Texas State Fair 2013

Big Tex - Symbol of the Fair

Sunday morning my husband and I slept in and were having coffee discussing what we should do for the day, which usually entails laundry, grocery shopping and errands.  I let the dog out and noticed that it was a gorgeous day.  Clear skies, low humidity, sun shining and about 70 degrees.  So, I came back in and said "why don't we go to the State Fair instead?"  He thought about it a few minutes and said "Why the hell not?"  Fortunately for us, our house is about a 5 minute drive from the fairgrounds.  We got there around noon and couldn't believe that there was NO line to get into the parking lot and we got a great spot.

Ended up being the perfect fair day with the great weather and the fact that it wasn't very crowded (we speculate that the lack of crowds was due to a Dallas Cowboys game being played at 3 pm that day - people in Dallas are serious about watching Cowboys games).

Yes, you are reading that right.  It is a slice of pizza that is battered,
rolled in cool ranch doritos and then deep fried.

First up was lunch.  The Texas State Fair is know for its plethora of gross fried food options (see above as one example).  They have everything from fried s'mores, fried nutella and fried butter to fried meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  We tried to be fairly healthy and we split a grilled alligator kabob and later split a tater twister (basically a freshly made potato chip in one long spiral).

Grilled alligator on a stick

Tater Twister

We went to see the auto show so Steve could look at the new cars and after that we walked around the grounds and popped into the creative arts building.  They have some weird stuff in there.  The fair has all kinds of competitions, including a best quilt and best painting one but there are some odd ones where people make really creepy looking dolls or ugly sweaters.  The quilts hang from the ceiling and are lovely but some of the other exhibits are very strange.  As one of my friends said last year about the creepy dolls, "Even if you did do this as a hobby, why would you let anyone know about it?"

Strange "Creative Arts"  Exhibits

Life size butter sculpture

We then moved on to the livestock arenas.  We checked out the petting zoo area, which was filled with all kinds of animals from your basic longhorn steer and chickens to zebras, emus and llamas.  We then walked to the swine building and watched the hog judging competition and looked at some of the pigs, including the famous "Hogzilla" that sleeps outside.

Boris, aka, Hogzilla

Hog Judging

Bacon (but so cute!!)

By that time, our dogs were barking so we headed back to the food pavilion so I could buy some Texas goodies and we stopped to watch a live music act and use up the last of our coupons on a few light beers.  It was one of the best fair days ever!

My Texas goodies from the food tent - some spices, pickles, relish and olive oil

Great way to end a day at the fair!

We ended up with about $10 of coupons left over so we may try and swing by on the last weekend in October so we can see a few more things, ride some rides on the midway and try some more food.

Fall Harvest Salad

What a great weekend.  Friday we grilled at the house.  Saturday we slept in late, went for a run to the lake and then had a nice dinner with my family.  Sunday was gorgeous weather so we spent the day at the Texas State Fair.  Photos of the fair to come later this week.

Friday night I made one of my favorite salads - my fall harvest salad (I just made up that name).  This is the perfect light salad to accompany any grilled steak, chicken or fish and just screams autumn to me as it has aged Vermont cheddar, toasted pecans, honeycrisp apples and dried cranberries.  My husband loves this salad - one of the few where he will go back for seconds and even thirds.  Recipe and pics are below!

Completed Salad (minus the dried cranberries)

Salad ingredients - I am missing the dried cranberries as I couldn't find them in
our pantry!

Fall Harvest Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette:

1 large head butter lettuce, roughly chopped

Very thinly sliced red onion (I use a mandolin to shave the onion super, super thin - I use about 1/4 of one onion)

2 handfuls of pecans, lightly toasted in the oven for about 5-7 minutes at 350 degrees

1/4 cup cheddar pieces (photo below - the chunkier pieces give you more flavor than grating the cheddar).  Cheddars that work well are the one-year aged Grafton cheddar from Vermont and the Irish Dubliner cheddar

1 honeycrisp or granny smith apple, sliced into small pieces.

