Week 7: Food, Fair, and Fest!

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  The Weekly Update:

Current $/lbs = $55

Current Weight = 139.2

Total Weight Lost = 13.8 lbs.
Money Raised = 759!

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        Huzzah!  I managed to lose weight this week despite going to BOTH the MN State Fair and the Renaissance Festival.  Those that know the seriously delicious food culture surrounding these events will be very proud of me.  The picture to the right is Dan and I in one of the Farmer's Buildings, posing as turkeys.

If you've never been to a State Fair, it's all about fried food, food on sticks, fried food on sticks, etc.  We made a commitment to ourselves that we would only eat what we really wanted (1 savory & 1 sweet each), but we'd limit the portions and split things as we could.  That strategy, combined with 4 solid hours of non-stop walking, helped greatly to neutralize the fatty-impact of our consumption.
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Above / to the left is Dan, holding one of his all-time Fair food favorites: the corn dog.  He loves 'em.  Just look at that enthusiastic thumbs up!  As you can see, however, this is no ordinary corn dog.  It's a MEGA corn dog.  I'd say 1.5 feet long, easy.  The funny part?  Dan picked the smallest one they had for sale.
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Here's one of our favorite MN Fair traditions: the butter carving.  Yep, BUTTER.  There's a pageant of sorts that crowns a bunch of teenage girls "Little Miss Dairy," or something similar.  One of their prizes is to be carved in butter by a butter sculptor.  The slightly-blurry photo is of one of the finished butter-busts, with the artist in the background.  They carve in an elevated, refrigerated room that rotates, while their pretty little pageant winners smile and shiver.  Crown, poofy hair, winter coat.  It's quite a sight.
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Below, I'm posing with a new-found treat.  This thing, called a "Fudge Puppy," is a sliver of Belgian waffle (on a stick, of course) dipped in chocolate, and served with whipped cream and sprinkles.  The waffle was still warm.  Yum!  It wasn't a deep fried candy bar, but I really enjoyed it.
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 The Fair has many other tasty treats that are not pictured here.  Some notable highlights include: the "Mouth Trap's" fried cheese curds, the Australian battered potatoes (best served with a nacho cheese sauce), "Cheese on a Stick" (it's like a corn dog, only with jalapeno-cheese inside), roasted sweet corn, cinnamon-sugar elephant ears, funnel cakes, "Swedish Egg Coffee" (we don't know what it is, either), Lingonberry iced cream, fried SPAM curds (...yikes...), deep-fried candy bars, deep-fried fruit, and just about anything else you can think of... deep-fried and on a stick.

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Don't worry, though!  There are plenty of ways to get exercise at the Fair.  There's walking... which you do lots of.  But there's also rides to scream out your calories, concerts to dance away the pounds, and games to raise your heart rate!  The arcade games are our particular favorite.  Here's Dan,  looking fierce, as we battle for Skee-Ball superiority.   

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Author's Note:  He kicked my ass at Skee-Ball, but I dominated at Big Buck Hunter.  DOMINATED.

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       So, that's how we spent last Sunday!  It was a lovely, breezy, greasy-food-filled, and tiring day... but it's an annual tradition that we love.  The following day, we experienced another annual tradition: the MN Ren Fest!  This event too has lots of fried food and food on sticks, but we try to focus on the important things: turkey legs, mead, and trying very hard not to stare at all the exposed cleavage.  We didn't take too many pictures, so you'll have to settle for this one.  Dan and I, in a quick self-shot picture in front of one of the Ren Fest shops.  You can just see the rose in the center, which I bought for Dan.  You know, just to shake up the rose-seller's preconceived notions of romance.

That's it for this week!  

And next week... is the last week.  

Dun Dun DUN!

See you then!

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