Things We Saw at the Pumpkin Show

• A pumpkin weighing over 1600 lbs.
• A replica of the world's largest pumpkin pie.
• More food vendor stands than things to see and do (aside from people-watching).
• Some friends from our ward.
• A fat guy saying, "I want sum' funnel cake."
• Some scary looking carnies (and some normal looking ones, too)
• Girls dancing to Irish music.  Either they had all slept with tight curlers the night before, or their teacher went wig-happy.
• A castle house.
• A handful of spaces in mouths where teeth should have been, but weren't.
• Pumpkin chili and pumpkin sloppy joes burgers.  And pumpkin waffles, and pumpkin bread, cookies, cake, pie, etc.
• Delicious mini pumpkin donuts, only $3.50 a bag (heaven, especially when fresh from the oil)
• A nice lady running the mini donut stand, who recognized me when I came back an hour later for another back.  Yes, they are just that good.
• A 3-mile long line of traffic waiting to get off the freeway to attend the Pumpkin Show--fortunately we noticed these as we were headed the opposite direction on our way home.

Brilliant idea

Saw this a while ago online.  It's fake food that looks like it has spilled.  Perfect for saving your seat!  Where would you use yours?

h/t to Gizmodo and Jeremy's Place

A sampling of Ohio restaurants

In the approximately week or so that we have been in Ohio, we have had some opportunities to eat out.  This is where I share with you, the reader, the results of said opportunities and my reviews of the food / restaurants.

Unfortunately, there were no Robin burgers on the menu.
(Image h/t Charlie's Bird Blog)

Red Robin: (Yes, this is not just an Ohio place--in fact, I have lived many years within the vicinity of a RR.  But we still ate here in Ohio, so there.)  Many moons have passed since my previous visit to this place (maybe as an 8 year old with gma and gpa?).  We went while mom and sisters were still here as a partial celebration of mom's b-day and as a thank you for their help.  They have a huge selection of burgers and other foods that I didn't pay much attention to.  My pub burger was tasty, but not as good as Jess's Whiskey River BBQ burger.  Fries were pretty good, but flipping hot.  A little on the pricey side for weekly excursions by students, but a fine celebratory location.  They also came and sang for mom and brought her some free ice cream.  And then when our server found out about mom's chocolate allergy, she brought out a large cup of vanilla soft serve and let us keep the first chocolatey sundae.  Woohoo!  Great service, very happy wait staff, and pretty good food.

A slider
Image h/t Wikipedia

White Castle: *shudder*  We have one of these close to our current place of residence, and I had heard of them before, so we decided to give them a try last weekend.  We got a bag of 10 cheeseburger "sliders."  A slider is a burger about the diameter of a hockey puck, and itty bitty guy that is so greasy it makes the bun soggy and causes the burger to slide right down your gullet.  I think we both plan to avoid this restaurant in the future, and I would happily suggest that you do, too.  Don't feel bad about not having them in Utah--you're better off for it.

This is Moose, who looks just like
Raising Cane, the restaurant's mascot.

Raising Cain: This is a chicken finger joint that has locations all over the US, but mostly in the South.  Closest locations to UT are in Nevada and Colorado, but we have several scattered throughout Columbus.  We came here at the recommendation of some friends in the ward, and were rather pleased with the food here.  The menu is simple, kind of like In-n-Out.  Basically you choose how many chicken fingers you want, and whether you want them on a kaiser bun or with toast on the side.  My sandwich was delicious, with moist chicken that was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.  The fries were ok, but nothing special.  Crinkle-cut, they seemed a lot like the crinkle fries you buy frozen in a bag and cook at home like tater tots.  Jess got the fingers with toast on the side, and the toast was pretty amazing.  Thick bread, yummy garlic butter and spices on it.  Mmm.  They also have a special Cane sauce, which seems like fry sauce plus some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and perhaps a couple other seasonings.  Not quite as good as Wingers (sticky fingers win), but 3 or 4 bucks cheaper per plate.  We'll probably be back.

Cuzzins: We found a fro-yo shop here that is self-serve like the billions back in Provo.  A little less selection of flavors (I think they had 8 or 10 vs 14 or 16 at other places), but still tasty and still sold by the oz.  42 cents per oz instead of 38, but still reasonable.  We scored a sweet coupon from the local paper that got us a free yogurt last night, which was awesome.  Jess indicates that we'll definitely be back.

We plan to continue to explore the local food, and there are plenty of cool places to choose from nearby.