Things I Ate Today

[naomikritzer]

a bowl of cereal
a cup of coffee
a plate of reheated leftovers
a "mocha on a stick" (sort of a coffee-flavored fudgesicle)
cheese curds
some of Molly's minidonuts
bacon on a stick
teriyaki ostrich on a stick (meh)
French fries
an ear of roasted corn
a "fudge puppy" (chocolate-dipped belgian waffle slice on a stick with whipped cream on top)
the last of Kiera's cotton candy
the last of Molly's brownie

Molly also had a corn dog, a hot dog, an egg roll on a stick, the minidonuts, and her own mocha on a stick. Kiera had a corn dog, a mocha on a stick, some of Molly's minidonuts, an egg roll on a stick, a bunch of French fries, and a fruit salad. Plus the desserts mentioned above.

Why yes, we DID go to the State Fair today.

And yes, the Minnesota State Fair puts everything on a stick. You find stuff on a stick at all fairs because it's a convenient way to eat something while walking around, but at our state fair, it's long since reached the status of a statewide in-joke. New this year was Summit (beer) on a stick, which was three sample-sized cups of beer inserted into a sort of a paddle with holes in it; those were wildly popular, and made me envision the meeting at Summit in which the marketing people explained to the engineers that they needed to come up with a way to put beer on a stick.

Comments

[sarah-prineas.livejournal.com]

Beer on a stick is...inspired!

Do you guys have butter sculpture? At the Iowa state fair this year they were going to do a Michael Jackson butter sculpture, but that was deemed too tacky. Instead they did the Neil Armstrong moon-walk and of course a cow.

[naomikritzer]

We do have butter sculpture. There's a beauty contest each year to choose Princess Kay of the Milky Way (who must have parents involved in the dairy industry -- ideally a dairy farmer) and Princess Kay and the runner ups all get their likenesses sculpted out of butter.

They're sculpted during the fair (you can watch the well-bundled princesses sitting in the cooler with the sculptor as the sculptor works), put on display when done, and then when the fair is over the princesses all get their butter heads to keep or turn into brownies or popcorn topping or whatever.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

See, that's what the Ex (Canadian National Exhibition) needs -- more stuff on sticks. (We went on Wednesday, and among the three of us ate perogies with sour cream, hot dogs, curly fries, chicken wings, regular fries, spring rolls, samosas, mini donuts, chutney, pakoras, two different kinds of beaver tails, and ice cream. But none of it, disappointingly, on sticks. The only things you can get on a stick at the Ex are corn dogs and really terrible ice cream dipped in chocolate sauce and nuts.)

This year's butter-sculpture theme was "It came from outer space," so we had butter sculptures of Darth Vader, Yoda, and somebody getting squashed by an asteroid. The Yoda, to my mind, was the clear winner: as well as being the most skilfully sculpted, he was depicted eating yogurt out of a plastic tub.

[naomikritzer]

Every event like that needs stuff on sticks.

Walking around the Minnesota State Fair, you will quickly realize that they can put ANYthing on a stick if they try hard enough.

[swords-and-pens.livejournal.com]

The "beer on a stick" is a simpler version of a lot of "flights" (samplers) of beer that have been served at brew pubs for years. Of course, at the pubs, the paddle/stick usually holds more than three beers and is nicer than the pine paddle cut-out Summit was using, but hey, it's the Fair.

Don't get me wrong: it's a clever marketing trick to bring to the Fair, but it's hardly original. Just sayin'. :)