my fair gluttony

here in the twin cities we're in the midst of the minnesota state fair, officially known as the "great minnesota get together." unofficially known as the "great minnesota get fat together." basically, if it's deep fried, & on a stick, then it's at the fair. also, if it's deep fried & on a stick, there's a good chance i had a bite of it this past saturday.

as part of our employee appreciation week my company gave each employee two free gate tickets & two free tshirts to wear to the fair. yippee, i love swag! the tickets were only good for this past saturday, so jack & jenn & i rounded up the crew & headed out to the fairgrounds. we had two fair noobs (aka virgins) with us, the lovely miss jenn & the lovely miss becky, neither of whom have ever been! i know, tragic. jenn's excuse is that she's never been in minnesota during the summer, ok, that one i grudgingly accept. becky's excuse is that she lived in brainerd, which is no excuse in my book, it's not like she was in canada or something. love you miss becky : )

i've heard that, on average, minnesotans are some of the healthiest eaters in the country. my theory is that we need to eat that way for 52 weeks of the year to combat the cardiac catastrophe that is the state fair. now way back when the state fair, like most state fairs, was a chance for folks from all over the state to gather & show off their: a) farm animals b) quilts & c) other farm related wares. & then of course truck on up to machinery hill to check out the new tractors & other farm equipment. you will still find those things at the fair, along with a talent show & lots of concerts. but most people now go for the food.

ask any regular fair go-er & they'll list for you their must haves of the fair year. food that can only be gotten for ten days of the year, right before, & including, labor day. some of the favs are: cheese curds, mini donuts, sweet martha's cookies, roasted corn on the cob, fresh milk shakes, french fries, & root beer. now that's just an educated guess with a little bit of tampering from my own favorites.

so if it's the same year after year, why do you go, you ask? ah, well it's not the same year after year. each year something new appears which we must try. this year we tried four new items: hotdish on a stick, beer battered brat on a stick, red bull freeze, & deep fried chocolate chip cookies. my favorite were the last two. the hotdish was ok, definitely better than the spaghetti & meatballs from last year.

i will admit that i had: 1 1/2 foot longs, part of a deep fried 3 musketeers, bites of 3 different kinds of nutrolls, half a smore, an rc cola, a bite of alligator sausage, a bite of a reuben on a stick, dippin' dots, a bite of a gyro, a few spoonfuls of ligonberry ice cream, a bag of mini donuts, some sweet martha's cookies, half an ear of roasted corn, 3/4 of an order of cheesecurds, lots of root beer, fresh squeezed lemonade, a chocolate malt, a red bull freeze, deep fried chocolate chip cookies, 25% of a hotdish on a stick (with mushroom dipping sauce), & i think that's about it.

it was quite a day. i'm just now slowly waking up from the food coma. talk about over indulgence. of course i was miserable at the end of the day. my feet were tired from toting around all this weight. & i was hot & sweaty. & my sweat was sweating. but all in all it was a good day. to quote a good friend: "it's a great way to end a legacy, with one last over indulgence, the biggest of them all, the state fair."

i did enjoy myself, but i think i really am ready to quit letting food control my life. i need it for fuel, but it really doesn't make me happy. it doesn't help me to achieve anything. all my preoccupation does is keep me from doing what i want. my dependence & addiction keep me from striving for all those goals that i keep talking about. but talking never really gets you anywhere, unless you're a politician. & thank you, but threadbare as they are, i'd still like to keep my morals.

& after josh gets done with his surgery he said exercise is going to be his new addiction & he's taking jack & i along with him, whether we want to or not! so i guess it's fitness here i come. or get fit or die trying? just remember gang, if i kick the bucket over 200lbs get some of the minnesota vikings to be pall bearers & make sure i'm immortalized on mydeathspace.com.