MinneSo' Fun State of A'Fair's!

How was that last nom bomb for you?! Back to the Minnesota stuff.
For the past two weeks I've spent my weekends at county fairs. There are 87 counties in the state of Minnesota. I would like to say that each county has a fair, but thats probably not true. I also like to say that all of these county fairs are practice for the the Great Minnesota Get Together!
Anywhose... on the first weekend we went to the Anoka county fair. Anoka county is the fourth most populated county in Minnesota. Anoka comes from the Dakota word anokatanhan which means "on both sides," a toss to its location on the Rum River. Bleck, less info, more pictures, ammorite!?

Fireman Challenge.

Little Lamby!

PUPPIES!

Apparently you can show Alapacas....

One of my favorite past times...looking at fantastic 4-H projects

Really prime stuff here..

Really, some really excellent showmanship

Despite how many times I've seen Grease, you could never get me into one of these things

I 100% do not trust fair rides. #statement

Especially when the weather looks like this...no thanks

This was almost cute enough to ride, then I stopped myself

Rachel spending a good 45 minutes at winning tokens...Brian being badger'y as usual

See? Look how cute those colors are! So tempting

This...is a funnel cake...

These guys....

From the parking lot..."Fun"...oh sure...

Also, DEMOLITION DERBY! Now I've only been to one Demo Derby prior to this but *spoiler alert* I LOVE DEMO DERBY'S! 

The second weekend we hung out at the Washington County fair. Heres a fun fact: Washington County was named after George Washington! (Thats all I got for you!)

This is a real thing..,

No really, it's a real thing...

I would give this entry Grand Supreme, Overall Champion!

Almost cute enough to make me forget that I hate birds

Hey! Wallaby my friend!?

This guy had a little mohawk going on...still not cool enough to get me to like birds

I WON A ROUND OF BINGO! I won a whole 2 dollars. After a 1 dollar buy in for 7 cards, I would say that that is a major win! And on the left there are corn dogs with mini bratwurst instead of hot dogs. Also a major win!

And then it started pouring. The only downside of Minnesota is the weather (though I've heard that it is also one of their crowning achievements as well...weird place I tell ya) During the downpour I hid under a tent and ate a little pie. It was awesome! I think it is safe to say that I am going to take a little break from fairs until the Great Minnesota Get Together.

Up next...A Revisit to the Mill City Museum (finally!)

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

Nom Bomb! Lomi-Lomi Edition!

Well hello there! (Or should I say Aloha!) Here's a quick Nom Bomb to tie you over till I can organize my latest Minnesota adventures! Ready?

 Lomi Lomi is a favorite of mine because I'm a sucker for salmon and tomatoes. Introduced to the islands by western sailors, this hawaiian yum is similar to a salsa and usually consist of: salmon, tomatoes, sweet onions and some sea salt. Its' been hot here in Minnesota, too hot to cook. Luckily I (somehow) had a version of all of these ingredients in my fridge! So here we go!

Ingredients: cherry tomatoes, salmon, yellow onions and salt!

First! Cut tomatoes into quarters. You can use any tomatoes really, but these were just the ones I had!

Then! Chop up some onions and toss it in!

And then! Toss in some left over salmon. This salmon is from Trader Joes. I made it the night before, it was pre-marinated and baked at 375 for 15 minutes (It was yum then too, more on that later!)

Then you... Toss it all together!

Finally. Add some salt to taste and throw that yum yum into the fridge to chill out! 

Well there you go! Usually the crew and I like to eat it with some tortilla chips. I had maybe two bites with chips but then I just ended up eating it solo. For some reason, Lomi Lomi feels like comfort food to me, don't know why, it just does! Mahalo!!

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

MinneSo'Fast!

Fast as a speeding bullet! Quicker than a the speed of light!
Well maybe not that fast...but exciting! This past weekend was full of adventure. First stop....Canterbury Park for Extreme Race Day with the housemates. Get this: Camel Races. Ostrich Races. Zebra Races. All mixed in with horse races. Who would have thought you could actually race these animals! Check it out!

Heres the little area where you can 'preview' the horses before the race. The real professionals don't need to see the animals before the race though. They read stats and junk. Real confusing stuff if you ask me. 

You guys, this is a BBQ Sundae because why not? From the bottom: baked beans, cole slaw, pulled pork with BBQ sauce and a (tomato) cherry on top! Like I said because why not?

Onto the important stuff....EXOTIC ANIMAL RACES!

These guys raced in the "Camelbury Dash."

Thats...Rock N' Spit, It's Hump Day, Baby Got Back and Camelflage

Next up was the "Don't Lay and Egg Dash." Racing were birdies: Heisenbird (Ha! So current!), Ozzy Ostrich, Shake Ya Tail Feather, Little Flocker or Spaghetti Leg Steve 

Buh buh buh Bird Bird Bird, Bird is the Word. 

This might have been the most exciting race of the day! Featured in the "Zooming Zebras" race were Jailhouse Johnny, No Shades of Grey, Thicke Blurred Lines and Stripebiscuits. No Shades of Grey was a Zonkey! A zebra and donkey; if you watch my video down below, you'll definitely see the donkey come out of No Shades of Grey. 

Look at dem stripes!

I'm so dizzy!

We also saw a bunch of horse races. There was a "duck race" which featured jockey's who have never won a race before (a maiden race). There was also a race with 20 horses, the battle of turfs, 8 horses on the grass and 12 horses on the dirt. Check it out!

