Iowa State Fair

I'm sorry to say I don't have any recipes to post today, but I do have some food-related pictures to share.  I met my parents in Des Moines a few days ago for the Iowa State Fair, and it was awesome.  There were loads of cows, pigs, goats, chickens, sheep, horses, and fried foods.  One of the coolest things was the wind generator, which singlehandedly powers the fairgrounds and then some.  One of the grossest things were the hard-boiled eggs on a stick, which magically appeared out of sealed plastic bags without their shells and then had popsicle sticks jammed into them.  There was a consistent line of about 50 people waiting for these slimy looking suckers, and there's just something wrong about that.  

Meet Buddy, the prize-winning 1,117lb. pig from Ames.  

This is Okie-Dokie and me.  Okie-Dokie weighs in at a mere 1,071lbs.  I think she still has a little growing to do.   

For lunch my mom and I split a tenderloin with the works - ketchup, mustard, onion and pickles.  I always assumed that tenderloins were reconstituted pork, but according to an internet search done by my mom they are actually pork tenderloins pounded out until they're really thin.  I felt a lot better about eating breaded, deep fried meat knowing that it came from the tender loin of a single pig instead of several.  

Have you ever seen a 33.4lb kohlrabi?  Or anything close to it?  I wonder what it tastes like when it gets to that size.  

The infamous butter cow.  Yes, it's about the size of a real cow.  

Super sweet spooning swine.