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Mark Elliott’s Eating Extravaganza 2011

First thanks to Mike, Darrin, Carla and Casey for helping out during this years taste testing.  If I get anyone’s name or booth wrong, blame Darrin he kept notes (and he’s on Facebook, so blame him directly.)

Today, me and my panel of WIKY Judges, Kelley Ashby (this was her first time as a judge) and April Rutledge met in our usual spot at 11th and Franklin and set out to sample another 21 booths.  Anyone have some extra Rolaids they're not using?  Here's what we tested and our reviews:

Booth 108--St. Peter's UCC in Wadesville.  Chicken 'n Dumplings.  Kelley had never had chicken 'n dumplings before, and she thought they were great! We all liked the spice combos and the colorful parlsey in the broth.  Nice, soft dumplings and very tasty.

Today I, along with my veteran panel of judges Tracy Silver and Kathy Collins, hit 24 booths.  Even with small samples, 24 of ‘em add up in a hurry.  Consider this – you pile a pronto pup on top of a kangaroo sandwich, mix it with a deep-fried Twinkie and so on for a couple of dozen booths and you find out quick that it’s the combo that’ll kill you.  Tough duty, I know.  (And voluntary!)

Booth

Here's an interesting article from Tuesday morning's Wall Street Journal.  

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020461250457660887174440461...

We'll be talking about this on Tuesday afternoon.

It's once-a-year eat-a-thon known as the Fall Festival! As we have for the past eight Fall Festivals, DJB and I hit the street with our panel of judges in search of classic, new, and bizarre food items.  Our goal is to sample something from every food booth at the festival, this year numbering 135.  My team includes April Rutledge, Helen Schnarr and newcomer Kelley Ashby. 

Well, not everything on a stick.  As we have for the past eight Fall Festivals, Diane and I hit the street with our panel of judges in search of classic, new, and bizarre food items.  Our goal is to sample something from every food booth at the festival, this year numbering 135.  My team includes veterans Tracy Silver and Kathy Collins along with Nut Clubbers Andy Elfreich (out of retirement as a taster!) and newcomer Jeff Alvey.  

Booth

** This story was in the news yesterday, and people are understandably a bit upset about it. Looks like it's time to start storing all your cash in your mattress again.  Remember those banks we bailed out?  They still want to hold your money for you . . . but now when you take some OUT, they want to keep a piece for themselves.

--The latest?  Bank of America . . . the largest bank in the country . . . just announced that starting next year, they'll charge a $5 monthly fee for you to use your debit card. 

**The average American woman spends 54 minutes getting ready for work. 18 minutes drying and styling hair; 15 minutes applying makeup; eight minutes getting dressed; 8 minutes taking a shower; and five minutes eating breakfast. The total amount of time the average woman spends getting ready to leave the house in a lifetime? Two years. - How long does it take you?

**DJB checked out a couple of new shows on the Fall TV Schedule.  He watched "Pan Am" on ABC and "The Playboy Club" on NBC.  He thought "The Playboy Club" was a bit better, but he did enjoy both shows.  Diane checked out the new "Charlie's Angels" on ABC, and thought it was pretty good.

** Diane had a weird dream last night that was so vivid, she kept waking up and as soon as she fell back to sleep, she would be right back into the same dream!  Here's what went down.....she dreamed that all of her teeth were falling out and she had to put them all into a hankerchief to take them to her dentist.  This was so disturbing, when she got up this morning, she had to check in the mirror to make sure she did indeed have all of her teeth!  Turns out, this isn't all that uncommon a dream.  WIKY Morning Show listeners chimed in, stating that they have the same drea