There was one word for me at the State Fair this year: underwhelmed. Yep, that's right. It was a classic case of the philosophy principle (and bonus point for you if you know who said it and leave a comment!) that indicates that expectation is the purest/highest form of pleasure you can attain because the reality never measures up.
Alternately, the fair just legitimately had an off year.
For me, it came down to the food, though the fact it was POURING RAIN probably did not help. Thankfully, I am really into food and had mapped out what I wanted to eat and where it was, for the most part. I was there with Tom and my friend Ben, and they are both SUCH good sports. We were mostly content as we hid in the GMC insta-building with their sales people (no sir I do NOT WANT a 65k SUV I could never drive or park, kthnxbye) before ducking into the food court. Besides, who are we kidding. We came to see the butter sculpture, the award-winning knitted pieces a friend of mine had made, and the food.
Oh, glorious food court. It held much promise... and many people. The folks who would normally be getting their photos with Big Tex or riding the ferris wheel (both worthwhile ventures at the State Fair) were all huddled inside the steaming building. We happily found two dishes I wanted-- the fried elotes and the fried shrimp and grits-- which for me proved to be the two good dishes of the day, though the shrimp and grits could have been shrimpier. Props, mad props to the elotes vendors! Tom and Ben both wanted to try the cuban roll, which was this year's winner. I am a fussy pants, and I DON'T like rain, especially in my food (wet fried food? NO), so I was not keen on getting anything that was from outside the dry building. Tom was more of a champ, and off he went to the Cuban Roll stand 20 yards outside the door. He came back with 2 Cuban Rolls... which were each very small eggrolls. The mojo sauce was decent, but the roll mostly tasted like pulled pork. Pickles, ham, cheese, anything else... nope. Just pork. Later we had fried nutella, which was pretty much a teaspoon (A FREAKING TEASPOON) of nutella in puff pastry, and avocado fries, which came with a weird cumin sauce, an excessive amount of breading/lack of seasoning and none of the toppings promised in the menu. These last three had been a huge impetus for fair food fantasizing, and they all fell short.
False advertising, people, will make me madder than anything. I don't mind *reasonably* small portions at the fair-- I know there's a huge sunk cost just to be there. But give me something tasty that is how you describe it, and while small is acceptable, insultingly so is not! Keep in mind that each dish at the fair is 5-7 dollars, so it's not like I'm asking the moon for $2.
ANYWAY.
One of the fair staples is a corn dog, but I'd spent all my money on the fancy foods and was therefore out of luck. Perhaps that's the deeper message I should learn from that day-- don't be seduced by flash-in-the-pan magic that is too good to be true. Stick with the time-proven winners. But then again, a few years ago I had the fried chicken and waffles, and THAT WAS DELICIOUS.
I digress.
Corndogs! I serve mine with the classic French's yellow mustard, but you are welcome to fancy pants it up and use Dijon. And, because I'm not only not a fancy pants with this but also a lazy pants, I baked instead of fried.
4 hot dogs
4 popsickle sticks
1 c almond flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 packet sweetener
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg
2 T cream
Skewer those hot dogs-- it's not a good idea to skewer as you go since your hands will be covered in goo. Trust me. Mix dry ingredients. Mix in eggs and cream and use water to thin if necessary to achieve somewhat thicker than pancake batter consistency. Dip hot dog in and slather it in nutty goodness. Put hot dog on cookie sheet, bake at 350 15 minutes or until golden brown. This batter was perfect for 4 costco hotdogs.
These... are not light. But when you gotta scratch an itch.... Plus, these are costco hot dogs, which means big, and Tom and I wanted a second but were fine with one.
Per corndog: 400 calories, 5 carbs, 34 fat, 18 protein. Not for the faint of heart.
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