'Tis the Season

We have a wide range of niche and mainstream interests here at your favorite online gathering place. Among them, an appreciate for the wonders of a good state fair. From Indiana to Minnesota to...well, just those two, we love a fair.

The Minnesota State Fair runs for two weeks around Labor Day each summer (August 27 - September 7, this year). It's the largest such fair in the U.S. in terms of average daily attendance, and more than two million people pass through its gates each year. (Texas tops the nation in total attendance, but their fair runs twice as long as Minnesota's.)  

One of the most-anticipated events in the run-up to the Fair is the annual reveal of food items that will make their debut that year. You know that we're all over this one. 

Fully 48 fair foods and drinks will be first-timers in 2026. Thirty-nine of these are new offerings from Fair veterans and nine are proffered by vendors new to the Fair. Sixteen are either sweet treats or drinks, and neither of those categories are really my cup of (bubble) tea, so we'll narrow our discussion to the remaining 32 savory stuffs, with an emphasis on the unique (so we'll skip the new french fry vendor, for example).

Let's start with the ethnic diversity. The Twin Cities are home to a surprising range of cultures, from the obvious Scandinavian to large Somali, Filipino, and Hmong communities. The latter is represented by the Hmong Corn Dog from Union Hmong Kitchen. The purveyors describe it thusly, "Pork Hmong sausage flavored with ginger, garlic, fish sauce, chili and lemongrass made in collaboration with Kramarczuk's. Skewered, dipped in a cornmeal batter and fried. Served with a side of citrus Kua Txob sauce." Would.

Not to be outdone, the good people at Lumpia City are bringing their Longanisa Cheese Curd Lumpia to the party. It's a "Homemade Filipino longanisa pork sausage combined with garlic and Wisconsin cheese curds, stuffed and rolled in a lumpia wrapper and deep-fried. Served with a side of sweet chili sauce." Lumpia, to the uninitiated, is essentially a Filipino egg roll.

A pair of vendors will offer two very different interpretations of bao buns. Rooted & Wild by Snack House brings a vegan version doused in hot barbecue sauce and topped with pineapple slaw. Meanwhile, RC's BBQ's giving us bao belly (pictured) presented as, "Smoked barbecue pork belly drizzled with RC's hot sauce and yum yum sauce. Topped with pickled vegetables and cilantro and served on folded, steamed bao buns." Fuck and yes.

Were I to head to the fairgrounds this year, one of the first places I'd have to go is the French Meadow Bakery & Cafe stall smack in the middle of the action. They're bringing Shakshuka Lamb Meatballs, which, shut the front door. If you haven't tried shakshuka, I insist you remedy that - it's a rich, thick often-spicy tomato sauce that's served with hearty bread and proteins like eggs, kabob, chicken, etc. Here's how the French Meadow folks describe their dish: "Seasoned lamb and pork meatballs stuffed with whipped garlic herb goat cheese and flash-fried. Served atop shakshuka – a blend of tomatoes, chili peppers, onions and spices – garnished with parsley and served with a side of chimichurri-spiced sourdough crostini."  

You'll want to sit down to eat it, so maybe hit the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild's tent and grab a cold one to accompany the shakshuka.

We'll close our preview with one last item, because we're running out of gas, but do hit the link above to check out all of the options. We'll stay away from the Pickle Pie offered by LuLu's Pie House, as well as the Dill With It, Cookie! from Urban Glow Mocktails. Several elote and elote-adjacent dishes look delicious, for sure, but maybe some other time. Cafe Caribe's putting lobster with garlic butter on a cheeseburger. Goddamn lunatics. Mancini's al Fresco's Walking Chopped Italian Grinder puts a whole new spin on nachos, and I would definitely try it. But the last thing we'll highlight comes from Midtown Global Market's Irie Jamaican Express.

Smothered fries may not seem all that exciting, but get a load of their Jamaican Jerk Chicken Loaded Fries. That might be a perfect combination.

I'll be headed to the Loudoun County Fair next week, if only for the pig calling. I hope at least one of our readers gets to the Minnesota State Fair this year, or at least some fair. It's a good clean gluttonous slice of Americana.

A Great One Gone

As a DMV native and news junkie of a certain age, I was bummed to learn that Pat Oliphant passed yesterday at the age of 91. For my (meager) money, Oliphant was nothing less than the greatest political cartoonist to ever smudge his hands in acerbic ink. He skewered politicians off all stripes and reserved some of his sharpest barbs for the hypocrisy of the Catholic church. 

In reading more about him, I learned that there's a recently-made documentary about his life and career entitled A Savage Art. And so now I've got one more thing to watch.

Gheorghasbord: All Filler, No Killer

Clearing the decks to get our week off to a good start. We've got dogs, and dudes, and all manner of flotsam. I'm Maine-bound on Friday to take Rootsy's place as the G:TB ambassador to its rivers and lakes, so don't expect to hear anything from me for a few days. Keep the place running, won't you.

