Tasty Taste!

It was a beautiful night and the biggest "Taste" yet!  I heard between 1100-1200 people were in attendance and more food and games than ever before!  I knew it would be busy when I exited from southbound Snelling onto Como Ave and I got in the end of a line of cars entering Gate 7.  I figured I had made a good navigation decision as I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the line of cars behind me going under the bridge and back east on Como Ave!

I parked and hiked up the hill and joined Mom & Dad and some friends David and Cindy in the International Bazaar.

They claimed a table and bench space upon early arrival.  Armed with my taste plate and "the only fork you get, (so don't throw it away!)", I started my food adventure!

Walking down the far outside wall, I found the Corn Roast, new to the Taste this year!

Next was Duke's Poutine with turkey gravy over cheese curds and French fries, but I decided to let someone else try that!

David ate the Poutine!

 I grabbed an ice packed fresh lemonade and skipped over the line at Bayou Bobs (not interested in sauté Gator) and found Sara's Tipsy Pies!

Oh my! My new favorite food!  They are flaky crusted hand pies made with local beer and liquor. I tried the "Bapple" (blueberry apple) and Salted Caramel Finnegan's Apple and they were so delicious! What's more is I like Sara's story and will support her business venture!  I am not an advertiser in my blog, but this is worth a link! Sara's Tipsy Pies

I moved on down the wall and found Mancini's and they offered up Porketta Pig Wings and this year's new food is Mini Chocolate Chip Canolli.  The Pig Wings are great but the Canolli was  just OK, but there are lots more delicious desert options!  (I'd rather have a mini-donut!)

The line was quite long for Peter's Hot Dogs, Dino's Gyro's and the Global Market.

 I rounded the back end making my way back to our table, I found Lulu's Public House booth with the new Mac & Cheese cupcake and next door was the Sausage Sisters offering of Chicken Fiesta Sausage Hot Dish!  I filled up a secondary plate!

 Since I arrived a bit late, I felt I was behind the rest of the team!

Mom had eaten and was already playing Midway games and returned to the table with her winnings!

The Mac & Cheese cupcake garnered some Oohs and Aahhs from the group.  It was quite large so we all had a bite.  It was tasty, but I feel like it shares the quality of cheese curds, that once you have eaten lots of it, it feels heavy and hinders continued food consumption....like a rock in your stomach.

The Sausage Hot Dish was spicy and good, but is something I would make for a pot luck, not seek out at the Fair.

Corn...well, corn.  Mmmmmm just goodness salted and dipped in butter.

I waited in line to get a beverage and I saw the Sweet Martha stand....I decided white wine went best with cookies.

Returning to our table I recruited help in gathering cookie cups to put in my baggie to bring home to my family.  Just a piece of advice for cost conscious cookie consumers.  Upon returning home, I poured all the cookies into last years empty cookie bucket.  Seven cups of cookies barely filled the bucket ( and they were cold)  By my calculations, it is a much better value, to find some friends and buy a bucket...don't waste money on just a cup.

A new donor at the Taste this year is the Midwest Dairy Group.  They are what makes the Dairy Building, the Dairy Building. We got to try their new Salted Caramel Puff Corn Shake.  I was just going to "taste" it, and I quickly found the cup empty!

 It is a vanilla shake topped with puff corn and drizzled with caramel sauce.  Good thing they gave a coupon for a free one during the fair!  It was yummy!

I had consumed many sweet things and decided I needed something salty.  Mmmmm....more corn.

The lines were shorter for food and the crowds around the Midway games of skill grew!

Dad tried the Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings from West Indies Soul Food, and said they were OK.  I wanted a Peter's Hot Dog!

I started filling up another plateful with a plain old Peter's dog, Chicken Tikka on a Stikka from Hot Indian Foods at the Global Market.

 (I did not try the Kimchi 'n' Curry Poutine, but my friend Sonja said it was good)  I picked up a Gyro from Dino's and a mini Lingonberry Ice Cream cone, that I had to eat as I walked.

I picked up a slice of Minneapple pie and headed back to our table. I have to say, the Minneapple Pie was rather mediocre.  Go get a Tipsy Pie in the food building!!

Tipsy Pie!

This year there were so many people I knew at the event!  I ran into Greg & MaryJo, Colleen & Dave, Lisa & Paul.  Behind us at another table were some of the Simpson Street crew, Bartley & Sonja and some newer neighbors Nils & Jennifer, I met for the first time!

(don't know who took this pic, but it's great!)

The Postiglione's  (who are MY neighbors) donated their 1919 Root Beer for this event and I had a nice chat with them!

Because there were so many people to talk to and catch up with, I didn't get around to eating all he remainder of the food.  I ate the hot dog and most of the mini ice cream cone, tried the Chicken Tikka (very good!) and then packed up the rest to take home.

I made my way home shortly after Mom & Dad, but some of the group, stuck around for a ride on the Space Needle!

(photo courtesy of Sonja Mackey)

 Lots more great food than last year, more games and prizes and many more people.  The More the Merrier!

Next year, I need to remind Margaret & Gayle to get tickets and come along!

Family Fun Day

We were not sure Randy would even make it to the Fair this year.  He is having back surgery on September 12th that will get him mobile once again!

He was bound and determined to make it, so he reserved the scooter online for the day and we got him to the gate and he was able to walk to the rental place!  Stella got the day off and I was slated to volunteer one last time for the late shift from 6-8 later in the evening.

We were off on a family labor Day adventure!  Randy started the day with his usual foot long hot dog and Stella got pizza.  Once they had some food we headed over to get Stella a sweater!  She chose the one my Mom figured she would like best.  I would have been wrong...so wrong!