2 handfuls of dried cranberries

Apple Cider Vinaigrette:

2 Tbl apple cider vinegar

1 Tbl dijon mustard

1/2 Tsp maple syrup

5-6 Tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Cheddar chunks

Assemble the salad. I suggest waiting to slice the apple until right before dressing the salad and serving so it doesn't turn brown.  For the vinaigrette, whisk all ingredients together (I just put mine in an old jam jar and give it a good shake).  Pour over salad and toss right before serving.  Enjoy!

Five on Friday, Texas Style

TGIF.  This week has dragged on.  One of those weeks that was super busy at the beginning and then starting Thursday morning, it just dragged by ever so slowly.  Here are my Five of Friday.

1.  Fall decorating.  I am ready to start doing some interior fall decorating. Candles on pedestals will be replaced with small pumpkins.  The river rock in my hurricane glass on the kitchen table will be replaced with candy corn and mini pumpkins.  Fake leaves will be set out on our accent tables, etc....

Thanks, Pinterest!

2.  Family Dinner.  This past Wednesday was my mom's birthday so we are all getting together on Saturday night for a Mexican food dinner in Grapevine.  I have never been to this place, called Mi Dia, but it gets great reviews!  Plus, I get to meet my sister's new boyfriend for the first time.  She's been dating him for awhile but they have been doing a long distance relationship right now so I haven't had a chance to meet him.

3.  White Rock Farmer's Market

Local residents put together a farmer's market that is ever other Saturday morning from 8 to noon just a few miles by my house.  For some reason, I have never made it over there but I am planning on it tomorrow.  I hope to get up bright and early, stop by Starbucks and then swing by the market.  I'm hoping I can score my mini pumpkins there for fall decorating.

Farmer's Market 

4.  Making my favorite fall salad tonight.  I'll post pics and a recipe on Monday (I promise).  Here's a teaser - butter lettuce, aged Vermont cheddar, apples, dried cranberries, toasted pecans and homemade apple cider vinaigrette.  One of my all-time favorites!

5.  Butternut Squash.  Another fall favorite.  I noticed they are finally back at Whole Foods.  How do you like to cook butternut squash?  One of my favorites is to roast them in the oven with salt, pepper and olive oil and then mash them up with some maple syrup and a little hint of nutmeg.

(Google images)

Happy Friday!

Fried Food Fest - the Texas State Fair

Fried Food Offerings (google images)

This Friday is opening day for the Texas State Fair, which happens to be the biggest (and the best, IMHO) state fair in the U.S.  It's also the Fried Food Capital that week.  Steve and I always manage to spend at least one day at the Fair and we read all about the fried food being offered that year but we never buy any of it.  We have two staples at the Fair - smoked jerk chicken from a Jamaican guy that has a tent and we always split one order of the tater twister which is essentially a freshly made potato chip that comes in one long spiral.

An oldie but goodie

Here's a description of some of this year's offerings as described on the Dallas D Magazine blog.  I'm telling ya, we don't hold back in Texas.

Deep Fried Cuban Roll (Big Tex “Best Taste” winner)– Really good pork shoulder and ham and Swiss cheese fried together. You want this.

Fried Thanksgiving Dinner (Big Tex “Most Creative” winner) - A ball of house-made stuffing and diced turkey, then dipped into southern creamed corn and rolled with corn meal. Fried and served with brown gravy. 

Fried Thanksgiving Dinner

Deep Fried Elote - Corn, queso fresco, and salsa is mixed into this one-bite wonder. Spicy cream sauce is drizzled over the top. 

Deep  Fried BBQ Wontons - Who likes Panda Express’ fried wontons? These come with hickory smoked pulled pork or chopped brisket instead. 

Fernie’s Deep Fried King Ranch Casserole (Big Tex finalist) - Looks like the fried version of Texas. 

