Chicken Dinner

One thing I forgot to include in my post about the Middletown Grange Fair the other day was regarding the big chicken dinner that they have each day.  It might be the most popular thing at the fair.

Prepping the birds for the grill.

Now we didn't stay for the dinner, but we did see them making the chicken and it was pretty impressive. 

We wondered how the show chickens enjoyed the smell.

The birds are strapped in these grill cages (I swear there was a carnival ride much like that at the fair) and they are grilled over huge charcoal pits by the hundreds.  They make about 1200 chickens per day for the dinners. 

Charcoal reserves.

During the grilling, they are sprayed with a mixture of butter, vinegar, salt and water--for flavor, moisture, and a crispy skin.  Quite an undertaking--especially on hot day.

Did you go to the Grange Fair's chicken dinner?  Let me know how it was!

Middletown Grange Fair

On Saturday, we made our first visit to the Middletown Grange Fair.  We had a really good time. 

The main reason we went was so animal-crazy Jake could see the many farm animals that were being shown.  And there were a lot of them.  Bunnies and guinea pigs, cows and goats, sheep and chickens, alpacas and hogs.  The most impressive to me were the massive Belgian draft horses and oxen.  Man, those things are amazing creatures.

This horse weighs 2200 lbs and has a head as big as Jake.

Food-wise, we saw things past, present and future.

From the past, the fruits and vegetables that were being judged.  They'd been sitting out on tables for days, so most of them were definitely past their prime.  I did notice that our friend Tricia Borneman from Blooming Glen Farm won a blue ribbon for her basket of farm goodies.  Congratulations, Tricia!

The award-winning display by Tricia Borneman of Blooming Glen Farm.

Food Present was our lunch.  Some tasty burgers sold by the Plumsteadville Grange (meat from Haring Brothers), fruit smoothies, good greasy fair fries and Italian ice and ice cream.  There were plenty of other things to pig out on, but we showed restraint.

MB & Jake shoveling it in.

Speaking of pigging out, that brings me to Food Future:  Lots of animals that may have their future on a plate near you.  Hey, there was one pen with 3 pigs in it named Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.  I'm just reporting what I saw.

Mmm...bacon....

The fair was a lot of fun and, if the amount of traffic was any indication, a lot of other people think so, too.  We'll be back!