Never eat fried cheese curds on a first date - and other hiliarious tales

Last night I went on a first date with a guy I've been talking to for a couple months. He just moved here this month and we finally were able to meet up.

Since he is new to town we decided to go the Iowa State Fair. The fair started Thursday and goes through next Sunday. It's a pretty big deal in Iowa, because I guess it's one of the biggest fairs in the US. I'm not sure if it still is, but at one point it was.

Because he was new in town I had to fill the role of tour guide. To avoid the crazy traffic around the fairgrounds and the ridiculously priced parking I suggested we meet at the Capital and take the shuttle down the street to the fair grounds.

It wasn't so bad. I get the feeling he was slightly annoyed at standing in line for about 20 minutes each way, but it was better than sitting in traffic (in my opinion).

Once we got there we pretty much ran smack into all the food vendors. Our eyes were a little bigger than our stomachs and we decided to just get a beer and browse all the options before making an irrational decision. ;)

Then we found this stand... can you freakin' believe it?! Fried butter on a stick. I have officially seen it all.

According to some crazy people that have tried it (and apparently have a hankering for type 2 diabetes) said it tastes like a warm cinnamon roll, because there's cinnamon in the butter and it melts once it's fried.

Still didn't convince me though. I don't think I could eat that.

Instead we decided to split some cheese curds (you know, cause that is so much better for you...).

After that I wanted to find the AE Stage to see The Nadas play, which is an awesome Midwestern band. Although I have been to the fair every year for almost the past 30 years I still don't really know my way around the fairgrounds. It's tough when there are 100,000 people milling around!

Luckily, I whipped out the ol' iPhone and consulted Google.

That got us there in no time.

After that we decided we were still hungry and we got a corn dog. Hello, 400 calories on a footlong, deep fried and battered stick! It was well worth the calories and considering it's only a "once or twice a year" kind of food, I went for it.


After that I really wanted to go wish the Butter Cow a happy birthday! We hopped on over a couple buildings to the Agriculture Building and checked it out.

It amazes me every time. How do you become good at sculpting with butter? Think it's like clay?

Happy birthday, Butter Cow!
Can you find my name?

After this is when it got weird. Not weird like, I need a rescue. More funny weird and I am still giggling about it.

As we left the Ag Building we ran smack into some bathrooms. He asked me if I needed to use the restroom, I said yes, but that I didn't feel like waiting in that line. See the line for the ladies on the left? See no line for the men's? Keep reading.

Well, ok. So the picture doesn't show the line very much. It was long though.

He said he needed to go and I said I would wait.

Two minutes later I get this text from him: "It might be awhile."

What?? WHAT?! How do you respond to that?

FIFTEEN minutes later he walks out. I was about two minutes from leaving, figuring he climbed out a window or something. He comes out of there like there's nothing wrong. I asked him if everything was okay and he said yeah. I'm sure the food wasn't agreeing with him (does fried cheese curds agree with anyone?!). Even my stomach was doing somersaults.

Still, it was hilarious and weird all at the same time. Mostly hilarious.

After that it was almost dark, we were both getting tired (five hours at a state fair will do that to ya!) and we decided to head home. I still have two more days at the fair in my future. Once next weekend with a client and then the last day of the fair for a concert. I'm pretty pumped, but on the flip side am glad it's a week away.


Do you go to your state fairs? What is your favorite fried food on stick?