Spinach Dip Bites (Big Tex finalist) – Deep-fried creamy spinach artichoke dip. Interesting.

Deep fried Spinach Dip

Southern Style Chicken-Fried Meatloaf (Big Tex finalist) – MEATLOAF AND MASHED POTATOES, MEATLOAF AND MASHED POTATOES. I have nothing else to say.

Texas Fried Fireball (Big Tex finalist) – Basically a pimento cheese+bacon ball. Not too shabby.

Golden Fried Millionaire Pie (Big Tex finalist) – Feel like a million bucks with this cream cheese-pineapple-and Texas pecan creation.You’ll turn into Bill Gates right after.

Awesome Deep Fried Nutella® (Big Tex finalist) – Ummm, yeah. I would probably punch 30 people for one of these right now, if that’s what it’d take.

Deep Fried Nutella

Deep Fried Chocolate Chip Burrito - Imagine a flour tortilla wrapped around chocolate chip cookie dough, then fried. Yep, that’s what this is. This comes with chocolate or strawberry drizzle and whipped cream. .

Spicy Spam Empanadas - If you love Monty Python’s spam video, you’ll love this empanada filled with shredded spam, potatoes, bacon, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, onions, red and green peppers, jalapeno and chipotle peppers, and spices.

Fall is Here

I know, I know.  Everyone is ready for fall, including myself.  After surviving yet another Texas summer, I am ready for some jeans, sweaters and boots.  To get into the spirit, I bought a new front door wreath today on sale from RueLaLa.

Can't wait to hang this on my front door

I'll probably also splurge on some pumpkins this weekend  for the front porch and for our backyard fireplace.  I try not to buy pumpkins too early because our neighborhood squirrels tend to attack them.  It's still too hot in Texas to really get into fall spirit, meaning that it's still way too early to break out the sweaters and boots and to start making big batches of spicy Texas chili but it can't get here soon enough.  I have a few other ideas for things around the house as well.  Time to switch out my table runners and redo my table arrangements.

I also bought this rug for the breakfast nook area of our kitchen.  Our old rug has seen better days and I love the fall colors of this one (plus it matches my kitchen which is painted in terra cotta tones).

New Rug (also from Rue LaLa Fall Sale)

I'm still not quite ready for my PSL yet but I have started adding pumpkin pie spice to my oatmeal.  I have to start somewhere.

You know it's true

Come on cooler weather!

Front Yard Redo

I finally broke down and called a professional landscaper to overhaul our front yard.  We used to have a huge, gorgeous dogwood tree in our front yard that had the most incredible seasonal changes.  In spring, it would explode with white flowers and looked like a giant snowball.  In fall, its leaves would turn bright red, which is unusual for trees in Texas.  We noticed about two years that it bloomed less and less and had little color change in the fall.  This last spring, there wasn't a single bloom and it only had a few leaves here and there.  By the end of this summer, it was pronounced dead by our lawn service and we had it removed.

Pinspiration:



There are plenty of other things we need to do with our front yard as well.  We have a large crepe myrtle on one side, which is great but it shades part of the yard so much that no grass will grow and we have a HUGE dirt patch that looks awful.  I also have no flower pots on the porch as my last set of pots were stolen in the middle of the night and it made me so mad that I haven't replaced.  I mean, really, who goes around stealing people's flower pots from their front porch?  Our front steps also need to be resurfaced or covered in flagstone.

So, I should be getting drafts of the plans later this week.  We intend to redo all of our beds in front of the house and will bring one bed out much further where the grass doesn't grow under the crepe myrtle and will plant it with shade-loving plants.  We will also redo our front steps and walkway, add new borders and redo the beds by the sidewalk.  I also plan to shop for a new mailbox as well.  Of course, Pinterest has been giving me some great inspiration.  I hope to be able to share the before and after photos in a few weeks.

A few ideas:

Love this simple border

Great idea for the "hellstrip" that is b/w your sidewalk and street