State Fair Eatin’ List 2018

Opening day of the fair was glorious this year, although we were missing Jim which was tragic. As professionals, Kate, Kelsey, Courtney, and I persevered. Here’s what we consumed:

• maple cream cold brew
• mini donuts
• footlong
• sweet corn
• jerky
• samples in the Grandstand
• shrimp avocado boat
• smoked ice cream
• cheese curds
• chocolate chip cookie beer
• fried Snickers
• sweet greek puffs
• 1919 root beer
• chocolate frozen banana
• turducken sausage
• dill pickle beer
• fried green tomatoes
• honey cream soda float
• honey lemonade
• pb&j sausage
• a First Kiss apple, newly bred at the U of MN
• frozen apple cider
• honey candy
• reuben bites
• tater kegs
• horchata
• general tso tacos
• chocolate shake
• deep fried turkey sandwich
• chocolate milk
• chocolate truffles
• sangria beer
• more coffee
• sliders
• twisted potato
• sweet martha’s cookies

On Friday I returned, this time with Darren and a couple of his friends that are visiting from out of town. It was rainy, which was just fine until the downpour started. Once your shoes are soaked through, walking around the fair is just too unpleasant. That morning’s fair fare:

• mini donuts
• coffee
• jalapeno cheese curds
• corn
• more grandstand samples
• sweet martha’s
• root beer
• Chan’s chicken on a stick
• another First Kiss apple
• more honey lemonade
• tipsy pie
• aligator
• fried Reeces
• chili cheese ribbon fries

Darren forgot our tickets at home that day, which meant a potential third trip that definitely happened. I ended up going back with the aforementioned visiting friends yesterday (Friday), and we more than made up for the previous rainout.

• footlong
• mini donuts
• coffee, always
• corn fritters
• bucket o’ cheese curds
• cinna-mini donuts
• rainbow cloud roll
• chicken-on-a-stick
• lemonade
• pronto pup
• dairy building ice cream
• cider
• sangria beer
• deep fried Twinkie
• bucket of saltwater taffy to take home

Yikes. I need a salad, stat.

MN State Fair 2015

Today was Fair Day. We arrived around 8am. Kate had to leave at noon; the rest of us stayed until the Gaelic Storm show finished at 10:30pm. We ate a lot! Here’s the ol’ list, in order of consumption. We didn’t get two footlongs like we normally do, but we tried a lot of new things so I think it’s a fair trade.

• mini cinnamon rolls with milk
• mini donuts
• footlong hot dog
• apple dumpling with ice cream
• samples of Peace coffee
• 3 types of jerky: cheddar, maple, & BBQ
• corn fritz
• snicker salad
• chilled bread pudding
• giant turkey sandwich
• all-you-can-drink milk, both white & chocolate
• chicken samosas
• frozen cider
• 3 beer flights: darker, belgian, & brewpub (Kate left after flights)
• fried green tomatoes
• raspberry mocha frappe
• ribbon fries with cheese & sour cream
• strawberry lemonade
• deep fried candy bar
• samples of cinnamon butter
• lobster rolls with chips & iced tea
• ice cream from the dairy building (this is when we stop for a while to rest/nap)
• cream puffs
• sweet corn
• 1919 root beer
• s’mores beer
• maple bacon beer
• leinie’s harvest patch shandy
• cheese curds

I had my iPod with, running its built-in pedometer. I started it after we finished our cinnamon rolls, and stopped it at about 6:30 when we sat down to claim seats for the concert. In that time, we walked 18,750 steps. Success! Photos can be found on Instagram.

we like, we like to party

I’m all sick and stuff, which happens every friggin’ year during my holiday break, and Darren very well may be headed down the same street. So thanks mostly to that but also in part to laziness and the bitter cold, we’re staying in for New Year’s Eve. He had to work, but while he was gone I put together an epic holiday feast. A few little milestones happen in 2015 (we both turn 30, plus our 5th wedding anniversary), so we might as well go into it well-fed. Bonus: cooking a multi-course meal is on my 30-by-30 list.