News you can use from The Guardian, "According to the Vets Now, dogs’ brains have more cannabinoid receptors than humans’, so marijuana tends to affect a dog more than it would a human." This is relevant to Tokyo, a 25 kg (55 lb) lab who accidentally ingested marijuana left on the trail at UK's Ben Nevis mountain. The poor pup lost consciousness after he legs began to give out as she and her owner made the ascent. 

Thankfully, the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team was quick on the job, helping get Tokyo off the mountain and to the hospital, where she made a full recovery. 

We've all been there, good girl

Tributes continue to pour in for Sam Neill, who passed suddenly yesterday. In marked contrast to the way U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has been remembered, the 78 year-old Neill seems to have been universally loved for both his art and the generosity of his spirit. He also seems to have been a man of whimsy, as this pandemic-era video shows:

Very few players will exit the World Cup having burnished their credentials on and off the pitch more than Norway's Erling Haaland. The Striking Viking (just made that up, but others can feel free to use it free of charge - man of the people) scored seven goals in Norway's five matches, helping lead his nation to its best-ever result. 

Watchers of the game already knew about his talent and preternatural scoring acumen. Haaland's genuine personality and willingness to express it are what took him from Premier League star to global icon. As of today, Haaland has more Instagram followers than Manchester United. Like Sam Neill, Haaland appears both interested in the world and unafraid to be himself. So while I will continue to despise his club, I find it very hard now to not root for the man.

Gheorghe-Bait, Election Edition

We live in an era of maximalist crazy, politically-speaking. For once, I'm not actually talking about the good ol' U S of A. Across the pond, an upcoming by-election (defined as an election taking place between general elections to fill a vacant seat - you may know them from their star turn as special elections here) in England pits a fascist against a noble garbage bin. 

Nigel Farage is one of the worst people on the planet. The leader of the UK's Reform Party, he's been a Member of Parliament representing Clacton since July 2024. Clacton is a coastal constituency that skews old and homogeneously white (96.1% white, to be precise). Convenient locale for a politician who specializes in racist anti-immigrant appeals. And he's been racist from way back: his high school classmates penned an open letter to him in 2025 demanding that he apologize for his racist behavior back in the day.

As a long-time Euroskeptic, Farage was a leading voice in the movement for Britain to leave the European Union in 2020. He's palled around with Trump and French right-winger Marine Le Pen. Like Trump, he's corrupt as shit, currently under investigation for various financial shenanigans, including taking a €5m "gift" from a crypto billionaire. Unlike, Trump, he seems to prefer his greed on a modest scale - wouldn't want to be gauche, after all.

Last week, in a ploy to bolster his party's electoral ambitions, Farage resigned his seat in Parliament and announced plans to stand once again in the by-election forced by his actions. In his words, he took the action as a rejection of the fake news of his corrupt behavior, saying, “I have decided that the people of Clacton will be the judges of my actions. This will be a people versus the establishment by-election.”

The other leading parties were less than impressed by Farage's gambit, refusing to play along. One by one, they announced that they would refuse to stand a candidate in the race. 

Which left an unlikely opponent to square off with Farage in the August 13 contest. Friends, I give you Count Binface.

The creation of satirist Jonathan David Harvey, Binface is a frequent candidate across the U.K., an "independent space warrior" who runs to promote electoral participation, among other things. In an recent BBC interview, he articulated a series of policy positions that included building at least one affordable house, nationalizing Adele, and "of course, moving the hand dryer in the gents toilet in the Crown and Treaty pub Axbridge to a more sensible position because as you know it's a national issue."

Come on good people of Clacton. You know what to do. And we're all counting on you. Up the Binface!

Z, International Man of Mystery

Many of our readers will be aware of my long-ago addiction to General Hospital. I failed a college class because of the Cruise of Deception for chrissakes. 

That addiction, fortunately for my career and marriage, ended long ago. I haven't seen a daytime soap in decades. But now, news comes from Port Arthur that changes everything. 

There's a mysterious new character in town, a dashing, debonair international man of mystery. Friends, I give you...Z. (Not that one.)

For a bit more context regarding this glorious crossing of streams, I commend to you this explainer from Brian Grubb. Oh to be living John Oliver's life.

Palate Cleanser: World Cup Classic, in English

England’s epic 3-2 World Cup knockout win against Mexico in Mexico City immediately notches as a classic, a testament to resolve as the Three Lions endured almost half the match down a man against a host team that is nearly invincible in that stadium. Some in the British sporting press are calling it the country’s best performance since winning the Cup in 1966 and perhaps its greatest ever on foreign soil (they won the ’66 Cup at London’s Wembley Stadium). 

A sampling of English newspapers in the aftermath of the win is a treat. British English is its own idiom with some lovely vernacular that can require a bit of thought and translation. British sports writing, particularly when it comes to the national side and its figures, sometimes contains florid phrasing and passages that mostly do not exist in American sports writing. 

