labor day adventure

On Labor Day, we decided to head downtown for Taste of Cleveland. Monday was $1 admission, and we all have student passes for rapid transit. An adventure for a buck? What did we have to lose?

After paying admission but before reaching the actual event space, there were all sorts of tents advertising their wares and offering free stuff. We snagged hefty scoops of free Häagen-Dazs along with free bags of chips, and deemed the event already worthy of its admission price.

Then we reached the real booths, where restaurants from all over Cleveland had gathered to offer small portions of their most portable dishes. Meal tickets were pricey, but we collaborated in order to try a few things.

We had decent bacon-cheese pierogies, and ribs with excellent barbecue sauce. Sauerkraut balls were incredibly un-appetizing (i love sauerkraut, but not real sauerkraut… my dad cooks it in tons of brown sugar, barbecue sauce, and beer), and pepperoni bread was nothing special.

Until, with 3 tickets left, we read these magical words: Fried Oreo Sundae.

What a wonderful and incredibly beautiful invention. It tasted even better than it looks.

We snagged more Häagen-Dazs on the way out, so I managed to have a lunch almost entirely composed of ice cream. That’s a good day on all counts.

Our overall opinion was that the actual event wouldn’t have been worth a regular admission price, especially when the food samples were so pricey. It would have been super fun if they had made it easier to try at least a tiny bit of most things, rather than having to pick and choose. My opinion was that the restaurants should use this as a marketing ploy rather than an attempt to make money, but of course they thought differently. But it made for an excellent adventure.