San Diego County Fair

When I was still living at home with my parents, I use to go on a brisk morning walking with my mom and my grandma Thelma. "Exercise so you can eat the things you enjoy" was a slight motivation to get my butt going during the several laps around the park. I think I tried to use this idea for my annual trip to the San Diego County Fair.

After several false starts on trying to plan our trip to the Fair, my friend Allison and I had the day off from work and finally made it on Friday. Armed with lots of sunblock and a roll of Tums, we were excited to check out all the crazy infomercial products, the classic cars, near impossible carnival games, and the winning baked items/cakes. But let's be honest, it was all about the food. Although we were really hungry when we arrived, the food at the Fair is always very overwhelming. Where do you start with so many choices? Mind you, neither of us are the greatest at making decisions but we finally settled on starting with "real" food by getting a classic hot dog and Orange Julius because we could carry it around while we figured out what was next. As we walked down the main drag, I think we subconsciously started walking in the direction of one of our favorites from last year, deep fried mac & cheese. We had been talking about the mac and cheese since the Fair started and to our disappointment, the place that had them last year did not have them! We seriously stood there for a few minutes kinda lost and not knowing what to do. We wandered around a bit and decided that we needed to pay a visit to another staple food booth, Chicken Charlies. If you don't know what Chicken Charlie's is, it's one of the biggest food booths at the Fair and they are known to deep fry everything. Deep fried highlights this year included deep fried Kool-Aid (told by a co-worker that it tastes like a donut), deep friend Klondike bars, deep fried avocado, and deep fried Girl Scout Cookies. Regular items on their menu: chicken kabobs, chicken and waffles, frog legs, zucchini curls, deep fried Twinkies, and the topper....a chicken fillet sandwich with Krispy Kreme donuts as the buns! Something deep down in me told me not to do it cause I didn't buy anything from Chicken Charlie's this year. It's still fun to see what new deep fried noms they come up with each year (http://www.chickencharlies.com/).

 

So after wandering around like lost children, we finally settled on another Fair regular, Australian Battered Potatoes. I've always heard how good these were but as many times as I have been to the Fair, I never got them. All they are are battered potato slices with a topping of your choice. The batter is great because it's really light and similar to a tempura batter but extra crispy. Topping choices include: nacho cheese, ranch, combo of the two, or sweet chili & sour cream. It's a pretty big plate for $7.50 and good for sharing. We both decided this is something that would definitely become a staple each year and would satisfy your deep fried cravings (http://australianbattered.com/). Surprisingly, this was my first and only fried item for the day.

So here is where the walking comes into play. We were set for awhile so we decided to do a little exploring and walk off round 1. First, we went looking for the winning baked items and decorated cakes. Again, as many times as I have been to the Fair and as much as I like looking at other people's creations, I'm not sure why I've never gone looking for this exhibit. Probably because it's tucked away upstairs in a corner of the Fair. Unfortunately, since it's the last weekend for the fair, obviously a lot of baked items are not going to last on display for a full month. Several items were already gone..."too good to last" as the labels read...but there were still a few great looking cookies, breads, bars, etc. Our favorites were of course the decorated cakes and there were a few impressive ones on display.

We then walked through the infomercial buildings (you see it on TV, it's here, and then some) and the home and garden section. Who knew there were that many varieties of roses and dahlias could get to be about 10 inches in diameter. They were really beautiful and smelled great. After walking around for about an hour, we decided to start round two. Round 2 for me was a personal regular item...roasted corn. Roasted corn always reminds me of summer and only at the Fair can you get your change back with two packets of butter. Corn is $4 at most booths and you have your choice to leave it as is or add butter, salt, pepper, or my personal favorite, lemon pepper. Yum...makes me want one right now. I might have to make this on our grill at home. As I was taking a picture of my corn, I was telling my friend that I'm turning into one of those people who take pictures of their food and post it on the web/Facebook. Nothing wrong with sharing what you enjoy right? That's partially why I started my blog in the first place. :)

We walked around some more, stopped to play some carnival games, skipped the crazy rides, and walked around more of the infomercial buildings. I was able to locate a booth in this section I remembered last year which sold cupcakes. CB's Cupcakes (http://www.cbscupcakes.com/) was right where they were last year and they had more items this year. They are a cupcake catering company and have two locations in San Marcos and Carlsbad. Oddly enough, Allison had been telling earlier in the week that her parents found this place in Carlsbad that sold "Frosting Shots" where you choose your frosting then it's layered with a topping. CB's Cupcakes was the place and the Frosting Shots are available at the Fair. Also available: chocolate caramel apples, jumbo cupcakes (serves 6), and doggie cupcakes. I spoil my dog so I had to buy a doggie cupcake. Eponine was so excited to get her cupcake and she practically inhaled it.

Round 3 brought on dessert. Allison got adventurous and got the item she was looking forward to trying this year: deep fried Snickers. It smelled good and she said it tasted good. Candy bars must be a popular item to deep fry because there were also deep fried Nutrageous, Reeses, and probably one of the grossest things I have ever heard of...a deep fried jalapeno stuffed with a Baby Ruth, battered and fried. *Gag* I think that might be worse than the chocolate covered bacon and deep fried butter (which happen to be at the same booth as the Baby Ruth). Beforehand, I decided I would do one sweet item (after I took insulin). I wanted to try deep fried cheesecake but like my mac & cheese, it wasn't meant to be. So if it isn't deep fried at the Fair, what is it? It's gotta be on a stick! I settled for cheesecake on stick and it was pretty good. Nothing weird about it but I was good and didn't eat the whole thing.

In all, it was a good day at the Fair. I managed not to go into a food coma, walked most of it off, didn't have to use my Tums, and got a little bit of a tan. The Fair will only be in town through the 4th of July so hurry over if you haven't already been. If you miss the Fair and still want to experience what I talked about, the Orange County Fair will be in Costa Mesa from July 15-August 15 and the Los Angeles County Fair will be in Pomona from September 3-October 2. This might be the last year my Fair buddy Allison might be going with me cause she might be moving next year but I'm sure I'll find someone to tag along with next year ;)