Saturday, July 29, 2006

Fair Season!

Well, it's that time of the year again, Fair season! I love going to county and state fairs. I like to go and see and pet the animals, especially the cows. Don't ask me why, but I love petting cows. In fact, I want a cow. A Jersey cow.

I was able to pet one at the Hamilton County fair last week. It was just a baby.

I also love fair food. No where else in the world can you get a Milky Way candy bar that has been put on a stick, dipped in donut-like batter, deep fried and then smothered in powdered sugar. In fact, when I went to the Minnesota State Fair 2 years ago, everything was on a stick. Hot dogs, pork chops, chicken... no need for a plate. Andrew's favorite was the deep fried cheese curds... I don't blame him.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Disappointment...

Today after test driving cars (I'm getting closer to retiring Lestat), Andrew and I went to UDF for some malts.
A little background info...
UDF (United Dairy Farmers for all of you out of UDF territory) is a gas station that has an ice cream counter in it. They brag that their peach ice cream has real peaches in it, and that their strawberry ice cream has real strawberries in it, and they have some interesting seasonal ice creams too... like pumpkin pie and egg nog. Until I was a sophomore in college, they offered a "Mocha" flavored milkshake and malt, which naturally was my favorite. One summer while I was home from college, I went into one and ordered my usual mocha malt, and the gal behind the counter said that they no longer had that flavor. I was crushed.
Well, today I saw listed on their flavor board was "Mocha Cappuccino" (which in and of itself is like saying PIN number, because Mocha is simply chocolate flavored cappuccino). I was so excited! However, when I ordered, the gal said that they only had the vanilla flavored cappuccino. I didn't understand. So I she pulls out the gallon of syrup for flavoring. I asked if she could just make the malt with chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. She said yes, but it would cost an extra $0.50 for the flavoring. Again, I didn't understand why she would be charging me more for using chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla to make the malt. I mean, there aren't different prices on the individual flavors when I order a scoop, why should there be when I order a different flavored malt. Then she let the cat out of the bag when she said, "We use unflavored ice cream to make the malts and shakes." I tried to argue, but they said that they had been making them with unflavored ice cream for 20 years. For years I watched them make my malt with the same ice cream labeled "vanilla" in the front case and they just added a squirt of chocolate syrup and a squirt of coffee flavoring. And from this I had always assumed that when you ordered a strawberry shake, they would use the strawberry ice cream with the real strawberries. No, it's all fake. It all comes out of those damn flavoring syrups. A company who "prides" themselves with putting "real" strawberries or peaches in their "fresh" summer favorites are substituting nature's finest flavors with impurities like high fructose corn syrup and red dye #40. I'm not sure if I can ever go there again.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Damn Indiana drivers

Seriously!!! Can you please learn how to drive? Let's see... a couple of weeks ago, I was on my way to work. There was a accident blocking the right 3 lanes. There was a guy in an SUV sitting next to me as I was approaching the accident. Then, he was half-way into my lane. Of course I lay on the horn, and start yelling. They guy looks at me while he's on his cell phone. C'mon! Can't you tell the other person that you're in a traffic jam and you actually have to pay attention???? I mean damn... you're about to cause an accident you moron!