait for next year for that one.
I tried the wood-fired oven pizza at the Parlos Pizza stand near the Iowa Wine tent up on the hill. They were making 10-inch pizzas for $9. I love margherita pizza, and since I'm the only one in my family who does, I took the opportunity to eat the whole thing myself! It could have used much more basil (there were only 4 leaves on my whole pizza), but the crust was really good. And it was a nice refreshing break from all the traditional fair food I'd been eating all week!
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