2010: The Year of the Pig

Welcome to the Indiana State Fair, two full weeks of deep-fried goodness with a heapin' helpin' o' pork on the side. Ian and I had a great and HOT day at the fair. We enjoyed the sites, but it was too hot to eat the deep fried goodness, so we just took pictures. Let me tell you about the culinary adventure that proves there's more than corn in Indiana.

First, we had the hair-brained idea to walk to the fair, which meant about 30 minutes in the 95-degree heat and humidity. Ok, we had bottled water with us. As we entered, we were greeted by the American Gothic right there at the 4-H exhibit hall. Pretty impressive, eh?

So, the first thing we noticed was that the fair was not as heavily attended as we had experienced in the past. We were there early afternoon on Friday, school had not started, but no one was out and about. Go figure? The sausage stands were relatively empty, so we had our run of the porky, deep-fried fatty goodness.

However, we refrained. Too hot to eat. Can you even imagine me uttering such words?

So, let me just take you on our stroll around the infield of the Indiana State Fair.

Just in case you're in the market for a hot tub . . . when it's 95 degrees in the shade.

Ian found some toys . . .

But after all, it is the year of the pig . . .

"Pigs are Nice"

2010 Year of Pigs . . . no kidding if you judge the fair by the food . . .

Hot Beef Sundae?

YUM! At least it's creative.

Really, this year's new thing is deep fried butter . . . Apparently it's a frozen pat of butter, rolled in cinnamon sugar and battered, then fried, then rolled in more cinnamon sugar. It actually sounds good.

and crispy creams as buns with bacon cheeseburgers in the middle. Really, so imagine. you choose 2 crispy creams and then a juicy bacon cheeseburger is placed in the middle. I'm all about the sugary-salty combo, but come on. Isn't that about a week's worth of calories?

And then there's the pork pancake . . .

If you eat all this, you will be round . . .

But the real proof it's the Year of the Pig . . .

How do you walk with those things?

1277 pounds, really?

How would you feel if you were the runner up at only 1201 pounds?

Just in case the giant pig cannot fulfull his duties, this one steps in. They both seem very relaxed.

But, in the year of the pig, what fair food did we choose?

Lemon Shake-ups and Corn dogs, of course

But the best part came on our walk home. We took a detour at the Upland Tasting Room to re-hydrate! Mmmmmmmm

So kids, that was our Indiana State Fair Culinary Adventure. Hope you enjoyed the view!