The Great Minnesota Get Together

I love the State Fair--it is everything that I love and hate about Minnesota all wrapped into twelve days of summer. While better food can be found in Minneapolis on a daily basis, the State Fair is filled with some unique options, some unappetizing choices (I will not eat a deep fried candy bar), food that should not exist and people that should not be eating said food. 

The State Fair also has baby animals, taxidermy, more baby animals, frozen wine drinks, corn, art made out of corn, "Vote No" art made out of corn, beautiful handmade wooden kayaks, not so beautiful hand knit sweaters, beaded "things"...the list is never ending. 

While there are fantastic sites to be seen at the fair, the most impressive thing about it is that each and every type of individual shows up and, in all seriousness, that is an amazing feat.

Ice cream from the fairy barn, bavarian pretzels, lamb fries, 1919 root beer,
cheese curds, milk, and a walleye roll.

Don't mind if I do.

Amazing what you can find in the agriculture building: giant sugar beets, a  Mario Bros. "Vote No" piece of art made out of seeds, and award-winning corn.

Weekend of Celebrations

This was quite a weekend of celebrations. 

I attended a memorial service celebrating the life of a friend's father filled with beautiful speeches from friends and family members.

I celebrated the fact that I can still sit around a table of food, stare at a dog, and talk about anything and everything with some friends that I have known for a long, long time.

I celebrated the return of summer by taking a nice long walk around Lake of the Isles with a friend that I do not see enough of.

I went to the State Fair to celebrate the best (and possibly, the worst) of Minnesota.

And maybe most importantly, I spent Saturday night celebrating Peter and Rachel as they got hitched in the rain...with some assistance from my cookies...

Rachel looked beautiful.

My first "catering" gig!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am a firm believer that a chocolate chip cookie is the best dessert.  This means that my goal in life (yes, this is arguably a sad life goal) is to develop the best chocolate chip cookie recipe...ever.  The cookie must be thick, chewy in the center, and slightly crunchy on the outside.  Good chocolate also makes any cookie exponentially better.  Valrhona is fantastic but can get pricey and can be difficult to find.  E. Guittard is a great grocery store substitute but I am partial to Ghiradelli.  It is a great grocery store brand that is priced well and tastes delicious...that, and I may be biased because they awarded me a ribbon for one of my cookie sandwiches at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010 [insert reader's gasp].  If you are not from Minnesota you may not be able to fully understand the magnitude of this achievement...

The winning cookies

I was on the local news!

Luckily, someone else, i.e. NY Times and Jacques Torres, already did all of the work for me. This recipe is perfect:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Jacques Torres & NY Times, 2008

Make the cookies: Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. 

Cream butter and sugars together until very light. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add chocolate and incorporate without breaking pieces. Refrigerate for 24 hours. 

Using a size 50 scoop (1 1/4 tbsp), scoop the dough onto a silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9.5 minutes. They will look undercooked but will harden while cooling.

8 1/2 ounces cake flour
8 1/2 ounces bread flour (I use King Arthur All Purpose Flour)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder 
1 1/2 tsp salt 
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter 
10 ounces light brown sugar 
8 ounces granulated sugar 
2 eggs 
2 tsp natural vanilla extract 
13 ounces bittersweet chocolate