PiNLUX: The Orange County Fair

every year there are two fairs that happen around where i live - the Orange County Fair and the Los Angeles County Fair. Every year i try to attend both. I usually go for the food and to pet random farm animals. As you can imagine, there aren't many goats in suburban Los Angeles County. Really though, it's about the food. Fair food is a cuisine in and of itself, like no other. Healthy is not someone you think of when you eat fair food, not even in health conscious southern california.

i ate sausage dogs a foot long covered in peppers and onions that were grilled over the largest bar-b-que pit i've ever seen. yes, that huge cloud of smoke is from the pit.

they grill corn in the husks there too. i don't know what the heck i put on that corn, i grabbed a little of everything, but i'm guessing there was garlic powder, onion powder, lemon/pepper salt, paprika, and of course lots and lots of butter. it was very yummy.

my friend greg works with a rare fruit growers group and they had a stall in the fair so i stopped by to say hi. he's the one in the green tigger shirt on the right.

he was even kind enough to give us a taste of some of the rare fruit like this cherimoya. okay, so, we're asian. cherimoya isn't that rare to us, but it is to other southern californians. yeah, more food.

last but not least is of course the deep fried twinkie covered in powdered suger and chocolate. doesn't that sound like a heart attack waiting to happen. i've seen it at the fair for a long time now, but this is the first year i've actually tried one. it's actually pretty good and not what i imagined. i figured it was going to be this digustingly greasy delight, but it was actually really wonderful. it was a light and crispy on the outside and warm and delicious on the inside. i really recommend trying one once in your life. then, go home and work out for 3 hours to work of the twinkie.