So! Our New Year’s Eve dinner:

• bread (I used this recipe) with seasoned olive oil for dipping
• salad
• potato soup
• steak seasoned with kona rub from the Capital Grille, and roasted potatoes – we had a bag of potatoes that needed to be used, okay?
• peach pie – Darren’s favorite. Not homemade, but constructed using refrigerated crusts and canned filling with some extra seasoning.

Yum.

I was hoping to go to a New Year’s Day yoga class in the morning, but the state of my sinuses seems to be working against me there.

Tonight when the clock hits 12, I’ll be watching Roseanne on Netflix, working on one more 2014-centric blog  post, and eating a slice of pie. And possibly also sneezing. Happy New Year!

“Life is great. Cheese makes it better.”

I made cheese!

I’ve long been aware that basic cheese making is incredibly simple, but as with most of my ambitions it took a while before I got around to trying it.

Recipes for basic farmer’s cheese (which is the same as paneer) are all over the internet. All you need is milk, lemons, and cheesecloth. A fine mesh strainer would probably do fine in place of the cheesecloth, but I actually used both.

Seriously, all you do is slowly heat the milk to gentle boiling, then turn the heat down and add lemon juice (I used a bit more than 1/4 cup). The juice separates the whey from the milk solids. Then you strain it all through your cheesecloth and squeeze out the remaining liquid.

I lined my mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set it over a bowl to catch the whey. I’m freezing the whey to use in bread and soups. I salted my milk while it heated up, otherwise unsalted whey has several more uses.

It’s pretty tasty, especially with honey. I’m going to put some on tacos tomorrow.

Pictures after the jump!

dessert and downward-facing dog

I made truffles last night. Making truffles was one of the easy items on my 30 by 30 list, so it doesn’t make for a particularly interesting blog post. But there were a few other things on the list that I didn’t write about for the same reason, so here’s something.

I used this recipe from Instructables. To flavor the cream, I followed the second method and put ground coffee into a tea ball to infuse it while it heated. I ran into a minor problem though, because I only had half the amount of chocolate the recipe called for and was too lazy to go buy more. The taste turned out fine – great even – but it meant that when I rolled the ganache into balls they were melty as hell. So I have wonky truffles. I popped ’em in the freezer and then rolled ’em in cocoa. Tasty wonky truffles accomplished.

So ugly, but pretty yummy.

Oh, surprise! I actually did another thing.

I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been going to yoga classes at Tula Yoga & Wellness. This afternoon I attended an aerial yoga workshop, which is a prerequisite for their regular aerial classes.

It. Was. Awesome.

The sling is a prop, so not everything is done off the ground. Spinal alignment is a big focus. That said, we spent plenty of time in the air. And upside down! We definitely did this:

photo by Tula Yoga & Wellness, via FB

(FYI, These photos aren’t from today).

Savasana is done in the sling and it’s super comfortable. I could have fallen asleep.

photo by Tula Yoga & Wellness, via FB.

I’m looking forward to future aerial classes. These ones have a fixed price (whereas most of their other classes are donation-based) so I might not be able to afford it quite as often as I’d like, but that’s okay. Variety is the spice of life, and all that.

Apologies in advance if I become a full-blown yoga fanatic. I promise I’ll talk about other things too. Probably.

photo by Tula Yoga & Wellness, via FB.

documenting gluttony

So, the State Fair happened. Actually it is happening now, but we – the Wulfs and I – went on opening day. We looked at stuff, but mostly we ate, as per usual. Let’s see if I can remember everything we had.

• mini cinnamon rolls
• footlong hotdog
• mini donuts
• three flavors of beef jerky/sticks
• fried green tomatoes
• 1919 root beer
• bacon wrapped shrimp (on a stick)
• two beer flights
• bloomin’ onion
• Tremblay’s chocolates
• all-you-can-drink milk
• Turkey to Go sandwiches
• sundaes from the dairy building
• lobster mac & cheese
• coffee/tea break at one point
• cheesecake on a stick
• dosant/cronut
• porketta wings
• sausage on a stick
• cannoli
• double bacon corn dog
• english toffee fudge puppy
• more beer
• sweet corn ice cream
• cream puffs
• bull bites
• some kind of delicious sandwich
• second footlong

I think that’s the complete list? Close to it, at least. My vote for best new fair food goes to Mancini’s. They serve the sausage on a stick and the porketta wings, plus a bunch of other probably wonderful meaty items. Skip the bacon wrapped shrimp. The lobster mac was pasta, a little bit of lobster, and what we suspect was nacho cheese. Meh.