After the races, we scurried off to Highland Park, a little neighborhood where my housemates used to live in southwest St. Paul for Highland Fest! Celebrating their 31st year, Highland Fest featured venders selling homemade goodies like knitted wear, photography and garden sculptures. There were also my favorite things ever! CORN DOGS!

This is my blissfull-trying-not-to-look-like-I'm-taking-a-selfie-indulgant-yay-a-corndog-face!

Also...MINI DONUTS! I also had some fried cheese curds for the first time-YUM!

That's Brian and that's Rachel and that's my dumb face on the right, getting eaten by bugs while sitting on the grass. 

After we watched a few bands play, noshed on some mini donuts and saw kids spend their parents dollars on inflatable jumpy houses we had to make it home to the dogs. Brian took us on a quick detour up Summit Avenue. These houses were beautiful! Right on the Mississippi River, these big pseudo-plantation-colonial-manisons were breathtaking! Summit Avenue was named one of the "greatest streets" in America, whatever that means! Somewhere on Summit Ave is the Stuart House, one of the oldest houses in St. Paul! There's also a F. Scott Fitzgerald House and a Frank B. Kellogs house and a little further up the street is the Cathedral of St. Paul and Minnesota's Governors Residence. It was getting dark but we had to make a double pit stop at Hidden Falls. 

The view from Hidden Falls! It was so beautiful!

After all that excitment I had to take a rest day. So Sunday was dedicated to being a lazy lazy sloth which entails....massages, watching half of the first season of Scandal and this...

A lobster grilled cheese from Lakes Tavern and Grill. YUM! 

And a lot of puppy cuddling! (My favorite way to spend a Sunday)

Oh Cheyenne, you have stolen my heart.

There you have it! Super fast things and then super lazy things! And hey! There were food things in this one!

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

MinneSo'Much Water!

Check Check Check it out! I had a short day at work today so I decided to go on another adventure! Today I decided to go to the Milling District for lunch and some walking. Originally I was going to go to the Mill City Museum but then I didn't. Anyways...

I started out at lunch at Zen Box Izakaya. Yum! I had the Miso ramen, as soon as I saw that it had corn I was sold. The broth was yummy and creamy and full of flavor. I usually rate my ramen based on broth, noodle chewiness and finally how soft the yolk is in the egg! Here are my ratings respectively (out of 5): 3..2..and 5!! A WHOLE egg, with the creamy runny yolk. Overall, I'd give it a 3.7. 

Oh yeah! Poke! Yum!

Here's that beautiful bowl of hot ramen soup that I decided to eat when it was 80 degrees outside. Excellent life choices

I was going to go to the Mill City Museum but I decided to walk around first. I made my way to see St. Anthony Falls. Holy Cow! In order to see the falls you have to walk over the Mississippi River by way of the Stone Arch Bridge. I mean check this out! 

As I was walking across the bridge I saw this big barge hauling gravel (I think) being pushed by a tug boat (ironic). 

And then on my way back I saw it in this thing:

If you can see, at the top of those doors theres the barge! They float into the little shoot and it fills up with water, so the barge floats up. Then I realized its going upstream! Duh. So after that....

Can you see it? The little grain pyramids are floating toward the left! And then...

There it goes, up the Mississippi River! By party  gravel barge! Safe travels!

Heres' the beautiful view from the opposite side of the Stone Arch Bridge. The Minneapolis downtown skyline is peeking from behind there! 

My Ice'y senses started kicking in and I just knew there was ice cream somewhere around, low and behold, Izzy's Ice Cream was right down the street. Izzy's is known for their "Izzy Scoop," a small, tiny, little sampler scoop! Brilliant! Of course I went with the Dizzy Izzy, a sampler of 5 different Izzy sized scoops: Graham Cracker, Oatmeal Stout, Snickers, Guava Sorbet and Passionfruit Sorbet. I. Loved. All. Of. Them. If I could, I'd go every day. I sat in Gold Medal Park to enjoy my little Izzy scoops. 

Passion fruit (yellow) Guava (pink) Oatmeal Stout-Graham Cracker-Snickers (L-R)

Heading back to Mill City Museum I walked past the Gunthrie Theater. The kind lady at the info desk looked so inviting that I had to walk in. When I was on the Stone Arch Bridge I saw that they had a little look out so I wanted to know if it was open to the public. The lovely lady at the desk told me that I just had to stop on the 4th floor on the endless bridge, then make my way up to the 9th floor for a view of the river and the city skyline. Sold!

Heres a peep from the 4th floor "Endless Bridge." The little jut out is a mirror, so it looks like you're floating in the sky! 

From the 9th floor of the Gunthrie Theater. All of the windows have a yellow tint to them. The lady at the front desk told me it was because otherwise it would be too bright! 

Good thing I'm not a'scared of heights! 

One last peep of the downtown skyline

By the time I had finished ogling at the skyline, it was already 4:00; cutting it too close to the Mill Museum's closing time of 5:00. So far, this really has been one of my favorite finds so I'm not too upset that I didn't make it to the museum this time around. This just gives me an excuse to come back again! 

Wowza, this was a long long post. Did you notice that the majority of my pictures were from an actual camera!? Yay for planning! What a wonderfully adventurous day!

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

P.S. If you're so inclined, heres a little quick slideshow I made from today. Theres some video clips from a collection I like to call "Taryn-Up-High," see if you can tell when!