The Marshmallow Test

Sand City, IA

While out joy-riding in my new car, I heard on the radio of a wild weekend event going on downtown. Sand City was taking place and a wholesome-sounding local radio announcer was telling me I should come on down to check it out.

I'll admit, I wasn't expecting sculptures of art or anything. The point really was to get a little fresh air, admire the sand sculptures (not a drop of ocean water to be had in this land-locked state incidentally), and munch on some funnel cake. Here's a sampling of what we saw:




So maybe not the most impressive sand sculptures I've ever seen, but the funnel cake sure was worth it!

~flutterbyblue

International Bacon Day

International Bacon Day is traditionally held on the Saturday before Labor Day. This year, Bacon Day was celebrated in the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, the Czech Republic, and Canadia. We celebrated in style in Grinnell, IA.

The sheer variety and creativity of Bacon dishes was truly inspiring. There was thick cut grilled Bacon, Bacon and cheese stuffed mushrooms, Bacon wrapped scallops, Bacon wrapped figs, Bacon quiche, Bacon and blue cheese popovers, Bacon sushi (this was surprisingly delicious served with soy sauce), Bacon baklava, Bacon chocolate cake, Bacon bits on peaches and cream, Coffee and Candied Bacon ice cream (this was really amazingly good)...my absolute favorite dish was the following:

Ingredients:

Thick cut bacon
Cayenne pepper
Brown sugar
Chocolate
Apple slices

Directions:

Grill the bacon (or just fry it up) with some cayenne pepper and brown sugar. Rub chocolate on both sides of the bacon, let crackle for a while longer. Wrap the delicious bacon strips around sliced apple and enjoy.

This dish was PHENOMENAL! The coating on the bacon was slightly caramelized from the brown sugar and the cayenne/chocolate sauce tasted mole-inspired. It was the best bacon dish I have ever had.

Oddly enough, The Food Monkey recently posted a YouTube clip from Wife Swap that is very International Bacon Day appropriate:



Happy (be-lated) International Bacon Day!

~flutterbyblue

Iowa State Fair

One of the highlights of living in Iowa is attending the Iowa State Fair. Fully prepared for all manner of food-on-a-stick and deep fried anything, I was raring to go.

We arrived just in time to catch the tail end of the Veterans Parade. Check out this montage:


I wonder whether or not these guys held position throughout the entire parade (probably) or if they were allowed to switch out halfway through. It seems to me that old men should at least have a comfy chair to sit upon if they are going to be pulled along by a tractor for more than a few minutes.

The livestock barns were also pretty fabulous. Never in my life have I seen cows so well-treated. Their coats were shampooed, massaged and then blow-dried by attentive owners (all hoping for a chance at that first-prize ribbon!)


These cows were FLUFFY.

And of course, one of the best parts of the Iowa State Fair is the food. We had freshly deep-fried cheese curds, delicious cinnamon dusted donuts, freshly squeezed lemonade, giant pretzels...the choices were endless. Pork chop on a stick drew huge crowds and lines around the block, the beef sundae looked disastrous for your heart, and the deep-fried candy bars and twinkies were just icing on the cake.




I can't wait until next year when the State Fair rolls around again!

~flutterbyblue