I am already looking forward to next year.

If I’m gonna jump off the cliff, and you’re gonna get pushed off the cliff, why don’t we hold hands on the way down?

Daren’s new job is in construction. Mostly cleaning up finished sites, but he’s done some hole digging and drywall hanging and such as well. He’s bee doing it for a week and he has to have lost at least five pounds already. His pajama pants – pajama pants! – are hanging off his hips. His forearms are rock solid. The work is hard and the pay isn’t great yet, but clearly there are benefits.

He has to be at work at 6:15 so the alarm goes off at 5. This means that I’m up at 5 too. I usually (or used to, I guess) get up at 6 and dang, I miss that extra hour. But the animals have not so far allowed me to go back to sleep. That paired with the Devil Cat being evil in the middle of the night means that I did not sleep much at all this week. Regardless, I was up until 3:30 am baking. I had been watching documentaries on Netflix about how our health is affected by our food and somehow cookies and cupcakes were my response: oatmeal raisin cookies because Darren loves them, and ginger lemon cupcakes because I have some sort of ginger obsession. They’re not gingery enough even though I added extra, but the lemon glaze I put on top is pretty stellar.

This in spite of the fact that the documentary about veganism (Vegucated) was almost enough to convince me to eat tofu and fake eggs. Almost. I’d recommend the others, though: Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead and Hungry for Change.

Today I slept until after noon.

I’m going to Northern Spark tonight with some pals, and that just reminded me I should charge my camera. I suspect/have been told that it’s going to be super cool. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain too terribly, I don’t want to have to carry an umbrella all night but maybe I’ll have to. I suppose that’s not a huge price to pay in exchange for an awesome time. Sadly I have to miss out on the sweet 40s themed dance that my aforementioned pals are attending beforehand. We’re still under austerity measures until Darren starts getting paid. Fortunately that is very soon.

Anyway, I’m in the Mark Harmon episodes of The West Wing, so clearly I have pressing matters to attend to.

At the end of the day there’s another day dawning

Good news! I’m not dying. I woke up yesterday feeling much better, and so I accomplished all I was planning to do.

First, Kate and I saw Les Miserables. Oh my god, I die. My feels. Ugh.

Most of the cast was outstanding. Russell Crowe was out of his league. Javert should be menacing, almost larger than life, and completely sure of himself. Crowe’s Javert was. . . well, not. His voice was not cut out for the role at all; Kate and I found ourselves laughing at some inappropriate points because he was just not pulling it off. Aside from goddamn Russell Crowe, I had two other issues: could’ve done with fewer close-ups, and the original song was so unnecessary and boring.

But the majority of the movie was so wonderful, all else is forgiven. Kate’s review says it all, so I’ll just go ahead and send you her way. Go see this movie. Do it.

After the movie and lunch (at Flame. Always delicious), we did some shopping. Hooray for Christmas monies! I found a couple tissue cardigans on sale for $5 each at Ragstock, plus a t-shirt with a knit back that I couldn’t say no to. We also hit World Market where I spent more money than I should have but not as much as I wanted to – seriously, I die for this headboard/bed frame. It also comes in a chair and a couch. But I made it out with just a couple candles (teak and sandalwood, so manly), a piece of bird-related decor, and three kinds of ginger candy because I have an addiction.

Finally, Target, because I had a gift card that needed using. Tank tops and the black boots I’ve been wanting and there is $1.01 left on said gift card.

Anyway, I’ve been enjoying my little Christmas vacation. It’s basically the best way to spend the holidays. I have to work at Macy’s tomorrow, but maybe it’ll be good for me. I mean I’d rather not, but it might help for when I return to work for real on the 2nd. The second! A new year is coming, y’all! Not that you weren’t aware.

