Tuesday, August 30, 2011

MN State Fair 2011

It's that time of the year again where we stuff ourselves with fried food on a stick, it's fair time! There weren't that many exciting new foods to try this year, so we mixed a few in with some of our favorites.
Kidway
We got to the fair just in time for breakfast, so our first stop was a classic, Tom Thumbs's mini donuts.
Mini Donuts
Which was quickly followed by a new offering Axel's Breakfast Lollypop. The breakfast lollypop is a sausage patty, covered in a corn batter, fried and dipped in maple syrup. I actually really liked the flavor combination here, though it is a bit greasy for breakfast.
Breakfast Lollypop Breakfast Lollypop
Speaking of grease, Matt couldn't resist the deep fried slider while we were at Axel's.
Deep Fried Slider Deep Fried Slider
That is exactly what is sounds like, a slider, bun and all, batted and fried. Matt liked the flavor, but thought it was very greasy, especially the bun.

Next we wanted to try the Carnitas Asian Taco from San Felipe Tacos that we'd heard so much about.
DSC_0036
Asian Carnitas Taco Asian Carnitas Taco
This was probably the healthiest and perhaps tastiest thing we had all day. It's actually something we might eat outside of the fair. Basically, it a carnitas taco with an Asian sauce, great idea.

As it was before noon on a Sunday, it was still too early to try some Minnesota wine, but not too early for Minnesota wine ice cream made by Izzy's.
Wine Ice Cream
We tried two flavors, Bootlegger's Cherry made with Bootlegger's Cherry Port Wine from Cannon River and Ruby River raspberry ice cream infused with Ruby Minnesota wine from Northern Vineyards. Both were really good, but Matt thought the cherry had a better flavor with the huge cherries in it and a better texture. The raspberry tasted much more of wine to me. We thought this was a good deal at $7 for two huge scoops.

Then it was time for a quick beef stick snack while watching the lumberjack show followed by some Spring Grove Sodas.
Beef Stick Spring Grove Soda Pop
We'd heard a lot of great things about this soda. Matt had the black cherry and I had the strawberry. The strawberry tasted just like the strawberry soda I used to get as a kid at the local Pop Shop. I thought the black cherry tasted like cough syrup, but Matt loved it.

I really wanted to try the pretzel dog since I love sausage in a pretzel roll.
Pretzel Dog
This was just ok. I wanted more pretzel flavor than the amount of dough wrapped around the hot dog gave.

Of course, it's not a day at the MN State Fair without some fried cheese curds.
Cheese Curds Matt eating cheese curds
As we were leaving, Matt decided he need lunch at that point and capped off the day with a Pronto Pup. Somehow I managed to miss getting a picture of that one last treat.

It was really a great day at the fair, though we both were craving a big green salad by the end of it! I took a ton of non-food pictures too which you'll find here in my State Fair set.





If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2011 Kathy Lewinski

10 comments:

Sara said...

Sounds great! I might have to try some of your suggestions when I'm at the fair today. Spring Grove soda is the best!

Daily Musings of Life said...

We were first timers this Sunday at the Fair. Our daughter is a freshman at U of Mn and a rookie in the marching band, so we came to watch the parade they marched in. Food is everywhere! We enjoyed ice cream in the dairy barn, the chocolate chip cookies (no bucket for us, just a cone), the lamb gyros from the food building from the sustainable farm (near where you got the carnita, I think) and the fair special for our teenage son, hamburger, fries and XL soda in the food building also. Great fun. Looking forward to next year.

Pam said...

Can't beat the cheese curds.

vanillasugarblog said...

is there anything better than deep fried sausage on a stick? i think not.

ashleighskitchen said...

mmmMmm cheese cords are amazing, and deep fried, yum, but I've never had them deep fried. Sounds delicious though!

Lynne said...

The Asian carnitas tacos were one of my faves as well. That slaw with just a hint of wasabi was terrific!

Kate said...

I was hoping for your take on the Sweet Corn Ice cream; it was one of my favorites this year, topped with warm wild blueberry sauce. Truly amazing. The carnitas burrito was truly inspiring, even for this non-meat eater. Thankfully with our group we got one that was split in to five slices; I can't imagine eating a whole one. It looked huge.

I wanted to try the pretzel dog, but seeing your photo and hearing your take on it I'm glad I skipped it. I hate being disappointed, especially with the high prices.

kat said...

Kate - We always plan on trying way more than we actually have the appetite for! I have to say we were a little ice creamed out after the huge amount we got from the MN Wine Growers. That sweet corn one sounds amazing though.

grace said...

i love fair food, but there's a good reason it only comes around once or twice a year...
breakfast lollipop--hooray!

Jessica said...

We made it up to the fair this year and Matt and my husband's choices were so much alike! I saw the Spring Grove soda, now I wish I would have tried some! Check out our fair recap!

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