What happened to August? I seemed to have spent a good part of it at the Indiana State Fair.

I had the pleasure of doing cooking demos for Red Gold Tomatoes inside of the lovely Dupont Food Pavilion.

I biked the Monon each day. Been awhile since I have done that, so my observations of everything old was new again. Admired the murals along the wall between 52nd and 49th streets. Wondered where those artists are today. I believe most if not all were BRHS students at the time. Glad to see the murals of Major Taylor and Pat Mack's inspiring "Angel Hug" sculpture still in place.

The CIBA folks ran the Pedal and Park. What a deal. Park for free AND enjoy delightful conversation with this group of interesting and cheerful folks. Because my mind was able to "breathe" from the 20 minute ride from my laptop to the fair I was able to really LISTEN and converse. So, dates and items spurred a conversation about royalty which turned into a conversation about ancestry.com which turned into learning that it is a small world. We all knew several of the same people. And maybe were even very distantly related!

People at the fair intrigue me. Each morning I would walk across the midway and the vendors and hawkers were ready. Big stuffed animals, blow up animals, giant balls all ready for winning. The rides were still waiting for the kids. The Fun Slide was my favorite. The irony of the name and the glee of the kids going down it. As opposed to the many mechanical, whirly, shaking, rides. I did see the World's Largest Popcorn Ball. I thought it would be bigger.

Demos were well attended and I delighted in sharing all of the crazy Indiana food knowledge and nutrition knowledge and anti-aging facts I have gathered over the years. And put me on a stage with a knife-careful. ha. The Indiana Wine Grape Council also had a booth in the Dupont Building. The group was championing its "Indiana's Own" grape, Traminette. Kudos to Easley Winery for taking top honors with its version of Traminette at the Indy International Wine Competition held at Purdue the week before the State Fair. The Indiana Microbrewers Guild had an education exhibit as well. Did you know there are now 70 microbreweries in the state? And while you could learn about the grapes and hops you couldn't taste them. So in closing I will recommend that you DO give Easley Traminette a try. It is available at the winery and selected grocery stores in town. The grape makes an off dry white wine with aromas and flavors of white peach, apricot and a hint of cardamom spice. It would be delicious with any of the Red Gold recipes I made at the fair. The crowd favorites were the Chicken Gyros with Cucumber Tomato Salsa and the Sassy Guacamole. Find them on line at www.redgold.com