In the months and years to come, the match will grow in legend and you can see it entering a sporting equivalent of Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade” or “Beowulf” territory. Consider this from Barney Ronay in The Guardian: “In the event this was the most extraordinary, agonising night of football as an experience of the mind, body, bones, guts, blood and back of the neck. During which England overcame not only the Mexican national football team over 90 minutes plus an extendable eternity of added time; but an event, an iconography, a set of ghosts. “Down to 10 men and faced with the relentless hostile will of the Azteca crowd, the players took themselves into some deep, strange places. This was total immersion, a knockout game that felt at times like watching Colonel Kurtz play Colonel Kurtz at full-contact death match ping-pong.” 

This was Oliver Holt’s lede in the Daily Mail: “In the great football temple of the Azteca, in the midst of the chaotic, untrammelled fervour that football unleashes here, battered by the din, electrical storms raging around the stadium, reduced to ten men for 40 minutes, up at an altitude of 7,220ft, in the thin air that makes your heart race and your lungs gasp, England defied it all. "When the final whistle went, they breathed again. All England breathed again. All England, up in the middle of the night in packed pubs in cities and villages across the country, in front rooms and basements, the intrepid few who sat high in the stands here, all breathed again.” 

Or this lede, from Jack Pitt-Brooke, a British sports writer for The Athletic: “You could watch England play for your whole life and never experience anything like this. Nothing that would feel this meaningful, this exhausting, this stirring, this profound.” 

In other countries, the relationship between teams and the press is sometimes more like a big, contentious family rather than strictly professional subject and reporter. It can be critical, even adversarial, but backed by unwavering support. As in: I get to criticize my family/team/country because I want them/it to be better, but they know I’m always behind them. There’s a mostly unwritten rule in American sports writing: No cheering in the press box. In many foreign press boxes and among foreign correspondents, however, cheering is part of the experience. They’ll still call out mistakes and assign blame and ask difficult questions, but there’s no question where their loyalties are. 

As for distinct phrasing, here’s more Pitt-Brooke: “Even the air itself here, lighter, thinner, harder to breathe, was in Mexico’s favour. England only arrived on Friday night, with no real time to adapt. And yet they still kept finding reserves within themselves, somehow keeping the brains and bodies going through two hours of drama. “And as if all of that was not enough, torrential rain and thunderstorms delayed kick-off by one hour, only adding to the feeling of historic significance. It made you wonder whether this was Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god, the roar of the Earth, all bulging eyes, jaguar fangs and feathered crown, gathering up the air stored in the mountains and pouring it out for maximum mischief.” 

And more Ronay, as England attempted to hold on to its lead: (England manager Thomas) Tuchel was here in blue raincoat and waterproof ankle swingers, like a malnourished minor duke out walking the hounds … He sent on Dan Burn, Djed Spence and John Stones, five defenders flat across the back as Mexico swarmed pleasantly but without real incision, like being assailed by a cloud of dandelion seeds.” 

This was the kicker to Holt’s piece in the Daily Mail: “The crowd smelled blood. They bayed for the equaliser. England clung on. John Stones, Dan Burn and Djed Spence came on. They all played like heroes at the back. Then the fourth official held up a board showing there would be 11 minutes of time added on. “Some doubted England could hold out. But this game was about 15 heroes. Fifteen men who stood up when many expected them to fail. Fifteen men who would not yield to everything the Azteca threw at them. Fifteen men who will travel to Miami this week to play for a place in the World Cup semi-finals.” 

Epic.

World Cup Review: Week Three(ish)

In all the excitement of England's scintillating 3-2 win over Mexico last night, we lost track of the schedule. Ah, well. On to Cincinnati.

That excitement got to Harry Kane, who scored one, assisted one, and sang one. The latter as part of a team/crowd rendition of 'Wonderwall' which left Kane sounding like an excited Muppet in a post-match interview:

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Now that we're down to the final 12 teams in the tournament, we've lost some of our favorites. Goodbye, tequila-pounding Koreans, sayonara tidy Japanese, farewell dancing Oranje, festive Ghanaians, drunken Scots, and obrigado, mighty Brazil, for the color you brought to the proceedings.  

We'll miss Cabo Verde, too, for their fans and for the players' valiant efforts. Their overtime loss to Argentina means the Blue Sharks have to leave the tournament, but it also means they're the only participating nation in World Cup history to never have lost a match in regular time. Sidny Lopes Cabral's extra time equalizer will go down as one of the great goals of this event.

The players and staff will likely never have to buy a grogue at home ever again, judging by the welcome they received when they returned yesterday.

In a bit more prosaic news, the Aussies found Popeye's before they headed back Down Under.

They found Popeyes. 😭

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— I don't even know anymore. (@sdotcarter.bsky.social) June 25, 2026 at 8:27 AM

And finally, after an epic two-goal performance - some might call it Beowulfian - Erling Haaland led his Norge teammates and fans in their now-iconic row. Norway face England in the quarterfinals, and you'd be a right fool to count them out.