We went to check out the hot tub that we had coming to the house on Wednesday and Randy connected with his salesman!  It looked inviting!  Randy was hoping he would get a couple turns in it prior to his surgery.

We had no special agenda other than sampling some fair favorite foods, checking out the Midway and finding some shirts for Randy in the Grandstand.  Turns out Randy forgot his sunglasses back in the car, so finding new ones made the agenda too.

We stopped for a quick snack of Tom thumb donuts,

and Stella got a Fudge Puppy.

Next stop cheese curds,

and then to the top of the Grandstand for clothing shopping!

We stopped at the Spectacle Shoppe and found glasses for the whole family!

 I got "over glasses sunglasses" that actually fit my frames so I no longer look like Harry Caray!

As we scooted down the ramp, I took pictures of all the Tribune T shirts that were offered this year!  I do not buy t shirts but I like pictures of them!

We headed to the Midway....bypassing animals.  Yes this would be the first year that I did NOT go see cows, pigs, sheep or horses. Strange, very strange.

Stella did not want to go on rides this year.

She is really too tall to sit comfortably in the seats!  We also decided that whiplash would not be good way to start this school year (like last year!)  She did however use her mad skillz at games of chance!  

She did very well for herself.  I tried, but it took Stella to win me my mini sprinkled donut!    The elusive prizes were the Adventure Time guys.

But she won a whale in the shooting gallery

A minion playing basketball!

A mini donut for me shooting water to fill a balloon and I won a sad little monkey playing whack-a-mole!

Randy....the ticket machine :)

And there was sad little guy.  Not sure I want to win this. 

My Ferris wheel selfie attempt.

We went to look for Grandma, but she was not volunteering in the plaza as we thought.  She was up in the Bailey House.  Randy wanted to check out the West End and the new History Center.  He liked it.  If anyone wants to know about the role Randy's family played in the early years of the fair, just ask!

We found the Johnny Pop guys and Stella enjoyed a frozen yogurt smoothie on a stick.

 I enjoyed another waffle ice cream sandwich...I did share.  a little.

My friend Kathy comes to the fair almost as much as I do.  I had not run into her any day...until today!

As we walked to find a seat to watch the parade to see if we could catch a glimpse of Roy marching, Stella finished her Johnny Pop and read the stick!  

 We dragged a bench over into a shady spot and got randy and his scooter up on the curb.  It was a lovely spot for parade watching!

This may be the first time in a few years Randy had made it at the fair long enough to enjoy a parade!  Scooters are GOOD!

Parade shots:

After the parade Randy was debating a corn dog or pronto pup when he spotted the Foot long Corn dog place!  THAT was it!

Stella purchased a bubble gun along the way!  Hours of fun for the children around her as she walked!

After that, Randy had had enough and was ready to head home and rest.  Stella was going to join a friend later and I had to return to volunteer one last shift.  We knew we had rented the scooter for the whole day, so we returned it to get Randy home, but kept the contract so we could pick it up again later.  Not sure why, but thought it might be fun.  My legs were doing well, but a scooter ride at the end sounded OK!

At my last shift, I arrived to find a note that some of my kids stopped by to see me.

 This was bittersweet, since their last day at my center had come and gone.  A wonderful family!

A few more fiends stopped by to say Hello!  Janice K, found herself ironically standing in JUST the right spot for a picture  (on her Birthday no less!)

Mandy & Andrea stopped up to see me!

And then Jeannie came by!

 I have to say, having a "Home Base" where people can find me at the fair was awesome this year!

Dan, my fearless co-worker had asked me early on during the fair if I had a chance to walk through the giant colon at the U of MN research booth this year.  I had not and we thought I had missed my opportunity.

Oh boy, were we wrong!  Lucky for us....there it was!  I scooted right through it on my ride checking out the superhuman sized cancer cells and polyps.  Oh what wonders to behold at the Fair!

Dan, Tom, Debra and I were headed to have a final beverage before we all took our leave of one another for a year...  Stella & Juliet connected with me and then took the scooter down to the West End amphitheater to find Mom, who was watching a Johnny Cash cover group.

My crew enjoyed a beverage at O'Garas as we discussed the best cleaning products for icky, sticky, post state fair goo removal from all the surfaces in the Alphabet Forest.  Sadly, I would not be able to help on the clean up crew, as I was back to work tomorrow.

We finished our beer and went our separate ways, and I headed down to meet Mom & the girls. I was thinking about all the wonderful people I met and had the opportunity to work with.  The stories I learned and the experiences I had by choosing to take on the volunteer gig.  I would do it again next year in a heart beat.  It will depend on my Stella and her College schedule...YIKES..


 Journey was playing in the Grandstand and you could hear them form anywhere.  I knew my peeps were making their way up Dan Patch toward the East end of the Fair.  As I headed their way I saw Mom ........

She dared not make the scooter go too fast, lest she lose control.  It was TOO FUNNY

We returned the scooter and made our way, one last time, home from the fair. It was almost 11:30! Stella showed me her last loot, a blue sock monkey, a chamois and some more hand sanitizer.

 When I saw it,  I realized we forgot to get our flu shots.  Oops.

I made Stella try on the Sweater when we got home

and then get to bed so she would be ready for school the next morning at 6:30 am!

Another State Fair season come and gone.  It was wonderful, full of new, fun adventures and I let some old adventures go along the way.

Next year..I am totally getting a pedicure with red toes and yellow polka dots!  Alphabet Forest, I shall return!