Fair Blogging and Birds

August 25, 2011

Fair Blogging and Birds

Today was Day One at the State Fair. Right away, I noticed a theme. Everywhere I turned were birds. Those of you who know me well may recall that I am not a bird lover. But nothing bad ever happens at The Fair, so I embraced my inner poultry. I met two chickens "resting" on the floor of the Eco Building, and later saw them marching in the parade. In the poultry barn I checked out some pigeons. Gander Mountain provided Bird Heads to lucky Fair goers and hundreds of them sported colorful ducks squatting on their heads. Even this year's trash art is a bird.

I ran into Giggles, one of our more famous (and infamous!) Minnesotans early this morning. He was mingling with the folks at FM 107.1 and after I snapped his photo I got a hankering to try his new salad-on-a-stick. He demoed the item on The View this summer, and I was one of the first paying customers to give it a go. The wild rice salad is plump with orzo, dried cranberries, almonds, and cashews. The sauce is on the sweet side, but balances nicely with the tomato-mozzarella-basil sticks.

At the Renewing the Countryside kitchen, Whole Foods' Chef Ami prepared grilled peaches, honey butter, and a delicious hazelnut graham cracker. She kept the audience laughing, and showed me a new trick: removing peach pits with an ice cream scoop! I busied myself washing dishes and occasionally serving platters of the canapes.

Following my shift I wandered. After all that bird watching, I had a craving. Lunch was a sandwich from Turkey To Go with brie-cranberry. I wasn't able to eat the sandwich fast enough to prevent the bun from soaking up the turkey juices and ended up with a soggy mess. Next time, I'll share.

Random musings: The kids showing rabbits and pigeons were fabulous. Those 4-Hers impress me more every year. Did you know that Mr. Bubbles was born in Chaska Minnesota? He introduced himself to me in a shed, then waved to me as he passed by in the parade. I'm a little smitten. And hey StarTribune! What's the deal with no free papers this year?!