A bit of Sandwich

I always heard of Sandwich from daughter in law Dawn as she has been there with Anamite and kids for a few years in a row. So I finally took the trek to Sandwich, getting lost along the way with that stupid GPS, aughh.

Sandwich is a little town like most little towns with history. Old buildings and historic homes mingling with the new ugly box like homes. The Sandwich Fair is held in a dedicated fairground structure, that i gathered from the mini railroad that went around and around, plus the barn type permanent buildings interspersed with gaudily loud food booths.
But it is the food that was the draw for me. Huge mobile food booths with steaks grilling right in front of you with the accoutrement of onions, peppers, mushrooms, cheese along side the steaks, brats, dogs, ribs, corn dogs etc. My mouth watered with every wafting scent of the different fair ground foodstuff. There were corndogs, waffles, mini donuts from a mini fryer dropper, funnel cakes, elephant ears dusted with powdered sugar, cinnamon and other mouthwatering dusts. You name it, it was there. Interestingly enough, no Chinese or Asian food booth, no spring rolls, rangoons, noodles.

My top faves? It was my first time to have an apple dumpling. There was this one dedicated booth for Hot Apple Dumplings, topped with vanilla icing and a slathering of caramel sauce, piping hot from the convection oven that continuously baked the dumplings. The pie pastry was a bit gooey with a taste of cinnamon, but the apple was perfectly round, peeled, scored, must be granny smith as it held its form and had a tartish sweet taste. Along with the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce, it was one of the best Americana food I have had in ages.

Dawn and Anamite told me the Pork Chop place was a must. The lines were long at Fay's but moving fast. Around and back were charcoal grills that were filled from end to end with huge thick pork chops, and the other side had grilled chicken just being flipped over (imagine your barbecue griller but in gigantic proportions) by eager young Caucasian boys, must be generations of them going through this summer ritual as a rite of passage working the grills for this destination Pork Chop stop. Undaunted by the long line, $12 got me a combo of a pork chop and quarter chicken, a small drink (coffee of course) and sides like the ubiquitous sliced bread, cole slaw, baked beans , applesauce and cottage cheese. Augh ...saan ang kanin at banana ketchup? Sa uulitin nga...magdadala ako. Of course, the food was good, chicken moist, pork chops just right, not raw. Wish it had a thicker layer of fat, sometimes lean pork chops can be too much....But these were finger licking good. My inner oink wanted to get ribs and totally stuffed potatoes but, this was it.

Until I saw the home made pies made by the Christian Church ladies, berry, apple and peach. Going back was the promise. Until doing so, later after walking off the over eating tummy, berry pies were gone, suddenly, pie was not that interesting anymore.

After the tractor pull show in the grandstand area, of which another short blog dedicated to this is next, found the Rollin Pin Bakery mobile that bragged of the Wisconsin State Fair staple, Chocolate Eclairs and Whipped Cream Puffs. And of course, Maridel had to have these. And man, were they good although I could've enjoyed the eclair better slightly thawed more. But understandable that with that home made custard, and in the quantities they were selling, these had to keep frozen. The whipped cream cream puff was already overkill but I did have many bites till I almost burst like the puff.

I need to plan the next fair better. Eat slowly and gradually. Spend the whole day there instead of the few hours. And of course, lose 4 pounds before going to the fair.Advice to all, it is a must to go to the Sandwich Fair at least once (or twice or all the time as this man, who probably belongs to one of the founding families of Sandwich boasted of not having missed the fair since he was 8 and he sure looks like he was a bit over 80). Oh and I did forget to mention all the other exhibits, antiques, competitions, livestock and fair rides...I overwhelmed myself with the food.