The temperature was about 80 degrees. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Could it be more perfect?! This was the day for me to have my annual frozen yogurt cone:
Someone decided to share it with me and got at it before I could snap a photo…”I didn’t KNOW you wanted a picture of it!”.
I always make sure to visit the dairy building for my favorite cone when we get to the Fair. For some reason, it’s the best tasting soft serve I ever get to have. We also make a point to be completely impressed by the butter sculpture:
My reason for insisting we make it to the Fair on this particular day was because Chef/Restauranteur Bobby Flay was giving a free cooking demonstration in Chevrolet Court.
The crowd was enormous! He was very entertaining and didn’t miss a beat while explaining the items on the menu:
Wild Mushroom Polenta With Poached egg and Serrano chile sauce. He finished the dish with strips of crispy blue tortillas and cilantro. He describes cilantro as tasting like soap, but apparently enjoys it since he ate so MUCH soap as a young boy.
Pork tenderloin rubbed in a simple salt and pepper rub, molasses-mustard glaze, in a sour mash (Tennessee Whiskey) pan sauce with apple chutney and sweet potato gratin.
At one point, there was a “CRACK”. Bobby said “I just broke the dish“…as he was about to plate the first dish….”I had it on a burner that was turned on..whoops!”. This was followed by roars of laughter … I’m sure some of us thought …”I’ve done that!”.
Richard and Ted left me for the 45 minute show. I suspect they went off to partake in some free sampling…
Hazlitt Winery - A Fingerlakes Semi Dry Riesling
We had to visit the animals and this is what we saw…
Bald Eagle - he's alive
The Biggest Owl You Ever Did See! He's alive too.
A more petite Snowy Owl. This little lady wanted to hold it.
Just got a hair cut and wasn't happy about it.
You've never seen such CLEAN cows. Their barn was clean as well with no foul odors. Amazing cow people and their animals!
Ahhh... the horses. My all time favorite
I used to show Saddlebreds. Back about 1995 – 1999, I showed horses at the State Fair, in Devon, PA (where I won my class over professional trainers- it was the 100th Celebration!), and various other locations, even as far as Florida.
- Me winning at Devon… that was a while ago and such fun! I’m on Mini, winning the Championship in Open Park.
I’ve been riding since I was about 8 years old, beginning in hunt seat and then preferring the crazier horses and ride of saddle seat. It was fun but now there are too many other things that won’t allow me the time.
Here I am trying to have a worth while conversation with a Percheron (draft horse).
I look very concerned about what he said..don't I?! 🙂
But now it's okay because we're laughing about it.... 😉
Now it was time to eat. At least for me. You see Richard and Ted, while sneaking away from the Bobby Flay show, grabbed more than liquid sustenance. They ate without me.
Fair food really doesn’t cater to the health conscious nor the Vegetarians. I settled for a Vegetarian Gyro which was basically an ice berg lettuce salad with too much cucumber sauce and not enough feta cheese. I ate half…
- Vegetarian Gyro for $5.50… but the water was FREE!
Now our feet were tired and we all relaxed to sample the free wine before making our way to the exit at about 4pm. It was a long enough day for us. We arrived at the Fair by 11:30 am, saw everything we wanted to see, got our energy completely sucked from us by the sun, didn’t eat too much, but enjoyed the little that we did eat and drink. A good 2009 visit to our State Fair.
Ted didn’t want me napping on the way home, we stopped for one of our favorite beverages… Love Starbucks!