MINNESOTA STATE FAIR

In May of this year my sister in law had her first child, an adorable baby boy. She lives in Minnesota and due to the timing of her pregnancy, her and her husband weren’t able to fly back for my wedding this summer. The Hubby and I couldn’t wait to meet his nephew and planned a weekend trip to visit them over Labour Day weekend. While in town we spent an afternoon at the Minnesota State Fair, a 12 day event and the second largest state fair in the US. The CNE doesn’t even come close in comparison, it would be like comparing an ant to an anthill or a box of strawberries to an entire strawberry field. It was a 15 minute walk just from the parking lot to the fairgrounds. There were streets and streets filled with food vendors, MULTIPLE food buildings, and city blocks filled with rides and attractions.

For me, the main attraction was of course, the food and all the neon signs were overwhelming. Right off the bat, I sank my teeth into a foot long corndog. While The Hubby and I attempted to share the battered treat, my brother in law lined up for a tray of crab fritters, served with spicy mayo. With two deep fried dishes down, we stopped for a beer (and root beer) break. Perfect with beer? Garlic Fries. Not so perfect for any intimate encounters though. These hand cut fries were loaded with buttery minced garlic topping.

After the salty fries, we went back to sweet with deep fried buckeyes on a stick. The stick had four buckeyes, balls of peanut butter fudge dipped in chocolate, that was dipped in funnel cake batter and deep fried. I couldn’t imagine eating a whole one to myself, this was ridiculously sweet. More so than any deep fried chocolate bar I’ve ever had. With everyone reeling from the sugar high, the next snack needed to be salty.

The fried pickles from The Perfect Pickle were the best I’ve ever had. Each disc had a 2-1 batter to pickle ratio, were super crunchy with a burst of sour pickle juice. Dipped in dill sauce, I would eat these all the time. At the bar, at home playing video games, at a baby shower, really, so good. Another fair food that I fell in love with were deep fried cheese curds. I’ve never seen these at the CNE but I hear they are available. These were like mini mozzarella sticks with a lighter batter and more cheesy. Next year, I’ll be on the hunt for them at the CNE.

Our parade of deep fried goodness ended with a bag of mini sugar donuts, similar to how I usually end my CNE visits with a bag of Tiny Toms.