Spiral-cut, Deep-fried, Chocolate-dipped Heaven on a Stick

There’s only one reason Tripp and I go to the fair and it’s not the midway rides.  That’s right…I’m talking about food.

Now Tripp and I don’t venture to far of the beaten path when it comes to fair food.  We don’t want any deep fried mac’n cheese or weird food that we can’t pronounce.  We stick to our favorite, tried-and-true basics.  Comfort food of the fair kind.

Usually we start down at the food stands down by the Pavilion and make our way alongside the livestock barns, then walk up the Esplanade to the main food court court outside the EXPO building (that would be the QuikTrip Center to anyone born after around 1990), and then take the gondola back.  But this year we switched up our game plan a little (for a particular reason I’ll explain later) – we started out at the main food court.

Once you step outside the EXPO (past the henna tattoo place and the roasted almonds) you are greeted with that oh-so-familiar scent of deep-fried, heaven on a stick.  And the soothing sounds of the Native American music.

So, first up is a corndog.  This year Tripp and I said that we were going to share one, but once we got to the window I couldn’t take it.  I had to have my own.  The first of many diet backslides I’d experience last night.

I scarfed mine down in about 7.4 seconds and then we moved on to the next fair food must-have. 

If someone held a gun to my head and told me I had to pick my hands-down fair food favorite, I would have to say this is it.  It must be something about the way they roast it because it is so tender and delicious.

I like mine with a little seasoned salt, lots of black pepper, and a teeny bit of cayenne.  Yum!!

OK – so now that appetizers were out of the way, it was time to move on to the next course. 

Tripp’s mom came along with us on our little fair food feeding frenzy – she ain’t skeered.

Pi

So the next course, naturally, is the vegetable course…

…and by vegetables, I mean spiral-cut potatoes.  Golden brown and delicious.

 

All washed down with a 55-gallon drum of lemonade.

By this time I was already full, but we all bravely soldiered on to our next stop.

{don’t you worry lover – we’ll be back}

This is one of Tripp’s favorite food stops. 

I’ll be honest, the past few years have been hit or miss with the marinated shish-ka-bobs, but this year they were super juicy and had good flavor.

One bite of meat later and I was beyond miserable. 

We decided a walk through the baby animal barn might do us some good.  And with the exception of the 15 newborns, this is how I felt.

A little walking was good for my upset stomach – the squealing baby piglets not so much.

But Tripp couldn’t pass up the yummy steak sandwich for the Cattlemen’s Association.

See, here’s where our changed up game plan kinda bit me in the butt, because I almost always share a sandwich with Tripp.  But not this year – I was still reeling from the spiral taters and barely managed one bite.  After Tripp finished his sandwich, the three of us waddled over to the gondola to make our way back to the other side.

And that little respite was just enough to make room for one last little sweet treat. 

. 

I needed (like a hole in the head) a little something sweet too, but I had my mind on something else.

So this is why we started out at the EXPO.  Last year I missed out and had to make due with a caramel apple.  This is what I really wanted – a  bowl full of caramel with a little bit of apple and nuts sprinkled on top.

Before he’d take me home, Tripp made me stop licking the bowl and go wash my hands.  Which was a good thing, because I was in a fat/salt/sugar induced coma.

The second we got home from our OD on fair food, I promptly marched upstairs to the queenie chair and OD’ed on Bravo TV. 

And started making a list of what I want to eat at the fair next year.

Cheers, Kelly