2013 Iowa State Fair eats

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.

Iowa State Fair Blue-Ribbon Cinnamon Rolls

I don't know about you, but now that the seasons are changing (even though it's still 90 degrees outside!), I'm in the mood for fall baking.  I found this recipe for the 2012 Iowa State Fair Winning Cinnamon Rolls from Two Chicks from the Sticks, who happened to judge the Tone's Cinnamon Roll contest this year.  I actually baked these on a whim.  I woke up on Sunday morning and decided I wanted to knead some bread dough.  What better recipe to try than a blue-ribbon winner?

Oh, did my husband love me for baking up these rolls for him!  I rolled the dough loosely, so the caramel topping oozed into the middle of each roll.  And I noticed right away that the rolls have a healthy dose of cinnamon, which made them unique.  The caramel sauce also sits on the stove for a little bit longer than normal so it gets extra rich and gooey.  I'm sure I'll be baking these sticky rolls up again soon!

Odds & Ends: August 2012

Wow! Summer has gone by way too fast. The trees are already turning color in my neighborhood, another byproduct of this summer's drought.  The Iowa State Fair always seems to be the last fun getaway for the summer. My sister and I had way too much fun with all the photo cutouts at the State Fair this year ;)

I actually have to work at the state fair at least one day each year, and last weekend, we closed up the booth for the night right when a storm blew through the fairgrounds.  That's right, a storm. In the middle of a drought.  Talk about bad timing on my part!

Even though it was pouring rain, I couldn't leave the fairgrounds without my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough milk shake from the Dairy Barn.  I stood under an awning and enjoyed my shake in the rain!

The really weird thins about the rainstorm was that it was the second time I got caught in a heavy downpour in the last week. And yes, we're still in a drought!

The weekend before, I ran a 5K race at the State Capitol. When I hit the 2 mile mark, the clouds got dark, and a thunderstorm rolled in.  We all scattered for shelter under these tiny tents.  Did I mention there was lightening going off over our heads?  I haven't been that scared in a long time. Glad I wasn't up on the gold dome!

In other big news (at least for me), I partnered up with a team on TriMatchup.com to ride the cycling leg of the Hy-Vee Triathlon on Labor Day weekend.  I took my bike to the Neal Smith Trail along Saylorville Lake to test out how well I'd do at the race's 25 mile distance.  But I had no idea how hilly the trail was.  My poor legs and bike barely made it up all those hills!  I hope the Hy-Vee Tri course is a lot less hilly.  I don't have a fast bike, so I'm getting a little worried that I'm going to get in the way of all the other racers!

Now that we've got a little rain, my garden is starting to perk up.  Can you see what I found in my garden the other day?  At least it seemed to be nibbling on the weeds and not the flowers.

And after months of waiting, we finally have cucumbers!  My husband put up a cattle panel to use as a cucumber trellis.  Now our backyard looks like an edible jungle.  I love it!

After a terrible growing season for cucumbers last year, I'm so happy to finally have enough cucumbers to make pickles again.  I've been relying on a shortcut this year -- the Mrs. Wage's pickle mixes -- for canning pickles.  I've had mixed luck at making my own pickle mix from scratch, so I'm hoping the already-prepared mix will work out well.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

So how are you enjoying the last few days of summer?  Have you been canning any garden produce?  As much as I love the summer, I'm looking forward to the fall apple season so I can make pies :)

2012 Iowa State Fair finds

My sister and I spent a day at the Iowa State Fair.  I didn't take as many pictures this year because I was trying to enjoy the moment.  But I snapped a few photos of my favorite new finds, including the chocolate covered cookie dough on a stick, pictured above.  It was by far my favorite new fair food.  My sister and I split one because it was so huge!

I snapped a photo of this dwarf sunflower display at the Iowa Discover Garden.  I really want to plant tiny sunflowers next year in my backyard garden.  I need to remember all these varieties: Teddy Bear, Sunny Smile and Little Becka.  The discovery garden wasn't as colorful this year because of the drought this summer, but it was still a nice display.

My sister and I enjoyed way too many sweets at the State Fair this year.  We couldn't resist these mini cherry crisps at the Iowa Orchard Booth in the Ag Building.  So good!  There was so much brown sugar and butter in this dessert that it tasted like caramel.  And I love the mini pie plate presentation.  I need to re-create this at home.

We also tried the new bacon corn dog at the Iowa State Fair.  I'll spare you the embarrassing photo of us trying to eat the corn dog.  It was good, but to be honest, we couldn't really taste the bacon in the batter.  We definitely indulged at the Iowa State Fair, but that's part of the fun!  Now I'll be eating salads the rest of the week :)

Iowa State Fair memories

If you'll indulge me, I just wanted to share a few more highlights of my second weekend at the 2011 Iowa State Fair.

The "big bull" enjoying a big breakfast.

The best lunch ever - pork loin sandwich from the Iowa Pork Tent.

Trip to the Iowa State Fair

It was a busy weekend for me -- first, a trip to the Ames straw poll, and then the next day, a visit to the Iowa State Fair with my sister.  We were both feeling a little under the weather, trying to get over summer colds.  So I didn't take many photos.  But I have a few highlights to share with you.

This year's blue-ribbon winner for non-traditional sweet roll was a bacon sticky roll!  Can you see the chunks of bacon?

One of my favorite exhibits was "Can-struction," sculptures made by stacking donated canned goods.  There was a canned-good butter cow and market-weight hog.

We hopped over to the Iowa lamb food stand for a lamb burger (my husband's favorite).

Then we checked out the pampered show pigs, who were relaxing in the breeze of the fans blowing through the swine barn.

 

 We saw blue-ribbon potatoes.

 And waited in a huge line to see the famous butter cow.

The fair was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the butter cow by asking local organizations to paint mini-butter cows, which were placed all over the fair grounds.  This was one of my favorites.

I came home with a few pieces of fresh saltwater taffy.

OK. Several pieces of taffy.

And I brought home the famous chocolate chip cookies in a cup.  Admittedly, this cup was full when I bought it.  I don't know where the cookies disappeared to...

Iowa State Fair: Master Gardeners

One of my favorite exhibits at the Iowa State Fair is the Polk County Master Gardeners' showcase garden.  I talked to a few of the master gardeners who planned the garden this year, and I was surprised to learn that they start the seeds for the garden at the Des Moines Botannical Center each winter.  So there's a lot of advanced planning (and some really creative folks) that goes into this State Fair garden.

And this year, the master gardeners really outdid themselves.  Right away, a towering, exotic-looking flower captured my eye.  I went over to look at the label, which read Caster Bean Oil plant.  I love the pom-pom red flowers.

Someone on Twitter told me that caster bean plants are very easy to grow.  You can just plant the seed in the ground, and they take off.  It looks like they need to be staked, though, so they don't topple over from their height.

I was just strolling next to another flower bed and I saw another surprising garden feature -- a dill plant growing between marigolds.  Then I noticed kohlrabi growing in the patch, as well as ornamental kale.  I asked one of the master gardeners, and sure enough, it's an edible garden.  Even the marigold flowers are edible!  I so want to replicate this in my yard next year.

I was impressed by how many garden features they squeezed into such a small space around the Agriculture Building.

 

And look!  A rain barrel!  With a rain chain!  I've got to get me one of these!

A big thank you to the Polk County Master Gardeners for putting on such an inspiring display.  I came away with lots of garden ideas for my own home.