Hey, girl, sorry my shirt fell off.

This weekend was the best. Minus the pants shopping, but that wasn’t so terrible.

I had a Groupon for Stella’s Fish Cafe in Uptown, so Darren and I went for lunch on Saturday. Oh. My. Goodness.

Let’s start with the oyster appetizer. You may not know this about me, but I love oysters. Squeeze a little lemon juice on those suckers… yum.

One of our oysters was not like the others.

Please note the giant.

Darren make silly faces.

Darren had Norwegian Salmon with asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes, I had the lobster roll. Darren thought his salmon was good but under-cooked. I could have sat there eating lobster rolls all day. Well, my stomach couldn’t, but my mouth wanted to.

Later, I headed over to Kate’s to help with show stuff. If you weren’t aware, Prospero is staging a reading of 8 the play next month. If you’re in the Twin Cities area, please come! You can watch the entire thing on You Tube, also. Anyway, after we wrapped that up, we walked over to Gabe’s for tots and boneless chicken wings. Tots were good, wings will never be as good as Green Mill’s diablo wings.

Today was another Kate-and-Katrina day. We hit up River Falls to check out the antique and thrift stores on Main Street. There was some kind of classic car thing going on too, which was pretty cool to look at. We ate tasty bar food and fro-yo, and did plenty of wandering. I didn’t find anything super special, but Kate picked up an awesome yellow purse. I did spot this Ryan Gosling meme-inspired sign in an antique store:

I will never get sick of Pyrex.

After I got home I decided it was time for a jaunt to Goodwill to see if I could find some pants that fit. I’ve shrunk out of most of mine (bragplaint), and need something for work that looks a little better than the baggy pants I have now. It bums me out because I love my current pants and they’re totally still wearable, but they don’t look particularly polished now that they’re so loose.

I found noting. I did grab a pair of jeans and a cute cable-knit top that actually looks good, plus a shirt for Darren. That’s enough of a win for me.

Now I’m off to do some POP Pilates and cling to the last few hours of the weekend.

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast. -John Gunther

Easter!

Instead of going to Flame and spending $30 on their amazing-sounding brunch buffet, Darren and I decided to make our own. Brunch, that is.

Completely disregarding the fact that Darren doesn’t like runny eggs and requested an omelet, I made Eggs Benedict for both of us (I’m making omelets for dinner so no big). I haven’t made it since Foods for Today class in high school, so I wasn’t sure how well the hollandaise sauce was going to go.

Short answer: no problem!

I used this recipe from Tyler Florence, except I substituted hard salami for Canadian bacon because we already had salami in the fridge.

Darren didn’t eat all of his due to the aforementioned aversion to egg yolk, but we were both pleased with the results. Next time I’ll fry his eggs instead and I think all will be well.

Eggs Benedict

After making the Benedict, I had egg whites left and decided to make meringue cookies. Here’s the thing about meringue cookies: store bought, they’re pretty hit-or-miss. But I was determined to make something tasty.

I found this recipe and made some alterations. My version of the recipe is below, but I will tell you now that I am not disappointed.

Meringue Cookies

Chocolate Almond Meringue Cookies (modified from allrecipes)

• 4 egg whites
• 2  1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• fistful of toasted coconut

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Grease and flour a baking sheet (or use parchment paper).

Using an electric mixer, whip egg whites until foamy. Slowly add in powdered sugar, while mixing on medium speed. Continue mixing until batter is pretty stiff and satiny. This is easier if you’ve made meringue before and know what it’s supposed to look like. Just before you finish mixing, slowly add in the almond extract, followed by the cocoa powder. Fold in toasted coconut.

Pipe or spoon batter onto your cookie sheet in whatever size you decide is appropriate. I ended up making a couple different sizes and they all turned out fine. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. I baked mine for 45 minutes, then turned off the oven for the last 15. This resulted in a cookie that is crispy with just a bit of softness left inside.

Next up: Cinnamon Crisp cookies. I’m not sure if I’m making these today or next weekend, but they will happen. Oh yes.