North Carolina State Fair: A Day in Food Pictures, Part 2

Interspersed with all this food was plenty of walking, and plenty of rides and sideshows and the occasional "game of chance" for the kids. So it's not like the fair was just a food orgy. All this food was shared by all of us, and spread out over six hours or so. Not that I'm making any pretention that this wasn't a boatload of generally unhealthy food. Eating was not all we did.

Having a keen eye for the unusual, the sign saying "Barbecue Sundae" jumped out at me. For $5, I would need to find out what that was. Oma was really curious, wondering if this involved ice cream. After having seen the Mashed Potato Martini last year, I was pretty sure what was involved.
It was a sundae cup with a layer of pork on the bottom, a layer of baked beans in the middle, and a layer of cole slaw on top. (3. Variety Meats, 10. Roasted/Smoked, and maybe 9. Ethinc, if you consider Southern an ethnicity) Kind of like those one-bowl meals at KFC. It was pretty good, but left no efficient way to sauce the meat. It was carb-friendly, as if that mattered. No ice cream was involved.

We were resting near the stand of the aforementioned Mashed Potato Martini, where we had bought Deep Fried Banana Pudding Bites last year, and noticed a new menu item, Deep Fried Pina Colada. This guy gets top marks for creativity in my book. Of course, we had to try that too. And it was, in my opinion, the best thing we had all day.
Deep-fried pinapple wedges covered in powdered sugar, served with a coconut pudding dipping sauce. (2. Fried Sweet, 5. Sugar, Sugar, Sugar) This one we may have to try to recreate at home.

With that being said, we moved on to sausage. German sausage that is. Bratwurst. (3. Variety Meats, 7. Baked, 10. Roasted/Smoked) Why is it that you always see Italian sausage and Polish sausage (both of which are wonderful in their own right), but too rarely see German sausage? Well, we stood up for our German heritage. Actually Jennifer (who is the only Traveling Roth without German heritage) requested the Brat. Conversely, I bought the ribbon fries to stand up for her (and T & Z's) Irish heritage, since we couldn't find:

• Irish sausage
• Shamrock Shakes
  
• Whisky

In between the brat and the ribbon fries, Opa acquired an Onion Blossom (1. Fried Savory)
After the ribbon fries, Oma acquired a traditional, old-school funnel cake (2. Fried Sweet), once again calling back to our Pennsylvania Deutsch heritage.
That was it for the food, other than some allegedly fresh-squeezed lemonade. Besides, it was starting to get really crowded, and we needed to burn the rest of our ride tickets and get out of there and get home.

After all, it was almost dinner time.

North Carolina State Fair: A Day in Food Pictures, Part 1

The North Carolina State Fair is a regular event for the Traveling Roths since 2001 when we first came to the state. There's something there for everyone, from the contests, to the animal judging, to the concerts, to the rides, to the games, to the food. For us it's all about the animal judging. There's nothing like a good cow show. Yeah, right. It's the food, of course.

So here's a summary of the day, in food. I've designated 10 Fair Food Categories over the years (with help from others), and now pay attention to how many we can attain. The categories, in no particular order, are:

1. Fried Savory
2. Fried Sweet
3. Variety Meats
4. con Queso
5. Sugar, Sugar, Sugar
6. Fundraiser
7. Baked
8. Food-on-a-Stick
9. Ethnic
10. Roasted/Smoked

Could we hit them all, let's see.

We started by parking at the SAS Soccer Park in Cary, avoiding the parking nightmare caused by the NC State football game. Good thing the Wolf Pack plays at such a small stadium. We took a CAT bus for $4 a piece round trip ($2 for seniors, Oma and Opa.) The day was absolutely gorgeous, with deep blue skies, dry air, and a little chill. Some years it's ridiculously hot at fair time, and that's miserable. Being on the cool side is definitely preferable.

Entering the fair near the permanent buildings, the place was surprisingly uncrowded. This would change once NC State's little football game ended, but for now it was nice. Since it was still fairly early (before noon), a biscuit was in order.

First stop, the restaurant of St. Paul's Christian Church, where Andy and Shelley used to attend. Andy had the distinct misfortune to work in the restaurant on one of those hot years. That must have sucked. But anyway, at St. Paul's, ham biscuits are only a breakfast item, so down the street we went to Cary UMC church. We got ham biscuits (a Southern treat) for Jennifer, one for Tristan, and a sausage biscuit for Zoe. (3. Variety Meats, 7. Baked, 6. Fundraiser)
The next stop was for a London Broil sandwich. I found out about these from Shelley the first year we went to the fair. They have become a staple. (3. Variety Meats, 4. con Queso, 7. Baked)
The kids started spending their 48 ride tickets each, with the occasional pause for refreshment. They spent their own money on ice cream. Raspberry vanilla for Tristan, and Oreo for Zoe. (5. Sugar, sugar, sugar) We went into one of the permanet buildings to see what was afoot. It turns out rocky road fudge was afoot. (5. Sugar, sugar, sugar, 6. Fundraiser)It was also a little gritty. Down the aisle was a candy stand called "Davey's . . . . ." Despite the errant "e" in his name, his stuff looked cool. Jennifer got a really tarted-up candy apple, with stuff like white chocolate, cinnamon, and walnuts. (5. Sugar, Sugar, Sugar, 8. Food-on-a-Stick)

We also sampled a couple other things that were not photographed, including spicy hot peanuts for Opa (10. Roasted/Smoked), and maple cotton candy.

Back outside, we made for the area near where the grandstand field used to be, for some Wisconsin Fried Cheese (1. Fried Savory, 4. con Queso). I chose the jalapeno cheddar, with jalapeno ranch dippin' sauce, and some jalapeno iced tea. Just kidding about the tea. It was regular brewed tea from a nearby fried dough merchant.
to be continued. . . .