When last I spoke of Rally’s, it was with a heavy heart — their decision to fancify their Big Buford ended up taking away all the simple things that made it so great.

(Though in the meantime I’ve found a solution in their Double Rally Burger, which is delicious and basically what the Buford used to be. )

Right now Rally’s is doing their new Unbelieva-Burgers promotion, and I just finished the A-1 Crispy Onion.

HELLO!

Outstanding. There’s no fast food patty that matches the flavor of the Little Place with the Big Taste, and this burger marries that meat under a sesame seed bun with crispy fried onion straws, melted cheese sauce, and a healthy slathering of A-1 steak sauce.

Sometimes burgers like this can be too sloppy, which has been a valid criticism of some of the messier chicken sandwiches Rally’s has offered in the past.

Not so with this tasty marvel. The two sauces complement each other perfectly with just the right amount of zing, and I couldn’t get enough of the pleasing crunch of the onion straws.

For backup, I got a Rallyburger with no pickles and no mustard. I still find it to be the most explosively tasty fast food burger on the planet.

My total was $2.14 for both burgers, and I washed them down with a crisp, clean Mountain Dew Throwback from home.

I’ll probably skip the Bacon Cheddar Crisp because I don’t like the idea of ground-up bacon, but I’ll definitely try the Mushroom Swiss next week, and I’ll certainly get another A-1 Crispy Onion. It’s just a ridiculous amount of flavor and punch for your burger buck.

Last night, my dad and I went to the Kentucky State Fair.

I ate a lot.

As many of you know, I packed on about 40 pounds over the course of 2008 and 2009. How could I have let that happen? I don’t know. How does anything happen?

Anyway, I’ve burned it all off this year thanks to the outrageously painful insanity of … Insanity. On October 15, I will hit 35 years of age in the absolute best shape of my life. I feel better — and I feel better about myself — than I ever have.

But that still doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally like to eat like a slob.

So last night I had:

1 corn dog

1 pork BBQ sandwich

1 roasted lamb sandwich with BBQ sauce

1 grilled pork chop sandwich with BBQ sauce

1/3 of my dad’s catfish sandwich

1/2 of my dad’s funnel cake

The amount of BBQ sauce I dripped on my pants? Acceptable.

I love the fair. It’s so much fun to watch the people and eat the food. No humidity last night, either, and the breeze was entirely welcome. I actually had what’s still the best date of my life at the fair once — we had corn dogs as appetizers, ribeye sandwiches for the main course, and ice cream cones for dessert. I love a woman who loves to eat, and someday hope to marry one.

And since I didn’t have room for an Italian sausage with all the fixings last night, I think I have to go to the fair again.